He’s Literally Rigging The Election And Next To Nothing’s Being Done About It What The Actual Fucking

Gentrification creates a stifling homogeneity in urban areas that makes it less suited for the everyday lives of the lower class and more suited towards the leisure and tourism of those with expendable income.

An old, decrepit laundromat gets replaced by an upscale bakery? And people are mad? It’s not that the poor hate organic vegan cupcakes, it’s that most of us don’t have a way to do laundry in our own home.

Run-down corner stores replaced by hand-made designer clothing boutiques? We don’t hate your eco-fabric shawl, but I can’t eat that for dinner after work like I could have a can of beans I grabbed from that corner store when I don’t have time to take the bus to the real grocery store after work.

What gentrification brings in and of itself is not typically bad, it’s that gentrification brings institutions of leisure and pleasure and makes it so that the poor have to go farther out of their way for basic necessities. It turns low-income living spaces into local tourist attractions. It can even create food deserts by putting restaurants, grocery stores, etc. in that the majority of the lower class cannot afford.

Imagine if someone totally renovated your house and turned it into a mini theme park - they took away your sleeping space, where you prepare food, where you clean yourself and get ready for your day, and replaced it with things that will please people who are visiting, who have their own homes they can go back to, who are here not for their entire life but just as a distraction from their otherwise mundane existence. It’s not that you hate theme parks, it’s not like you’ve never been to a theme park and vow to never visit one again. It’s just that you need to live! To survive! And the leisure of those who have more than you should not invalidate your existence.

I was today years old when I learned that when you type "otp: true" in AO3 search results it filters out fics with additional ships, leaving only the fics where your otp is the main ship

Short DPXDC Prompts #468

Danny is a Chemistry teacher at Gotham Academy. His favorite student is Tim. He shocks the students by teaching and creating a Fear Antitoxin for the kids to learn as part of their curriculum.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Look buddy, i’m just trying to make it to Friday.

Matcha White Chocolate Cookies

Ok, but in Hawks verse, Mail spikes his hair, so it looks like little horns all over his head. Horns that match placement of his zabrak horns. 😈

“You know this is the less flammable one, right?” Jesse asks, even as he scans the can of hair spray.

The boy in front of his register, just about his age but wearing about twice as many chains on his person as Jesse privately thinks is necessary, gives him a scathing look and slaps a bill down on the counter.

“It’s for hair,” he says, like Jesse is an idiot for even assuming there might be another reason he’s buying it. It’s his voice that catches Jesse's attention, though, soft and dark, and Jesse very determinedly doesn’t have a reaction as he bags the water bottle, sandwich, hairspray, and candy bar and takes the money.

“Well, yeah,” Jesse says, and checks the total. Frowns, and then checks it again. “But that’s not why most people buy it.”

Golden eyes narrow, and the boy looks from Jesse to the bag on the counter. “Is there a problem?” he asks pointedly.

“You're five bucks short,” Jesse says, and pretends very hard that he doesn’t see the boy’s expression twist with something between rage and shame, how he doesn’t even try to reach for the wallet that Jesse saw was otherwise empty. But—

He was going to get one of Charger’s sandwiches for lunch, and he already paid Rex for it, so if he just…skips, that’ll cover it.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jesse says, and very deliberately tucks the receipt into the pocket of his apron. “I've got it covered.”

Instantly, the boy bristles. “I don’t want your charity,” he says dangerously, leaning across the counter like he’s going to grab Jesse and deck him.

Jesse just scoffs, because this guy is tall and whipcord lean and muscular, but he’s got nothing on Kix when he’s coming out of an exam binge. “Great,” he says. “Good for you. Just take the damn bag and get out of my line, I'm on the clock.”

The boy glances behind himself automatically, taking in the tall, hooded figure who’s waiting back by the stand of trail mix. With a hiss of aggravation, he grabs the bag, turns on his heel, and stalks out of the general store.

“You're welcome!” Jesse calls after him, but the only response he gets is an aggressive jangle of the bells over the door as it slams shut.

Quietly, Rex's big boyfriend approaches the counter, setting his pile of granola bars down on it beside a bottle of water. “Are you all right?” he asks, and a flicker of pale eyes between Jesse and the door makes Jesse smile.

“I'm fine,” he tells Jon, and then, “Rex said he told you to at least get a sandwich if you're going hiking.”

“I'm fine—” Jon starts.

“There had better not only be granola bars on that counter!” Rex calls from the stockroom, and Jesse hides his grin as Jon winces.

“One sandwich?” he asks, smirking.

Jon pauses, flicking a glance at the still-swaying bells above the door and then at him. “Make it two,” he says softly. “Which is your favorite?”

Jesse swallows, and—having a vague crush on his brother’s boyfriend is the most predictable, ridiculous teenage thing in a lifetime that hasn’t been anything like ordinary, but Jesse doesn’t know that he would have skipped it. It’s nice. Just—as long as no one else ever finds out. Including Rex. Particularly Rex.

“Turkey,” he says, and Jon gives him a small smile and inclines his head.

“Two turkey, then,” he agrees, and Jesse rings him up, the boy and his voice and his golden eyes almost completely out of mind.

  Jesse is halfway through a mind-numbing shift that makes his grandfather’s assigned essay on ancient Mandalorian clan migrations look fascinating in comparison—which is the only reason he’s halfway through it when Jaster doesn’t want it until next Monday—when the bell over the door chimes. He’s in the middle of wrestling with a sentence, but no one immediately calls for his help, so he keeps writing, listening for the footsteps that will undoubtedly retreat into the shelves.

But they don’t. instead, there's a long pause, and then they approach the counter.

“You,” a very familiar voice says, low, dark, and something prickles down Jesse's spine as he jerks his head up to see the boy from the other day standing on the other side of the counter. Golden eyes lock with his, then narrow, and the boy says almost accusingly, “You are the one from the other day.”

“It’s not like anyone else works weekday afternoons in here,” Jesse says, rolling his eyes. Looks him over, and then says, “Hey, I guess you really did use it for your hair.”

“Of course I did,” the boy says sharply, and puts a hand up to touch the spikes his hair has carefully been styled into. They're kind of cute. Jesse doesn’t really have a type, but—thig guy isn't not his type. Even if he is wearing a lot of black.

Jesse just shrugs. “My brothers in the fire department are grateful. You’d be surprised how many people come out here to start fires.”

The boy pauses, weighing this, and then says abruptly, “I am Maul.” And then, like it physically pains him to get the words out, “Thank you.”

Whatever effect that gratitude might have is promptly ruined by the face he pulls.

Jesse stares at him for a moment, then bursts out laughing. He leans back in his chair, snickering, and says, “Now we both just feel awkward. Did someone put you up to saying that?”

Maul scowls at him. “Of course not,” he retorts, and drops a ten on top of Jesse's laptop. “For your troubles.”

“If it was trouble I wouldn’t have done it,” Jesse says, and pushes the bill back. “My family owns the store. It’s fine.”

Maul glares like he’s about to protest, and he very pointedly doesn’t retrieve the money. Before he can say anything, though, Jesse raises his hands in surrender. “Look, I'm on my lunch break in like ten minutes, if you want to pay me back, just buy me lunch or something.”

For a long moment, Maul stares at him with narrowed eyes. “And take you somewhere romantic to eat it, I suppose,” he scoffs.

Jesse gives him a smirk. “If you want to go that far I'm going to need more than a sandwich,” he retorts, and Maul looks away with a disgusted huff.

He does buy Jesse a sandwich, though. And he even throws in a bag of chips when Jesse offers to buy their sodas, so apparently he’s not quite as angry as he looks.

The spiked hair is still cute, but Jesse gets a feeling saying that won't be welcome, so he keeps his mouth shut.

[On AO3]

This post needs to be shared in all the blogs.

Do you have any fanfiction recommendations?

Hi hello \\(°▽°)// I haven't read ATLA fics lately, but here are some of the fics whose tabs I have opened on my browser ❤️

Unpicked, rewoven by avaya29

– and Azula’s crackling bolt of lightning steadied, became still and straight, and was a beam of blue light thrusting from the horizon to the sky. The cold voltaic shock through his nerves was the sting of cold air damp with spray from the sea, the pressure of electrical charge the weight of armour on his shoulders, the harsh blue-white glow of lightning the grey-white-blue of sea and ice and sky.

…His scalp was cold.

Zuko doesn't know why he's suddenly back here again, here on his ship amongst the icebergs, with the Avatar's light stabbing into the sky. He's not even sure this is real. But if it is, he's going to do things better this time.

Of course, things go off the rails almost immediately.

Incarnadined Hound by Java_bean

All around her, the murmuring crowd hushed as if in mourning. Soon, all of the Fire Nation would hear the terms for the banishment, and they would react just the same. Azula smirked. She knew something they all didn’t know.

Find the avatar, Father had said. For anyone else, that was a death sentence.

For Zuzu, though? Well, that was doable.

Zuko could find anything

(A fic about Zuko and his insane ability to find things that he really shouldn't be able to find)

Seduction of the Innocent by southwest_trickster

Zuko doesn’t particularly want to build a life in Ba Sing Se. But since going home isn’t an option, he starts to figure out how he can be happy here. The solution? Attend Ba Sing Se University, write a thesis on the Air Nomads and the Water Tribes and why they’re important to study, and accidentally become a well-known author by writing comics about his sworn enemy.

And, of course, I have to rec @whats-a-reading's wonderful fic

Ship of Fools by IlliterateReader

“Zuzu? Are you still there?” And oh, Azula’s probably, definitely real. She’s not at his right. His sister is in front of him, regal as ever except for the burning missive flaring blue in her left hand.

or

Azula snuck on his ship. Good morning Zuko, welcome to your new banished life.

“My body, my choice” only makes sense when someone else’s life isn’t at stake.