Brush that dust off

Let’s play the biggest game of kick the can on the internet.

i love you, trans femmes,

i love you, trans men,

i love you, trans mascs,

i love you, trans neutral people,

i love you, intersex people,

i love you, lesbians,

i love you, gay men,

i love you, bisexuals,

i love you, pansexuals,

i love you, aromantics,

i love you, asexuals,

i love you neopronoun users,

i love you contradictory label users,

i love you women who go by he/him,

i love you men who go by she/her,

i love you people whose identities 'dont fit',

queer people i love you,

i will always stand with you,

there is nothing in this world that can pull me apart from you,

i promise it will get better, i promise we will win,

i promise we won't always have to be afraid,

i promise, if nothing else, that somebody in this world loves you.

Tango couldn’t see. Tango couldn’t see past the smoke, couldn’t see past the red consuming his vision. After everything. After everything that Tango had done for him, everything that Tango had given up in a desperate attempt to hold this team together because that was all he was good for, just a resource, just a check to cash in. 

And now this? Not even a sliver of gratitude, quite the opposite. A blade slashing through his back, as on the nose as this broken metaphor could possibly be. 

Tango was going to kill him. 

Tango was going to take it all back, everything Tango had given, everything Tango had convinced himself had been taken from him willingly. Fire, blazing bright and hot and all consuming, this light that cast out endless shadow and chased away everything else that had even a chance at mattering. 

This rage. This uncontrollable, beautiful, oh so well deserved rage. How could they not see it? Was his own beating heart really nothing more than a convenience? A heart that now beat so loud and fast it was all Tango could hear. Thump thump thump the sound of panicked footsteps on a staircase, the sound of metal bashing against skin and bone, the sound of shouting, over and over again. 

Tango was done. 

The reflection of his face in crystal, every muscle tensed, his eyes burning. Unleashed. 

Series: cross our sticks and hope to die Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: 3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series Hermitcraft SMP Empires SMP

Rating: M

Warnings: No Archive warnings apply

Relationships: Jimmy | Solidarity/TangoTek, Kerlis/ xBCrafted, Background Relationship(s)

Characters: Jimmy | Solidairy, TangoTek (Video Blogging RPF), xBcrafted (Video Blogging RPF), Keralis, Grian, Skizzleman (Video Blogging RPF), Pearl | PearlescentMoon, Welsknight (Video Blogging RPF), ImpulseSV (Video Blogging RPF), BdoubleO100, Empires SMP Ensemble, Hermitcraft Ensemble

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe- Hockey, Angst and fluff and smut, fist fighting, themes on anger, hate sex (but not really?) inappropriate use of locker room (Read AO3 Tags carefully <3)

Summary:

“Wow!” Keralis laughs, though the situation isn’t very funny, “The referee is not playing around today. Ejection from both teams for unsportsmanlike conduct.” 

XB shakes his head, watching the players complain. The captain of the Canaries is disputing but Solidarity is already off the ice, fuming.

“It’s common to see fights on the ice,” he starts, drawing on his own messy experiences, “but that was nasty. I haven’t seen a hook with that much power in years.” 

Keralis cocks his head to the side and changes the camera they’re looking at. He clicks a few buttons that XB has never seen him use, then he’s laughing again. The camera zooms in on Tek. He’s grinning, blood pouring from his nose as a rink manager forces him out of the arena. His eyes are wild and bright, like he enjoyed getting beat into the ice.

“That was some crazy foreplay.” Keralis giggles. Again, as if they aren’t live broadcasting to the entire city. 

“I don’t think—”

Or; After a fight on the ice, Jimmy and Tango continue their argument in the locker room.

It's common sense here, except for USians, so I'll analyze it a bit more for the dominant demographic here. In a globalized setting, the most dominant culture affects the others and sets the trends. The way our language works, how we think, our levels of politeness and intimacy, and our levels of respect. (flash news, they are going down 😂)

I don't want to imply that there is nothing good in the US. There are plenty of positives in the country. It's just that for the rest of the cultures online it's a constant daily fight to not forget our roots, with the degree US media and brands have permeated our lives. In Greece at least we watch more US American media than Greek media nowadays, and many of our shows are rip-offs of USian ones, with little adaptation to Greek reality and culture.

And to demonstrate the amount of this exposure, a 22-year-old Greek asked me the other day "if something happens we call 911, right?" This might have literally cost them their life, in a dangerous situation! Because all the movies and songs they consumed (not an unusual thing for the Greek youth) were what they knew. And I found a similar comment in this comment thread.

It's about American media drowning out native language media all over the world, and workplaces requiring the English language in your repertoire more and more. It's about proper translations and foreign language dubbing of films disappearing because "everyone speaks/should speak English anyway." All of this is leading to the deterioration of native speaker groups of languages worldwide.

In my country, Dutch language courses can't find enough people who want to study the language, while English language courses are overflowing with people who want to study the language. There is even widespread distaste for the Dutch language for being crude or sounding rough or what have you. That's our native language!!! That is our culture in its purest form!!! That is knowledge we inherit from our parents as they did from theirs!!! That is how we learned fairytales and folk stories and myths!!! That is the language that shapes our communication and our way of thinking!!! To hate your native language is to hate yourself at the deepest level.

And yet it's so normalised. Droves of foreigners living in the Netherlands will never learn a word of Dutch, because "everyone speaks English anyway." We are the world's leaders in non-native understanding of English, but it comes at a cost. A grave cost we will continue to pay.

If you're looking to support your non-American friends in any way that is not performatively shouting "I hate being an American" into the void, first of all, unlearn that hatred of yourself and your culture. You are of no help self-flagellating, and there is a difference between holding your country accountable for its issues, and denying yourself your culture because your country is doing and has done bad things.

(I am not going to get into arguments about whether or not US American culture exists. It does, and if you think differently you are welcome to change your mind.)

Secondly, learn about other countries. Learn a bit of Chinese. Take an interest in the Italian political system. Ask your friends about their countries' folklore. Watch documentaries about art from Nigeria. Absorb information that is not fed to you by American media.

And thirdly, quit expecting your non-American friends to communicate in a way that appeals to you. The French and Dutch will always seem rude to you because our way of communicating is far more direct than the way you communicate. People from other cultures may seem vague to you because their way of communicating is far more indirect, and you're not used to that either. Quit being frustrated when you don't get what we mean exactly. Quit assuming we mean the absolute worst thing you could imagine just because you didn't get what we meant the first time. Ask us to explain if you need us to, and learn to accept that we are different from you.

I ask everyone who sees it to reblog, share and read🙏

happy 20 year anniversary of Neil banging out the tunes!

though every rat is special, it's a wonderful and unusual thing for their accomplishments to be remembered and cherished by so many people so many years later. we're all so fortunate to know about the rat who banged out the tunes!

thank you to all the people who sent me reference photos of their beloved rats for this piece!!! credits under the cut!

1:A song you like with a color in the title

2:A song you like with a number in the title

3:A song that reminds you of summertime

4:A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about

5:A song that needs to be played LOUD

6:A song that makes you want to dance

7:A song to drive to

8:A song about drugs or alcohol

9:A song that makes you happy

10:A song that makes you sad

11:A song that you never get tired of

12:A song from your preteen years

13:One of your favorite 80’s songs

14:A song that you would love played at your wedding

15:A song that is a cover by another artist

16:One of your favorite classical songs

17:A song that would sing a duet with on karaoke

18:A song from the year that you were born

19:A song that makes you think about life

20:A song that has many meanings to you

21:A favorite song with a person’s name in the title

22:A song that moves you forward

23:A song that you think everybody should listen to

24:A song by a band you wish were still together

25:A song by an artist no longer living

26:A song that makes you want to fall in love

27:A song that breaks your heart

28:A song by an artist with a voice that you love

29:A song that you remember from your childhood