#doctors without education debt

[ranthaven]

The US is the most productive economy for the success of the middleman in the history of the world. Buy my new book: How to Get Rich Without Offering Anything of Value!! Yours now for the low, low price of whatever I feel like charging for it! Come on, you know you want it.

[avelera]

Ugh, sorry, one last political point because it’s the day for it and this is bugging me.

Democrats and people on the left in the US have got to knock it off with this whole, “All Trump voters are obviously stupid” thing.

I’m sure it’s satisfying to believe, but it is simply not true, and making assumptions about your opponents that aren’t true is how you lose elections.

Half of the voting population of this country is not stupid and it is ludicrous to insist on believing that. Trump voters include doctors, lawyers, business owners, people with PhDs and graduate degrees, and people who attend college courses for fun. They are, unfortunately for many of us including yours truly, our parents and relatives and I at least know for a fact in those cases that they are well educated, well traveled people.

Assuming these people are just stupid and uninformed is, in fact, stupid. It a simplistic view of the world that is going to make your platforms lose if you embrace it and refuse to look deeper.

In practice, people engage in politics because they want the greatest happiness and prosperity for the largest number of people that they care about.

Everything after that is just haggling over price.

For example, the Left/Democrats might believe that the great amount of happiness and prosperity is brought to the largest number of people they care about when an advanced degree is available to everyone without leaving them in crippling debt, when people can age with social services that allow them dignity, when billionaires and companies cannot exploit their workers, and when peace and just causes are allowed to flourish around the world, including the education and enfranchisement of women, and the long term health of our planet. I personally believe that brings long term prosperity to us all.

Left and Right wing voters right now both probably agree that everyone is happier and more prosperous if they can afford a house and have a job that covers their needs and then some. How to get to that is the sticking point that they disagree on.

Right wing voters also want prosperity for themselves and those they care for and what they disagree on with the Left is how to achieve that. I’m not going to go into their platforms here because the whole point of this post is not assuming things about your opponents.

Now in order to persuade people to hold more Left leaning views, you need to make the case for why what you care about is a thing that they should care about and, more importantly, how it enhances the happiness and prosperity of them and those they care about.

Otherwise, you are asking them to vote against their own interests, which no one engages in politics to do, at least not on purpose (even if it is the ultimate outcome in many cases).

If you don’t care about making this argument to opposite side, then fine, you’ve already lost and you deserve to keep losing elections.

You deserve to lose because you’re not making a case for why anyone should support your causes in order to gain happiness and prosperity for themselves and those they care about, including expanding the field of people they care about, and it is ludicrous to expect people to do that without being persuaded either intellectually or emotionally.

This is what finding common ground and building coalitions is about, even if you don’t agree on every point. And if you self isolate and stick to your purity, you deserve to lose because politics is about how we govern large groups of people towards a common goal that, ultimately, is best simplified as the goal of their greatest happiness and prosperity.

Good faith politics is negotiating over what that means. Because resources are finite we can’t all get everything we want all at once. And not everyone agrees on everything so you need to prioritize the best possible allotment of happiness and prosperity for the short and long term, and that’s when we get into the nitty gritty of all the horse trading that happens in politics etc etc.

And you get into things like billionaires having outsized ability to enact their own happiness and prosperity but here’s the thing, many people especially on the right go along with those views because they believe (rightfully or not) that those goals will increase their own happiness and prosperity as well and if you don’t agree you’ve got to explain to them intellectually or emotionally why that is and provide and alternate platform or path for them to gain it that is more effective by at least some measure of that value.

Anyway, at the risk of this becoming a political science thesis from someone who isn’t a political scientist, just an amateur academic, tl;dr please knock it off with assuming everyone who disagrees with you is stupid, it is a losing proposition and it doesn’t get us anywhere near the goals we want to achieve politically, ie, the greatest happiness and long term prosperity of the people we care about.

[apollo-likes-writing]

LAPIS LAZULI - 3. Expense.

Character(s): Kakavasha Tags: Long fic, discussions of blood and medical practices (not explicit), medical equipment, needles (not explicitly used), implied blood loss Word count: 2,771 words

Summary: More details about the day-to-day life of Dr. Kakavasha and his- er- experiments.

Author's Note: I know, I know. I'm super fuckin late. I apologise. Recently moved house and have been looking for a paid job. Finally got one, so I'm now able to work more consistently on this fic.

Also, there's a lot of medical jargon in here, so I'll put the definitions of what means what at the end. This is also on my Ao3!

As always, this was inspired by the incredible @havanillas!

Account Masterlist | Fic Masterlist | Prologue

4:56pm - Wednesday

The salary of a scholar is a feeble one. 

The salary of a doctor is a little better, though only when medical, not educational. It’s all well and good having five pHds under your belt until you have to find a stable income afterwards without being crippled by student debt. With rent near Veritas Prime on the rise after every new intake of students, high taxes and course budget cuts, and the executives of the university refusing to give the faculty a raise, Kakavasha struggles greatly with his finances.

On a slightly different but relevant note: why are tuxedos so damn expensive? They are even more so if they, like in his case, need to be ordered for next-day delivery. He’s been searching ever since the work day ended, scouring the web for a suit suitable for a party as extravagant as the one he’s attending. Kakavasha is beginning to regret his prior willingness to go to such an event, but Cassandra already sent the RSVP hours ago and it would be in poor taste to cancel now. He’s looking at a minimum of 500 credits going towards this stupid thing, and the thought alone makes him sick to his stomach. He can’t help but think this is going to end up a waste of both his time and his money; there wasn’t even a guarantee that Lapis Lazuli was going to be there in the first place.

Kakavasha scoffs at himself as he scrolls mindlessly on website after website. He’s acting like a twelve-year-old fanboy about to see a famous celebrity (even though Veritas Ratio is a famous celebrity - by a technicality). Excited is too strong an adjective. Interest is better. Yes, that’s the one. He is filled with scholarly curiosity about the potential of meeting the man he's so closely compared to.

He continues his ministrations on his computer, though his eyes are completely unfocused. Blurs of colours in the vague shape of suits fly past his eyes as he looks but doesn’t see

Suddenly a flash of dark green meets him and his vision falls back into focus. It's a nice suit, Kakavasha thinks; a three-piece tuxedo with the trousers and jacket a deep forest-like colour that certainly matches his style: the waistcoat a slightly darker colour with white pinstripes. How lucky of him to find it. He swipes through the different model pictures and sizing charts and finds his size for all three pieces. Scrolling further down, he looks at the price and winces. 630 credits. Within his budget, yes, but only barely. Kakavasha sighs to himself. He doubts he'd find another suit any nicer for a lower price, so he holds back a grimace and pays for the item.

There. It’s done now, thank Gaiathra Triclops. He leans back in his chair with his hands linked behind his head, a large and drawn-out groan escaping him. A buzzing is heard and Kakavasha watches with vague dread as his phone vibrates across the table slightly. Perhaps it’s Cassandra ensuring the doctor has something to eat on his way home, or maybe it’s one of his students with a question about what they learned in the seminar today. Wishful thinking - how unscholarly of him. He picks up his phone and sees the first title of “Professor” and his habit of sighing gets worse once again.

Tapping the notification, he sees it’s an email from a colleague. His brain doesn’t exactly calculate what he’s reading straight away, though he notices words like “meeting” and “Friday” and “9am” and he gets the picture. It’s probably some stupid meeting with the black-ties of Veritas Prime to discuss funding. Why Kakavasha of all people is always asked to attend is beyond him, but that is sort of a part of his job role as the Golden Boy of the Intelligentsia Guild (well, the second Golden Boy. His predecessor abdicated). After sending a quick bog-standard reply, the blonde chucks his phone back on the table, leaning forward with his head in his hands. An exaggerated, anguished groan leaves his throat.

Well, there’s no point staying here and doing nothing. The Sigonian stands and begins to gather his things together. A few piles of independent work from his students are tapped neatly on the table before they go in a folder and into his bag. His phone, laptop, and a few other personal belongings soon follow. At the door, he scans the room to see if he missed anything before clicking the door shut.

On the way to his laboratory, Kakavasha's mind wanders. It doesn't wander anywhere particularly interesting or worthy of note; it simply gyrates from topic to topic in his mind like a plate of food in a microwave. Such is the life of a doctor-scholar-professor or whatever his title is these days. 

The air is bitingly chilly when the doctor steps outside. It's the kind of cold that makes your shoulders tense up and various strings of curses to escape your lips as you murmur “fucking hell it's cold” to yourself. A cloudless evening takes Kakavasha's attention for a moment as he grumbles at the realisation that it won't get any warmer until morning.

In the distance, the charcoal silhouette of the Intelligentsia Guild's headquarters breaks away from the rest of the dark cityscape, the peculiar pyramidal shape sticking out like a sore thumb next to the run-of-the-mill rectangles that make up the rest of the city. Inwardly, the Avgin debates whether or not he should walk the distance to HQ or spend a few (in truth, a lot more than a few) credits on a taxi. The mere thought of spending any more money after already blowing so much on a suit of all things makes Kakavasha feel ill, so he plucks up the courage to put one foot in front of the other and travel by foot.

A distant thought is plucked from the back of the blonde's mind. He could, in all seriousness, simply go home. Kakavasha’s apartment is half the distance from the university than it is to HQ. He longs for something - a bed or a sofa, or even the floor at this point; he's not fussy - to crumple into and fall asleep on. To let the sweet embrace of unconsciousness take him.

How poetic, he thinks with an amused snort. He can’t afford to take a break from his research. To stop now after all his tireless work would result in complacency. He wants his wretched luck gone. He wants to live like what he is: a human. He wants to live and die as one. His luck acts as an impenetrable barrier to living like a human. He should have died on Sigonia-IV in that vile desert he called home in the arms of his sister. But he didn’t. Because of his luck. And he hasn’t seen himself as human since. 

Hmph. What a way to bring the mood down.

Back in his body, he trudges along at a pace that lies between brisk and leisurely as his destination looms closer. He approaches a gridlocked main road. A chaotic four-way junction results in the annoyance of many drivers as heard by the incessant beeping of their car horns. Ahead of him, several irate pedestrians stand on the edge of the pavement. They wait impatiently, a few of the particularly annoyed even tap their foot on the cement below them as if trying to step on an invisible button that would make the lights change colours faster. This junction is notorious for its inconsistent traffic system. There are even moments when all four traffic lights for their respective roads are green at the same time, resulting in complete chaos.

However, the second Kakavasha steps up to the traffic lights, green promptly turns to red and the pedestrians around him breathe a collective sigh of relief. A particularly portly businessman beside the scholar takes notice of his approach and chortles in an ugly manner.

“Oh, aren’t you lucky? Be glad you didn’t have to wait for these blasted lights to change.” Kakavasha, unsure on how to respond, nods and stays silent. That always happens: the blonde cannot remember a time when he had to wait for a traffic light to turn red. Such is the life of a lucky man. His pace quickens as he crosses the street and quickens further once he realises the aged businessman wishes to continue his one-sided conversation.

6:04pm - Wednesday

It takes utter discipline and pure strength of will not to put his back to the wall and sink to the floor once Kakavasha arrives at the Intelligentsia Guild’s HQ. Perhaps it was the freezing temperatures or the sun deciding to hide away under the horizon that made his journey here seem so long, but the scholar feels as if he’s just walked a marathon. 

Headquarters is still busy despite the time of day. Men and women of science flit past him in a whirl of white lab coats, clipboards, and briefcases. He waves somewhat half-heartedly to the receptionist as he weaves through the crowd. Kakavasha hunts through the inside pocket of his jacket and retrieves his lanyard, tapping it on a scanner at the elevator. As if on cue, the lift lands on the ground floor and out comes a stream of scientists and scholars. A few dip their heads in his general direction in a gesture of recognition, and he returns them all with a professional nod. Once the cramped space is clear, he steps in and taps 67: the floor number of his laboratory. 

He swears this stupid elevator stops on every second floor. At this point it’d be easier to take the stairs. The Avgin genuinely debates stepping off and doing such a thing for a good two minutes or so until his thoughts are interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. His head twists to the right to see a squirrel-like woman with a tattered notebook and a pen in hand. 

She clears her throat nervously. “Uhm, you're Dr. Kakavasha, right?” she asks, pushing a pair of circular glasses up her nose.

The Sigonian’s features remain neutral. “The very same,” he replies. “Do you need something from me?”

“Er- forgive me. This isn’t very professional of me, but could I, uh- could I get your- erm-.”

Kakavasha decides to take pity on the woman. “Are you asking for my autograph?” 

“Yes please,” she squeaks, her skin turning a bright pink as she hands him the notebook and pen. 

“Do you want it on any specific page or does it not matter?” he questions in a monotone manner as he flicks the book open. In the back of his mind he knows he’s being incredibly blunt and potentially rude. He’s usually more friendly when speaking to his admirers, though after such a long day, he can’t find it within himself to be amiable to anyone.

The woman swallows in a comedic fashion. “Uh, no! Anywhere is fine.”

He nods and scribbles his signature on a random page. The ink dries up slightly in the middle of it, so it looks a little skewed and messy, though neither of them comment on it. He hands the notebook and pen back to the woman.

“Ah, thanks so much! My son is a big fan of yours. He’ll love this,” she smiles. 

Kakavasha nods. “I’m glad.” The woman dips her head in response, before promptly realising she’s reached her floor and waving goodbye to the doctor as she exits.

By the grace of whichever Aeon has decided to look down on Kakavasha today, he arrives at his own floor quickly afterwards. He reaches his personal laboratory promptly and plops himself on the stool by the desk. On it lies his computer monitor, a microscope, a few packets of sterilised needles, and some sanitary wipes; as well as a few scattered papers in various states of comprehension after countless experiments that lasted long after burning the midnight oil.

The blonde turns his computer on and opens up his research notes. Lines and lines of typed words concerning previous experiments, methodologies, and plans pop up. Clicking a tab at the top of the screen, he reads: “Experiment Progression”.

Date: TUE xx/xx/xxxx

Experiment No: #482

Aim(s): 

To discover the recessive “luck” alleles in subject’s genotypes by recreating specific DNA sequencing in a sterile environment.

To discover a way to destroy or alter the recessive “luck” allele without harming surrounding DNA helixes and/or sequences.

Method (UPDATED): 

Extract blood from subject and separate plasma from blood cells via separation centrifuge.

Examine plasma DNA helixes via microvolume spectrophotometre and absorbance microplate reader to single out correct allele.

Find out a way to recreate or duplicate DNA samples under lab conditions.

Find a way to destroy or alter specific alleles under lab conditions.

Recreate experiments on a larger scale to create cure.

Administer cure to subject.

Notes: In experiments #439 to #481, it was eventually discovered through testing that the recessive “luck” allele is found in the blood plasma DNA of subject. As such, further extraction and experimentation of subject’s blood plasma is required to continue research and development of cure.

Below these notes are audio recordings. Most simply act as an instrument Kakavasha used to get his thoughts and hypotheses on record without having to put it into written word. Others have his blunt opinions and irritated ramblings. Unfortunately for present-day Kakavasha, past Kakavasha didn’t have the foresight to label which ones were which, so he’s going in blind. He brings the cursor to one of the recordings and clicks play. The sound of his own tinny voice makes its way to his ears.

“This is… a breakthrough. An annoying breakthrough, but a breakthrough nonetheless. I had hoped that the specific DNA genotypes that caused my overt luckiness would be in something more easily collected, like bone marrow or skin tissue, but no. I'm going to have to extract a lot of my blood for this. It wouldn't be a major problem if it weren’t for my inherent-” a pause, as if he was mulling over which word to use, “eh- distaste for needles, but so be it. 

There is a rustling of what sounds like paper in the background for a few seconds before he speaks again.

“I managed to call in a favour with Hu Xu next door to borrow his separation centrifuge. With it, it'll be a lot easier to separate my blood plasma from my blood cells. Singling out specific DNA genetic sequences is going to require more complex machinery and will be difficult to acquire, but I’m sure I can pull some strings and flutter my eyelashes and manage it. I fear that means I’m going to have to speak to,” an almost comical, audible shudder is heard, “ugh- Sharon, but I suppose suffering through her – oh what’s the word – bleating is a necessary evil. In experiment #483, I need to extract a few vials of blood and separate the blood plasma before putting them in adequate storage so nothing is damaged. I’d like to give a formal apology to the future-me who has to deal with that.” 

With that, the recording ends and Kakavasha throws some Sigonian slurs at his computer screen under his breath. Great Gaiathra Triclops, why was yesterday’s version of himself such an asshole? He grumbles and pushes himself up from his chair to grasp the packets of sterile needles on the other side of his desk. 

This is going to be a long night.

–

00:04am - Thursday

Date: WED xx/xx/xxxx

Experiment No: #483

Aim(s): See previous experiment. [LINK]

Method: See previous experiment. [LINK]

Notes: Following on from experiment #482, two dozen (24) vials of subject’s blood have been extracted and blood plasma has been separated via centrifuge. Plasma samples now safely stored in a cryo-fridge for future testing. 

When the recording plays, Kakavasha’s voice sounds fatigued and a little jumbled.

“Hm, the plasma samples have been collected and put into- er- storage. I may have gone a little overboard, but I need as many viable sources of my own plasma as possible. Nearly 500 experiments have come and gone, and I am bar-” his voice slurs together. “Ahem- excuse that- I am barely any closer to the end goal from when I… from when I began.”

Quiet follows for a peculiarly long time. Two minutes go by in utter silence. If an outsider were to listen to it, they’d think the recording ended.

After this prolonged silence, a weak voice sounds out.

“I’m getting desperate.”

--

Definitions: Allele - Two or more versions of a DNA sequences that make up your genetic makeup. You get them from your parents and can be recessive or dominant. Genotype - The genetic constitution of an organism Separation centrifuge - Basically a machine that spins around super fast and separates substances based on their different properties using centrifugal force Microvolume Spectrophotometre - Something used to examine DNA Absorbance Microplate Reader - Something used to examine DNA

[p-cap-press]

INTERVIEW

Peter Capaldi: ‘My closest brush with the law? I was arrested in connection with a bomb explosion’

Sat 19 Jun 2021

Rosanna Greenstreet

The actor on bringing back grants for further education and being kept awake by the cat

Born in Glasgow, Peter Capaldi, 63, was the 12th incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who. In 2010, he won a Bafta for his portrayal of Malcolm Tucker, the prime minister’s political enforcer, in The Thick Of It. From 23 June, he stars in Constellations at the Vaudeville theatre in London. He is married to the actor Elaine Collins; they have a daughter and live in London.

What is your earliest memory? I can vividly recall being in an old-fashioned pram with a hood and seeing sunshine and what was, I realise now, the grey stone of a Glasgow tenement.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself I was brought up to be very polite, so that becomes quite tiring, particularly if you are off the telly. I do like people, but I am often exhausted by this overwhelming need to make it all right for them to meet me.

What makes you unhappy? The spreading and celebration of wilful ignorance by people who should know better.

What do you most dislike about your appearance? The daily vanishing of the young bits.

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose? The grant system. It allowed people like me, from modest backgrounds, to go into further education without being saddled with debt.

What is your most unappealing habit? I can’t settle on a table at a restaurant or a cafe. I’ll pick one, move to another, then feel that I’ve made a mistake and go back to my original table. I can bounce around for 15 minutes.

If you could go back in time, where would you go? Because of Doctor Who, I’ve had to make up so many bogus answers to this question, so I never want to answer it again.

What is the worst job you’ve done? I have been pretty terrible in quite a lot of terrible things.

What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? In volleyball, my PE teacher would say: “The most important thing is to find the fault in the other team.” And then he would throw the ball at me – I was the fault. That was teaching in the west of Scotland in the 1970s.

What or who is the greatest love of your life? My wife.

What does love feel like? Us.

What was the best kiss of your life? 12 September 1985, under a street lamp in Glasgow with Elaine.

What has been your biggest disappointment? I am always disappointed when I see myself on the screen.

What is the closest you’ve come to death? Death is always close.

What has been your closest brush with the law? In 1975, in York (I must have been 17): there was a bomb explosion. It was 3am, I was with some pals and we were picked up by the police who, hearing our Scottish accents, seemed to connect us to the explosion. We were taken in for questioning, which was scary, but it didn’t take them long to suss out these fey youngsters were incapable of a bomb plot.

What keeps you awake at night? Our ancient cat miaowing, because it’s got dementia.

What song would you like played at your funeral? Johnny Cash’s version of Danny Boy.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you? It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways to Give:

dancing-thru-clouds was recently hit with a surprise tax bill (she didn't realize her town had local income tax, and didn't receive the previous year's notice); she's adjusted her withholding to account for this, but still owes the balance from the past two years and is fundraising to cover the balance. You can give via paypal here.

stemmonade is a disabled Black trans person who relies on crowdfunding for survival since they can't work and their wife is currently unemployed; they are raising a little over $700 to cover rent and essentials in the meantime. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

themerrymutants is a disabled queer man currently living on social security aid; he has recently had to travel to the emergency room several times for possible complications from a recent surgery, and is now short on rent because of the cost of transit. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

Anon linked to a fundraiser for prototrans, a disabled artist who needs help with rent money; he is also offering commissions. You can read more, reblog, and find giving and commission information here.

Recurring Needs:

Anon linked to a fundraiser for a friend whose family has not had a working furnace since November; they've been using space heaters to keep warm but January in Chicago has been brutal and the space heaters aren't sufficient. With vulnerable family members including elderly relatives and children in the home, they need to raise $6K to get the furnace replaced. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

thelastpyler is raising funds for food and to purchase medication for their family; you can read more and find giving information here.

Eli is a disabled Michigander who cares for their elderly grandmother; they are applying for SSDI, but their car was damaged recently and is undrivable, with estimated $8K-$12K in repairs to make it drivable. They need transportation for doctor's visits and legal consultations for their SSDI appeal, and have no way to get around without the car. You can read more and reblog here or give at the gofundme here.

loversdoom is a college student from the Philippines, studying away from her family, and her parents are unexpectedly unable to support her education; she is in mounting debt and facing eviction from her dorm in her last semester of college. She's raising funds to repair her laptop so she can do her schoolwork and find a remote job that will help her pay rent, and to fund the remainder of her schooling. You can read more and reblog here and support the fundraiser here.

Anon linked to karla-hoshi or Hoshi on TikTok, who is raising funds for cancer treatment for her cat Naku; they caught the cancer early and hope that he can survive it, but can't continue treatment without funding. You can read more and support the fundraiser here, as well as find links to her updates on tiktok.

chingaderita's partner recently lost their job due to a house fire that also destroyed the house; they're raising funds to keep food on the table, to try and get a supply of water to keep clean and do laundry, and for various bills until they can find new work. You can read more, reblog, and support the fundraiser here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[mana-jjk]

thinking really hard about a college au because i enjoy them a lot more than high school aus.

yuuta - pre-med, in school to become a doctor

toge - divided between computer science and dropping out of college to pursue opening his own café with a garden.

maki - pre-law, in school to become a lawyer

panda - zoology

yuuji - business degree that he’s just doing for his grandfather, will graduate but goes on to be a firefighter.

megumi - animal sciences, going on to enter veterinarian school to become a vet.

nobara - fashion design/marketing degree

gojo - a sadistic physics professor with multiple degrees, both through education and honorary, because he got bored. sometimes he picks students out to give full-ride scholarships, because he self-proclaims having too much money.

getou - philosophy professor that enjoys playing the devils advocate and watching his students squirm.

shoko - oversees the university hospital and occasionally recruits for the pre-med program

nanami - graduated with a business degree, agreed to give yuuji an internship

ijichi - gojo’s overworked TA

i just think maki and yuuta would struggle through graduate school together. their cabinets would be full of instant ramen, cabbage, junk food, and ungodly amounts of coffee. the only real food they get is because toge cooks for them and gives them the stink eye every time he opens their cabinet.

toge doesn’t really have room to talk though, he overworks himself and ends up going far too long without sleep. hours on assignments that make him miserable, burned out from the moment every semester starts. too often does yuuta find him dissociating, something he’s all too familiar with. yuuta himself suffers from insomnia, so it’s not uncommon for him to settle on the couch and run his fingers through toge’s hair until his eyes close.

toge probably had a really difficult time getting the courage to either drop out or just really not use his degree as intended. i can’t picture him genuinely enjoying higher education. even in this happy, no one dies world, his family is with the second years for a reason. computer science was appeasing enough, but the unhappiness is so draining that everyday getting up and going to class feels so impossible. he feels his happiest at the gardening club, cooking for his friends, not sitting in a lecture hall with a preview to what awaits him. but ultimately, i think the independence and knowledge that he wasn’t alone or abandoned was enough to push him into the decision. luckily enough he was a scholarship winner (gojo lol) so he wasn’t in debt, and gojo even offered to fund him through culinary school with the promise of free sweets forever.

with yuuta, i think his history of being hospitalized and the accident with rika (who is not dead here !! but she was paralyzed and had to move with a different family member who was able to support her) definitely pushed him to medical degrees. he was probably stuck between being a physical therapist, nurse, and full-fledged doctor. he still keeps in contact with rika, who is one of his biggest supporters when it comes to his goal, but he has a mental breakdown every week thinking about getting a medical degree. shoko definitely takes notice of his talent, and has extended opportunities to intern with her. gojo also found that they were distantly related, and not only paid for his entire education, but also the apartment he rents with maki and toge. he tried refuting, but gojo kept insisting that he was tapping into the family inheritance that technically belonged to both of them.

toge is more than a little devastated when yuuta decides to study abroad in their undergraduate, i actually think that’s when the fully misery of college hits him. not having an unhealthy classmate and friend to look after forced him to focus on himself, his least favorite pastime. having the first years helped, but it also forces him to reflect how much he cared about yuuta past being a friend too.

anyway, i have so many ideas for this au so um please ask me so i can word vomit everywhere. also normalize more college aus so people like me can still relate lol <3

[caitrol]

EHLERS DANLOS SYNDROME DIAGNOSIS HELP

Hello! Some background I’m a current college student and have hEDS. I’ve started showing concerning symptoms at 16, and was diagnosed last year at 20.

I did not get genetic testing. Genetic testing is relatively new and many insurances won’t cover it. For the hypermobile type, it’s not as strict since research has not discovered the specific genetic mutation. For the other types, it’s more important to have genetic testing. Please look into payment plans and student/AARP/military discounts. No one should ever go into medical debt for proper testing.

Ask around! I called multiple doctors’ offices to ask if they were knowledgeable on the condition. I actually planned on going back to a pain clinic and simply went to a primary care provider to get a referral and found the best doctor. Don’t only look at specialists, PCP and other family doctors might be able to help you. (Plus depending on insurance, it’s cheaper to go to a PCP than a specialist).

Join facebook groups! (Though I wish I could avoid anything and everything owned by Meta.) I’ve found multiple EDS support groups in my area to ask about doctors, tricks/tips, and questions. Not all of them are great and not all of them are factually correct, but it can be really helpful to find a good provider that is educated on EDS.

Have all your symptoms written out. Maybe it’s just me, but the brain fog is so real. I tend to forget all what I want to say if I don’t make a note of it. I have all of my symptoms on paper along with family history. I think it was helpful to split it into childhood, symptoms started, and current symptoms. Depending on your family history, if you can identify who might have EDS, write out their symptoms too. It’ll only help to prove a family history.

Get a second opinion. I saw two doctors that said I had hEDS but refused to diagnose me without expensive genetic testing until my third doctor ruled everything out again and took months to make sure the diagnosis fit.

In the end, a diagnosis isn’t everything and EDS may not be your diagnosis. Please still advocate for yourself and your health. You’re allowed to celebrate being diagnosed, just like you’re allowed to be upset. Everyone will feel different about it.

[boimgfrog]

what grade level do you want to teach? if i decide to go into education it will be college level full stop

High school and eventually college!! Most colleges won't hire you without a doctorate, though, and most public schools will pay for your master's degree if you promise to teach at their school for a certain number of years, so I'm choosing kindness and less debt. Also I don't mind teenagers that much and think teaching high school for a bit will be fulfilling and a good stepping stone. Plus with the teaching shortage a lot of places are ditching the praxis exam and opting for an optional exam that if you take, increases ur starting salary by a lot, and I need money for my eventual PhD soooo

[mistprints]

9 to 5 is an insane amount of the day spent working. We just aren’t being paid enough to work fewer hours because we aren’t paid what our work is worth. Bigger companies hide behind small ones with the “we can’t all afford to pay workers fairly” excuse. Well then the business fails at being profitable because workers’ wages are not margins you can cut to be profitable.

And then the big corporations spend obscene amount of money bribing politicians to make sure things stay this way: that minimum wage stays below cost of living so people are forced to work often multiple jobs just to survive, keeping them desperate and forced to work jobs with poor wages.

Education advancement is a potential major debt that many people cannot afford or risk even to get into the highest paying industries. Not all school systems are created equal due to budget cuts and poor, outdated standards, putting many students at a disadvantage for college already. People who would be amazing teachers are dissuaded by the state of these schools and the lack of support they get. It is one of the most important jobs of society and much like many vital services, is taken for granted.

We pretend the threat of homelessness is only for people who are “undesirable” and just didn’t want to work when in reality, many people are one missed paycheck away from being out on the street due to predatory housing situations and unchecked landlords that can give as little as a week’s notice for eviction if not less in some places.

“Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is an old saying that’s been twisted. It’s an impossible task. That’s what it means. It’s a tongue in cheek saying that’s been mockingly turned into a political statement and I think the people using it know that people aren’t going to look it up or know this. You cannot pull yourself up by them, you need help.

Society works when we rely on the group. That’s how all civilizations have worked. Others have fallen for not doing this or for doing so poorly with too many people at the bottom of the ladder holding it up (capitalism relies on this to function). Social programs have always been a facet of this and grouping it all into one big negative buzzword drives me insane.

The fire department is a social program. It’s free to call them and it’s paid for by the city because the rich decided that a poorer neighbor’s house fire was a risk to their property and so there should be someone that handles that without costs to an individual that would deter them calling for help. Same with 9-1-1 (unless of course if the person is in the US and needs a personal ambulance ride. Then they’ll charge thousands).

All I’m saying is with the state of the majority of people in the U.S., we could stand to have more support beams to help out before it collapses around us.

People are reaching a breaking point and this stress test of how much they’ll take (costs rising while what you get decreases and wages remaining stagnant; the growing population of homelessness and their solutions being to make homelessness illegal; cuts to people’s rights to their own body by people who are not doctors and should not have anything do to with it but want political points to remain in power by voters who are too uneducated to know better—again, keeping the populous too tired and poorly educated to realize the branching issues with this outside of their narrow-minded ideals they want to force on everyone else) won’t end well.

These problems all branch from a source. That source is always, ultimately, corrupted people in power, driven by money. They are shortsighted and only care about their own benefits. And by letting them, believing their lies and keeping them in power blinded by promises that are at best empty and at worst detrimental, it’s making this world a lot worse to live in for the rest of us. Even if the consequences haven’t reached you directly yet, we are already seeing what happens in this Tragedy of the Commons situation with the greed of a few.

We have to stop people from being able to exploit it. There needs to be laws in place that even the rich are subject to for this to ever work.

[purplebass]

Lila's Backstory Theory

As I talked about Lila with @bluecichlid, they raised a good point about her backstory. Lila was first introduced to us as a thief, but she seemed educated and even well-read.

So this theory deals with the possibility that Lila's mother might've been an aristocrat or had a title and Lila doesn't even know about that or has completely concealed this bit from her past and V wanted to use it in the future and that's why it never came up.

@my-ruthless-zoyalai I'm tagging you too because you asked about this theory!

This isn't something to take from granted in XIX London, because we know that around that time, if you were a peasant, you either worked in a factory as a child or you were a thief. You can take a look at Dicken's Oliver Twist to see how orphaned children lived in London (it is set 30 years after Lila was a child, but things hadn't changed much for kids). If you were a poor kid, you didn't have many options to survive. Surely, school and education was the last thing on Georgian kids' minds. There were exceptions, of course, but I don't think that's the case with Lila.

Lila often says that her mother read William Blake's poems to her before bed. This is so specific, and while Blake had published his poems before Lila was even born and he was pretty known, would a peasant appreciate him? No offence to Georgian London peasants, but I doubt it. A lot of peasants didn't even know how to read, and poetry is harder to understand.

Lila's mother might've been an estimator of literature, but my idea is that she might've come from a rich family and that is why she was familiar with Blake. I'm not saying a filthy rich family, but modest enough for Lila's mother to be educated and pass a little of that culture down to her daughter. She might've even been an aristocrat with a title in decline, for all we know. Because aristocrats didn't work. They only inherited a fortune and if they weren't careful with their money and didn't make any investments, the money would end. So Lila's mother might've had a dowry/small fortune when she married Lila's father, but he squandered all their funds on alcohol and possibly other things and they had probably a lot of debts. Maybe Lila's father was not an aristocrat and by marrying him, her mom lost her dowry. I don't know. Lila's mother might've also died because they didn't have the money to pay for a doctor or medicine.

ETA to add: Lila's parents might've had a reversed "Persuasion" by Jane Austen situation. Her parents might've opposed their marriage because they came from different classes, but they got married anyway. In Persuasion, the fmc wants to marry the mc, who is a naval officer, but her father opposes because they come from different social classes. Seven years later, the situation is reversed because the fmc's family is in debt and they need money and the mc became a rich and respectable captain. In the end they get married and the fmc joins the mc on his voyages on his ship. Maybe something like that happened to Lila's parents as well. Have you ever thought that Lila might've wanted to become a captain because her father was tied to the naval world? Also, this "Persuasion" situation also reminds me of Kell and Lila's seven years after situation. He is also a prince who decided to travel aboard a ship to be with the person he loves, who is a captain. Lila stayed with her father because he was the only one left, but without her mother's protection (because it's clear Lila remembers her mother fondly and still grieves her) she was left at the mercy of her absent father until he literally sold her to pay a tab. After then, she began her thief life/identity.

So what I think is that Lila might be an aristocrat and have a title, but maybe she 1) doesn't even know 2) she knows but she never told this to anyone because it's a part of her Grey London life and from a past she chose to leave behind. When Lila meets Kell, he also hides that he is a prince until they are in Red London.

Parallels that seem to sustain this theory

Lila has parallels with other characters. Not just Kell, but also Alucard. Parallels might be a clue about personal stories.

Lila the hypothetical "poor aristocrat" was sold by her father to pay a tab and this event marks the official beginning of her "thief/commoner" identity.

Kell the hypothetical "poor commoner" was sold by his parents because he was Antari and this event marks the official beginning of his "prince/magician" identity.

When we meet Alucard, Lila also believes he's just a privateer, but then we find out that he is a royal and he was falsely accused of being a pirate because of his father and brother.

You can see how the stories of these three characters seem to mirror each other in different ways.

In Threads, there were two moments that stuck with me that also reinforced this "Lila is an aristocrat" theory.

In this book, Lila "took on" Alucard's previous identity of a privateer. But she's also an Antari like Kell. She is also an aristocrat by association with an acquired title because at the palace everyone knows that she is Kell's partner. They call her "lady" and she hates that and the palace life. On another post I wrote how she might hate this because she doesn't like labels nor wants to just be "Kell's lady", which is true. But what if Lila used to live in a pretty house with servants doing things for her until her father brought their family to ruins? So maybe that's why Lila finds the palace so triggering and runs out of it most of the time. Does it remind her of her lost childhood?

This last bit is totally mere speculation. Lila might not even know about her heritage, and maybe she will meet her father again in future Threads, and that's how we will know.

The second bit that might've hinted (or maybe I saw too much into it) is a line Ned tells Tes when she's about to leave. He asks her to say hi to Kell and Lila, and says something like "Kell is a prince, but Lila is not a princess." I don't believe she is a princess but this is a title, and it may be a hint: 1) she has a title she doesn't know about 2) she will become a princess if she marries Kell? Because the title of princess can be acquired by marriage. The title Alucard has in Threads, "consort," is also a title used to refer to the partner of a royal who isn't a monarch in his own right.

This is mere speculation for now, but I hope we do get answers in future Threads, it would be amazing to know more of Lila's backstory!

[eirinstiva]

The Sussex Vampire: a bit about Perú

In the last two letters from my dear friend Watson we know about The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire so I have an excuse to dust my old book of history, some English-Spanish dictionaries and Todo Sherlock Holmes.

Mrs. Ferguson (we don't know her name. ACD, how hard was to call her María or Violeta?) and her maid Dolores come from Perú (I know I shouldn't use ´ but I have my Latino ID so I'll do what I want). She was daughter of a Peruvian merchant related to importation of nitrates.

After the Pacific War came a National reconstruction period (1884–1895). During this period Peru has huge external debt and lost many industries related to nitrate production, the occupied provinces of Tacna and Arica were under Chilenization. Latex and oil industries become relevant due to Industrial Revolution but the country was in bankruptcy. In 1886 the Grace Contract was signed between Peru and British bondholders to settle this debt, and the Peruvian Corporation was formed. This corporation agreed to cancel Peru's debt in exchange for £80,000 in annual payments, mining rights, and ownership of the Peruvian rail for 66 years. The corporation also agreed to build 160 kilometers of new railroad.

Nicolás de Piérola was elected president of Peru 1895, and the country began its period known as the Aristocratic Republic. During this time the economy was highly dependent of Britain: The Peruvian Corporation (trains), London Pacific (oil), Cerro de Pasco Minning Corporation (copper), Peruvian Amazon Company (latex rubber) Sugar Company (sugar) and Banco Perú Londres (bank) were the motors of the economy.

Mrs. Ferguson was probably from an aristrocratic family and received a proper education for a woman of her social status, including learning a foreign language like English. Her "alien religion" was Catholicism like the biggest part of the country because that religion reached almost every corner in South America (by choice or force) during the Colonial Era.

The maid Dolores had brown skin, so I guess she was indigenous or mestiza (Spaniard+Indigenous). Like her employer she was Catholic too but she hadn't the same education. There were efforts to increase the number of people able to read, but it was a common practice for kids to leave school and work in the same industries as their parents.

Dolores didn't study English like Mrs. Ferguson, that's why she use Spanish grammar when she speaks:

“She verra ill,” cried the girl, looking with indignant eyes at her master. “She no ask for food. She verra ill. She need doctor. I frightened stay alone with her without doctor.”

She no ask for food = Ella no pregunta por comida ✔

The translation into Spanish made by Juan Manuel Ibeas reflects this with the absence of some sounds and words:

—Ta my enferma gimió la muchacha, mirando con ojos indignados a su señor—. No quere comía. Mu enferma. Necesita doctor. Me da miedo estar sola con ella sin doctor.

And "leesten", IIRC in Spanish we don't have long/short vowels, so the /ɪ/ in listen can be /iː/ like in heel, details that make English a hard language for Latinos, and harder for someone with Dolores' background.

ACD wrote a whole chapter of "The Mystery of Cloomber" with some Scottish accent, so I doesn't surprise me. I like the level of accuracy of this accent. There are high chances that Dolores doesn't even read in Spanish, so this details are more accurate that I expected.

I understand (a bit) why Mrs Fergurson didn't dare to tell her husband what his son did. She was in a foreign country alone with her maid, she had to deal with another language, another religion and she doesn't have her family or friends there. I can't imagine going back to Perú by steamship in times when the Panama Canal was in construction.

[lizzylucky]

No, money can't buy happiness, but you know what it could buy me?

Genome testing, so I don't have to take a random fucking guess with medications. It can also buy medications. It could pay for a neuropsychological evaluation so I can get my problems on paper and stop getting gaslit into thinking I have none. Genetic testing for EDS and POTS. Mobility aids. A car so I can access a job. A case manager to help me make important appointments and phone calls when my anxiety and depression render me unable. Doctor's appointments to get notes that'll get employers to accommodate my needs as a disabled person. Maybe I'd be extra extravagant and get my partial deafness corrected, or even get Lasik so I can stop having the worst eyeglass prescription in my family. I could pay off thousands of dollars of debt that the fucking government convinced a literal child to sign onto for an education that failed me. Maybe I could even get an apartment and not work 2 jobs just to make rent and bills and cheap groceries. Start paying my own phone bill instead of leeching off my Uncle.

That's not even all my base necessities met yet, but it's a fucking start.

You know what else I could do with money? Buy supplies and storage solutions for my art hobbies and my music, recording equipment so I could reasonably pursue a start in voice over acting or song making, a vocal coach so I can finally learn to belt to my favourite songs without hurting myself, trade education and training for skills no one can teach me in the real world, a so far nonexistent investment for retirement, the ability to go to an ice skating rink every now and again for fun, a gym membership, the bearded dragon I've been planning unsuccessfully to get for years as an emotional support animal, wisdom tooth removal, sensory friendly toothpaste, underwear that fits and is comfortable, bras that aren't sloppy, inconsistent sister sizes to my body's shape, decent headphones to regulate audio input when I'm overwhelmed, a day out with friends, an occasional coffee shop visit, the ability to go see movies and visit an aquarium and go camping, a lack of fear of gas prices when I'm frustrated and just wanna drive for 10-15 minutes to clear my head, food I like, silly, decorative socks, a new and undamaged protective case for my phone, garden seeds and soil, a bag of gummy bears just because I feel like it

Money can't buy happiness, but it would get me damn fucking close

[michiko-museum]

Attention! Academia is a Scam and Grad School isn't Worth it! Don't do it!!!

Once upon a time, there was a part-time collections management staff member at a museum. This was the career for them; they were doing exactly what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives, and had the adequate training and knowledge to do so.

But everyone kept saying that they would never be able to get a full-time position without a master's. They would be doing the exact same thing they already were doing... but hey! Everyone says people with a master's degree is much more qualified, so they'd probably be learning a lot more things they couldn't even dream of, right?

You'll learn great things, they said. You'll get important connections and are more likely to get a job, they said. There's this certain program that's excellent and will get you exactly where you want, they said. So I went with high hopes.

Well it's official - after wasting three years in a program that taught me what I already knew and didn't help me get the resources I needed to get a career, after my mental health fell to the lowest it's ever been, and after getting $40,000 in debt, I can boast the privilege of ORGANIZATIONS NOT WANTING TO HIRE ME.

It turns out that museums are non-profit organizations, and therefore are subject to strict budget restrictions. And while the people in charge have to look at the bigger picture and consider everything, they also tend to undervalue collections departments. Which means that the budget to hire collections managers is limited. And they have to pay people more depending on what level of college degree they have. And so...

Because I had a graduate degree I was rejected from getting a full time job. Despite absolutely everyone telling me that I wouldn't be able to get a full time job in collections if I didn't get my master's, I got rejected solely BECAUSE I had my master's.

While I DID learn more in grad school and am now a much more capable collections worker than before, I would have been able to do an adequate job as I was before attending grad school. There are also plenty of opportunities for museum professionals to continue education. So I not only got my graduate degree for no reason, it has actually hurt my chances of having a career.

If you do go to grad school, only go so you can take advantage of internships and other opportunities only available to students. Don't worry about your GPA and don't worry about graduating; take advantage of whatever resources you can and then bounce.

If anyone from your university, your professors or teachers or academic advisors for example, tries to convince you to go on to grad school, remember this:

Academia exists only to justify it's own existence. Those in academia will try to drag you in as fuel to perpetuate itself, regardless of what is actually best for you. If you are considering pursuing your master's or doctorate, don't. If you are currently in a graduate program and have started to consider dropping out, that is your sign to leave. There's another way somehow, you just have to find it.

[moopsy-daisy]

A Lifetime Secret

TW: Birth Defect/Surgery/Houselessness

I always knew about it, but my teachers were never told. Not once. All secrets are meant to protect, and this one protected my teachers from their own possible biases. Biases that could have taken a child's quirks and turned them into 'developmental disabilities' if seen through the right (wrong) lens.

I had an invisible birth defect. Well, it'd be plenty visible to anyone who cuts my hair, because the scar from the corrective surgery is currently about 2.5 inches wide. I don't know how big it was back when I was 3 months old. It must've grown with me. They were careful to keep the line hidden in my hair line.

The exact term was occipital encephalocele and only look it up if you're prepared for the pictures, they are unpleasant. The important things to know are:

• It's a neural tube defect. TL:DR my skull didn't fully grow closed and you really need a fully enclosed skull.

• It was a really small one, only about the size of the tip of an adult's pinky finger.

• The doctors said I'd probably be blind due to the location (occipital lobe of the brain does vision stuff).

• They also said I'd probably need to be institutionalized because my cognitive disability would be so severe.

My parents nodded along, got the surgery done, and my childhood began. Except, neurosurgery on a 3 month old was expensive. My family had no way to pay for it. They went bankrupt pretty much immediately. A significant part of my infancy was unhoused due to this and other hurdles.

Whenever reasonable, my parents kept the secret of my birth defect, even from doctors if they could. They wanted to see what developmental progress I made without the lens of assumed disability. It worked out nicely, I actually hit most milestones early. My unaware teachers gave me high grades and I ended up in the Gifted and Talented Education pile like so many other tumblrinas.

I'm talking about this now, for the first time publicly, because I want people to know why medical debt matters to me. By virtue of being born, I destroyed my family's finances for the next 15 years. Knowing that, by merely existing, you're unwittingly responsible for your parents going without food so that you could eat - well, my OCD's run with that story for a long time.

Except, it didn't have to be that way. If the debt hadn't existed, my needs would have simply been that. Needs. Just the needs of a newborn who got a rough dice roll.

I think it'd be amazing to wipe out debt for families or individuals, no one deserves that hanging over them. It'll be a specter looming over me for my entire life, even with therapy.

[pudgy-planets]

It disappoints me how many brilliant black students never get the opportunity to access higher education and achieve their full potential because of the sheer number of barriers to entry.

While I’ve never been on the receiving end myself, I have heard people complaining that minority groups get more scholarship opportunities than they do.

Well without extensive aid, it’s either they work a job that barely pays enough to survive, or they go to college, take out loans, and end up in mountains of debt that will take a quarter of their life just to pay…

There are so many barriers for ethnic groups to enter schools because of racism. Not to mention diversity quotas are a real thing and those are just as harmful. You work your ass off for four years, and you’ll still be treated like garbage simply for the color of your skin.

You’ll make less than your non-POC peers, you’ll face more scrutiny, and god forbid you try and make a point without everyone looking at you with suspicion.

Especially in my field. Do you know why I chose astrophysics outside of this being the love of my life? Because there are barely any fucking black physicists out there.

It’s not that they don’t exist, but we’re such a small fraction. And if you’re a female black physicist?? It’s so astronomically small.

Guys I’m dead serious, the first black woman to earn a phd in physics from my school was in 2016. That was eight years ago. That’s not ancient history that wasn’t even a decade ago.

We have so many barriers to entry in our lives for virtually everything and it sucks. We’re lead to believe we’re not smart enough to achieve higher standards or levels of education, so we end up not even considering these paths in life.

I WANT there to be more black students in our physics department. I WANT them to be respected and lead successful careers in the world of physics. I want them to achieve greatness. I want to be a black trans-female astrophysics doctorate and show the god damned world what I’m made of. What my people are made of.

Sorry, I had to get this off my chest.

[incorrect-jojolands-quotes]

Prior to Usagi's backstory where he mentioned his father's death and his mother and him living on the life insurance payout, I had a different headcanon for his backstory that explained why Meryl Mei insists he's a good kid despite constantly buying drugs from the gang and being an oddball.

Usagi is the oldest of many siblings ranging from those just a few years younger than him to toddlers. The Alohaoes have lived below the poverty line for generations and the family were no strangers to losing their members to gang life, drug addiction, crippling debt, or a combination of the three. Some of those members, like Usagi's parents, try to make an honest living as working class folks, but both end up working long hours to barely get by and government assistance can only go so far.

As the oldest sibling, Usagi ended up being de-facto man of the house, making sure his siblings get to school on time, attend their games and doctor's appointments, tucking them in at the end of the day, staying up when one or five get sick. Usagi's parents do love him, but there's that underlying obligation and guilt Usagi feels if he doesn't step up to help the family in any way, and his parents can only do so much after being out of the house for so long and splitting time between their kids for quality time.

Usagi knows his parents are working multiple dead-end jobs, unable to be promoted or change to better careers due to lack of education and opportunities, and they end up coming home late at night to be taken care of by him before doing it all over again the next day. While balancing his own studies and trying to go through the day of caring for his family and house, Usagi ends up being addicted to hard drugs out of necessity rather than pleasure. Coffee and nicotine patches can only keep you up and alert for so long, and sometimes there are days where sleep is not an option; the longest he's stayed up is 31.5 hours straight followed by crashing for 5 hours and waking up to resume his schedule as if nothing happened. Sometimes, the drugs suppress his appetite, which allows him to go long without eating in case he doesn't get a chance to sit down.

The worst part and another reason for him being addicted to drugs is the fact that he's a natural genius.

Upon realizing how intelligent and inquisitive their son is, his parents are also banking on him to be the first of the Alohaoes to graduate high school and go to college without a criminal record or other issues. If Usagi gets a well-paying degree and job, the Alohaoes can breathe easier in terms of finance and Usagi can become an example for future generations to eventually get the Alohaoes out of the poverty cycle. So, not only is Usagi taking care of his siblings but he ends up overseeing the household such as taxes and bills, talking to authorities to prevent them from escalating situations near his home, filling out forms for welfare and arguing with health insurance companies at a very young age. His family unconciously expect him to be able to do anything because of his intelligence and they're hoping his grades would allow him to receive free scholarships among other things.

Like many who experienced living below the poverty line, the idea of mental health and attempts to ease this load while the system is intentionally working against you is met with "just deal with it" instead. Finding someone to vent to or provide help is difficult and could cause more harm than good if someome takes things out of context. Someone called CPS on them once because Usagi made an offhand remark on how tired he was; Usagi had to stop the case from escalating in fear that his siblings would be separated "because he made a stupid mistake" and feels guilty for what he did despite being honest at the time.

The drugs Usagi takes doesn't only keep him up but also hide who he really is. While he appears jovial, irresponsible, and amicable on drugs, he's the complete opposite when sober. I imagine him to be like Fugo: cynical, bitter, easy to anger but unable to express it. The bodysuit he wears is intentionally fitted not only to minimize issues caused by skin irritation and bug bites (seeing how he has that in his backpack) but it also doubles as a calming compression suit to ease his bottled emotions. It could be hiding other things but who knows. He's good at hiding things... too good.

Usagi doesn't want to lash out on his loved ones nor show what he's going through. He keeps himself high to maintain his fake persona and remain likeable, but it would only be so long before he breaks and shows who he really is.

Anyways, what do y'all think?