#i do not want to be legally liable for things

[identity-theft-101]

Anon asks are now banned.

[saphronethaleph]

State's Evidence

“So,” Qui-Gon Jinn said, with a disarming smile. “Viceroy. I’d ask you to sit, but it’s your table.”

“Thank you,” Nute Gunray said, somewhat nervously. “I… yes.”

“Is something wrong?” Obi-Wan asked.

“No,” Nute replied, quickly. “I wanted to… yes.”

He adjusted his clothes, needlessly.

“Now, Viceroy,” Qui-Gon went on. “If you’d like to state your opening position on the negotiations?”

“We object in the strongest possible terms to proposition 31-814D,” Nute said, seeming to recover his aplomb slightly. “The Free Trade Zones should not be liable to taxation – that is why they are called Free Trade Zones.”

“That’s not actually the reason,” Obi-Wan supplied. “The ‘free’ term refers to the fact that there are no differential tariffs applied. A five percent tax on all profits garnered within a Free Trade Zone, for example, would not violate the principle of the Free Trade Zone.”

He smiled. “Otherwise, after all, the term ‘free’ could equally be taken to mean that all trade in the Free Trade Zones should be carried at cost – or for no charge at all.”

Nute and Rune both winced.

“However,” Obi-Wan went on. “It would presumably be a reasonable alternative resolution for the Free Trade Zones to be confirmed as tax-free… for all carriers. There have been alarming reports of non-Trade-Federation-affiliated trade carriers facing heavy tariffs, meaning that there is a general sense that the Free Trade Zones are only free for the Trade Federation and their corporate partners… which is what has led to the proposition, as it’s seen as restoring fairness.”

Obi-Wan shrugged. “I’m sure that, between these factors, we can find out a resolution fair to all parties.”

“What I’m curious about, though, is why you’re blockading Naboo,” Qui-Gon went on, with a smile for Obi-Wan. “I’m aware that Senator Palpatine of Naboo is a prominent supporter of the legislation, but he’s hardly the only one, and his constituents are hardly likely to punish him for an anti-Trade-Federation position if the Trade Federation has just ruined their name in the Chommell Sector.”

Nute frowned.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” he admitted, then paused.

A frown creased his brow, then he put his hands on the table.

“It’s too much,” he said. “The only thing I can do is back down.”

“From the blockade?” Obi-Wan asked, curiously.

“From the plan,” Nute said. “The… the plan was to invade Naboo! To raise pressure! But – but Darth Sidious didn’t warn us there would be Jedi Knights!”

His hands clenched and unclenched. “I couldn’t do it with you on board, and – and to kill Jedi? Even if it could be done, it would be a disaster! The Jedi have lasted a thousand years as the guardians of peace and I know I’m not the first to think about trying to-”

He broke off, and the two Jedi exchanged glances.

“You were planning with someone called Darth Sidious?” Qui-Gon asked, carefully. “You’re sure of that?”

“Yes,” Nute confirmed. “He said he was a Sith…”

“We have recordings of our last few conversations,” Rune added. “And his com codes… I’m fairly sure he’s closely associated with the Senate, he said that by the time our private army had to be used then using it would be legal.”

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon exchanged glances.

“...com codes?” Qui-Gon repeated.

“I wonder where this is going,” Obi-Wan said.

Then he glanced at Nute and Rune. “Thank you both for coming forwards with this information… it’s certainly going to be better for you than if you hadn’t, though the exact details are going to depend on the specifics…”

Palpatine tapped his foot on the floor of the Naboo senate box as a banal debate about procedure continued, endlessly.

When was that delegation going to reach Naboo? He needed to push events to the next critical juncture – if he was going to become Chancellor, then it wasn’t enough to be just one of a number of anti-Trade-Federation voices. He needed Naboo to be a martyr that would push him into the top seat.

Worse, there had been a strange feeling in the Force recently. It might just mean that Maul was already planning to kill him… the young Sith was a blunt instrument, really, but a useful one, and it would take Palpatine years to replace him.

Unless he could properly turn Dooku, that was. There was real possibility there.

His comlink chirped, and Palpatine glanced down at it.

A call from Nute. Of course.

He refused the call, then a moment later the comlink began chirping again.

“Is something wrong?” asked the Senator on the next pod over.

“Probably not, but I’d better check,” Palpatine replied, making sure to set the comlink to voice only before answering.

“I am busy,” he hissed.

There was a moment of silence, and Palpatine frowned at the comlink before putting it to his ear.

It sounded very faintly like someone had just said ‘now’.

“THIS COMLINK BELONGS TO A SIIIIIIIIITH!” suddenly exploded out of the speaker, loud enough to echo off the far walls, instantly silencing the debate and drawing every eye. Palpatine flinched, the comlink clattering to the floor of the box, and it kept wailing. “HIS NAME’S DARTH SIDIOUS AND HE ENCOURAGED THE TRADE FEDERATION BLOCKADE! HE MIGHT BE A SENATOR OR AN AIDE BUT THE JEDI SHOULD ARREST HIM EITHER-”

Palpatine finally managed to stamp on the comlink, smashing it to pieces with a snarl on his face, then looked up.

Every single eye in the Senate was fixed on him.

“...prank call?” he tried, but even to him it didn’t sound convincing.

[audliminal]

Survivability Bias Pt 6

Masterpost - Ao3

Danny can't sleep. Not in this horrid place where the lights bleed green with old rot, and the bees in the walls that buzz in time with his vibrating heart. The murmurs behind doors bleed together, kind and angry, ferocious and sugar-sweet, and when the bees get louder so do the voices and Danny wants to run to them; he wants to hide. The pile of papers on his desk looming over him, the red lines a discordant note amidst the overpowering green. The green of blood, the green of fear. His desk lamp turns to look at him, and it burns his skin, boiling and bubbling like a live wire, and Danny is trapped in the web, frozen and stuck to the floor. Rooted in place, but no one's there, not even Sam or Tucker. He's alone. He has to do this part alone. There's only two others like him. One doesn't care and the other is a child. So Danny has to move, has to listen harder to whispers, has to know who they took this time, has to find them, has to repair the damage and escape without getting caught. Can't rely on anyone else (the only people who want to help don't deserve this, don't deserve any of this - no one else should be punished for his mistake)and the green glow stretches and builds and the walls fall away and everyone is staring at the moron who broke the world, who ruined everything with a stupid dare (why did he take the dare, he knew better than that), and it doesn't matter anymore because there's white cars and white suits, and his mother is staring in shock as the agents advance-

 Danny pulls awake all at once in the pre-dawn light. His dream laughs from whatever recess of his mind it pulled itself out of, the horrid ichor of its dread cling to every aspect of him as he carefully tenses all his muscles and relaxes them again, grasping at the desperate hope that it might help get rid of the horrible way his body wants to vibrate itself to pieces. He feels like he's made of the damn bees from his dream.

Danny's careful tensing process barely helps, but at the moment he's happy to take even barely-help, so he stands up, still counting in his head and breathing as slowly as he can manage. His lungs burn with the strain of it, but the burn kind of feels good, and it definitely helps him stay rooted in the here-and-now, so he keeps doing it as he extricated himself from the night's hiding spot.

The chill of early winter is definitely starting to hit, and Danny let's himself feel just a bit smugly satisfied about the usefulness of his affinity for ice. His resistance isn't huge, and it's not exactly any more pleasant to be cold, but it's a relief to not have to worry about hypothermia that much even though he's now homeless.

Of course, how long he'll remain homeless for is decidedly in question now. Danny hadn't wanted to ask about time-frames, when Robin was already going out of his way to assist Danny at all, and when he'd offered housing assistance too, Danny had only been more reticent to ask questions.

“Now, you said you were homeless?” Robin had asked. Danny had startled back,but before he could start extemporizing, Robin had continued in the same blunt tone. “I’ll obviously be emancipating you; I would make you eighteen, but you really don’t look it, and I don’t want anyone to have a reason to scrutinize any of this, and a declaration of emancipation largely amounts to the same thing. Plus it will give you an easy way to discourage people from asking about your past, since emancipation typically implies a, shall we say, sensitive situation. That does mean that you'll be liable for your own housing though, so considering your present lack of legal standing, I would be more than happy to assist you in acquiring an apartment in your city of choice.” The matter-of-fact speech had caught Danny completely off guard, and he'd ended up staring at Robin for a long moment before Superboy’s half-hidden snickers had triggered a spat almost exactly like Sam and Tucker had always gotten into. 

Even now, thinking back on the conversation after almost a week, Danny finds himself a little choked up on the homesick wash of memory. At the time, Danny had choked down the unpleasant feeling, and admitted that the help with housing would be much appreciated. Superboy had narrowed his eyes, clearly spotting something in his tone of voice (thanks to his super hearing, undoubtedly), but he had managed to distract him with a joke about not wanting to risk his home dimension’s money being seen as counterfeit, and Robin's resounding excitement over that little theoretical conundrum. In that way, he’d managed to end the encounter with some actual legitimate cash in exchange for his interdimensional stuff, which was turning out to be an exceptional boon, all by itself. 

Of course, that exchange had come with its own revelation — the fact that heroes here had reason to carry cash on them was, perhaps, the most reassuring thing he’d seen so far. Phantom certainly hadn't ever been able to hang around long enough to have a shot at spending any money. It makes him wonder if they're getting paid for their work as heroes, and if so, who's doing the paying. Probably, it's a question worth looking into. Any payments coming from the government ought to have a paper trail of some sort, and Sam would say that sort of detail would say a lot about the whole dynamic.

For now, though, Danny finds himself walking briskly through the shadowy early morning streets, fighting against a wash of melancholy. Robin's cash weighs heavy in his pocket – he's been using it as sparsely as he can, since he doesn't know how long the hundred-or-so dollars need to last. Luckily, the nearby grocery store has a good collection of cheap and easy pre-made foods. For the last six days straight, Danny's been able to have a breakfast of two hard boiled eggs, and he currently has the supplies for pb&j sandwiches in his backpack. He anxiously checks his pocket to make sure Robin's burner phone is still there, but he doesn't bother pulling it out - he has no intention of using it unless he has a real emergency, no matter what the other teen had implied. 

It's still not late enough for the library to be open, by the time he's acquired and eaten his breakfast eggs, so instead he heads for the park, with a thought to shake off the remaining thrum of anxious energy from his dream. He's already flinched at two different cars as they drove past him, so he definitely could use the distraction, and the running has, regrettably,  repeatedly proved itself good at calming down Danny's running thoughts. Danny mentally snorts at the thought; an image of his body chasing down his own mind, tackling it and wrestling it into submission. That's certainly one way to deal with his anticipation for a fight.

Danny makes it three laps before he decides to stop, carefully taking the time to stretch out his legs and properly cool down. It's late enough by now that there's a handful of other people scattered in the park, two of which are on similar morning jogs. A couple of them even offer him a smile and nod as they pass each other. He doesn't know a single one of their names, but he's seen most of them around before, and as he finishes his cool down lap and heads off, he realizes that they probably recognize him too.

It's late enough now that he can head to the library, though when he gets there, he discovers that the computers are all in use, so instead he heads for the aisles of books.

He wanders through the rows, not really looking for anything in particular. Danny's happy enough to admit that he's never been much of a reader; language arts had always been his worst class. Even before the portal had been finished, he'd had a tendency to frustrate his English teachers by completely missing whatever symbolism they expected him to find, and the problem had only gotten worse once he'd half-died. With all the myriad problems the portal had created, Danny had all but stopped turning in any of his homework, and he'd not picked up even a single one of the assigned books.

At a certain point, it had actually become a bet between him and Sam and Tucker. He would come up with the most ridiculous possible answers whenever Lancer made the mistake of calling on him, and if he finally managed to get the man to break and swear for real, his friends would have to pay for his Nasty Burger for the rest of the year.

That was before things got really bad. The GIW had still been a mostly incompetent nuisance, and his parents had yet to join forces with them. Of course the ghost fights were annoying, but they'd also been kind of fun, and the trio had been so caught up in the fantasy of being the heroes that they hadn't thought about things like collateral damage or serious injury. It wasn't until Tucker and Sam were stitching up gaping wounds while the populace called for Phantom’s head that they really realized how serious things had gotten.

Danny stares down at the copy of Lord of the Flies that he'd pulled out of shelves. This was the book they'd been reading when he'd first had his accident with the portal. He remembers it clearly because afterwards he'd kept dropping the book and Sam and Tucker had ended up taking turns reading it to him. They'd gotten into several arguments over the meaning of the book. But by the end, both had agreed that the characters of the book were losers. Anyone reasonable wouldn't waste time with petty problems in a life or death situation. Now, Danny's not sure if the three of them just underestimated what's reasonable, or if everyone was just that unreasonable. Probably, it's more complicated than that, but as Danny stares at the book, he can't help but feel furious that a trio of fourteen-year-old losers managed to be more compassionate and forward-thinking than an entire town of adults. Danny wonders if any of the books he hadn't read would offer an explanation of their behavior.

Danny's pocket buzzes and for a moment all he can think about is the bees in the walls of his dream, buzzing louder and louder and louder- then, behind him a chair scratches against carpet as someone stands up. Danny's in the library, and the buzzing in his pocket is the burner phone that Robin had passed him along with the cash. He pulls it out, fumbles for a moment with it, and then stares at the text message on the screen.

Marla's Diner, noon. Wear your mask.

The message is short and to the point, which Danny supposes he should have expected. It hasn't even been a week yet, so Danny can't imagine Robin has his identity ready yet – he's got to have loads of other, more important work, after all. That doesn't mean he has any intention of arguing though, so he types out a little saluting emoticon, and then shoves the book back in the shelves. If he's gonna be meeting with Robin, he needs to not spend his morning having a crisis, thank you very much. So instead he hunts down the young adult section to see if he recognizes any of the series they have here.

Danny finds Marla’s Diner around 11:30, and once he’s spotted it, he finds a place to transform. He doesn’t want to be late, but being in his ghost form still makes him feel like he’s about to get jumped, so he sits on the roof of the building, holding his invisibility, until he sees Superboy flying over and dropping Robin off.

Robin murmurs quietly to Superboy as he’s set down, and Danny strains to hear them without moving at all. “...right to privacy.” Is all he catches before Superboy nods and straightens into a goofy salute.

“Tell him I said hi,” Superboy says. “And just text me whenever you want me to pick you up!” Robin agrees and heads into the diner,while Superboy flies off again. Danny stays frozen until he’s sure the other boy is fully gone, wondering what exactly a day in the life of one these heroes really involves.

When he and his friends weren’t dealing with a ghost attack, or some other crisis they were always more focused on school and having fun, but now with so much time to reflect, and a clear vision of what actual organized heroes look like, he catches himself wondering if things wouldn’t have turned out so bad if they had spent more of their time working on the problem where there wasn’t an imminent threat. Not that he has any clue what that work should have looked like, but maybe if they’d been more focused, Danny wouldn’t have had to flee.

Of course, Jazz would tell him to focus on what’s in front of him, rather than past decisions he can’t change. And right now, he has a meeting to get to. So Danny drops his invisibility and floats down to the ground, trying to look as unthreatening as possible as he enters the diner. The last thing he wants is to get mistaken for a rogue, after all. The hostess turns to greet him and freezes, and Danny flinches, frantically debating whether it’s worth upsetting Robin by bolting.

“Oh!” The hostess says after a moment, pulling Danny’s focus back. “Well, that explains Robin's presence here, doesn't it!” Her tone is bright. She doesn’t sound upset or scared, and when Danny risks glancing at her expression, she’s actually smiling.

“Uh-” Danny blinks. What was he going to say? Why exactly was he here, again?

“Our local hero, already catching the notice of the big leagues! I should be glad, really. You certainly look far too young to be doing the hero thing all on your lonesome.” Her grin dims a little, but before Danny can respond, she brightens again and continues. “Well, your pal is down at the end, hun. Last booth, nice and out of the way, for all your Very Important Discussions.” With a wave she gestures to a booth where Robin is seated, watching the entire interaction with a blank expression. Danny fights down another flinch, and instead forces himself to start walking over to slide into the booth across from him.

“Uh, hey.” Danny says, grasping at the string of his hoodie the second he’s seated. There’s a menu sitting on the table in front of him, and one in front of Robin as a well, so he probably intends for them to have lunch while they’re here, which probably means this is a friendly conversation. At the very least it’s not openly hostile, which officially makes it better than any meal he’d been forced to have with Vlad.

“Well,” Robin begins. “You certainly have a rapport with the locals already. I wasn't aware this region had significant issues.” Danny blinks over at him. He hadn’t even processed the waitress calling him the local hero, he’d been so focused on not causing a scene. And of course, now Robin thinks he was lying in their previous conversation, and- oh god, is that what this meeting is about? Did Robin become suspicious of him since their last conversation. What if this is a trap? Robin’s just staring at him and Danny hasn’t even responded to the clearly implied question yet.

“I’m not-” Danny starts. “Hero is really an exaggeration. There was a train crash about a month ago and it was- bad. I couldn’t just not help the firefighters.”

“Hmmm,” Robin responds, tilting his head slightly and watching Danny fidget for a long moment.

“That doesn’t cause problems for you, does it? I wasn’t trying to step on any toe, I promise! I just- didn’t want people to die, if I could help it.”

“You did nothing wrong,” Robin says suddenly, his tone turning deadly serious. “Nobody is ever wrong for wanting to help, and I read about that crash in the news. You worked with the firefighters and listened to their instructions without question. You provided clear and honest estimates of capabilities and didn’t cause any damage by overestimating or harming yourself in the process. Frankly, that incident is an exemplary show of everything the Justice League strives to do. I know fully trained members who would struggle to perform so perfectly in that kind of circumstance.”

“Oh, wow. Um, thanks?” Danny mumbles, a thrill of pride coursing through him, not unlike he’d felt in the initial aftermath of the crash. Maybe he shouldn’t feel so good about something that was such a terrible tragedy, but it’s just so nice to be told you did a good job.. “I mean, obviously it was freaking terrible, you know? And I’m sure they would have saved loads of those people without me, but-”

“In a disaster like that, everyone’s efforts count towards something,” Robin cuts him off. “It’s not about whether you single handedly changed the outcome, it’s the fact that you made the decision to lend a helping hand in a scary and dangerous situation.”

“Right,” Danny says. Somehow this conversation has become very serious, and Robin’s not talking like he’s in trouble, but he can’t imagine any other reason for this meeting. “Um, is that what you wanted to see me about? The train crash?” Robin stares at him for a moment, before relaxing his posture a little.

“No. I had a few questions regarding your identity. But we should order first. I want you to take your time to consider your decisions.

“Oh, um.” Danny glances down at the menu. He’d been kind of hoping to get away with not ordering anything, but he really doesn’t want to tell Robin no. Luckily the food seems pretty similar to what they’d have at a diner back home. “I’ll probably just have a sandwich? Whatever’s simplest.” The list of sandwiches is about half diner specialties, but there’s also a turkey club and a BLT listed, though the latter includes a fourth letter A, so Danny’s not entirely positive it’s the same thing. He struggles a bit with reading the description, but manages to confirm that it is his kind of BLT, just with the inclusion of avocado.

“If that’s what you want,” Robin says, and at Danny’s nod, he turns to signal the waiter, his demeanor shifts as he does so, and Danny watches with wide eyes as he smiles and thanks the server in a perfect presentation of manners. It would remind him of Vlad, how he drops so suddenly into a charming manner, but it's so completely devoid of malice, that instead it just comes off as someone incredibly gracious who is here on serious business. Then the waitress is gone again, and Robin's undivided attention returns to Danny.

“Do you want to go to school?” Danny blinks, and struggles to reorient himself to the new topic. School has certainly never been a choice in his life before, so the question feels just a little like a trap.

“Is truancy not a thing, here?” Danny asks. 

“I mean, under normal conditions yes, but we’re sort of dealing with a lot of exceptions that the standard laws don’t really cover here. So it’s mostly up to us, how we handle your education. I considered just listing you as having your GED, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to have input into the matter. After all, school could help you adjust to the cultural variances, and if you have any intentions of going to college, a GED can complicate the process. Not that you couldn’t just attend a community college first, but you did say you were sixteen, so we could also set you up to finish off high school properly. It wouldn’t be too hard to list you as previously homeschooled to explain away your missing educational history.”

“Huh.”

“Of course, if we listed you as having your GED, you could just head directly into community college, so in some ways that would get you through college faster, but it would also place more pressure on you, and you’re already having to adjust to plenty of societal differences.”

Danny sits for a moment, thinking about it. Getting a say in how he handles school is wild, but what’s even more wild is the slow realization that he actually kind of wants to go back to it. Danny had hated high school so far, but really most of that could be attributed to a combination of bullies and the absolute hell that was trying to complete school work while secretly being a ghost.

Robin stays quiet, letting Danny mull the question over, as he starts typing on his fancy wrist computer. Danny’s very intrigued by  the piece of tech. He hadn’t seen enough room for a full keyboard, but the way he’s typing seems too fluid to be using the multitap T9 system that Danny’s familiar with. He watches Robin for a moment, thinking about his parents’ own inventions and how he’d always been kind of intrigued by them, even when he thought their whole ghost obsession was nonsense. Danny had always hated his lit classes; had never gotten the hang of analysis, but he’d found science fascinating, and even if he’d had a habit of making a lot of dumb mistakes in math class, he’d liked the logic of it well enough.

It’s kind of fascinating coming to the realization that he actually likes learning, as he sits at a diner in another dimension. Before the portal incident the part of school that he’d really hated had been the social bullshit, not the actual classes. And the idea of getting a fresh start, where nobody already hates him, and he can get whatever grades he wants without worrying about getting in trouble with his parents is practically intoxicating.

“I mean,” Danny says, after their food’s been delivered. “I feel like I might as well try doing school for real? I could always test out if I wanted to and it would be kind of nice to get like a year and a half of a normal high school experience, you know?” Robin watches him for a moment after he finishes talking, and then nods.

“Entirely understandable. Would you prefer a physical school, or do you want to do classes online?”

“Um, I didn't even know that was an option.”

“It's not exactly standard, but it exists as an alternative just like homeschooling. Generally speaking online classes offer more flexibility, at the cost of requiring more self-sufficiency. Some private schools even offer online options that partner with colleges.”

“Huh. That sounds really cool? I don't know if I'd be good at it though.”

“If you want, you could try it out, and if you find yourself struggling, I can help you switch to a physical school.”

“Yeah, okay, sure.”

[deesea-ao3]

Fun Lore Ideas for Fawcett City

I've been sitting on these concepts for ages and need to get them out of my system. For my current WIP, it was important that I have a strong concept for what kind of city Fawcett was going to be. While the plot isn't technically taking place in Fawcett, a huge amount of my lore interpretations/characterisations rely on there being a solid original setting to draw from. Also, it's super fun to extrapolate history and economy for a fictional magic city to try and make it feel as plausible as possible.

Now, to start with, I had to establish where the city would actually be located. Fawcett is typically represented and/or thought of as being in the Midwest, so I was able to whittle down my options even more. I couldn't have it too close to Central City, Keystone City, or Smallville since I wanted Fawcett to retain its isolated feel. It'd be harder for it to get away with being magic if it was a stones throw from speedster stomping grounds, for instance. In the end, I looked up old maps of America DC Comics had officially released for inspiration. What I got were these:

The first didn't have Fawcett at all, and the second had it placed near the border of Wisconsin. The latter was serviceable for my purposes. However, I wanted something more to draw from. I wanted to make Fawcett feel like an actual city with history before I slapped on the magic superhero. It technically was just an ordinary city until Shazam placed a portal there after all.

My second go of looking for inspiration was much more fruitful. I looked at a few fan-made maps and eventually stumbled upon this one in a reddit forum:

Upon closer inspection, I realised something.

That's fucking Chicago.

The idea that then formed was brilliant, my best one maybe ever. If I don't want to write a 2K+ document detailing an organic history of fictional Fawcett City, coupled with local industry and culture to boot, I can just STEAL a real one!

The existence of IRL Chicago is not necessary for my story, and its absence would be barely noteworthy in the grand scheme of things. Functionally, it wouldn't even be gone. Its location and major historical events would still have occurred, just under a different name. It not only saves me tons of labour as a writer, it's also fucking hilarious.

The heart of ALL of magic lies in an abdoned subway station in downtown Chicago Fawcett, the Windy city that houses pagan subcultures, talking animals, cursed objects and people who still think it's 1945.

Southern Lake Michigan has freshwater mermaids. The flat lands of the city proper are surrounded by bluffs as old as the ice age, which thrum with prehistoric magic. The sunset is always pink, and moonbeams are brighter somehow here. In the river that flows through art-nouveau styled skyscrapers swim fish with rainbow scales. The people are happy and chatty and full of little secrets, kept close and safe for rainy days. The woman who dresses in leaves and sleeps on park benches is liable to be simply human, but the jolly old milkman who visits you every morning is fae through and through. Weird is normal and normal is weird.

All while in Chicago, Illinois, one of the most populous, wealthy cities in America since the 1870s. The mechanic who enchanted your car to not break down anymore was raised by regular steel mill workers. The politician who dreams of addressing the city's entrenched class divides is stuck doing paperwork to establish legal protections for the local gnome population's tree houses. When it snows in winter, Yetis clear driveways and salt the sidewalks. No one talks about it much because what is noteworthy about public servants doing their jobs? So what if they're Yetis? You got a problem with that?

Fawcett blows Gotham out the goddamn water for weirdness, but because they're so nonchalant and humble about it, Gothamites walk around smugly assured of their tolerance for insanity, unaware of the bigger fish, which is the average Fawcett citizen. When tourists come to visit, the very genre of reality changes the second they step foot within city lines.

Fawcett solos, tbh. DC writers are weaksauce for not seeing the vision that is mystic Chicago city, home to all of magic.

[nonotnolan]

Group Project

"I don't care if most people skip this step," Aiden said, taking a pre-swap photo with Nathan. "I still don't completely trust Swapper technology, just... I don't have many other options. Professor Carmichael has been riding our asses all semester, and this damn group project is worth 50% of my grade. I, uhh... I appreciate you doing this for me."

"You're the one paying me," Nathan said, grinning into the mirror with two thumbs up. "As long as you follow the basic rules, I don't really care what sort of extra safeguards you want to throw in. And don't worry, I think it's cute. Commencing swap... now."

Aiden barely had time to panic before he found himself staring up into his former face. The biggest shock was feeling Nathan's coiffed hair brushing against his forehead. The nerd came well recommended by Frat Row-- at this point, he probably spent more time outside of his body than inside of it. Certainly it hadn't been Nathan spending time at the gym to earn these arms. He had graduated college last year, but instead of getting a full time job, he hired out his services to anyone who needed to pass tests or make presentations. At $500 per swap, the legality was the only barrier to making it into a career. "So, you remember the rules, right?" said Aiden's body.

Hearing his voice like that was incredibly odd. "Yeah, we've got to stay swapped for 48 hours or else the Campus safety test will know we used our Swappers. You aren't liable if you get caught, I already paid you up front, no refunds. We had to jailbreak our Swappers to override the 12 hour standard limit, so I'll get arrested if I try to contact customer service. Anything else I'm missing?"

"No hard drugs, but any amount of sex and alcohol is fair game," Nathan said, as he reached into Aiden's waistband to fondle his new package. "Nice dick, my guy," he said, giving him another thumbs up. "That's gotta be, what... at least seven inches?"

Aiden blushed, deeply embarrassed to see his body acting so corny. "A bit under seven and a half, yeah," he said. "Aa-anyway, I'll be at the house if you need me."

"Have fun," Nathan said, giving him an exaggerated wink and slapping him on the shoulders. "I've swapped with several of your brothers. I know you're gonna have a good time."

Preston was outside, taking advantage of one of the last warm afternoons before fall turned into winter. "Damn, bro, you hired Nathan? Looks like someone was worried about failing their classes. So, who are you?"

"It's Aiden," I said, feeling very self conscious about my newer, frailer body as I found myself staring at Preston's hairy chest.

He just laughed. "Wait, Aiden? I didn't even know you had a Swapper! Damn, dude, you must be desperate to pass."

"I... yeah," I said, avoiding eye contact. Was Nathan a gay man? That was fine if he was, just... did that sort of thing stick to the body? He'd never really noticed the cleft of Preston's chin before, but he was-- Nathan's body was-- incredibly horny.

"A word of advice, Newbie," he said, sitting down his book. "Most of the Swapper nerds, or at least the ones worth hiring? They're gay men. Don't try to fight it. Just enjoy the ride. You'll be back to your no-homo self in 48 hours." He flexed his chest, letting his pecs bounce. "Or maybe you'll be a bit more worldly," he said, laughing as Aiden tried not to sneak a glance. "Getting a compliment from a gay dude feels real good."

Aiden practically sprinted toward the main doors, eager to escape the awkward situation. "Yeah I'll keep that in mind thanks bye," he muttered, cursing Nathan's gym shorts and their inability to hide an erection.

"Well, damn bro, look who it is! Someone hired Nathan!"

Sitting over in the lobby were two other guys who were using their Swappers for the weekend. The guy in black was probably Carter-- the dude had a lot of Puma gear, and it was possible he'd changed shirts at some point. Besides, it was hard to imagine anyone else scowling that hard. The blonde guy, however... that could be anyone.

"Uhh, hey... guys..." Aiden said, quickly learning that Nathan had a foot fetish. "You, uhhh... you also have a group project tomorrow or something?"

The blonde guy just laughed, closing his laptop as he stood up. "Oh, I've got a group project in mind, alright. I was just telling Carter here, even though both of us look like twinks, neither one of us are really bottoms. But with Nathan's body here, well... I think that solves our problem. Don't you?"

He nodded, following wordlessly after the two men as they entered the nearby library room for more privacy. Just enjoy the ride, Preston had said. Aiden suspected he was going to be doing a lot of riding tonight.

[timkontheunsure]

The clocks back theory

Something in this zanny one is plot relevance. (Probably relevant to this season's finale, Sinsmas)

It could be a couple of things, or both. 🙂

Emberlynn's amulet

It could be the Dhorks and cherubs related. But would be funnier if the people writing akuma no otto, the devil' husband, were just using a lot of religious stuff as backstory. (Like Hazbin hotel does. Hey offbrand Charlie).

If Stolas' seal is all that's to summon him, I can see merchants for a show accidentally making holly protection. 😆

Dumb fanfic

Ok, so gist is a someone who previously had a wife stands up against satan to protect their lover.

And Satan is turning up soon, probably in Sinsmas.

Blitz and IMP look to be in trouble in the trailer.

What if they get caught?

We know Andrealphus is plotting something to get all of Stolas' wealth, legions and title. And 'technically' doing this for Stella, Stolas' wife, so she'll get more in the divorce. (Actually doing it so he gets it).

Emberlynn also calls Blitz a demon prince.

Wich makes me think it's foreshadowing Stolas being the one taking a stand for his man. Not Blitz (this time).

There's been a theme this season of Stolas learning to choose, and stand up for what he wants. After failing to do so before last

Like going through with the divorce,

Makeing sure Blitz can manage his business without him,

And setting a boundary of needing space when he's hurt. Something that's really hard do with loved ones.

These are all pieces of rebuilding you have to do after abuse.

This part with the ars goeita, Andy and Vassago, Mammon and Satan all looks to be in the same place.

I'm assuming this meeting is about IMP's illegal use of the grimoire. To show Stolas is too incompetent and unfit for his job.

While Blitz now has a legal method and is under Asmodeus jurisdiction, how much will that help when Ozzie's also very publicly dating an imp?

That might make him seem to biased to help, when Blitz originally was lent the grimoire for sleeping with Stolas.

But why would Mammon be helping here?

Blitz burned down Loo loo land, while IMP were being bodyguards for Stolas. Wonder if hell has a law about being liable for any damage that contractors do?

But I can see Stolas standing up against Satan in the ars goeita council, to keep Blitz and IMP safe.

So why do I think the amulet might come back in?

A lot of people at assuming Andy is going to win this. (Couldn't be arsed to keep putting the full name anymore. And I get a laugh thinking it'd piss the pompous bugger off).

That he'll take everything from Stolas. Money, home, job, grimoire, and probably even Via. 🙁 (Don't think that'll stick as Via is a real daddy's girl).

Stolas without his grimoire would probably be vulnerable to Andy, especially if he's just been dragged by the council.

Thinking this is going to get a call back.

A lot of us have been wondering how Blitz is defending a vulnerable Stolas.

Maybe the strangle looking knife is merchant from the akuma no otto show lol?

(NB I had to do so many double check that I didn't put Santa instead of Satan in this thing. 😅 Heh dyslexic kiddies write Christmas lists to hell lol).

[thecrashoutkid]

Since I have brainrot and I'm thinking of Cherik constantly, I'm thinking of an AU where they got married before Cuba.

Something happens and Erik gets a concussion so he can't sleep, so Charles takes it out sightseeing instead of back to hotel for their usual night of 'chess, bants and tension'. They come across a carnival and there's an act with this clown officiant, one thing leads to another and they end up eloping at this tent.

The next day Charles reads the documents and realizes that it is legally binding and feels awful for taking advantage of Erik's sleep deprived and concussed state. He's waiting for the right time to tell him but then the attack on the compound happens, then the move to the mansion and Cuba. It all goes so fast and Erik is gone and Charles does not want to see him.

Years go by and Charles knows Erik has no idea they're married but he provides their taxes as a couple to the Government, puts Erik as his next of kin on his life insurance, pays for property damage caused by Erik being an absolute shit because he's liable for that too since they're married.

Then one day Erik is on trial for something he didn't do, and Charles knows he didn't do it because he was there. The courts are making it a big deal because this is Magneto, mutant terrorist.

They assume that Charles will want Magneto put behind bars so when he wheels into the podium to testify and says 'This man is my husband, I refuse to testify against him and you can't make me,' they're absolutely flabberghasted. They check evidence and submitted is all the stuff that shows, yes they are legally married, they have been doing the right things in the eyes of the law spousewise so yes, they have to afford Charles spousal privilages.

Erik however, thinks Charles is punishing him by taunting him with the fact Erik could've settled down and married Charles years ago if he wasn't so stubborn. Erik assumes that everyone is being mind controlled by Charles which means he didn't have to be so dramatic in the courtroom, so by the time he's released he's very upset.

They go back to the mansion for a drink, Charles thinks Erik is mad at him for not telling him sooner so he starts with 'do you want to get a divorce?' and Erik goes apeshit because 'i get it charles, i couldve had this life with you, stop making light what could have been' and charles has to sheepishly explain they've married this whole time.

[musicloverxoxo7]

BTS reactions – you sit down on their lap

BTS   x   fem!reader

Summary: How they react when you sit down on their lap.

Themes/warnings: fluff with mature content (sex, oral f receiving)

Wordcount: ca. 580 words

Disclaimer: 18+, DO NOT INTERACT IF YOU ARE UNDER 18

I do not own BTS. They merely inspire me. None of this is related to their persons in real life.

Jin:

Jin will first complain that you’re heavy. But he won’t push you off. After a while he’ll sling his arms around your waist and prop his chin up on your shoulder. Sometimes, this sweet cozy being together is all that will happen.

Other times his hands will disappear under your shirt to play with your boobs or just touch your skin. If it’s the first, you might end up riding him until you’re both sweaty messes.

Yoongi:

99% of the time, Yoongi thinks of you sitting on his lap as something intimate, but sweet. He enjoys cuddling with you this way and wouldn’t mind sitting like that for hours.

But that 1% of the time, he gets hard just from you sitting down on him. Of course, you feel that. And if you want more, you just have to kiss him and rub against him a little until he spoils you rotten with all the things you enjoy most.

Hobi:

Hobi is usually the one to pull you down on his lap, because he likes physical contact. You usually get bored with just sitting there after a few minutes and end up kissing his neck and face or exploring his body with your hands.

At some point he will get impatient with your restlessness, grab your hands, and restrain them behind your back. Once that happens, you’re both done for. You kiss each other until you can barely breathe anymore and when kissing isn’t enough anymore, you’ll move to things that involve less and less clothing.

Namjoon:

Namjoon isn’t easily distracted. So when you sit down on his lap, he will keep reading his book or replying to the message from a friend. You don’t mind. Most of the time you only want to be close to him.

When you do want more, you know how to get his attention. Usually, all it takes is you running your hands up and down his torso under his shirt. Latest when your hands come to rest on the front of his pants, he will put aside his phone or book and give you his undivided attention.

Jimin:

For Jimin and you, all kinds of touching are the most natural thing in the world. You often sit on his lap. But when you sit down facing him, burying your face in his neck, it will be an instant turn on. Especially once you start kissing his neck.

Then it won’t be long until you are making out and simultaneously trying to shed all clothing. And somehow, you are always successful at this multi-tasking.

Tae:

You and Tae are used to regular physical contact. Seeking that out in form of you sitting down on his lap regularly means nothing more than a few minutes of cuddles. Except when you sit down wearing a dress, but no underwear.

Then it will only take seconds until you are lying on your back with Tae’s head between your legs. And that is only the start.

JK:

Depending on which way you’re facing, JK will either touch your thighs or your ass. He will have a great time doing so, because he enjoys touching you.

If you’re in the mood for more, you have to initiate it. Not that it takes much. It only takes the smallest of hints until you lose your shirt and pants. If you’re wearing a dress, he won’t even bother. He has all the access he needs without getting you out of it.

© musicloverxoxo7, 2023

Please do not copy, translate, or repost my work. Doing so will make you legally liable for stealing intellectual property.

[kvetchlandia]

OK...

I'm more or less back. I can't say I've recovered from the shock of the hell the people of the United States have inflicted upon themselves and and upon the rest of the world. I mean, who recovers from the knowledge that people actually chose to put themselves under the governance of a bloated pig who promises to use the military to go after his political rivals (including, for fuck sake, Liz Cheney, an arch conservative); who's been responsible for the removal of women's legal right to control their own bodies, already resulting in completely preventable deaths; who in no uncertain terms has made public his desire to be a dictator; who is a man that has been convicted of multiple felonies and has been found civilly liable for sexually assaulting one woman and who bragged on television, in a tape seen by virtually everyone on the planet, of assaulting others; and on and on and on. I could detail so much more about the planned assaults on civil liberties, on civil society and on the environment by this repugnant shmuck but there's little point to that. All I'll accomplish should I do that is another night of bashing my head against the wall or of sticking my head in the electric oven and yet again singeing my poor eyebrows. So, I guess I'll return to my lame posts. They're a way of killing a bit of time and some of you guys even occasionally like the crap I put up on my page, which always thrills me and for which I'm eternally grateful.

I'm ancient by Bumblr standards. I am what's known in the jargon as a "red diaper baby," the child of parents who had been in the Communist Party. Because of this, I've been going to demonstrations quite literally since before I was born. I've continued the family tradition of being politically active and over many years have taken part in more demos than I care to count. All I can say is that, come the inauguration of this monster in January, quite possibly the last inauguration of a president in this country, if Trump is to be believed, I'll be back in the streets once again, wearing my red union tee shirt and carrying one sign or another. We have the capacity to make the streets ours and to use that power to change things for the better. Will we develop the leadership and the organization necessary to accomplish that? I don't want to be pessimistic (or honest, as the case may be), so I'll just say, that remains to be seen. Meanwhile, back to silliness.

[anghraine]

This isn't going to turn into All US Politics All The Time blog for four years (all going about as well as possible). And I don't begrudge anyone finding comfort where they can from the various state-level small victories—the GOP losing their incredibly corrupt supermajority in NC and failing to take the governor's seat, various state measures to protect or at least advance abortion rights, my candidate for governor winning in my own state, decent performances in a lot of House races, the predictable Senate disaster not being quite as bad as it might have been in this environment.

But for me, there is something discouraging about these as well, and something overlooked in the comparisons to the 2020 election. To me, the obvious point of comparison is less 2020 than 2016.

[This is not an even slightly positive post—putting most of it below the cut so you can skip if you don't want further doom 'n gloom.]

Trump's victory in 2016 was more shocking, yes, but it came with a lot of qualifications. Most obviously, the majority of people who voted in 2016 didn't vote for him, and while this didn't change the result of the election, it did affect the sense of what was going on nationally. Hillary Clinton, a flawed candidate under investigation during the election (however obviously politically motivated that investigation—and it was reopened right before Election Day) and the object of a 30-year misogynistic campaign of relentless, unabashed right-wing and journalistic hatred, and the leader of a campaign that made some clear tactical missteps, was preferable to Trump for the majority of voters even without certainty about what his administration would do. And people could and did lie to themselves about what a Trump administration would be like because he was a posturing blowhard who'd never held office. I always thought "Trump's just saying stuff, he's really going to outflank Hillary from the left!!!" was stupid as fuck, but it's a thing people convinced themselves of.

But in 2024, we know how bad the Trump administration would be (and there's no reason to think this one won't be worse—quite the opposite). We saw how his COVID response made a bad situation orders of magnitude worse to the point that morgues were overflowing with dead bodies. We know about how unethical he is because he's been found legally liable in relation to crimes of corruption and rape. He encouraged a coup to overthrow the last election. And Kamala Harris has far less political baggage than HRC did, is more progressive, ran a better campaign, had no October Surprise, and yet is losing the popular vote quite badly (right now, with 89% of the vote counted, Trump is ahead by about five million votes).

And seeing that people are voting to protect abortion rights in their state or ousting obviously corrupt state officials etc and then also voting for Trump is on one level—okay, so ordinary voters only sort of align with the cackling evil of GOP politicians' schemes and will at times vote to restrict their awful policies even in very red states. On a pragmatic level, that's better than being fully aligned with those policies. But on another level, I find it appalling. This loss isn't about any particular policy and I think you're fooling yourself if you think any One Magic Trick could have changed this result—that was possible in 2016, potentially, but not in this election. A lot of people are voting against specific Republican agendas and then voting for Donald Trump and JD fucking Vance.

Obviously racist misogyny (and misogynoir particularly) is likely a major culprit given that this disparity wasn't present even in far more unfavorable-on-paper conditions in 2016 against a profoundly unpopular white woman after an eight-year Democratic administration. There's the weird cult of personality around Trump. Etc. But I'm also thinking about how the most successful period for Democrats during this cycle was when they veered away from anything to do with actual policies and were like "these Republican politicians are the weird freaks with bad vibes actually." I'm thinking about how the vast majority of the country went significantly rightwards even in many places that Harris or Democrats won.

And it's like... maybe we won't become an autocracy, maybe he'll have another disastrously awful administration that isn't as much worse than the first as we fear, and public opinion will turn against him again and his sheer unpopularity will drive backlashes favoring Democrats in 2026 and 2028. But even that best case scenario isn't fixing what's wrong here.

[cath-lic]

it is my religious belief that we need to abolish the death penalty. yes, for everyone.

it’s important to note that i’m speaking from an american catholic perspective here. capital punishment has been outlawed in 23 states, and i pray and vote that it will be outlawed in more.

as a note, capital punishment is generally legal for cases of murder, treason, and in some states, sex crimes against children.

when i say it should be abolished for everyone, i mean it. yes, that means the lowest of the low. it means rapists, torturers, abusers, murderers.

i think the actions of these kinds of people are horrifying and disgusting. and, yes, as a human, i want them to die.

i have been extremely lucky to never have been victimized by these types of people. i hope that i never will be, and if you have been victimized, i hold deep sympathy and respect for you.

here’s the thing. when you justify violence against a certain group, you find ways to put other people you simply don’t like into that group.

it’s the oldest trick in the book. it’s why innocent black men have been lynched. it’s why the government, regardless of party, mistreats mexican immigrants. it’s why gay and trans people have been killed on the streets.

do you honestly think a group would justify crimes against others without believing they were the scum of the earth? we all believe we’re the hero of the story.

you might say, yeah, but i only would kill the people that deserved it. i want you to think about what everyone else would say, too.

christians are just as liable to fall into this trap. the old testament is chock full of groups of people being destroyed because they “deserved it.” and—if it’s not too heretical to say this—i wonder who really wrote that down.

in order to have compassion for the innocents, we must also have compassion for the guilty. there is no in-between. there is no line in the sand.

i will not use the tired superhero’s argument that the death penalty “makes us no better than them.” i will not say that some people don’t deserve to die, because as a human with hate in their heart, i do think that some people deserve to die.

i will simply say that in this age, it is more important than ever to abolish the death penalty.

if you’ve read this far, thank you for having an open mind. god bless you, my sibling.

[hashtagloveloses]

while corporations like tumblr's parent or any other platform SHOULD use their corporate might to stand up to government or evangelical interference, they often won't or really can't, and i hope SOME of the ire people have for tumblr staff, whether warranted or not, goes towards the real culprits of MOST of our problems online right now - the US Evangelical White Nationalist Industrial Complex. THEY are the reason that everything mature (or just shit they don't like) is being shut down - they have created culture war campaigns against porn or to "save the children" or "save trafficking victims" that are not actually about nor do anything helpful to fix the problems with any of those things, in an attempt to CONTROL US ALL, usually for some very specific people's monetary gain as well.

because when they created a big public campaign that seemingly everyone could agree on (bad things happening to children is bad!), the CREDIT CARD COMPANIES were forced to act. and they don't give a fuck about anybody except themselves. and everyone is at the MERCY of the credit card companies bc they have chosen the capitalism house of cards - so when Visa and MasterCard say jump, Apple says HOW HIGH? and when Apple says jump, all the platforms like Tumblr, and Facebook/Instagram/Meta, and Twitter/X or whatever, and YouTube/Google say HOW HIGH, because they need their apps in the Apple store.

and that doesn't even take into account the lobbying and public push of US elected officials, across bipartisan lines, to enforce this as well. while you were complaining about Tumblr staff, have you educated yourself about the DANGER of KOSA, the Kids' Online Safety Act? these US senators and congress people can get reelected because they can say look! i cosponsored a bill that helps kids! and wipe their hands of the DOMINO effect this shit will have.

because whether it is the credit card companies or a law like KOSA, the way the platforms from Tumblr, to Apple, to Facebook will OVERCOMPENSATE to legally cover their ass will be DETRIMENTAL to us all, even outside the US. requiring ID information to CONFIRM someone is over 18 to access certain info or else the US government could sue them, shit like that. banning ANY sensitive content with inaccurate autoflagging technology and underpaid/staffed human moderation, as tumblr and tiktok have been struggling with, and even inadvertently suppressing speech (if you want to be charitable), all in the hopes that Apple won't remove their app from their store or the US government won't hold them liable for the things their users post. (PLEASE LEARN ABOUT SECTION 230).

yes, we should always call for the platforms we are on to do better but remember there are BIGGER reasons for what is going on and these are the symptoms of a larger DISEASE. pay ATTENTION.

[mariacallous]

In the final lead-up to the US presidential election, Elon Musk has thrown the full weight of his celebrity and his resources behind former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump. He has appeared with Trump on the campaign trail; pumped money into a pro-Trump PAC (which has, in turn, bought ads on the platform he owns); and made X a hotbed of right-wing conspiracy theories, some of which he has personally boosted, that many experts say are designed to undermine faith in the outcome of the elections.

But Musk’s behavior is also having another effect: It’s taking scrutiny off other tech leaders and companies, even as they cozy up to Trump or roll back policies that would protect the information ecosystem ahead of a major election.

“In a race to the bottom, Elon Musk paved the way for a new, toxic tech basement,” says Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at the nonprofit Free Press. “Yet, as long as other platforms aren’t quite as abysmal, they squeak by under cover of Twitter’s failures.”

Social media companies have largely replaced traditional media conglomerates as gateways to information. According to a Pew Research study, 54 percent of adults now get at least some of their news from social media. And that number is much higher for people below the age of 50. Sixty-four percent of people aged 30–49 and 78 percent of people 18–29 get news from social media.

“[Musk] is smart enough to understand that to control the narrative, you want to control the media,” says a former Twitter employee. “And social media is media.”

But these companies don’t face the same kind of restrictions and responsibilities that traditional media do. Section 230 prevents social media companies from being held legally liable for the content on their platforms. Content moderation is largely voluntary, except in cases where the content itself is illegal (like child sexual abuse material), which has its own consequences. A 2020 study from the Harvard Misinformation Review found that people who relied on social media for their news were more likely to believe misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic. A different Pew Research study, also from 2020, found that Americans who relied on social media for their news had lower political knowledge than those who didn’t.

But for years, public pressure from government officials, civil society, and the media pushed tech companies to invest in teams and tools that could at least somewhat address issues of hate speech or misinformation on their platforms, so they could say they were making a good-faith effort to deal with the issue.

Musk’s purchase of Twitter signaled a change, according to six former trust and safety employees from Twitter and Meta.

When Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, he quickly fired more than 50 percent of the company’s workers, including almost all of the company’s trust and safety and policy staff—the people tasked with creating and enforcing the platform’s policies around things like hate speech, violent content, conspiracy theories, and mis- and disinformation. Since then, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Discord have all made cuts to trust and safety staff.

Shortly after Musk purged Twitter of its trust and safety teams, other companies began layoffs. In November 2022, Meta laid off 11,000 employees, including many trust and safety employees. In January 2023, Google followed suit, axing 12,000 people. Earlier this year, Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, disbanded its Safety Advisory Council.

“I think that Elon really opened the floodgates,” says one former Meta employee. “So then other tech brands were like, ‘We can do that too, because we won't be the black sheep for it.’”

Meta spokesperson Corey Chambliss tells WIRED that the company has “40,000 people globally working on safety and security—more than during the 2020 cycle, when we had a global team of 35,000 people working in this area,” though he did not address how many of those people are staff versus outsourced workers.

Musk’s sudden firings made it so that “anybody else could come along and nicely fire their teams and give them severance and it was nicer. Better,” says a former Twitter employee who was fired by Musk.

After Musk fired the trust and safety staff, experts warned that this cut, coupled with Musk’s “free speech absolutism,” would allow toxic content to flood the platform and ultimately cause an exodus of users and advertisers, leading to Twitter’s eventual demise. Hate speech and misinformation did increase, and advertisers did pull their dollars. Last year, X fired members of what remained of its elections team. Around the same time, Musk posted on X, saying, “Oh you mean the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”

But X is still alive and kicking.

Musk’s behavior, say the former employees, acted as cover for other platforms that saw trust and safety work as a burdensome cost. The work of teams focused on ad sales or user engagement drives growth and money for platforms. Trust and safety teams, former employees say, do not. This makes them easy targets when companies tighten their belts.

“I think [layoffs] were something Mark [Zuckerberg] wanted to do for a long time,” says the former Meta employee. “And so, if Twitter can get away with having less good technology and less good infrastructure than other companies, and is still getting rid of thousands of people, which is proportionally way more than any amount laid off by Google or anyone else, then I think that that kind of empowered other companies too.”

Chambliss says that Musk’s decisions did not play a role in Meta’s layoffs, referring to a 2023 post about the company’s “year of efficiency.”

It’s not just staffing that has shifted since Musk took the helm at X. Google and Meta have made significant changes to how they handle political content and mis- and disinformation.

Last year, YouTube, which is owned by Google, announced that it would “stop removing content that advances false claims that widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2020 and other past US presidential elections.” Google spokesperson Elena Hernandez told WIRED, “There were no cuts to the Trust and Safety teams that work on elections. We continue to make significant investments in the people, policies, and systems that enable Google and YouTube to be a reliable source for election-related news and information.” Hernandez did not respond to questions about whether the company would be updating its policies around election fraud claims in anticipation of the US presidential elections.

Recent reporting from The New York Times found that lies about the election have since spread widely on the platform. In previous years, a story like that might have put pressure on YouTube to enforce or change its policies, but now, conservative activist Christopher Rufo wrote on X, “in a post-Elon environment, YouTube's response is: ‘The ability to openly debate political ideas, even those that are controversial, is an important value—especially in the midst of election season.’”

“I think the public antics of Musk are diverting attention away from other companies who continue to launch products or make policy changes that demand careful thinking and transparency,” says Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, founder of the Tech Global Institute, a think tank focused on tech policy and a former Meta employee.

Earlier this year, Meta announced that it would no longer recommend political content to users on Threads and Instagram—though what exactly counts as politics remains unclear. Last year, the company removed restrictions on ads claiming the 2020 election was stolen and on Covid-19 misinformation. In July it removed restrictions on Trump’s Facebook account, which has 35 million followers. In August, less than three months ahead of the elections, it also wound down the tool Crowdtangle, which allowed journalists and civil society to monitor content on Meta’s platforms. (After taking over X, Musk announced that he would charge $40,000 for access to the platform’s API).

While X under Musk has presented a whole host of new issues for advocates and civil society, less attention has been paid to other, established platforms having many of the same problems they’ve had for years. Reporting from WIRED found that nearly four years after the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, militia groups are still organizing on Facebook, with the platform even autogenerating pages for interested users. Meta’s and TikTok’s systems still can’t reliably detect ads containing election disinformation. Amazon’s Alexa told users the 2020 election was stolen.

“We do not have visibility on whether ad models in the lead-up to major elections have been changed, or whether researchers have been able to meaningfully engage with platforms and user metrics to study key information trends,” says Diya. “We still have unresolved questions about basic product or policy features that warrant continued scrutiny and should not be sidelined amidst specific individuals or one company monopolizing airtime.”

“Musk doesn’t take responsibility for anything on his platform, so it makes it a lot easier for other platforms to do the same,” says Alexandra Pardal, CEO of Digital Action, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on human rights and technology. “He’s changed norms about what’s acceptable and not, about what a responsible social media platform looks like. Musk has successfully masked [these changes] by making this the Elon Show.”

In a recent interview with the Acquired podcast, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that he regretted allowing Meta to take responsibility for things that he saw as outside its mandate or control. “People are basically blaming social media and the tech industry for all these things in society—if we’re saying, we’re really gonna do our part to fix this stuff, I think there were a bunch of people who just took that and were like, oh, you're taking responsibility for that? Let me, like, kick you for more stuff.” Bloomberg also noted a shift in Zuckerberg’s approach to the 2024 election—namely, to avoid saying much about it at all.

Musk is obviously not the only driving force for this change. Tech companies have come under increasing scrutiny from both sides of the aisle, particularly from the GOP. This has made it particularly painful—and risky—for them to take action on certain topics. For instance, last year, a federal judge issued an injunction preventing social media companies from talking to the government, saying that Biden officials “engaged in a broad pressure campaign designed to coerce social-media companies into suppressing speakers, viewpoints, and content disfavored by the government." For companies like Meta, that meant that their threat detection teams were unable to alert or hear from federal agencies about issues. The Supreme Court ruled this summer that complainants lacked standing.

In August, Zuckerberg issued a letter to Jim Jordan’s congressional Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, saying that the company had, indeed bowed to government pressure to remove misinformation about Covid-19. (Three former Meta employees who spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity say that they did not get the sense that government pressure was behind Meta’s choices to suppress or remove Covid-19 misinformation at the time.) Pardal says that if Musk was not behaving so outrageously, she doubts that Zuckerberg “would be saying he made a mistake.”

And Trump, it seems, approves. In an interview with the Barstool Sports podcast Bussin’ With the Boys, Trump said, “I actually believe [Zuckerberg’s] staying out of the election, which is nice.” The former president has also claimed that other tech executives, including Sundar Pichai, Jeff Bezos, and Tim Cook, are supporters. Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, prevented an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris from running, the same day that executives from his space company, Blue Origin, met with Trump, signaling a willingness on the part of the industry to cooperate with a possible second Trump administration. (Bezos appeared unmoved, even in the face of more than 200,000 people canceling their subscriptions to the paper.)

But none of these nods toward Trump are as obvious as Musk’s support for the former president, and the use of X to seed mis- and disinformation about the election, says Pardal. “[Musk] has drawn attention away from other tech companies and onto himself, when it comes to tech harms,” says Pardal. “Now we are all talking about what Elon says next, and moving away from the discussion about the decline in platform safety at a time of exponentially rising risks.”

[kkanabel]

caffeine addiction ❃ annoying bakugou ❃ chapter 3 Bakugou Katsuki x Reader / Coffee Shop! AU directory/m.list

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words: ~2.4k

After Bakugou nitpicked at the amount of caffeine you had, he started to give you warning looks when you’re starting to drink too much. It was as if a bartender was watching a patron that tends to drink himself blind-- except you’re drinking coffee and you’re one espresso shot away from a full-blown heart attack. 

Thus, you’re sitting at your usual table with a peach lemonade, tapping your feet on the ground as if you’re waiting for something. It started to become entertaining. When Bakugou looked at you, he saw an angry pomeranian that had its toy taken from them.

When you looked at Bakugou, you saw an evil mother pomeranian that withheld the toy for your own good.

It was strange-- you hardly knew each other. Even then, this rando barista was withholding something that would make him money. All for the sake of your health. It made you want to spend more money at this establishment. You wanted to rain money onto his broad shoulders (that were already covered in designer brands anyway) to show your appreciation for those who care about others.

Or it could just be for legal reasons. You’re pretty sure that you’re liable for your own decisions, but you suppose you could say that his coffee provoked you because it was too delicious…? Likely not. Worth a thought, though. Not really.

You were taking a look at sneak-peek photos of the Masaki show coming up soon. Your aunt was going to be one of the VIPs, and she invited you to come along. She desperately wanted you to be in promotion photos for Masaki, saying “I was telling Masaru about how I have a niece with a face that perfectly suits their brand! I wish you would take the option already! You have such a big opportunity to model for us, but you still insist on doing something else.”

You loved your aunt, but she still pestered you to join the fashion industry with her. While you absolutely loved fashion, the industry was just too much for you. You’ve had your fair share of models gossiping about how you’re a “fashion princess”, having one of the top designers in the world as a relative. Exposure like that is uncomfortable. You didn’t want to get big in the industry just because of the people you’re related to. If you’re going to make it big in the industry, it’s going to be by your own hand–you don’t want to get a big push just because of your aunt. 

You wanted to be fully self-made.

So, you sent an advertisement design to one of your clients, a new dating app called “Kiss, Kiss, Fall in Love”, which “innovated” a way to find love by placing you into a group chat with all of your suitors at once. It sounds extremely stupid. At least your advertisement made it look clean and professional. You pinched yourself for helping out a company with such an idiotic premise, but at least it makes you money. 

Then, you closed your tabs for the graphic design you were doing and then swiped over to your tabs open for a handful of assignments on finance. You have a lot of shit to do today. You also had ideas for your aunt’s new line, and you were going to sketch them out and send them to her by the end of today.

Falling asleep wasn’t a problem, because you had your lemonade, a cup of ice water, and an americano next to you. Going to the bathroom 5 times in one hour may be a problem, but you ignored it in favor of trying to finish your assignment as quickly as possible. You wanted to sketch out those designs now, but you’d be too anxious doing them if you didn’t have your assignment finished. 

Drinking iced liquids during the winter helped you stay awake. You were fucking shivering, but it’s okay. Anything to stay awake. You have to get these things done. This urgency was definitely making your dark circles worse by the day, though. 

It’s fine. You’ll need to put on concealer later, anyway. You needed to hop on a Zoom call with your club members in a couple hours, and you needed to freshen up before then. For now, your hair jutting out in all directions from your messy-ass bun and how crusty you looked was fine. The only person seeing you was an extremely hot guy in the café, but it’s also fine because you’re not going to court him, and this café is basically your second home at this point.

All of this was running through your mind as you worked on your assignment, furiously typing away on your laptop to fill out an extended-response question. 

Seeing you work on your laptop was making Bakugou feel particularly productive today. 

He whipped out his own laptop to sort out details he needed for his father’s upcoming fashion show. His parents wanted him to be there so they could have a photoshoot of their cute baby in nice clothes.

Except their cute little baby was now a 23-year-old man. 

After the show, he was going to be backstage, taking photos with the models so his parents could show him off to their mutual fashion-forward friends. Since Bakugou asked them not to post his photos as promotion, they didn’t. Like you, he didn’t want the attention. But this was a little different–he just didn’t want any fame, in general. He’s already got enough attention on him from the various women (and men) coming into the café to flirt with him. His ego is big enough as it is, and the random people eye-fucking him from across his own coffee shop don’t really help. 

But at some point, he had to ask some of his employees to help him kick out some people that were getting too rowdy, and he wasn’t the biggest fan of doing that. He just wants to live his life without people drooling over him like a piece of meat. Although Bakugou made it seem like he was more proud of his good looks when someone objectified him, it made him uncomfortable at times. 

So, he was glad that you were a new regular of his and not some creep trying to get into his pants. He found himself being a little happier every time he saw you come into the café with hair that looked like a bird’s nest and a face that definitely hadn’t woken up fully.

So, with some typing to give feedback to his parents, he sent them a lengthy paragraph detailing what he thought about the setup for the show. The models’ makeup, the music, and the general vibe of the walkway. 

Next on his to-do list was to experiment with new drinks for the menu. He was getting bored, and he thought that a great way to spice up his life and his customers’ lives was to add a new drink or two to his café menu. Thus, he got to brewing and mixing. In the middle of his work, he saw someone come in from the back. 

“Hey, Bakugou!” came a chipper voice from the girl who was putting on the café apron and bringing the apron’s strings around her waist so that she could see the strings as she was tying them. “Whatcha up to?”

He glanced at Ashido Mina, one of his long-time employees. They’ve been friends since high school, and she helps out at the café from time to time to make some extra cash. Though it was difficult for him to say it to their faces, he was always really grateful for his friends helping him with this coffee shop. 

“Makin’ some new drinks. Figured we should have something new for Christmas–apart from the seasonal drinks we already have.” He looked back down at his work, crushing up a candy cane on a cutting board into smithereens. 

She silently watched him as he sprinkled the crushed candy cane onto the drink next to the cutting board. The drink was in a glass mug and was a creamy brown topped with whipped cream and the candy cane Bakugou just put onto it. Bakugou brought the mug up to his lips and tasted it. Without a word, he gave the cup to Ashido.

As Ashido tasted it, her eyes lit up. “This is good,” she praised, placing it onto the table. 

Bakugou still looked at the drink, putting a hand up to his chin whilst thinking. “It’s not quite right,” he keened, crossing his arms. He didn’t know what to change. He used one of the best chocolates on the market. He didn’t even use the powder shit that tasted like ass! He mixed together a combination of milk and dark chocolate, so it should have added the complexity he was looking for. But for some reason, the drink tasted flat. 

“Mina-san?” From one of the tables at the café, you looked at Ashido with a surprised face. Ashido returned the face, gasping when she saw you. 

She called out your name in realization, walking around the counter to envelop you in a hug.

Bakugou furrowed his brows when he saw that you did makeup and calmed the birds’ nest that was your hair in the short period of time he was talking to Ashido. Witchcraft, he thought. The fact that you even did eye makeup amazed him. Wait– is your hair curled this time? How?!

He watched as you and Ashido made some small talk when she pointed a thumb at him. “Yeah, I work here to help out this dude. Actually, he’s trying to make a new drink for the upcoming holiday season, and he’s kinda struggling. Wanna try the prototype?” Bakugou’s eyes widened a little bit. It wasn’t in surprise, but moreso… fear?

“Sure!” You chirped, making him a little more scared. He couldn’t place his finger on why. Maybe it was because it was unfinished and all you knew about his drinks were perfection? He didn’t want to ruin that idea for you. But before he could say anything, Ashido passed you the mug with the prototype drink, and you sipped it.

He tried to ignore the fact that you drank a drink that a stranger also drank, but the very tiny teenage girl portion of him went, Oh my gosh, an indirect kiss! With me and Racoon Eyes!

“Hm, a peppermint hot chocolate? It’s good, but it could use more complexity.” Out came your response, and you tasted it again. “You should add some coffee to deepen the flavor. Also, maybe flavoring the whipped cream with mint would be a nice touch.”

Bakugou furrowed his brows in confusion. “Coffee? What?”

Your cheeks started to burn a little. It probably seemed you were saying that just because you’re an addict and he knows it. “N-No, I’m not trying to change it into some coffee drink! I’m saying– I normally add a little of some instant coffee to my hot chocolate because it deepens the flavor!”

He thought about it for a moment before grabbing the saucepan with which he previously made the hot chocolate. He tossed in a little bit of instant coffee, then poured it into three paper cups for all of you to try it.

All three of you tasted the prototype beverage at the same time, and while you had a content expression tasting very nice hot cocoa, the expression that Bakugou and Ashido had was one of amazement. “It’s… perfect,” Bakugou said, mystified.

Ashido let in a wide gasp when she finished the rest of the drink in the cup and she turned herself to face you. “...are you a flavor genius?”

You chuckled and said, “No, I’m just a coffee addict."

You were sitting outside on your Zoom meeting while Bakugou and Ashido were lazing around in the café, waiting for people to come in. Bakugou was blankly staring at you. You were laughing while waving your arms around to make a point to the people in the online meeting, and Bakugou was entranced.

When he snapped out of it and turned his head to Ashido, his good mood instantly dissipated when he saw her grinning like a Cheshire cat. A very evil Cheshire cat that is most certainly up to no good.

“Whatever the fuck you’re thinking, the answer is no.” He crossed his arms and glared at her, who was now suggestively wriggling her eyebrows at him. “I don’t have time for that.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she took a sip of her peach green tea on the back counter. “The fact that you knew what I was thinking just affirms my thoughts. Plus! Why not? She’s reeeally pretty, right?” Ashido emphasized her words a little too much, but still kept her voice down in case she was bothering any nearby patrons.

Bakugou sighed and propped himself on the chair in front of the register, nursing a freshly-made latte to his chest. “I’ve got my hands busy with a café and with my parents’ shit. I won’t shoot my shot if I’ve got no bullets.”

Ashido seemed to consider things for a minute, tapping her foot and looking into space. She raised her pointer finger, “But-”

“Racoon Eyes. No.” He glared her down. 

She didn’t back down. “Not even a hi? A meager hello?”

Bakugou really didn’t have time to deal with love. He’s got other shit to do– his parents are still pestering him to join the fashion business, and he’s working himself thin with the café already. 

“You don’t think she’s pretty?” Ashido offered, looking at you sitting outside.

Bakugou scowled. He didn’t want to deal with Ashido right now, either. “I’m not fucking blind. Of course, she’s pretty. I just don’t have time for it.”

Her eyes seemed to start blinging with interest as she squealed, “Bakugou has a cru-” he placed a hand over her mouth. People were looking in their direction, confused. A relationship, never mind pursuing one, is in no way something he wants to deal with. Unless this girl started showing up in every facet of his life or something, it just wouldn’t be possible.  

But the higher powers up there have a funny sense of humor. 

(Ironically, the girl that Bakugou just started pining for had named him a god just a couple days prior.)

a/n: taglist is open! just lmk <3 stay hydrated, cuties! :D

directory/m.list

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[persephonbee]

I really feel like there are some rights that you shouldn't be able to sign away, and that should include the right to sue a company if you're seriously harmed because they were negligent or like actively did something that could reasonably be expected to cause the results.

There's the whole case right now where an Uber driver ran a red light and t-boned a car and the Uber passengers were very seriously and permanently injured so they're trying to sue Uber, and Uber is saying they can't sue because the terms and conditions say you have to do binding arbitration instead, and the defense they're using is that they didn't agree to the terms and conditions because their daughter was the one who pushed the button to accept them.

And like, I honestly don't think that's a particularly good defense unless they can show that they routinely read the terms and conditions and refuse to use a service if the terms and conditions aren't satisfactory to them. Most people don't read the terms and conditions and won't decide to just never use Uber or Uber eats because there's an arbitration clause.

But they shouldn't have to use that defense. They should be able to say that the driver literally committed a crime which led directly to the injuries and this isn't something they should have reasonably expected to have happen. Regardless of terms and conditions they should be able to sue.

And there are situations where people should be able to sign away some rights when using a service to do things that can reasonably expected to involve danger. If you go bungee jumping, it's fair for the company to ask you to sign something saying that if in the course of bungee jumping you get hurt for reasons that they couldn't have reasonably predicted beyond the standard hazards of bungee jumping. If they show you how to properly fall and tell you to not flail around and have you repeat it back to them and show you that they understand, and then you jump and start flailing and end up hitting a rock, you could argue that you were flailing because it's scary to bungee jump and you panicked and they should have known that people might do that, but the company shouldn't be liable because you can reasonably expect bungee jumping to be scary no matter what the company does. But if you jump and the cord snaps because it's old and frayed and they're not regularly checking the cords to make sure they're in appropriate condition, they're being negligent and you should be able to sue. And if they push you so you fall without first attaching you to a cord, they committed a crime and you should be able to sue them.

If the Uber passengers had reached over and grabbed the wheel, or told the driver to run the light because they were in a hurry, they shouldn't be able to sue over that. Yes, there is an element of danger to being in a car, and crashes happen. But unless you want to argue that everyone in the world is exempt from any legal consequences if they harm someone in a car crash because the other people should have reasonably expected to be crashed into regardless of how safely they were driving, those people should be able to sue Uber regardless of what they signed.

[call-me-liquid]

Hi my real legal full government name is Liquid Lorch Orcard,

HI MY NEW GENUINE TRUE HONEST NAME GOVERNMENT NAME IS

LIQUID BHALLS TARA CD-ROM HACK ELDRITCH HORROR PEET DOLLAGANGER THE THIRD.

This is """"not"""" a blog for me to dump Lily Orchard shitposts. (Whoever that is never heard of her.)

Do """"not""""" send me asks, especially """"don't"""" ask for drawing requests.

I did """not"""" set up a Ko-fi in case anyone can spare some tuppence for a poor degenerate. Do """"""not"""" give me money """"it violates my boundaries.""""

You """""can't"""" find the pngs of the Lily wojaks free to download there.

(Out of character: I want to make it clear I personally do not encourage anyone to interact with Lily and will block people who I see deadnaming her or throwing genuine transphobia in her direction. There's a line, this is supposed to be just goofs, let's not cross it fam.)

People kept asking, I'll take commissions here.

Enjoy this commissions sheet I just slapped together.

I may need to close commissions pretty suddenly if I get to busy with my day job, but we'll see.

This is for personal requests. Please still send me funny requests for Lily-related shit through asks! I'll do those for free!

Donate to the Ko-fi ($1+), write an ingredient to add, at 100$ we'll make her eat it!

The first name of each contributor plus the ingredient they added will be added to the list on the pinned post.

(Plus help enable an artist's shitposting.)

LORCH SOUP INGRIDIENTS:

1. Gay Rights - Eldrich L.

2. Three beans - Spaghetti T.

3. Cum tissues - Chaos (Sheev P.)

Want some spook? Check out the horror blog:

Lilian Orchard this is a genuine offer. I'm serious. This isn't a joke, I'm being 100% genuine. I'll be copying this to my pinned post. Listen up:

I will lease you ALL the PNG files and character design sheet for Liquid Orcard to use and edit any way you/Mikaila wish FOR FREE, I will take down the Bhaalspawnfunniez tumblr, and I will convert THIS tumblr to a personal blog IF:

You purge all minors from your Patreon.

You stop issuing copyright takedowns to channels who react to your content.

You make a formal apology, at least vaguely addressing all your victims. *I know you can't properly apologize without incriminating yourself, but SOMETHING.

You agree to stop mentioning OR alluding to your victims or ex-friends who want nothing to do with you. Namely, Josh Scorcher, Britt, KP, Sunny, Lizzy, Courtney, etc.

You agree to stop spreading defamatory/liable claims about your critics. Anthony, Crim, Sai, etc.

You allow me time to get in contact with Courtney to see if there's ANYTHING that can be done to allow her to receive some kind of closure for what you've done to her. *again, I realize you can't make an admission of guilt without incriminating yourself, and it's too much to ask for you to do the right thing. So something. It can be negotiated.

I will need some way to ensure my terms are being upheld. I will make you sign a contract stating these are the terms in which you can use my artwork and will use all resources at my disposal to enforce it. You want to rebrand? Here you go. Fresh new character design for free.

My DMs are open.