#coal trading

[cthulhusstepmom]

It's all in the eyes.

When Kremy had first started working his way through casinos he'd been practically unstoppable. Starting with short trips, dipping his toes in so to speak; Staying just long enough to win a hand before cashing out and making a break for it(he'd learned the hard way about that special breed of thug that likes to beat up kids with a little cash). Slowly, one hand turned into two turned into three and four. Soon enough he would be playing tables for hours, bouncing between games with a smile and a wink.

Problem being there's only so many casinos around Agwé. Mobility wise he was also somewhat limited, unless he felt like swimming or ducking through the swamp, but he only had the one good shirt, can't afford to ruin it or they won't let him in. That and being too young and stupid to know better is what led him to that table in the Hungry Catfish.

He was about to cut it and cash out when he'd felt a clammy hand on his shoulder, looked up into the eyes of a bullywug with a smile too wide for his already froggy face. He hadn't bothered putting up a fuss about his winnings as he was steered from the table towards the bowels of the boat. What's money worth to a dead man anyway?

Mr.Guru's office is opulent, decorated with draperies in rich deep shades of blue. Kremy can feel the soles of the better of his two pairs of shoes sink deep into the carpet that he's too scared to lift his eyes from. Deep smoky incense and cigar smoke make the still air heavy and thick. It isn't helped at all by the almost physical weight of Mr.Guru's eyes focused solely on him.

"You hit a real lucky break there son. Do you know the odds of winning ten hands in a row?" His voice is gravelly, dark, with an edge of malice hanging over the words like a thunderhead.

"No sir." Of course he knew it was astro-fucking-nomical. He got greedy, Ma's birthday is coming up and he'd seen a beautiful pearl necklace in a shop window passing through the Magnolia Promenade, he'd wanted to grab the cash in one night so he'd be able to pull enough double shifts at the kitchen to make it believable when he showed up with it. If only he'd chosen any other casino.

"I don't appreciate being lied to boy."

"I'm sorry sir, I'm sure you don't sir."

"Why don't you go ahead and look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you?"

Suddenly his head moves on its own, he can't think of any better idea than looking Mr.Guru in the eyes, there's certainly no reason not to. Almost as soon as the conviction roots itself in his mind, it vanishes. But not before he's wrenched his face upward to lock eyes with the devil.

"You have the eyes of a sinner boy." He sounds pleased, smug. "You care to explain to me why I should let a whelp like you walk out of my casino with all that cash?"

Kremy stands his ground. He knows bullies, dealt with them all his life. And Mr.Guru isn't as such. He's a shark; Complete with the cold dead eyes, such a dark brown they're almost black. This is a man in power, power that Kremy can't even begin to understand. The moment he sees weakness, the moment he smells blood, Kremy is as good as chum in the water.

"Suppose I just have the luck of the cards with me Sir."

"That right? They speak to you do they?"

Kremy feels a small smile creep across his scaly lips.

"From a certain point of view."

To Kremy's utter shock, Mr.Guru lets out a bark of gravelly laughter.

"What do you do boy? Besides win improbable odds."

"Well sir I'm a fine chef and a quick learner."

Those black eyes narrow for a moment as Mr.Guru strokes a hand over his well trimmed beard.

"Could use a pair of hands like yours in my galley. What do you say son?"

The smile becomes a crocodile grin.

"Where do I sign Mr.Guru?"

It's not regret necessarily.

Kremy knows regret, intimately, and he can't quite say he regrets signing that contract. Perhaps guilt is a better fit. Deep down he knows he didn't really have much of a choice, if he hadn't accepted Mr.Guru's offer of employment he would have ended up like these poor souls.

Pushing the last of the heavy burlap sacks over the edge of the boat Kremy feels a sigh bubbling in his throat. It's an odd thing to be all introspective and shit when you're disposing of bodies, or so he’s been told. Personally, Kremy feels it's a very natural time to feel existential but he knows better than to try and make discussion over it now. He's just here because he's stronger than the bullywugs and it's been a busy night.

Now that he's been promoted to pit boss he's been spending more and more time with the Grinning Sinners, or the other Grinning Sinners(Mr.Guru has never been too clear on exactly what Kremy is in the organization, keeps everyone guessing that way, prevents anyone from getting too chummy with one another). Whether that be patrolling the pit, taking inventory, or dealing with some of the more unwanted patrons in whatever ways the Boss deemed necessary. He'd even been sent out to collect on bargains for Mr.Guru, a task that most of the Grinning Sinners are disallowed from.

Tonight there are whispers in the air though, one of the mid level Sinners(Jean-Claude he's pretty sure) is going to challenge the boss. It'll be his first time seeing it in person, he'd heard it a few times in his years in the kitchen, provided refreshments even. It's a privilege Mr.Guru provides all of his employees: the opportunity to challenge him to a poker game for your contract. If you win, you walk away with your soul in hand; no longer blemished by the contract you've signed. If you lose, another seven years are added to your time aboard the Hungry Catfish.

He's never heard of anyone winning.

And tonight is no exception.

As he leans against the bar, he attempts to subtly look over his boss's shoulder, get a glance of his cards; but it's almost like a veil of shadow sits over them and all he can see is darkness. Every time they hit the table though, it's clear as day how poorly Jean-Claude is making out. Word on deck is that he'd been seeing a gal and was looking to propose. Kremy had seen her a few times, she was alright he supposes though not to his tastes(between being rather toad-like and being of a womanly persuasion, there's not much to pique his interest). The information being passed down along the bar is that Jean-Claude had six years left in his contract; Hopefully his lady love would wait for him for thirteen.

The first time Kremy gambles his soul they're deep in the woods, returning from a meeting between Mr.Guru and a powerful business associate.

"Mr.Guru?" He asks, staring deep into the fire as he allows the bullywugs to clean up after dinner(an arrangement he can't say he dislikes too much, Kremy despises doing dishes almost as much as he loves cooking).

The man himself moves just a smidgen, tilting his head with an indulgent "Hmm?"

"Would you kindly play a game of poker with me?"

He loses. Badly.

It's the first time he's truly lost a game of cards in a long, long time.

Mr.Guru claps him on the back with a smile that shows too many teeth.

“Maybe next time son.”

He loses the next time too. And the next. 

After the fourth he’d gone to find help in the only place he knew. 

Pierre has a comfy seat in the organization all things considered, he may as well be Mr.Guru’s right hand man. And he didn’t get there by luck(or misconception given how many bullywugs seem to have his same name). With a steel trap mind and the instincts of both a killer and a gambler, he makes an excellent pit boss; and a better confidant. 

“What the fuck is it Pierre? I’ve practiced my poker face till my muscles froze up. I know it’s not that. I don’t have tells, I know I don’t!” Seated at the bar, Pierre gives him an unimpressed look. “Right, I’ll listen.”

“You are young yet Kremy, and full of passion. And apparently all the knowledge in the universe if you are to be believed.” Kremy finds himself glad that he can’t flush under the gentle admonishment.

“Sounds like a you problem if you’re believing.”

Pierre grants him a croaky chuckle “Listen and Pierre will tell, your silvery barbs may amuse Mr.Guru but he is a man with much more patience than I.” 

Kremy nods eagerly. 

“There are many ways out of a contract, Kremy, you must learn to think outside of the box if you don’t want to be inside of it. You can iron out every muscle in your face, spend hours mastering the control of your expression, but you will never cull your true tell.”

He sits stone still as if that will make it easier to catalog all that Pierre is saying.

The old bullywug takes his hand. “Your eyes, Kremy. There is a fire inside of you that cannot be doused, it shows in your eyes. They will always betray you.” 

Eventually he’d realized that Pierre was right, after stubbornly extending his contract another fourteen years. So he thought outside of the box. It was easy enough to track down Mr.Guru’s generous benefactor, even easier to sign yet another contract(though he read through this one much more thoroughly). Taking a patron and taking another name for himself: Lecroux. And well, technically speaking Kremy Lecroux didn’t sign his soul away to Mr.Guru. It wasn’t an honorable way out but if there’s one thing Kremy is good at it’s cheating. Sort of poetic in the end, that cheating Mr.Guru got him into this mess and (from a certain point of view) it’ll get him out of it as well. 

From then it was history. He skipped town, swam through the swamp for a few days before pulling himself up out of the river and setting about getting a new set of clothes. Trading playing cards for a set of dice, though he still kept his aces close (tucked into the brim of his new hat to be exact). Altogether he was a new man. And one night as he sat down for a drink, his wandering eyes found another fire. 

His name was Gideon.

[mycological-mariner]

It’s rather lonely being the only one in your little freak corner of hyperfixations

[georgefairbrother]

On February 18th, 1981, a BBC headline announced something that would be unthinkable three years later, 'Thatcher Gives in to Miners'.

"…Mrs Thatcher's Conservative Government has withdrawn plans to close 23 pits in its first major u-turn since coming to power two years ago. President of the National Union of Mineworkers Joe Gormley is confident the government's intervention will avert the threatened national miners' strikes…"

After crisis talks in Whitehall between union leaders and Energy Secretary, David Howell, the government agreed to reduce coal imports from eight million to 5.5 million tons and to reinstate higher operating subsidies.

NUM President Joe Gormley stated that as a result of commitments given, he would not be recommending a strike despite overwhelming support for industrial action from within the union membership.

Not everyone was happy;

"…The next day the NUM told all miners to return to work after the executive voted to accept the concessions made by the government and coal board by 15 to 8, with one abstention. Some left-wing pits maintained unofficial stoppages and there were pickets outside the NUM headquarters in London…"

When the government confirmed an injection of 300 million pounds in industry support, the unofficial action was called off and rebel pits were operating again by 20th February. Just over a year later, Joe Gormley secured a 9.3 % pay rise for miners, and was replaced by Arthur Scargill as NUM President.

In a 2002 BBC documentary, a former Special Branch officer claimed that Joe Gormley was a security services informant during the 1970s, having become concerned over the increasing influence within the NUM of left-wing militants.

Arthur Scargill opined,

"…The history of our movement is littered with people in leadership positions who were either connected with Special Branch or connected with the State..."

Joe Gormley was awarded a Life Peerage in 1982, and passed away in 1993.

[xylinthia]

ATCs I made this weekend!

2.5"×3.5#, Cardstock, Toner Prints, Colored Pencil, Pen, and Acrylic Paint

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Each (with the exception of the Dream Desert ones) are all June holidays and observances: June Bugs, Pride Month, Nat'l Reef Day, Nat'l Sea Turtle Day, Nat'l Flamingo Day

[pokeposts]

FINALLY got coal into pokemon home. look at my dog immediately

[thedeafprophet]

Historical Stoves References Too:

[brojustshutup]

guess who's officially seen six 6 times!!

[drawingtigers]

Osiris Golderest, Lord of the Blackmourn Ridge district, had countless secrets as a warlock. If the people of Blackmourn found any of them out, they told no one; Osiris would do the same to protect any one of them.

[dukeofriven]

And we ought to still all be using iPods, goddamnit. I do!

i have 3 moods:

skips every song on my ipod

lets the music play without interruption

plays the same song on repeat for days

[just2bruce]

Red Sea ripples spread across trades

The repercussions of the Red Sea crisis have been longer-lasting and more severe than many shippers thought. Shippers expected delays proportional to the extra sailing time. They may have expected proportional cost increases as well. But they did not count on such factors as the extreme congestion in Singapore and in other ports. And in ports that have become pivotal, there are looming shortages…

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Western Europeans mostly grabbed America's money, accepted its military leadership, and joined or drifted toward a democratic, pro-trade European union.†

†This began with the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, founded in 1948, and the 1952 European Coal and Steel Community. These were refounded in 1958 as the European Economic Community and transformed into the European Union by the 1993 Maastricht Treaty.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[coalminecanary]

idk

Best RPF Ship - Round 3 Match 6

[univdatosmarket]

The coal trading market is expected to grow at a strong CAGR of around 2.35 % during the forecast period. 

[tenth-sentence]

In 1926, private coal mine owners attempted to reduce miners' wages and the Trades Union Congress called a General Strike.

"Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History" - Philippa Gregory

[ashenoaktradingcompany]

All of our off season items are currently 50% off including our novelty Coal Soap!

Something simple and fun, for gifting or entertaining. Goat’s milk soap scented like a smoldering fire.

Coal Soap ingredients: aqua, glycerin, sodium stearate, sorbitol, sodium laurate, goat's milk, propylene glycol, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium lauryl sulfate, titanium dioxide, stearic acid, lauric acid, pentasodium pentetate, tetrasodium etidronate, fragrance, tea tree essential oil, mica, iron oxide, fluorphlogopite, tin dioxide, black iron oxide, ultramarine

[phaeton-flier]

Nuclear is like the only thing that gets regulated this way; in no other industry is "you must spend as much as possible on safety, past any question of cost-benefit, such that any savings gets eaten up by it, while your competition blows the same stuff straight into the air" anti-nuclear fears are responsible for a lot of climate change and air pollution and all that comes with it, because it never traded off against renewables it traded off against more coal