Tw: SA

Nelson Mandela was in USA's terror watchlist until 2018. The guy who fought against apartheid state of South Africa, won a Nobel peace prize, became a president, a beloved character across the globe was in the terror watchlist of USA. So I wouldn't actually take murica's opinion about labeling a person or group of people as terrorists. Chances are they're actually fighting for the freedom of their country.

That's why they call Hamas terrorists instead of freedom fighters. In their eyes The Nelson Mandela was a terrorist.

Anyways as Nelson Mandela said

Free Palestine 🇵🇸🍉

at the end of the day they’re just a mother and son grieving the loss of their favorite person in this world while a war they never wanted to start but are willing to end for the sake of their baby rages around them

nimble, a border collie-papillon mix, wins the 12” class in the 2024 masters agility championship. the first time a mixed breed has won at westminster ever.

team usa shuffling away to try and let japan take a team photo with their gold medal and then shuffling back when japan is like NO COME BACK

@/kittiearie on tiktok wrote this caption on her video: "When the sundown sisters' feminism is being upset Margot Robbie wasn't nominated for an Oscar but silent on how women and girls in Palestine don't have access to pads, tampons, contraceptive pills and other hygeine products while mothers are having their children without anesthetics."

some of white western feminist advocacy boils down to viewing issues (problematically so) as one-dimensional. their praxis never includes reflexivity, accountability, and intersectionality; while they ensure that their OWN reproductive health rights are never threatened, they vastly ignore so many people suffering in the world just because it doesn't directly impact them -looking at their priorities is just always so shameless and despicable.

I was inspired by @jezifster's recent question about non-gendered royal titles, and I put together this graphic to serve as a jumping off point for people writing monarchies in SFF !

Obviously this non-exhaustive list contains mainly western titles, all in English. Feel free add any on additional gender neutral terminologies that you can think of, including those from different languages and cultures!

A small addition: I'm not a linguist or historian and put this list together based on some quick googling! While you're free to flex the usage and meanings of these words however you choose, researching the real-world context of each term before using them in your own writing is a best practice.

Skimming off the top

"Relax, I'm not about to chop your head off," the villain mused, rounding their desk to instead lean back against it. They eyed the henchmen in the chair before them, "But I know you've been skimming money off the top. Don't dig yourself a deeper hole by denying it. Just tell me why,"

Despite the villain's calm demeanour and even reassurance, henchman was undoubtedly shaking. He knew this had been a bad idea. He was about to pay for it.

"I... I needed the money-"

"For *what*?" The villain pressed.

"My... my wife she-"

"Diana? Is she alright?"

Henchman was shocked his boss even remembered her name, but he forced himself to press on, "no, or- yes- well, kind of? She uh, she's pregnant,"

"That's amazing news," the villain replied. They sounded genuinely happy, "Are you worried about not having enough to properly start a family? You could have spoken to me about a raise,"

"No no! It's, well, there have been some complications in her pregnancy. The pressure ruptured her appendix-"

"My god, is she okay!?" Villain gasped in horror.

"Yes! Yes she and the baby are fine, but the surgery was expensive so I'd been skimming to try and pay it off,"

Villain sighed, "why didn't you just tell me in the first place?" They asked. They seemed genuinely confused.

"I- what?" Henchman stammered.

The villain rounded the desk again, sitting back down on their chair, "how much more do you need to pay it off? My calculations tell me you've skimmed about $2000 already, correct?"

"I- yes, sir. I still need $6000," he replied. What was happening here?

Suddenly villain pulled out a chequebook, "Don't get me wrong, you're still in trouble for skimming behind my back. I'm no tyrant, if you need money desperately like this, just come to me next time. We are grown-ups; we can work something out. For now, we can take it off your paychecks until it's been repaid, once this has been settled," villain explained, before standing back up and handing over a check signed for $6000. "Let me know if you need any more, okay?"

Henchman was stunned, "I- I- yes- yes sir- I- thank you-"

"You're welcome," the villain nodded, "That being said. I don't want to see you skimming again. Got it?"

"Absolutely sir, it will never happen again,"

"Good," Villain nodded, sitting back down into their large office chair, "now go home,"

The henchman's eyes widened, "but I thought I wasn't getting fired!"

"You're not," villain smiled, "but your pregnant wife just had surgery. You're on mandatory leave until her doctor clears her health, got it?"

The worker's eyes widened even more, "I- yes, yes sir. Thank you so much,"

The villain nodded, looking down at their desk again, scribbling something else on a different paper. After a moment, they glanced up to see the henchman hadn't moved. They raised an eyebrow as if to say "why are you still here?"

It was because the worker felt like he couldn't leave. He had expected such punishment, but this was...

He forced his legs to stand and walked out, heading straight home. His wife would be thrilled.

"Magic cares about what something means, not what it literally is. So when we adopted you into this family, when you truly accepted us as your parents, you became part of it in the eyes of magic. Which is why you've begun to manifest some aspects of our bloodline."

there was a shift in the universe ever since this happened