#like AT THE VERY LEAST I can take advantage of this wasted money

[cheriafreya]

I already decided to stop spending on Star Rail a while ago, but now that they've nerfed Aventurine right after having him bugged for 6 weeks...? Yeah, this game ain't getting any more money from me ever, lol.

[vqnrouged]

Can I request for general relationship headcanons with Fleki and Lycion (separate or together doesn't matter) with a sheltered reader

𝐋𝐘𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍 & 𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐊𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐒/���

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 : lycion & fleki (separate)

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 : lycion & fleki with a sheltered s/o

𝐚/𝐧 : of course you can! i’m kind of a sheltered person too. and also i’ve become obsessed with this duo lately so thank you for fueling the obsession. anyways, hope you enjoy <3

↳ 𝐋𝐘𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍

• | he had a feeling you were a sheltered child when you met, just by the way you didn’t understand some of the phrases he said gave him a few hints. he doesn’t mind it though, not understanding certain things doesn’t make you any less of an interesting person, at least to him.

• | he’s definitely up for it if you want to try new things with him, but he won’t ever force you to do something you’re not ready for. but if you’re ready to do something you’ve never done before, he’ll be right behind you if you need something. he wants to see you succeed at new things so seeing you have fun simply going to a festival makes him very happy!

• | he will absolutely use his beast form to intimidate people if you get nervous from being around so many people at once, the crowds at the markets can be quite big and the vendors can be manipulative and conniving people so he doesn’t want you to be taken advantage of. if he does end up somehow being separated from you while you’re trying to buy something, then he will check with you to make sure you’re money wasn’t wasted. and if it isn’t worth the amount of money, he will go back and get your money back.

↳ 𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐊𝐈

• | if you are sheltered, fleki will make you unsheltered. she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it either, she just wants you to have fun with her. this elf did not have a single clue that you were sheltered, she just thought that you were joking about not knowing what certain drugs were. when she first mentioned to you that she took shrooms, you were so confused.

“babe, i don’t know exactly how to put this but… i kinda take shrooms. like a lot.”

“shrooms, as in mushrooms?”

“yeah, kinda like the ones you sometimes find the forest.”

“okay?”

“you don’t care?”

“i don’t see the problem with eating mushrooms.”

“…are you sure you know what kind of shrooms i’m talking about?”

• | after that she definitely knew you were sheltered, so she began to take you out to more parties and celebrations with the canaries or accompanying you on side missions in the dungeons. that way you would be introduced to different types of people and could learn more about the world around you rather than you having to stick to what your parents taught you.

• | fleki is also quite an affectionate person so don’t expect her to hold back on showing you that she loves you in public. she could care less about what people think of the two of you and will wrap her arm around your waist or shoulder to prove it. she will initiate affection so you become more comfortable with giving her some in return, but she won’t force you to reciprocate. she knows you’re kind of new to relationships, so she’s trying to make it fun for you.

• | she may play it off, but she does get worried about you while in dungeons. you haven’t witnessed death first hand before like she has before so seeing you nearly have a panic attack over her getting poisoned by a walking mushroom makes her feel a little bad about insisting to pattadol that you should come with them. once she does revive after dying, she’ll try to make you laugh to make you feel better. whether it be some dumb joke she came up with or pinching your cheek, she just wants you to not cry over her.

@𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 - please do not translate or copy my works.

[theallianceofcelestials]

This will be long, but question time for the SEA series! (at eleven pm for me).

Can Eclipse play any instruments, sing, or have any odd or seemingly out of character hobbies? Did Eclipse work in the daycare alone. Will the family ever see what the daycare looked like, or will we maybe return to it, and does it loon the same as in Security Breach?

What is Sun's most prized piece of clothing for his cats and the weidest thing his brothers have fought over or about that he's had to break up? How effective is he at cleaning and what does he procrastinate most about doing/cleaning or complain

What is Moon's favorite invention, most useful invention, and something he will fiddle with to pass time? He also seems like the type to know dome pretty good party tricks.

What is the easiest meal for KC to make, and what's his and the individual family members' favorite meals? How often has he had to force one of his kids to go and clean themselves?

What's Lunar's favorite personal video game and videogame genres? Do they have a preferred chocolate type (i.e., milk chocolate, dark, cacao, white) and marshmallow size?

Does Solar Flare have a specified art style that it draws in or? Do they prefer to draw realistically or cartoonish, and have they tried digital art yet, will they?

Does Bloodmoon still prefer O- or a different blood type, and do they have a preferred type of meat? Do they have a bird type they like the most, and do they have a bone collection or keep they horns of, say the goats or cows that they've killed? Something the twins disagree on?

Please don't feel pressured to answer this right away, all of the questions, or at all. My questions are to help with your world building and my own understanding of your stories! Sorry if I missed any of the cast and my awful grammer!

Eclipse can sing, though not very well. He knows a couple lullabies. And yeah, he worked in the daycare alone, seeing as the daycare was making money off of it. And nah, it doesn't look like the security breach one. It looks less vibrant and is also cheaper looking. And the family at best will see it through Eclipse's memories, though that's unlikely. He has an iron grip on his worst traumas

Sun's most priced piece of clothing for his cats are silly socks he made specifically for them. The weirdest argument, to him at least, was the fight about Killcode's taste in men of all things. He's very efficient about cleaning, he's still a TSAMS Sun, he's still very neurotic about cleaning. He hates doing the dishes though. He just thinks it's a time waste what with dishwashers existing

Moon has a bunch of fidget toys that he made himself and he has his doll making which is what he fidgets with when he needs something to do. In his opinion his greatest invention is a better firewall for animatronics, which Eclipse takes full advantage of. And his useful inventions are all upgrades to stuff they already own, where he makes stuff more proficient. He also has a bunch of science facts and cool little experiments he can pull out anytime to impress people (tho he won't)

Objectively the easiest meal ever is salad. You just throw together a bunch of cool ingredients, maybe make a sauce and cook some simple meat, and bam, done. His favourite is szechuan beef with pasta, Eclipse's is lava cake, Solar Flare's is ramen, Bloodmoon likes bloody steak, Lunar loves nutella cupcakes, Sun loves goulash and Moon, ever the simple man he is, loves it when KC makes grilled sandwiches with this special spicy meat he makes. And it depends on the kid. Lunar's the one he has troubles with, all the rest are clean, yeah, even Bloodmoon surprisingly. But SEA Lunar's much cleaner than Canon Lunar, so that's not that big of a fight neither

Lunar really just loves stuff that grabs his attention and can keep it. For example, he really likes Don't Starve. His favourite chocolate is milk and white chocolate, and he loves all marshmallows

It draws in a realistic style because that's what makes most sense to it, but if a drawing is in a different style and it needs to finish it, see cat drawing, he'll perfectly replicate the style of the previous artist. And they haven't yet, simply because they don't have any big interest. They won't ever really draw digitally

Yes they do and they love wild meat. They love hunting birds of prey, finding irony in that and could also get two prey for the price of one if they time right. And in SEA first book I did write Bloodmoon started attempting to make jewellry, that's where the bones, horns, tusks, teeth, feathers, antlers and whatever else of animals they've hunted go. The twins disagree on their biggest fears. Bloody is scared of insects and Rusty is scared of mannequins. They disagree on those

Don't worry about the grammar! I'm quite bad at it myself, haha

Also, I've never really thought about most of these questions seeing as they aren't important in SEA, which I look at more like a story than an AU. It's just not an AU in my mind. I do appreciate the questions tho! Feel free to ask more! :)

[thalia-vargas]

It's been four days since I've moved in, but I've not unpacked a single box. For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

A week ago, Forrest had offered his home to me. He said that if I lived here, I could save more money than I spend because he wouldn't be charging me anything, and that I'll be giving life to an otherwise empty LA home. But most importantly, it'll be a way for us to be closer, so that every time he's in town, we wouldn't be wasting precious time figuring out whose place to stay in.

It's most generous, really. He's been most generous. But after one night here, I'm not sure I can stay.

I mean, his apartment is nice. Really nice. It's no castle, but it's way better than anything I can afford on my own. Besides, I've never needed a castle. But to live here for free? I offered to pay for something, anything, because I would feel like I'd be taking advantage of his generosity if I didn't. He was adamant I didn't need to. Eventually, he conceded and agreed that I can pay for the utilities I use, but nothing more.

This arrangement, however, had not helped quell my shame. Days later, these four walls still don't feel like home. Even as I sit here, by his bed, wearing the very sweatshirt he gave me, just staring at my pathetic attempt to make things cosy — a fresh new plant I'd bought from the nursery downtown. None of it helps. At least, not really. The silence is too loud, and I don't feel any of the warmth I feel when I'm around him.

Then again, no other four walls have ever felt like home, except for the ones I left in Colombia.

I've briefly considered it, though. Going back. After all, I've not been home since my abuela passed almost two years ago. I know I should. To visit her resting place, at the very least. But the thought of going back there and finding it as empty as this apartment is right now makes me want to throw up what little is in my stomach.

So, what do I do? Where do I go? How can I be thankful for things that aren't really mine, and be merry and bright all on my own? I'm tired of crying, and of keeping it all in. I want to be able to find my own place in this world. I need to. For me.

But how? How do I get to a place that might not physically exist? And how do I tell him that I need him there, in my life, no matter what?

[joshsilverseyebrow]

type o negative in Hard Rock magazine (1993),

translation:

TYPE O NEGATIVE

Slightly sham and always quick to fuel controversy, even if the second degree is not an empty word for them, the musicians of Type O Negative are not the best musicians in the world and do not hide it. Hard-Rock Magazine rewards them for their honesty by opening its pages to them.

Peter Steele (bass/vocals) is not the type to despair. Despite his disillusioned air, he chuckles under his breath, and it is without much conviction that he tries to put a (swastika?) cross on his dark past. Few people know this, since Type O Negative concerts have an unfortunate tendency to be cancelled, for various reasons ranging from technical problems (like in Paris, where the transformers had blown) to threats of bomb attacks (on most of the other dates in 1991, where it was the band that had almost blown up!), but Peter and his band cover four songs from Carnivore on stage. A happy initiative, certainly, but why make us believe that Carnivore is definitely buried? Passing through Paris, mid-July, in the company of Josh Silver (keyboards), for the promotion of Bloody Kisses, Peter was, as usual, as talkative as he was doubtful, unlike Josh who, himself, remained completely silent!

Hard-Rock Magazine: Despite your setbacks, a year and a half ago, are you going to dare to come back and tour in Europe?

Peter Steele: Of course. We won last time, since our fees were fixed by contract and we got them! It doesn't matter if this situation happens again or not. If the owners of the clubs we're supposed to play in give in to pressure, we'll still be paid to do nothing, that's all! But I don't think the risks are real. If these guys really wanted to hurt us, I doubt they'd be kind enough to warn us.

It's not so sure. The attack on Deicide in Stockholm had been announced in advance and the bomb exploded!

In any case, they can't get to me: I'm already dead!

Looked at like that, yes. What exactly was The Origin Of The Feces? A real-fake live?

It was a live recorded in the studio, in the presence of friends of ours playing the role of the audience. After this story of aborted tour, which allowed us to benefit from a ton of free advertising space, Cees Wessels (the big boss of Roadrunner) decided to take advantage of this opportunity and release a live album as soon as possible, in order to amass a maximum of money. Unfortunately, since we are particularly mediocre on stage, the overdubs would have taken us way too long, and we preferred to simulate a concert. So we gathered in a single fictitious show all our adventures: the morons who had bought a ticket for the sole pleasure of insulting us, the fights between rival factions, etc. Our life is so boring that we have to add more to give the impression of having something to say.

On the inside cover of this same album, you suggested to those who would consider themselves offended to send you their complaints, threats and booby-trapped packages. Have you received any?

No, sorry! However, we were sent bags of human excrement, boxes full of cockroaches, women's panties stained with blood and used tampons. It was very informative!

You wouldn't be a little scatological, by any chance?

Not at all. I consider having to eat, sleep and go to the toilet to be an incredible waste of time. I don't like shit, and the pictures in the booklet of The Origin Of The Feces were purely to give our detractors what they wanted from us.

That's a good point. You could have claimed otherwise. So even if you're a big fan of low-level provocation, that at least proves that you sometimes don't lie!

If I am a liar, how can you tell the truth from the lies in my answers?

That is the question. We will never know for sure.

I will help you: I never lie.

Are you lying when you say that?

No.

Which, in itself, is a confession! You shouldn't be surprised if your words are misinterpreted, after that...

So Europeans don't have a sense of humor? I often feel like I'm being taken seriously when I'm not at all. I've always had a problem understanding. However, my texts are not ambiguous at all. If you don't understand their meaning, go back to school!

Don't forget that you're addressing readers whose mother tongue is French!

That's true and I'd like to have my words translated. But I won't be doing that tomorrow.

[fereldanwench]

under a cut for physical health talk (including weight) and achieving goals, nothing too intense, but i know sometimes seeing this stuff can put me in a bad place if I'm not in the right headspace so jic:

a piece of advice i've always really struggled with, particularly when it comes to physical health/fitness goals, is anything in the spirit of "be gentle with yourself" because

well

i will take advantage of it lmao

i am very good at justifying doing shit that is soothing in the short term but ultimately unhelpful, possibly even damaging in the long term

but being too hard on myself also has drawbacks because if i get into the habit of rationalizing bad choices and can't stick to a rigorous routine, i will feel like a failure which will send me into a depressive spiral

and i think in both cases the underlying issue is that i tend to fall into an all-or-nothing mindset, which was really compounded my anxiety for quite a few years. it was one of those situations where i knew that was a bad and counterproductive mindset, but the mental illness would not relent lmao

i did hit this wall again last fall after another yet failed attempt at a full diet and lifestyle overhaul (which was really too much at once even under the best circumstances, and these were not the best circumstances), but after i got over my little pity party, one thing i realized i did get better at was making better choices on a smaller scale

like okay, i had a long, shitty day at work, i want something fried and greasy and i do not have the mental fortitude to discipline myself into something else rn, but i can at least get a side of steamed veggies instead of onion rings with my fried chicken sandwich

and this is also advice i'd seen before and it always made sense to me, but i was just too locked into the all-or-nothing mindset that i couldn't get myself to implement it even if i knew it was good. on account of the mental illness lmao

so anyway, i'm trying something a little different with myself this year which is less about having a rigid routine when it comes to fitness and food, and instead about embracing a more flexible mindset. there are so many variables in my life that make trying to stick to a strict schedule impossible, but i can be more in tune with myself to make the best choices i can in a given situation

like monday and wednesday this week, i felt good physically and i had a lot of energy and some downtime at work, so i did 30 mins of cardio. that made me feel even better, and I'm currently in a headspace where i don't hate the idea of cooking (my relationship with food and grocery shopping and cooking is kgjdgdfgjdf I'm not even gonna get into it, but i have Issues™️ lmao) so i got some stuff to do some healthy dinners the next few days. i know meal prep and food planning beyond about 3 days doesn't work in my household and leads to food and money wasted, which makes me feel bad, so I'm not gonna try to go overboard here. just gonna do what i can while i can

and i'm trying to apply this to other things too, like reading. idk where this even got in my head, but at some point i was like 'if i can't read for an hour, I'm not gonna bother reading' which is dumb. so I've been reading 20-30 mins a couple of nights when it suits me. and I'm like a third done with a book i picked up a week and a half ago

(little tangential, but i'm also working on reframing how i feel about my past periods of success. like 10 years ago, i was eating very healthy ('clean') and doing HIIT like 5x a week, and when i felt out of that because it was ultimately unsustainable with my job, i was bitter and angry with myself for a long time. i felt like if it was something i did before, i should be able to do it again. but maybe i can't, and that's okay. i still did it at one point, and i still got a lot of benefits from doing it--that should be celebrated, not something i should hold against myself for not continuing)

something i encountered a lot when i was doing therapy and in fitness/weight loss groups was the concept of a SMART goal, which is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goal. and the part of my brain that likes things orderly and structured sees the benefit of that approach, but i just don't think that works for me for long-term change, particularly with something as amorphous (to me) as physical health

i tried noom (twice, as a matter of fact) because i knew a lot of my weight struggle was more mental/emotional than physical, and it's a very flawed program for a lot of reasons that I'm not going to get into rn, but one thing in particular that i could never really get on board with was setting a goal weight or a specific number of pounds to lose

i have no emotional connection to these numbers. i know when i feel good in my body and i know when i don't feel good in my body, and those experiences have never been tied to a specific number. i do weigh myself because it's an easy way for me to create some accountability for myself, but saying 'i want to be this weight by this date' just does nothing for me

(another small tangent but i think some of this also comes from being taller and naturally bulkier (even at my objectively healthiest) than the average cis woman anyway. like I'm never going to be petite or slim and i don't want to be, frankly. I've always had a really hard time connecting with women about this stuff in more traditionally female-oriented weight loss spaces (versus like a CrossFit box) because I've always leaned more towards muscle mommy than yoga girlie or whatever the cutesy internet terms are rn lmao)

so yeah! just some stuff i've been thinking about this week and wanted to get out. whenever i talk about this stuff i always feel like it's a big pile of WELL NO SHIT lmao but I've also just always felt like there's so much advice out there that just does not fully resonate with me and dumb brain until I'm ready for it. guess I'm ready for it now :3

[toujokaname]

Mischief / Episode 2

Characters: Rinne, Niki, Kohaku, HiMERU 

"—There's something HiMERU would very much like to try ♪"

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Spring

Location: Café Cinnamon

Rinne: Anyway, enough of that.

The reason we dragged our sorry selves here today wasn't just to mooch a meal off Niki.

Niki: I really wish you'd stop using my workplace as a hangout spot, it's super annoying.

But well, if people are hungry, I’ll feed 'em. 'Cause I'll always be an ally of those with empty bellies.

Kohaku: Now that's what I call an ideal chef.

Rinne: Welp, let's just eat like usual and shoot the shit!

We can talk about this PBB thing too—it's pretty juicy, right?

Check it out, I got so hooked that I ended up splurging on a ton of doujinshi about it.

This one's a masterpiece! I skimmed it, and in this story, Merumeru splits into different personalities, and Kohaku-chan gets toyed with by each one ♪

HiMERU: —If all this leads to is ceaseless mockery, HiMERU will take his leave.

Rinne: C'mon, I already said I'm praising you. And also, we do need to discuss practical matters too.

Honestly, this is unprecedented for Crazy:B. We're getting so many job offers that we need to start picking and choosing.

In other words, we've gotta decide which gigs to take and which ones to turn down.

Up till now, we've been so sidelined at work that we'd pretty much take any job without thinking twice.

Kohaku: That really so bad? Far as I'm concerned, every job's a chance to gain experience, so I'd wanna take any job that comes our way...?

Rinne: It's physically impossible to take on every job.

There's no way we could handle it, even if we bust our asses. We'd need ten or twenty more Crazy:Bs just to get through all the requests properly.

Kohaku: We're really that in demand, huh...? So I guess we actually do got the luxury of bein' picky for once...

Rinne: We could always just refuse all the requests and jack up our prices, but that's just one way to play it.

Like saying Crazy:B's not gonna keep working for chump change forever.

HiMERU: We have been undervalued for quite some time. It's likely they took advantage of the instability of our situation, during those uncertain times in which we didn't know when we might be fired.

Rinne: But tossing away this all-you-can-eat buffet we've been handed would be a total waste.

It doesn't matter how many times you hit the jackpot or trigger a special bonus mode—nothing's gonna happen if you don't throw the damn balls in.

Niki: Ugh, again with the pachinko metaphors! Explain it with cooking instead!

Rinne: Say you put in the effort to plow a field and plant seeds but just leave it there without harvesting, it's all for nothing, right?

Niki: Now that makes sense~♪

Kohaku: It's like lettin' the future play out on its own. But yeah, if you don't harvest what you plant, what was the point of sowin' the field at all?

Rinne: And now's exactly the time for harvesting.

Sooo, what's it gonna be? If you just pick jobs without thinking, it'll be all about taking the ones that make the most money with the least effort.

Kohaku: That's the normal way to choose work.

But work ain't just 'bout making money. For some folks, it's 'bout self-fulfillment, or tryin' to find some meanin' in life.

HiMERU: It's a matter of priorities. Whether to make a big profit now, choose the work we're fond of, or invest in future prospects—

In other words, should the goal be to use this opportunity to try various kinds of work and gain experience?

How we choose our jobs depends on what we want to achieve.

Rinne: Welp, think it over carefully.

This is outside of my calculations. It wasn't intentionally created to stir up controversy or set a trend, so I'm at a loss on how to handle it.

I'm gonna beat that metaphor to death, but really, this is just like hitting the lottery.

What you do with that 300 million yen—the luck of a lifetime—is all on you.

Rinne: The thrill in gambling's in aiming and hitting the target; when cash suddenly rains down from the sky, it ain't exciting at all.

So, honestly, I'm not all that interested in this situation.

HiMERU: You have such a troublesome personality.

Rinne: Yep. That's why I ain't touching this one.

You guys can't just keep chasing after my ass all the time. Try using your own brains now and then? Yeah?

HiMERU: Since you immediately sprint off in baffling directions, we're left with no choice but to pursue you desperately.

That said, it is true that Crazy:B's activities have been heavily driven by Amagi up until now.

However, while units like StarPro's Ryuseitai are undeniably conspicuous or even blatant, perhaps it wouldn't hurt if, on occasion, someone other than the leader took center stage?

Kohaku: This PBB thing's supposed to be 'bout me and HiMERU-han, after all.

This is luck that we attracted, so it only makes sense we get to decide how to spend what we made from it.

Niki: Do as you please~♪ I'll leave it to you guys!

Kohaku: Still as ridiculously laid-back as ever, Niki-han...

HiMERU: Even so, this could be a good opportunity...

Kohaku: Hm? What is it? I can't make out a word you're sayin' when you mumble like that.

HiMERU: Never mind that. —Everyone, how about you leave this matter entirely to HiMERU?

Kohaku: Huh? Well, I don't mind, but I don't really have anythin' I wanna do with this weird trend either.

Niki: Does that mean you actually wanna do something this time, HiMERU-kun?

That's rare~ You're usually as unmotivated as I am, just in a different vector than me.

HiMERU: It's unpleasant to be lumped in with Shiina's kind. But well, it is what it is.

—There's something HiMERU would very much like to try ♪

[ ☆ ]

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[yakuzabrainrotlive]

Couldn't play Y4 today because I was studying and taking care of irl stuff, so I'll just write my Akiyama first impressions post now, as promised! I've played up to the first cutscene with "Lily".

This was supposed to be, like, a surface-level thing where I kinda guess stuff and do some basic observations, but according to Microsoft Word I got... around 1200+ words deep. So yeah. Good for you guys who like to read my rablings that I didn't take my meds today! But also... this IS my unmedicated self's ramblings, written at 10-11pm so... (attempt to) read at your own peril!

For those of you who want the short version, TL;DR is provided (and highly recommended) at the bottom!

So, Akiyama! What a guy.

-He's low-energy and has trouble taking care of himself, his work and his surroundings (laid-back or depressed? maybe it's a little bit of both - as a treat. Maybe executive dysfunction?). This is clear in how messy his office is, how Hana reminds him to eat and brought him lunch (implying he regularly forgets to, or just doesn't eat), and how it seems to be a common occurence that she has to encourage him to do his work. And yet, despite the chill vibes and slow pace he keeps, he manages to also be chaotic in the way that he's unpredictable to those around him, in terms of his business strategy, and in how he makes quick decisions on the spot – ones that don’t make sense to people around him, based on what they (think) they know about him.

-In front of most people, Akiyama pretends to be all laid-back and just this… guy who just does his own thing because he’s quirky and doesn’t care, but he's not fooling me at all; he cares, and he cares a lot. About many people. He's literally looking after the homeless in town - so much so that they feel safe enough to let him into their space to have a chat and drink with them, and ask him for things.

^This is probably no small feat, considering how the homeless are treated in Kamurocho (there's literally groups who hunt them for shits and giggles) and how uncertain things are for them in general in that area. They seemed genuinely happy to see Akiyama.

-Now, an argument could be made that he's doing it for his own benefit: having the homeless population on your side can be an advantage (for example: the Florist used them for discreet info gathering), but... I don't see it. I think it’s because he’s been there and he feels a great amount of empathy for them. Now. Why do I think he wants to have a mask of indifference in the first place? Well, to put it simply - shit’s dangerous. He has enemies in the money lending industry, which probably includes numerous Yakuza groups too. Can’t be caught caring, y’know. Both for his sake, and theirs.

-And so. We get to the neon yellow elephant in the room that has to be addressed; the way he handles his loans. I think Akiyama only takes on clients who he sees as either A: having the potential to make it big - the ones he can later maybe benefit from, or who he simply sees as benefitting from his loans the most, or B: - heavily speculating here - good? (decent?) people who are down on their luck. Ones who, he thinks, deserve a second chance, people who don't have anyone else to ask for help. If he was in the business for money and other benefits alone, he’d be charging interest out the ass like all the others, but he doesn’t. He merely tests people to make sure they don’t grab the money and leave the country, or waste it and never pay him back. He wants to see these people succeed – at least the ones he thinks will use the money to get back on their feet or to become successful, that is. People who could be more, who could FLOURISH, had they some extra help from outside. The tests including stuff like volunteering and caring for the elderly further point to a possible more altruistic side to his business.

He can't just go giving money out - he'd go out of business very fast. So he lends, with no interest. Just a test of trustworthiness, and terms that he finds will give him some benefit back, as well. He is running a business here, so him wanting to get something back from the customers instead of them paying interest is fair. Terms will also motivate the lendees keep themselves on the right track AND probably ward off the worst of the bunch, the ones looking for the easiest, quickest money they can get.

-People genuinely think Akiyama is weird - crazy, even - because of how he runs his business, and he seems totally fine with that. Which further makes me believe he’s purposefully built up this a mask of an uncaring and sort of ...unhinged man. He could explain himself and openly state the goals he has for the clients to dispel this negative, 'crazy person' image people have of him. But... that’d just be suicide; he’d openly admit to competitors/enemies that he has people he cares about and that he wants to see his lendees succeed. That’d be like ASKING for extortion and for terrible things to happen to the people who have visited his business in the past or who will do so in the future.

-He's good at keeping his cards close to his chest, too: in one cutscene people wonder why lendees don't ever lend from him twice. And what's the answer to the question that we hear? Something to the effect of "I don't know. They probably wanna avoid interacting with that nutjob ever again". People have NO idea why he does things the way he does. They know he lends money to people he sees as having potential to succeed in the future, but they don't even consider the possibility that some lendees he's simply helping get back on their feet.

-As for his goals? No clue! Besides keeping the business running, I don’t feel like I have enough information on him to parse any long-term goals out of this guy. Maybe keeping Kamurocho as chill as it can be? To prevent unnecessary bloodshed? He did go out out of his way to settle the dispute between the… the uhh… *has to google the name* the Kanemura peeps and Ueno to prevent escalation of the situation? But then again, Arai seems to have been a long-time friend, so maybe it was just to make things easier for him? As of now, he doesn’t feel particularly ambitious.

As for speculation on his background? Since my facial memory (even for fictional characters) is total garbage, I’m not 100 % sure, but I think maybe he was in the photograph that was in his drawer? He seemed quite well-off in that one. So how does he end up homeless? I feel like he either joined the yakuza and the family he joined disbanded, leaving him with nothing. OR he suffered a career- or family-related setback that landed him on the streets? Him being ex-yakuza would make sense since he seems to be quite informed on all the relevant lore and relations between families. But he also DOES work quite close to the... darker side of things with his business being what it is. But... he also fights very well. We’ll see! Maybe they explained it aready? If they did, am sorry! I was playing the game too late into the night so I was kinda eepy towards the end. Gonna re-watch the cutscenes from late chapter 1 and early chapter 2 when I keep playing.

Now, any relation to characters from previous games I wanna speculate on? I don’t see any real reason to think he knows Kiryu; he only referred to him with his DoD moniker and didn’t seem too interested or thoughtful about it. It was just him referring to a famous person. Majima? Don’t see it either. Anyone else? I don’t really have any reason to think he knows anyone from the past games as of now.

TL;DR:

According to my, at-times very faulty, sensors that are prone to overcooking:

Akiyama is a kind person trying to give others the second chance they deserve (as he himself got), while also trying to disguise himself as a chronic IDGAFer at the same time because he has enemies. He's a kind man living in a world that tears people like him apart.

Mans is probably depressed or at least suffers from executive dysfunction or like... low blood iron levels, based on how low-energy he is and how little he seems to look after himself and his office, and how he seems to have a tendency to… go at his own pace at work. Hana keeps (or at least tries to keep) him functional - or that’s what it seems like, at least.

He probably offers loans based on if he thinks lendees will get back on their feet, or if the loan will make them flourish business-wise.

Ended up homeless, maybe because he was ex-yakuza or because of a setback in a civilian career or family life.

Can’t say how he ties to characters from previous games, or if he even does at all. Besides Nishiki unknowingly acting as form of divine monetary intervention, that is.

[standardizedbogey]

glimpses of the past prompts:

critical or blushed

Meme is here

“Did you ever date?”

Daichi faltered as he cracked open his drink. “You mean, like… before I came to Veilstone?”

“Yes,” Cyrus said, though he clearly didn't see a need to make it so limited.

“I did a little,” he said as he reshuffled his food and drink in his hands. “But I wasn't all that old when I left home so it was never more than kid stuff.”

Cyrus nodded absently as he worked the paper to properly cup his pirozhki. Daichi waited for the continuation that he felt should logically come next. When none came, he did it himself.

“Did you date?” Daichi asked, and at the look he added. “Back in Sunyshore.”

“I did,” Cyrus answered a touch stiffly. “Not by my choice. My parents were very insistent that I was to be paired up with someone… advantageous.”

“So they had money, then?”

“Everyone in my parent’s social circle did,” Cyrus told him, with a dull emphasis on its unimportance. “The woman I was sent with were chosen for their ties to useful businesses or politics. So of course I needed to create a proper impression, which I had thought would have involved proper knowledge and achievements. It's evidently all about social rituals and eye contact.” He said the last bit with particular disdain. “It was all utter nonsense.”

“Sounds like,” he said with a sympathetic nod. “Was the food at least good?”

“You wouldn’t believe how much technical skill it can take to make something completely insubstantial,” he scoffed. “I suppose it's fitting to match the inane conversations. I don't know why they chose women who couldn't understand anything substantive.”

Daichi took his time swallowing. “Did you at least offer definitions?”

“Of course,” he huffed insistently. “But I can only define so much before there isn't a point.”

“Yes, I suppose so,” Daichi agreed, even though he was sure he could see the scene now.

Some teenage girl, dressed to the nines and bound by equivalent amounts of familial pressure, picked at her dinner to distract herself. Cyrus’s eye contact would have been blisteringly intense, and his info dumping (because he would absolutely be info dumping) would have been filled with unrecognizable terms. All of it would have seemed as practiced as it was in an earnest attempt to do what his parents insisted was important. And, he was sure, there would rarely if ever be a second date.

Daichi certainly empathized with the plight of these girls, but just as sincerely said, “It sounds like it was awful for you” to Cyrus.

“It was,” he agreed. “I’m very thankful to be here doing things like this rather than dating.”

Daichi nearly choked on his food. 

They'd been sharing a bed for about six months at that point. And, over that time, it’d become increasingly clear how many gaps Cyrus’s upbringing had left in his knowledge. Whether by a lack of necessity due to his wealth, or increased mandate because of it, he'd had to learn so much of what most adults already knew.

Daichi had long gotten used to the endless discovery process. But, it seemed, he could still be blindsided.

“Cyrus?”

“What?”

“This is a date.”

Cyrus looked at Daichi as if he’d grown a second head. “We’re eating street food.”

“Mhm.”

“In casual clothing.”

“Yeah. And we’re walking to a movie instead of getting a limo or whatever.” He shrugged. “None of that stuff is necessary for something to be a date.”

Cyrus seemed ready to debate, but then took a thoughtful bite of his pirozhki instead. 

“So a date,” he said finally, “Is simply going to a location with purpose.”

“And that purpose is to spend time with your partner, yeah,” he agreed. “You don't need anything else specific.”

“Hm…” he thought on it a bit more. “It still seems like a waste to create so many rituals and labels for something that has so few particulars attached to it.” He peeled down the paper to have more room to eat. “Especially if it is basically the same process as going someplace with any other relation.”

“I suppose it is,” Daichi agreed. “But I enjoy doing this with you, whatever you want to call it. So how do you feel about doing things like this more often?”

“I…” Cyrus wasn't the sort to blush, but he did sink into himself a bit when flustered. “I suppose I’m not opposed to it if this is really what you're expecting.”

“I'm glad,” Daichi agreed.

He smiled in his particularly small way. “Good. Then it's settled.”

“It is. And, for the record.” Daichi nudged his arm affectionately. “I love hearing how you explain things.”

Cyrus paused a bit over being told something he knew but very much liked hearing. “Well… Perhaps you'd like me to explain the new philosophy I'm working on.”

“Always.”

[numinati]

20 PATRON CELEBRATION DUMP

Hey y'all!!

Thank you guys so much for 20 members!! I know that might not sound like a lot, but I seriously never thought I'd get this far. Especially with the wigga. 😅

Seriously though, thank y'all so, so much for all the support you've given me. Here's to better things all 2024 and beyond!

To celebrate getting 20 members, here's a simple, miscellaneous dump. You get three cosmetics, a string mod, a career, a sim, and a build buy item. Enjoy!!

VICTORIA BROWS

PRETTY GIRL MOLES

FOUR HORSEMEN TATTOOS

- Hand traced from the OG pics

- Three swatches for each design

DIASPORA FLAGS

- 79 swatches, 6 dividers

- EA Mesh

PRETTY GOOD DISH OVERRIDE

Small string mod to replace the "fairly tasty dish" text in the moodlet.

VENEER TECH CAREER

Were you the child who gave their parents makeovers they didn't have the heart to tell you were bad? Do you want to feel as important as a doctor but don't want to waste your time on boring topics like gum disease? Are you a sadist?

If you fall into any - or all - of these categories, you'll love being a veneer tech.

Just because you ain't on some board doesn't mean you can't make board money! All you really need is some glue, gloves, and Invisalign, anyway!

Hell, if people cared about taking advantage of people, half the businesses out now would be closed. Shops shut all the way up. You deserve to get your bag too, right?

...maybe your first investment should be a lawyer.

This is a base game-esque career with four levels and two branches. Y'all know I am very new, and I couldn't find a tutorial on how to make active careers, so I apologize in advance for it being so bare. :(

I do hope y'all enjoy though!

Levels:

You just got your online certificate from the 6 hour seminar your favorite TikToker hosted and are now ready to service the streets with your dental expertise. The only problem is you don't have no expertise and are not a dentist.

But if that didn't stop your "mentor", why should it stop you? Try and make something shake for a little while. Worst comes to worst, you gotta flee the state... or the country...

...you really should look into that lawyer, friend.

Shade Room Famous

Due to the rampant amount of horror stories you have, your face is now plastered all over The Shade Room, the largest urban gossip blog in all of the US.

But to your surprise and mine tool - it seems like the saying about all attention is true, because people are now lined up your block waiting for the Smilez special.

Guess all you can do now is make sure your career lasts longer than your teeth.

Viral on TikTok

Fame looka nice on you, doesn't it? At least online fame does. After getting some shine on Shade Room, Hollywood Unlocked, The Neighborhood Talk, and even more, you've managed to rack up one million followers on TikTok. You're almost ready to release your own seminar!

Be careful, though, newfound fame brings newfound opposition. And with your multiple medical and ethical violations it won't take much to get unplugged.

The Plug

After all of the hours of hard scamming you put in, you've done it. You've got the fame, the fortune, the mid-tier rapper/influencer connections, and about 21 different YouTube videos about your crimes.

The only thing to do now is sit back, count up, and not get indicted.

And hey, if that doesn't work? At least you're making enough for a one way to Jamaica.

Branches:

Celebrity Scammer

Now, about that mid-tier clientele you had...

They are all big time now. And so are you! You've 'hustled' and 'grinded' your way to the big leagues.

No more barbershops. You're doing Future's teeth in the back of your mansion. Their teeth may decay, but your star certainly isn't!

It doesn't even matter how many people say you scamming. Or how many horror stories have turned into full on nightmares.

You're the Dr. Miami of teeth now. Can't nobody say anything about that!

Seminar Leader

Now, about that seminar you said you were gon start...

You did. In fact, the only two options on your website are to book and to, well, book.

In doing so, not only have you managed to stack up even more, but now you look wise and charitible to 5% of Instagram users. Win win!

It doesn't matter if most people think you still scamming. Or the fact you don't send out all the invites to people who signed up.

You're a business person now. Can't nobody say nothing about that!

HALANI HAYNES

(romantic- self assured - hot headed)

Only one outfit is done, the rest are an underwear set!

you can download all of this on my Patreon:

[popculturebuffet]

For part 2 of that Community ask, favorite episode for the main characters outside the initial Study Group with Chang, Dean, Duncan, Hickey, Frankie, and Elroy?

Chang: Chang's a tough one as as Ken Jong is a great comedic actor.. but they did some weird stuff with him. He was fine for seasons 2 and 3 and hit and miss in season 1, but afterwords they kinda.. had no idea what to do with this guy and wasted a talented performer, with ice cub head being the only thing I can think of his past season 3. Best Chang episode is the one where he gets fired, mostly for him taking a bat to jeff's car and it makring the transition from the sometimes overly cruel spanish teacher to mess.

Dean: Something Dean Pun! Jim Rash is a delight and it's no wonder they upped his role, weird obession with jeff, and apperances as the show went. He's the best. Best they eventually eased off on the stalking jeff gag as it hasn't aged well but otherwise it's a powerhouse performance with a lot of choices. But I gotta go with the obvious one: JESUS WEPT! from season 6. I have a soft spot for that season as you've seen as I watched it on yahoo when it came out originally and it has two now all time faviorite actors, in large part thanks to ducktales for paget). But while there are good dean episodes this one really get sto the core of the guy: His need to feel impressive, his doing so in the dumbest ways possible, and his tendecy to get cared away. And I will NEVER get tired of Jim Rash growling JESUSSS WEPT!.

Duncan: His name his duncan and he's here to sya he's gotta rap big in a rapping way he's got a real big penis and he drinks lots of tea. Duncan was a solid character, mostly helped by his constant lack of fucks given and being played by what would become one of my faviorite comedians, John Oliver. I mean that drunken bit of rapping lives free in my head. (As does his karmic punch to the head from Chang. ). He was a great presence in season 1 and decent in season 2... then vanished for most of the series as John Oliver had other stuff to do.. then came back.. then left again because it was his destiny. I do want to say the season 1 finale.. as a moment that's peak duncan. As an episode though the one from season 5 where he has an elaborate scheme to sleep with britta works. It shows him at his lowest, trying to do something horrible.. and then what little good is left in him not taking advantage of her and helping her. Had Oliver not gone on to make one of the best tv shows of all time, we could've seen omre but alas, fate had other better plans.

Hickey: I got nothing. Jonathan Banks is a good actor. He did his best. But HIckey never quite fit into the study group/save greendale comittee. I wouldnt mind seeing him in the movie, but he just didn't quite fit in the show. Granted that's because I want everyone who isn't chevy back for at least a cameo.. speaking of which.

Frankie: Frankie was a great addition. I do wish they did more with her, as we never really got to know her as a person and she liked it that way, but Paget Brewster was fantastic and added fresh energy to the show as the only adult in the room. That kind of role easily could've been thankless on a show this wacky and written or acted wrong, could've got old fast. Instead frankie was a needed calm in the storm. She needed to grow too, realizing greendale is just a clusterfuck you can't change and to roll with it and is at her best doing that , playing abed as the only person outside his schitck. She and Jim rash also made a great double act with her best episode being the advertising one. Her speech to him calling him so dumb while trying to comfort him is comic gold. Brewster was a welcomea ddition to the study group and I hope they give her a cameo in the movie at the very least.

Elroy: And upping the ante the other addition Elroy was also not given enough time to bake, but I feel they still got their money's worth for one of the greatest actors of all time. I already loved keith david, so Elroy was an easy sell for me. But my god did he eat. From his first epiosde to his last David proved he was the national treasure he is, nicely slotting into the old man slott but like Hickey before him, not being the same as pierece. He had pierce's elderly uncle vibes but instead of your conspiracy loving 4th divorce uncle he's your fun give no fucks second divorce uncle. Pairing his silky voice with rediuclous lines and fun antics keith david really was made for this show and if he's not in the movie because they want to get back to THE CORE it's a damn shame. As for best episode.. that's easy. The easiest choice out of all of these: the wedding episode. Elory's addiction to encouraging white people is such a community concept and David sells it perfectly, with all the satire inherent. And of course we got THAT'S A MAN WHO KNOWS HOW TO MARRY HIS OWN COUSIN!

Side note I just remembered... something I wanted since Ducktales began that sadly didn't come to past was for all the main cast of community, or at least the bulk to guest star. Sadly we only got Yvette, Jim, Pagett , Keith and of course Danny. Apparently getting every member of that cast wasn't a priority for them. But we got some good ones. Also would've loved to see Jenny Slate both because I love her in anything and for obvious ben schwartz shaped reasons.

[rockofeye]

I saw somewhere talk that Puff Daddy aka P Diddy has a tattoo of Erzulie Danto on his back. Another person says that’s a mistake, and it’s actually Erzulie Mapyang.

I don’t know enough about Vodou to tell which it is, if any. I was wondering if you could tell me your thoughts on it.

This is just speculation on my part. But I was thinking that maybe Puff started serving a lwa. And that lwa is eating him because of all the bad things he’s been up to the past few decades. Like maybe the retribution he’s dealing with now is from angering a lwa. Since he seemed to have gotten the tattoo pretty recently, and then all of a sudden his life started falling apart. Before this, it seemed like the feds just looked the other way. Just wondering what you think may be going on with that situation.

He's had that tattoo for awhile, at least five or six years. Maybe it's a thing, maybe not; he wouldn't be the first celebrity to ask something of the lwa or be invested in relationships with them, and he wouldn't be the first to get a tattoo in the hopes people would think he is invested. He is a sociopath, and so appearances are just as important--if not more so--than actual substance.

This isn't a lwa eating him up; this is the consequences of decades of bad behavior finally catching up to him. In another lifetime, I worked in the music industry (way back when), and none of what is coming out in public view was ever really a secret nor is it isolated. I was pretty low level overall, and the shit I saw in my little corner of the world was deeply unsettling. I can't imagine what I would have seen had I had the capital to move higher.

He isn't the first person to do this kind of stuff and he won't be the last. This is how people with massive amounts of money and inherently flawed personalities move; they take advantage of what they want when they want without ever thinking there could be consequences, because money makes consequences evaporate...until it doesn't.

Federal agencies never really look the other way. They just don't care until a particular bar has been met; either it is so vile, so visible, or so poorly handled that it can't be ignored, and then they go in. The stuff he is charged with (RICO/racketeering, human trafficking, etc) dates all the way to 2008, and those kind of charges take a long time to build to. The federal government does not file a RICO case unless the conviction is certain; , it is really the only time you can say that someone is honestly guilty without seeing anything further...the burden of proof to bring those charges is incredibly high, and the federal government does not lose. This case was built long-term, and their witness and co-conspirator lists are very likely LONG. They haven't even gotten around to charging other people, because it's likely folks are going to agree to testify to avoid charges. This isn't new or sudden, it's been happening. The publicity is new.

The lwa (or any other spirit community) don't need to lift a finger in any of this because why would they waste their effort? All they have to do is nothing, and just sit and watch the downfall. The lwa don't need to be angry, because--if they did deal with him--they already knew who he was before he got to them and knew he would hang himself when the time was right. They operate very differently than people do, so they're not going to react or process how we react or process, or approach situations how we would approach them. They are not infallible or all-knowing, but they see way further and way farther than we do and know way more about the potential outcomes. If he was involved, they knew before he even got close to the present moment who he was and what he stands for.

If anyone is getting good spiritual guidance in this whole mess, it's Cassie. Her moves were brilliant. She got him to shut the fuck up about her almost overnight, then got an admission, and publicly positioned herself in opposition to everything before it all came out....and it all happened really publicly, so everyone sees her in a positive light. My guess is that folks knew this was coming for awhile because questions started being asked. In a RICO case, the feds look very, very closely into everyone around their target, including significant others etc. I bet Cassie got wind of it and decided she wanted none of this heat. She was around him a long time and saw a lot of shit (in addition to what he did to her), and she made her move before anything else could drop. Even victims can be charged as accessories.

Retribution in Vodou is really the act of people, not lwa. The lwa don't need to expend the effort to lash out to get their messages across. Instead, they do what is infinitely more frightening and potentially life-destroying, and that is just sitting down and staying still. They stop contributing anything that they have done that has benefitted you; all protections, stability, luck, financial success, etc. You have a life where you have been stripped of what they blessed you with because of your actions/inactions and missteps, not because of their decisions. They will have told you and warned you and showed you the path(s) that you needed to take to change the outcomes that were coming for you and told you what the consequences would be if you didn't...and you didn't listen or didn't do it or thought you could act in a way they wouldn't see.

And so there you are, all alone with the dawning realization that You Fucked Up. Sometimes that's fixable, and sometimes it's not. Sometimes you can crawl back to them and they'll show mercy, but sometimes that mercy is it's own consequence: maybe you're going to prison for 20 years instead of the rest of your life. Maybe you're going to live, but you'll never hold a regular job again. Maybe they'll let you come back, but every ceremony you go to you are publicly reminded that you don't like to listen. Or maybe it's not fixable, and you're just going to bob along for the rest of your life knowing you blew your own opportunity.

Basically, the lwa don't have to do a thing to punish their people because by the time we get to where we are experiencing the punishment, it's really just the consequences of our repeated actions against our own best interests. When they get to where they just shrug their shoulders about you, you're way down the road of your own demise.

So...if he was dealing with the lwa, they shrugged their shoulders about him a long, long time ago. They don't need to actively participate in his downfall because he assured his own outcomes by the sum of his own actions. He's honestly done a way more thorough and complete job of assuring his own destruction than the lwa ever could, and now he gets to Diddy bop all the way to the SHU. Maybe he and R Kelly can get adjoining cells and write sad songs together!

[youwouldtreatittenderly]

Some thoughts about Chain of Iron:

Alastair has really grown on me. I love his sibling dynamic with Cordelia and I'm liking his romance with Thomas. Although that 180 he does at the end about giving their relationship a try came out of nowhere, considering he's the one to voice the possibility of something serious happening between them. It just felt a bit contrived for drama and it could have been executed better.

Grace has turned into a really interesting character. What she's done to James is terrible, but I like that the situation is more complicated than it seemed at first. I wish the narrative had explored more her feelings on the horrible things she's done because of Tatiana's influence.

The plot revolving around Lucie, Grace and Jesse was my favorite by far. The actual resurrection felt very anticlimactic though. The tie-in with TDA through Malcom was cool.

The first half of the book feels like a slice of life / fake relationship fic with some crumbs of plot sprinkled in. It was boring.

James and Cordelia being married was such a wasted opportunity to create romantic tension. I can think of only two scenes that take advantage of that. I didn't feel like they grew closer because they were already friends and they already knew they wanted each other physically since Chain of Gold.

Cordelia falling for Lilith's trick was embarrasing. Not that she was tricked at all, I actually like that part, but it should have been a clever ruse, not something so obvious it puts Cordelia's critical thinking skills into question. I thought it was hilarious that this happened in the same book where Tessa calls her clever and resourceful. She deserved better.

Similarly, Thomas says Will is smart and strategic, then Will proceeds to ask him if he's hiding any secrets while Thomas is holding The Mortal Sword, when he knows damn well James and his friends have been keeping secrets from the Enclave. Asking Thomas if Gideon is pretending to forget about the money he owes Will was funny though.

There's so much time wasted on narrating the comings and goings of all the characters, what they’re wearing, where they’re sitting, etc. and since there's so many of them it takes forever.

So. many. interruptions. I'm begging CC to find a more subtle and organic method to create tension.

Matthew often disappeared in this book and it's a shame because he's such a compelling character. He's still my favorite though.

Why was Cordelia the only one trying to help Matthew? I wouldn't expect a group of teenagers to know exactly what to do, but they could at least try.

I thought there was something weird about Magnus so I'm glad that turned out to be another trick. I can't fault the characters for falling for this one.

I'm not very invested in the Jordelia romance, but Cordelia telling Belial he can't have James because he's hers and pulling him from the shadow world was pretty great. Plus finally breaking that goddamn bracelet.

What I liked about the final battle: the reveal that Belial has been using Jesse's body, Lucie's powers and Christopher's invention saving the day.

What I didn't like: Leviathan's attack didn't add anything besides keeping the side characters busy. As far as villains go, Belial is pretty underwhelming.

What the hell was that ending???? Yes, I'm still mad. Out of all the overdramatic and painfully clichéd tropes CC has ever used this is the worst one by far.

[stateswscarlet]

In my opinion LOA coaching in general most of the time is a complete waste of money. What if the person doesn’t apply correctly? Or they get hit with a bunch of misinformation, there’s people like for example Sammy Ingram that charge a lot of money for advice and yet don’t even study source or have any personal experiences with the law. It comes off as vile asking for money in a community of already vulnerable and desperate people for something that may not even help them in the first place. If you want money so much, why don’t you manifest it? But these are just my two cents about this. 😌

comparing s*mmy to edward art is a crime!! lol

but yes i do agree to an extent, thats why if people do choose to help others 1-1 with the law they need to make it VERY clear beforehand that coaching is a luxury + all information is found for free. Its really important to filter out potential clients so that we don’t take advantage of anyone desperate willing to just throw money in hopes that it will “work”. (at least thats how I handle my clients - everyone fills out an application prior to even doing anything so I can make sure everyone is well and sane) also no gatekeeping of any content or being like “you need xyz program to get your sp!” that shit is so cringe and obviously out to get vulnerable people

unfortunately its really sad that there are people out there taking advantage of others, and i feel like the responsibility is shared between both coaches and clients. i also dont agree with charging like insane amounts of money (like thousands) for something related to the law because like…. why……😭 for thousands they better turn into my inner man and fulfill on my behalf LMAOOO

in terms of money, i see it as simply paying for a 1-1 service. it has nothing to do with “manifesting” money since you can manifest being a millionaire and having tons of money and still not want to give your time away for free when youre providing a service, especially one that involves listening to peoples circumstances, triggers, etc. people pay for life coaches/dieticians/psychics and they cant 100% make sure we apply, but we pay for the streamlined knowledge anyways.

[khiphop-discussions]

RAP:PUBLIC Ep.7 Part 2 Thoughts

Ep. 7 part 2!

Part 1

Damn, Owen really sliding for Marv. I really wanted Marv to come back too!

I wish I'd have seen ep.7 before I saw the conversation Owen and Marv had after their team lost on ep.6. It makes a lot more sense now. Hindsight is 20/20. I'm very touched by how much Owen seems to care for Marv. I can't even lie.

I'll refrain from commenting on Owen anymore. Only on his verses if necessary.

I always regret stuff I say about Owen. Whether it's good or bad. That's a HUGE sign I need to shut the fuck up about him and keep his name out my mouth. I have a bias against him for past stuff he's said or done so my commentary on him will very likely be useless. It is what it is.

Loopy says to Owen "Don't do anything you'll regret"...this is so fucking funny given the context of everything I just said lol

James An is the best alarm clock. He wakes them up so gently lol.

Shyboiitobii be having the most random scenes dude. The editors are funny.

A rapper withdrew. It was Daniel Jikal. I get it. This show is fucking intense. Living there? Constantly changing missions and variables? It's a lot. It feels like a waste since people who wanted to stay got eliminated but I truly understand his decision. I hope he's doing well after leaving.

Block 5 changed the leader to Khundi Panda because JP is kinda sick. So Khundi will go recruit. It looks like they will take Owen and Double Down.

Block 2 wants to recruit Jtong but WHY would he want to leave?

Oh shit...Jtong WANTS to leave?! He approached Khan?! Oh that's unexpected. He says he wants diversity.

Obviously, Block 1 wants him to stay. He's such a good piece in the puzzle. I wouldn't want him to leave my block either.

Jtong is comfortable with his block already. But he wants to change too. So many people want him. It's a hard choice.

Now, Since is trying to recruit Kaogaii?!? After rejecting his recruitment offer?!? The twists and turns of this show!

Boi B was solicited by Geegooin. So now the plan is to tell Since that Boi B will come if she doesn't. So they (or at least Kaogaii) are hoping to turn them against each other Oh shit...Block 6 is going hard!

JP from 5 might want to leave too. It WOULD be advantageous if Since leaves. She left. So let's see why Block 4 will do from here.

Personally, if I was a competitor, I wouldn't trust anyone who changes teams. It shows they are willing to jump ship any time things don't go their way. As a viewer, I don't care tbh. Cause I wanna see my faves win lol.

If only the leader remains then the block will close and be absorbed by another group.

Block 4 recruits group 8 which was just 99 Nasty Kidz. Makes sense on their end. They get to move all the block money to group 4. We haven't seen any block money get used yet so it'll be interesting to see how that comes into play.

Polodared is like "If it doesn't work, you can come back". At least, the door is still open. Jtong has it good!

I'm kinda inspired by Jtong to be honest. Stay comfortable or go after experiences you want (even if scary and uncertain)? I want to be more like Jtong and go for it!

Now Chaboom is paying $15,000 so Block 2 will recruit foggyatthebottom. Shyboiitobii is on that team. So omg, now we'll get to see them interact. OMG I gotta find time to watch these episodes earlier because this would have been so useful for answering that ask from the other day (Context for those who didn't see it: someone asked if shyboii and foggy had beef. I doubted it but there was some interesting videos on the internet so I wasn't for sure. Foggy was at tobii's club performance a few days back so that confirmed they were cool. But this episode would have answered the question if I wasn't so far behind. I gotta catch up but I'm so busy!!!)

Anyway, Chaboom goes to Block 3

My internet is acting up now so I'll take that as a sign to take my ass to sleep! I'm stopping @ ~2:04 so ~33 minutes left in this episode! I'll pick it back up ASAP!

[thedancemostofall]

This is How We Fall Out of Love with the World

The Twilight of the American Passion Job

Anne Helen Petersen

Feb 23

I keep thinking of a conversation I had last month with Caroline O’Donoghue, the brilliant author of The Rachel Incident. We were talking about the route she took to writing the book, and the prevalence of Irish authors in pop culture. She stopped the wandering conversation in the way you do when you want someone to be very clear about how things actually work.

It’s not that Irish people have more historical trauma to mine, she said, or that Americans love Irish shit. It’s that her civilization believes art matters — and funds it accordingly, as part of public infrastructure. They believe art makes life navigable. Its actual value is beyond measure, and like a lot of invaluable things, its survival hinges on public support.

Americans, by contrast, will say that art absolutely matters — but balk at the prospect of funding it in ways other than owning it. Art is truly only valuable, in other words, when it can be a profit center.

But remember: the vast majority of art is not profitable. Neither are most of the things that make life survivable. Teaching, caring for elders, and helping people escape domestic violence, just to start. National parks require far too much staffing and maintenance to ever, realistically, be a profit center. See also: daycares and preschools and wilderness. Conservation work and disaster relief. Libraries. Science, particularly in the essential early stages. Public universities. Definitely not profitable.

And yet, they all exist — because our society at one point decided that just because something couldn’t yield a profit didn’t mean we didn’t want or need that service. We agreed to pool our money, in the form of taxes, and fund those services, hiring millions of public servants to do the everyday work of creating and maintaining a thriving society. The tacit agreement: just because you didn’t personally use a service, just because it wasn’t visible to you, didn’t mean it wasn’t necessary.“Have you ever moved 60,000 + lbs of timber in the woods with just four people, some mechanical advantage, and human power? This is what the “low productivity sector” looks like.”

But over the years, the demand for these services outgrew the American public’s willingness to fund them — and politicians came to that that a very effective means of garnering people’s votes was promising to decrease spending on projects citizens did not personally prioritize. Or, at least, some things: funding for the military, which is absolutely not profitable, remained robust. But funding for the arts, education, and care work — easily slashed. Why fund schools if you don’t have kids in them? Why fund art you, personally, wouldn’t choose? Or a park you don’t visit? Or research to cure a disease you don’t have? Why make it possible for other people to have good care if you, personally, at that moment, don’t need it?

Instead, each person should be able to take the money they’ve saved on taxes and pay for the stuff that matters to them: their own art, their own private schools, their own concierge doctors, their own backyards. That’s liberty. I find this type of thinking counter to pretty much everything I believe, but I also grew up in a place where a lot of people held fiercely to it, so its contours are very familiar. In short: you should only pay for what matters to you, what directly affects you, and what meshes seamlessly with your personal belief system. Everything else is waste.

But here’s the problem: no one actually wanted any of that societal infrastructure to disappear. They just didn’t want to personally pay for it. So as a society, we’ve developed a patchwork of public-private solutions to make stuff sorta public: rich people get tax breaks to create foundations that fund stuff that matters to them; middle-class people put in countless hours to cover classroom costs; non-profits provide or supplement essential services but are only able to exist because people are willing to work for very little; widely accessible student loans replace public dollars to cover tuition. People pay fewer taxes, but often pay dearly in other ways.

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Today, Americans citizens shoulder more and more of the costs — and risk — of navigating everyday life. Maybe they’re paying less in taxes, but they’re ultimately paying far more to cover private medical care, private childcare, decreasingly subsidized higher education, private art, private sports leagues, and private outdoor spaces. It might be feasible to shoulder these costs if you have two adults working for pay, or if one adult makes so much money that another adult can opt out and manage all of the responsibilities of home. But throw in one disaster, one bad decision, one layoff, one divorce, or one medical catastrophe, and the fragile structure crumbles.

We felt this fragility acutely during the pandemic and in its ongoing aftermath. What happens when we no longer have childcare? When someone can no longer work because of Long Covid? When someone dies suddenly? Or when everything gets more expensive, but wages aren’t rising at the same time, or the government is deliberately trying to keep unemployment high to address that inflation? How do we name the cause of our instability, our fear, and our discontent?

For many, the answer was clear: DEI programs, #MeToo, the existence of trans people, immigrants and refugees, and the government that failed to fully fix the problem — but never the corporations or politicians that profited from it.I am the "fat on the bone." / I am being tripped as the consequence of the popular vote / I am the United States flag raiser & folder / I am my son’s ‘Junior Ranger’ idol / I am a college kid’s dream job

When a political party is elected as convincingly as the MAGA Republicans were this past term, they often declare that they have received a mandate from the American public. And that mandate, which they made abundantly clear on the campaign trail, was to eliminate what their voters blamed for the general feeling of life being harder than it once was. Again: DEI initiatives, trans people, immigrants and refugees, any reforms around #MeToo, and the government itself. It didn’t matter if companies, even those associated with the politicians themselves, enriched themselves. For these voters, the companies were never the problem.

This is how you get Elon Musk fundamentally restructuring both the government and the checks and balances of our democracy with no pushback from Congress. Because the short-term goal is cutting costs (which will then theoretically translate into lower taxes) individuals can feel like they are indeed paying less for projects and services from which they receive no explicit and immediate benefit.

But the long-term reality is bleak. The cuts aren’t just to park rangers who staff a national moment in a corner of Nebraska or the people doing fire mitigation in Western Washington. The cuts affect the systems that make so many parts of public life work. Payroll. Bathrooms. Science before it becomes the sort of science that drug companies pay for. Data sets that make medical records function and VA prescriptions renew on time. You can call it the meat of public works, or bureaucracy, or infrastructure. It was already hobbled from years of cost-cutting measures. Now it’s just straight-up busted.

The goal, of course, is to enshittify public works to the point that they become unusable — and then sell them to the highest bidder, who can transform them into a profit center. The cascade will go something like this: wow, sure seems like this national forest is being mismanaged, probably shouldn’t be under the purview of the federal government; it would be irresponsible of us, and against the public interest, to turn down all this money from a gas company / a developer / a wealthy landowner who wants to buy it! (And if you want to see this thinking vividly manifest, I invite you to read the FB comments on this piece about forest service firings in rural Idaho)

Not having the toilets cleaned is the point. Not getting the VA prescriptions automatically filled is the point. Making public services worse is the point. Making people (further) dislike and devalue public infrastructure — the point. How else do you get millions of citizens on board with a handful of robber barons profiting off what rightfully belongs to the public?

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These cuts don’t just signal the end of public works as public good. They also signal the twilight of the passion job, better known as the jobs performed by millions of Americans, often at great personal expense and sacrifice, simply because they loved the work that they did. When you read the stories of the forest service employees who lost their jobs, that’s what you hear over and over again: I moved myself and my family across the country. I agreed to be a contingent employee for years. I didn’t make much; I spent weeks and months in the backcountry; I did physically taxing work; I dealt with understaffing and cranky visitors and unspeakable poop splatters. And I did it because I love this work.“I made significantly more money plumbing in the private sector, but I never took this job for the money; I took it because I believe so strongly in the national parks”

But work won’t love you back — and passion can only sustain you for so long. One of the reasons so many of those government workers stuck with their precarious and difficult jobs was the promise of stability, and access to a government pension when they were eventually hired on full-time. That’s what a full-time public service job could offer: you might never be rich, but you’d also never be poor. You’d always have health care. You’d always be able to retire. That dream is gone for the thousands whose jobs were cut last week, and it is seriously threatened for the hundreds of thousands who remain.

These cuts also affect all of those left to pick up the slack, whose job descriptions just expanded exponentially, and who are now operating with layoff brain. They’re frantically trying to patch holes. They’re dealing with even crankier tourists. If they weren’t already, they’ll soon face a turning point: when burnout turns into demoralization, and you feel you no longer have the resources to do your job in a way that feels ethical or right.

Here’s how one national parks employee laid it out to me:

I don't think people understand how underfunded public lands agencies already were. There's always been a "do more with less" culture, and people already have a habit of doing multiple jobs; doing work above their pay grade without being compensated; working extra hours for free; etc. — "paid in sunsets" is the famous phrase — because we care about the land, about visitors, and about our colleagues. The show must go on; visitors must be rescued; your coworkers have to get paid; etc. A big concern I have is that visitors will not see the effects of this, especially as volunteers and nonprofit friends groups step in to try and pick up the slack. Things will probably continue semi-normally, even as staff behind the scenes are stretched thinner and feel the burnout, institutional knowledge is lost, and the next generation of employees has to find work elsewhere. It's a short term band-aid, continuing on the road of privatizing / volunteer-izing public lands, and losing careers in public service and good jobs in rural areas where there aren't many to be had.

Demoralization is the goal. Overburden those who remain so they, too, quit, thereby “unburdening” the system of the dead weight of the remaining bureaucrats. Trump and Musk’s goal isn’t efficiency. It’s slowly burning the entire apparatus to the ground.

I remember the first time I realized that this was the end game. Legislators in my home state of Idaho were cutting the education budget to the bone. Soon thereafter, they started devouring the marrow — while simultaneously creating funding structures for homeschoolers and private (Christian) academies. The far right’s goal is the end of public education, full stop. It’s not that they hate teachers — teachers are welcome to teach at their private religious schools! They just won’t have pensions. Or unions. Or job protections. Or anything else that made the difficult but essential work of becoming a public teacher stable.

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Consider the passion jobs that remain. Librarians are overburdened by student debt and chronically underpaid, but that’s been true for some time. They’re also struggling to serve as librarians and de facto social workers in one of the few remaining public spaces in most communities. If even more social services are eliminated, what’s the breaking point? If the job already feels unsustainable, when does it feel impossible?

If you worked in higher ed, when do the massive funds to science funding begin to erode the already crumbling financial foundation of your institution? How long will you be able to make the case for your department, or your work, as a profit center? How many more classes will you have to teach a semester, what sorts of costs will you have to shoulder, and what pay freezes will you (continue to) endure? At what point does it become untenable?“Most Park Rangers make sacrifices for years as seasonals, with low pay, and moving every 6 months, before getting a permanent position. Today, Valentine’s Day, the day I was terminated, was the first Valentine’s Day my partner and I have spent together in 4 years due to the sacrifices we both had to make for our careers.”

If you work for a non-profit, particularly one that relied on any sort of public funding source, or whose mission was intricately tied to USAID or other public works, how does your organization survive? Whose jobs are mission critical? How do you ask your already tapped-out donors for more money? What other services will your community ask you to take on now that public services have atrophied? How will the job and its demands of you expand — but not your pay or benefits?

Journalists, artists, musicians, and authors already know the answer to these questions: you try to hang on, cobbling together freelance gigs, for as long as you can, and then you leave the business. You realize you can’t support a family, or that you’ll never be able to retire, or that you just can’t keep hustling the way you have — your health, both mental and physical, cannot take it. Maybe you still pack a bit of the work you loved into the corners of your week, but it is not your life’s work.

It’s difficult for me to write clearly about the end of these sorts of jobs, as I’ve denigrated them so thoroughly in my writing for so long. But here’s where I say loudly and clearly: these jobs never had to be “passion” jobs. They become passion jobs through the belief that your passion, alone, should sustain you — tand hat doing something that inspires you and enlivens you and serves the public good somehow requires sacrificing a living wage and stability. I don’t hate this type of work; I hate how we’ve normalized a blood sacrifice to pursue this type of work.

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So why has teaching and so many other federal jobs remained tenable when journalism and the vast majority of the arts have not? Public funding and unions. Get rid of the public funding, defang the unions, and these jobs become the new journalism and career non-profit work: available only to a select few who can shoulder the costs, which means they’re usually privileged, usually partnered, and equipped with private personal safety nets.“Passion for conservation shouldn’t come at the cost of job security”

When that sort of change occurs across an industry, you don’t just change who can do the work, but the character of the work itself. And when a civilization is limited to work that produces profit, we don’t just lose the artistry and texture of everyday life. We distance ourselves from the values of care and generosity — and the simple but profound belief that what happens to one of us affects all of us. We become further atomized, cruel, and careless with others, incapable of planning any further than our own lifetimes. We fall out of love with the world.

When I talk about feeling all of this in our bodies — this is what we are mourning. Our personal losses and fears, absolutely. But also this grievous, heartbreaking regression, and the feeling that our once-trusted if tattered systems of protection are not only failing to protect us, but facilitating the collapse.

I know we’re all tired. But I’m not ready to give up — or fall in line as a weary liberal who just wants to live their life. Because the truth is stunning, even as those in power try to make it opaque: our lives will never be the same. The stitching of our society is being ripped out. We will survive, but we will not thrive.

The future where we’re headed is not enough for me, or you, or anyone we know, or even anyone we don’t. It will serve the few and the powerful; the rest of us, and the natural world that surrounds it, will be little more than fuel, subjugated by our own fear and enduring precarity.

Living in this country, we have been trained to want — and to work tirelessly to fulfill those desires. If we want more than that future, we have to fucking fight for it.