Dark Writings

I used my storymatic cards to come up with this one! Enjoy!

“Say goodbye to your city, Hero,” Villain cackled, “once I’m done with you, no one will be able to- what is this?”

Hero had shoved a folded piece of paper into Villain’s hands. They didn’t say anything despite Villain’s raised brow. The latter rolled their eyes at the former and opened it.

“Really, darling, passing notes in class?” they asked, but read the paper all the same.

To Whom It May Concern,

Please excuse Hero from crime-fighting from June 27th to July 5th due to medical complications related to their injuries.

Signed, Doctor

East City Clinic

“What the heck?” Villain blurted.

Hero was already walking away.

“Don’t you turn your back on me!” Villain grabbed Hero by the shoulder and spun them around, “explain yourself!”

“What’s there to explain?” Hero asked flatly, “I can’t fight you today, I have a doctor’s note.”

“Wha- but- are you serious!?”

“It’s completely legal, Villain, and you have to honor it.”

“The heck I do!” Villain disintegrated the note into dust with their powers, “now, back to what we’re here for-”

Hero shoved another, identical note into Villain’s hand, which earned them a loud curse from the criminal.

“I’ve made copies, a lot of copies,” Hero said, “now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go rest up. Doctor’s orders.”

Villain was about to destroy the second note when the glint of a deliciously devious idea shone in their eyes.

“Oh, very well,” they sighed in a dramatic fashion, “if you must, you must. We can’t go against the word of a medical professional, now can we?”

“Exactly,” Hero said, walking away once more, “see you next- gah!”

Villain chuckled. It was just too easy. They pocketed the now-empty syringe into a compartment in their utility belt.

“Villain! I just said-”

“You have to rest, doctor’s orders, I know,” Villain grinned, “but your precious physician didn’t say where you had to do so. And I feel such dreadful guilt over causing those injuries of yours, it only makes sense that I would facilitate your recovery. Besides, you need someone to look after you.”

“I do not!” Hero slurred, wobbling on unsteady feet, “you just… wanted an… excuse to… mm…”

Hero collapsed right into Villain’s waiting arms. Villain tutted, shaking their head.

“Look at you, all tuckered out,” they cooed, “I told you we shouldn’t fight today.”

Hero opened their mouth, no doubt to take Villain’s bait, but they just couldn’t get the words out. They gave Villain one last indignant look before going under. Villain watched Hero’s expression shift from frustration to the peaceful calm brought on by a deep sleep.

Villain practically skipped off of the rooftop. They deposited Hero in their car, which had been disguised as an ordinary station wagon. As soon as Villain’s hands were on the wheel, the vehicle shifted into something much more sleek and dark. They began the trip back to their lair, humming along to their custom playlist. All the while, Hero slept on, with at least five copies of their doctor’s note sticking out of their suit pocket.

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My parents pulled me for the fourth grade, and I was homeschooled until the end of high school. Nine entire years. They pulled me from the public schools for a perfectly reasonable reason — my mental health was in the toilet and I needed to be away from other kids who might hurt me as they had spent all of my third grade year doing. My mom has a fucking PhD in neuroscience and tutors math professionally. She was, during the ten years that my siblings and I were homeschooled, the best, kindest, most caring, understanding, lovely teacher you could ask for.

But I'm still broken. That's the thing about homeschool. You can have the best experience possible in homeschool and still come out a fundamentally broken person. My social development stopped at the age of 10. I'm a 22 year old adult woman with the social skills of a 10 year old. That's not to say that that COULDN'T have happened in public school, but being homeschooled only made it more of a certainty. Both of my siblings and I have fewer coping strategies on average than our peers with similar neurodivergencies because we basically did not live in the real world for a decade during key developmental years.

Don't ban homeschooling because of the religious nuts. There are plenty of them. Hell, I KNEW plenty of them. But there are also plenty of quote unquote "good" homeschool families. Ones that do everything you would hope the model homeschool family does. And they are still hurting their children, even if unintentionally, because homeschooling is an inhrently traumatic experience. It's isolating. For seven entire years of my life, I had no friends. Not because I was a social outcast, but because I didn't even SEE anybody regularly enough. But, nonetheless, I knew people. You generally do if you get involved in the community.

Ban homeschooling because it breaks and utterly destroys everyone who goes through it.

Everyone.

My parents made it a priority for us to do regular (at least once a week and typically at least 2-3 times a week) activities with large groups of other homeschoolers. I have always been a straight A's student (and also scored above average on standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT), even through college, and no one nowadays is able to guess that I was homeschooled because I was properly socialized as a child.

I want to homeschool my children if I have children one day.

That really sucks, I'm sorry 😞

Pandemic was my graduating year and I was supposed to graduate with a group of other homsechool students. I was very upset that I didn't get to.

My parents pulled me for the fourth grade, and I was homeschooled until the end of high school. Nine entire years. They pulled me from the public schools for a perfectly reasonable reason — my mental health was in the toilet and I needed to be away from other kids who might hurt me as they had spent all of my third grade year doing. My mom has a fucking PhD in neuroscience and tutors math professionally. She was, during the ten years that my siblings and I were homeschooled, the best, kindest, most caring, understanding, lovely teacher you could ask for.

But I'm still broken. That's the thing about homeschool. You can have the best experience possible in homeschool and still come out a fundamentally broken person. My social development stopped at the age of 10. I'm a 22 year old adult woman with the social skills of a 10 year old. That's not to say that that COULDN'T have happened in public school, but being homeschooled only made it more of a certainty. Both of my siblings and I have fewer coping strategies on average than our peers with similar neurodivergencies because we basically did not live in the real world for a decade during key developmental years.

Don't ban homeschooling because of the religious nuts. There are plenty of them. Hell, I KNEW plenty of them. But there are also plenty of quote unquote "good" homeschool families. Ones that do everything you would hope the model homeschool family does. And they are still hurting their children, even if unintentionally, because homeschooling is an inhrently traumatic experience. It's isolating. For seven entire years of my life, I had no friends. Not because I was a social outcast, but because I didn't even SEE anybody regularly enough. But, nonetheless, I knew people. You generally do if you get involved in the community.

Ban homeschooling because it breaks and utterly destroys everyone who goes through it.

Everyone.

My parents made it a priority for us to do regular (at least once a week and typically at least 2-3 times a week) activities with large groups of other homeschoolers. I have always been a straight A's student (and also scored above average on standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT), even through college, and no one nowadays is able to guess that I was homeschooled because I was properly socialized as a child.

I want to homeschool my children if I have children one day.

Support Black Women!!! Support Black Womens Art!!! Support Dark Skinned Black Women!!! Support Dark Skinned Black Womens Art!!!

If you start ballet at 16, you are too old to ever expect to be able to do it seriously. If you start at 12 you’re too old. If you want to do ballet as a serious thing, as a career, you need to start at like eight years old or even younger, because your bones and joints need to be trained while they’re still flexible in order for you to be able to perform many of the required motions and stances of ballet. In particular, you need to be able to perform turnout of the hips, but all of your joints in your legs and feet will be affected, and this irreversibly changes your body.

And yet! Nobody talks about this as a negative thing! Little girls say they want to be ballet dancers, and if their parents have enough money, that’s what they get to be! Does it cause problems in later life? Yeah, sometimes! Often, even! But nobody talks about that because it’s a thing for cis people to do and so naturally it’s all fine!

By the time I was done dancing at age 18, I had been through physical therapy for 3 separate issues caused by ballet. The worst one was because of how my hips and muscles developed and it cause discomfort in my knees so bad that I couldn’t walk very far without pain, much less climb stairs. One time at a pt session, a neighboring patient, who was elderly, said I was “too young to be here”. I was in middle school so I rolled my eyes. It was/is funny to me.

I am 23 now, and I still get stiff in some places, and I’m sure it is related to dancing as a kid. I snap, crackle, and pop like Rice Krispies.

I have no regrets because ballet and was a big part of my life. I just know that it will have long term effects on my body and there is nothing I can do to change it.

hey so. don’t do this.

“coming from a place of respect” there is nothing respectful about a comment like this. this is exactly why I say witch hunt, speculations and accusations harm the writing community as much as ai does, if not more.

I am not saying “you’re an asshole if you think a fic is ai”. I have come across fics that I believe were ai-generated. but instead of asking (accusing) the authors, I make my own decisions whether I’ll continue reading for the benefit of the doubt or quietly exit the fics and look for something else to read.

because with every accusation like this, there’s always a chance of a genuine, innocent writer getting wrongly accused.

last but not least, fanfic writers do NOT owe you anything. they write for themselves and their own enjoyment. their ao3 accounts are their houses and they were kind enough to let you in their houses. for free. (you get to read things for free.) you don’t go into other people’s houses and tell them “actually I think the way you decorate your room is sus. did you actually do it yourself or did you ask a robot to do it for you?”. THEY 👏🏻 DON’T 👏🏻 OWE 👏🏻 YOU 👏🏻 ANYTHING. and I say this as someone who is not a fan of ai fics. if you don’t like what you’re seeing, quietly leave.

“if you’re dressing like this in PUBLIC then you are subjected to being catcalled and harassed by strangers and you’re toxic if you fight back against the ones who harassed you” victim blaming ass mindset.