The Freaky Cookie Trio

today's vetted fundraisers. i know i there are lots of these floating around, but please keep sharing and donating if you can, even if it's a small amount. if we disengage, we dash these families' hopes for a better future

july 7th:

Eyad Sami, his wife Amal Mahmoud, and their four children (CHF6,180/CHF20,000) - @eyadeyadsblog, verified by @/90-ghost

The AlBalawi family of ten, including several children (multiple are sick) and two chronically ill members who need treatment (€8,186/€50,000) - @aboooodsblog, @albalawii, @bisanalbalawi, verified by @/90-ghost

Mohammed Hijazi and his elderly parents, one of whom is severely injured and needs surgery to restore his ability to walk (€1,728/€20,000) - @savemohammedfamily, verified by @/90-ghost

Ashraf Alanqar, his wife Widad Issa, and their little son Bakr (€3,934/€30,000) - @ashrafanqer, verified by @/90-ghost

Yousef (a toddler who needs lifesaving treatment for a blood disease) and his parents (€2,117/€25,000) - @dima96yousef, verified by @/90-ghost

Youssef Hilles's wife and five children, including his young son whom he's never gotten to meet in person (€3,446/€23,000) - @zeinyousef, #206 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet

Basel Ayyad and his family of eight, including his sick daughter who is losing her sight without treatment (CHF2,612/CHF60,000) - @basel-1995, #214 on @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein's spreadsheet

Ramez Hilles and his family of ten, including several children (€853/€37,000) - @ramezderar, verified by @/90-ghost

Ghada Afifi (needs surgery for a heart condition) and her family ($1,720/$50,000) - @lifeasme24 on tiktok, verified by @/lieahsblog (reach out for more details)

Wafaa Alnhal's family of 15, including four children and a newborn (they've already lost multiple family members, including Wafaa's young niece) (€26,148/€50,000) - @wafs-posts, #171 on @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein's spreadsheet

The Al Zaeem family of seven, including four children and their severely ill grandfather ($19,011 CAD/$50,000 CAD) - @yosofzaeem, @malkzaeem, verified by @/nabulsi

Widow Safaa Abubaker and her two little children (€868/€15,000) - @safaamo, verified by @/ibtisams

Ahmed Baalousha, his wife Islam, their three children (one a newborn, he suffers especially from malnutrition), and Ahmed's parents and sister (€14,769/€50,000) - @5735765, #234 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet

Muhammad Al-Habil, his wife, their three young children, and Muhammad's chronically ill parents (€8,850/€50,000) - @mohammedfamily11, verified by @/el-shab-hussein

Helping Siraj Abudayeh, his wife, and their three children to rebuild their beloved home ($4,081 CAD/$82,000 CAD) - @siraj2024, #219 on @/nabulsi and @/el-shab-hussein's spreadsheet

Evacuating Firas Muhaisen's family of six (including three children) and paying he and his sister's medical school fees (needed by next month) ($1,939 CAD/$82,000 CAD) - @firasmuhaisenn, @nisreenameen, @hashem-fromgaza, verified by @/90-ghost

Nael Khalid and family (unknown amount) - @islamgazaaccount2, verified by @/90-ghost

Fiancés Noor and Alaa (both have lost multiple family members already) (€2,823/€25,000) - @nouralaagaza, verified by @/ibtisams

Helping Mahmoud Abu Hamam and his family rebuild their house and their lives ($790/$25,000) - @ma7moudgaza2, #149 on @/el-shab-hussein and @/nabulsi's spreadsheet

not yet vetted:

Amjad Al-Shaltawi's family of 11, including several children and his wife Suha, who's lost her whole family (€658/€97,000) - @amjadshiltawu

Helping Hamed and his family to rebuild their home and livelihood (€643/€70,000) - @hamedkara

any contribution you can make is infinitely valuable, regardless of the size of your following or the amount you can give. let's keep working together to support families like these suffering violence and displacement. your help can save lives.

Where does your favorite lie?

A proper TWST elements of attraction alignment chart. No Poll because I will take no criticism. BUT if your fave isn't on here feel free to share what alignment or combination of traits you'd assign to 'em.

Everyone is fighting a tough battle so reblog to give previous a sword 🗡️

lessons with the eels!!

History Lesson:

Flight Lesson:

Alchemy Lesson:

🔴can you help me 🇵🇸🍉

This is my home Which was destroyed by the accursed occupation yesterday I'm not sad about the stones I'm sad about the memories I hope this damned war ends 💔💔😔 🍉🇵🇸

gofundme.com

Donate to we need help, organized by Wafa abuelreesh

Hello, I am Wafa from Gaza I would like to take just two minutes of your time to share my story with you … Wafa abuelreesh needs your suppor

vetted by @90-ghost

I'm not going to hold your hands when I say this. No, you don't deserve it, I'm going to pull your ears and SHOUT OUT LOUD: I'm TIRED of this fandom being UNABLE to interpret a text.

Kalim doesn't need to become a macho man who protects Jamil from everything, and he's not a "uwu boy" either. No, Kalim is a child who was emotionally neglected by his family, and INFANTILISED by them AND BY JAMIL. Do you know why Kalim is so incompetent? Because even Jamil doesn't let him TRY to act like a person, in the Lab Card he even says that HE CANNOT USE KNIVES TO COOK.

And God, why are we ignoring how much Jamil abused this ignorance? Jamil's outburst was fair, but it EFFECTIVELY makes Kalim act more childish and useless and also cuts away a lot of his own freedom.

Kalim has shown COUNTLESS TIMES, during the events and in the main story, that he is not helpless, stupid or incapable of learning. But it seems that when you see Jamil's point of view, which is not 100% reliable because duh, you completely ignore that Kalim accepted being used by Jamil because he thought it was okay if it was Jamil. You forget how much Kalim was tortured in his childhood, and even though he went through a lot, he is still treated as stupid and imbecile. Kalim is very capable, he improved his magic in a matter of months, he can easily make contacts and has the sense not to reveal who he really is to strangers. Besides, his kindness got many characters out of trouble.

JAMIL'S FANDOM MAKES ME WANT HIM TO DIED HARD AT THIS POINT.

It took Tapis Rouge to remind me that I actually really like Jamil's personality and his interactions.

Since you mentioned this in an earlier ask, what is your take on feminist Leona? I see people saying things like "consent king" "he drinks his respect women juice" and "leona kingscholar says men ain't shit" but I think those are mainly jokes but I've also seen a lot of for example Leona x reader fanfics where he's a lot nicer to femme Yuus than masc ones. I don't play the game so I don't know how much of a feminist he really is, could you clarify and give your own insights? Ty Miss Raven!!!!!!!

[Referencing this post!]

Admittedly, I am guilty of having made “consent king” jokes but that’s mainly because I think consent + respecting others’ autonomy is very sexy important and it’s slightly funny to have a 185 cm muscular anime cat boy championing the concept. However, I try to avoid making jokes which would imply Leona puts down his own gender or thinks lesser of them because 1) canon doesn't indicate this and 2) it can be hurtful to non-femme Twst fans. Yes, most of the fandom is women--but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make this fandom space welcoming for masculine or nonbinary Twst fans.

Let's delve into a brief history of where feminist!Leona comes from! After that, I'll discuss my own thoughts and feelings about it.

The idea first came into prominence because of an exchange that occurs in Cater's School Uniform vignette. In it, Cater is trying to convince Leona to join him for a party that he's throwing for Rosaria, one of the talking paintings at NRC. At first, Leona refuses--but he quickly changes his tune once Cater mentions Rosaria is a "she/her". Leona states, "Portrait or not, I respect ladies and Rosaria is a lady." Cater then whispers to Kalim (who is shocked that Leona suddenly agreed to come along), "Leona's kingdom is all about being respectful to ladies."

It should be noted that Leona says something slightly different in JP: “Even if it’s a portrait, a woman is a woman.” JP does not have the “I respect ladies” portion; “I respect ladies” was added to EN, which may have further amplified the interpretation that he is a feminist.

Now, as we learn from that vignette, the Sunset Savanna has a culture of "respecting women". In Leona's Ceremonial Robes vignette, he elaborates that, “[Beastwomen are] already way stronger than [beastmen]." Furthermore, Ruggie states in one of his Chats that “Girls have both the grit and the camaraderie to triumph when the goin’ gets tough.” Then, in events like Tamashina Mina and late in book 7, we are told that many of the royal guards are women who volunteer for the positions and it's common for them to have learned martial arts from a young age. From this dialogue, we can glean that the women of Leona's home country are physically strong, strong-willed, and honorable.

With that being said, I think certain interpretations of Leona's "feminism" (a term not actually used by official materials; this is a fandom take) definitely take it a step too far by either assuming Leona treats woman as a special class and/or he dislikes men. Both of those interpretations (if serious and not said as a joke) are owed to a fundamental misunderstanding of what "feminism" is. Feminism is "the belief in full social, economic, and political equality for women." Feminism is NOT misandry (a hatred of men), and nor is it female chauvinism (the belief that women are superior to men)... unless, of course, you're talking about very radicalized forms of thinking. The basic concept of feminism doesn't involve man hate or putting women on a pedestal.

Twst itself appears to go with the basic definition of feminism. As Leona himself states, he doesn't treat anyone special. "I ain't extra nothin' to nobody. As if [women] even need men fawning all over'em."

Leona, whom we know to be arrogant and unwilling to obey others' orders, appears to be more willing to listen to and carry out tasks if there's a woman involved. I already mentioned the case with Rosaria the painting (which proves that his "respecting women" thing extends beyond just beastwomen from his home country). In his Ceremonial Robes, he also grumpily puts on the aforementioned robes and takes a picture of himself in it upon the request of his sister-in-law. But--and this should be stressed--he's not exactly jumping for joy or eager to do so. Instead, Leona cites that "Goin’ against [beastwomen] only brings more trouble.” This indicates annoyance at having to carry out this chore, and gives the impression that Leona's only complying because not doing so would only overcomplicate things for him. He's not an idiot--he knows when to make a strategic retreat if it's going to save him time and effort in the long run. (For example, he immediately surrenders to the Ferrymen in book 6 rather than continue to put up a fight.)

I should note that, like in the earlier definition of feminism I shared, Leona does not simply bend the knee to every single woman. In the first Halloween event, he was still capable of scaring off the Magicam Monsters (some of which have distinctly female voices) without any qualms. He was still fully able to express anger and upset when Eliza, the Ghost Bride, smacked him. "You've got a lot of nerve turnin' me down over some nonsense!" He's also not above tricking the Fairy Queen and her entourage to steal back the special magestone from NRC.

This shows us that Leona doesn't just... "respect women" indiscriminately. If someone is going to be rude and selfish to him, he's going to respond as is appropriate. He's not going to turn a blind eye because of the offending party's gender.

In terms of Yuu interactions (assuming Yuu can be any gender), Leona acts pretty aggressive towards them in their first meeting. Even though it's clearly an accident and Yuu didn't realize they stepped on his tail, Leona is annoyed by the act and them walking away without apologizing or stopping to acknowledge him. He also makes it known that Yuu is magicless, and thus has no way of defending themselves from him. And you know what this man does? He says, "Well, can't say it'd be much fun to hurt someone so helpless. Still gonna do it, though." AND HE THREATENS TO TAKE A TOOTH. His wording, "No one gets to stomp on my tail and just walk away without payin' the price" + him still deciding to attack Yuu desite knowing they are weak/cannot fight back, implies to me that he may have still reacted this way regardless of Yuu's gender. (Key word: MAY. We don't know if this is the truth or not, I am leaving this up to your interpretation.)

Notably, there is a light change between EN and JP versions for Yuu's dialogue choices in response to Leona's threat. The EN dialogue options are far more humorous, but the JP options clearly convey fear (ie Leona is being serious about his threat of bodily harm). The top option is like noises of surprise, like "Eh, eh, eh!!"; the bottom option is along the lines of, "What, I'm going to be hit/beaten!"

There are, in fact, multiple instances where Leona acts callous towards Yuu. He refuses to let Yuu stay in Savanaclaw unless they earn their keep by beating up some mobs. He constantly degrades them by calling them and others he considers weak "herbivore". He has to be goaded into helping us or taking us along on trips instead of automatically caving. It could be argued that he would be more agreeable or polite if fem!Yuu was in these scenarios. And who knows, that might be the case--but again, I don't think he would be egregiously kind. I would like to point out a more direct example of a Leona-fem!Yuu interaction. Leona has interacted with a female Yuu before: Yuuka Hirasaka, our main character for the Episode of Savanaclaw manga. There's some debate over whether or not the NRC students know that Yuuka is a girl since the topic is never mentioned once, but I assume that they are aware because: 1) Yuuka makes no effort to hide her figure or chest; she even wears her blazer open, and 2) she has no motivation to hide her gender; she is capable of defending herself if needed and has a nonchalant personality. Proceeding with the assumption that Yuuka being a girl is a known fact, Leona does not treat her any differently than any other student.

Yuuka seems to experience the same tail-stepping scene as is depicted in game, although we don't see the aftermath of it/if Leona gives her the same threat.

The more telling scene for Yuuka, however, comes when she and her friends arrive in Savanaclaw to investigate. They are confronted by a bunch of mobs that start to pick a fight with them. Like in the game, Leona intervenes (ie he doesn't stop the fight just because Yuuka is a woman) and has them duke it out in a game of spelldrive/magift instead.

And you know what? Leona doesn't hold back just because he's playing against a woman. In fact, he kicks Yuuka's ass and then some. Then he stands over her and tells her to get back up, to keep playing. Leona isn't cutting Yuuka any slack whatsoever. He treats Yuuka the same as the boys she's playing with.

This brings me to my final prominent example of Leona interacting with a woman, which I think best exemplifies what my interpretation of Leona's "feminism" is. In the JP server's 2024 Halloween event Lost in the Book with Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally indicates that she plans on making a meal using the plants from around the cemetery. Leona is at first displeased by this, but then agrees to help her catch snakes, rats, lizards, etc. as meat for the meal. This leads into a conversation about how sad Sally's home life is, which earns her sympathy from the other NRC students. Jade, Riddle, and Epel are shocked at the cruelty that Sally faces. Jade volunteers to take the doctor out for Sally, and Epel even tries to convince Leona to help him rough up Dr. Finkelstein. But Leona just smirks and tells them Sally's not in any need of their "help"; isn't she the one who slipped the doctor a "drink"? Riddle scolds him for this "ungentlemanly" behavior and Epel refuses to believe that the "kind Sally" would do something like use poison. Leona was able to smell the deadly nightshade on her and deduce that Sally slipped some to her guardian and then slipped out on her own. She's not a damsel in distress--she's resourceful. Sally used her brains and not brute force to rescue herself from a bad situation. (We know that this would deeply resonate with Leona because he has been struggling his entire life to have his own merits recognized.) Leona praises Sally for her cunning and goes so far as to offer her his arm and tell her that he's looking forward to this evening's dinner.

In this situation, could it not be said that Jade, Riddle, and Epel were the ones assuming Sally is weak that Leona was the one who saw her true worth? I'm of course not accusing anyone here of being sexist. Society socializes us to see women as the "fairer sex" in need of protection and aid--but isn't Leona being more equitable by not underestimating Sally because of her gender?

That brings me to my conclusion. Leona respects women, no doubt about that. However, that's NOT a blanket statement. He clearly knows how to separate who is worthy of his respect and who isn't, and then he acts accordingly. Yes, he is polite, slightly softer, and more willing to listen to women he knows (his sister-in-law), women who haven't offended him/are just existing (Rosaria), and woman who have demonstrated their own strengths to him (Sally). He doesn’t become a completely different character just to bend to the whims of women. Those who have acted in ways to earn his ire, woman or not, will be treated as such (Magicam Monsters, Eliza, even Yuu when they/she enters his territory and/or steps on his tail). At the same time, I don't believe he thinks that women are delicate flowers that need special treatment (as we see with how he handles Sally + the Yuus and, more specifically, Yuuka). If anything, the women from his home country have demonstrated that they can be strong and self-sufficient. Why would he feel the need to go out of his way to be extremely lenient with the women he is around?

Lastly, nothing in official materials implies Leona treats men significantly worse than women. If he seems exceedingly rude to men, it’s most likely the result of the main cast (the characters Leona most often interacts with) being guys. If we were to compare how he treats his peers and how he treats women who have irritated him, I would say the behavior isn’t that different.

I know that was a long post but 😅 Hopefully I was able to articulate my thoughts well enough… May you find it helpful in forming your own opinion, Anon!

me and my mermaid malewife

A Heartfelt Plea: Help Me Return Live🕊️

Dear friends, In the past few days, I've been grappling with the trauma of the situation and trying to figure out what comes next after the ceasefire. After everything we've endured, I am finally able to return to the north of Gaza, where our homes once stood, now reduced to rubble.I am contacting you because I need to rebuild a simple place that will contain my family. I cannot bear the expenses alone because I lost my job due to the war. I hope that you will help me with any amount you can. This will make a big difference to me and my family.

My heart is tied to that place, to the sky above our home, even if it’s uninhabitable. I miss it so deeply, and I need to be there with my loved ones, surrounded by what’s left of our life. I trust you, my friends, and I consider you my family. Please, if you can, help us cover the transportation costs. Every little bit counts, and your support would mean the world to us during this difficult time. If you can’t donate, sharing this with others who might be able to help would also make a huge difference. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. With love, 🌸

" I apologize for the inconvenience, and I am bringing this to your attention by tagging all those who support the justice of our Palestinian cause "

🌟 Our campaign is vetted by 🇵🇸 @/gazavetters List at #291

gofundme.com

Donate to Help my family rise from the ashes, organised by Tahir Awad

Hello Everyone, I am Nour Al Madhoun, 30 years old, a computer engineer from gaza, my h… Tahir Awad needs your support for Help my family r

Redraw Hercules

Original: