#like no actually he doesn't have to be the richest man in the world to not be poor

[blackbirdsblackberries]

I Hate The New Hero!

Pt 5: What?!

Finally getting home from your patrol you sneak through the window of your bedroom and collapse onto your bed. After the call you decided that your patrol was done.

Frankly you're still coming to terms with the fact that Batman and his protogese are the same people who are essentially praying on your civilian self's downfall yet adoring your vigilante persona like it's the greatest thing in the world.

Though, now that you really think about it, it makes sense. Bruce Wayne is the richest man alive, he'd be able to afford to do this, they have the same amount of members as the heroes, same builds and heights, actually... Basically everything matches up.

Not to mention the fact that your senses goes off around both group members!

From outside your small room door you hear your parents arguing again - more like your mother yelling and your dad breaking things and stomping his foot. It was probably your dad's fault again. Don't get you wrong, you love your family! It's just that they're dysfunctional.

Your dad has a massive drinking problem that landed him working as a goon for Black Mask, he's struggled with his temper for years after he got hit a bit too hard in the head by Batman. Pair that with the fact that he's mute and he's a force to be reckoned with.

Your mom is always busy and rarely ever home, when she is she couldn't be bothered to interact with you unless you got into trouble. She grew up rich, often talking about how she went to the same school as Bruce Wayne and how she was a popular cheerleader before her life fell apart. She doesn't talk much on the topic but it's clear she holds distain for your father and, by extension, you.

You sigh to yourself, you need to shower. That means you need to get past them without them bringing you into it. Or you just don't shower for the night and have one tomorrow...

Your mom screams something out about not throwing knives and you decide to just shower tomorrow morning.

You change out of your costume and hide it safely under a loose floorboard, you change into your pajamas and get into bed. Today was a massive mental drain and physical drain.

...

You awake to a knock at the front door. Your parents usually ignore it and make you answer when someone knocks because "you're dispensable" as they say. Looking at the clock on the wall of the kitchen you see it's around 7am.

Groggily making your way to the door you look through the peep hole and see Tim standing awkwardly on the other side with a guy next to him, the guy next to him being so big and tall that you could only see a small part of his chest and arm.

You curse to yourself quietly, this is by far the worst luck you've ever had.

You open the door and look at the two. Now seeing the other guy the thing that stands out is a stripe of white hair on his head. Instantly you know it's Jason Todd.

You aren't an idiot. He's the only one in the family built like how he is - not including Bruce.

"What do you want?" You ask, annoyed. Tim chuckles weakly, as if nervous. "Wayne Enterprises wishes to give your mother her letter of departure." You blink once, then twice. "Huh? Letter of departure? The fuck does that mean?" You mutter, genuinely confused.

Jason scoffs, "it means your dear mother is losing her job, kid." He states uncaring of how blunt he's being. Tim elbows him and hisses something about being more considerate.

You don't listen, all noise becoming white noise. Why is she being fired? She works hard, she dedicates her time, she does her best! Is this because you have beef with Tim? That's not fair!

She's the only stable source of income, without that job you all would be living on the streets. You've heard AND seen so many horror stories about teens living on the streets, it's something you'd pray never happened to you. But now it's entirely probable.

So, in a moment of desperation you grip Tim by his shoulders "Please! You can't fire her! We'll end up homeless! She works all the time, she tries! My mother will improve if you ask, she needs this job. The whole family does!"

Tim seems shocked by this, his posture stiffening. Jason looks on guard, as if assessing whether he should step in, though he doesn't seem fond of the idea. You wouldn't doubt that he was made to accompany Tim as a body guard.

Tim opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again. Clearly he wasn't expecting you to beg for your mother to keep her job.

"Uh... Look, I don't mean any harm by it, it's just that we need to make way for brighter minds..." He stumbles slightly over his words as if making the excuse up on the spot.

You won't back down however. "Tim, please, I desperately need you to realize this. I. Will. Die. On. The. Streets." Probably not true because of your mutation but the fear remains. "Please, I'll do anything for you to not do this! I already promised Bruce to stop talking bad about Aranea!" You please desperately.

Tim glances to Jason who quirks a brow and shrugs. The sound of movement from behind you makes your eyes widen and behind you you see your dad approaching, you were probably too loud.

He glares at you before yanking your hair so you move away from Tim and remove your clutches on him. You hiss in pain at the feeling but bow your head down.

Your dad eyes the two boys before looking to the paper in Tim's hands. He instantly knows what's going on and storms down the hallways of the complex to do who-knows what. That scares you. Your dad is unpredictable.

After some silence Tim speaks up. "Are you okay? Your dad pulled your hair pretty tightly..." You look down, ashamed. You couldn't even bother putting your walls up and defending your pride. Your life is basically falling apart at the seams.

"... I'll do anything for you to not fire my mother..." You mutter meekly, a far cry from how you usually act, something Tim notices immediately. He sighs to himself, he debates the odds. Maybe if he doesn't fire (Reader)'s mother then they can be even. The feud can end, it was pointless on your part to begin with for hating someone so sweet and kind, then hating him who defends the innocent.

"Fine. Your mother can stay, but, it may not be permanent. I suggest she find elsewhere in the mean time." Tim states before walking off. Jason takes a second to stare at your relived form, the slight smile of disbelief and look of relief in your eyes. He then leaves with Tim.

You close the door to the apartment and sink to the floor. That was terrifying. You'll have find a way of telling your mother the news before she goes into work in two hours.

You're officially having the day off from school and patrol today.

[4sh-n4]

Scenario for a Batman Identity Reveal™-

Takes place before Batman has revealed his identity. The rest of the JL know each other's identities, except Batman's. They've just received news of a threat against Bruce Wayne.

Maybe a rogue or an intergalactic enemy or someone has found out that Bruce Wayne funds a majority of the League and thinks that killing him will severely weaken it. Fair enough, I mean it's easier to kill a civilian known to be an idiot as compared to the greatest heroes, right?

So now obviously the JL feel obligated to protect him. They don't particularly want to do it, and usually they'd just set up police protection, but everyone knows how corrupt Gotham police are, and Wayne is being targeted bc of them. They'd ask Batman, but he only comes out at night and has publicly expressed disdain for Bruce. So they've got to do it themselves.

They take it in shifts, and while Wayne seems very welcoming on the outside, it's a little obvious that he doesn't want them poking around his house. In addition, the first night they were on shift, Batman gave them a very strict warning about what is and isn't allowed in his city. He tried to get them to leave, but they overruled him.

At first, Bruce spends all his time acting like an air headed idiot, flirting with everyone that tries to talk to him and refusing to cooperate bc he doesn't believe the threat. 'Coincidently', he's always in the room every time one of them try to talk to talk to any of his children.

Then as time passes, he lets his guard down. They start to see a gentle, kind, Bruce Wayne whose children are his entire world, not token trophies. He speaks in a soft voice, one made out of cotton and clouds. He cares about the underprivileged in Gotham and genuinely works to make life better for them. He's smart and actually involved in his company. He's also incredibly slippery and tries very very hard to lose their tail at all times. The only reason they can keep up with him at all is because most of them have special powers.

One day, while they're trying to look for him after he's lost them yet again, he gets kidnapped. The entire JL rushes to find him and rescue him before the person they've come to honestly respect and enjoy the company of gets murdered for trying to help them. They search for and reach the place he's being held after 2 days, only to find him tying up the criminals- who definitely all have broken bones- surrounded by the horde of younger Gotham vigilantes.

He turns to look at them and growls, "You're late. Civilian rescue time needs to be much shorter, these people weren't even experienced kidnappers. You're lucky it was me they were after otherwise you'd have found a corpse. We're running drills back at the watchtower."

They're all shocked because... that's Batman's voice?? Coming from the richest man alive, known playboy, not so known gentle father, BRUCE WAYNE??? BATMAN HASN'T EVEN BEEN OFF DUTY SINCE THEY BECAME BRUCE BODYGUARDS????

Turns out his children all ganged up on him and forced him to reveal his identity, especially since the JL had become friends with him both inside and outside the mask.

[kelpstheshifter]

Introducing My 1950s Housewife Life

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶

Abt me ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆: Alice Lexington <33

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 19 years old <33

˚୨୧⋆𝑯𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔: Childcare, Ballroom dancing, Dancing, Crocheting, Cooking, Cleaning, Baking, Sewing, Fashion Designing, Horseback Riding, Snow Skiing, and Horse Dressage

˚୨୧⋆𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚: American

˚୨୧⋆𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔: English, Spanish, Italian, Patois, German, Chinese, Tagalog, French

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑵𝒆𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉: 3.5 Billion Dollars

Relationships (mostly family) ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

𝑴𝒚 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑬𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 42

We married 2 months ago, but we dated a year before that. I am this man's PRINCESS. He is the CEO of the biggest oil company in the world (It's generational) and he's an amazing man, whom I love dearly. This man basically created Princess Treatment. When he's not working on business deals and such he's at home being a great husband and father. He loves the piano, collecting vintage cars, and yachting. He's the whole package and I love him.

𝑴𝒚 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑫𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒉 𝑳𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 15

Deborah and I are 4 years apart, we went to the same high school and we were friends, but not extradionarily close since I was a senior and she was a freshman when we met. We get along well and now that we're family we're the best of friends.

𝑴𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 22

Frances and I are best friends because of our husbands but that doesn't mean we love each other any less. Our husbands (Charles was my boyfriend at the time) introduced us to each other at a Charity Banquet and we hit it off immediately. When we're at our homes in the suburbs we talk shit about the other moms, bake, drink, and dance together. This woman is my other half.

𝑴𝒚 𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅'𝒔 𝑪𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 26

This is John, He's Frances' husband and a very close friend of Charles. Charles considers him as his little brother. He inherited his father's spot in the Lexington Oil Company so he's very wealthy and highly ranked amongst the families. This is man can DANCE. When we all go dancing if I'm not dancing with Frances or Charles I'm dancing with him. He's such a gentleman, he's into pottery and swimming. I actually scripted a scenario where he teaches me pottery. I love him. Frances bagged herself a GREAT man.

𝑴𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑱𝒓.

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 5 months

I LOVE MY GODSON! Me and Charles are the godparents of Frances and John's beautiful baby boy. Whenever me and Frances are hanging out in our houses in the suburbs we watch him while tidying up, baking, or watching movies. He's my pride and joy I love this kid.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒈𝒔, 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒆𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓

˚୨୧⋆ 𝑨𝒈𝒆: 1 year old and 4 years old

Scruffy is Charles' German shepherd and Pepper is the poodle he surprised me with when we first started dating. They're best friends and you can NOT separate these two I swear. They have such different personalities, Scruffy being a rough-housing hooligan and Peppers being this proper and polite baby. I love them both dearly and they mean the world to me.

︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶

˖𓍢ִִ໋𓇼⋆𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒓˖𓍢ִִ໋𓇼⋆

ᡣ𐭩 Racism is not a problem in this reality

ᡣ𐭩 The Lexingtons are the richest family on earth while the Williamsons are the twenty-first richest

ᡣ𐭩 We own 3 houses the Lexington Villa, Mansion, Beach house, and then a whole bunch of miniature properties that I did not take the time to memorize

ᡣ𐭩 All the wealthy families get together for banquets, fundraisers and balls a few times a year

ᡣ𐭩 The world is always like the 1950s-60s even as time progresses

[ineffectualdemon]

Something interesting/sad to consider: sqh already had a talent for logistics and managing money before even joining an ding, because he was once a broke 20 something year old living paycheck to paycheck with no one to help him or to fall back on if he ever couldn’t pay rent or buy food. He became Very Good at managing money Very Quickly because otherwise he would have very possibly starved or become homeless at some point. (I’m picturing sqh seeing that cucumber bought his latest chapter and sqh deciding if he should use that money to actually buy something other than instant ramen for once or if he should get more dish soap for his sink) (I love this poor man so much he was really out here struggling even before he went to the objectively more dangerous world)

I'm sorry I'm so late in answering this I have been drowning in coursework and health issues and brain saw this and another ask and was like "oh yes I will answer that when I am more awake" and then it fell out of my head doe awhile

ANYWAY

You're correct

SQH makes money/supply stashes on instinct (which again is a terrible window into both childhoods) and lives in the world's richest sect of which he is purse keeper of and complains about spending any money

Boy is thrifty as a defense mechanism (this isn't a bad thing)

He also, I assume, embezzles just enough money from both Cang Qiong and the Northern Desert

I like to think Mobei is aware SQH has stashes but but since he uses his An Ding stash to help Mobei out sometimes he's not concerned about it until after the Ascension debacle

Then he's very concerned

He tries to convince Shang Qinghua that he doesn't need he stashes after that and it does not go well

I kinda think Luo Binghe does the same thing with stashing stuff and he tells Mobei to let his man keep his emotional support cache

But yeah boy learned to budget because he had to

[astrohyper]

So, you know those playing cards the Phantom Thieves use in the Thieve's Den to play Tycoon?

What if they were real? As in, what if, after forging enough Skill Cards, Yusuke wants to do something with this newfound love of card making, and so he decides to design his own deck of playing cards themed around the Metaverse and the Thieves.

Imagine, during the Hotpot Night, Ann introduces the group to this version of Poor Man, Rich Man she thought of, inspired by their thieving activities, where you can cause a revolution, and the poorest player becomes the richest. And so, during long meetings, some of them just play Tycoon together. One day, Yusuke brings around four sets of cards and gifts them to the others.

Ann is thrilled at having some stylish Phantom Thief cards and immediately lays them out so she can see the designs.

Ryuji tries to hide his happiness at having Phantom Thief Cards by machoing it up, but he fails because it's just so effin cool man!

Ren immediately puts his deck on his shelf and displays it.

Then, once Makoto joins, she gets her own deck as well, as a thank you for helping them, and as a way to show that Yusuke wants her on the team, and there are no hard feelings. And Makoto of course doesn't use them often, but she keeps them on her just in case.

Futaba gets gifted them as she's training to go outside, with Yusuke telling her that she can use them to play with new people she meets. Of course, she loves having something that's basically a collector's item.

Then, both Haru and Morgana receive their own decks once the kerfuffle is over. Morgana is a little to prideful to show how much this truly means to him, but he relishes in using them in the metaverse where he has hands to do so. And Haru doesn't let anyone else touch them, as they are her cards and a gift from a friend. Not an expensive rich heir gift from a suitor, but a small gift meant to symbolize their bond together.

Do we still tag Third Semestar stuff? Cuz if so, Third Semestar stuff.

Yoshizawa gets hers a few days after her reawakening, and she uses them as a reminder that the Thieves will always have her back. Not because she's Kasumi Yoshizawa's sister, but because she is Sumire Yoshizawa, and that's enough. However, sometimes, it isn't enough. Sometimes the Imposter Syndrome wins, and on those days, she can't help but want to burn the cards to cinders, because obviously they can't actually be for Sumire Yoshizawa. Clearly, they were made for Kasumi, and she just got them because she's just the next best thing. Just Kasumi's shadow. Sometimes she can't bring herself to even look at the cards, because they show her how much the Thieves truly care for her. It's too painful to think that the people she likes truly like her. Yet, on some other bad days, just looking at the cards is enough for her to realize that she truly can be Sumire Yoshizawa, and that's just enough to keep her from spiraling that day. Sometimes, it's the only thing that can help.

Akechi doesn't get his until the Third Semester. In truth, Yusuke made his set a long time ago, back in November, hoping that he could gift them if it all turned out to be some elaborate miscommunication or some big mistake. Of course, it wasn't, and the deck sat uselessly in Yusuke's room, never forgotten, but in the background. That is, until Akachi shows back up miraculously, and agrees to work with the Thieves until Maruki is dealt with. Once Akechi returns, Yusuke gives him the pack, telling him that every Phantom Thief has one, and they are the only ones in the world to have them. Of course, Akechi scoffs and tells him that they're all over-sentimental, but deep down, he can't help but smile because he's finally a part of something. People want him. People like to include him. All the while, another part of him is reminding him that this won't last. He isn't truly alive, just a ghost walking. These cards mean nothing because they're a gift to a dead man. And yet, he carries this deck with him into the Palace on February 3rd.

[bsverryin]

: ̗̀➛ JJk men as your past life lover & reuniting again in your present life.

Who?

╰┈➤ Geto, Gojo, Nanami

Situation?

╰┈➤ How you reunite again after dying in your past lives.

✎ dying in past life but I'm still making it wholesome🙄, HEADCANONS ONLY!! I'm not a manga reader!! 🫸🏻🫷🏻 I'll try to make this a whole story because I really need more jjk men x reader here in tumblr (wholesome ones) 🥹 Nanami is my comfort character that's why I include him in almost everything tehee 🤌 cannot assure you of perfect grammar because idk how jkjk.. DMS are open 🫶

: ̗̀➛ GOJO SATORU

Loving satoru in your past life was like the sun loving the moon, He was everything. Every part of him was perfect, but reaching him was never easy. Satoru was in one of the biggest clans in your country. Every girl wanted to be his bride. One for his money, two for his looks, never for his skills and for the person he is. Well, you were one of those princesses. You knew your land needed help and money, your clan wasn't powerful or even well-known unlike them, they have everything that your clan wanted. You had no choice but to try, you were devoted and loyal to your clan that you'd do everything to save it from falling apart that you'd join the party of the richest clan to find a bride for their son.

You weren't good with crowds not when you didn't know anyone there, you didn't know how to act too. The only thing you were doing was imagining what the person that you might be marrying looks like, what if he's actually old that's looking for a person to marry? The palace was getting louder and louder that you decided to visit their garden, good thing it was open for everyone. When you're on the way to admire the beautiful scenery from outside you saw someone sitting on the risky railings, one move then they'll fall. you immediately run to them and grab their arm.

"Hey! Hey!... Little guy do you wanna talk 'bout your problems? Dying is not the solution!"

".......little guy?" He was speechless at first but his voice wasn't that deep. His hair was white, His eyes were blue. He was so majestic that you became speechless too.

"don't die.. It's not worth it." He chuckled as he saw your worried face.

"What's your name, princess?" You gave him a confusing look, he was laughing?! How could he? You thought.

That was the first time that you met your future lover. You weren't expecting that he was gonna be the one you'll marry because he looked lonely, Satoru said that the only reason he chose you was because he didn't want to choose anyone else. His clan helped your clan and everything was just getting better. You were slowly falling in love with him too, When he's far away, you'd send him a letter and he sends you one too. You grew to love on another but then a happy ending doesn't exist especially in your world where the sign of living is when you get hurt. Your clan was bombed so was theirs, you tried to find him but when you saw a glimpse of him, you were shot in your back and he saw it with his own eyes. He was really powerful and strong but was distracted when he saw your lifeless body. He ran into you despite the mess that the other clan was making. He died right when you're in his arms.

Satoru, a special grade sorcerer while you didn't know what blood you had that you'd always see weird spirits, You ignored it at first but you knew if you kept ignoring them you'll immediately be killed. You're in high school and at the rooftop trying to appreciate the lovely nature, you felt a sudden push from your back as you tried to look, it was the weird spirits you've been seeing. When you thought it was the end of your life a man with white haired in a uniform. With glasses but you can feel his blue eyes staring at your soul, you didn't die because he saved you.

"Nice catch, satoru." A man with his hair tied said.

"Told you, suguru. We're the strongest!" He said enthusiastically and turned to examine you, he was relieved when he saw no injuries.

"From now on, you're our classmate okay?" The man named "Satoru" smiled and gave you a thumbs up.

It was the first time you met gojo satoru in your present life, you felt like you met him before and as if there were strings attaching you two together, you couldn't understand the feeling. You were there when his best friend left, you were there as he grew older. You both became parents to a little guy called "Megumi". You and satoru had liked each other for long but you decided to just stay together as sorcerer and help the kids have the youth they deserved but it felt like you were married and loving each other. For you both, it was more than enough than truly being in a relationship.

: ̗̀➛ GETO SUGURU

Suguru in your past life was a normal human being, You were in highschool and had a little crush on him. He was nice and he'd help you study, he was a gentle man and everything that you wanted for a man, he's the same to everyone but he was always busy training, you'd ask him why and why and his answers are always the same. It was to create a world where people don't struggle. He was specifically training about how things work, those machines and how to use swords and anything else that exists, he was that kind of person who cares about others before him.

"I think the only thing you should focus on, is yourself" You said as he's trying to mind his own business making machine, you didn't know what machine was it for but he's really working hard that it got you really invested and staying with him until he finishes.

"Why is that?, Y/N" He wasn't focused on you, he was working hard for the machine he's making.

"You're always trying hard but I don't see anyone appreciating what you do, i think you should appreciate yourself first then others will appreciate you!" You said, not trying to be rude and hoping it won't come out the wrong way.

"It's enough that you're here watching me do this." He smiled when he heard your words. You were relieved that he didn't take it the wrong way. He was making a machine to make it easier for the soldiers to make it during some possible world war. You didn't really understand it but you tried your best to help him. Not just because you're his friend but because you liked him too, he was smart and handsome. What more could you want? He was in denial of his feelings that's why you thought he had been leading you on, you've been clinging to him that you thought it was fine. But still he lets you, he's sweet when you're alone together.

He loved you too but he's not strong enough for you. He knew the day would come where he wouldn't be able to protect you. Which was this day, He knew you had an incurable disease. When you're not there to help him, he has been trying to make and find medicine for you to cure your disease but he failed. He wanted you first to have good health and he'd date you but that time just didn't come. it's been 12 years since you died and all he did now was keep photographs of you and invent something useful for other people and waited for the time where you'll meet each other again, his body was strong that the reason of his death was his old age.

In your present life, Suguru was the sorcerer's biggest enemy. You knew the sorcerer world because you have been trained ever since you were a child, of course it was to be able to exorcist those monsters but you were pressured to do things that you didn't want. Your life was controlled by your family.

"y/n?" You knew who he was, It was Geto suguru. You tried to kill him but you just couldn't get him. He was good at everything, he can bring out enemies out of nowhere but despite that you still tried to kill him.

"How about a deal, Y/N?." You looked at him curiously, there were still no enemies or even shikigamis. He thought you're too weak for that.

"Live a life, and spread your wings." Geto suguru said, you didn't know what he meant but you know he's tricking you to go with him. You let him trick you but you had one in your sleeves too. You wanted to expose him and make your family proud but suguru was nice and made you believe in him. You were surprised when you realized you were following his footsteps. He didn't want anything in return. You met a lot of people who told you he helped them too that you started to doubt yourself. They weren't right or wrong. Suguru was a nice person, he saved you from the hell that your family has been causing you.

"Why are you doing this to me?" You asked suguru, you were both alone together in a sparkling fancy night.

"I want to make a world where suffering will end." You knew what he meant when he said that but why?

You created a whole new family by his side. They weren't tricking you, they even said about the plan where they are taking you as bait to make others surrender. Suguru confessed to you first, he said he sees you as a woman, he may look like he's not the type too. He doesn't want to let you go out of his side. He wasn't possessive just overprotective, you didn't understand why but it felt like there was some unfinished business that you had with him that you let your heart and destiny to control yourself this time.

: ̗̀➛ NANAMI KENTO

In your past lives, kento was the person you were most scared of. He was your boss specifically the strict and serious boss. There was nothing more to describe him. People often say that you're as smart as him and because of that he has high expectations of you, if he liked your work he'd give you a bonus if he didn't he sighs and gives you a disappointed look, thankfully he always likes your ideas. You never thought of someone like him to be in love with you.

One day, you had overtime. Loads of work that you wanted to finish so that you can have your break early. The only person left in that office was your boss and you, there were still guards down stairs of course. You and kento weren't talking, minding your own business. You stood up, about to leave when your boss called you.

"Y/N.." Your boss called.

"Yes, sir?" You immediately turned to look at him, he was always staring at you deeply that made you run shivers throughout your body.

"I'll take you home." He said as he stood up to get ready.

"Oh no sir, you don't have to I can-" He cutted you off.

"it wasn't a question, I have to make sure my employees get home safely." He sighed as you both made your way down the parking lot.

That moment made you closer to your boss, you couldn't keep your mouth shut that you asked everything to keep your conversation going. You weren't a fan of being awkward. Your boss has become more comfortable around you and when you're both on overtime he'd take you for a ride, you thought it was just twice or thrice moment but you both had been used to it. You both had been staying for so late in the office just so you both can go home together. It made you two friends, close friends and lovers, He had been calling you in his office often, shutting the blinds just to kiss you. You kept a secret relationship with him and you wish you didn't. Kento was on the other side of the street, you checked the lights and it was green, you were about to run when you felt a car crashing in your body, it wasn't just you. It was kento trying to save you but failed causing you both to die in the middle of the street.

You're the owner of one of the richest companies in the world in your present life, kento nanami was just one of your employees. He's working normally just like everyone else so why is it that you feel like there's potential in him? Well, you'd give him a random bonus when you felt like it. When he said that he's quitting for good, it kept you awake at night.

Why would he want to quit your company when you'd give him a bonus whenever you're feeling great? Does he not like the special treatment you give him? You tried and tried to find information about him that you found out he's a sorcerer, you knew what a sorcerer is. You knew how to exorcist, it was your side work when you felt sad. How could you just find out now that he's a sorcerer too? It made you more Into him than you already were.

"Nanami, fancy seeing you here." You smiled, you were both in a dark alley trying to find a monster to exorcist.

"Ma'am it's not safe for you here." He said formally.

"Why?" Your smile widens as you feel the monster on its way to hurt you. Before the monster can get near, you kill it by your aura without even looking. Nanami was shocked but he quickly regained his normal posture.

"I see, you're full of surprises madam." You both ended up exorcising the whole place until there was nothing left.

Nanami was always surprised when he saw you everywhere he went, it was as if you were stalking him. Well, it was much better than satoru following him everywhere. In the end, he had gotten used to you and your flirty jokes that he lets you hang around him. He often asks you about your company and you'll say someone else is managing it. This man was your type of man, he was a fine aged man, you couldn't stop yourself from falling, it's not like you're trying to stop yourself. Kento, found your presence comforting. He wasn't the romance type but you were. When you confessed to him, he didn't say yes or no. He just wanted you to make a decision where you're most comfortable, you still ended up dating him because he couldn't resist you and you loved spoiling him every single time.

[mdhwrites]

thoughts on camila?

So I've talked about how she is just as a character before. I think as a character, she's as sweet as a saint and I like her in isolation. However, and this is what I want to focus on more because of an element I'll get to, she's a bad character in the context of The Owl House for the same reason King and Eda are: What is she doing in this story? How does she add to it?

Camila makes Luz look a fucking terrible as a human being. Almost EVERYTHING we see in the human frankly makes Luz like a terrible human being because that's the genre that The Owl House is a part of: Modern Isekai. Like most Modern Isekai, it's a story about a nerdy person who has no real prospects in real life and would rather live in their fantasies getting to go do that. Luz has a power that no one else has, gets to be with the prettiest, most popular, richest girl in the new world. She gets to stand up to a corrupt system but it never actually bothers her so she can just have fun shenanigans for the vast majority of the run time. She even fights an Evil Emperor which is almost as generic as a Demonic Lord as far as fantasy villains go. Honestly, TOH being isekai is probably a large part of why it was green lit (and frankly, same goes for Amphibia) since while it's not critically acclaimed, isekai is still one of the most popular genres of anime out there and the popular ones have made money hand over fist.

For most stories in this genre, they A: stay in the fantasy realm, TOH isn't fucking special people but also B: have a terrible home life in part to justify that desire and decision. There's also elements of wish fulfillment to its target demographic which is actually kind of important here. That your life sucks so you deserve to escape from it, just like this person. That terrible homelife in turn turns into a payoff for the audience because it can be used to highlight just how much better this world is and how much better off for everyone the MC is in this new world.

Camila doesn't really work for that though, does she? Something the show itself acknowledges with Yesterday's Lie. "You had it good." Hell, in that episode we have Camila wanting Vee to keep Luz's stuff because she knows those things are important to her daughter. Even in the first episode, Camila just wants Luz to make friends. She could fail to learn ANY life skills and stay just as weird at the camp (which she presumably needed to go to to not be EXPELLED for what she did) and Camila would happy if she was in a new Discord group with some friends. That is how low the fucking bar is for Camila's expectations of Luz and somehow THAT was too much. That was, as Camila will apologize for, multiple times, pushing her daughter away or repressing her.

That doesn't function for a Modern Isekai story... It functions for an old school isekai like Amphibia is. Old school isekai after all featured a lot more character growth, a lot more of the other world being an abstraction of problems the person was facing in the real world and had to learn how to deal with. As such, they usually ended with the main character going home a better person and putting their fantasies behind them. Not admonishing them but recognizing that staying there isn't what's best for them.

Camila's character for one of those is AMAZING. Like it could genuinely have led to one of the best deconstructions of the modern isekai protagonist. It's like the ass hat protag from Far Cry 3 (not saying this is handled well btw in that) who still wants to be bigger and more cool and seen as strong by those around him while he already has a smoking hot fiance, lives his life doing dangerous stunts, is really attractive himself and could just coast for the rest of his life. It doesn't fulfill his image and fantasy of what a 'man' is so fuck all of that, I need to go kill people and take over this native tribe! Which hurk, again, it's not done well, but it was trying to deconstruct this sort of fantasy. This sort of escapism that says the image in your mind is ALWAYS more important than those actually around you.

It could have highlighted how things are never as bad as they seem and wanting to escape always hurts someone and always is selfish... But for that, the show would have had to be willing to say one needs to learn to respect reality over fantasy. This could either be done by Luz learning that treating everything like one of japanese animu is a bad thing or they could do it through doubling down and showcasing after Yesterday's Lie that Luz is a genuinely terrible, selfish person who only views the promise she made to her mom as requiring her to give up the world she likes, not the damage she did to her mom.

Which I phrase because they literally did that. They changed the ending promise scene of Yesterday's Lie from being about their complex relationship to just being a summary of the stakes. "Come home, never come back." It's a narrative cheat to welcome anyone back from the mid season hiatus and that is frankly the BEST way to read it for Luz's character because otherwise she changed a conflict mostly about the pain she inflicted on her mom purely to the consequences and that's not really a thing a good person does.

But then the series ends with her having both worlds, getting to literally be Azura finally, quoting the damn book and just ENTIRELY admitting that it's not an OC, it's her replacing Azura, and it's all just fucking awful. In part because, like with the Liar Reveal stuff I talked about with TOH, it's a subversion without a new payoff. They try VERY HARD to give a new payoff but it's not earned. People adore the "I just want to be understood" moment but it ONLY functions in that moment from a meta perspective of it being a neurodivergent girl seeking understanding because who, especially of the people Luz cares about, hasn't shown her understanding in the past SEASON? SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND WHO IS WAY BETTER AT IT THEN HER!

And so Camila is just this contradictory sore spot that goes right back around to "Man, our target audience would really love it if their parents would tell them explicitly that they don't need to grow as people or even try to understand others or how they may hurt them, literally but instead that their comfort is all that matters." It goes right back to being all about modern isekai's worst element: Wish fulfillment. Bland, obvious, pandering wish fulfillment.

And I COULD end the blog right there... But I said I had a reason to wanted to answer it like this. Admittedly, it expanded from what I expected so sorry for the long blog but here's the real tragedy: The moment of Luz recontextualizing Yesterday's Lie's promise should have been AMAZING to me. After all... It's the part of Luz I loved writing the most.

Yep, more of that celebrating ten years of writing stuff to talk about one of the elements of my TOH writing that I genuinely am very proud of: Luz being a scared, anxious teenager who doesn't read the world correctly. One who is held back because she thinks if she isn't scared, she'll be hurt or, more importantly, hurt others.

I know a lot of people will tell me that TOH didn't do that and like... gestures at everything above and SO many other elements like how Luz has two token moments implying she's been traumatized from bullying that doesn't read with how she was for the entirety of the first season, or up to those points in the second for that matter, AT ALL. She doesn't actually have that sort of fear or anxiety. She's too selfish and self serving for it. Her needs always come above others and that's not the compelling part of this to me, nor is the self protection element.

No, it comes from the fact that you have to actually care what others think for it to torture you, like most teenagers do. That disappointing someone would be essentially the same as stabbing them. In The Power of Love, I got a lot of people to go from "This is cute" to "Okay, you have my attention" with chapter 3: Ru-Luz (which reading back... Some of my transition lines are not working there. Why did I think they did? Brain moving too fast I suspect like usual or trying too hard). Despite the pun, it's not a fun chapter. It ends with her listed rules that are actually nice, like telling her to be herself, but a final rule that, so as to keep the voices in her head, the things others have told her, quiet she must follow. "Treat Amity like anyone else, even if that means breaking other rules." And one of those voices is said to be Camila's.

I don't leave it there though. Through complications, it's very explicitly revealed that, well... Luz is a teen. Everything is world ending for her. That she's taken small comments or momentary frustrations, or just straight up misread things, so as to have them attack her and form her view of how others perceive her (along with having been genuinely bullied). That her mom does adore her and would accept any part of her but she can't believe that, not with how she is now. And that leads to really highlighting an element of Lumischa that I've always loved: Boscha as Amity and Luz's rock. Someone who is honest enough that neither worry about if she's holding back on her opinion. And you know what happens?

Luz and Boscha get multiple chapters of Boscha providing the wake up call she needs. Of her chipping away at those fears that others may be secretly hating her because here is bad bitch Boscha telling her to shut up because she's better than she thinks she is. It's blunt enough to actually make an impact, harsh enough that it still addresses the fuck up, and is something no else would do. Not even Amity because Amity is her own ball of anxieties who's worried about the wrong move upsetting people. I would have ADORED this element actually being a thing for Luz and you know, maybe leading to a Power of Friendship moment with all of them backing her up and giving her the confidence she needs for something. Instead we get her ignoring what she's claiming to be worried about (making mistakes) and then getting a power up when her mom tells her that she should have quite literally never criticized anything about her daughter which is not what a good parent does. Even my Boscha will still call out that Luz did make a mistake if she did, just then also point that she's being over dramatic about it because no one hates her because of it.

I also want to give a shout out to this essentially being an element of my Luz for Ruff Secret as well (original version too) as an essentially tragic element to the majority of the story. Camila clearly accepts parts of her daughter in that story that their wider community doesn't but Camila is also critically still a part of that community which is Christian. She's very devout even, going every week to church. There is nothing except coming out to Camila that will ever make Luz not just assume that being gay will not get her disowned because of the fears in her head and because of those same fears, she'll never come out of the closet. She has clearly never even been willing to approach the topic with her mom about it. It does payoff in the end though with Camila freaking out WAY harder about Amity being a werewolf and the danger that puts her daughter in than of Luz being gay because why would you judge something as incredible as love?

It's not new, I've seen some other things take similar approaches, but it uses the age of the character and society to actually amplify the emotions and make the angst more justified. Make what normally just be "I can't confess, what if she says no?" more dramatic while also managing to tie the two romantic leads together in their conflicts since Amity is dealing with something she sees as a curse, as a primal sin that could only ever hurt others, just like Luz is. And just like Luz, it's actually in repressing and rejecting that side of her that Amity does end up hurting someone but that someone is herself.

All while still managing to be one of the funniest stories I've ever written. I ADORE Ruff Secrets. Crises Girlfriends may be my most personal story but I still think Ruff Secrets is my best story. Period. Which is frankly a miracle since it was a snap start based on a joke a someone made.

So yeah, I like Camila conceptually. I think there was a lot you could do with her. Any direction though would have required TOH to be at least as grounded as Amphibia, let alone ANYWHERE near as grounded as the fandom thinks it is. As is, she's a subversion that doesn't add anything and actively hurts what is a very normal fantasy story.

As such, she's a bad character because what you add to a narrative does matter to that metric unless you are actively ignoring that part of a character's purpose for existing. That's just less useful to a writer though because it means you add a tool to your toolbox without understanding how to use that tool which is always dangerous as any professional mechanic or engineer may tell you.

======+++++======

I will admit that I fidget at praising myself so much like this. I know I've used my own works as examples in the past but it always makes me feel awkward. It especially never helps that it likely comes across as, justifiably, saying I could have done X better. There's a big difference though between "In this context I DID X better" and "If I had made X, I WOULD have done it better." Situation, context, and just the creative process can always muddie things and doesn't even mean the same writer will always tackle the same subjects as well every time. It's just a part of the process.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[molsno]

the most infuriating thing about aini is watching kizuna be forced into a relationship with lien. that's really what it is, she's being forced into it. she's the highly sheltered daughter of one of the richest men in the world, and you're telling me she's going to fall for a creepy stalker with no job and a criminal background? her taste in men is so cartoonish and stereotypical it reeks of comphet, wishing for prince charming to bring her a pair of glass slippers. she has potential to be such an interesting character, and there are things that I find interesting about her, but uchikoshi is a misogynist who can't handle the thought of women not being available to men, so the girls have to be shoehorned into relationships with the worst men imaginable to satisfy him.

like, I could easily see kizuna forming a relationship over the course of the story and learning to love someone from a poor background who hasn't had the same opportunities she's had. and you could write that without making her fall for a stalker who immediately proposed to her after watching her dance at a restaurant once! amame is right there! hell, if that happened, maybe she would actually have to think about the privilege her wealth affords her and stop looking down on people who are poorer than her. but in the story that was actually written, she doesn't really even have to do that, because lien is a man, and that's all he needs in order to earn her love. and somehow, despite being close friends, kizuna and amame barely even interact anyway, because amame has to become close with gen, for some fucking reason.

when people say that kotaro uchikoshi loves lgbt people I feel like the fucking joker. he is hopelessly cishet and it shows so fucking bad in nirvana initiative.

[thegoodduckfan]

Okay, I haven't actually posted a review of Infinity Dime here. So I'm just gonna copy and paste my Inducks review that I wrote a few days ago:

This story is truly one of the worst things I've ever read. It falls into all the pitfalls I hate with Uncle Scrooge adaptations, a lot of which I think stem from Aaron mostly reading Rosa instead of Barks, thus missing the core of the character for Rosa's hero worship.

In this story Aaron turns Scrooge into a subpar superhero. Scrooge's only way of combatting his enemies throughout this story is to go in straight for the brawl, which is something I always hate. Scrooge's character can do (and usually is) so much more than what Aaron showed in this story. And when Scrooge goes for the brawl he's accompanied by enough Don Rosa references to kill an elephant. These references have absolutely no substance, they mostly reference volume 1 of The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and are far less interesting or impressive than Don Rosa's own references to Barks.

The Beagle Boys are also hit pretty hard in this story. Aaron presents them as nothing more than simple henchmen for the Scrooge above all, which is just lame (never mind the fact we didn't even get any multiversal variation!). Scrooge above all is a very generic villain, he is just Scrooge who wants to be the richest in the universe and doesn't care for anyone (boring). At the start of the story there could've been something in his premise that could actually play off how Barks wrote Scrooge, at the start it's shown he got every single piece of wealth there is to get on his world. This could've played nicely into the opening of The Seven Cities of Cibola where Scrooge was frustrated over monopolising Duckburg and not having any new ways to make money! But of course, because this story is extremely bare bones Aaron does nothing with that and just goes for the generic superhero bullshit.

In addition to these poor characterizations I think this story is fundamentally broken. It tries to pull off a 3 act structure, and it completely lacks the 2nd act! This story goes from the opening of Scrooge getting sucked into the multiverse, straight into the final fight with Scrooge Above All! It's just absurd! And in this final battle we get to see all the wonderful and inventive versions of Scrooge from across the multiverse... oh wait, these are just life and times references. Imagine if in Spider-Verse every single version of Spider-Man was exactally like the default version, but with an offset of 3 years, that would be boring! That would be lame! You could do the same thing with time travel! There is no need for this story to be a multiverse story because it's almost never taking advantage of it! Even with the Life and Times "multiverse" there is so much missed potential. Take for example 13 year old Scrooge from chapter 1, Aaron could've made it so he was already the richest duck at 13, therefore he didn't struggle as much. It could've been interesting, but he's still just shoeshine Scrooge.

The final battle it was also really odd, the variants of Scrooge almost lose to Scrooge above all but then at the last minute the Donalds come to save them, now this doesn't make any sense from a story level. We only ever see Donald in this story for 1 panel before that point, it was in the opening and we don't even see his face! The only way to understand why Donald is important to Scrooge is to read the comics (especially Don Rosa's in this case) and at that point this story doesn't offer anything interesting those stories haven't already done 10 times better!

And of course after Scrooge Above All is defeated all is well because he saw the value of corny and lame "family is important" DuckTales episodes, and he is just redeemed. It comes very out of nowhere, and it feels like really childish storytelling

Donald is also very mischaracterized here. He is portrayed like his cartoon self who gets incredibly mad over everything! With none of the complexity of his comic self (what do I even expect at this point?). I always viewed him more so as easy to frustrate and stubborm than having the short fused insanity of his cartoon counterpart. This comic has versions of Donald fight over their bowties, that's rediculous. And also every version of Donald looks the same. Again, like the Beagle Boys, there is practically no multiversal variaty!

This story is uniquely awful from what I experienced, not only does it change way too much about these characters, and replaces them with boring shells of themselves, but everything this story tries to accomplish depends on reading previous works that said everything it wants to say 100 times better. Dialogue is pretty lame and actually pretty bad at times "I am Scrooge! Uncle to noone!" comes to mind. And the art can look fine at times, I'm not the biggest fan of the artstyle but reading the page layout made me go dizzy. Overall a 0/10 story for me, if I could I would go lower.

[just-thoughts-no-vibes]

Every day I think about how the Legend of Korra Season 4 could have been one of the best parts of the entire Avatar franchise if the main villain wasn't a new big evil, but already established issues that should have been dealt with long ago.

Ever since the original series, the authors have presented the Earth Kingdom as a place that even without war has a million problems because it's ruled by incompetent monarchs who do not care about the people and whose lack of interest is used by other parts of this corrupt machine.

We have seen how great the class difference is in all parts of the kingdom, especially in Ba Sing Se, how the army treats civilians, how they are willing to send children to war, how the most powerful force in the kingdom can betray its people in a second, how the queen enslaves her people believing they belong to her, how the prince won't lift a finger to help his people, how the king won't even listen to the peasants until the Avatar threatens him, and much more.

In addition to the problems in the Earth Kingdom, we have also seen the problem of apathy coming from other world leaders who have turned their backs on a country that has fallen into chaos. No one except Tenzin lifted a finger to help in any way. They sent no money, no medical or military aid. Their fix was putting an 18-year-old in charge and leaving her to do everything herself.

Two things specifically catch my eye. The only man who actually tried to do something is a member of a nation that has no material resources, no army, and has just begun to recover from the genocide. On the other hand, the leader of the ex-Fire Nation colony that was never given back to the Earth Kingdom didn't provide any help for the said kingdom. The only thing he did was ask a super-rich person to do something, she said no, and he was like oh well too bad. Also yes, I have a problem with Suyin in this situation, not because she refused to be a temporary leader, but because she had the means to help and chose to do nothing. It would be one thing if she were a regular civilian who couldn't do much, but she is not. She is literally among the top 5 richest people in the world, a ruler of the only province in the kingdom that wasn't affected by the death of the queen, and has a metal-bending army that is acknowledged worldwide. Yet, I don't remember her doing anything to help, be it just sending some funds.

Basically, there are so many issues surrounding the Earth Kingdom and Season 4 was the IDEAL time to talk about them. The setup was perfect: the country is in chaos, the avatar can't help, the richest layer of society does nothing, the only world ruler who tries to help is the air nomad, and everyone is okay with the throne being taken by a spoiled prince who doesn't care about the duties of a king.

And just think how much more interesting Kuvira would be in this scenario. I always saw her being a villain as a cheap way to say "Oh look! She is awful! Now you have to ignore everyone else being bad because she is the REAL bad guy!". And to be completely honest, taking into account her backstory, the way she was raised in Zaofu, the fact that she genuinely wanted to help, a lot of things that were said about her by other characters, and the way she surrendered and acted in Ruins of the Empire, it's completely out of place for her to be a villain. She would work just perfectly as a character who is easy to villainize but is not actually evil. She could have been used to criticize the monarchy and the world leaders while also questioning Avatar's place in the world. Literally everyone would benefit from her being a villain: monarchs who don't want to be seen in a bad light because of her reign, world leaders who don't want to be perceived as bad because they did nothing while a teenage girl risked her life every day to do the job, Suyin who turned a blind eye on suffering and ultimately abandoned Kuvira to do everything herself, and Korra who needs to prove she is still useful even if Kuvira was the one taking care of everything.

With Kuvira as a villain, they don't have to work on themselves and their policies, they don't need to change anything, and the status quo remains. But if Kuvira wasn't a villain, but a character that people want and need to be evil, then we could truly look into the core of the problem, that is, the system itself. The world would be forced into radical changes, or at least the beginning of them. The government would be questioned like never before, the richest would be seen for what they really are, and the Avatar wouldn't be able to just beat a new villain and thus regain importance but would have to adapt to the needs of this new world.

But hey, it's easier to make a villain because of whom we simply can't concentrate on the cardinal mistakes of other characters, than actually criticize the system that is the problem. It was cowardly of the authors and I have to say it's really icky that a character who wanted to retrieve colonized land was evil.

[inposterumcumgaudio]

Thoughts about class structure in Wellington Wells?

Ooh! A challenge!

So the English love class distinctions and hierarchies and shit. They can hear each other's accents, make tons of socio-economic assumptions based on them, and decide exactly how much respect is owed.

Like most structures in Wellington Wells though, class structure is a crumbling facade built on a shifting foundation. It doesn't bode well for anyone looking for stability in their station, but it does also offer a lot of upward mobility for the more industrious in what would have been the lower classes.

Because we live in a capitalist world, we tend to think of class structure as being built on wealth and everything else follows from that. Money, however, has diminished value in Wellington Wells. If the butcher has no bacon to sell, it doesn't matter how many sovereigns you can offer him for it.

So instead it becomes those things that would follow from one's money that determines one's place in the pyramid.

Location

At face value, class does seem to be divvied up by location. If you're able to get into The Parade, you must be in the upper crust. Only the richest, most important people can get a Letter of Transit and all the fanciest businesses are in there. William Godwin certainly argues that the emerald city is hoarding all the food like fat cats while the people in The Village are eating charcoal.

But I think the requirement of the Letter of Transit is more about social utility than class, although these things can go hand in hand.

If you look at the businesses that inhabit the Parade, you'll find most of Wellington Wells' bureaucratic and civil service offices, several social organizations, as well as the bank, a law firm, and Turing Electric Security's corporate HQ. Basically all stuff that benefits from and relies on social stability. If you live or work in the Parade and thus have a standing Letter of Transit, it's not because you are wealthy necessarily. Arthur certainly wasn't rich if he was renting from Mrs. Hudson.

No, if you're allowed to come and go as you please (letter in hand, of course) it's because you've been determined to not be a threat to the status quo. It's like that Upton Sinclair quote. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." The people in the Parade are especially motivated not to see any problems and to insist that everything is fine, even though they are much more likely to be exposed to the realities here. They are trusted to do this. Indeed, the Department of Archives, Printing, and Recycling and the Sanitation and Book Disposal offices require employees possessed of great strength for cognitive dissonance in order to protect the rest of the village who might not.

Being this sort of person certainly does help one along the path to upward mobility. Most of the best paying jobs are located in the Parade so getting in is the first step. But it's only one of many variables in the class status equation.

Home Ownership

Like most things in Wellington Wells, housing is in short supply. As more buildings fall into disrepair, more and more people are forced to shack up in the ones that remain which is why most homes in the Village are populated by seemingly unrelated people and many further are even sharing beds. This is only exacerbated by people being forced to abandon their family homes in the Garden District (and only gently eased by others having to return there after becoming Downers).

But there are those who own homes all to themselves. Sally Boyle notably has her own home (but is demonstrably broke when we play as her), Nick Lightbearer has a house to himself, Gemma Olsen and Dr. Faraday do as well, Dr. Verloc is said to have inherited his from his uncle. Victoria Byng has an actual fucking mansion to herself. Both Lawrence brothers owned homes and indeed the Colonel's daughters are quite antsy to inherit.

Inheriting is the only realistic way to obtain real estate in Wellington Wells anymore, as sales are likely few and far between unless you're speculatively investing in neighborhoods that are undergoing gentrification "beautification". As for everyone else, they're all waiting for Mrs. Chaney's house to hit the market and be sold for an obscene ransom, likely to be turned into another rental for six or more Wellies to share. Or if those six Wellies pool their funds and manage to beat out the other offers, they could form a co-op. Gotta be optimistic!

To that end, there are two notable examples of this and I think they are very different responses to housing scarcity with similar outcomes: Thomasina House and The Hippocratic Club.

Thomasina House is inhabited by Criers. Though not expressly stated in the game, many Criers are married to men serving in the Victory Memorial Camp and have been since the war. (Soliders have lines mentioning their wives and there was a cut quest where you could spy on a soldier's wife in the Village for him.) Soldiers do collect a reliable paycheck, so presumably most Criers are being supported that way. Otherwise (or in addition) some have jobs themselves (Mrs. Pankhurst's sewing shop, Madame Wanda's Reform Club). While I don't think any Criers are what we'd call rich, I don't think many of them are poor either. None of the Criers in Thomasina House speak of any work, so we can assume they're comfortably retired.

So it begs the question why a group of them would choose to live together if they could afford to live alone.

While living communally like this is cost effective, I would bet that for many of them, it's just the community and security of living with other women of their same age. When walking around Thomasina House, one does not hear of any arguments or difficulties living with one another. Additionally, once (if) one's children have moved out of the house, a home large enough to house them is now too much work to maintain. Maybe even you let the kids have the house to give them a leg up. Moving to the home for ladies of a certain age is basically the Wellington Wells version of boomers selling their McMansions, downsizing to a smaller and less expensive home, and living off the profit.

Contrast this to the Hippo Club, where Doctors live.

I think the Hippo Club is the opposite situation happening: men who would have expected to be able to secure homes for themselves with the money their education should have brought them cannot. It's not that they aren't well compensated; I'm sure Doctors still make a fine living. It's just that there are no homes for them to buy. The Doctors who live at the Hippo Club got in the game too late.

Imagine putting all that effort into your studies, expecting to make your mom proud, and yet here you are, in your 40's beyond, living with roommates who won't do their share of the chores and are constantly fucking with you.

It's no wonder Sam is fed up and Dr. Hughes won't even let anyone else on his floor.

The Hippo Club is essentially a frat house. I would suspect the house is actually owned by Wellington Health Institute so its inhabitants feel no pride in or ownership over it. They are notably immature. They pull pranks on each other, vandalize the premises, they've no discipline for keeping the place tidy, and they have interpersonal quarrels. That they do not get along suggests that some of them at least only live there because they have to.

And it makes sense that there's a sense of arrested development there. If society does not fulfill its end of the bargain and give them the means to advance in their lives, then they will happily - defiantly - stay at their current one!

There is one sure way to know where someone is on the class scale though: do they have a maid?

Victoria has a live-in maid. We never meet her, but she's enough of a fixture that the Constables expect her to make them a sandwich every day.

Nick also had a maid, although his probably cleaned other people's homes as well, if she can afford to quit.

Although there are outliers that should not be counted:

Keeping Up with the Burne-Joneses

This one is tricky because as in real life, one can affect the look of wealth without actually being wealthy. Especially in a world where there isn't a lot you can buy to be conspicuous about it. Compliment machines, custom happy face masks, designer drugs. Coffee beans without quotation marks and butter to make a cake for an office party perhaps.

I'd say if you've got a unique outfit in the game, you're probably achieving this one. Victoria, Sally, and Nick all have outfits that where made only for them.

I think the most conspicuous consumption in the game has to be Sally's pregnancy dress.

This dovetails with another opinion I have, that Davey Hackney designed Wellington Wells' mod fashion not just around the idea of optimistic modernity, but also to use less fabric because - again - limited supply of material. The mod look requires even less than war time rationed 40's styles; it was merely the trick of convincing the people of the new aesthetic (in real life, the mod style was a backlash to the 50's New Look and its yards upon yards of fabric but because England lost the war here, there's never a New Look to rebel against).

That a girl can now buy a bright new dress in a simple cut made of no more than three yards of fabric keeps the economy moving and the morale high. Davey Hackney is doing his patriotic duty. There's a reason his atelier is in the Parade.

But Sally's pregnancy dress flies in the face of that. So much so that I don't think this was trendy at all. It might even have never been available for anyone else to buy.

I like to think Sally pitched this to Davey in this way: yes, you're going to make a really weird - "outrageous" and kinda ugly if we're being honest - dress and no one in their right mind will want to buy it. But that's okay because it will cost so much that they wouldn't be able to afford it even if they were mad enough to want it. And Davey went for it because while he does love to make money, I'm sure, he also loves exclusivity. What is even the point of being rich and fabulous if the prole hovel is filled with lookalikes wearing Mrs. Pankhurst's admittedly good knock-offs? But this? Mrs. Pankhurst cannot afford to make this. And frankly, she wouldn't understand it at all. This? This is a statement!

But Sally is just the model here. Yes, she's got this one-of-a-kind dress made of an offensive amount of fabric in this context, but she probably didn't pay for it either. It's another favor. Sally is actually just the expression of Davey's conspicuous consumption!

Money, Power, Women

In America, first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women. At least in 80's Miami. In 60's Wellington Wells? Ehhhhh.

General Byng probably has some generational wealth going for him that he and Victoria are benefiting from. Seems unlikely Victoria could have secured a house that big unless her father bought it years ago. They clearly have money and they appear to have power.

But do they actually?

As we come to learn in Victoria's DLC, she's not really that powerful at all. She organizes social events and makes very important decisions and about very important things. She's in charge of a relatively important document management department, but that's still just middle management. You'd almost get the impression that she's been afforded a lot of latitude as General Byng's daughter and now everyone is just giving her "big" jobs to let her feel important.

General Byng, on the other hand, would seem to have actual power. The constabulary is under his thumb and even Dr. Verloc's Doctors are cautious about overstepping his bounds... except he readily admits that his powers are limited by the Executive Committee, who has cast him out to the Victory Memorial Camp.

But as we find out in Ollie's act, the Executive Committee aren't exactly a force to be reckoned with either. (And as far as class goes, we have no way to know but they look like Just Some Guys).

Not a lot of places where the organizational chart is a fucking circle. And I would say only half of these people come from means. Johnny Bolton was probably compensated fairly for his service (gotta head off the M in MICE, after all), but apparently he needed a side hustle if he was running a bookstore too. Chief Constable Peters probably isn't diving into his Scrooge McDuck vault of sovereigns after a long day of patrolling the bridge. Nor is Penelope Snug, even if she's actually in charge of all infrastructure and not just motilene.

Haves and Have-Nots

There is only one real solid class distinction in Wellington Wells: Wellies and Wastrels.

Even here though, there's nuance. It's not so easy to say that the worst Wellie life is better than the best Wastrel life.

For one thing, I think there are some Wastrels who chose the life, rather than being forced into it. Ollie obviously did this, but I also think Eric Liddell chose the Garden District intentionally since running is forbidden in the Village. I also think Nigel Lawson's a good candidate for this narrative, someone who could return to the Village but chooses not to.

By contrast, the suicide party in Victoria's DLC had histoplasma mushrooms. Wherever would Wellies have gotten those unless they'd tried their luck in the Garden District before deciding to end it all?

The thing about Wastrels though is that usually in a class structure, you need people on the bottom in order to have someone for the upper classes to exploit and build their wealth on the backs of. Wastrels are not being exploited though; they've been abandoned, exiled. Downers serve no purpose in Village society and so they've been cast out entirely.

If there was a way to make money off Downers, aside from selling them Sunshine, I'm sure some enterprising individual would have thought of it.

Maybe it's just that money has a finite upper limit on how much happiness it can buy you when happiness is also a choice you're free to make on any street corner and there's little else for sale.

[dragynkeep]

Speaking of Blake's story being an utter failure we're supposed to believe *she* is part of the oppressed and is the most oppressed person in her collective group. Meanwhile she grew up with "loving" parents in a big ass mansion on a secluded island that as far as we can tell has no grimm.

Meanwhile Emerald a homeless orphan was left starving in the streets, Mercury an abused boy was forced to kill his own father and became disabled in the process and also left orphaned, and Ren and Nora also became homeless orphans for years and none of them got any proper help (cinder doesn't count) for more years.

The systems in place all failed these kids in a world where giant man eating monsters are attracted to negativity and despair. How many years did Emerald Ren and Nora have to be on the run alone as kids dodging Grimm stealing food and clothes to survive?

How many times was Mercury nearly beaten to death by his abusive dad or possibly killed since he lived outside the kingdoms and I'm sure his house was a hotspot for grimm?

But sure Blake is the oppressed one not the abused starving orphans forced to fend for themselves for most of their lives got it makes total sense -_-

even amongst other faunus, we have characters like ilia, sun & adam that showcase the intersection of oppression & violence that we see in the human characters while also having the additional turmoil of being faunus atop that.

blake suffers actualized oppression in neither: she is the second richest character on team rwby with her family owning a mansion which is showcased not even 10 seconds after blake is explaining how cramped menagerie supposedly is, as well has having a full roster of guards & other luxuries at their finger tips.

& in being a faunus, she was sheltered from the majority of any racism experienced due to this upbringing in menagerie. the times she was exposed to the racism of remnant as a whole is when her parents intentionally exposed her to it by bringing her to violent protests.

hell, blake doesn't even suffer the worst amount of racism in the show. the worst that has happened to her is that she's been called a "stupid faunus." meanwhile velvet has been physically assaulted, sun suffered police brutality & profiling, ilia was racially abused on the daily, marrow was tackled to the ground & knelt on while being racially attacked by winter, adam was a child slave.

& none of these other characters were defended. but the moment blake gets the tamest insult thrown at her, weiss is right there to white saviour for her fellow princess. it's ridiculous to have this character be the "face" of the faunus racism in the story while not having her actually be a part of any of it.

[ad-hawkeye]

You can tag this under 50 Shades, but after I read this post from Hoyolab, hoyolab (.) com/#/article/19978642/, if this is true, I am very disappointed about this direction, though it is one I've seen coming. That being said, you've given your thoughts on the writing. In your ideal world, where would the cards post 2nd anniversary have gone, if you had to keep the general situation/environment, but could change up everything else about it?

holy fuck, the way i actually agree with everything in this post. here is the link for those curious, it's a fantastic read tbh.

a few of us in our tot discord have discussed this as well. here are a few brief snippets below.

sorry for the incoherent mess of thoughts below, words are Not coming easy HAHA.

but yeah... like the post said, barbie is a very good way of putting it.

i used to have the same issue with luke. i'm not a huge fan of characters being good at Too Many Things, especially when there's no flaws to balance it out. it really pulls me out of the story. so like. the more you try to impress me with a character, the less impressed i'll be. which. is why i haaaate artem's newer cards.

see, the thing is, the whole reason why i liked artem in the first place is because of how he felt like the down to earth option. he wasn't the childhood friend/undercover agent/detective/stem genius, he wasn't a ceo and son of the richest family in stellis, and he wasn't literal royalty. he was just a lawyer who worked with rosa. he was bad at talking to people. he was a bit of a homebody. he was LAME. completely inexperienced in romance. he was good at his job, but it was obvious he put all of his skill points into being a lawyer and no where else. his abilities with shooting and cooking were both important aspects to his character, but the skills hoyoverse added beyond that just baffle me.

he wasn't cool, but he was kind and genuine.

ever since second anniversary, there has been absolutely no consistency to artem's character whatsoever.

neil gets mentioned less and less even though he was a major part of artem's life AND character. neil was his father figure, since his parents were rarely, if ever, around. and yet, in recent cards, tot constantly goes out of its way to try and convince us artem's parents did nothing wrong. to add to that, we're lucky if neil is even mentioned.

in earlier cards, it was very clear artem was grieving neil's disappearance (see: entwined fate). it was also clear artem's childhood circumstances were extremely lonely and caused him to try and brush off the neglect because he didn't want to stress out his already busy parents (see: loving memories and his dreams of childhood sr)! earlier cards also hinted at traumatic events and a fear of firearms due to how dangerous neil's job as a lawyer was (see: focus fire).

but for god knows what reason, newer cards said well! fuck all of this! artem no longer gives one single shit about neil! also? honestly? the writers seem confused and disoriented by artem downplaying his childhood issues and just made it so he truly Had no issues with his childhood. which. ok. i guess.

in recent months, we have not had one single card where rosa and artem sit down to talk about how artem feels about neil's disappearance. one single card where artem even openly addresses any traumatic experiences. or emotional neglect in childhood.

remember when focus fire mentioned that a disgruntled mafia member held him and neil at gunpoint because he was pissed neil put everyone else in the gang behind bars?? no?? yeah, me neither! because it's never mentioned again! old tot content implies it was incidents like these, the general emotional neglect from his parents, and neil's disappearance that contributed to artem's closed off personality. but man, fuck that! for some reason!

this doesn't even touch upon artem's romantic and sexual inexperience, which has also been entirely undone. he's a sex god now, i guess.

and let us not forget how artem has learned and forgot the same lessons like, several times. artem did we not learn why jealousy and possessiveness are bullshit in atmospherics, por una cabeza, etc...??? are we really back at this again? and it's not even being addressed as a character flaw anymore? okay! okay. fine! whatever.

but okay. i'm getting off track. you asked me an entirely different question! where would i have liked to have seen the cards go? i think the cards following second anniversary are so... well, nothing that you could probably swap out the plots and avoid losing anything of importance.

honestly, i think artem's cards would have shined the best if they stuck to his original character. so when considering the confines we have now:

artem is extremely emotionally repressed. it'd take time for him to come out of his shell. and his early dating cards do begin like this! it's very endearing! several cards could focus on this progression as he becomes more comfortable and relaxed with rosa. progression into being engaged. living with someone for the first time. please.

rosa and artem's dynamic has like, vanished in recent cards. which is a goddamn shame, because their more comfortable dynamics in his railroad, revisiting youth, and snowfallen secrets cards are so charming! they joke around! artem's sense of humor pokes out! they act like real PEOPLE! they're silly! they're nerds! they're equals! i'd keep this dynamic instead of it just being artem flipping back and forth between sex god and "yes i will do whatever you want [insert player name here]"

neil. please, can we focus on neil. what being a lawyer means to artem. how neil influenced that. how artem feels about neil being gone, how artem feels about neil's possible betrayal of the nxx?? he could always have an arc of going through the stages of grief, or learning to look at things through a new lens. being sad neil won't be around for milestones. etc.

the incidents implied in focus fire. okay, being held at gunpoint is pretty uhhh fucking traumatic. did any other events happen bc of neil's status? his parents' statuses? is this why he is so emotionally repressed? is this why he takes the law so seriously?

his parents. can we stop acting like his parents did nothing wrong. please. his parents used to be portrayed under the "well meaning but ultimately very flawed" light, which i adored. it was grey. it was human. maybe artem could learn that it wasnt right of his parents to be so nonexistent in his life. his parents can still love him and make mistakes. maybe he could rebuild his relationship w his parents? maybe once he realizes what he went through wasn't normal, he can be angry, and work through it. idk! anything! please!

more focus on rosa. her studies. her exams. anything. her family. her past. her hobbies. her teaching artem something. rosa talking about her issues. pelase. Please.

it truly feels like his original writers got swapped out, and the new ones have no idea what artem's charm was in the first place. they have no idea how his character even works, so they're just desperately trying to attach Cool Hobbies to him bc they think he's more boring than the other boys when like. that's the fucking point, that IS his charm.

gosh this was so long and i'm sorry if it's like. UNREADABLE or if i totally missed the point but this was like. Freeing to type out. thank you for reaching out anon, it turns out i had more thoughts than i expected!! hope you're having a lovely day! : )

[forgottenroderick]

OOC | Roderick's Tiers for Holdings

RODERICK'S PRIORITIES

@forgottenedmund @forgottenmarian ive been meaning to put this down somewhere, so here it shall be! but this is basically his strategy for figuring out who gets what kind of land/spoils/titles/etc -- w the best/most strategic/richest/best stuff going to higher tiers etc!

ok so roderick is def gonna make sure that ~roderick has the best of everything like!!!! this is def a given lakjdsfkljdf but he also knows that rewarding his most faithful servants is a good idea, so that's def a thing, but he ~also knows he doesn't ever wanna invite anyone getting too big for their britches and tryna grab smth out from under him/his fam, and (atm anyway!) even ~he knows he can't hold the whole world by himself wo v powerful allies to back him up. he also believes that family is the thing he can trust most, w those related most closely being worthy of more trust than those ~less related etc!

this must also be balanced w due respect etc towards the crown and such!!

so! when roderick's handing out goodies to the playable characters, what's the priority? ive got some kinda ~tiers, and within these tiers, he tries to keep things pr even, but in a longterm kind of scale/w a sense of ~earning things getting you more etc. so, if you really exert yourself for roderick you'll get rewarded for it!

for example: uncles of heirs is a tier and, if godfrey really acquits himself well and gets smth big out of it, roderick will then put an uncle of arthur's or guin's in a position where he can really acquit himself and thus potentially earn as much as godfrey did! if he doesn't, that's on him, bc roderick gave him equal opportunity! that kind of thing ;D

RODERICK'S TIERS

empress -- now...the empress is dead! buT she just can't stop winning! and dead or alive, she's still the richest woman in the varmont empire! one of the big things roderick likes to do, right, is play his wives off against e/o by making ~them compete to be his next empress like he does w his heir, its unlikely this award will ever be given, but he's ensured this pot is pr large so the prize is def worth having! and boy is it! the empress, alone, is free to rule over her own holdings like any male lord might! i know, jaw-dropper! now, atm, these holdings are in trust and probs stewarded by either alaric or bart (or perhaps even working together bc it is...a lot and they're both busy, as is!), w that regent splitting the revenues w roderick and w guin, as heirs to the late empress, but all to be reworked, should a new empress ever be named. the empress, as part of roderick's winnings, is always awarded a new holding in every single nation. roderick feels it would be a slight against his own glory, were his empress not to be the second most powerful person in the world and the .richest woman alive!....and she is! well, rich..not...alive... ;D anyway ngl this is also a way of helping assuage his guilt over her death, so that's fun too!

alaric -- sorry to roderick's many (living) wives and children, alaric's in a league of his own!! he's the man who has believed in roderick longest, had his back throughout it all, his most trusted compatriot and warrior and bff! after roderick himself, alaric gets the best of everything! roderick knows alaric can and will hold it, and enrich himself and the empire w whatever he gets bc he's proved it! AND he knows that alaric will do all that w roderick's best interests at heart, too! alaric, alone, out of all the tiers can count on getting a new holding in every single country, regardless of how he acquits himself atp! his loyalty is proven!

ot3: succession -- those heirs out here to scooooore!!! they're gonna get the next best stuff!!!! this is their training-to-rule opportunity, really, so use it wisely bc duly pleasing roderick is as close to that as youre ever gonna get!! nd roderick really ~does actually want them to have a holding in every single country but they're now at the age where they have to earn it!! he will be embarrassed if they fail to do this and they will have to suffer the consequences! now, the boys are most likely gonna earn this through conquest: guin will have to do it by negotiating extraordinary trade deals and diplomatic affairs and strategic marriages and such, both within the empire and outside of it. t he boys can do this as well but they MUST do the other as well and guin CANNOT.

queens: that's right, ladies! sleeping w roderick has its privileges, and you get to hold land in ur own name! obv you don't get to do much ~w that or abt it w/o permissions etc, but you get the revenues from it and that prestige too! also a lot of their households will probs be ppl'd by ppl from their various holdings (aka implied allies) etc!! and they can do more or less as they like, so long as they meet w their council of (male!) advisors before doing anything too big, the heads of which are their respective firstborn sons. alaric, bart, and eoin, and any other extraneous male varmont relations there may be also sit each council, and the respective queen's own male relatives may do as well, (as appointed by the presiding son in question,) all presided over by edmund or arthur, respectively, which is honestly probs another big opportunity for them each to learn abt such things so that's smth! in marian's case, sebastian would also be part of this council. before edmund and arthur were born, arthur or bart or perhaps even roderick, himself, was probs the presiding member.

sebastian: same as ot3: scs, but w less pressure and less opulent potential winnings, bc roderick doesn't mind as much if he doesn't have a holding in every country, etc! he also doesn't have access to affairs ~outside the empire, but may negotiate to his heart's content ~within it as long as he doesn't in any way embarrass roderick ofc!

cassandra: so this one's a lil uhhh weird...she can't do anything to earn anything except by pleasaing/displeasing her father or her mother or full bros doing the same! she also doesn't even get to attend the sessions where her lands etc are dealt with! the deal here is basically that these holdings are effectively her dowry. whoever marries her automatically becomes one of THE most powerful men in the world, becoming archduke and count and lord and everything else w a holding in each of roderick's many domains bc, after guin and roderick's wives, cassandra is the wealthiest and most powerful. (powerless) woman in the world via everything she's got. now, its not nearly as nice as what sebastian's got, bc roderick is here to make sure that his own blood is still more powerful than whoever just ~marries in~ etc, but!!! this is an insane level of wealth and power notwithstanding!!! rn, tho, this one's largely seen to by arthur w sebastian's help, since they both got a lot of holdings of their own to attend to. (also arthur defff checks in w his mom abt what she wants done here but that's just out of love/respect and isn't official bc marian is, ofc, a woman alksdjfkljdsf ironically tho i doubt it occurs to him much to check in w cassandra re: what ~she might want even tho these are literally ~her holdings lakjsdfkljsdf)

the church: yeah his one god getting a temple in every single land! and its gonna be bigg and granddd and flashyyyy, and this guy don't have to earn it! its not on the ~choicest pc of land but its still rad af and lotsa ppl would kill for it but they won't get the chance! the god gets his piece no matter what <3 i would guess that royce is running these, largely, but this lowkey falls under the jurisdiction of the entire privy council to deal w should anything come up and roderick is actively involved w designing each temple etc too

so the immediate imperial family now taken care of, roderick starts to think of satellite family. their tiers are still extravagant, but all ~the best has already been divvied up in the above tiers! now, best can mean amany things, and it incorporates both wealth/power AND strategic significance. so yeah! these guys are less trusted and can't rebel as easily, is basically the thought here!

bartholomew: once roderick's immediate family is all taken care, the very next guy roderick's thinking of is his uncle! he loves this guy, and trusts him as much as he trusts anyone, and before there were kids and multiple wives, bart got WAY choicer pieces!!!! so in the early conquests he realllly made out, still!!! he will still be more wealthy/powerful, id imagine, than cassandra's husband, id wager, but he's now much lower on the pecking order than he used to be, as each successive wife and child pops him into a lower bracket than he was, early on. bartholomew, like everyone else, has to earn these but it seems like he's extremely competent so ive no doubt that happens!

eoin/any other extraneous male varmonts: he's only a nephew, sure, but this dude's still a varmont! his ~sons will be varmonts! and that means smth!! so eoin, on his own, probs less wealthy than cassandra's future hubby, since he wasn't alive and accumulating wealth ~that long before roderick started having kids etc, but once he inherits from his dad and unites everything they both have, well, that varmont name still looking pr great!

brothers-in-laws: w all roderick's blood relatives taken care of, its time to start looking in on those in-laws! they def gotta earn this stuff, and a lot of this will depend on politics re: the related queen/heir etc bc if roderick's mad at amira, well, tristan's (look i brought it around to him again in his own post! ;D but...just as an example bahahah) not being put in a position to earn another holding! ~marian's brother is! and so forth lakjdsfalkjsdf this will ultimately also encompass families who intermarry w roderick's kids, etc. (bc in roderick's mind this is def happening someday! too bad only roderick stands in the way... ;D alkjsdflkjdsf) fathers of wives get better pieces than her brothers, older brothers get better pieces than younger ones, etc. cassandra's husband's family would get lesser pieces than the families of the queens, or of the princes' wives, since his social standing would be lesser. guin's hsuabdn's family would get more than sebastian's and it'd be a whole thing abt whether he gets more than arthur or edmund's bride's families but probs he would?

council members: here's where your alistair greys and your alexander royces come in! they too have to earn it -- in war, yes, but largely w good politicking! roderick likes that thing you did? you get a holding! you get a holding! you displeased him? no holding for you! etc

other loyal lords: earned by extraordinary deeds and pleasing roderick! you're a lord who distinguishes yourself in. me way? you get another holding courtesy the god's chosen! congrats! its good to be you!!! so yeah, roderick keeps lands to himself in this strata and a lesser one so that he can hand them out as rewards to those who earn them in his mind. beware tho! he will also give this strata of holding to the tier below if his lords have displeased him in some way, playing the commons and lords off against e/o just as he does w everyone else! (this also tends to help funnel rebels towards local landowners rather than himself -- this is another benefit @forgottenrian unwittingly offers roderick, which he's happy to exploit at any time!)

anyone else: roderick gets the significance of rewarding extraordinary effort! so he ~will raise you from nothing into a lord (w a lesser holding ngl but still!), if you're somehow epic enough as an ally to him/he happens to notice you for whatever eason and is randomly feeling generous/wanting to make the point of his generosity felt to his underlings! this category of man, who owes everything to roderick, he knows will fight the hardest and prove the most loyal. he exploits that

[deusexlachina]

Antisocial DAO Part 10 (Deep Roads): Meet my evil kindred spirit

In which I finally get my perfect army: one that requires no social skills to command.

In the Deep Roads, I meet Ruck, who has the same disease I had. He is the only merchant in these tunnels, so he's very useful. But he fears you, so you have to pass a social check.

Hm. No merchant for me, right? But I still remember the lesson I learned from Ser Carroll: tenacity is a substitute for social graces. I leave the conversation, then come back, by which time (seconds later) he has grown used to me, and very quickly he calls me a friend. Aw.

I can't convince him to go back to the surface, but I can at least take a look at his stock. He's got some nice stuff - a magic belt, infinite deep mushrooms...

I lick my elven lips. The Dalish love deep mushrooms as much as elfroots. They make our people stronger. Like Popeye. This is not as good a deal as the elfroots, but I Am A Grey Warden with stuff to do, so I can't backtrack to the Dalish camp. Now it's mushroom time, and I buy them by the thousand. Despite his sickness, Ruck has cornered the deep mushroom market and has, by the time he's done with me, become one of the richest people in Thedas.

After numerous pitched battles, I finally meet Branka, who is sick of politics and maneuvering and wants to defeat the darkspawn by finding a superweapon, the Anvil of the Void. Her tolerance for social graces is fairly limited. A woman after my own heart.

She seals me inside, forcing me to fight my way through layers of ancient magical defences to access the Anvil. Since this directly contributes to my mandate, she could have just asked, but She Is Socially Inept.

When I reach the Anvil, it is guarded by its creator, Caridin. He explains that it turns people into enormous badass immortal robots [bad]. It all seemed so harmless - he never expected he'd be turned into a robot!

But I've suffered the taint, seen the suffering of the world's greatest mushroom merchant, and watched good men like Soldier and Tower Guard senselessly slaughtered. Hell, on the way here I had to kill a lady who ate her own husband's face and turned into a huge monster. Such fates await any number of people if the Blight is not stopped - and are they any better than being a cool as hell robot? Branka doesn't think so, and, honestly, she's a kindred spirit. I couldn't possibly kill her.

Leliana tells me this goes against everything she knows to be right, which means I lose 10 approval before she stabs the shit out of Caridin. What Leliana sometimes lacks in strength of conviction, she more than makes up for with sheer loyalty. What a great girlfriend to have.

Incidentally, 10 approval is exactly as much as you can get by gifting her an adorable "subterranean bunny-pig," so we're good. She fawns over her new pet right after killing a man in cold blood, which seems very jarring but, if you've played Inquisition, this checks out completely.

Branka offers me a favour, so I ask her to get right to work turning people into cool robots. Actually, your husband did quite a lot to help you in your quest. I think it's fair that he be first on the production line.

Of course, Branka says no to this. Not because she likes her husband, mind you, but she doesn't yet know how to turn people into robots (a minor flaw in her plan to obtain the device that turns people into robots). She suggests "we go with the crown for now," but she definitely likes what I'm putting out.

Oghren disapproves of you even suggesting this, even though he just approved of me helping Branka to use the anvil in general. He never expected he'd be turned into a robot!

[lordmartiya]

How Mansa Musa searched for Mecca? | Mansa Musa - The Richest Man that E...

Let's compare this guy to the modern ultra wealthy. The average modern billionaire savagely exploits their workers, tries to pay their suppliers as little as possible, and doesn't donate to charity if they can help it... And Mansa Musa, the richest man in history, insured that his literal slaves lived like kings, paid his suppliers the proper wage, and gave to the poor what he thought they needed to live for weeks but was actually more because gold was that much more valuable in Cairo than back home, and the only reason it was an issue was that he had no idea he could have bought off the rest of the world until he saw that he thought was moderate spending had accidentally caused enormous inflation.

Modern billionaires should learn his generosity (and have a bit more savviness about the value of money).