#but if it keeps someone else from getting scammed then it served it's purpose

[faehrnem]

Alright, I usually don't engage in this type of shit since I try to stay away from drama best I can, but I am the friend that sent Six messages recounting my experiences with Galactic Stars. Initially, Stars contacted me on anon regarding a character of his and mine respecting lesbians (hell yeah brother), and after mentioning in the tags on the ask I was unaware of what character was being referred to, Stars messaged me through tumblr chat and shared the character in question. Totally harmless at first, in fact I love when people tell me about their characters, so I was happy to have a chat with Stars.

More details under the cut.

Soon after our initial meeting, Stars inquired about my commissions and if I accepted GW2 gold as payment. Currently I do not, but our conversation started off friendly and I thought it'd be a nice gesture to accept. I came to regret this decision very quickly.

Make a BIG mental note of Stars clearly stating "I can pay IN FULL, UP FRONT" after I mentioned the payment options. Tack onto that note with Stars bringing up the date he gets paid on, (7/14/23).

This is where the initial doubts began, but because I'm currently in a bit of a vulnerable spot, I overlooked the red flags that Stars literally waved right in front of my face. I ignored my gut feeling due to no longer having friends who actively play GW2, and because I've been incredibly desperate to get back into playing with somebody.

In the second message of these screenshots I took, Stars refers to Six as one of his characters, Titania (which is weird to call somebody by the name of their OC when I literally never saw him go by that name but oh well lol), and how he hoped him and Six no longer being on good terms was the very first thing that made me a little suspicious.

I still stand by the statement that I don't really mind if people I know don't get along ONLY if they remain civil, but unknown to me at the time Stars' 'falling out' with Six is because they were and still are a lying scammer 🤷‍♂️

In an attempt to carry on the conversation, I recounted my own unfortunate experiences with guildies I met through tumblr, and in the last message Stars says my situation was 'surprisingly similar to what happened between me and Six," even though Stars was removed from the NA CC for the repeated offenses listed above. The friend I was recalling didn't like that I prioritized spending time with my then boyfriend over my friends, which is completely different.

Of course, to make light of the situation, I also went into my own past friendships from when I was younger where I had friends 2-3 years younger refer to me as 'dad'. Being a father figure is different from what actually happened with Stars and the younger friends he had, where one of those friends goes into details in the next screen.

Keep in mind this entire conversation happened all in the same first couple of days Stars initially sent me a tumblr message, so him bringing up being accused of something so serious almost seemed like a bizarre way of enticing pity from me, especially after I had JUSt met him.

This part of our conversation made sense after I messaged Six, where below is a message Six received from one of the younger members and their experience with Stars. Keep in mind that this screenshot is not my own, nor do I have any ways of backing up these claims, but the coincidence would make a lot of sense.

This went on for around 30 minutes until Stars' friend left, where Stars asked if I would stream the sketches for his commission, and I agreed to do so. After finishing up the artwork (which was two different poses he wanted to choose from) we left chat and things continued on in DMs.

More basic conversation is continued on tumblr before we added each other on discord, where I joined Stars' discord group and hopped into voice chat with Stars and a friend of his. They go into detail about what happened in the NA CC server where multiple people began throwing around accusations of not paying for his commissions as well as ragging on Six, stating how Six and others ignored the 'receipts' Stars and his friend possessed proving his innocence (al thought they were never shown to me) and brought back up being wrongfully accused of pedophilia.

Most of our conversations consisted of Stars spamming me with his Guild Wars characters or stuff about LoZ, which in itself was pretty harmless, but after 10+ messages every single day of the same stuff on top of me already trying to ignore my doubts in pursuit of making a friend, I felt incredibly overwhelmed by his presence and chose to remain offline to avoid him.

Here are screenshots of all the times Stars mentioned payment. If you took note of the original date and amount Stars said he could pay, it won't take you long to see the inconsistencies that piled up over the ~3 weeks I knew him. July 14th, which landed on a Friday, was different from the sudden date change of Wednesday, July 12th.

After the first payment of 100g, I sent it back to Stars and told him I was too busy to continue with the commission. This is when I messaged Six, where he confirmed all my suspicions, and I blocked Stars shortly after.

I will say I never intended for the messages I sent to Six to be used as any form of evidence otherwise I would've been more concise and went into more detail, but I was three days off my meds and rightfully pissed that I trusted Stars regardless of all the shit that set off my nerves.

For those jumping on Six's case due to me talking about Stars expressing romantic intentions, on top of everything else that had rubbed me the wrong way, the confession Stars made literally only a week after we added each other on discord seemed very sudden for someone I have only talked to in voice chat twice. The main reason it creeped me out was from a video Stars sent me a few days prior-

Link to the tiktok here- and to recap, the video is of a tiktok where a person is doing a tarot reading for someone I assume is a follower of theirs, so it and everything said in the video has absolutely nothing to do between me and Stars.

An AI voice reads as follows:

"There is a new friendship coming along that will be helping you to 'spread your wings'.

At first, you may not expect them to become a friend,

But this individual is going to balance you out extremely well in terms of interests, goals, hobbies, etc.

This friendship after giving it a chance is going to be inspiring too,

This person will remind you of what it feels like to manifest goals and dreams,

I also see them being there for you in terms of prepping details and steps to something so you're not too stressed,

This individual may have major Cancer placements and you may meet them through a hobby related event,

Give this person a chance"

Stars sent me this video only four days after talking on discord and to me, it felt a little more than slightly manipulative- almost like him passively saying WILL be my friend. You are going to do all these things for me, because I am giving YOU a chance.

So, after that tiktok and Stars' offhanded confession, I knew I no longer wanted to pursue business with him, nor continue the very strange attempted friendship.

For those who have come to Stars' defense, yes, people CAN change. The screenshots Six re-shared are old, but in combination with the current ones I'm leaving here, just look between all the similarities between the experiences all these people have had with Stars. Stars is the common denominator, no matter how much Stars nor his friends deny that fact to themselves and to others.

There are far too many coincidences with what I had went through with Stars and those within the NA CC server, which I never knew of or was even a part of. Does this prove that Stars still hasn't learned from the past and that he continues to be a risk for anybody taking commissions? Maybe or maybe not, but I encourage everyone reading to connect the dots for themselves and come to their own conclusions.

All and all, everything that happened with Stars hurt me pretty deep. As it is, I don't have many friends to begin with, and letting someone into my life and trusting them when I almost knew I shouldn't set me right back to where I began- reluctant to try making new friends in fear of shit like this happening again.

Anyways, that's it from me. Do with all this what you will.

hi i didnt think id have to do this again but apparently 3 whole years hasnt changed a thing

This is a warning for artists about discord user galacticstars, ingame name Cryptic.6738, and their url on tumblr changes too often to keep track of but their last one was something along the lines of galaticstarsposts

If this person contacts you, don’t try to start anything just don’t engage. Your time and effort ain’t worth it.

we made a post warning people about them in 2020 but it’s since been lost to time and url changes and i can’t find the other post that surfaced about them a while back but other can corroborate the claims im about to make here.

This user does not pay their commissions, and will repeatedly come up with excuse upon excuse as to why they can’t pay, will refuse to pay in real money and instead insist on paying with ingame gold (which is worthless btw), and spam whoever they’re commissioning with changes to the piece they want or changing their commission altogether.

They will make claims about how we unfairly banned them from Character Club [CC], and will claim that we said they were a “pedo”. We did no such thing and banned them for not paying their commissions, and violating the server’s harassment policies despite multiple warning from the moderation.

screenshots from the original callout below, apologies to low quality but country boys make do.

Keep reading

[punkpandapatrixk]

Full Wolf Moon in Leo ♦︎ Moon Magick Pick A Card

Heey~ The Full Moon is in Leo!🦁The first thing that intuitively comes to mind with this aenergy is the Solarpunk Society!🌞Leo is ruled by the Sun and this 5th House aenergy talks about our hobbies and passions which are essentially the foundation of our great enterprise—of which energy can be understood by our Midheaven/10th House.

When you really think about it, children dwell in the realm of the 5th House with play and pretend. This whole play and pretend actually contains hints and signs about how they should go about making connections in the world (7th House dealings) so they form bonds with people and enterprises that support the manifestation of their honest desires. Hohoh, ideally speaking it should be like that but what’s ideal in this world anyway?🍣

This Full Wolf Moon in Leo brings invitation for you to look into your 5th House placements as well as where your Sun sign falls in your natal chart, for they carry information that can help you understand your place in the world when you’ve grown up (10th House realm). Everybody was born into this world with a purpose, right? No matter how small or big or if that purpose is meant for a small community or a big society.

A person’s true power does truly come from a clarity of purpose. That’s what the kingly Leo aenergy is all about anyway. You can only be King because you’ve sworn to serve your people and make sure they live happily and abundantly. Well, ideally. This Full Wolf Moon in Leo invites you to look at your hobbies and natural talents, and see if you can monetise those interests in the service of yourself, first and foremost, and then others.

There is so much more to Life than just going where the money dictates, or like, earning your keep through scamming or intimidating others, don’t you think? What do you want to express? How do you want to be remembered when you’re gone? What’s your enterprise and what legacy will it leave? Most of all, what makes you happy, content, fulfilled, satisfied with your own existence whilst still being alive in that carcass of an avatar that your Soul is wearing?👻

Passion is to be lived and potentials explored. Wait no more for the mood to strike or until you’ve got it all figured out. Just start now with whatever you have, whatever you can, and watch yourself grow. Have faith in your innate hobbies and interests for the whole world is just a stage where you perform magnificent deeds for all to watch🎪

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Pile 1 – Keep Calm and Change Paradigms

h o b b i e s – Queen of Cups

You are by nature someone who has aesthetic hobbies. Your tastes are expensive and you care a lot about the beauty aspect of all that you do. I sense you also love giving gifts and your gifts are always thoughtful and beautifully packaged/decorated. The kind of gifts that you know the receiver needs, has wanted for a long time, or could improve their Life. You’re kind and caring like that. Sometimes, to a point of wearing yourself out. This Full Wolf Moon in Leo invites you to relax a bit.

This is a time to give all your attention and affection to yourself before anybody else. It feels like you haven’t done so in a while. Let yourself relax and not socialise too much, not attend to other people’s businesses or weddings or birthdays or whatever. For now, it’s all about you until the next New Moon at least :D You can go and get a massage all by yourself, watch a movie by yourself, or take up an interesting class all by yourself as well. You could meet new people who could potentially give you a fresh perspective about yourself, your place in the world, or your Life’s future trajectories. Whoa.

p a s s i o n – VI The Lovers Rx

Some of you reading this may indeed, by nature, like to socialise but I sense it is mostly a duty you feel you must fulfil—like maintaining an image or something. Some others may socialise simply to fill some kind of void—because you don’t really know what human beings are supposed to do if they don’t socialise? Yeah, a weird psychology like that. In truth, your Soul likes to be alone. And in terms of working and all that stuff, you kinda need to carve your own path, honestly.

Not saying that people can be completely solitary and thrive in business or work. Of course, we all need people. But before you go on and about making connections with people who don’t really matter, you need to get clear about what kind of enterprise you want to build for yourself, or basically, what kind of contribution you want to be making to society, or just your community. Since you clearly have a penchant for beauty and you like to care for other people, these vibes can hold hints for what it is your Soul wants you to do in this world.

e n t e r p r i s e – 10 of Wands

Some forms of career I’m seeing with these vibes—and these are just vibes, OK? Nurse, flight attendant, health consultant, nutritionist, author, interior designer, wedding planner, hotelier, restauranteur, even a beauty salon or massage parlour owner. There’s a lot about you that screams beauty and relaxation. Your Soul, generally speaking, wants to live a Life of play and relaxation which in some other ways help others have an easier time. Of all the jobs I’ve mentioned, nurse and flight attendant vibes feel the strongest for these people are in the service of making other people have an easier time, a good time, a comfortable recovery or flight. It’s that kind of vibe.

There’s a need for you to pursue a higher career in which your service to the world involves how you yourself transform the way you approach hard work. Hard work that can be just hard play in which you get paid for doing things you would otherwise do unpaid anyway, so~ This Full Moon, do consider which hobbies of yours are your true Soul’s Calling for making the world a better place whilst getting paid for it. A voice in your heart is saying, ‘Fuck hustle culture. People need to heal from the traumas of society and the bullshit of the education system!’

full moon self-care🔻🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

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Pile 2 – Emulate and Generate a New You

h o b b i e s – Knight of Cups Rx

You know when people say, ‘Fake it till you make it’? It’s valid and has some grounding but my advice to you is, don’t do that. Don’t fake any shit if you wanna be great. That line of thought would not benefit your manifestation in the long run. Or rather, that kind of thinking slows down your manifestation and when it does happen, it’s lower in quality. Witches need to be more aware of how they think when working with manifestations. A higher way of thinking about transforming yourself—whether it involves a physical glowup or the glowup of your mindset, etc.—is emulate, modulate, and then regenerate a newer/higher/nobler/sparklier/awesomer version of yourself~🐣

The reason that you shouldn’t follow the ‘fake it till you make it’ line of thought is that you’re a genuine Soul with a heart made out of passion itself. You’re so much more original than you, or your environment, give yourself credit for. It feels like you haven’t really allowed yourself to fully embrace your own authenticity and so this Full Wolf Moon in Leo is reminding you of your own capacity for being the most iconic bitch in your neighbourhood🦚

p a s s i o n – 3 of Pentacles Rx

And so, what does it matter if others can’t understand what you’re trying to do with your Life? It’s your Life, babe. Other people have their own worlds to live in and if you don’t want to be part of that small world, you’re free to leave. It’s perfectly OK when even those closest to you, those you’ve trusted and depended all this time, can’t understand your passions or life’s priorities because they’re not exactly meant to be part of the world of your visions. Let them do them and you do you. Awesome people need losers to step upon so we look awesome. They can serve their purpose as losers and mediocre shits and you serve your purpose as an iconic Queen. OK? Got it? Good😝

This Full Wolf Moon in Leo is inviting you to imagine what kind of tribe you actually want to have whilst being alive. Your imaginations and daydreams hold the key to manifesting your real Soul Tribe. The more you think about them, the more strongly you believe in that you’re deserving of your ideal friendships, the faster you manifest your actual Soul Tribe in the physical. Your Higher Self is just here reminding you that you do have a few circles of Soul Tribe you’re meant to find and reunite with!🦄

e n t e r p r i s e – 9 of Cups

Many of you choosing this Pile have an interest in being seen by a larger public, right? A majority of you already have some semblance of a social media presence and more of you will eventually do the same. Some of you reading this are literally meant to become some kind of a new age superstar or something. You do have a purpose in being seen by the public, or just this idea of having a social media platform what enables you to connect with an audience. It isn’t vanity; bitch, it’s literally part of your Life Purpose🦋

You’re perfectly supported by your Higher Self to choose to go solo, somewhat, and build your social media empire. You could be selling products or services or be whatever—the possibilities are endless at this point—and one day, when you’re rich and content with your Life, some people from the past are gonna turn to mushy jelly. But what do you care now? You’ve got an audience that fulfils your heart because they genuinely love and appreciate what you do. You won’t be needing anybody’s approval anymore~😎Call me when you’re famous LOL

full moon self-care🔻🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

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☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 3 – Born to be Rich, Born to be of Service

h o b b i e s – Knight of Wands

Admit it—you’re blessed with a plethora of talents since birth and you’re damn good at many of those innate abilities because you’re intelligent as fuck!🤩Naturally, not that many people are lucky enough to know what it feels to be you. But with so many talents, I sense you’ve also suffered from a great deal of heavy expectations put upon you by…yourself? You’re quite hard on you, you know. You expect a lot out of yourself. This urge to do great things in the world is only your Higher Self’s nudge for you to recognise this potential of yours—to become a motherfucking GOAT🐐

Rest assured, if you’ve chosen this as your main pile, there’s a veeery specific role you’re meant to fulfil in this world, in this passage of time. Some of you could’ve known what this role is since you were born and some of you will just naturally figure this out as you grow older. Don’t fret, my dear. You really are meant for a very unique, unorthodox existence, and seeing as the world is rapidly heading towards chaos, your time to shine is only drawing nearer and nearer as the People are growing desperately in need of an exemplary Rebel of the New World!🥨

p a s s i o n – 8 of Pentacles

Anyhow, you didn’t study a lot at school, right? LMAO You weren’t exactly what people would call a model student. You were always just doing your own thing—whether it was daydreaming or reading or drawing or playing video games. You were drowning in your own world—visions, silly daydreams—all because your Soul was trying to remind you what you came here to do. You were never meant to fit in. You’re here only temporarily and whilst at it, you’re supposed to be a freak. Ah, yes, a freako, indeed. You’re supposed to push, even break, boundaries. Because most Human beings live such boring existence.

You weren’t supposed to be a model student, but rather, a model Human. Bitch, you’re THE prototype! You were born to be of service through your own personal experiences with ego death and transform yourself to be the physical embodiment of the divinity that is your Higher Self. Perfectly embodied in Human form—in that sense, you’re a prototype of a highly more positively-polarised future possibility of Mankind. Shit, I hope that makes sense.

e n t e r p r i s e – 4 of Pentacles Rx

One day, when you’re proudly walking the path meant for your Highest Intended Good, you will be helping others financially or at least you will be lifting people up from the common affliction of a poverty mindset—different types, all kinds of poverty mindsets. You’ve got a talent, some kind of swag about you that can inspire SASS, even pettiness, that is of the more empowering variant. You’ll be showing people how to be unapologetically themselves and how you can’t be shaken by stupid opinions because you’re clear about your self-worth.

You do understand a lack of self-worth is also a form of ‘poverty’ mindset, right? Your enterprise in the future will have you in communication, direct or indirect, with a loooot of people. Even your own family members will find you incredibly inspiring. Many of you reading this…this is your confirmation that you’re THE cycle breaker of your lineage’s generational karma. You’ll become the first celeb, the first university graduate, the first billionaire, the first president, the first whatever awesome thing in your recent lineage that you’re meant to be, and you’ll be so proud of yourself!🥂

full moon self-care🔻🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

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☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

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[hahahahawk]

Rule of Blood/Nature Blushing

Words of Radiance re-read

It’s been a few weeks since I last indulged in the Cosmere, so when I picked up at Rule of Blood, a rare Sadeas chapter, I approached it as if it was the opening chapter of a new book.

(Well, I actually picked up partway through “Boots”, but that scene is so memorable it doesn’t gain too much on re-read. And it’s so disconnected from “Rule of Blood”, both in tone and context, that they might as well be in different books)

Imagining that I knew nothing about Sadeas or Amaram or Adolin, “Rule of Blood” makes for a decently compelling entry point. While the pace is, hm, stately, the chapter makes a good dossier of Sadeas. We see his opinions on the Kohlin family, other high princes, the Parshendi, bridge crews, plus a clear look at his own ambition. Plus a look at his wife and her position in his scheming.

So on the one hand, if “Rule of Blood” was the first chapter of a random novel *without* Sanderson’s name on the cover, I’d 100% keep reading. On the other hand, as someone who has invested countless hours in the Cosmere, this chapter adds little to my understanding.

To navel-gaze in the middle of those two hands, I’m going to conclude that this chapter is here to serve a purpose that balances those two opinions. It’s mostly a recap, but placed here to a) break up two Shallan chapters that couldn’t be combined into one and b) re-ground the reader in the politics of the war camps right before they become relevant again.

Plus, by having it in Sadeas’s POV instead of Adolin or Dalinar, it’s priming the reader with an “outsider” perspective. Once Shallan arrives, she will be deeply immersed in the Kohlin camp (even if she’s not staying there), and we’re already familiar with Kaladin, Adolin, and Dalinar within that camp. So seeing the war camps from a different POV acts as a “neutral” establishing shot. Sadeas isn’t objective by any means, but he’s apart from the clique of our main cast.

Conclusion: Rule of Blood is B roll footage that isn’t new information, but it is a valuable transition in multiple functional ways.

***

Nature Blushing

This is a pure microcosm of the Shallan/Tyn relationship. Tyn is the most right and the most wrong she ever is.

Tyn’s completely off the mark about the depth (and even existence) of Shallan’s trauma (in a way we’ll see echoed in Kaladin’s skepticism of it as well), but she offers a playbook of how Shallan should enact her ‘scam’ once she reached the war camps, which Shallan follows exactly (to great success).

What would the story be like if Tyn didn’t die?*

If Tyn was still around, would it have prevented Veil from emerging?

Would we have ended up with a situation where the Ghostbloods/underworld got the “real” Shallan and Adolin got Veil? Except Veil prefers Kaladin, and that connection is not complicated by the boots encounter. Hmm! And it gets extra-extra complicated when Jasnah comes back.

I already see holes in that direction.

Besides not being involved in Jasnah’s death, what else would have to change for Tyn to remain a character? She’s wholly lacking the humility to allow Shallan to have leadership over her. Tyn would have to go through a separate humbling experience, separate from Shallan, be put in a situation where she needs to (is willing to) ask Shallan for help.

But still, the two women have such different interests and values. Tyn might have to be hurt by specifically Amaram in order for her to truly be Shallan’s ally.

The more I think about it, the less I’m invested in this alternate timeline.

—

* hmm. The last time I asked this about a character, it was about Kabsal, who is *also* dead because of Shallan (though not quite so directly). Death rides with her almost more closely than it does with Kaladin. Certainly in a more personal way. Kal would be mad to hear me describe it like that, but I stand by it.

[julius-novachrono]

I’m a little bit halfway through S3 of Shameless and I just gotta get some shit off my chest:

* You can really tell when a show is written and run by white people only and on Shameless it’s glaringly obvious

* Frank is the most repulsive character I’ve seen in my entire life. I don’t give a single shit what his childhood was like that does not excuse in any way whatsoever the way he treated his kids, or the insanely fucked up shit he did for money. The show would have been better if at the end of every episode he got the living shit beaten out of him.

* Random ass mini plots are briefly introduced, serve no purpose to further the plot whatsoever and then they’re just randomly done away with (Ethel, Molly, Jody, Hymie, etc).

* These kids do some shitty things yet never face real consequences because they’ve had a shitty life so that gives them a pass to do as they please?? From stealing, scamming, kidnapping, almost killing somebody, and making false allegations of sexual assault. Like come on now let’s be serious here.

* SPEAKING of sexual assault it’s wild to me how sexual assault against minors is rather frequently incorporated into the show and no one bats an eye as if it’s no big deal???? Ian and Kash, Ian and Jimmy’s dad, Frank and Karen, Mandy and her dad, Lip and the convicted child rapist, Debbie and the man masturbating on the bus. I mean when they found out about Ian and Jimmy’s dad they made it a bigger deal out of that man being gay that being a whole ass PEDOPHILE??!?! I mean is the show trying to push the message that sexual assault is more prevalent in poor communities? Because they don’t have to keep pushing more of these scenarios I think we get the point by now.

* Fiona better person than me cuz ain’t no fucking way in hell I would have taken care of all those kids since I was in elementary school and I sure as fuck would not hable accepted being their guardian. That pussy must be something else for Jimmy to stick around as much as he did.

* Of all the sexy scenarios to recreate, they really had V and Kev do not just race play but do the slave/master bit specifically? Like I said, an all white writer’s room.

* Lip’s annoying as fuck.

* Someone please get Carl some help.

* Wild that Liam could have gone to a good home but then Fiona had to put on her savior cape on and drag him back to that shithole.

* Other than William’s acting chops for making such a believably despicable character, idk how else this show was nominated for awards so many times. It’s just trauma porn it’s nothing that we haven’t seen a thousand times before.

[loadednachosao3]

so someone in the comments of WBWH asked what a/b/o designations the other BCS characters are in my fic universe, and I think I gotta answer! under a cut just in case you don't want spoilers (though idk yet exactly which of these other characters will appear in the story proper, so don't get your hopes up, lol)

fun for worldbuilding anyway! subject to change if I find something else that works better later on. let's dive in:

Gus - omega. and a bit of a complex situation! he came to the cartel initially as an open omega, and Max was his bonded alpha partner. Hector almost killed HIM instead of Max, but got A Look from Eladio and switched it up at the last second, realizing that Eladio would rather have a heartbroken omega to control than an enraged mourning alpha. (bad decision, since Max probably would've turned out less ruthless.)

he's openly omega in his civilian persona, but alpha in his cartel one. so, most people who know him assume he's an alpha pretending to be an omega for his cover, when really he's an omega pretending to be an alpha pretending to be an omega... inception! does that even make any sense?

Victor and Tyrus - alphas, btw.

Mike - alpha, but he pretends to be a beta. does anyone in this universe own what they are? anyway... Mike dislikes the alpha posturing bullshit, always has. he was open about it when he was a cop, but after moving to Albuquerque, decided to get a fresh start as a mild-mannered beta parking lot attendant. they tell Kaylee it's not something you should normally lie about (since she knew him from before he moved), but sometimes pop pops want to keep things private. she has no trouble keeping the secret.

Kim - alpha. she doesn't often show it when she's not with Jimmy, though. she's been browbeaten into putting up with people's shit her whole life, and as a result, she feels insecure about being openly alpha. when she gets into public defense, she downplays it even more, thinking it'll help put her clients at ease. dislikes the aggressive alpha lawyer stereotype.

Jimmy - omega. but he's never let that stop him, despite the aforementioned "lawyers are/should be alphas" stereotyping. he's the omegaverse equivalent of what we'd know as nonbinary: doesn't really care about designations one way or the other, and will pretend to be anything if it serves his purposes (real-world equivalent being akin to my gender, "whatever's funniest for the bit"). if it helps him scam someone, he can be your angle or yuor devil alpha or your omega.

as Saul Goodman, he markets himself as "Better Call Saul - the omega that KNOWS how to FIGHT for your RIGHTS! hi, I'm Saul Goodman, and I know a thing or two about being OPPRESSED! about having THE MAN say you're not WORTH DEFENDING! well, I believe that every alpha, beta, and omega in this country has rights..." etc. etc.

Howard - beta. considered a nepo baby because of this. ol' Howard couldn't alpha his way to the top, so he had to have his father hire him, or at least, that's what they say. he doesn't pretend to be something he's not, though. he's not ashamed of who he is, and his clients and coworkers (more or less) respect him for that, if nothing else.

Chuck - alpha. the picture of the alpha attorney stereotype in his prime. Jimmy used to resent him for "stealing all the alpha genes outta mom's womb," but after Chuck telling him about 400 times that the father's sperm are what determines the sex of the baby, he gave it up and got over it. the fact that he's not "living up to his gender" after getting sick weighs on him heavily. toxic alphalinity!

Domingo/Krazy-8 - beta. by the BrBa timeline, he'll have switched to masquerading as an alpha.

and not all of the Salamancas may be as they seem... :)

that's all the major names I can think of right now! hope this entertained/enlightened!

[cashygophones]

Sell Old Gaming Consoles | Cash in Your Used PS4, PS3

Introduction

Are you looking to clear out some space and make some extra cash? Selling your old gaming consoles could be the solution you've been searching for. In this article, we'll explore the process of selling old gaming consoles and why it's a smart move for gamers.

Why Sell Your Old Gaming Consoles?

Advantages of Selling Old Consoles

Old gaming consoles sitting around collecting dust serve no purpose. By selling them, you not only free up space but also put some extra money in your pocket. Additionally, someone else gets to enjoy the console, giving it a new lease on life.

Environmental Impact

Disposing of electronic waste responsibly is crucial for environmental sustainability. By selling your old gaming consoles, you contribute to the circular economy by extending the lifespan of these devices and reducing electronic waste.

Preparing Your Gaming Console for Sale

Before listing your console for sale, it's essential to ensure it's in the best possible condition.

Cleaning and Maintenance Tips

Giving your console a thorough clean can significantly increase its appeal to potential buyers. Dust off the exterior, clean the controller, and ensure all ports are free from debris.

Resetting to Factory Settings

Resetting your console to factory settings removes your personal data and restores it to its original state. This step is crucial for protecting your privacy and ensuring a smooth transition for the new owner.

Researching the Market

To get the best price for your old gaming console, it's essential to research the market thoroughly.

Finding the Right Platform to Sell

There are numerous online platforms available for selling used gaming consoles. Research each platform's fees, audience, and selling process to determine the best fit for your needs.

Understanding Pricing Trends

Take the time to research recent sales of similar consoles to gauge their market value accurately. Consider factors such as condition, included accessories, and demand in your pricing strategy.

Selling Process

Once your console is ready for sale, it's time to create a compelling listing and navigate the selling process.

Creating an Appealing Listing

Include high-quality photos and a detailed description highlighting your console's features and condition. Be honest about any flaws or issues to build trust with potential buyers.

Negotiating with Buyers

Be prepared to negotiate with potential buyers to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Consider factors such as shipping costs and payment methods when negotiating the final price.

Ensuring Secure Transactions

Protect yourself and the buyer by using secure payment methods and shipping options with tracking and insurance. Confirm receipt of payment before shipping the console to avoid scams.

Maximizing Your Profit

There are several strategies you can use to maximize the profit from selling your old gaming console.

Adding Value with Accessories

Including additional accessories such as controllers, games, or cables can increase the perceived value of your console and justify a higher asking price.

Timing Your Sale Strategically

Keep an eye on market trends and consider timing your sale during peak buying seasons or promotional periods to maximize your chances of selling at a higher price.

Alternatives to Selling

If selling your old gaming console isn't an option, there are alternative ways to dispose of it responsibly.

Donating Old Consoles

Consider donating your old console to a charity or community organization. Your donation could bring joy to someone in need and support a good cause.

Recycling Options

If your console is no longer functional or suitable for donation, explore recycling options available in your area. Many electronics retailers offer recycling programs for old devices.

Conclusion

Selling your old gaming consoles is a win-win situation. Not only do you free up space and earn some extra cash, but you also contribute to environmental sustainability by giving your console a new life. Take the time to prepare your console properly, research the market, and follow best practices for a smooth selling experience.

Unique FAQs

Can I sell my old gaming console if it's not working?

Yes, there are platforms where you can sell non-functional consoles for parts or repair projects.

Do I need to include original packaging when selling my console?

While original packaging can increase the value of your console, it's not always necessary for a successful sale.

Are there any fees associated with selling on online platforms?

Most online selling platforms charge a fee or commission for each sale. Be sure to factor these fees into your pricing strategy.

How can I ensure a secure transaction when selling my console online?

Use secure payment methods such as PayPal or escrow services and choose shipping options with tracking and insurance.

What should I do with personal data stored on my console before selling it?

Reset your console to factory settings to erase all personal data and ensure the privacy of the new owner.

[fandomentanglement]

Ancient Internet Safety Protocol

For comparison to current internet, here was my internet use protocol developed over time starting back when you couldn't choose your own username, but had to remember your string of random numbers and letters to log into your ISP. The reason for these? My mother was VERY active on the bulletin boards and was trying to keep me and my sister (two preteen girls very enthusiastic about the internet) safe.

Protocol:

Do not reveal your real name on the open internet. Especially do not reveal your last name. If you're using a name on the open internet, it will be one that you've chosen to use or a nickname related to your avatar or username. Shed your name if you feel unsafe; it has served its purpose. Your actual name is to be shared only with people you trust and consider friends enough that you'd want to communicate with them offline. Even then, only give them your first name. Anyone else does not need your name.

Do not share your phone number on the open internet. Share it with only people you trust and in as close to private correspondence as you can get. (We took ours out of the phonebook and became unlisted.)

Do not share your face on the open internet. People do not need to know what you look like unless and until you are going to see each other offline. Random people do not get to have from you more information than you've actively shared with them. Recognition and your physical location are afforded to only those of the highest level of trust.

Do not give anyone your address. Period. End of. Not even businesses. Do not trust a fragile infrastructure with your physical safety. (We had a PO box for correspondence and purchases, including with internet friends.) Give only your state (or large city or country or time zone), if you want to give people a general feel for where you are.

Omission based upon privacy is not the same thing as lying. :)

No one is owed information about you, even details like your age or gender. Refrain from sharing details about yourself. Be doubly, triply, and quadruply careful sharing anything on the open internet. The open internet is not the same thing as your friends. Caution is always a virtue.

Don't automatically trust someone just because you like them. Keep an eye out for the red flags that indicate scams, predators, or people who will cause you harm. Cut contact; no need to be polite, especially if someone is pushy towards sex or money or an offline meet, or if something doesn't line up with them in a way that feels uncomfortable or malicious. Your discomfort is more than enough of a reason to discontinue contact.

Always have offline backup if you're getting close to someone. Don't hide the situation if you are taking the online to the offline. Tell friends or someone else you trust and induct those online people into your offline world so there are multiple points of contact on both sides.

Have two emails, at least. A personal email and a professional email (and possibly a spam email). Use the professional one for professional things only, because it's the one attached to your real name. Don't mix your private life with your real name. Utilize throwaway emails early and often. Don't give employers anything about your private life.

These were the bare minimum. You can see where they're geared towards physical safety by prioritizing privacy and caution.

Are they a bit draconian? Maybe. Certainly now some of them are a bit impossible. I don't believe they were too much at the time, however, because I interacted with the internet in a fundamentally different way than I do now, and I was much, much younger and vastly more vulnerable.

Honestly? I'd still like it if people learned a modified version of these, probably focused on the steps you can take now to preserve privacy and the ability to judge the health of online relationships. The current nature of the internet is that online is no longer entirely separate from offline, yes, but the kinds of trust you can safely place in others on the internet is still something that I think needs to be relearned/retaught for the new internet landscape.

[skullsandwineglasses]

Remembrance of Things Past - Eps 1-10 Impression/Rant

Not really a first impressions post since there are only 2 episodes left, but as I’m waiting on the last few episodes, I thought I’d rant a bit about the drama here. 

First of all, I agree with everything that AvenueX said in her review of the first 6 episodes. Her review is what prompted me to start the drama. I needed a realistic slice of life drama to balance out the idol drama that is You Are My Glory (which I’m also waiting on for new episodes), and ROTP seemed to fit bill. ROTP is just so good.

I binged ROTP in 3 days. It could have been 2 days, but I started it at 2am on a Wednesday night, so I didn’t get very far the first night. Each episode is about 75 minutes long, so almost the equivalent of 2 regular lengthed episodes, but not quite. 

I cried during the first two episodes. The character development is just phenomenal. You really feel for Jing Jing’s character even though you’ve only seen her character for an hour. There are little moments throughout the drama that made me tear up too, like when the girls were celebrating Nan Jia jie’s 36th birthday and I got emotional over how close their bond is, or moments when the girls reflected on their aging parents and how we often take our parents for granted. 

Plot pacing and structure

The plot is tight and well-paced, and each girl’s storyline is interwoven well. Sometimes they’d cut between simultaneous scenes between the girls to compare and contrast what they’re each going through. For instance, when Xu Yan is having an argument with her boyfriend, the drama will also cut and flip back and forth to Qiao Xi Chen going through problems at her workplace. When Xu Yan makes up with her boyfriend, the drama cuts to QXC and Nan Jia being romantically pursued by Jian Yi Fan and Ou Yang. It’s interesting to see how their lives mirror and differ from each other. 

Because the storylines between the girls are so interwoven and keep flipping back and forth between each other, it makes it hard to skip scenes because you can’t just skip an entire segment or else you’ll miss something important in all 3 storylines. I can see that this might be a little annoying if you have a preference for one of the girls and want to skip someone else’s storyline. But I actually like seeing all 3 of their stories play out, so I’m not bothered by it. 

Another aspect about the plot’s structure that I appreciate is how they use the mystery behind Jing Jing’s suicide as a throughline for the drama. Up until episode 8ish(?), each episode ends with a question about Jing Jing’s life prior to her suicide and the next episode opens with the girls trying to find an answer or a clue to it. The girls and we the audience learn more and more about Jing Jing with each episode. However, episodes 9 and 10 deviate from the structure a bit and so the drama has recently been less and less focused on Jing Jing’s story, especially after they found out that she had depression. The drama seems to imply that her depression due to the stress of living in Beijing was the main factor that led to her suicide, while the successive unfortunate events that happened on her birthday was the trigger. 

Characters

I like all the main characters in the drama, albeit some a little more than others, which I’ll explain. I think the 3 male love interests are a little too perfect though, and so I guess this slice of life drama is actually a little idealistic after all. 

Xu Yan - My least favourite of the four girls. She’s materialistic, but not as spoiled as I though she would be. But it does annoy me how she keeps picking fights with Shen Zi Chang, when he’s just trying his best. He’s so tolerant and patient with her. He apologizes, they make up, and then the cycle repeats. It’s just a very unhealthy relationship, and I’m tried of seeing them fight and make up. 

EDIT: So, I started writing this review when I had only watched up until episode 9, but now that I’ve finished episode 10, um, wtf?? Xu Yan made a bad choice and got scammed of all her money, her friends try to comfort her, loan her money, and tell her not to repress her emotions like Jing Jing. And then she just lashes out at them saying they have no right to comfort her because they were the ones who caused Jing Jing’s death. Xu Yan starts off blaming QXC for not knowing that Jing Jing had a crush on her boyfriend, and then she blames Nan Jia for being a bad older cousin. She blames both of them for being ignorant of Jing Jing’s depression and only caring about themselves. QXC (rightfully) retorts back than Xu Yan knew all along that Jing Jing had a crush on her boyfriend, and yet Xu Yan never told anyone, so she’s just as guilty as all of them. Honestly, I was sympathetic towards Xu Yan before, but she was just so ungrateful and entitled in that scene. What right does she have pointing fingers and assigning guilt to people? And to weaponize Jing Jing’s death against them? That’s just cruel. The argument between them in that scene at the end of episode 10 just felt so random and out of place. All of a sudden, Xu Yan points out all of these problems she has with QXC and Nan Jia, when all they’ve ever done is pamper her. Also, you can’t blame QXC for dating Lin Rui even if Jing Jing liked him first, and not to mention that QXC wasn’t even aware. QXC might not have even chosen to date Lin Rui if she had known. But it happens all the time between friends where your friend might date someone you like. All’s fair in love and war, and there’s no first come first serve rule when it comes to dating.

Jing Jing - She becomes more complex as you learn more about her. She puts her friends first and is fiercely supportive and protective of them. We get a glimpse of how far she’s willing to go for them she pulls a butcher knife from the kitchen and points it at QXC’s debt collectors in the first episode. Her friends see her as being really open, expressive, and bubbly. She’s the first one they each go to whenever they need help with a problem or want to show off an achievement. But in reality, she’s really secretive. She hides her feelings to keep her friends happy, and when they slowly uncover her secrets, she becomes less and less recognizable to them, as though she’s been living a double life all along. 

At the end of episode 10, Jing Jing is described as the “hole in the tree” that everyone goes to to share their secrets, but they forget that she’s also a person with her own secrets to share, and she’s not just a tree hole to serve others. Can we blame the friends for not paying enough attention to Jing Jing and only using her for emotional support? Yes and no. It’s complicated. We should always do more to try to care for others and to be more attentive to them, but at the same time, it’s impossible to completely know a person. I purposely hide parts of my life from my friends because I don’t want them worrying or judging or commenting. So I would never expect them to be able to figure it out, and neither do I want them to figure it out. I think it’s interesting that the drama is exploring the friends’ self-imposed guilt, but I don’t agree that Xu Yan should be the one to point it out them and to be Jing Jing’s spokesperson. Xu Yan positions herself as Jing Jing’s heroic and righteous advocator, when really Xu Yan is the most problematic person out of the three remaining friends. 

Also, after seeing how the friends interact, they don’t feel narcissistic. Yes, they each readily vent about their problems to each other, but they also ask about the other person. It’s not one-sided. Xu Yan talks about her problems with her boyfriend, but she also asks and cares about what’s happening in QXC’s life and vice versa. Nan Jia is more mature and is busy with her business, but she always takes the time and effort to help her friends. All of their conversations are reciprocal and they are genuinely interested in each other’s lives. So, I don’t think they have a major communication problem or that they don’t care or that they’re ignorant. Which again, makes Xu Yan’s accusations in episode 10 feel even more unfair. 

Ji Nan Jia - Jing Jing’s cousin and also the oldest of the three girls (about a decade older). Sassy, witty, unapologetic, confident. She’s who you’d think of when you imagine a successful, independent, career-driven woman. She’s extremely annoyed by her mother’s nagging to get married. But she herself is trying to figure out whether she actually wants to find someone to settle down with or if she just wants to beat her biological clock and have children while she still can. She’s pursued by Ou Yang, ten years her junior, and he’s absolutely enamoured with her. He seems to be unconditionally in love with her, which is what I meant when I said that the male leads in this drama seem too perfect and idealistic. But I like Ou Yang though. He’s adorable. 

Qiao Xi Chen - The main character of the four main characters. Like Nan Jia, she’s also quite sassy. In some ways, she’s like a younger version of Nan Jia. QXC is also very career driven and competitive. She’s confident and believes in her abilities, but she also gets easily overwhelmed and emotional (like when her stress and nervousness prevented her from being able to give her proposal presentation and she ran out of the room. I’ve definitely felt that way before my committee meetings). QXC is a character you can self-insert as because she represents the everyday employee who struggles with the long commute to work and tries to stand out and make a name for herself in the company. QXC is also extremely paranoid, which is understandable when you’re a woman living alone in the city. I know what it’s like to have to briskly walk home late at night and constantly having to look over your shoulder to make sure no one’s following you, or having to check your hotel room before you change, or having to make it seem like you’re not the only one living in your apartment. QXC is smart, logical, helps people when she can, but is also reasonably selfish when she needs to protect herself, like when her co-workers try to take advantage of her or throw her under the bus. She’s a character everyone can relate to.

She and Jian Yi Fan also make such a cute pairing. I love all their interactions. I love how Jian Yi Fan can’t help but smile when he’s with her, but he tries hard to clamp it down. I love how QXC is aware of her own attraction and easily admits to to Xu Yan that she does have feelings for him instead of beating around the bush. And I especially love the awkward but adorable confession scene in episode 8. Such great banter and play on words (”你是什麼意思” “沒意思” “你對我是不是有意思?”). The drama did a great job of depicting the frustration of trying to guess whether someone likes you when they seem to be sending mixed signals. A lot of dramas that don’t focus on romance seem to do a better job of showing romance than idol dramas that focus on nothing but romance. I grew up with TVB dramas, and in most of them, romance is usually secondary to the main plot, but I always loved the romances in those dramas.

Like Ou Yang, JYF is such an idealistic love interest. He’s so supportive of and attentive to QXC. I haven’t watched too many slice of life dramas, but To Dear Myself and My Best Friend’s Story both had flawed (and sometimes even irredeemable) male love interests. This drama’s rose-coloured glasses definitely reduces the amount of performative angst, but it also makes the drama a little less realistic. The men in Jing Jing’s life aren’t villainized either even when you expected them to be sinister. I think the most antagonistic character is Lin Rui, but even he’s made to be sympathetic. In fact, nearly all the characters in the drama are sympathetic characters because many of the choices they made were forced because of the situation they found themselves in, and what they did was an act of self-preservation. And so, you can’t hate them or blame them. 

Acting and Dialogue

I mean, what’s there to say? The acting and dialogue just sucks you right in. I love it so much. The characters are so animated and charming because of how well the actors delivered their lines. I’m not a mandarin speaker (I’m a cantonese speaker but learned mandarin afterwards), but even I was able to notice the colloquialism and slangs and idiosyncratic ticks in speech that made the dialogue feel so real and alive. The actors had great comedic timing, and when they cried, you could feel how vulnerable they are. 

Lastly, I also like the little “life lessons” they include at the end of the drama where there’d be a voiceover by one of the actresses and they’d muse about life. One of my favourite musings when when they talked about what it means to have a sense of security. For some people, having a sense of security is about having a certain amount of money in your bank account, or having someone waiting for you to come home, but a sense of security isn’t something tangible or physical that you can achieve or possess. It’s a belief. It’s a belief that you’re able to face any problem and that life will go on. It’s a belief that the one that you love will be faithful and supportive. It’s a type of belief that allows you to be confident to face uncertainty. And thus, a sense of security is something that only you can give yourself. I really like that little food for thought because it’s a great reminder to be self-dependent and to not rely on external gratification. Que sera sera. What will be will be. Don’t get too hung over on failure and don’t let stress dominate your life. 

Note: Watching this at the same time as You Are My Glory is extremely humbling. YAMG is an idol drama, and so they make the romance look so easy. Heck, idol dramas make being a protagonist easy. The protagonist is destined to stand out from the crowd. It’s easy to be noticed. It’s easy to cause a change in the status quo. But ROTP is a reminder that we’re all practically nobodies in the big city. It feels impossible to make an impression when there are millions of other people living almost the same life as you are. There’s nothing special about you, and it’s hard to find meaning and purpose. Obviously, the drama shows that even when it feels like you’re trying to swim upstream in a big city, we each have a life worth living. We may feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but to our friends and family, we’re their world and they’re ours. I think it was Camus who said that we should find meaning in the face of absurdity. Live in spite of how absurd and meaningless things feels. Anyway, this drama gives you a lot to think about, even though I don’t really like the melodrama they’ve recently added to drag the plot (*cough cough* that explosive argument scene at the end of episode 10 that I keep ranting about). You’d think that a 12-episode drama wouldn’t have filler, and yet here we are. 

[eryiss]

Ship: Freed x Laxus

Rating: Mature [References Bullying and Homophobia]

Prompt: AU Rivalry Teamup

Summary: Sent away to a delinquents academy, Freed knew life wouldn't be easy. That was proven to be the case when he met Laxus, a cocky, aggressive arse who used his fists over his words. At least, that's what he thought when they first met, but things can change over the span of a year.

Notes: This is the sixth submission for Fraxus Week, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus. This one has a brief descrition of bullying and period typical homophobia.

Links: Event Masterlist ||| Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction

The London School for Delinquent Boys

Year 1890

Location: London, England

"We've a new boy in class today," The teacher – Mister Porland, that's what he'd called himself – said as Freed stood before the blackboard. "Freed Justine. I expect you all to behave and not cause any trouble with him."

Freed would have picked another way to be introduced if he'd been granted the choice. He would have much rather not had an introduction at all, and instead he'd slip into the back of the classroom, wave off all the questions that would be aimed at him, and try and get through the first day without any complaints. Instead, he'd been forcibly marched to the front of a class of about thirty sixteen-to-seventeen-year-old boys – all of whom had been taken from regular education and placed in a disciplinary academy – and been served up almost on a silver platter.

He had to wonder if this was a punishment in and of itself. A hazing from the teachers.

It wasn't that he was intimidated by them, of course. He'd earned his place in the school just like them, and he could more than handle himself, but he didn't care for the fuss. This was as close to jail someone of his age and social stature could undergo and, due to an enthusiast habit of reading and a slight flare for the dramatic, he'd decided prison rules might best serve him. Rule number one was to keep your head down.

A few jeers, exclamations and a patronising whistle filled the room, quickly quietened by the teacher. Freed made an effort not to pay attention to it. Animals, all of them. At least he could be safe in the knowledge that he held moral superiority over them, not that he'd state it out loud. Idiots tended not to like being told that.

Keeping his head down would be harder than he thought.

After he was allowed to take his seat, he was forced to walk through the lot of them to the back of the classroom. The jeering continued, albeit quietly, and someone tried to trip him as he walked. He ignored them, and nearly got to his seat when a particular classmate caught his eye. He wore an arrogant sneer, had a scar running down his face, and had shoulders larger and broader than a student their age ought to have.

Freed would have thought the boy attractive were it not for the look of challenge in his eyes, one Freed knew all too well. This boy was testing him, wanting to see if he would be a victim in the school or someone to be respected. To show him, Freed halted his step, made eye contact with the boy for a few moments, and then continued walking to take his seat.

A little 'hm' was the blonde's only response, but Freed paid it no mind.

Two weeks passed before the blonde actual did anything. The two weeks consisted of Freed getting used to his new surroundings, idiots trying and failing to one-up him in the hopes of looking tough in front of their idiot friends, and the blonde's presence being constant but in the distance. That changed when the blonde approached him in the dinner hall.

"Hey," The blonde grunted in greeting, storming towards Freed. His body was tense, coiled up and ready for a fight. "You think you're better than me or something?"

Freed didn't know why the blonde thought that, exactly, but his response was instant. "Better than you, yes."

He felt that was a fair way to think. The blonde had proven himself to be nothing of note intellectually, he barely spoke in lessons and when he did it was usually to make an unwarranted joke or to get an answer wrong, and he seemed quick to anger. More than once, he'd lurched at another student, looking ready for a fight he'd probably win. The fights never happened exactly, but they seemed like a constant risk. So yes, Freed did think he was better than him.

"This whole thing might 'a worked out in yer old school," The blonde growled, taking another step forward. Freed didn't flinch. "But actin' like yer hot shit and that yer smarter than everyone here ain't working. You're here like the rest of us, and you ain't better just because your pa's got money."

"I don't think I'm better than everyone here," Freed retorted, also taking a step forward. "But I am better than an idiot who can't shut up and takes his hobby by rolling around in the mud, somewhat like a little pig. My betterment was never in question."

The insult wasn't his best. The reference to the blonde's position in the rugby team tenuous at best, and Freed's supposed superiority complex might have shone through – but it annoyed the blonde, so it served its purpose.

He would have rather not been shoved in the chest, though.

Stumbling back slightly, Freed made a choice. He had been told in no uncertain terms that he wasn't to get into another fight, it was partially the reason he was there in the first place, but the blonde deserved a punching. He seemed to be something of an unofficial head-boy, and the fear of him was obvious to anyone who would look, and as such Freed felt a punch to the face was long overdue. He was a student like anyone else, and while others might want to lie down and take it, Freed didn't.

That was why he punched him. It hurt more than he thought it would.

Their fight was hardly that. It lasted less than a minute, and anger overpowered its elegance. Freed perhaps got another two punches in, and received one in return. Teachers were storming over the moment it started, and were dragging them away before it could get out of hand, but Freed felt good to hit the bastard.

"Laxus Dreyar, Freed Justine," Their head teacher yelled, voice filled with a rage that Freed felt was slightly exaggerated given the situation. "My office, now."

As Freed was dragged – literally dragged, which again was an overreaction – into the office, he was sure of three things. He'd already completely failed in his goal of not bringing any attention on himself; his father was going to find out and want him thrashed for getting into a fight again; and Laxus Dreyar had perhaps the most interesting name he'd ever heard.

---

"You heard what he did?"

"Nearly killed him."

"Apparently they're gonna kick him out."

"Nah, he's the team captain."

Freed didn't pay attention to the conversations happening around him as he ate. After three months of being in the academy, he'd learned it was best not to. Most of the people had nothing of interest to say, and the people who were interesting were the ones likely to try and start a fight with you if they knew you were listening. He'd learned that when a younger boy, Natsu, tried to punch him and Freed had ended up dumping a bowl of cereal over the man's head and temporarily strangling him with his tie. The detentions and lack of breakfasts for a week had been worth it.

In truth, he'd forged a comfortable place for himself in the school. He was known as the boy who gave Dreyar a black eye, and that title came with its perks. Mainly that most people would leave him alone. He and Dreyar had… something. He couldn't tell if it was a truce, or simply a stalemate. But either way, Freed would enjoy the calm and only reignite the fight should Laxus need another punching.

Other than that, Freed was forgettable in the school. People ignored him, he ignored them, and everyone went on as if he hadn't arrived. The school was fine – teachers were far too happy to punish, but that was to be expected – and their lessons were as good as his old schools had been. Had his parents been scammed, the tuition fee had been high?

His parents were an issue. They hadn't visited, but they were in constant communication with the head teacher, and apparently their 'donations' meant Freed was put under a spotlight by the staff. Maybe that was why they were so quick to punish: they were being paid to do so. Annoying, but it could be worse.

The food, however, was abysmal.

Mashed potatoes and sausages would be a good meal, but the potato was half cooked, and the sausages were tiny. He'd eaten as much as he could stomach within a minute, so he absently played with the food with a slight huff. The rain, as tended to happen in England, was heavily pouring and Freed knew the moment a teacher saw he'd stopped eating he would be forced into the yard for recreational activities. The eating hall was at least partially warm, and he had to admit that the conversation behind him was of interest.

"What's that got to do with anything?" One boy shrugged.

"They don't wanna piss off the rugby team, they all worship him," The other explained. "If they kick him out, everyone gets angry about it, and they fight back. They'll never do it."

"You didn't see the kid," The first dismissed. "Half dead. They've gotta do something."

"Doesn't seem like Laxus to just beat a kid up for no reason," The second argued, and Freed did have to agree. Laxus was an argumentative and aggressive man, but he did tend to stick to people his own age. Mainly those who knew how to fight back, as well. "The kid must have pissed him off."

"Romeo, nah," The first laughed, and Freed frowned. "Kid's nothing. Wouldn't bother Laxus."

Romeo. Romeo Conbolt. It took Freed a moment to put a face to the name, and when he did his fork stalled and his body tensed. He had heard the rumours of a kid being beaten half to death, of course he had, but he hadn't heard who it was. He wouldn't have cared, were it not for the fact he had seen days prior the beating Romeo had endured. Laxus hadn't been the one to beat the kid, it had been a group of six of his classmates.

Freed had stopped it, of course. They were all thirteen, he was seventeen and the boy who got into a fight with the school's toughest figure, so they scarpered when he yelled at them to stop. He told the kid to go to the nurse, and saw the issue as finished with.

Had the kid used Laxus as a scapegoat? Or had it been the group of brats?

Either way, Freed was a man of principles. As much as he wouldn't mind seeing the back of Laxus and his insistence of approaching problems with his fists, it wasn't fair to have him blamed for something he hadn't done. Especially when a grown man beating a kid was something that could get him taken from the school and placed into an actual jail. That wasn't fair. He stood, and quickly started to walk towards the head teacher's office.

"Enter," The headmaster, Mister Fernandes, said once Freed had knocked on the door. Freed entered, and waited in silence. "Mister Justine. It's rare you're here voluntarily."

"I suppose so, sir," Freed agreed, ignoring the insult. "Sir, I have a complaint to make."

"Of course you do," Mister Fernandes sighed, removing a pair of spectacles, and leaning forward in his chair. "You do know that this is a disciplinary institution, and I don't act on the word of my students. If you have issues with your treatment then it's not my concern."

"I understand that sir," Freed assured him. "But my complaint is more about the treatment of another student: Laxus Dreyar."

"You needn't worry about that," Mister Fernandes dismissed the complaint, despite the fact Freed had yet to make it yet. "I know that you and he have something of a… personal vendetta against one another, and I'm sure that the rumours about what he has done have reached you. I will be following a strict set of procedures which will likely end up with him incarcerated for what he did to a younger boy. He'll be out of your hair soon, so don't concern yourself about it."

"That is not my complaint."

"If this is something to do with your silly feud then I'm really not interested by it," Mister Fernandes sighed. "As I said, he'll most likely be out of here within the month. If you can't be civil for that long then that's a bad reflection on your own character. And boys your age really should be fighting their own battles."

Freed bit back a retort, wanting to point out that the time he did try to fight his own battle he was dragged away and reprimanded. Instead, he calmed himself and spoke again with the level of respect a teacher believed they deserved.

"Laxus wasn't the person who attacked Romeo, sir," He said, and the headteacher paused. "It was a group of his classmates. Six of them, I believe."

"And you know this how?" Mister Fernandes asked.

"I walked in on them doing it, sir," Freed admitted, not flinching when the teacher looked at him with sharpened poise. "They stopped when I approached, Romeo went to the nurse's office and I expected him to tell you who actually was responsible, rather than placing the blame on Laxus. Had I known earlier what he'd done, I would have spoken to you sooner."

Mister Fernandes took a moment, thinking before sighing. "He did, actually. He gave me a list of names, before returning a day later stating that it was actually Laxus to blame, and that he'd lied initially as he was worried about the consequences."

"And you believed him?" Freed asked before he could stop himself.

"Are you questioning me, Justine?"

"No, sir."

He was.

"You're dismissed, Justine. Thank you for speaking with me," Mister Fernandes waved a hand in his direction, and Freed nodded curtly and went to walk away. "It was big of you to do this, Justine. Well done."

"It's what's expected of me, sir," Freed dismissed.

"Good man," Mister Fernandes nodded, before waving Freed off again.

Freed left, closing the door behind him. He immediately turned to the right and started walking towards the courtyard, which was still being battered by the heavy rain. As he walked, he was completely unaware that Laxus was leaning on the wall outside of the office, looking at Freed with an expression of mingled bewilderment, disbelief, and belligerent respect.

---

The idiom that the enemy of one's enemy was one's friend was a complicated one. It was limited, didn't work for all situations, and seemed to fall apart under any scrutiny. Freed had long since decided that it didn't make much sense when thought about, and yet he found himself subscribing to the idea when it fitted him.

That was the reason he found himself walking into the rugby team's changing room.

Laxus seemed to notice him approaching the moment Freed walked into the room, and stopped mid-way through changing into his kit to stare Freed down. Freed wasn't put off by the intense and lingering gaze of the man, walking towards him without hesitation. The room seemed to quieten around him, and Freed couldn't be sure if it was because of his presence in the room or because Laxus apparently changed in the back corner away from most of his team. That worked well for what Freed wanted, at least.

"The hell are you doin' here?" Laxus said, voice growly and angry sounding. He always sounded like that with Freed, but it seemed more intense today. Perhaps this how he acted before a match.

"I have a favour to ask of you," Freed stated.

"No," Laxus rebutted immediately.

"You might enjoy doing it."

"Wouldn't be a favour, it'd be an opportunity," Laxus smirked, seemingly proud of himself. Freed had to give him credit, it was somewhat clever. "So, what's the great and powerful Freed Justine need from a man like me? Lessons on how to be an idiot; that's what you keep calling me. Or is it a few tips on rolling around in the mud? Y'know, because that's all rugby is, right."

"The captain of the team you're playing," Freed began, rather than rising to the bait. "Hurt him for me."

"What?" Laxus asked, a laugh tainting the word.

"Hurt him," Freed repeated. "Kick him, punch him, give him a concussion if you're able to. Or perhaps accidentally kick him in the balls, that'd be rather nice to watch. Just do whatever you can to make him cry."

"Why?" Laxus grinned, clearly enjoying this.

"You're playing my old school's team, and he's the reason I got sent here in the first place," Freed admitted, ignoring the quirked eyebrow he got. "He deserves more pain than he gets, I suspect. I want you to remedy that."

"And why should I?" Laxus said, voice a little taunting as he continued to change into his rugby kit. Freed forced himself to ignore the strong body that was revealed to him when Laxus removed his shirt. "We ain't exactly friends, are we? Maybe I'd have more in common with him than I do with you."

"Do you need an excuse to hurt someone?" Freed asked, and Laxus held his gaze. Freed eventually relented. "I can tell you the team's weaknesses. The coach wont change tactics and so they can be exploited."

Laxus thought for a moment. "Nah, you don't need to. I'll do it."

"You will?" Freed asked. He… honestly hadn't expected that.

"Yeah," Laxus nodded. "So long as you watch. If I'm gonna put on a show, I wanna know I'm gonna have an audience."

Laxus pulled on his shirt, much to Freed's quiet disappointment, and sat on the bench before his locker. He leant against it and looked at Freed expectantly, who was looking back with confusion and disbelief. His arrival in the changing room was stupid at best – he'd seen the man who had gotten him there in the first place and old resentment bubbled up faster than Freed would have liked – and as such he had thought Laxus would dismiss him. It's what Freed would have done were the situation flipped.

"Why?" Freed asked.

"This place is shit, anyone would wanna punch the guy who put 'em here. I don't get to do it, but it'll be fun to do it to some other guy," Laxus shrugged, standing up and cracking his back when the coach called for the team to leave for their warmups. He stepped past Freed, but halted once they were all alone. "Be there, pretty-boy."

"What?" Freed stammered slightly. Had Laxus just…

"You think I don't know the reason you're here?" Laxus chuckled a little, but it lacked the edge it normally did. He lowered his eyes slightly and spoke softer than Freed was used to. "You two get caught? Or did he catch you with some other guy and squealed on ya?"

Freed shouldn't answer. He and Laxus weren't friends and admitting anything to him was stupid, but he found himself whispering, "The latter."

"Fucker," Laxus growled, equally quietly. Freed didn't know what to think of it. "Yer right, he needs a kick in the balls. I'll handle it."

"Thank you," Freed whispered.

"Don't worry about it," Laxus dismissed. "Besides, I guess I kinda owe you for stopping me from getting expelled, don't I?" Freed frowned a little. That had been half a year ago, and he didn't know that Laxus even knew of it. Laxus didn't seem to notice Freed's change in body language and continued talking with a smirk. "And, you never know, having a pretty little rich boy watching me might make me play better."

That was all Laxus said before slowly dragging a knuckle over Freed's cheek in a gesture so light but so intimate that Freed felt a shiver run over him completely. Laxus grinned at him, pushed his knuckle against Freed's lips for a split second, before leaving Freed alone in the locker room, heart racing and eyes wide.

---

"How did you know?"

"How'd I know what?"

"The real reason I'm here."

Both Freed and Laxus were sitting on the school house's roof. Laxus had been taking a drag of his cigarette when Freed had approached him and sat bedside him, and the blonde absently offered Freed one. He didn't take it, and for a few moments they had been sitting in silence before Freed had broken it.

It was the last day of the school year. Freed would be dragged back to his home, where his parents would no doubt have a list of grievances about his behaviour throughout the year. His father would make threats about how if his behaviour didn't improve immediately, he would be punished off the back of the man's belt. Nothing would come of it, of course – the elder Mister Justine stopped punishing Freed that way the moment Freed was of an age where he could fight back – but the yelling would be near consistent. It always was when Freed met with his parents now.

He wasn't going to complain. There was no point. Instead, he was going to tie off the loose ends of his school life, particularly with Laxus. Because, when it came to the beautifully, and now somewhat flirtatious man, Freed really didn't know where he stood.

"It's obvious, when you've been here for long enough," Laxus explained, puffing out a stream of smoke. "Yer not obvious, I don't mean that, but when you've been here for years you look out for the signs."

"And what were the signs?"

"You never spoke about why you're here other than saying you got into a fight. I'm guessing it was with the guy who told on ya," Laxus shrugged a little, shifting slightly so that his side was pressed against Freed. "Everyone here wears their story like a badge of honour. Getting into fights, beating kids up, stealing from places. They're all good stories and get's you a lot of credit in a place like this. The worse you were, the more respect you get," Laxus chuckled. "There's only one thing that gets you in here that you don't talk about. Yer queer, and you get found out."

"You don't talk about why you're here," Freed pointed out, and Laxus turned to look at him with a lazy smirk.

"My dad saw me with the neighbour kid," He laughed. "He wasn't even good looking, felt sorry for him really and wanted to know what it's like to kiss a guy. But dad walked in, threw a fit, and I've been here since I was thirteen."

"That's awful of him."

"Maybe, but this place ain't so bad once you get used to it," Laxus shrugged again, leaning back against the wall he was resting on. "Kinda funny, really. I'd say about a quarter of the guys are here for the same reason we are. If you know what to look out for, you can have a pretty good time."

"You could have told me," Freed laughed a little. "I've been rather bored."

"If I told ya, I wouldn't have you all to myself," Laxus grinned, and blew a puff of smoke directly into Freed's face. Freed simply quirked an eyebrow. "I've been spending the last couple of weeks showin' off to ya on the field and I think it was working pretty well. Hardly fair on me if I got you all excited only for ya to use it on some other guy."

"You're a manipulative man when you want to be, Laxus," Freed smirked, leaning just a little closer to Laxus. "But you haven't done anything yet, have you?"

"Maybe I want ya to be desperate for me," Laxus whispered, voice low and rumbling. "Maybe I'm waiting for you to make the move on me."

"If that's true, then maybe you've waited long enough."

They were close now, and Freed wanted to be closer. Laxus' hand was resting against his thigh, and Freed leant further in. He could smell the smoke on Laxus breath, see the slight dilation of the man's eyes as he grinned, and slowly brought their lips together in a slow, tentative kiss.

His first kiss. A beautifully electric, smoky kiss that set Freed's very soul on fire.

He tangled his hand into Laxus' short hair, tugging at it slightly and relishing the slight groan that he was given in return. Laxus pushed into him further, and Freed practically melted.

Eventually, when a harsh gust of wind flew over them and shook them from the spell of their kiss, they pulled apart. They were quiet for a moment, the gravity of what happened only just hitting Freed. He had just kissed the brutish, angry, brilliant man he had once expected to hate, and had felt more alive than ever before.

"You better be here next year."

"Nothing could stop me."

"That's right, pretty-boy."

They shared a smirk, and leant forward to reignite another perfect kiss.

[ya-girl-kitty]

Hey! So I really like those list headcannons of really stupid stuff so I decided to make one for the first time and I also drew pictures!

That being said if you find any grammar errors or things that don’t make sense pls comment. Or if you read it and actually liked it? Again, first time writing for fun and I’ll write things that make sense in my head but not to anyone else so my brain skips over it when editing because I’ve got big adhd brain.

What The Brother’s Bags Look Like:

BELPHIE:

he has one of those puffy mom purses with an interchangeable fabric “shell”. He has it because it fits what he needs whenever he goes out and it doubles as a pillow in a quick snap.

It’s good for when he’s in public with someone and he just lies his bag on the table y’all are sitting at and rests his head to take a nap.

He has had it soo long that he doesn’t remember how he got it but it must have been a gift because he wouldn’t buy it for himself, but he can’t deny it’s nice having everything you need organized and it’s not like he goes out very often, sooo....

Levi sewed him a shell cover as a gift out of some old leftover fabric a while back. It used to be denim because he didn’t realize he could remove it.

BEEL:

He’s got a big duffel bag for his sports things

It’s got the all the sports essentials; deodorant, water bottle, jersey, protective gear, an entire meatball (eyeball?) sub sandwich. You know, for a quick pick-me-up!

It smell like BO. No, wait... BBQ.... it smells like barbecue sauce. Why? Because something spilled. It was a while back and he got the stain up but not the smell. He puts those little gym bag deodorizer balls in his bag but it’s persistent. He can’t say he doesn’t kind of like it tho.

Always carries it to where he accidentally hits people with it when it’s at full capacity. Since everyone is shorter than him he often hits people right in the chest or stomach. Sweet boy has no sense of others in his surroundings. Have you ever gotten the wind knocked out of you by a bag with a dumbell in it? That shiz bruses.

ASMO:

It’s a small Louis Vuitton bag and dispite being the size of a wallet it was hella expensive, hell, it even smells expensive but that’s probably because he uses some sort of leather conditioner on it.

It barely holds a condom and a dream but that doesn’t stop him from it being his most used daily bag.

Probably has a small collection in a rainbow of colors of designer handbags that he has on rotation and wouldn’t be caught DEAD with what his other brother use like Satan’s fugly old-ass backpack 🤢 none-the-less his little white cross body is his favorite

Always complains about the size of it but when he’s asked why he didn’t just get one of his bigger bags he gets defensive and asks why would he when this one goes perfectly with his outfit?

SATAN:

It’s just as ugly and functional as his outfit.

His backpack is BIG and HEAVY with all those books; it’s a wonder that it hasn’t busted a hole from how much and how frequently he overloads it from the bookstore and library.

Smells like stale crackers? Mildew? You can’t quit put your finger on it although you suppose it’s that old paper smell. It definitely needs a good soak in some oxi-clean because you saw an older photo with him wearing it and it’s basically gray now.

He looks like a dork with it on and he knows he looks like a dork but it’s just so useful! Why would he get rid of something that still serves it’s purpose and serves it well! Don’t mock him! He angy boi but he’s also sensitive.

LEVI:

It’s from an anime convention, naturally. This one in particular that he’s currently using he won’t say he just gets all quite and blushy because he’s embarrassed yet he still wears it?

He has a bunch of these shitty little drawstring bags from all sorts of events. You get the impression that he’s never had a real bag for his things, for school or otherwise and when one inevitably breaks he just pulls out a new one from his room... What the hell is “Sakura con?”

They all smell like plastic and it’s overwhelming. The smell never wanes with time and use. Levi is blind to it but it makes you sick when you’re around it so he ends up just storing them and carrying his things, other than his wallet and keys in his pocket, when necessary.

MAMMON:

It’s Versace. It’s tacky. It’s expensive. It’s a freaking fanny pack or “bum bag” if you’re European. Whatever you call it, it’s ridiculous.

He keeps his wallet and goldie, a burner phone, and a freaking flask in there. Nothing else.

Is it healthy to keep that crap on him all the time? No. Does he care? Not really because booze is a social lubricant and he’ll give others a sip to relax those he is going to scam so it’s just about convenience. It’s a good business practice, really.

It does smell like demonus. Only a little because the flask isn’t airtight. That being said, when you first met him and he smelled faintly like alcohol constantly, it worried you. When he gave you his explanation anyone would have thought he was fibbing if he wasn’t, ironically enough, a really bad liar.

LUCIFER:

It’s a briefcase and a nice one at that. Handmade, custom, engraved with his name on the inside. He has to look good after all. For Diavo- I mean, for the sake of his pride.

Oh my gosh it has such a nice smell. He keeps some colone in there for his longer work day in order to keep fresh. It smells oaky, like whiskey mixed with that old leather smell.

You’ve never seen what’s fully inside it but you got a glimpse once and it was surprisingly messy? Not like Satan’s dirty backpack but, like, there were a lot of things in there; folders with papers, an over-stuffed pen case, an extra tie and a snack bar? It must have been after one of his all-nighters but the disarray of the content of his bag was the only thing that showed it.

His briefcase has to be some sort of metaphor for his emotions or life or something, you think to yourself. Super nice and well-kept on the outside but an unmanageable mess on the inside.

I had a file oopsie and I didn’t properly save the completed picture with all of them because I drew them on the same page so I had to do some screen-shot bs so if you tap on them to look closer and they still look like pixelated garbage, that’s why.

Anyway, if you read it and liked it gimme some ideas on what to draw next :) <3 I will literally do anything because i have artists block and no ideas lol

[relieverse]

How he innovates, dream and act upon making a change:

"They’re never conventional or respect traditions, so expect them to feel proud if they have done something no one has ever done before.

These natives want to be free more than anything else in the world and to express their thoughts or beliefs without being limited.

They love to travel and to meet new people who can teach them something. Any new experience makes them become better and merges with their personality.

These natives simply love to open their mind and to come up with ideas that provoke people around them. They don’t know how to get bored because they just don’t have the time to sit around.

The world is a big place that has many challenges for them and they know it.

The most difficult thing for Uranus in 9th house individuals is balancing their travels with their romantic life.

Having many friends, they love going out and meeting new people with whom they can make good friends. Very interested in dating all the time, they would rather not tie themselves to only one person or one place.

However, at some point, their life will start to feel pointless as coming back an empty home can be painful.

When it comes to the idealistic nature of Uranus, it manifests in these natives when they’re searching for the truth and think of what’s right and wrong.

As a matter of fact, these natives can take such thinking to the extreme because they want to know everything in detail. This will help them have a good understanding of their own spirituality.

They should find a partner who doesn’t mind when they’re leaving without even saying a word because they’ve just discovered there’s a new and rare book at a library in a country far away.

They wouldn’t mind having a travel companion, so they should find someone with money and enough time.

People born with Neptune in the ninth house of their birth chart are usually very educated and interested in philosophy, traveling or religion. It’s easy to influence them because they’re always curious and use only their intuition to find out if things are true or not.

People with Neptune in 9th house believe anything can get done and trust the Universe more than anything or anyone else. This can bring them positivity, but if they exaggerate with it, they may end up very lazy and only wasting their time.

It’s normal for them to believe they’re the ones who need to be saved, so they usually avoid being practical or to take on responsibilities.

Their plans may sometimes seem unrealistic because they forget to give the details on how to make them come true.

The faith they have that things will only get better can surely get them far, but only if they keep being grounded in reality and admit they’re the only ones who can make things happen in their own life.

Very developed from a spiritual point of view, these natives are open to New Age practices and love being eccentric. However, they can wear rose-colored glasses and not think about the consequences of their actions.

It’s easy for them to be tricked into believing in something that doesn’t serve them well.

When it comes to the higher education, they may be confused and even chaotic, so they will probably not finish their studies or interrupt and continue them at a later date.

It’s essential for them to be disciplined if they want a degree from a prestigious university. They have great talent with marketing and advertising because they’re creative and can convince people to do what they want.

These people would be good doing the job of a teacher as well, but if they don’t struggle to make their big plans come true and are unrealistic, it will become difficult for them to live up to their ideals.

Neptune in 9th house individuals are attracted to anything mystical and don’t believe in boundaries when it comes to other worlds. They will search all of their life for a purpose and the deeper meaning of things.

Both Neptune and the 9th house are all about expansion, so the possibilities natives with this placement have are endless.

They want to get enlightened and to attain nirvana, therefore, they have an optimism that keeps them grounded during their darkest periods.

Their optimism and faith will also make them twist reality and become really confused. Therefore, they should channel their energies in the right direction as much as they can.

Neptune in 9th house people will always be accused of being too hopeful and not dealing with the reality as it is. They struggle for their ideals, but they need to watch out for how elusive dreaming can make them.

Things are not always what they seem, and they can get carried away by all sort of ideas and philosophies that aren’t necessarily related to the reality surrounding them.

Neptune is the planets of illusion, so its effect on people is to give too much optimism. In other words, depending on the house in which this planet is, natives can only see and hear what they want.

They’d always be in denial and reject anything that tries to give them a sense of reality. When Neptune is in the 9th house that rules over mental exploration, the natives with this placement strongly believe that nothing is impossible and that they can do anything.

While this may not be wrong, it can surely cause them to be confused regarding what’s real and not.

When things aren’t going their way, they become depressed and hide in a world of fantasy from which they don’t want to come out anymore.

Neptune can influence these people in their development by making them very secretive and private. In case this planet is in positive aspects, the natives having it in 9th house will be very profound when it comes to their spirituality.

They’ll strongly believe that a higher power controls them and can even experience all sort of situations in which they believe something supernatural is happening.

Usually, the Universe answers their prayers, so they’ll continue to believe in a God that makes all of their dreams come true and won’t bother to create a reality for themselves.

It’s like Neptune in the 9th house is their mirror in Heaven, the deity to which they’re praying and that gives them what they want. These people’s faith can move mountains, so they should really consider becoming priests or monks.

In the situation in which Neptune is in difficult aspects with Mars, they become victims of different sects that don’t have any religious intentions.

These natives are the perfect prey for different groups that are looking to scam. On a different note, they’re very sympathetic when hearing life has treated others in a bad way and usually take problems that are not their own as being their own responsibility.

Compassionate and generous, they really want to give, but they should learn how to get detached from their emotions because they couldn’t help in any way if they’d always be shaken by all sorts of feelings.

They make great therapists, counselors and even teachers. These people wouldn’t be bad as astrologers either because this type of work would require them to guide others into becoming better selves.

It’s easy for them to absorb problems of strangers and to begin thinking of solutions. The rose-colored perspective is not always of help, but they don’t usually use it when they’re not directly involved.

Very convincing and able to become creative when asked to, they can have great success in sales or advertising.

These natives will have no idea what to do when it comes to their education because being dreamy doesn’t bring them any of the discipline required to decide for the future.

Actions are the only ones that speak, so they should focus to always take the right direction in life.

It’s like they don’t have a sense of discipline and always rely on lessons learned from experience. That’s why they often make mistakes and after become very determined to repair them.

[forkanna]

[AO3] [WATTPAD]

NOTICE: Characters/settings ©2008 Atlus. Story © me. All rights reserved. M for later risque situations and coarse dialogue. Cover art by takethesnowtrain.

WARNING: Rise's views and Ai's views on the LGBT community, and especially those of other characters in this work of fiction, do not always line up with those of the author. Please do your own research! The more you understand, the better our world will be.

CHAPTER WARNING: Bulimia.

NOTE: Happy New Year! Welcome to my particularly long and exhaustive crackship tome that literally no one asked for! What else is new, right? The first scene of this chapter is almost entirely copy-pasted from my other P4 fanfiction, "We'll Face Ourselves", though I tried to spruce it up and shift perspective so it doesn't feel like quite so much rehash. I thought it served as a nice lead-in to this story, with some added focus on the new ship. The second half of this chapter and the rest of the fic is all-new, don't worry. The "Golden" is more a reference to it being additional "dlc" for my other fic, not to me specifically focusing on Marie or any such content exclusive to P4G. Apologies if this dashes anyone's expectations but I hope you enjoy the fic regardless!

As for anyone wishing for that fic to debut... you know the one... well, all things in time. Soon, I promise. In the meantime, check me out at jxsleator dot carrd dot co !

Jessex

                                                  PROLOGUE

Once upon a time, in the quaint town of Inaba… a minstrel girl and a stubborn princess fought over a handsome prince. Very briefly.

"Can't you give me a little kiss goodbye?" the minstrel pulled back to look up into the boy's stoic face, her large doe eyes shining with tears — on purpose. She was a top notch minstrel, after all. "Something to keep me from… from dying from missing you?"

"Oh please," the quiet innkeeper muttered under her breath with a begrudging smile.

However, the prince obliged the minstrel girl with a kindly kiss upon the forehead. She was in awe of his tenderness. Right up until…

"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing, you bitch?!"

The others pulled back to see royalty approaching, hands on her hips. A truly glamorous princess indeed, even though her regal vestments weren't nearly as radiant as they had been in days past. The ever-present lacy pink turtleneck lived underneath a cardigan today rather than her school uniform.

"What is who doing?" the pouting siren protested, clinging a little tighter to her prince's arm.

"You! Little trollop!" The flawless beauty stomped over to the two of them, honey-brown waves bouncing as she got right up in the singer's face. "Take your greedy little paws off my boyfriend!"

The idol stamped her foot and snapped, "HEY! I don't see your name on him anywhere!"

The prince gulped and began to back away. "Uh…"

"Really?" the princess scoffed. "What makes you think you have any claim to him, slut puppy? He went to the festival with me — and spent Christmas Eve with me, too! And for your goddamn information, we got pretty close!"

Though the siren was comely, and manipulative toward many of the young suitors in the land, it was in playful jest; she did consider them friends but couldn't seem to suppress her womanly wiles, so she flirted for sport. Alas, the princess wounded her deeply with such words; her lip wobbled at the princess's declarations, even though that may have been for show.

"Senpai, say that's not true! How could you, when I… I let you… you know!"

"Hey, it doesn't count when I'm just sitting there and you plop your butt down on my hand," the prince said reasonably. "And Ai-chan, we hugged a little; please don't tease her by making it sound like more."

The prince's pair of suitresses were chagrined. The princess seemed a little more genuinely hurt than her rival for his attentions but neither were particularly happy with being called out.

"Whew," the flop-haired jester exhaled, wiping his brow. "Don't know how you get away with it, juggling two chicks like that."

"That's not…" The prince sighed, shaking his head as he facepalmed. "Maybe I'm glad to be leaving."

But in truth, he was not. Nor was anyone else present. As they alternately squabbled and lamented the prince's parting, other classmates and citizens of Inaba began to approach to wish him bon voyage. He really had left an impression in the short year he had lived there. When the train whistle signalled that it was about to pull away, the bickering came to an end so they could truly see their friend off. A lot of tearful hugs and well wishes were offered before the prince was inside, looking out the window at them as it pulled away from the station. They ran after him all the way to the end of the platform until they ran out of space, then stood waving after him until the train was completely out of sight.

And thus the prince's tale gave way to another. One about a minstrel who had lost her way and found it again, and a princess who had not always known she was a princess at all.

                                                         -------------------------------

                                                                CHAPTER ONE

"I just… he really left," Rise Kujikawa finally sobbed now that the click-clack sounds of the train had faded into the distance.

"Geez, turn it off already," Yosuke Hanamura sighed as he clasped his hands behind his neck, pressing his floppy hair hard against his neck. They turned away to start toward home or wherever the night might take them. "You don't have to keep up the act when he's not even here."

"Act?!" She shoved him from behind, and he stumbled a couple of steps as his arms windmilled out to the sides, attempting to regain his balance. "Not cool, Hanamura! I am grieving the death of my relationship!"

"What relationship?" Kanji Tatsumi grunted.

"Boys, you could be a little more sensitive," Yukiko Amagi told them in an even, reasonable tone. She was dabbing at her eyes like everyone else, and leaning a little more heavily than usual on her best friend, Chie Satonaka, but she seemed to be maintaining her composure better than Rise could manage. "We're all going to miss him so much."

"I'm just trying to get Rise to wake up," Yosuke persisted anyway. "She's delusional. We all know Nakamura was trying to scam on that chick at the hospital."

"What?"

"You know. The nurse. Though I think she moved away…"

Kanji cleared his throat. "Actually, I… thought that woman with the kid was his squeeze. Y'know, the one that came up to him a minute ago?"

Chie squeaked, "He was doing what with who?! That's… why? Why chase a married woman?!"

"Oh, I thought it was one of you girls."

The group of them turned to blink at the girl from the drama club. "Who are you again?" Yosuke asked — very rudely, even though they were all thinking it.

"Yumi Ozawa," she said softly with a slight bow. "He gave me a great deal of help when I was dealing with my own family problems, you know. And… well, I revealed I had feelings for him, and he shut me down. Just said he wanted to remain friends, and it's hard to argue with that, isn't it?"

While Chie and Yukiko were chattering to her about that, the boys suffering through a "girly" conversation they had no interest in, the slightly jealous Rise found herself momentarily distracted. Everyone kept moving along as she slowly came to a halt, turned her white sandals off to the side, and approached someone who looked like she could use her company. Even if she wasn't absolutely sure of that.

"You okay over here?"

"Oh… no, no, I'm fine. Mind your own goddamn business."

"Wooooow. I guess that's what I get for caring, huh?"

"Wait," Ebihara suddenly blurted, standing up from the bus stop bench and taking a couple of steps toward her. "All right, I may have been unnecessarily rude. I just have no idea why you would want to talk to me when I was your rival for Narukami's affections."

"Because you looked kind of pathetic over here, all by yourself."

"I did not! I'm not 'pathetic', I'm legitimately upset that my boyfriend left!"

"He wasn't your…" But at least she managed to cut herself off with a roll of her eyes, swallowing down the jab and instead moving to hold onto Ebihara's shoulder. Tears were already rolling down the teen queen's cheeks, and her voice was tight and strangled, as if she were fighting back tears — clearly a losing battle. "He could never stay here. We all kind of knew that, and just talked ourselves out of believing it. I'm so mad! But… I have to get over it."

Clearly shocked by her more reasonable response, the prissy girl took a moment longer to respond herself. By the time she did, she was looking down toward their shoes. "Completely ridiculous. Right? I should have known better, I… ugh, I'm so pissed at myself."

"Right?!" Rise still wanted to slap her for trying to steal the boy of her dreams, but it really felt irrelevant now. So instead she tried for her most convincing smile — which, considering her previous vocation, was extremely convincing — and said, "Hey, um, why don't you try getting to know us a little better? Might as well, since you'll have more time on your hands now."

"Sounds stupid." The words came out so fraught with emotion that they were nearly unintelligible, but Rise still understood. "But I have nothing better to do, so lead on."

However, the closer they drew to the remaining group of students, the more anxious the prima donna became. Rise didn't know why exactly — and she couldn't know until Ai cleared her throat to get their attention. She could tell Naoto had been deep in discussion with Yukiko and Chie, though not what about.

"Yes?" Yukiko prompted her in mild surprise.

"I… thought I should say… I am sorry." She swallowed hard, brows furrowed. The expression still made her look angry and snobby, despite her tone of voice being gentle now; she just had resting bitch face. "Probably too late. But I was really going through some things when I sidelined you two in Aiya, and being rude is second nature to me. Can't be the most stunning girl in school without it going to your head, can you?"

"You say that like I would ever know," Chie snorted.

"Right. And… normally I would be agreeing with you and belittling you, Bowl Cu- I mean, Satonaka. I have a lot of practice." Grimacing, she growled, "Got so used to being queen bitch that it's hard to just be nice."

After a brief silence, so awkward that it felt as if any sound would have been preferable, Yukiko laid a hand on Ai's arm, gentle and reassuring. "Please, Ai-san. We all have darkness inside of us; nobody is a perfect person. So I think it's very admirable you're seeing your flaws and that you're trying to improve. I am the same, and so are my friends."

"Oh yeah?" The girl let out a wet-sounding laugh; indeed, tears were budding at the corners of her eyes. "How the hell aren't you perfect, Miss Goody Two-Shoes? I mean… I've always been so jealous of how the boys talk about you. No 'buts'."

"No butts?!" Chie burst out. "What do you mean? She's got a GREAT butt!"

Ai chuckled a little more heartily at that. Naoto was the only one who tapped her chin while noticing Yukiko's slight blush from the compliment; the others weren't paying it any attention. "No, no, not her ass. Which — fine, sure, it's fantastic. I mean like, they describe both of us as really beautiful, or hot or whatever. Same words for both of us. But with me, it always had a 'but she's such a bitch', 'but she's stuck up', 'but she's psycho' attached. Yukiko… a couple of guys said you were snooty if you turned them down for a date, but the rest of them saw through that. You're a good woman and I'm just a good-looking woman. I did so much work to be beautiful so boys would like me, but I'm just… ugly on the inside."

Though clearly, Yukiko was about to speak up, Chie beat her to the punch. "So that's it, huh? You're pathetic."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon, Ebihara. You're made of tougher stuff than that. Where's that girl who slammed her leg up on the table in Aiya and demanded we appreciate it?"

Though the teen queen had been firing up, being reminded of that moment in the diner made her squirm and fold her arms tightly over her chest. "That was stupid. Do you wanna know why I did that?" When Yukiko nodded, she pushed ahead, "Thing is, I was a... when I was little, I was nowhere near the adorable Ai you see before you now. Fat and hideous, got told I had pig hooves. So like, I'm sure it sounds really stupid to you guys, but having dainty little feet now is super amazing to me still."

"You were fat?!" Chie demanded, looking her up and down afresh. "No way! I call bullshit!"

"Yep, a total blimp. And I got hella teased because I didn't match up with their…" What a pregnant pause. "W-whatever. Yu already knows all this stuff, but pretty much I decided to reinvent myself when I found out we were moving to Inaba. Obviously it went to my head, but… at least I'm better now. Getting better all the time."

The rest of the Investigation Team was speechless. Rise, for her part, couldn't believe the superficial teen queen actually had some substance under that lip gloss. Certainly hadn't seemed that way when Ai basically bit her head off just for being at the shopping center with Narukami. Maybe he was the one responsible. After all, the stoic boy had touched all their lives, brought about an awakening of sorts to their inner beauty that they likely would never have found within themselves without him shedding that light. It just seemed to be one of his latent talents. Unsurprising that he had done the same for the entitled fashionista.

"There seems to be only one solution for this predicament," Naoto was stating firmly with a small nod, finger tapping her chin. "We must return to Aiya to remember our departed friend, and strengthen our bonds with each other."

"Oooh, a party!" Rise piped up with an excited little bounce, despite the light drizzle that was beginning to fall. "Yes please!"

"I guess that's a plan," Chie agreed as Rise, Kanji and Yosuke joined them. "What do you guys think? We catching the portal to the meat dimension?"

Grimacing, Yosuke demanded, "Do you have to call it that every time, Satonaka?! Geesh! Sounds super nasty."

"Bet you can't even handle it."

"Wha- OH YEAH?! BRING IT ON!"

                                                               ~ o ~

"PHWOOOO! I can't even look at it anymore!"

The ragtag group of assorted teenagers, who would seemingly have nothing in common from an outsider's perspective, were all sitting back and holding their stomachs by now. It was almost painful how much meat was straining to escape the linings of their stomachs. Actually, it was painful for some of them.

"Yyyyeah," Rise groaned in agreement with Yukiko's statement, arms like wet noodles at her sides. "My… I'm pregnant… food baby…"

"Even I'm feeling it a little," Chie was chuckling as Rise staggered to her feet. "And normally I can demolish one of these no sweat!"

"Must be… getting old," Yosuke said as their voices began to fade into the background. She could hear Satonaka clapping back at him, but once the bathroom door shut she could no longer identify words, just noise.

In fact… there was a new noise filling the ladies' restroom. Not a pleasant one. Brow furrowing as her lip curled in disgust, she glanced at the bottoms of the stalls and saw a pair of designer shoes with their soles facing up.

"Is… are you okay… in there?"

"HRRK!" What a weird noise — but not nearly as weird as the sound of pronounced retching that followed. God, how disgusting! Maybe she should just backpedal out of the bathroom… but before she could act, there was some spitting, a clearing of the throat, and a strained tone calling out, "Mind your own business! Do you have to be so fucking nosey?!"

Oh no. "Wait — Ebihara?"

"Yes! And this isn't something I want anybody to…" Another gagging noise. "Ugh… you probably have an Aqua Balance on you, don't you, Risette?"

Her eye twitched. "Just because I did the commercials doesn't mean I have a bag full of them on me at all times, you know!" But she still hated to hear a girl in need, so she forced herself to continue, "Need me to hold your hair back?"

"No, I… I got it. Practice."

"Practice? Just how often do you toss your cookies?!"

Dead. Silence. When it had gone on for a few seconds too long to be normal, Rise began to sense she had broached a topic that Ebihara did not want broached. Her brow creased harder, and eventually she said in a meek voice, "I'll… go get you some water."

"Thanks."

She was so preoccupied as she hit the bar to get some ice water for the prissy girl that she didn't even comprehend the words of her friends calling out to her — though she couldn't even see Chie and Yukiko at the table anymore. The rest were probably asking her what she was doing. And what was she doing? Why was she helping this complete bitch who would never do the same thing for her? There was no doubt in her mind that Ebihara would have completely ignored her if she found her voiding her stomach in a public restroom. Might even have laughed at her. But she still remembered how distraught she looked when they said goodbye to their mutual love interest.

Maybe hanging out with the Investigation Team had revived the conscience of a jaded teen idol who had taken a brief hiatus from the spotlight. No, it definitely had done that; what was in question was whether or not the same could be said of Ebihara's willingness to open up to her peers.

"Okay, here," she sighed as she opened the door — and almost ran straight into the girl's face. "WHOA!"

"Shit!" Ai yelped as she took a step back, then patted down her chest. "You made my soul leave my body — what the hell are you doing?!"

"Bringing you water! Do you need to add a little ginkgo to your diet, Obaachan?! It's been like one minute since I told you!"

"Fuck your water! I'm gone, I don't need this!" And she actually tried to push past her.

"Wha- hey! No, you don't just get to run off like this!"

"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do, you cow! Now get your goddamn cankles and your crow's feet out of my fucking way!"

Holy shit. That was a lot of random venom. Rise knew already that she didn't have either of those things, but she still felt the sting regardless.

"I… was trying to help you, but fine. Go away." And she stepped to the side with a flip of one of her mauve-tinted pigtails. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, brat."

What a mistake it had been to be nice to Ebihara. They were too much alike. Sure, Rise knew how to be polite, and was always warm and affectionate with her friends, but they both had the Bitch Gene and it ran strong through their veins. Ebi just led with that instead of saving it for people who deserved it.

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, looking stubbornly into the corner, before she felt the glass of water being taken from her fingers. She started to grab after it — instinct telling her she had dropped it and needed to catch it — until she saw Ai swishing it around in her mouth, then turning to spit into the sink.

"Oh," she breathed.

"What?" Ai grunted before she tipped the glass up again and started gulping it down. The lacy choker above her turtleneck bobbed with every swallow.

"Nothing, I just thought- I mean, did you leave and come back?"

Breathing a loud sigh as she set the glass down, she turned to glare at Rise. "Nosey. You ask too many questions all the time."

"I do not! They're really normal questions; you're just a bitch."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her jaw tightened. Rise was absolutely positive she was about to give her a tongue lashing. But then she just snorted and shook her head, looking away.

"Wow. I don't know what I expected from Risette, but it wasn't you."

"I know," she began, making this up as she went along. "You either thought I would be completely spoiled and stuck up like you, or I would be such a goody-goody that I never had anything mean to say about anyone. Those are the two flavours of idols, right?"

Ebi smirked and pressed an open palm to the center of her chest. "I spoil myself. And I told you what I went through as a child; don't I deserve it? Isn't this my time to shine?"

"Not if it means you piss off everyone around you while shining. That's just selfish, you know. Don't you care about anyone but yourself?"

"No. Why should I? They don't care about me." Her haughty tone turned bitter. "Nobody in Inaba. Not anymore."

Most of her ire fading, she said, "You gotta put yourself out there. This whole time we've been at Aiya, you barely said a word. I actually forgot you were here until I heard you puking your guts out."

"See my point? The boys who idolize me are the only ones that remember I exist. And even them… I know they don't care about me as a person. They just keep hoping a strong breeze will show them a little flash of my panties."

"No, that's not right. I'm trying to tell you that it's your fault."

"Excuse me?"

"How are we supposed to get to know you if you just hang in the background and never say anything? That doesn't-"

"Look, I don't need to take this," Ebi sighed with a roll of her hazel eyes. "At this point, I just want to go home and be alone. Is that allowed? Or are you going to block the door again?"

Rise's lips thinned in frustration. It wasn't worth it. She didn't want to keep banging her head against this brick wall anymore. So she didn't even say a word; just turned her back on Ebi before she said something particularly nasty.

"Thanks for the water," the other girl offered shortly as she strode out through the door. And that really was it.

"At least she thanked me," she muttered to herself as she finally took her place in one of the stalls to do her business. But in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but replay those conversations over and over in her head.

Because none of that blustering truly hid the fact that Ai Ebihara was in pain. And if nobody did anything about it, Rise was almost dead certain she was heading for disaster.

-------------------------------

                                                 To Be Continued…

[furyfought]

abernathy is a small town, surely you’ve met AGATHA KLEIN ; they can be a little IRREVERENT & OPPORTUNISTIC but have no fear , the TWENTY SEVEN year old definitely makes up for it by being IMPISH & SENSITIVE . most of the time anyway .  they’re usually seen around KLEIN & ASSOCIATES, LLC , as a CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY . you know, i hear they’re affiliated with the local mc, iron kings as an ATTORNEY . they’ve got this vibe of A HEART GROWN RAVENOUS, A CYANIDE CENTER ENCAPSULATED BY SACCHARINE FRUIT, AND A SOUL IN THE FORM OF A SCRIBBLE WITH FANGS going on , makes them easily recognizable.

loosely inspired by jennifer check (jennifer's body), wendy byrde (ozark), ginger fitzgerald (ginger snaps), elizabeth sloane (miss sloane), john silver (black sails), & BBHMM.

+ pinterest, stats.

hey, friends. i’m devin (or dev) & very tickled to be here. agatha’s a combination of two of my favorite muses, and i can only hope that you’ll love her as much as i do. 🤎

"𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄, 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒. 𝐍𝐎. 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓."

agatha’s story isn’t one that she likes to tell anymore. she feels it’s useless: to be defined by the actions of others, to attempt to battle the preconceived notions that run rampant regardless of what one says or does. she doesn’t want to beg for understanding anymore, or to claw her way from beneath the filth she’s made of her life. all that most know is all that she can bear to have known. the rest? it’s confetti; a meager concession in a game of chess. if you know her, is that a fact or a weapon to be used against her?

when it comes to the stories that can be told, however.. perhaps the most important is background. agatha’s an abernathy native: raised in grandiose park, flew the coop for college, only to settle back down in bordeaux apartments. klein & associates, llc. has been in her family for generations, each forefather serving increasingly questionable clients. agatha’s life, like that of many kleins before her, was already planned before she’d ever even been a thought in her parents’ minds. under her mother’s rule, there wasn’t any room for straying from that path. agatha would be smart; she would be clean; and she would be, without fail, someone. in other words, she would be her perfect replica. imagine the disappointment when agatha was anything but. 

agatha’s childhood can be summed up by three things: a door slammed shut in her face, an ear-piercing howl, and the chronic longing to go home — wherever that was. it’s another thing she doesn’t talk about, another thing she tries not to think about. those three things have followed her into adulthood, but they’ve taken different forms now. no longer is agatha a child screaming her throat raw — no; now, she cries out in other more productive ways. if you were to ask her, she’d tell you that she’s a woman grown; the past is behind her, buried in the sand where it belongs. the truth is trickier, less absolute. agatha is a child in the form of a woman; forever in the midst of a metamorphosis, unsure if for better or worse. she lacks foresight & lives largely in the now. she can’t imagine a future for herself and her choices in life reflect that.

agatha succeeds because she’s pretty, powerful, and convincing. wherever she falls short, her father is sure to more than make up for it. it’s amazing what people will do for the right price, and when they want to keep certain secrets from ever seeing the light. nepotism & immense privilege have done wonders for her, but she does.. actually work hard, too. she has an incredible memory & is really good at digging for more information & making her case. if she tells you that she’s going to do something, then she’s going to do it right no matter what. she’s dogged in that way, blinded to the outside world by her stubbornness. she works long hours & values her career above all else. she thinks it’s the only sure thing she has & views it as the one stable, secure thing in her life.

agatha is lonely to the point of defect. she lacks a sense of security in her life, which is why she’s so career-focused. she genuinely thinks that the only person ever looking out for her is her dad. she becomes very predictable once you realize that she will always pick the winning team; that she will forever follow the money; and that she is always going to make the decision that most benefits her. that isn’t to say that she doesn’t have any friends omg, but.. she doesn’t really trust easily. if she trusts you and considers you near and dear to her heart, then she’ll choose you. but until she has that reassurance? you’re on your own, bro. 

but like.. you literally would not know that unless you got burned by her. agatha is really good at listening and really good at playing parts for people. the thing with having no story is that she’s free to create her own. if you need a hero, she can be that. if you need a villain, she can definitely be that. she’s eerily good at getting chummy enough to make people think she’s close, only for them to realize.. they don’t actually know anything real about her? fun stuff. 

i think.. her entire life is a vie for power while also wanting to let go of that desire while also being afraid of what might happen if she were to let go of that desire. she’s not tht bad. she can play decent, be a guy’s guy. and she does come off tht way. it’s jus.. underneath there’s tht like .. tht rot tht she can’t scrub away. n it rears its ugly little head smtimes. but. :^) she can be cool n shoot the shit u kno.. heheh.

anyway.. lighter stuff<3 puts the gaslight and gatekeep in girlboss. talks just like her daddy, except for when she’s in the courtroom. egocentric without ever meaning to be. (spoiler: it’s a smoke screen.) she can, must, and will find a way to twist your words into something she can make sense of. believes in mixed drink supremacy. will absolutely smoke all of your weed + play dumb about hogging the blunt. plays dumb a lot actually, until it’s time to be smart. she’s touchy-feely, but freezes up whenever someone touches her. stares — a lot. can’t ever be the person to pick you up after a rough night out, because she’s likely there with you egging you on to do one more shot. every event is a tits out event / she has to be the most overdressed person in the convenience store at all times. can, must, and will be your unsolicited sugar momma. YOU SPIL-DBFDHFDJHBF LIPSTICK IN MY VALENTINO WHITE BAG? energy. thinks everything is a competition because it is. if she loved you once then she loves you forever. thinks going 20 over the speed limit isn’t speeding, actually. a bit of an emotional anarchist. can’t actually take what she’ll dish out. teases u if she likes u. teases u if she doesn’t like u. doesn’t care abt the feud as long as she’s gettin’ tht shmoney. big fan of an emotional sucker punch. 

"𝐌𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋."  + below are some ideas open to any & all muses no matter the age, gender, affiliation, etc !

i’ve left how she got involved with the mc totally absent from this intro bc i was hoping to plot it out! i’d love it if someone wanted to be her “in”. could be they were a childhood friend in need of help, a client she got close to, jus smth tht happened by chance.. whtever we come up with works! <3

if anyone needs an evil ex gf .. She’s Here. she will lie, cheat, scam, trash yr car, empty yr bank account.. whtvr you need, baybee<3

conversely.. not-so-evil ex gf? agatha can be nice & caring without there being a catch sometimes. maybe they still talk. maybe they’re friends. u tell me.

fwb / ex fwb? she do be sending them ‘u up?’ texts. 

someone tht agatha only got close to bc she wanted them to testify/be a character witness in court oopz<3

omg actual friends pls.. ppl tht Know her. tht See her. ppl tht she cares abt n would actually do anything for. friends!!!!!!!!!!!!

agatha has “get off my lawn” energy so i think it would be very funnie if someone needed a place to crash n she let them stay at hers thinking it was temporary n then they jus.. did not leave. n she’s like 🤨 hello?

an almost smth? anything weird n awkward n unspoken tht maybe fizzled out or maybe still lingers under the surface?

agatha doesn’t have a budding drinking problem but if she does no she doesn’t but if she does then<3 drinking buddy? someone that she’s gotten into questionable shenanigans with? poor bartender tht has to deal w her trying to “help” them as she waits for her uber to come? the possibilities are endless.

agatha’s all bark n very little bite but i still think it’d be funnie if she had a hateship. jus putting tht out there<3

if yr muse wnts an ego boost via unrequited crush.. lmk. i’m willing to hulk smash all of agatha’s dignity jus for u.

omggg a dealer? >.> who said tht omg #hacked.. 

on n off again thingz? lorde wrote tht "i am my mother's child i'll love you til my breathing stops / i'll love you till you call the cops on me" line abt her</3

budding friendships!!!!!!! ppl tht she goes to pilates or yoga with; people she gets brunch with; ppl she keeps running into n its like heeey u :); little platonic crushes jus . all of the cute platonic thingz tht make her go wtf is this 🤨. 

i mean.. if anyone wants a sugar momma.. I MEANNN..

college friends!! law school friends!! ppl she met over the summer while interning somewhere!! i left tht purposely vague, hint-hint.

tinder dates gone wrong. ghosted tinder dates. tinder thingz.

agatha’s been attending galas / banquets / office partiez for ages now so if anyone wants to be her plus one or her lil fake date... :^) could be cute. cld be angsty. world is our oyster. 

speaking of which.. coworkers n maybe even a lil personal assistant would be so sexie.

[fxbrokersempire]

What Are Realistic Goals For Forex & CFD Traders?

What Does It Take To Be A Good Forex Trader?

Having goals and direction are an important part of achieving success in anything from life, forex trading is no exception. However, goals can be difficult to set because people usually set them way too high, way over the top of what’s realistically achievable and in an acceptable amount of time. For example, having the goal of ‘becoming a full-time trader’ isn't going to do you any good if you don’t know HOW to trade the markets properly. Whilst it’s good to have big long term goals, you will not achieve them if you don’t break them down into  the shorter term, having more realistically achievable goals. Doing this will keep you much more motivated and focused whilst also keeping you progressive towards your longer term goals.

Most forex traders get lost, in setting the bar way too high right from the start and then getting discouraged six months or even a few days later when they have nothing to show for it. This happens because they aren’t being realistic with their goals. Let’s discuss some realistic forex trading goals you should have so that you can stay focused, motivated and on track to your targets.

Learn How To Trade Properly, Limit Expectations

Whilst I appreciate that not everyone is a beginner trader, this first point applies to those who are just starting out in learning the trading craft.

The first goal you should have is to trade your account to learn, not to make money. Learn as much as you can so that you don’t lose all your money, leading to faster and longer term success.

This doesn’t apply to everyone of course. However, if you’re a novice trader who is just starting out, it would be wise to not expect to make a lot of money or an ‘income’ from trading straight away. The  early years are your training period, your pursuit of education as well as screen time in order for you to gain some experience. This will probably result in you breaking even or even a minimal loss if you are trading a small account.

So the lesson here is, as a beginner trader, a realistic goal is to trade your account as a learning exercise and not just for the intent of making a profit. Just as with any other profession, be it sports, business or anything else, you can’t expect to walk out, learn a bit and become a professional overnight. Learn more about learning how to trade in 5 trading lessons.

Don’t Aim Foe A Monthly Income Right Away

Once you’ve done some study and practiced trading for a while, you should start feeling more comfortable to start increasing your risk per trade, whether this means a transition from demo to live, or moving from risking $1 to $100 per trade, your objective should not be to make a ‘full time income’, let me explain why:

Most people will start trading with an account under $10,000. To put this into perspective, you’d have to make a 500% return on that account per year to make a decent living. Having a realistic goal would be trading slow and steady gains; hitting ‘singles’ and ‘doubles’ to build up your account. A 50% to 100% return per year would be a realistic return if you’re hitting the numbers right. The aim is to make a profit but not to ‘make a living’ just yet, so don’t get carried away by thinking you’re going to print money like a job or seasoned trader.

The reason why you should not aim to make a living is pretty obvious…you simply don’t have the money or the skills yet. As I explained above, you can’t 'make a living' on a small account over the long term, but you can and should try to build it up. The trading mindset that you need to build up a small account successfully is going to be impossible to achieve and maintain if all you’re thinking about is hitting massive return trades every time and ‘getting rich’ quick. You will over-trade, over-leverage your account and likely blow it out; which is obviously the complete opposite of what you really want.

Aim To Be A Part Time Forex Trader

As mentioned above, most people can’t and won’t achieve the status of full-time trader in the early part of their career. So, a great goal is to focus on becoming a part-time trader and earning a nice profit while still maintaining your day-to-day income. There are many benefits to this trading strategy. Remember, the last thing you want to do is get hooked in to the market, it can easily destroy your life just like it does to gamblers. Learn to be patient and set limits to keep trading both enjoyable and profitable.

Be As Good A Trader As You Can

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned forex trader, you should have a goal of putting your focus on the processes and strategies of forex trading and becoming a good trader, not necessarily on your account balance. This goal is more applicable to your subconscious and psychological mindset, because you literally have to train yourself to be focused on every trade setup, the price action and the overall chart picture, as opposed to the money and profits that so many traders become fixated on.

As discussed in the article ‘Focus on the trading, not the money’, a trader should focus on the actual processes of trading, not on profit and rewards. The main reason for this is that the only way you can become a profitable trader is by becoming a skilled trader, and you can't do that if you’re too worried about ‘making money’ or even loosing money, because you’ll become way to emotional.

Watch The Market More Than You Trade It

Another realistic goal you should have is to stay out of the market as much as possible and only trade those trade setups that will yield high probability results. Measure your risk exposure better. As your goal, you should stay away from the market when there’s nothing going on and observe much more than you trade. Targeting trades and setups is much more progressive and profitable than being over exposed all of the time.

The main idea here is that most traders lose money because they over-trade; they are simply in the market too much. This causes them to both lose money because they are entering bad trades which in turn makes them far too emotional as a result. Essentially starting a rollercoaster effect of bad trading habits which you obviously need to avoid. It takes discipline and patience to sit out of the market the majority of the time and only enter when your trading edge is truly present. This is the only path to making money consistently as a trader, there are no short cuts unless you are a gambler.

Stay Away From Social Trading Forums

You may be part of a forex trading group or trying to get trading ideas by looking at people commenting on sites like investing.com or reddit. My advice is to stay well away from this as it will serve no positive purpose to your trading goals whatsoever. In fact it will create a completely different mindset for you and your trading strategy which will confuse you and drive you crazy. These social platforms serve no real purpose to giving you winning ideas. The small number of traders that actually make money in the markets are not those who follow other peoples trade setups. Learn how to do your own analysis and discipline yourself to follow your trade setups strictly.

Make Trading Your Passion, Live It & Breathe It

Over my almost 13 years of trading, and training a good few thousand students, it’s clear that the people that make money don’t only think about the money or ‘profits and rewards’ nearly half as much as those who don’t make money. The ones who make money are those who love trading, are passionate about it and want to be the best trader they can possibly be. Just like a professional tennis player, whilst the money may be a driver initially, those tennis players have to love their chosen craft, and to stay in the game over a long period and excel at it, they have to have passion & drive. Therefore, your final goal is to not only want to be a trader, but to be honest with yourself and either find a passion for trading or cut it loose and move on, because I can promise you if you don’t love, live and breathe trading (not the money) you won’t succeed.

and last but certainly not least...

Trade Only With A Regulated Broker That's Trusted

Finding a forex broker that you can trust is no easy thing. As someone that has years of experience in this industry it is paramount that you trade with a broker that wants you to succeed and will not play with your invested money.

The best forex brokers to trade with are often ones that come with a recommendation and have been used and researched. Take a look at the fully regulated brokers that we recommend. Choose a broker that suits your countries financial regulator in order to trade safely and have a level of account protection. See below:

FCA Regulated Brokers - UK's Top Forex Brokers

CYSEC Regulated Brokers - Europe's Top Forex Brokers

ASIC Regulated Brokers - Asia & Australia's Top Forex Brokers

Trading with forex brokers that are not reputable can lead to major losses of funds and are fraught with scams. Please make sure you use a broker from our registered site using top reputable regulated forex brokers in the industry.

[crimsoncityhq]

The fall solstice is only days from breaking over the Crimson City. Heat is a rare commodity to the residents of Chicago, so they part with it bitterly every year at the annual End-of-Summer Festival. The season goes out with a bang and the rumble of food trucks every summer as patrons waltz their way down the Chicago art walk, indulge in all things saucy and boozy at the Chicago Bourbon and BBQ Festival, get in touch with nature at the Chicago craft beer tasting at the zoo, and shop at the Chicago flea market littered with street merchants from all over the country. Of course, the real selling point every year is the annual Chicago bar crawl, which sweeps guests through Cook County’s best bars, like The Pint, Rousseau’s, Cataleya, Wolves and Skyfall Bar. To attract more customers, each bar, restaurant, and club—even what goes on behind—will be steeply discounted for the ultimate occasion. 

And if you’re a little territorial, don’t sweat it—no metal detectors will be necessary at the End-of-Summer Festival. Who would want to ruin all this fun, anyway ?!

Part I of the End-of-Summer Festival begins at 7:15 P.M. CST and will conclude on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 at 7 P.M. CST. You may continue your non-event  threads through the event, however we ask you don’t post any starters unless they pertain to the event

Under the cut are plot slots you may claim for this event; just send your preferred slot to the main. Plots slots are a first come, first serve basis.

We’re going to allow each person to choose two plot slots for two characters max .If there are any leftovers, we’ll let members know when they can sign up for thirds. Please try to pick one pertaining to your character and plot with those that take the other spots.

You’ll notice that some of these plots are public, so feel free to have your character react to them/ notice them even if they aren’t happening directly to your character. However, if something feels like it happened privately to another character, please check in with their Mun to see if it’s okay for your character to know.

To be clear: these are not the only things that happen to your character during this plot drop and you are more than welcome to cook up your own trouble.

1. IRA EVANS talks BIRDIE MENDOZA into taking five shots in under ten minutes. Now, it’s up to IRA EVANS to lug BIRDIE MENDOZA to each location on the bar crawl. Good luck—we hear they’re sloppy.

2. [LINCOLN ROSSI ] is having trouble finding their way out of the parking garage when they find [ CHARACTER D ] drunkenly screaming at an intoxicated [ CHARACTER E ]. [ LINCOLN ROSSI ] decides to guide them back to the party before they get lost.

3. [ EDIE JAMES ] accidentally drops a ten instead of a one into the tip jar while watching a street act. They awkwardly remove the tip but later get mugged by [ CHARACTER G ] and [ CHARACTER H ] who had watched the whole thing.

4. The Pint is running a promotion that promises six months of free drinks if you can outdrink two other people. [ LAVRENTI VASILE ], [ ANTON VOLKOV ], and [ ATTICUS MERCER ] compete to win, but the competition turns into drunken chaos very quickly.

5. [ VIOLET MADDEN ]is selected to go onstage and perform a duet with [ CHARACTER M ]. They end up sharing a heated moment over the microphone and head to the nearest restroom to talk. 

6. [ AUTUMN DAWSON ] accompanies [ MARCEL WALSH] to the craft beer tasting at the zoo. [ MARCEL WALSH ] feeds the goats in the petting area before getting mowed over by it. [ AUTUMN DAWSON ] tries to ward the goat off from the sidelines while [ MARCEL WALSH ] returns to their feet to make their escape.

7. [ OAKLEY BUTLER ] is showing off their artwork at the art walk. [ LEONID 'LEO' VASILE ] buys a piece and tries to scam it a few booths down. [ OAKLEY BUTLER ] busts them after a civilian buys the piece of artwork for triple the price. The confrontation is no bueno.

8. [ DIAMOND WASHINGTON ] has been texting [ CHARACTER S ] the whole entire event thinking it was an [ CHARACTER T ]. [ CHARACTER S & CHARACTER T ] meet up at the rendezvous point and [ DIAMOND WASHINGTON ] must sort this miscommunication out.

9. TYSON KANE uses a random dating app and schedules a blind date with [CHARACTER V]. 

10. [ CHARACTER W ] ‘accidentally’ sets a booth on fire, and now owes [CHARACTER X] the money for their artwork.

11. [ NADIA JAMES ] crashes into [ MARISSA ATKINSON’s ] car when trying to park. They have an altercation in the parking garage.

12. [ JUNO SONG ] is seen drunkenly trying to serenade the penguin exhibit to Gangsta’s Paradise. [ ADELAIDE HASSAN ] records the whole entire thing for ‘information purposes’ later.

13. [ CHARACTER C1 ] accepts a small baggy containing a questionable substance from [ CHARACTER D1 ]. Later, [ CHARACTER C1] runs into [ CHARACTER D1] completely convinced they are being chased by a murderous peacock. Bougie Thankskilling, anyone?

14. [ ARMANDE IVASHKOV ] & [ CHARACTER F1 ] stand in line to get into Cataleya, while [CHARACTER G1] tries to convince them to smuggle in [ SMALL ANIMAL OF CHARACTER G1’S CHOOSING ].

15. [ EMMA BARTLETT] finds a trashbag full of cash with a note that seems to be in a binary code. [ CHARACTER I1] catches [ EMMA BARTLETT’s] silhouette & comes over to inspect.

16. ROSALIA LEON trying to escape from their date, runs right through the doors of Gentile Fille. They collide with [ CHARACTER K1] that was there for the same reason. 

17. [ CHARACTER L1 ] finds themself in a pickle when they end up with the primates. Their panicked whispers gain the attention of [ CHARACTER M1] & [ CHARACTER N1] to help them get out of the exhibit. While the primates descend upon [ CHARACTER L1], Helen Branch Primate House will never be the same. [ CHARACTER N1] stops helping because they’re too busy laughing.

18. [ CHARACTER O1] misses their date’s ass, and smacks [CHARACTER P1’s] ass instead. It causes [ CHARACTER P1] to swing a fist, but they hit [ CHARACTER Q1’s] throat instead causing them to start choking. 

19. [ KATERINA VASILE ] is mistaken for [ EMMA WATSON ] by [ CHARACTER S1] that won’t stop bugging them for an autograph.

20. [ RAFAEL GONZALEZ ] hides their weapon(s) before they go into The Pint. [ BARNABY EATON] trips over the weapons and keeps them. 

21. [ CHARACTER V1] tries to convince [ CHARACTER W1] that they saw strange lights in the sky. They start arguing if it was helicopter lights or UFO’s.

22. [ SILAS HALE ] mistakes ANAIS "ANNIE" WASHINGTON for someone else, and pulls them into a kiss in front of the crowd at Eden.

23. [ DARREN MURPHY ] grows impatient waiting for their BBQ food order, but doesn’t realize [ ASLI DEMIR ] hijacked the food truck. 

24. [CHARACTER B2] drunkenly loses a fight with a street performer. [ CALLUM JAMES ], who witnessed the scrap, helps [CHARACTER B2] to the nearest first aid kit.

25.[ JOSIE LEON] drunkenly confesses their love for One Direction, however [ EZRA WASHINGTON ] misinterprets it as a confession of love for them.  

26. [ FOREST DUNCAN ] decides the End-of-Summer Festival is missing some pyrotechnics. They shoot off fireworks in the center of a small crowd and start a fire. [ CAIOLAINN 'CALLIE' WALSH ] is the only one who stays to help them stamp it out.

27. [ ROSALIE "ROSIE" HALLIDAY ] is sitting at a booth being drawn, and [ JESSE VALENCIA ] pays the artist to mess up the self portrait. However, the artist ends up drawing them BOTH together in a romantic position. 

28. [ GWENDOLYN "GWEN" ARNOLDS ] is probably the only poor sober soul, and they use this to charge [ JACKSON MARSTON ] to be their DD. However, they both witness when [ GWENDOLYN "GWEN" ARNOLDS’s] car is towed away for parking in the wrong spot.  

29. A discounted tattoo shop sits along the art walk and is charging only $20 for a small tattoo. [ ANDREA 'ANDY'PEREZ ] says they’ll pay for it—and dinner—if [ DARCY FAUST ] lets them choose the tattoo. [ DARCY FAUST ] agrees but is horrified to find [ UP TO PLAYER DISCRETION ] permanently engraved on their skin.

30. [ OLIVIA MADDEN ] notices an odd tattoo that glows on someone’s forearm. Several straight lines? Before they can inquire about it, [ CHARACTER O2 ] tackle them mistaking them for being a thief. 

31. [ DANICA SINCLAIR ] wins a dancing contest against [ UDORN “YURI” SASIPARN ], but twists their ankle in the process. [ UDORN “YURI” SASIPARN ] agrees to help them along only if they declare them the winner.  

32. [ ANTON VOLKOV ] lost a bet with [ KONSTATIN VASILE ] and now wanders the street with a bright pink wig, fishnet stockings, & a clown mask. 

33. [ VICTOR 'VIC' VOLKOV ] strikes a conversation with [ IGOR VASILE ] over a piece of artwork.  [ VICTOR 'VIC' VOLKOV ] buys the artwork only to find out it was counterfeit from the Art Museum. [ IGOR VASILE ] ends up purchasing the real one. They start to argue which one is the real one. 

34. [ CHARLOTTE "CHARLIE" ARDEN] is running a booth at the flea market and notices [ CHARACTER W2 ] pocket something from an adjacent vendor. [ CHARLOTTE "CHARLIE" ARDEN ] promises not to squeal if [ CHARACTER W2 ] works with them at the booth for an hour.

35.  [ JESSIKA DELMONICO] & [ KELLEN WASHINGTON ] break out into a paint fight at an abandoned art booth. [ JESSIKA DELMONICO ] is splashed with a neon green paint in the face.  [ KELLEN WASHINGTON ] tries to run away, but not before [ CHARACTER X2 ] splashes their back with a brown paint. Did they shit themselves??

36. [ CHARACTER Z2 ] ducks out of the way from a flying object that crashes the window of a closed shop. The alarms start to blare, and before [ CHARACTER Z2 ] can leave the scene they see [ CHARACTER A3 ] about to launch something else. 

37. [ TALIA ARSLAN ] eats a bad hot dog from a food truck, and [ DANICA SINCLAIR ] helps them to the nearest bar for a bathroom and a cool drink. [ TALIA ARSLAN ] talks [ DANICA SINCLAIR ] into doing shots when they’re feeling better.

38. [ LEV VASILE ] takes a few healthy tokes of the joint they’ve been saving for an occasion, and [ GENEVIEVE BISSET ] asks if they’re willing to share. They both light up and head on a self-guided tour to the food trucks.

39. [ CHARACTER F3 ] and [ CHARACTER G3 ] get into an argument with [ MATHIAS ATTANO ] after they lose at a drinking game for the third time in a row. [ MATHIAS ATTANO ] has been cheating the whole time and now has to lose [ CHARACTER F3 ] and [ CHARACTER G3 ] in the crowd.

[piermanwalter]

Thief’s Apprentice: Civil Servant Triumvirate

What does it take to keep a city of immortal skeleton wizards functioning? These revenants are the antithesis of the bros: a semi-legitimate politician who won’t fall for petty scams, another large sealed container, and a guy who breaks into houses and attacks people but legally.

The Mayor of Veilheim

Although elected by the literate class as The Mayor, The Mayor isn’t a Veilheimer or even from Surenia. His outsider status is celebrated as bringing an end to cultural and political stagnation, but has caused some problems. Counter to Veilheim customs, he still treats his children and grandchildren as family even though he died decades before. The Mayor’s continued contact with them is seen as unnecessary interference with the affairs of the living. Integration between living and dead society has swung back and forth throughout history, although recently the living in Veilheim have gone from viewing the world outside the living district as another plane of existence to coming and going as they please (only if they are plaguebearers) within a few generations, as orchestrated by The Mayor. 

The Mayor’s political platform is normalising death so the living die happier and produce less madmen. Under his rule, living apprenticeship under dead Masters has increased, a few living businesses such as perfumers and the Rambush family distillery now serve the dead, and skeleton prostitution is decriminalised (for health and safety reasons it’s still illegal for anyone who’s not a skeleton to be a prostitute). The Mayor also implemented the infamous and controversial Destitution Inducing Tax Law, which reduced 1000 of the richest Veilheimers being taxed 0.1% of city budget per year to 100 of the richest Veilheimers being taxed 1% of the city budget per year. The repercussions of this law will be discussed later. With increased working population and ending a few monopolies, Veilheim’s self-sufficiency caused some diplomatic issues with other cities, such as Villa Princeps and Alhambra, which used to count on Veilheim for trade. The Mayor dealt with this by decreasing staple food and fabric imports, but increasing imports of luxury items from outside.

As well as being a functional statesman, The Mayor is also a great wizard. As covered before, magic is the energy derived from souls dying outside the body. Wizards can’t perform magic on their own, but can effectively use magic items, objects with pieces of mage souls in them. To use a magic item, a wizard needs to convince the soul piece inside to die for their sake. Thus wizards are all monstrously manipulative. The Mayor keeps a stash of magic items from his home country that nobody else can use because the souls inside all speak a different language. 

During the uncertain early years of his reign, The Mayor resorted to a lot of secret crimes to stay in wealth and power. After things stabilised, The Mayor has been able to stay in power via legitimate means for a long time and has worked to erase his history, but some elements of his criminal past come back to haunt him, including you. Some of his deals have gone on for so long with people so dangerous he hasn’t figured out how to end them yet. 

Noble Porter

About 10 years ago, a pirate crew attacked the city and were all arrested. While awaiting trial, some pirates died in the cell and went mad, killing and eating the rest, forming into one single creature composed of at least 8 pirates. Temperament stabilised by being made of so many people, the resulting being’s imposing size and treasure-protecting pirate instincts led to new employment. Noble Porter, most noble of porters, delivers state documents within Veilheim and also to other cities by putting them in the big cabinet. The key is delivered separately a few days earlier to the document’s recipient. Then Noble Porter finds you and kneels so you can reach the cabinet and unlock it. Noble Porter’s head is literally and metaphorically filled with state secrets. Noble Porter is constantly surrounded by guards and seems physically incapable. Despite Noble Porter’s helpless appearance, don’t forget the composition of at least 8 pirates who spent their lives killing and looting and died cannibalising each other.

Noble Porter has a very nondescript personality, can’t speak, and takes a very long time to make decisions. Noble Porter must always be referred to without pronouns, since Noble Porter lacks the mental faculty to comprehend anything other than the proper title. It’s easy to infer complete stupidity from this, but Noble Porter has a surprisingly good idea of the general vibe and often bails out of suspicious situations before they begin. How much Noble Porter likes you is determined by how long it takes you to unlock the cabinet. If you use the wrong keys too much or unlock the wrong drawer first, Noble Porter won’t like you. Noble Porter may also relock locks, change pin combinations, and shuffle documents into other drawers. It usually takes a few minutes to get the cabinet open, but you can use this to your advantage by robbing people while they are distracted. This has inevitably led to Noble Porter liking several specific nobles because they get delivered important documents a lot. This is about as fair and efficient as the standard workplace email. How has Noble Porter managed to accumulate the wealth and prestige prerequisite to being a noble without any language skills? Pirate hoarding instincts.

If Noble Porter doesn’t like you, documents will take much longer to be delivered. If Noble Porter likes you, documents will be delivered quickly and sometimes Noble Porter will deliver extra handwritten nonsense letters and random objects. These nonsense letters are starting to become a currency in high society. Noble Porter is also married to Cylinder Locksmith, who has an unfair advantage because she installs the locks into the cabinet. Is she purposefully being exploitative? It’s hard to tell.

Tax Collector

Despite being rich and influential, Tax Collector is seen as being on the same level as other Collectors, such as Rag Collectors, Dung Collectors, Ash Collectors, etc. Tax Collector has been around for at least 500 years and thus has cultivated an extensive legacy of terror. As per Veilheim’s traditional tax policy, if someone can’t or won’t pay taxes, their share will be paid by increasing taxes for other taxpayers and also Tax Collector will drag them out into the street and stab them, after which they are ridiculed by the general public and reviled by other taxpayers who had to pick up their slack. It’s possible to regain some clout by stabbing Tax Collector back. This happens often enough that it’s legal to stab him as he’s stabbing you (it’s still illegal to stab him at any other time). If you are a chronic tax evader, instead of stabbing you in front of your house, Tax Collector will drag you into the judicial district and stab you in the main square. It’s considered a great honor if Tax Collector stabs someone with the same thing you stabbed him with. Sometimes there are multiple rounds of tax collecting, where Tax Collector collects taxes from those who can pay, stabs those who can’t, then calculates how much extra needs to be paid, collects that from those who can pay, stabs those who can’t, and so on until he reaches a monolith of riches who pays for like 18% of the city budget.

Aside from tax collecting, Tax Collector is also involved with antiforgery, crime scene investigation, and tracing the origin of stolen goods. His giant soul from old age and also work experience makes him an excellent alchemist. Alchemy is the study of how souls affect chemistry. For example, if a chunk of limestone is mined by someone and put on the back of a donkey and unloaded by someone else, then burned into quicklime by a different person, the resulting calcium oxide still carries tiny fragments of the souls of three people and one donkey. Not nearly enough to be a magic item or affect its physical behavior, but still enough to be detected by an alchemist. If you touched something, Tax Collector knows. 

After his workload of 1000 people a year was reduced to 100 people a year by the Destitution Inducing Tax Law, Tax Collector is much more involved in normal law enforcement, turning him from an annoying figure among high society to widely reviled by all. As intended by the law, 1% of Veilheim’s yearly budget is enough to drive someone to destitution. Because productive property (things like food, tools, buildings of labor, working animals, and industrial materials) are counted for tax purposes as much less than other things like leisure buildings, precious metals, and jewels, people on the verge of being in to top 100 rush to convert their riches into raw flax, iron bars, and live sheep. Those unfortunate(?) enough to still be considered rich after this often have their life’s work erased. If revenants don’t die, to maintain a functioning economy they must be killed financially. The young by comparison are still afraid of this, but old revenants driven by greed to accumulate as much as they can often lose the will to live after they can no longer grow their wealth as fast as they used to and even the biggest diamonds makes them feel nothing.

Tax Collector! Render me destitute and give my life meaning again!

Then there are people like Noble Engineer and Sporadic Miner who are so absurdly rich that paying 1% of the city’s yearly budget doesn’t significantly affect them.