#and then theres another billionaire

[donteverblameash]

If in the next upcoming Marvel movies, there isn't a scene where someone says, "I'm not familiar with all this tech stuff, but I know someone who is" and it doesn't immediately cut to Morgan, Peter, and Harley jamming out in Tony's lab to the Fall Out Boys "We didn't start the fire" cover, then what even is the point anymore?

(Might I also add that if they use the fallout boys version, RDJ would be canon in the Marvel universe due to the line "Robert Downey Jr, Iron Man!" And I find that delightful)

[235uranium]

I do think so much about louis' ending though. he spends all this time realizing who he is and how he'll never be satisfied living as a Normal Wealthy Herbivore... but has to make the painful decision to go through with an arranged marriage so he can use his position of immense privilege to force political reform. and he's like, 20.

[twelfth-dykector]

listening to middle class people talk makes me want to kill myself abit

[imjustdelusionalok]

yandere dc fic idea: koyanskaya! reader <3

i love love LOVE the thought of sly little fox minx reader, and especially if they're based on one of my favs from another fandom, fgo <33 i know koyanskaya is more like a rabbit but for the sake of staying faithful to character they are a fox! the ever beautiful and extremely hardworking boss of NFF services... now turned into a still bewitching secretary at the measly wayne industries?! (the inner fox in you has fainted from pure shame...) but without a doubt, you shall serve your boss master with all your best! (no matter how much you wish to squish them like the bug they are...)

and also, koyanskaya! reader having some sort of relations with the heroes and villains in metropolis?! i could see her luring and manipulating a very familiar snobby metropolitan billionaire, (ahem, lex luthor) like fish to bait, reminiscent to how koyanskaya fooled goredolf in fgo you know? a fuming lex, seeing his stunning former secretary now serving one of his biggest enemies and vowing to put the fox woman in her place... (as if tbh, as he'd get his ass bitten by her beast form)

as for her lovely endearing yanderes, of course we would have the batboy, the superboys, even the flash kids (especially thaddeus, i love love love that miserable little brat) and of course, her boss-master, bruce wayne <3 but theres is plenty more to come ofc so stay tuned!!

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

the concept of love is foreign to a beast like you, as you yourself was born from humanity's own wickedness, and all the earth's slaughtered beast's vengeful cries... leading you to granting the latter's wish as you are a beast first, a person(?) second. you love only yourself and carnage, and supposedly hate everything else. but... maybe... these entertaining humans might make your time worthwhile and who knows, might even start making you rethink your goals twice...

"...mercy, huh." two words from your lips, and now the color of your eyes were stained in molten gold, a sign of your divinity. a guileful smile falls upon your lips, befitting the fox woman you are meant to be. your eyes glances to the front, where your boss was no longer a man, but a bat as nighttime strikes.

"...interesting."

[insomniasleeps]

GCS shorts

My timkon au brainrot since I felt like writing about them:

Wayne Gala

Tim: *sees Conner Luthor at Wayne Gala* Pst Bruce why tf did you invite him???

Bruce:... Clark told me to *starts walking away*

Tim: *whisper yelling* COME BACK?? HESWALKINGTOWARDS ME

Conner: *Wondering why Tim Drake's heartrate spiked up when he saw him* oh??? does he have a crush on me or smth??? its fine hes cute

~

Jason (disguised as a waiter since he's legally dead): Oh? I look like the late son of Mr. Wayne- Jason Todd??? yeah I get that a lot, 'names Rason Rodd.

Dick: *Glaring holes into Jasons head*

~

Tim: *about to sit down at a table*

Damian: *crounched under table*

Tim: *feels weird* its like theres a malevolent spirit around here somewhere *side eyes Conner wherever he is*

Damian: *attempts to knife Tim’s leg as revenge for their previous prank war Tim won*

Tim: *sighs in relief that it’s just Damian, but when he’s about to leave he sees Conner* are u fucking srs rn why is he everywhere

Coffee Shop Au (gone wrong)

Conner: Hey Tim, nice to see you again in such lovely weather *it is literally 7 pm and its dark and rainy outside*

Tim: *suspicious* Your dads a billionaire why are you working here.

Conner: *whispers so no one over hears (theres literally no one else around besides Phoebe napping in the back)* Lex said I can use his money however I want, he just wants no part in paying for my night job

TIm: *realizing that this was why Conner suit was trash* ?? he doesnt support you???

Conner: he said i dont have to do it but if I am i need to be responsible.. he did say if i ever needed help getting rid of another body he’s there to help me

Tim:*tense* another body???

Phoebe who was sleeping in the back over hearing: *thinking ‘omfg Conner is a SERIAL KILLER’*

Harboring a Criminal

Batfam: That Stray Guy... we need to catch him somehow... he keeps slipping away from us despite us knowing who he is.

Tim: ... *sees him at his favorite coffee shop all the time*

Jason: ... *Works with Stray as Red Hood*

Steph: ... *Shares a Philosophy class with him*

Tim: Gee I wonder.

Bomb

Red Robin: THERES A BOMB ABOUT TO GO OFF WE NEED TO LEAVE

Stray: Nahhh it's fine dw pretty boy *standing*

*Bomb goes off*

Tim: WH- wait why am I perfectly fine???

Stray: Well you see, I have something called TTK-

Bruce and Conner interacting

Conner: Hm *is taller than Bruce*

Bruce: *glares*

Conner: Huh you remind me of my dad

Bruce: *has been told he and clark look similar* I suppose superman and I-

Conner: No I meant my other dad-

Bruce: *immediately hates him for comparing him to Lex Luthor*

[beesmygod]

how much have lily and vera changed between conception and debut?

sorry anon, i asked for people to send qs and then my period started so i went into a temporary coma/sat on the couch like a slug. terrible stuff.

i talked last time about how characters start as plot devices/are designed to fulfill a specific narrative purpose; vera's purpose, outside of her direct plot relevance as a mysteriously powered human, is to be maxine's enabler. vera is the most well adjusted of the group and can plainly see everyone's neuroses as an impartial observer and chooses to leverage this social aptitude to make things as funny as possible for her. however, she has an empathetic heart and never want to take her teasing and fucking around too far. these are some of her basic personality traits.

this makes her alarmingly, comparatively normal despite her troubles lol. i have not had a chance to deeply examine her personal motivations and history until recently for the pages im working on now (outside of very basic plot beats: foster care with alice, rough young adulthood with no stability, drug induced crashing and burning). in these pages im working on, i wanted to think about:

1. how did she develop these traits? how much of it is innate vs developed vs by choice?

2. what motivates her on a primal level? i decided it was libidinal in nature in the pages im working on now lol if youre caught up on patreon that might sound Deep but

3. is her past tragic or funny? unlike alice, who is a self-induced unhappiness factory, vera can shrug most things off and would probably find the humor in her lot in life. so what's the humor? i think i have some good stuff for this lol.

i guess the answer is: vera is becoming more of a foil of her sister, rather than becoming alice's polar opposite. this includes the fact that while alice is very resolute in and certain about her role in life, vera is uncertain. she wants conflicting things and knows it. if alice is the physical avatar of vera's desire for stability in her life, then maxine is a tantalizing call to return to the wild life.

as for lily....she was wholly undeveloped until the millisecond i had to put her in the comic lol. it was a nightmare. i knew these things about her: she was the key that unlocked the plot of the comic, her family was fabulously, freakishly wealthy (multi-billionaire wealthy), she's beautiful/turns heads, and she was maxine and valdos friend. which opened up a ton of problems like "how" and "why" that ive been brainstorming and figuring out over the past uhh. year. but thankfully i think its shaking out great and things are falling into place cleanly.

really, the thing for figuring out her personality was being a hater: theres a similar character in another work i cant stand with the depth of a puddle. lily gave me a chance to make my own super wealthy, pretty socialite with special powers in a form that i recognized as being authentic and "real". a sugary, syrupy, cultivated exterior masking a terrifying interior. someone raised in wealth who had to learn to recognize others as people solely because its a social faux pas to treat them otherwise. someone who, out of a combination of natural wiring/childhood boredom/unfortunate formative moments, conflates sex and self-determination with galling violence. someone who does not recognize the autonomy of other people to such a degree that she puppets their bodies for entertainment/comfort. she is an untethered sadist who is desperately trying to be good. she will try to obfuscate this aspect of herself but it will seep out in spite of her efforts.

[thechaoticreader]

10 More Booktok Books I Refuse To Read

Why am I doing this again? Well, I'm a bitch and feel like I've been rating books very highly lately so I need an outlet for the hater energy. Trying to keep the blog chaotic neutral!

*Disclaimer: If you like any of these books, slay! I'm happy for you! These are just my own consumer choices, and imo negative book reviews are just as helpful as positive ones!*

1. Twisted Love (& Series)

will HATE the love intrest

heard its a little incelly

too straight for my gay ass

as an Anna, I cannot condone this spelling so out of principle I will not read her books <3

2. The Fine Print (& Series)

Crusty billionaires aren't sexy

I repeat its too straight for my gay ass

I was born on December 5th which is the same day Walt Disney died and idk I just feel weird about it

eat the rich

I've had another one of Lauren Ashers books on my TBR for like a year and I keep putting off reading it (even tho its about F1 and Im obsessed with F1) so theres no hope of me reading and enjoying one about something I dont care about

3. A Little Life

I have enough mental illness without reading this book

I have enough queer trauma without reading this book

I'm not okay enough to read this book

Seriously though, this would be way too triggering for me and im chosing to prioritize my mental health over reading popular and critically acclaimed works (you all should too <3)

4. One Of Us Is Lying

I don't typically like Y/A thrillers

generally doesnt intrest me -> im getting tired of thrillers and have started leaning towards straight up horror

I HATE the cover

5. Inheritance Games

I've been burnt out of this genre/type of book since the 2000s-2010s dystopian craze

my housemate hated it and I trust his opinion

6. Lightlark

...do I really need to say anything

7. House In The Cerulean Sea

white author profiting off of indigenous trauma

mishandling of indigenous genocide (i.e the 60's scoop)

paints the residential school system as "not that bad"

I know the above books haven't been that serious but this one absolutely is and I will link information and resources in the comments. I put this one so low because I know if it was first people would just skip this whole post and potentially not look into the history of why this book is problematic.

8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

theres too much hype and i don't want to be dissapointed

9. The Love Hypothesis

galaxy leggings

I wont be able to overlook the cringy millenial humor

it will transport me back to 2016 (in a bad way...see above)

im too gay for that (I can be convinced to read bride tho👀)

10. From Blood and Ash

I have no good reasons tbh

the cover triggers my fight or flight

im not a series girlie (gender neutral) -> duologies are on thin ice

[catgirlhell]

hi! about the "learn how it works before you start making assumptions" about the bluesky post and its networks; what assumptions should we be looking out for? that its not twitter and not everyone is going to be connected like on there? your description of federated networks is understandable, but the default domain it seems to have at signup is bluesky's. I feel like most people would be using this, and only people looking for a certain thing and knowingly leaving that "sphere" will know that theyre isolating to a different community.

I'm new to this too and theres very very minimal, well explained things about it online, and youre the only person I've come across who seems to know anything, so if you have more advice to share I'd appreciate it!

as much as I would like to answer this as an authority and really contribute to the nascent understanding of federated instances as an alternative to current social media platforms, the fact of the matter is that im not. i have a basic understanding of the way in which they work and how to use them, and I dont think im the best source of information. this being the case, since i did bring it up and i did get an ask, i'll try to explain the best i can.

the "fediverse" (dont mind the silly name, we know its silly) might best be explained with the similarities to email. Misskey, Mastodon, and others marketing themselves as federated instance platforms are basically like if you took your email account and stapled twitter to it: Misskey/Mastodon are not platforms themselves, so much as they are frameworks for web servers that connect to one another independently and are run by individuals. These frameworks are usually open source, have different alternative forks that offer different additional features/ui elements, and ultimately all connect to one another regardless. but they are not "platforms" like tumblr or twitter or facebook. anyone can make their own federated instance, and what that instance looks like depends on what framework they used to set it up.

Bluesky and Threads are different. Bluesky differs in that it is run on a private protocol-- it runs differently to the protocols used by the aforementioned open source alternatives and currently cannot connect with them. It's still in beta and its too early to call how it will operate. Threads, like Bluesky, is also a private protocol. At current, it merges your information with other Facebook/Meta products (facebook, instagram, etc). Supposedly, these will eventually be able to communicate with the Fediverse at large, but you should keep a great amount of suspicion with them, as both are run by billionaires. Bluesky is the project of the former head of twitter, and Threads obviously belongs to Zuckerburg and Facebook.

If you head about "x platform is homophobic/racist" in reference to the earlier federated instance frameworks, understand this very crucial thing about Mastodon/Misskey/etc:

They are not websites. They do not have established moderation policies and staff dedicated to managing who posts what.

as stated, Masto/Misskey are just server frameworks. Each federated instance using those frameworks is run by individuals on their own private web servers that they either operate themselves or rent out from a company. the largest Misskey instance, Misskey.io, is currently under fire for having homophobic moderation practices. This does not mean that every instance of Misskey is moderated with homophobia in mind, and homophobic moderation tools are not built into the code of Misskey.

As the old guard of web 2.0 crumbles, the internet is changing again. whether we fall back into the ad-friendly hellhole of yesteryear or we enter a new phase of the internet's wild west depends on platform migration patterns and whether or not people develop some pretty basic web and internet literacy that's been lost over the last 20 years as the internet corporatized and users had to learn less and less about how the websites they used work. my explanation here probably has incorrect information and holes in it, but that is because i, myself, do not fully understand the total extent to which the fediverse and federated protocols operate; i, too, am a layman.

that being said, i hope this was helpful to anyone trying to figure this stuff out. i've already carved my own space on a small, invite-only instance with friends, but i've got no plans to move shop until this place really does burn down to the ground. hope that helps. good luck!

[jar-of-galaxies]

main character syndrome

im waiting in jury duty and ill probably be here for a while so i want to talk about something ive been thinking about. this might be long sorry

you probably see people all the time that act irrationally because they believe theyre different from everyone else. i think it was the voyager submersible collapse that initially brought this to my mind. disregarding the billionaire/millionaire status of the people who took part in that, they did what they did despite everyone-- LITERALLY everyone-- was telling them it was unsafe and they would die. and yet they believed they were safe, so far as to risk AND LOSE their lives doing it, all because... why? "rip to you but im different"?

ive heard this phenomenon referred to as "main character syndrome" in the past. the phenomenon for people to think contrary to everyone else because theyre the only people that know right. theyre the only one with perfect information about the situation. theyre the main character of their own life, so everyones opinions are secondary to them.

its philosophically sound, to be fair. without any proof, like, how can we verify anyone elses existence but our own? you, the person reading this-- there is no proof im """real.""" theres evidence-- i wrote the post youre reading right now-- but nothing about this intrinsically proves im real. or, yknow, """real.""" we could have a whole discussion on the definition of that word but thats not the point.

what im saying is, i think theres a line of logic that a lot of people follow that i believe to be erroneous, and thats where main character syndrome manifests itself. someone will think "im the only person that exists-- that i KNOW exists," and so they think "im the only person that can truly understand anything" or "im the only person that can be truly 'correct.'" they know they can be wrong or irrational about things, mind, but if they really believe in something... like, REALLY believe... no one else can possibly shake them out of that belief.

do you see where im going? this is the big realization that ive made recently, something that i think has made big waves in my journey through depression and anxiety. if you take one thing from this post i want it to be this:

main character syndrome can be a significant part of depression and anxiety just as much as it can be a part of overconfidence and foolhardiness.

one thing i often told myself when i was really suffering through depression was "i deserve all these bad things because i am me, and no one else is me." people can SAY im deserving of love, respect, and dignity, but they dont see the parts of me. surely, i said, if they could see the FULL picture, see me for how i see myself, then they would finally agree with me, and i would be at peace. fun fact babes-- thats fuckin main character syndrome!

i think that the force that led the people on the voyager submersible to their deaths is the EXACT same force that leads people to believe theyre irredeemable and worthless.

do i have proof of this? like, no, obviously, lol. but this thought has led me on a road of progress, i think. now when faced with an adversity or a situation that i have anxiety about, i ask myself "what if im wrong?" its not big stuff, mind, but ive become a lot more adventurous and willing to try stuff than i was a month ago simply by asking this question.

theres no moral to this story. but i dont think anyone is immune to main character syndrome anymore. i think its just a fact of life. having to balance the perceptions of yourself as The Only Person and yourself as the Part of the Whole. maybe asking the above question to yourself more often is an option? i dunno, im not a cop.

but just like, take care of yourself. take care of yourself as you would another person. you have no reason not to.

[mithliya]

Don't be a pendant and a hypocrite. On the one hand you always accuse Israelis of being Europeans (European Jews who lost two thirds of their population) and now you are pretending Israelis (almost 75% Jewish) were affected by holocaust is a lie. And if you are going to deflect by pointing out that Israel has unequal wealth distribution (like literally every other country in the world) to criticize Israel, meanwhile Hamas has a revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars and their leaders are billionaires yet Gazans rot in poverty. And there's a difference between Israel attacking Hamas targets hiding among civilians too take them out vs Hamas attacking Israeli civilians because they want to genocide the Jewish population. You don't understand the difference between war and genocide and everytime someone points out the double standards you tokenize a few Jews to keep doing the hypocrisy.

i wrote a whole thing but tumblr glitched out and honestly someone as dishonest as u doesnt deserve my time so let me summarise

true: israel was formed by european jewish people, and zionism is a european ideology.

false: israel was formed by holocaust survivours

also false: zionism was formed by holocaust survivours

also false: zionism was an ideology that came as a result of the holocaust

true: there are holocaust survivours & their descendants who live in israel today

false: the holocaust was an attack on israelis, a group of people who didnt even exist when the holocaust was ongoing

true: a huge percentage of the european jewish community was killed in a genocide (the holocaust)

false: a huge percentage of the israeli population, who again didnt exist as an entity during the holocaust, were killed in a genocide.

to anyone with two brain cells to rub together, theres an obvious distinction between claiming israel lost 2/3rds of its population to the holocaust and claiming european jewish people, many of whom are not israeli, lost 2/3rds of their population to the holocaust. the former is intentionally misrepresenting history to justify an ongoing genocide, the latter is the reality of the situation.

when you can only justify israel by pointing at hamas, then you’ve already lost. i already oppose hamas, so your counterargument doesnt work. if the bar is so low that you can only justify yourself by pointing to an extremist islamist group then perhaps you already know how morally decrepit you & your genocidal movement are. dismissing the same holocaust survivours you pretend to care for by saying its mere “income inequality” that 1/3rd of holocaust survivours in israel are impoverished shows exactly how much you care about holocaust survivours. its beyond sick using survivours of a genocide to justify another genocide, while proving that you actually dont care for those survivours to begin with.

hamas didnt exist when israel raped and massacred and expelled palestinians in 1948. it doesnt exist in the west bank, where thousands of palestinians were kidnapped & 100s killed & thousands displaced due to settler violence that is backed by the IDF. israel choosing to attack UN buildings, schools, residential buildings, hospitals, and the same “safe routes” they tell palestinians to do to with no attempts to minimise civilian casualties isnt somehow justifiable when you pretend its all done to get hamas. israel killing palestinians and injuring many more in 2018 when palestinians protested peacefully cant be justified by hamas. starving all of gaza and withholding water & fuel & electricity cant be justified by hamas. several israeli politicians outright calling for the genocide of palestinians in gaza isnt somehow justified bc of hamas.

“few jews” please keep pretending like jewish people are all pro-genocide and occupation while pretending like im the unreasonable one here.

people like you who justify genocide in the face of this much evidence are monsters, plain & simple. you are disgusting.

[lostgreekgod]

sinner's damnation: part 1

a/n: its been SO LONG. and ik I said I wont probably write anymore, but technically I wrote this like a year ago and we've only now come to finishing it. so he's my first collab and probably my last loki fanfic with my best big bro @theaudacitytowrite 😗💞

pairing: loki x f!reader, angst with some fluff in nex's part hehe

warnings: human trafficking, blood, gore, swearing. lmk if theres anything else

link to part 2

words: 4.8k (LMAO sorry)

taglist: @theaudacitytowrite @gaitwae @naterson @queenjosielaufeyson @1marvelnerd3000 @dmltnlvr

Tony Stark had passed an unnecessary comment aimed at him. Again. Loki did what he usually did in response to that. He got up and left.

A movie night meant being quiet and paying attention to said movie. But obviously, no one followed that rule. Thor had forced Loki into yet another weekend Avenger bonding time, ignorant of his protests, and the God had yet again been "teased" by none other than the billionaire. One thing Midgardians found hard to understand was the fact that no matter how inexpressive someone was, they still had feelings. Feelings that the so-called 'virtuous' Avengers entirely made a point of ignoring.

Another thing - whatever Stark did? It wasn't plain and simple teasing. It was a sly little tactic for their glorious pastime. Bored? Then taunt Loki. Try eliciting a reaction. Did his eyebrow twitch? Did he grit his jaw? Then congratulations! You've successfully won the game of tease-Loki-until-his-face-twitches.

Loki was currently packing up, fuming over the conversation he had just overheard. He was going to leave.

"Don't you think your brother might be... how do I put this? A little too uptight?" Loki heard Stark's voice from the corridors. It had been an hour since he had gotten up and walked away from the stupid movie the Avengers were watching, and he had returned to the kitchen to get his nightly cup of tea. Thor and Stark seemed unaware of his presence as they spoke about him in hushed voices.

"Nonsense," Thor boomed, although he knew he was supposed to be whispering. But obviously, he saw no need for it. He didn't care if Loki heard him. "Loki doesn't care about what you think of him. Hel, he doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. He'll be fine."

Loki grimaced. Thor was right. He didn't care what these measly Midgardians thought of him, right? He shouldn't. Then why was he so affected? Why did it anger him so much, the fact that the stupid metal man could barely contain himself without passing a rude comment at him every time?

"He lives up to his name, Anthony. He's cold-hearted, a snake. He proved that when he stabbed me at like, 8 years old."

Loki’s stomach somersaulted. Did his older brother really think of him in such a derogatory manner? He stepped closer to the wall, trying to catch the rest of their conversation.

"I keep telling Cap we can't trust him. What's worse, Capsicle knows it. Yet he's here, with us like New York never happened," Tony continued, braver than before now that Thor had participated in dissing Loki. "It won’t take long before he betrays us. Again."

Now Loki flinched. Sure, he might have been planning another escapade, but betrayal? Where would he go? Asgard? There was no one for him there. His mother's death had made that very clear. Who would he lead? He did not have an army of Chitauri to serve him this time. He didn't have anybody - no family, no army, no friends. He thought he had Thor to a certain extent but once again, he was wrong. He was alone, and he would remain alone no matter where he went. Hands shaking, he raced to his room, his cup of tea forgotten. He didn't care if his brother could hear him.

Loki wasn't one for spontaneous decisions. He was a planner. An organizer. He hated when he didn't have things planned out meticulously, but right now that was the last thing on his mind. He was leaving. He didn't know where he would go, but it was better than being stuck with people who wished for his absence. He shoved his mother's spell books into a duffel bag as he tugged on the green comforter on his bed. He knew he could conjure one with his seidr anytime, but something told him to take it along - so he did. His eyes landed on a box of his favourite assorted tea bags. Before he could think, he grabbed it. He didn't have anything else left for him in the Avenger compound. He noticed the framed picture of Thor and him on his dresser. Thor was laughing heartily as Loki scowled at him - but he remembered the warmth he felt in his chest. The love he had for his brother. The memory quickly faded when the earlier conversation replayed in his mind. Cold-hearted. Snake.

He zipped up the bag harshly and dashed out of his room. It was only a matter of time until FRIDAY notified the Avengers of his absence. He headed towards the basement, his hands still trembling. He grabbed a set of keys and clicked the button on it. When he first ended up being among the Avengers, he was sent on a mission along with Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson. He had watched how Romanoff had handled the automobile they rode in, and by the time the mission was over, he kind of had it figured out. He still had questions about the little stick on the side - how they moved it whenever the terrain changed - but he was sure he could handle it. He noticed a sleek black car that had blinked its lights in response and moved towards it. Shoving his bag in, he started the car. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he braced himself. Thor didn't deserve Loki's companionship.

"Loki!" his eyes shot open when he heard his brother's voice. Had they realized it already? He glanced in the mirror to see Thor running towards him. "What are you doing?" he yelled, his face perplexed.

Loki stepped on the accelerator, the car immediately zooming out of the parking. He glanced back at Thor using the rear-view mirror, only to see a look of betrayal on his features. His heart stung. How dare he? How dare he assume such a look when he spoke so badly of his own brother just a few minutes ago as if nothing ever happened?

The car shot out of the compound, Loki still manoeuvring it rather perfectly despite the slippery roads. He was proud of himself for being able to learn well, just from observation. That was all he had. His mind, his heart, and himself.

"Brother!" Thor's voice boomed from somewhere behind the car. Of course. Loki was no match for Mjolnir. Thor simply shot his hammer into the air, and hurray! Here he was. Loki looked out of his window to see Thor flying next to him through the ice-cold winter night, his face still donning the innocent look of betrayal. Loki felt his blood heat up in anger.

"Leave, Thor. I have nothing to say to you," Loki said, glaring at him. It was rather late in the night, and only a few vehicles were travelling on the road they were on. He was thankful for that. The speed he was going on wasn't exactly safe for a road filled with Midgardians.

"Why, brother?" Thor yelled, his hand grabbing onto the car so he could keep flying. Loki wondered how Thor felt at the moment. Did he even realize how insulting he had sounded? Did he regret talking behind his back? Did he feel even an ounce of remorse?

"You know why, Thor. I am cold-hearted. A snake." Loki sneered the last few words out, his anger riling up when the look of recognition took over Thor.

"Brother-"

"No," Loki said, interrupting whatever feeble excuse Thor was coming up with. He summoned the energy of his seidr, the green smoke covering the entire car. With a last look at Thor's regretful face, he magicked himself to a different location. He had no idea where he was, but Thor wasn't around anymore. He looked around as he slowed the car, the tall snow-covered trees against the full moon sky allowing a sort of melancholy in the air. He noticed a few snowy hills, and how the temperature was even cooler than where he was just a few minutes ago. Loki breathed deeply, the cool, fresh air letting his muscles loosen up, his ever-buzzing mind stilling for a moment. He flinched when the screen on the console began to make an irritating ringing sound.

Loki pressed on the screen haphazardly, only to freeze up when he heard Tony's voice.

"What the fuck--"

"Let me speak to him," Thor's voice butted in, as grim as ever. Loki clenched the steering wheel harder. Thor did not have any right to be mad at Loki. He didn't.

"Brother?" Thor called, waiting for him to respond. Loki contemplated cancelling the call. As his hand hovered over the 'end' button, Thor's voice rang again.

"Loki, please don't end the call," it was as if Thor knew what Loki would do. When had he become so predictable? That's right. When he started to put down his guard around the other Avengers. But what did that get him? An accusation of betrayal.

"Come back, brother. What do you think you can accomplish by doing this?" Loki inhaled sharply, his shock making him slightly woozy. No apology. Thor knew exactly why Loki had fled. Yet, he did not have it in him to apologize.

"Answer the question, Reindeer Games. We can track you anyway. You either get back here of your own free will, or we come to find you and take you back as a prisoner. Your choice." Loki would have laughed at Tony's empty threat if he wasn't so mad at Thor. Stark was a terrible liar.

"You aren't tracking me, metal man," he said, surprised at how cool his voice sounded. "My seidr masks the radio waves. My location is well uncharted to your measly technology," he sneered, wishing he could see how Tony's face would have pinked in embarrassment.  

"Loki," Thor chided again, almost hesitating. "Mother would be disappointed in you for running away," he whispered, and all the air left Loki's lungs. He could hear the rush of blood in his ears.

"How dare you," he spat, his voice a dark whisper. He hadn't sounded like this since New York. Since his mind was being controlled. "How dare you speak of Mother this way," he growled, his teeth gritting. His hands had gone cold. He stepped harder on the accelerator, not caring about the snow-covered bushes and muddy grass patches he was running the car into.

"Loki. Listen to-"

"Mother would be disappointed in you, Thor. Not me," he interrupted him again, pausing to swallow the large lump in his throat. "You're the one belittling—no, degrading his own brother. Not me." Loki's knuckles had started to turn white. He could barely see where he was going now. It seemed like a hill of sorts, but all there was were a few lone trees and a lot of green shrubs and grass.

“Guys.” Tony interrupted all of a sudden, “We need to calm down for a moment.”

“Stay out of it!” Loki snarled at Tony. He couldn’t understand Tony’s sudden urge to be the peacemaker when he was the one enabling it in the first place. Why was he suddenly so interested in mediating the situation?

“Just hear me out Loki, ok?” Tony’s change of mind and tone made Loki even warier. Stark wasn’t one to extinguish a fight, he was usually the one pouring gas into it so it could explode. The only feasible explanation Loki could think of was that Stark was getting nervous. Nervous about how the others Avengers and the general public would react once it came out that the Monster had escaped the tower. Tony surely tried to keep the damage as small as possible. And he surely wanted to try to stand in the best possible light once the news outlets got wind of it.

“Then go on, Stark,” Loki growled sharply. He had no interest in being painted as the uncooperative one who wouldn’t try to find an amicable solution to their dispute.

“We’re all at fault here.” Tony began sanctimoniously.

 “Are we?” Loki scoffed sarcastically.

“My point is, maybe all of us should calm down first before we say something we cannot take back again, ok?” Tony took it as silent approval as neither of the gods answered, “How about Loki takes a few days off? I have some safe houses around town, some near the beach, some in the valley and even some in the mountains. I’ll send you the addresses and you can choose where you want to stay. As far as I know, you haven’t had a proper vacation since you joined us, have you?”

“And I won’t be generously “punished” when I decide to return?” Loki inquired, sneering out the sentence. He was sick of them. He was sick of how high they thought of themselves as if they had jurisdiction over what Loki’s abilities were.

“We will find a solution.” Tony deflected.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, did you? ...despite stealing my car.” Tony huffed annoyed.

“I borrowed it.” Loki retorted.

“Sure, call it what you like.” Tony began to grow impatient, “Do we have a deal now or not?”

Loki pondered over his options one last time before nodding.

“I’m okay with this.” he approved, “Under one condition.”

“And that is?”

“You will not contact me. Not at all. I will have my time to think about everything and I won’t be disturbed.” Loki demanded, “I have done nothing wrong in the entirety of my stay, quite the contrary. I deserve a basic sense of trust.”

“Tony, we can’t support such-” Thor tried to chime in.

“Okay, Reindeer Games. But you’ll promise to come back.” Tony agreed.

 “Promise.” With that Loki hung up and slowed the car. He was getting exhausted using his seidr. He needed to conserve his energy. Just as his finger left the 'end call' button, he heard a rustle in the trees. His head snapped to the sound. He saw a flash of something - someone- wide eyes, irises illuminated by the car's headlights - and before he could comprehend what was happening, he had swerved his car right into the person, the car coming to a halt with screeching breaks just a little too late.

----

You had opened your eyes to a ceiling made of clay tiles. Your head was throbbing, your body aching from the hard ground you had been laid on. Where were you? Your surroundings were so dark, you had to squint to see around. Your blood ran cold when last night's events came rushing back to you.

You were just returning home late from work, shivering as the freezing air found its way under our thick coat. You had already walked more than half of your twenty-minute walk, your cheeks rosy from the cold when a stranger had asked for directions. A handsome man around your age with a dazzling smile on his face. He was charming, apologizing for his interruption of your stroll this late as he asked where to find the nearest pharmacy. He had a huge map in his hands, struggling to keep it upright as he motioned on the map. You joked with him about his ancient approach and asked if he didn’t own a smartphone, to which he simply shook his head apologetically.

“I’m Jack, by the way.” he had extended his hand for you to shake.

“Y/N.” you shook his hand hesitantly.

Despite the at-first queasy feeling in your stomach you decided to help him out. You had been raised to be polite, so it was the least you could do to help a stranger in despair. You studied his map, trying to locate where you were on the map. You scrunched your eyebrows in concentration… then in confusion. The map wasn’t from here but before you could open your mouth to inform him about it, he stepped uncomfortably close, his breath hitting your face. Your eyes wandered up from the map to his suddenly expressionless face. Your stomach dropped and you knew something was going on but before you could even pull out the pepper spray you carried with you for exactly a situation like this, something cold pressed against your ribs. Horrified you glanced down to see the dim light of the street lantern reflecting on the barrel of a gun.

"Make a squeak, and I shoot," he said, pressing the gun further into your coat.

"Move!" he snarled when you didn’t move, his eyes darted all around the streets, jittery; as if someone could catch him in the act even though the streets were empty.

"Okay, okay!" you shook yourself out of your frozen state, wobbly taking a few steps back, the gun never losing its pressure on your ribs.

"Turn around and get going," he barked, gesturing to a nearby van with his gun.

"What do you want from me?" you asked, tears welling up in your eyes. You cursed yourself for not trusting your intuition. You should’ve never stopped in the first place.

"Shut up!" he spat, his crazed gaze landing on you, “One more question, and you won’t ask another in your life.”

That was enough to let you know to shut up. The tears were falling free now. He grabbed the back of your collar and pressed the gun to your back. He pushed you out towards the car, his body covering your back when a car suddenly drove into the street.

"Wipe those fucking tears and look normal, girl, or you won't live to see another day," he whispered in your ear. Immediately palming your face haphazardly, you dried them. Pasting a smile on your face, you folded your arms against your chest and walked down the sidewalk. To the people in the car watching you, it would seem like you and your lover were heading somewhere, his embrace on you as protective as ever. They would probably 'aw' at you and wish they could have the same for themselves. But you knew better.

"Get in the car," he said, pushing you to it. The car had vanished into the next street, the road empty again, most of the lights in the flats turned off. No one to spot you. No one to ask for help. Hands shaking, you felt for the handle. You noticed how he was standing in the way of the door. Your heart welled up in hope when your brain sputtered out a plan - you could slam the door into him in the pretence of opening it and run away, as fast as possible. You snuck a glance at him, regarding that although he had his gun at you, he was still looking around in the same frazzled way. Now or never. You braced yourself before opening the door with force and slamming it into his torso. The gun fell out of his hand as he lost his balance. You didn't waste a moment. You took off immediately, darting around the other cars that were parked around. You didn't dare to look back. You heard a shot go behind you and cowered immediately, praying to whoever that this will be over soon. That you will be safe. Just as you turned around the sidewalk to head to your apartment, you crashed right into something. Someone. You fell on your backside, your eyesight going blurry for a second. You glanced up to see him again, gun pressing into your skull.

"Shortcut," he snickered triumphantly, "You can run from me but don’t think for a second you could escape.”

"What do you want from me?!” you sobbed loud, “I don’t even know you!”

"Shut up, bitch." he kicked you harshly into the side, the pain shooting into your side, robbing your air. Before you could say anything, he flipped the gun, bringing it down hard on the side of your head. All you saw next was darkness.

And then you woke up here. Gasping, you registered your surroundings - all walls, no windows. 1 door. Where was he? You ignored the pang of pain going up the side of your head as you turned around. You listened closely, trying to hear for his presence. Nothing. You were alone, in a dark empty place in the middle of nowhere.

Shuddering, you got up and reached the door. Before you could try to jimmy the door open, you heard his voice on the other side. Your whole being froze.

"Twenty grand," you heard him say, your heart in your throat. Had he heard you? Hands shaking, you inched closer, ear against the thin wood. "I won't take any less than that for the bitch, she's a real piece of work." Now that was rude. He didn’t even know you and all you had done was be kind to him. Granted, you had slammed the door into his face but solely out of self-defence.

Some rustling from the outside had you on guard again - you scurried away from the door, arming yourself with nothing but your fists. You waited. Nothing. Stepping towards the door again, you realized that the steps were fading away. He was going away from the cottage. Gasping in relief, you tried to swallow down the fresh tears from ebbing out. You needed a plan. Fast.

"Okay, I can do this. Think. Think," you whispered to yourself, wishing your head wouldn’t be throbbing as much as it did. A head injury was not something anyone should look forward to. You felt for the walls, realizing that they were made of bamboo wood. Patting around, you wondered if you could look for a weak spot in the wood, so you could kick your way out. You sank to the ground, pushing against the wood hurriedly. When your hand landed on one creaky piece, your hope skyrocketed. Maybe you could get out of this. You kicked against it, raising yourself to push it with your hand. Just as you got onto your knees and placed your hands on the wood, you slipped, nicking your palm against something sharp. You hissed, your other hand coming to nurse the wound immediately. It was something sharp... a nail. Perfect, you thought. Assuming the worst, you could at least protect yourself. You took off the fancy dress shirt you were wearing, thankful that you had worn jeans. You wrapped your injured hand with it and felt for the nail again. You held onto it tightly, the flimsy cloth giving you some sort of cushioning against the rusty nail. You tugged hard, your breathing coming in frenzied bursts. You froze immediately when you heard a rustle. Was he back?

Panicking, you shifted positions, using your feet to support you against the wall as you pulled. The rustling was getting closer. He was back. You tugged harder and harder, the repressed tears flowing free now, your wounds aching -

You fell back as the nail finally popped out. Scrambling, you hid against the wall adjacent to the door, positioning yourself to attack with the nail. Just as you forced yourself to collect your bearings, the door creaked open.

"Oh, sweetheart? You up yet?" he teased, his voice mocking as he approached your cowering form.

You lunged at him, your throat erupting in a broken war cry, impaling his shoulder. He roared in pain, his hand darting back to push you away. You reared back as all the air left your lungs. He fell to his knees, gasping, nursing his wound. You realized you had pulled the nail along with you when you lost balance. You pointed it at him and stood up, your legs shaking. You kicked him as hard as you could, eliciting a pained groan from him. He fell on his back, whimpering lightly. Still pointing the nail at him, you fumbled against the door, pushing it open and running out. You were finally free. All you had to do was find someone who could help you leave wherever you had been taken to.

As you stepped outside the cottage the merciless cold encircled you, your breath becoming visible in foggy puffs. Only now you realised that your coat was missing. You began to shiver as you hurried through the thick bushes, scrapping your arms at thorns. But there was no time of acknowledging everything that was hurting right now. You had to concentrate on running, it was vital.

After not even a few minutes of running, you heard him again. Your eyes widened as you crouched behind a tree, gasping for air. He was relentless. Couldn’t he just give up? Were you really that valuable? Sure, you made the perfect victim. Living alone in a big city, with no close friends or family around. Had that man spied on you? Studied your days and waited for the perfect moment to overpower you? You shuddered. You didn’t want to follow your line of thought further. At least not now.

Groaning, you hurried onwards, pushing yourself to run faster, worrying about how quickly the sky was darkening. You needed to find help, and fast.

You heard a sudden noise, a growl. You listened closer, hoping it wasn't a wild animal. Please don't make this worse, you prayed. You almost yelled in relief when you realized it was the rumbling sound of a car. You shot up, running towards the sound of tires against rough terrain.

"Oh, baby girl? Where are you? Get back here, you bitch!" you heard him yell, only leading you to pump your legs faster. Your hand was on fire, hurting from the cut you had gotten earlier. The blood pumping uncomfortably in your veins from running but you had no choice. You got to a pathway, dense trees suddenly clearing up, only short bushes and shrubs around you. You looked around, still listening to the car that was closing up on you. You waved at it, the headlights almost blinding you - but you could never be happier.

"Where are you, you little bitch?" your hunter growled.

Hurry, hurry. Please.

You glanced around, hoping he didn't spot you yet. You still listened as the rumbling got closer. The car was slowing down but not quickly enough. That's when you realized you had turned around to face the speeding vehicle too late. Before you could do anything, it ran right into you, the edge of the automobile pushing you off your feet, heaving all of the air right out of you. You gasped, your head once again throbbing from hitting the ground, hard. Your eyesight blurred, another lump forming in your throat. So this was the end. Just get it over with, you thought.

You shivered when you saw a silhouette above you, dark and tall. But it wasn't him. He was shorter, but this guy? His stance, the way he carried himself was itself different. It radiated power. Not the kind that forced people to cover, but the kind of power you would want to respect.

"Help," you gasped quietly, your eyesight swimming. You could barely see anything now. All that you could register in your mind was the darkness that was taking over it.

---

“Oh, dear. Oh, Hel. Please don't be dead. Not another one on my conscience.” Loki kneeled next to you, his hands shaking. “Please, please, please.” He placed his fingers on your neck, exhaling in relief when he felt a faint heartbeat.

'Help,' you had whispered to him. His eyes scanned your face, only now registering the gash on your head. As he observed your apparent lifeless form further, he noticed your unsuitable clothing for this season. What had happened to you?

He seemed to set himself on a decision. Thor really thought his own brother would be cold-blooded? No, Loki was far from that. He was going to help you.

His hand moved to the wound as he shut his eyes. Just as he summoned some of his green energy, he heard... a gunshot. Loki's eyes shot open, immediately scanning his surroundings. You had said, 'help'. Was it because someone was chasing you? Loki pondered over that for a moment before another gunshot went off. He scrambled to his feet quickly and gathered your limp body into his arms, gently placing you on the back seat of his car. He was not going to let anything hurt you.

"Where the fuck are you, you whore?" a voice called out, as menacing as ever.

Aha, so there was the 'someone' you were running from. You were just a random Midgardian - Loki didn't know you. But when someone referred to you in such a derogatory way, he couldn't help his anger from riling up. He would have gone after the man, but he had more pressing issues at the moment. He had to take you to a place where he could help you without any disturbances.

link to part 2

[tenaciouschronicler]

October 20 2024 2009

Work has been so busy with all these antiquers buying up the store. I kept up with the updates but only now have time to talk about it. So lets talk!

Wherever Jade calls home has to be Massive. The atrium has four wings making a cross or 'X' shape with a central spiral disconnected staircase leading up and down. Upstairs is her bedroom and grandfathers lab. At least one floor down is the foyer. And to just really emphazise scale, a lot of room shots are longer than the size we are used to.

Before heading up Jade captchalogues a whole bunch of fruit, but I couldnt help but notice when it was shuffled that there was no pumpkin? Its really hard to catch but I took some screenshots and yeah, no pumpkin.

It might just be oversight, but how funny would it be if somehow the pumpkin got appearified away from the sylladex.

Speaking of appearify.

???

Apparently this is a TRANZPORTALIZER and Jade uses it in lue of stairs. Great, now we have to be suspicious of her grandfather. The fractal here is different than one weve seen, but any fractal at this point is under scrutiny.

Up another flight of stairs is Jades room.

Not only is there alot going on visually, theres alot going on that sparks intrigue. Starting from the right, theres a poster with Johns green slime ghost. Its not very clear but it looks like a poster in japanese(?) of a ghostbusters knockoff video game. Next is the poster of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff with animal features Dave made. We find right next to it a bass guitar which is probably what she Actually plays. Those tentacle plushes are apparently from a show called Squiddles with the prominent purple one in the poster looking very similar to the image on Rose's shirt. The bed spread with clouds and sun is very reminicent of page 82.

Another way Jade breaks the norm is the fact this is only Half of her room. Jade here is apparently a whiz with guns. As some one with 'an uncanny knack for NUCLEAR PHYSICS' the other side has a table where she experiments with familiar looking samples of uranium. Why she has uranium in her room is concerning. Doesnt seem like the kind of thing you should be sleeping near. It does answer how it could have ended up in WVs bunker though.

I would love if we could all turn our attention to the 'broad, flat gizmo' thats also on this table. Doesnt it look suspiciously Window shaped? I wonder where weve see something like it before? (*cough* pg 305)

Its an invention of Jades 'WORLD RENOWNED EXPLORER-NATURALIST-TREASURE HUNTER-ARCHEOLOGIST-SCIENTIST-ADVENTURER-BIG GAME HUNTER-BILLIONAIRE EXTRAORDINAIRE' grandfather (geeze thats a mouthful).

But room tour over, Jade has options. Find her pet BECQUEREL and feed him, find laptop and pester John, or a secret third thing.

NOW...

What will you do?

[quirkthieves]

A member of Class A could be stuck in quicksand and begging for help Monoma would still take a few minutes to make jokes at their expense. A stray cat could beat the shit out of him and he would still be like "no it's my fault <3 i didn't read the cat's warning signs properly <3 ill stay here another few hours with some things to try and coax it out so we can get it to a vet <3" before he even remembers he should probably bandage anything bleeding

he can also be placated by the presence of animals he will be much more willing to tolerate class a's presence if theres a dog to be pet nearby. unusual animals, too. he likes to catch bugs in the summer. let your pet parakeet perch on him and the chances of an outburst drastically go down

bakugo is somewhat of an exception to this he starts getting agitated so much faster but he will tRY . to refrain. for the sake of the baby (animal)

other Monoma household pets include his mother's doberman and belgian malinois, who serve as guard dogs (and also an outlet for neito's endless energy as a child). their names are Laissez-faire (or Lacy, for short) and Bourgeoisie (or Boo/Boogie, for short). She also has a cat, a Russian Blue named Shinohara (after Japans first self-made woman billionaire), although Shinohara typically travels with Ayano.

His father also ended up saddling them with a mynah bird named Chanel, which he got for the novelty of a mimicking bird, but then can't really take care of because of his work. Monoma loves it, though.

Both brothers frequently visit home to check in on the animals, and help has always been hired to help out with it.

It's a zoo in there. But the strangest animals there are the four bipedal primates wandering around

[stolasstanforlife]

Part two of fun things I screenshot during Full Moon while watching at .25 speed

This missing imp looks familiar and its driving me crazy.

None of these background imps are familiar to me and that's cool because I like to keep my eye out for them. Also the blue purple glasses are cool!

So going over this area i first noticed the West St Bank. I'm absolutely shit at geography so my brain said ah this is telling me this is the west bank... I have no idea where that is besides USA. I'm sure other people have knowledge though so I am putting out the information more clearly and directly so actually smart people can figure out what it means lmao. Besides the west st Bank zooming in you can see posters and one of them appears to have a violen on it. Another sign leading into what looks like a parking garage says 14th w st. Another building has a sign that starts live laugh and another word that i can't figure out. Maybe lasagna? I have spent so long looking at those squiggles. The red car has a license plate that reads MILF. Cassettes R Us closing down always. There's a rent poster, ice cream poster, and I think a missing cat poster. The door to the cassette store, I couldn't get a good picture, or a full view, but it says something % off something orewide so I'm guessing 100% off storewide or 90 99 something like that.

Theres a meat and deli store with a cute chef mascot. There's beaukays Florist & Gifts. Coming this summer Billionaires Beware.

DHORKS have something against magicians by the way. They are not permitted. Dunno what that's about but I want to.

[animecharacter]

if anyone's on here bc twitter DDOSed itself (this is the funniest thing in the world) and was thinking about giving mastodon/fediverse another crack but feels real wary about how many fucking servers with random Just Some Guy admins there are.... there's room for a few people to sign up on my tiny server pigeon place that i started a few weeks ago

i haven't written a full TOS yet but you guys know what to expect from me lol. its currently running vanilla mastodon so there aren't many cool features but next month i will be switching hosts so i can add in fun stuff like 50k character limits and more custom css

its fun over here i promise! its not run by an incompetent billionaire!! theres no n*zis!

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

theres a lot of different ways people have illustrated the greed and evil of billionaires from visual portrayals of how big a billion actually is to comparing their philanthropy and how much money they have to highlighting the sufferings of those theyve exploited, and theyre all great demonstrations in of themselves.

but one i dont see quite as often is comparing the charitable works of every day people to that of billionaires. i think part of it is that a billionaire can donate more money to charity in one click of a finger than i can in my entire life, but i think another part is a combination of not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth while also not wanting to rock the boat.

a great example of that is the fact that you cant criticise mr beast/jimmy donaldson without people pushing it aside with the notion of "hes helping people" or "the guy could cure cancer and youd find something to criticise about it", which are endlessly frustrating and engaging with your criticism in bad faith.

but outside of him, youll see versions of it across the board for any philanthropic rich person. people automatically assume your criticism is coming from a cynical point of view, and often that you dont ever take part in charitable acts yourself.

and it is endlessly frustrating to run into that attitude every damn time like youre a dog running into that same glass door. because there is very valid criticism to be made about it.

because most of the time, these people could use that money to make lasting structural changes. i mean, the UN estimates you could end world hunger with $6billion, but no billionaires attempted to. on a smaller scale, you can build shelters or youth hubs or rehab facilities, or you could invest in ongoing work to help people out of poverty or improve local education or help people get better healthcare. or even just put your money where your mouth is and financially back the people trying to make these structural changes.

but these so-called philanthropists dont because systematic changes arent what they actually want. theyre this rich because of the system.

and their philanthropy is a form of propaganda; they want you to think the system is unchangeable and that your only options for improving your life is working yourself to the bone or for some kindly rich person to take pity on you and just hand you the money you need. the system is fucked, but the rich are good people who just want to help. this isnt some hot take, ro ramdin made a great video about mr beast specifically regarding this sort of thing. müne cat also has a video about it which is basically a 30 minute rant from her stream.

i know why you dont see the comparison of billionaire philanthropy to every day charity that often, and its because you have to preface the entire thing with the explanation that i just had to make, because most people dont want to think further than "give money to charity is good". i think part of that is people not realising everything is political, but thats a discussion for a different post.

originally, i started writing this just to get something out of my head. two days ago, i asked my mom if she still had the trumpet i accidentally stole from school (long short story) because id been thinking about the fact like, i could flog that for £200 and £200s a good bit of money. during the conversation, it came up that one of our neighbours had bought an empty guitar case from a charity shop for a fancy dress party, and all thoughts of flogging it were suddenly gone from my mind.

because it reminded me that i could donate it to a charity shop or find a local musical program aimed towards giving poorer kids a chance to learn how to play an instrument. and like, how could i flog it when i could do just a little bit of good with it.

a similar thing happened with these big marvel pictures i had in my room as a teenager. idk how much money theyd go for but they werent cheap when we bought them. but then my mom found this local charity where you could donate items that theyd then auction off and that money went directly to the local foodbank, and so thats where they went.

and this isnt for me to be like hey how good of a person i am; i do not give a shit about that. its about the fact that this mindset is directly opposed to that of billionaires and to neoliberalism in general.

you cant earn a billion dollars by being a good person, we all know that. but i do think a great illustration of it is to compare those billionaires with the people who run your local food bank or run charity drives or the people who put free period products in public bathrooms or the local deli owner who lets unhoused people eat for free.