#is that a good trade-off

[lostinfic]

All I want to do is write about Cesare and Lucrezia, but I have grownup chores to do 😫

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[heartorbit]

happy halloween! 🎃🐈‍⬛👻🐇

[porrigens]

raison d’etre + sushi = profit

[cultivating-wildflowers]

ladies, I need to wander despondently across a foggy moor asap

[dykedvonte]

I think a big misunderstanding is the power people give Curly to actually change things about the way the pony express operates or could’ve done things on the Tulpar.

We are talking about a company that docks pay for bad synergy despite mandated psych evals that should tell which staff members would work well together, only allots for 5 hours of sleep despite having literally no other tasks to truly do and locks all resources behind the access of one person. The last one is likely to manage resources and make it easier to justify collective punishment and blaming one person for it; someone needs something in “excess” or the captain gives in? It’s all on them your pay is docked. Instant resentment.

It’s insidious how the company works, it’s by design to distract you from coming after them, to force tensions to line their own pockets. With all the restrictions and forced interactions, altercations are bound to happen. 5 hours of sleep a day, limited sources of entertainment, no real tasks… the monotony alone would cause bad cabin fever, mix that with just only one absolute mediator and you get the exact environment that allows shit like in the game to happen.

The idea he could just complain and try to throw his weight around to get them to dig into their pocket for the crews comfort is laughable and misses the predatory and dehumanizing aspect of capitalism the Pony Express represents. Curly was and is still just another asset to them. Being a top show pony doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to the actual top. He is the top of the working ladder, not whoever’s in corporate, he wouldn’t even be on the bottom step unlike what Jimmy perceives. The resounding recommendations he would get are almost mocking as they throw him out like nothing just like the rest. Being a shitty fucking company, how much do you bet they’d mean anything anyways, especially since he wanted to leave the field all together.

He made a fuss and they didn’t listen, he says he should’ve done more but you can tell he knows it wouldn’t have changed anything. Jobs like this are willing to make a sacrifice if it means even a penny more. Curly makes a bigger fuss they likely would’ve just found an “unrelated” reason to fire him, hired a more pliable guy or, terrifyingly, promoted Jimmy. The company was failing, going to shut down whether anything happened on the ship or not. But knowing that they were shutting down and that everyone, including him, would be out of a job with this being their last paycheck, he had to factor in not destroying the last bit of their financial stabilities combined with every other issue on the vessel and his own. He gets another cryopod or locks and then he has to break to them that they are not only fired but there will be substantial cuts to their paychecks due to the “upgrades” (things that already should’ve been in place on their part) on top of anything else that could be docked along the way.

You can blame him for saying it so early into the trip but then again, if he mentioned it later who’s to say it wouldn’t have been worse? On the capitalism side alone how would people in a galaxy away from home, out of a job and already stir crazy react? Don’t get me started on how Jimmy would have reacted if he realized he only had two days left to fix what would be a very hard to miss “problem” in his head…

I can’t even consider explaining this as devils advocate because it’s just facts of the world we and they live in and factors that heavily affected the situation. People are just so quick to make claims on the ease of the choices when P.E literally makes it hard to choose to do anything but suck it up.

[milkbreadtoast]

white ghost cookie🥺🤍👻

[sparring-spirals]

I was initially clipping this to capture the overwhelmingly accurate, absolutely devastating hilarity of "you went for realistic, and sadly, you nailed it". And then just kept recording because I really fucking love the discussion about how to balance the line between like:

You are trying to tell a story that feels good and gives you the kind of lift you might be looking for in an explicitly fantasy story,

vs

How to ensure it still feels grounded and rewarding in a way where you can "bring this good feeling back to earth" at the end.

Like they're talking about TTRPG's but they clearly make parallels to other forms of storytelling/worldbuilding mediums, like movies, and. like. Yeah. Yeah.

Like the framing of "you really recreated the feeling of powerlessness..." and wanting the fantasy element to manifest in there being the clearer, straightforward ways to solve complex issues, vs trying to ensure that you can have a victory and it feels feasible and substantial and applicable in some way, and has something you can take out of the fantasy world and hold with you back on "terra firma".

Its tricky! Its a tricky thing to balance, and I don't think there's a single "right" answer nor should there be because it depends. It depends on the story, and the intent, and the setting, and the medium, and etc. Big fan of this framework to explain it.

[puppetwoman17]

I think the reason I very often use the YJ cartoon universe for my fics is because I want to alter how they utilized Cap/Billy and his lore and subconsciously use that world to make up for the treatment of one of my favorite characters.😐

But idk🤷‍♀️

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #142 Part 2

His parents had spent years working on their portal, to the point where they were neglecting their own children. Danny didn’t know any better, neither did Jazz. To them it was just how their family ran and for the most part it worked for them. It allowed Danny to really study space and the Stars. His room was covered with different ship models on the shelves, glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and posters on the walls.

Jazz had similarly explored her own thoughts and topics as she studied Psychology. Her room was more feminine but still had a certain scientific decorum to it.  

He never thought that he’d suddenly be ripped from all the things he loved. But here he was with the trench coat man, instead of taking some biology class or something.

“What happened with the portal?” Danny asked.

The man took a long sigh, “listen… quite a lot of shit went down after your accident.” 

“That tells me nothing,” Danny glared at the man.

“I get your upset kid, but let me at least know your name. Mine's John Constantine,” 

“…Danny,” Danny muttered after a moment. He wasn’t sure he trusted the man but he guessed he had no choice. He was also noticing he felt a bit off, it was the weirdest gut feeling and Danny was having trouble telling exactly what the feeling was. It was like the feeling was telling him to trust John, although at the same time John had this weird feeling about him that had Danny feeling weary. He decided to trust John just a little, hopefully it got him back home, after a moment Danny spoke again, “…Can you at least tell me if the portal worked?”

The room was silent for a moment and then John spoke “Alright, fine, I’ll tell you what happened but some background first, do you know who the ancients are?” 

The name didn’t sound familiar, “Ancients? Like Ancient Aliens or something?” 

“No, no…” John took a swig from a flask in his pocket and then started fiddled with an unlit cigarette he pulled from a different pocket. He then looked Danny up and down, “You don’t know the first thing about the infinite realms do you?”

“The what?” None of this was making any sense and the more Danny talked to this guy the more he was getting a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Something about this conversation felt wrong, like Danny should know all of this already but he just didn’t. 

“Right well… I guess the easiest way to explain this is the portal your parents made was to the infinite realms.” John said, putting the cigarette in his mouth.

“My parents called it the Ghost Zone.” Danny muttered.

John seemed to chuckle at that, “I mean it is mainly inhabited by ghosts, however they aren’t the only ones, far from it in fact. I’m sorry but… I couldn’t allow your parents unlimited access to the realms. I had to disable it and prevent it from being reactivated.”

Danny felt a little disheartened after hearing that, he guessed John was probably right though. He remembered hearing his parents talk about how they’d dissect every ghost they found to study them. The bully’s at his school often bullied Danny over it especially after his dad and mom would continually embarrass him on parent teacher nights and on field trips.

Danny let out a small sigh, “so when can I go home?”

John looked a little surprised, his eyebrow quirked up, “so you're unaware of your situation right now?”

“Situation?” Danny trailed off, he remembered getting shocked and then he remembered waking up here, “where are we?”

John let out another sigh, “shit, well from my research you're supposed to know everything about your powers when you wake up.”

This made no sense to Danny, powers? Danny didn’t have powers, he didn't have the meta-gene.

“Powers? I don’t have the meta-gene. I think you have the wrong person.” Danny stated as he folded his arms in front of himself.

“Then how are you floating?” John asked with a smirk.

Danny looked down and he indeed was floating just an inch off the bed, he wondered when that started but the feeling threw him off a little as he stumbled a little trying to keep himself upright. It didn’t work and he fell back down on the bed with a little thud. He turned to see John watching him with a small hint of amusement in his eyes. 

“What am I?” Danny asked, his voice small and a little panicked.

“You, Danny Fenton, are an Ancient. I know the term makes it seem like you're old but the term is more because your people are ancient in age.” The explanation made no sense to Danny but he could somehow float now. He thought the term ‘Ancient’ was a little much for some floating powers.

[thordy]

[queenlucythevaliant]

Okay gang, here's a silly little game. I've assembled six teams of blended Narnia and Tolkien/LotR characters. Here they are:

For bonus points, tell me in the tags where you're going on your road trip, who has what role (driving, snacks, aux) on the road, and what you'll stop off and see along the way

[sandreeen]

Sung Hyunjae || The S-Classes That I've Raised

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Avatar Heart to Heart: Kyoshi & Kuruk

Kyoshi: .... Kuruk: .... Kyoshi: .....I really hated you, you know? Kuruk: That "d" is doing sooooo much work right now. Kyoshi: That it is. Kuruk: So, is it really past tense? Kyoshi: Yeah, I can't really blame you for your choices. I can't say.... what I would've done in your shoes. It was a real shit situation. Kuruk: Thanks... And, I'm sorry for... all the consequences you got saddled with. It was a shit situation as well. Kyoshi: Thanks.... Kuruk: I... I really wanted to do right by you Kyoshi. It was my only request. Kyoshi: ....I know.... now.... But yeah, I know. Kuruk: You shouldn't have gone through any of that. Kyoshi: It's fine. It's life. Shit happens..... but... ditto to you too. Kuruk: .... Kyoshi: .... Kuruk: So... Sei'naka girls, amirite? Kyoshi: *sigh* What is happening right now? Aren't you married? Kuruk: I'm... trying to relate with you. Kyoshi: So thinking about your ex is relating to me? Kuruk: You don't think about Yun? Kyoshi: One, we never dated. Two, I will gut you if you go down this path. Kuruk: Noted. So.... similarities, besides taste in women. Kyoshi: Oh Raava, kill me now. Kuruk: Your bending, how was it? Kyoshi: Awful, thanks for asking. Next. Kuruk: I was a prodigy when it came to bending. Kyoshi: That's just so great for you, I was afraid of crushing bystanders because I was too powerful. Kuruk: Too powerful? Haha, probs got that from me. Kyoshi: Yeah, thanks. Kuruk: But you also picked up on all your bending super fast, even without sifus for the majority of your first year and a half as Avatar. You improved so much! I think you have a little prodigy in you too. Probs thanks to me! Kyoshi: You know....I never really thought about it like that. Kuruk: Haha.... yeah... Kyoshi: .... Kuruk: .... Kyoshi: This is so fucking awkward. Kuruk: I love my wife. Kyoshi: What???? Kuruk: I love my wife so....damn much Kyoshi. I don't care who got in my way, I'd burn the place to the ground. I'd kill every spirit that got in my way, even if it accelerated my death. I just....I love my wife so much. Kyoshi: ........I get it. Kuruk: You do? Hah....you once hated me for killing spirits outright. Thought it was blasphemous. I suppose it was. It went against my duties. Kyoshi: Yeah but.... I can't judge. I'd also damn my duties if it was to keep Rangi alive. Kuruk: You would? Kyoshi: Yeah.... and her mother, because she was that important to Rangi. I....may not have voice it completely out loud, but I'd damn the world if it meant I could keep Rangi safe. She may hate me for it but....I couldn't bear losing her like that. As long as she's breathing, she could hate me to either of our dying breaths but it'd be something I'm willing to trade. Kuruk: ....man... we really are alike. Kyoshi: Yeah..... Kuruk: We idolize Yangchen too much... Kyoshi: We're both stubborn as rocks.... Kuruk: Haha no control over our emotions! Kyoshi: And we love botching things up because of our personal feelings.... Kuruk: Haha.....yeah..... Kyoshi: .... Kuruk: .... Kyoshi: Fucking Nyahitha. Kuruk: Fucking Nyahitha!

[lady-rosceline-hurst]

House of Hurst? More like house of Horse lmao

Um... Alright?

We have no horses, I am sorry to disappoint thee. I am glad of it, truth be told. The beasts do instill something of a primal fear within me.

Sincerely,

Raymond.

[yappacadaver]

Crazy wild shit man