#hopefulqueer

[augustheart]

Tell me a leverage hot take we HAVENT already discussed extensively. I want to learn something new and petty today

this is just to my recollection we may have talked about it before but i don't love how sophie often gets shunted into the role of "mother" instead of "mentor." the team is very much a found family dynamic but lately in general across all media "found family" has been kind of squeezed into "so they must replicate nuclear family dynamics" which is a whole other can of worms. some of it is certainly just Jokes (i.e. my "nate is such a father figure to half the leverage team he even has undiagnosed autism" post to prove i am not above making them myself) but even more than nate being placed as "father" sophie often gets placed as "mother." when she's... really not.

can she be maternal? sure. but even in episodes where she's framed as such her place as a mentor to other members of the team outweighs that. especially with parker! she's parker's mentor, not her mom. and i've noticed this since before the grand complication job so it's not just because of that. (and i question the dynamics that leads people to extend the idea of her being a mother to parker specifically but an equal with eliot. again, there's the grand complication job as a somewhat canon basis, but that's her mentor, not her mom.)

[dragonology101]

VERY important question I saw a smallish dragon (like maybe a little over a foot long) poking its head out of a hollow in an oak tree for about two seconds before it disappeared into the hole. It wasn't super brightly colored, maybe some blue-ish tints over brown, and had very pale yellow eyes. I'm in the Willamette in Oregon, do you know what species it might have been? And more importantly, was that oak hollow probably its nest? Does it have babies in there?

Ten thousand percent a Clark's Wyrm, Microdraco clarkii, they're the most common wyrm on the west coast of the United States. Females are marginally more colorful than males, with that blueish hue you mentioned, but the species ranges from primarily green to brown. They usually don't get longer than 40" in the case of females, but it's fully possible the one you saw was a mature adult. They're pretty common in suburban and forested areas, since like the other Microdraco they nest in burrows. Because of that, it's unlikely your wyrm was nesting in there, so it was likely foraging--their size and relatively non-potent venom means they aren't capable of taking larger prey, but they'll eat rats, birds, and small squirrels if they can catch them. I know from experience that Oregon specimens will raid ground and wood-nesting wasp nests this time of year once the threat from the active workers has died down, too, so that may have been what yours was up to.

Fun facts:

They're the only member of their genus to have a spaded tail tip! This makes them really easy to ID despite otherwise looking like "generic wyrm #10," especially for beginner dragonologists.

First scientifically documented in 1805 by William Clark, hence the name.

Like all Microdraco wyrms, the females are solely responsible for incubating the young.

Despite their solitary nature, they will coexist with other wyrms as long as food and burrowing locations remain plentiful. The only time territories are really established is if overcrowding becomes an issue.

Wiggly guys who only bite as a last resort if you grab them, I got peed on by a juvenile today trying to move it off the road because the sun had warmed up the asphalt and he got cosy :(

[fatphobiabusters]

Just once I'd like a doctor's appt that doesnt devolve into a discussion abt weight loss. And I thought this one was going so well, the PA listened and helped figure out what was actually wrong--then "join a gym, get stronger, and lose weight" for my knee & back pain. And my mother agreed with her. I'm very discouraged and I'm doubting myself right now. Any words of advice/encouragement that might make me feel like doing something other than laying down and crying and giving up? 💙

Words of advice, hm..... 

- Exercise doesnt have to be exclusively about weight loss. There are plenty of reasons to exercise : strengthening muscles, shaking off anxious energy, even for sleep. I know when I was going to the gym I was going to get strong to take down the government, lol. Find a reason for you to work out and see if it helps switches your mindset away from weight. 

- Knee and Back Pain can be helped with light/ moderate exercise. Exercise is great for strengthening the muscles and lessening pain. its like... extra stretching for your body!

-  I know not everyone can exercise, but even if you’re in a spot to do some light stretching or yoga at home try it out. 

And Most Importantly, - Fuck ‘Em! Its your body and while doctors and family mean well sometimes they can be buttholes. Your weight doesnt define your worth or your level of care . I mean jeez! did your doctor even take you for an x-ray or do any tests to make sure its not some other factor? 

If your doctor just hyper focuses on your weight for your pain and problems rather than looking for other factors or even trying tests  then it might be time to find another doctor. Best Wishes! - Mod Dom 

[laufeysons]

Another friendly neighborhood Jew here: I thought that the Handler saying a few things in Yiddish was fun? I like hearing characters speak Yiddish. I mean theres definitely something to be said abt the whole making shady/bad guy characters Jewish trope, esp ones running secret organizations and it does happen and it is bad but also the Handler is kinda fun even if shes Evil plus Dave is also Jewish which I wish had been talked abt more but when I hear the name Katz I think oh yeah hes Jewish

“Also I would like to take the opportunity to announce my headcanon that Klaus decides to convert to Judaism bc of Dave please and thank! I might write fic abt that eventually lol “

hi! i know shes the bad guy but i agree she was a very interesting character and i kind of dont think we’ve seen the last of her! also, really nice hc!! would love to read it if you do :)

[augustheart]

CHARACTER ASK TELL ME ABT WRITING PARKER

ok so i did reblog that post and then immediately forget everything i use to characterize anybody the second i got an ask. so this is just like the one main thing that i think is essential:

parker is parker. i.e. parker is the only person she has ever been, and while she struggles with her emotions and does feel ashamed of herself for having them in the sense that she knows she doesn't feel things the "right way" (the way people around her expect her to), she doesn't think of herself as weird at all. everyone's brain works the same as hers unless they can actually prove otherwise to her, and even then, parker is her own normal baseline. she doesn't make hardison do hot air balloon bungee jumps because she likes them, she does them because she likes them and therefore everyone likes them. i think some people kind of approach parker from the inside as knowing that she's weird, and i do think she knows she's not like everyone else to an extent, but parker's brain is entirely normal to her.

things that are obvious to her are not obvious to other people just as much as things that are obvious to other people are not obvious to her!! and the only time we see her really actively dislike those things it is when it hurts the people around her, like when she worries she's not able to function "normally" with hardison (see the girl's night out job/boy's night out job). her autism is not a source of pain for her in the majority of her life.

bonus thing for descriptions: parker's brain picks up on things really fast. i think everyone on the team does, actually, but in comparison to other characters i write, she's just capable of absorbing a lot more information in a relatively short amount of time, and a good percentage of that information is relevant specifically to her skillset. she can pick out exits, easy marks, and so on and she usually does it without even consciously realizing it (whereas eliot will pick out exits in terms of how he can defend them, she'll figure out which she can get to fastest and how well someone could follow her through them) but also any extraneous information just gets absorbed into her brain.

[augustheart]

top 5 wild birds u saw in 2025 go (also im sorry ur not doing well <3)

fern's birding 2025 WRAPPED

coming in at number one we have BAIKAL TEAL! this was our first live state record, and eleni and i busted our asses to go see it on january 18th! it was there for one day and then vanished. one appeared further south later in the month, presumably the same individual, but also only stuck around for a few days before disappearing. there were probably at least 50 people there when we got there. we talked to some people who have been chasing this bird in our state for 40+ years. crazy stuff.

(for reference--this bird's native range is mostly limited to asia.)

coming in at number two we have NORTHERN WHEATEAR! this was not a first state record, but the previous record was from over a decade ago and this was the first county record. this was another one with a big crowd of people there, although definitely less than for the teal, especially because the weather was way worse. we saw this bird on october 11th! this bird stuck around for over a week, so most people who wanted to see it got the chance to.

(for reference--this bird's native range includes most of europe, some places in asia, and far northern north america.)

coming in at number three we have SNOWY OWL! a state rarity but not a mega rarity like our first two birds. while the afternoon did not go well for me--i was tired and overstimulated and wanted to go home--it was amazing to see the owl. this was another very brief opportunity, as it had vanished by the next morning. it's a snowy owl irruption year, and it's likely we'll see one again in our state, but still an unforgettable encounter with an amazing bird.

coming in at number four we have PIPING PLOVER! this has been a target species for eleni and i on a few different occasions, and we finally managed to get not one but two this november while we were in south carolina. while one of the individuals we saw was not banded, one of them was, and we learned that his name is rudolph and he hatched this year in new jersey. image on the right was made by eleni with one of their photos :)

coming in at number five we have BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER! these guys are specialists of burnt-out forests, and we were lucky enough to see a mated pair with a nest during birdathon. (for the first time on this list, "we" does not mean me and eleni, since my birdathon team is for my job.) we got some amazing up-close looks in one of the best-smelling stands of trees i've ever been in. super exciting.

as you can see, i didn't exactly get nat geo-worthy shots of these birds. the baikal teal was digiscoped, the snowy owl is a picture off the back of my camera because it actually somehow looks less blurry that way, etc. i am pretty pleased with the color composition of that piping plover picture, though.

however, that doesn't mean i didn't take any photos i liked! i just can’t add them from my phone which is how i’d prefer to do so. so here’s the phoebes because it let me attach these:

[augustheart]

15, 16, 19, and 30!

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

so fucking many. it looks like i'm not going to have my comic book swingers longfic (which has recently undergone what i hope to be its final title change) finished this year even though i really thought i would, so that's a major one :( different fic about different swingers also. and the time loop fic that i thought i would have finished in late 2024... whatever. i will get there!!

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

overall on ao3 it's "trans female character" and i am very confident that it also is for just this year.

19. What’s one pairing relationship you want to explore next year?

edited this question to be potentially platonic because i just realized it says pairing when i just read it as relationship in general. i want to explore everyone. umm i hope to actually post some more of the firestorm stuff i've been writing so definitely them in their many combinations <3 i want to FINISH and POST my ezekiel & eve fic. BLUE VALLEY NORMAL SWINGERS CLUB.

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

something happened to me

[augustheart]

19 , 21, 33. I want the DRAMA

19. Rant about a change they made to a character of your choice.

already ranted about evil martin stein so here's another one:

i am of two minds on the "cindy's powers are psychic in origin" retcon. because on the one hand i do like that it makes her more connection to j'onn due to martians causing psychic powers to appear on earth. but on the other while there was always a psychic aspect to her powers because she's capable of reflexively showing someone their worst fears, her powers were initially literal and physical; something that comes up post retcon is that her powers don't work over cameras when, uh, Yes They Do. it is one of the first things we see her do, actually. her chameleon abilities are literal. also, i prefer her and j'onn's connection to be more emotional and chosen--"the daughter of his heart"--instead of something that could be based in genetics.

it also feels kind of racist to me to make one of the few explicitly romani characters dc has that wasn't originally psychic into a psychic. like despite her code name literally being a slur cindy is a very well-rounded character with complex relationships with the people around her, so it feels like a backtracking she can't afford.

21. Who's the most overhyped villain excluding the Joker?

is this a safe space. i don't usually care for eobard. absolute flash elenore rules though

33. Which character that deserves a solo didn't get one?

yolanda montez post resurrection chasing eclipso to try to balance the scales between them after finding out that he killed her cousin just like he killed her, instead of it getting shunted to the back of an already bloated and incomprehensible comic. 3-6 issue limited run, beth as a major supporting character, lots of interaction with the few remaining living members of infinity inc., including director bones.