#like you're telling me scam likely/actually got action???

[sapphickx]

spoilers for new ep: i was 100% with the hermie is related to scam likely theory. but i always thought it was gonna be like, he is an essence of the likely magic or something not a literal bio child. because i fully believed that scam likely would never get fucked

[moghedien]

So someone is in your inbox asking for money

I'm not going to say that every single instance of this happening is a scam, but in my experience, random people following you and then sending you an ask to ask you to reblog a post or donate, they are almost always a scam.

You may feel bad about ignoring them or deleting the ask, but doing so is probably going to be the best course of action. Not only so that YOU don't lose money but so that you don't give the scammer access to you followers.

But how could you know that the person is a scam and not the one instance where someone really needs help? Let's go over some ways to check for signs of a scammer.

this is the post I got in my inbox today. I've personally never dealt with this particular version, so I didn't immediately delete. I probably wouldn't have reblogged anyway, but I wanted to look into this specifically.

The first thing to do is go on their blog. In this instance, the post they want me to reblog is pinned, and it also has a donation link. I'm NOT going to click on the link because there is no indication at all to what this might lead to and I'm going to instead hover over link and see what url pops up

in this instance, the url shows me that I'm going to be redirected to paypal. IMMEDIATELY a sign that this is a scam. people can still scam with gofundme and other sites like that, sure, but at least with those sites, there is some accountability in that you can see if the donation goal is being met or not. with paypal, you're just blindly donating, assuming that this donation amounts are what the person says they're at.

And also this is not to say that honest people can't use paypal for donations, sometimes that's the only option. But if you're going to donate to someone via paypal, you should at the very least be personally aware of who you're donating to and that they are an actual person.

But let's look deeper just in case. The next thing to do is look for other sketchy signs on the blog. So I scrolled through to see what they were blogging about otherwise, and there were red flags here.

Just glancing through the blog, I could see that they almost exclusively posted about Taylor Swift and the Mandalorian. They posted A LOT within the past day (this is why you should have times enabled btw) and exclusively from the same four or fives blogs.

But maybe they just post a lot. You can actually very easily see their posting habits by looking at their archive.

We're going to go to the three dots and click "view archive"

You can also just type in "[username].tumblr.com/archive" for any blog and access anyone's archive as long as they have a public account. But what's the point of doing that. Well, in the archive, we can get a very quick overview of someone's posting habits.

And here I've circled in red the first and last thing this blog has posted in the month of February 2024 (the month I'm writing this). You can see that both of those posts were posted on the same day. Meaning all of their posts in the entire month of February happened on the same day.

But what about posts outside of February 2024?

Well there are none

You can sort posts by month and year and doing so for this blog shows that they ONLY posted in February 2024 and ONLY one day in February and it happened to be the day before I got an ask in my inbox asking for donations.

These are the most obvious tells, but there are other signs you can look out for.

For instance, all of their posts are without any sort of tags. They never comment on anything and their only original post was their one asking for donations. If you click on the search function in their blog, nothing comes up

There's also the fact that the blog is clearly targeting at making the people who WOULD care about someone needing insulin sympathetic. The fact that they use BLM, identify as a black man, have pronouns in their bio all are on purpose to make people who might care feel like this is a person who deserves help. the scammer is using your empathy against you. DON'T LET THEM. Be smart and always always think before you act, even if that action is just posting. You can help people in need without feeding the vultures that want to take advantage and want to use YOU to steal from your community

But let's just be REALLY REALLY sure this is a scam.

On whim, I copied the text straight from the ask in my inbox and put into google and then added "tumblr' at the end. You'll be shocked to know there were immediate results and not from this blog

First one was a reblog from over a year ago. the exact same wording minus the cost of the insulin and the call to action at the end

I clicked on the original poster for this and the blog was cleared out!

Minus them using the exact same photograph in their header as the blog that sent me an ask today, of course.

The second instance I found was slightly different wording, but using similar enough wording that it can be assumed came from the same scammer. This came from another ask in an inbox, but the receiver rightly called them out as a scam. The post is from two months ago and the blog that asked it as been deleted outright

All of this to say, there are always scammers on tumblr, but there have been a lot recently. This one happened to not be posing as Palestinians in need, but a lot are (in that instance, Palestinian bloggers have been vetting who is and isn't real so you can always check to see if they're getting support or getting called out from actual Palestinians). They won't always use these methods and won't always been this obvious, so even if you don't donate to someone yourself ALWAYS be thorough in your checking before you reblog a donation post. Make sure the charity its collecting for is REAL and if its a person asking for money, make sure that person is real as well.

You can help people without getting scammed or giving scammers access to your followers, and not reblogging every donation post doesn't make you a bad person or mean you don't care. Its important to be careful, and not being careful can do more harm than good. it makes actual people in need look sketchy and takes away resources that could have been given to them. So if you aren't sure if something is real DO NOT REBLOG IT

[matan4il]

I don’t know if you or anyone can really answer this accurately, but are GoFundMes for people living in Gaza trustworthy at all? or even trustworthy on a case by case basis? a musician I like (Maisie Peters) shared several today, with “help (these families) move out of Rafah,” and it gave me pause because I wholly believe in helping people who need it, but how can we possibly know if that contribution will go to the worthwhile places and families who need it? so much aid is being stolen by Hamas and UNRWA even still, and I have no idea how well researched any of those individual fundraisers are. I’m sure people mean well but it seems like there must be a more reliable option?

Hi Nonnie!

You're so right to be doubtful. Every humanitarian crisis brings with it a bunch of scams, but when we talk about a situation where there can be terrorists getting the aid, I think being cautious with people asking for money is extra justified. I'm glad you already know about the theft of humanitarian aid in Gaza, and are being careful.

First, I will say that the ones setting money to get people out of Gaza completely are very suspect to me. Especially now. Egypt has not only been extremely reluctant to take in refugees from Gaza, even on a temporary basis (for historic reason I won't get into, and which have little to do with "preventing ethnic cleansing"), they've doubled down on closing their border with Gaza to the point of not even allowing humanitarian aid in through their border anymore. Even before this recent development, they were only allowing in medical cases. We do know some people, related to Hamas, got out of Gaza, likely by pretending to be a medical case. This would suggest that maybe, up until the recent Egyptian crackdown, there was a way to bribe some Egyptian personnel to look the other way, and pretend regular people were medical cases, but it would take substantial amounts of money, and would be limited in how many could actually get through that way. In essence, you had no way of knowing who legitimately would take your money and use it to get out of Gaza, and who would just take your money, and do with it God only knows what. At best, just keep it to themselves, at worst use it for terrorist purposes. There is NO WAY for people outside the region to be able to check how the money will be used, or if any of the claims made by a campaign runner are legit, so anyone telling you, "This is safe, it's been vetted!" is either fooling you, or is being fooled themselves.

Inside Gaza, people don't actually need money to get out of Rafah. They can just... move out. Israel has already set up an improvised shelter city within walking distance from Rafah, it also already allows evacuation to other safe parts of south Gaza, and we know that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already moved out of Rafah and away from the zones designated for military action. And this costs nothing. Especially with humanitarian aid being poured non-stop into Gaza, including temporary shelters. Are those great? No. But if the goal is to get out of Rafah, it's possible to do that without paying a dime.

Bottom line, I'm not saying every fundraising campaign is untrustworthy, I'm saying that there is no way to know which one is and which one isn't, and that I personally wouldn't donate to any, because I wouldn't want my money to go to terrorist activities no matter what, and when I know that people do have alternatives and can get by, even if they don't get my donations, I'd rather be safe than sorry, meaning having to live with the possibility that my money directly got someone murdered.

I hope this helps! Take care! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[la-squadra1234]

hiiiii I saw that your requests are open. pelican I get an ask with the adult trio + Feitan and Shalnark in which reader decides to prank them that she's cheating?

ooffff reader is dying multiple times today!!!😭😭

ofcc you can!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

feitan-

reader: feitan..i have something to confess and it's been on my mind for a while..i cheated on you the night of the auction when you were out with phinks...im so sorry..



"for your sake I hope that you're joking If not, you are very bold to come and tell me"

reader: fei please please don't do anything crazy...

"who was it...who was the fucker that you cheated on me with?"

reader: you don't know him/her..

"there about to know who I am"

(long story short, he starts speaking his native language and then goes on a killing spree and kills every man that he sees)

reader: fei this was a prank dumbass

feitan: -_- seriously? 😐

shalnark-

reader: shal.. I don't know any way to tell you this without hurting your feelings, but I cheated on you with a man that you don't know I felt like my needs with you weren't meet so I took action

shalnark: and i'm Marilyn Monroe if you're going to play a prank on me at least make it believable

reader: OK, first of all-

(shalnark didn't believe it he knew that reader was smart enough not to cheat on HIM of all people)

hisoka-

reader: hisoka I cheated on you

hisoka: that's alright ive been cheating since the beginning

(scammer gets scammed?!?!)

reader: hisoka this was a fucking prank.

hisoka: and now I'm going to do what I do best and disappear without a trace.

(at least you're not with a cheater anymore..?)

illumi-

reader: illumi I cheated on you. I'm so sorry but I knew you would find out eventually so I just wanted to come clean right now...

illumi: that's a lie

reader: what? Why would I lie about something like that?

illumi: if you were cheating on me, I would have known you think that I don't have people that are watching and reporting back to me at all times? amazing how you trust me that much.

reader: okay fine you got me, but what the actual fuc-



chrollo-

reader: chrollo..i'm so sorry but i cheated on you while you were at the auction...

chrollo: hold on.. so you're telling me while I was making money and doing work and providing for your sluggish ass you were out here whoring around?

reader: w-well you didn't have to say it that way... I just wanted to come clean about it before you found out about it yourself

chrollo: ok so these are your options you either kill yourself I kill you I kill your family or I kill the guy and your family or I killed the guy and you or- (all of the options are being killed)

reader: um love? this was a prank hehehe 🤭 :)))

chrollo: another one of these are you serious? You're such a prankster don't ever pull a prank like that again on me am I clear?

reader: haha yes yes okayyyy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

this is my first time rating like this. What does everybody think about this? I personally like it. I feel like it's organized and cute 

thank you so much for request!! I hope you enjoyed along with everybody else 

[maxwell-grant]

whats the deal with Doc Savage?

"He's a doctor, okay, but what's so savage about him? That he goes in public without a shirt? Y'know, he's got a caveman in his group and everything, and that guy is a chemist who runs around doing monkey flips and beating bad guys with his bare hands. Why don't they call him Doc Savage? He’s doing more to deserve the name.”

“Everytime it’s something weird and horrifying happening that only he is able to solve. And it's always some guy running a con at the end. Everytime Savage rolls into town, it's like opposite world when it's the doctor who has to save people from being scammed, instead of the other way around.

"I'm just saying, nobody's that perfect. He goes around with guns shooting people with what he calls "mercy bullets" that only put bad guys to sleep. Yeah, they go to sleep allright, and if that fails, I'm sure the compassion grenades do the trick.

"You're saying they rejected your application for the Fabulous Five? That's nuts." "Blew me out the front door, I tell you! Total insanity. Newman was there, he saw the whole thing." "No, what's insane is that you thought you had a shot in the first place. Nobody "joins" the Fabulous Five, it's like the most elite group in the country. What did you think you were adding there?" "Jerry, how hard can it be to play sidekick to that guy? He does everything they do better, I'd just have to sit around playing cheerleader and wait for him to save the day, I already do the first part all day around you. It's the perfect job! What, you think you're too good for it?" "No, but I have a little something called self-esteem. It's the Fabulous Five, George, not the Fabulous Plus Extra. They already made room for that girl cousin of his, they're not making extra for you." "Maybe, shmaybe. Unless I got that Tom guy fired. I mean, he looks like he's on his way out the door as is. "Electrical wizard", pssht, I could do that." "Sure you could. I mean hey, why don't you ask Elaine to set up you two? She got to meet Doc himself last weekend." "No way." "I'm serious! Apparently Doc saved Peterman's life during a mission in Burma and they'd kept in touch since then, and she got some kind of date with him out of it."

"He was a no show?" "Oh, he is all show allright." "So you two -" "No! I mean, I got to see him in action a couple of times and, yeah, I tried. But every date with him was a wash, he always needs to cut things off halfway to go fight some supervillain, and then he never calls back. He barely even looks at me when we're IN the date." "Well he's Doc Savage. He's like Superman, y'know, he's got places to be and people to save. "Yeah, and who's gonna save me? I swear Jerry, it's like he's never even seen a woman before. Him and those five morons around him, bunch of misogynists. Whatever, he's hot, but I'm over him. Miss Savage no more." "I'll bet. Hey, what's this?" "Oh it's from the fitness spa I'd been going near work. There's this girl I'd been talking to lately ever since Peterman assigned me the Hidalgo Trading Company catalogue, she's been giving me the skinny on Doc and his frat boy clubhouse "Oh?" "Yeah she's big, like, really big, really smart too. She's got a yacht, even. Apparently she does a lot of traveling. Anyway, she's this fitness freak with a great tan and bronze hair and, big muscles, and she's got these beautiful gold eyes and-" "And you're saying all that because you think I'd be into her?" "Huh? You? Oh, pfft, no, she's way too much for you." "I'll bet. And, uh, what's her name again?" "Oh everyone at the club just calls her Pat. Mystery lady. I'm meeting her down at her yacht next week." "Yeah. Miss Savage no more, huh."

(SLAM) (audience cheers)

"Hey, how did things go at the Crime College?" "Oh it-it-it was a NIGHTMARE! It-itya it's like waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay, Jerry! Way less fun than it sounds!! I'd heard the name on the street and signed up to learn how to fight crime, nobody told me what it was actually about! "What happened?" "Well, at first it was kinda nice, actually. You sign up at the Hidalgo Trading Company lobby, and they ask you to submit your criminal record. I figured, hey, safest place to leave it, right? You meet some of his assistants and everything, and when they hooked the eletrodes to my brain I thought hey, *click* free brain massage along with crimefighting lessons for free!" "Wait Kramer back up, electrodes?"

----

"Allright so if I get this straight: You signed up for a program Doc Savage's running that nobody knows about called the Crime College, thinking it was gonna teach how to fight crime. You get in there and it's some kind of nuthouse where Doc Savage tries to pry open your brain with a drill." "A-yup." "And he's lobotomozing criminals all over town because he's running a program where he, what, carves their brain to make them stop being evil and gives them new identities outside of town." "Ye-yup." "And they never remember who they used to be? They never come back, not ever, they just become model citizens as far away from here as possible? Are you 100% sure it actually works?" "So they said, yeah." "...Hey pass me the phone for a minute, will ya-"

"Hey Newman, I heard from Elaine that the Hidalgo Trading Company is hiring now."

[thekimspoblog]

I still think his greatest sin as Jimmy was how he got Irene ostracized by her elderly friend group 😭

How horrible is that? To be bullied and excluded in the last years of your life?

And even when he went back and “fixed” it by making himself the vilain, it was still too little too late. She still went through all that suffering. For his greed

Alright. I also got a lot of thoughts about that episode. But put a pin in that. Short answer: It's not Saul's fault that all of Irene's friends suck.

True, but…Jimmy still did her dirty :(

And it’s sad, because he clearly really liked her and his other elderly clients. He just put his hustle first over their best interests

Mostly what bothers me about that plot thread is that he lied for... literally no reason. There's nothing he said to Irene's friends that he couldn't have just said to Irene directly. If you're going to interfere with the case (however illegal that might be) JUST TELL IRENE YOU DON'T LIKE ERIN! She would have listened! Hell just tell her you need the payday. To me the cat cookies at the beginning of that episode - how Jimmy buys them from the store and then pretends he baked them - symbolizes this weird pointless pathological need to overcomplicate things.

Yeah, fair point on the overcomplicating for plot reasons regarding Jimmy & Irene. He *should* have just told her directly

I guess it ties into his pathological need to scam and wheel and deal? Bit of a stretch on the writers’/creators benefit there lol

Again, part of my brbabcs headcanon is that god isn't real but the devil is.

But Chuck wasn’t wrong when he compared Jimmy to an alcoholic. It is like an addiction for him

So, do you kind of conceptualize that some of McWexler’s bullshit is literal devilish temptation?

Not temptation exactly. More akin to a cruel determinism. I'm still working out exactly how this lore works. All I know is the POV camera seems to have a psychological effect on the characters. Makes them act erratic.

I think the underlying rule is that whatever entities are controlling these characters (yes it's an allegory for the writers but it goes deeper than that) will go to any lengths to be entertained. And it finds violence especially entertaining. Does it actively make the characters do bad things? Maybe maybe not. But if it gets bored it will make bad things happen, whether the characters are obliging it or not.

Don't know if you've seen "Hereditary" but I pull a lot of inspiration from that. That and Westworld, of course.

On a tangential note, I'm quite into ARGs and "dark video games lore explained" videos. I am currently watching a deep dive into "Inscryption" and it's quite interesting!

But in the broadest sense, I'll just say that because BCS is a prequel, obviously free will is not as simple as it would appear to Jimmy McGill. Certain things were simply ordained to happen. In fact Kim's death might have been ordained to happen too, and that is why her living to 2016 signifies something gone wrong.

That’s an interesting idea!

I do love both Hereditary and Westworld (especially S1. I was a little disappointed by S2 and didn’t finish S3). But that idea of not only “destiny” in the sense of inherited/intergenerational trauma and actual hereditary traits, and also actual Destiny in terms of Fate is very fun to contemplate; and how much of a character’s actions are actually free will and how much is pre-destined.

With Jimmy in particular, that idea of self-fulfilling prophecy and his (in)ability to change in spite of or because of constantly trying to run away from himself and the consequences of his actions is very compelling. But it’s there for Kim, too! She wants “more” and seems to be constantly running away from the instability and deprivation of her past and towards some idealized, self-actualized version of herself

So that idea of a godlike or demonic force manipulating and controlling that element of destiny for them is a cool idea!

I feel like Jimmy "avoided" consequences for his actions (at least in the context of Season 1) in the sense that sliding under a sixteen wheeler and getting dragged for ten miles is "avoiding" getting hit by it. lol! Like sure, he never did time for the Chicago Sunroof incident, but it still followed him for the rest of his life. Maybe some would say he deserved to have his life ruined way back then and that would have been the end of it. And I can't really argue with that reading given that less connected people have their lives ruined for a lot less all the time. But I would point out that after that he completely reorganized his life and at least TRIED to be a good boy for almost a decade, before giving up and reverting back to his true colors.

Even though the brothers both had a hand in each other's downfalls, I don't think either of them were really the cause. Yes, Jimmy made a fool of Chuck, but Chuck was a control freak with no humility. Even if Jimmy had stayed far away in Illinois, I suspect something else would have inevitably caused Chuck to implode. Hell, if you buy into my extended theories about the rivalry between Kim and Chuck, it kind of seems like Jimmy was just the middleman in the first place.

And on the opposite side of the coin, conformity just isn't in Jimmy's nature. It's not like he would have walked a straight path if only his brother had been supportive. Chuck was probably onto something that Jimmy simply didn't have the right disposition for this level of responsibility. The problem is this institution IS corrupt to a fascial degree, so the fact that Saul makes a mockery of it might ironically be a sign that he's the only one in the room taking this seriously.

I mean, I think I've mentioned this before, but I just cannot abide the notion that Saul was some bane on the justice system when THE PROVOCATION DEFENSE is still widely accepted precedent.

I think that actually gets at one of my biggest problems with the way the show handles characterization. There's so much overwhelming evidence that the legal profession itself and the general concept of ambition is at the heart of why these people have such severe mental health problems, and yet it's never directly addressed as such.

Chuck put all of his self-worth into his career and had no plan for retirement even though he NEEDED to be thinking about that.

Howard's good reputation wasn't wholly unearned, but he still was an emotionally stunted person who had never experienced real hardship as the result of his privileged life. Had he survived that encounter with Lalo, maybe he would have learned sometimes people hate you for no reason and you just have to be okay with that. Sometimes you do everything right and you still lose. He would have realized he was so caught up in preserving a legacy he was losing everything else.

Jimmy's mistake was not his crimes, but the times he tried to be something besides a criminal. That he rose above his benign state as a petty crook, got access to the knowledge usually gatekept by "responsible" people and predictably used that power in an irresponsible way.

And no Kim! Jimmy is not a bad influence on you, nor are you a bad influence on him! The entire romance is a red herring. You're "poisoned" because you're poisoning yourself - working yourself into an early grave, tearing your hair out trying to bail water on a sinking ship. I'm 100% confident that if she wasn't working a job which riled her up so much, she and Jimmy would be able to have a normal relationship. This is why the CFLA plot point niggles me so much - wanting to help people the oppressed, and not wanting to hurt people in positions of power are diametrically opposed goals - and whether or not Kim is still involved with Jimmy by the end of the story, she's set up to repeat her mistakes because she still hasn't dealt with that.

Humility means a peaceful if mundane life, but it also means accepting the world around you as it is. Ambition means pain - being the hero to some and the villain to others but never having the comfort of anonymity either way. Wielding power does weird things to the human brain, and that's a truth which goes far beyond individual case studies of whether any singular exercise of that power was subjectively good or bad.

Gus's story arc would probably be the closest the show comes to tackling this binary head-on. But still, it's muddied because I'm just left wondering how much further he could have gotten if he didn't waste his energy on a revenge quest against the Salamancas. To me, BCS is less about conventionally moral or immoral behavior. And more about questions of which stupid mistakes prevent the characters from becoming platonic ideals of themselves.

Haha, I love your comparison of Jimmy avoiding consequences to sliding under a truck only to be dragged by it! He avoids formal consequences and has a very difficult time truly admitting fault most of the time, but he does get bit in the ass bu the inevitable fallout of his schemes. So I guess he gets hit by natural consequences. I agree that he and Chuck were both instrumental in bringing each other down, but it likely would have happened either way for them. Chuck was clearly very triggered by his divorce (which happened for some reason) and his mental health was a ticking time bomb from the stress of his overwork, similar to Kim. The trouble with Jimmy was a chronic stressor that was constantly adding to everything else going on with Chuck.

I don’t personally see a rivalry between Chuck and Kim. I think he initially sort of patronizes her, but once she calls him out, he respects her and I think him trying to warn her away from Jimmy was a genuine attempt to “save” a promising young by-the-book attorney from Jimmy’s “corrupting influence”

I have so much empathy for Howard. Is he kind of a smug prick and unnecessarily punishes Kim with doc review? Yeah. But he is also the only character who really commits to trying to make positive changes in his life and his approach to other people. I understand Kim’s resentment of him, but her (and Jimmy’s) campaign against him was so vindictive and unnecessary.

With your point about the opposition between helping oppressed people versus propping up people/systems in power, I think that goes back to the larger flaw of both BrBa and BCS being so character-driven that they don’t even bother to interrogate the systemic problems causing the issues in characters’ lives. I don’t think either Jimmy or Kim have interest in being a revolutionary and overthrowing the system. But they do both genuinely seem interested in doing what good they can within the bounds (more or less) of the legal system

Jimmy as Saul has more of a stick-it-to-the-man attitude, which is why he’s often happy to bend or straight up break the legal procedures or break the law himself to benefit his clients or himself

I do wish BCS had given us more with Gus’s story line. I don’t think we really saw him change all that much between BCS and BrBa, and he’s such a fascinating character

[icanseethefuture333]

How does a person open up to their own guides? Is that possible. I’m relatively new to even listening to reads as I grew up very religious but I’ve always felt a connection or I guess a little voice telling me what to do. Can I connect to that more? Am I off the walls for thinking this?

Yes you should :)! I know in most cases people think hearing "voices" sounds crazy, but honestly it's not? The same way people pray to god(s) and they ask God for help. Then out of no where they have an epiphany and they received a message from their god(s). That is the same as your guides telling you something. Reasons why it's not crazy is because 1. It's your conscience speaking to you, 2. Your higher self or spirit guides could be telling you things as a way to keep you safe or attract abundance. I say listen but don't necessarily always take action. You have to pay attention as well to how it makes you feel. Sometimes your spiritual team will test you and opportunities will come to approach you. For example, I was offered a modeling contract in the summer and I was so excited but then I got readings that said this agency will not be good for me. They said that they will basically rip me off and work me to the bone. I didn't understand why because this was one of the best modeling agencies and I felt so happy to feel closer to accomplishing one of my dreams. I wasn't understanding why there was so many blocks in the road of a path of something I wish to do. Then I thought back to my previous phone calls with them and I realized how I felt like they were not being genuine with me. The first meeting I did with the agency, they said they'd have a hairstylist whenever I am on set, and that they would not book me during the school year. So most professional models suggest to negotiate the contract for your own personal safety and time and money. When I asked the agency could they include that in the contract for me (since they decided to bring all that up and I didn't even ask for it). They quickly brushed me off and basically said they do it for all of the models, that I don't need to "worry" about it. Kind of saying "trust me" without stating that. Then proceeded to say they could actually book me whenever and that it would be unpredictable, when they were originally saying they wouldn't hire me during the semester. Now I know as a model you have to work whenever you're called in, but to be told something and then be told completely something else, I have lost interest in signing with them. It's already showing a sign of inconsistency and I don't like that. Another funny situation was I was offered by someone recently to give me money to help with my finacial situation and they were asking me invasive ass questions like "what bank do you use?" or was like "let me send you a check!". So I already knew that person was being sus and possibly trying to scam me because what do you need all that information for 💀? I just turned their offer down. Overall, trust your intuition, pay attention to signs, if you are asking for something from your spirit guides or are manifesting, be aware of when you are being tested.

[thewritingof-therose]

Actually, I would have loved it if people had been honest with from the get go. Or at least making sure that their actions matched their words.

I needed to be told that my writing wasn't that good. That it wasn't engaging enough to get comments and that it was like that. I would have accepted it. I was the one having access to my comments inbox and I saw the lack of them. The months between comments despite updating weekly. I tried to do different stories to be sure that all my readers would find something to their taste.

In the end, my writing was still a problem.

Kudos are nice but you can give them by accident, without reading or out of pity. Hits, don't even get me started on it as they mean nothing. A fic could have a lot of hits and still be shit because something in the summary got people curious enough. Meanwhile, a comment means that someone took the time to think about something to say and made sure to send it. Yes, it's more work than leaving a kudos but the impact is greater.

And thus, everytime I've tried to get the answer I needed the most ("No, you're not that good."), I've been hit with people trying to convince me that my writing was great, that people loves my stuff and that everything I did until now was incredible.

Still no comments on my fics though.

I've been told that my writing was great. I wasn't showed that it was.

And as a writer, it's so incredible ironic to be hit by that demonstration of "Show, don't tell".

But don't make me say what I didn't. I'm glad and I enjoyed every kudos I got and all the comments I got this far. Yet, if you followed my writing and were part of the Illidan/Maiev fandom, you should know how small we are. How little content there is. Maybe it's me just being petty and thinking I deserved more, but I wished that for all the work I did for it (111 fics in the tag, mind you, with weekly updates), I shouldn't have to cry after comments when we were so little active writers. There was so little people that I think we could have been treated equally as writer.

However, back to the main subject, it was yet another proof of my inability to write well. Because I wouldn't be ranting like that if it hadn't been the truth. In such a small fandom, it was clearly the quality that made the difference.

Yet, when listening to some people, I was the best writer...

Except that no. I was just the most resilient and with too much free time to spam the tag. And it never felt as if I was deserving that honor. I was just a scam and pretty much forced people to read me, as there wouldn't be anything else.

Proof for it is that when we got more writers after the drought of the end of Legion, I began to see how far behind I was getting.

Anyway. That's now in my past.

If you're still reading and are usually reading fics, I'm just asking one things from you.

Comment on the fics you're reading.

Don't let any other writer feel like I do.

Comment in your native language.

Comment to say you liked it.

Comment to analyze the writing.

Comment to say you want to give another kudo.

Just do it.

[luxurybrownbarbie]

As someone who works in wealth management, how do you feel about the Sam Fried Bankman case?

😭😭😭😭😭. Strap in, bestie. (This is very long! I don’t know how to do read mores on mobile.)

Okay so. 1) He's making my job about 20,000,000 times harder, because the SEC is going to overcompensate like hell because of his stupid little scheme. The regulators have already started throwing meetings in on JANUARY THIRD. Like, please let us come down from the holidays? 2023 will have barely been in action for 72 hours.

2) He’s an idiot. I know it's hard to get to non-extradition countries right now, because 90% of them are acting up, but he should NOT have stayed in the Bahamas. Charter a jet and fly to the Maldives, bro. Robinette would have to send the entirety of the Navy SEALS to drag me out of any non-extradition country.

3) My sympathy for these people is inverse to the amount of people who told them *not* to invest in this very clear scam. There are clients who are crying and throwing up, but all we can do is refer them to the millions of emails we sent telling them *not* to put their money in this.

That money is gone. Also... there really is no law saying they have to get any portion of it back. If the feds didn't step in, he really could have disappeared with all that money. Imagine if the CEO of Capital One just decided to dip with the entirety of your checking and investment accounts. And unless the SEC decided to step in, you're just out of money. He stole money from his clients, investors, and used it to funnel his lifestyle, and the only reason he's getting hit with anything is because it imploded so spectacularly the government had to do something.

He's a con man, that much is clear. It's... not exactly shocking to me that a company without a board and practically no oversight was able to commit a crime this absolutely bonkers, because 99% of the people involved are white men, but it is very telling of exactly how dangerous tech bros have become. The guy who dealt with Enron's collapse was sitting on the floor of the House telling the SEC they should have stopped them from scamming billions of dollars, because there's no way to get those people that money back. And SBF was sitting in the Bahamas refusing to be extradited. That audacity is genuinely hilarious, sorry. Good luck, worstie.

Now. I was called all types of uppity and hating by several family friends when I told them to put their coins into a Goldman Sachs or Merrill account instead of some unverified crypto funds. The ones who listened to me? They've still got their money! Why? Because the house always wins.

The idea of some beautiful, revolutionary development when it comes to money is... laughable. I'm sorry. Every banking CEO, including the very much disgraced banks Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse, will lay down their lives to make sure they never allow these things to actually gain a real foothold in communities. At least not until they've managed to do it themselves. (And the actually successful and possibly revolutionary ones?They were bought up so fast, you probably only heard about them for about 0.02 seconds. They'll release them under the marketing umbrella of the banks and other institutions later on.) The house always wins.

And quite honestly, he's very lucky he got caught up by the feds. Because untraceable money attracts very unsavory people, and there's no telling what they're ready to do because of those astronomical losses. Especially if they can't even access some of the wallets. Some of them are happy to go through the feds, but I'm sure some of them have some more sinister ideas. Good luck worstie, redux.

He might be made an example of, but I truly doubt it. He’ll likely get a slap on the wrist in return for his information on some of those people, and the average joes who gave him money will have no recourse.

Bottom line: Please, for the love of all things holy, please do not invest in cryptocurrency. At least not as your primary investment method. Throw a couple hundred in there if you have it to spare, but nothing more. Until it is stringently regulated, you are better off putting your cash in the garbage disposal.

[lovethewayyoudoso]

One of Rosaires biggest flaws is that he doesn't really understand the concept of doing something good or nice for the sake of it. He's certain everything has a cost, whether it's money, time, effort. Everything has always come at a cost for him afterall. Every relationship petered out because they grew bored of him or they just wanted something (usually monetary or otherwise tangible), or they got bored of what else he had to offer (sex! He was never very affectionate early on, why would he be?). When people got bored of you, they were done with you, that's how everything works.

And not just relationships. You donate to a charity and now they want more. You give them your time in terms of volunteerism and now you need to head up an event. You toss a fiver in a beggars cup and they ask for a ten when you walk by the next time. Let a friend use your private jet and it seems like they've made it their own service now.

You don't live up to expectations and now you're useless, you're never good enough.

On the surface level of this mentality of why Rosaire has become generally selfish, Toshiya has to scratch his head. So, ditch the boyfriends that use you. Tell the charities you're happy to spread the word about their efforts. Buy the beggar a sandwich next time or just have a humanizing chat with him. Set a boundary with your belongings. Didn't doing all these things pay off initially with feeling good? Even the relationships: just because you've had bad luck doesn't mean you should stop trying. Doesn't being nice and kind and helpful and trying your best feel good? These things pay for themselves.

Rosaire doesn't get it. Toshiya doesn't get that he doesn't get it. They come from different worlds in so many ways. "There are people who love you for being you, Rosaire, I promise. You don't think so but I bet if you just look for friends you will find them." Or: "Just do something nice to be nice. Don't look back, don't try to justify, just do something nice or fun or frivolous."

Rosaire ponders the conversation. He mostly thinks about the surface level implications and messages (because the deeper ones... Well, that's something for his therapist). Do something nice just to be nice and see how it makes you feel. The feeling is the reward and if your mind and your heart keep asking for more? Then do more: do another nice thing and another kind thing but don't let yourself feel obligated. Seek out those who appreciate you and your actions and don't dwell on those who abuse it.

He asks Fabienne for the rundown on the mail he's received today. She opens the overwhelming majority of it, filtering out the junk and the scams and whatnot. Legal business and official documents of course go straight to him or the appropriate entity (lawyer, accountant...).

"This one looks like a personal letter, but I don't recognize the name... Do you know an H. Gonzalez in the United States?" Fabienne flipped the rather decorative envelope over before cutting it open.

"No idea." He gave her little attention as he thumbed through the few pieces of mail from the week that actually interested him. A catalogue, a business journal...

The woman laughed as she read the floral decorated card that was inside. It was a noise of sweet amusement and surprise, "Mon dou dou, you've been invited to a wedding."

"Ah...pardon?" Blue eyes looked up over his magazine, one brow quirked.

"Apparently... Mademoiselle Hannah Juanita Gonzalez is marrying her long time girlfriend, Mademoiselle Casey Leigh Smith, in Des Moines," she said the name in a distinctly French way, "Ee-oh-wa? United States."

"Hmm," he tapped his chin, "Never heard of them, or Ee-oh-wa, United States. Isn't Toshiya's sister-in-law a Smith? Isn't that their surname?"

"Maybe they're related?"

"But why would she invite me and not him? Let me see that."

"Is Smith a common name? What are the odds?" Fabienne handed the card over and went back to sorting the mail, though her ears were certainly trained on what Rosaire thought of the card. The man hummed as he read the text himself, checking the back in case he missed something, then grabbed his phone to do a little investigating.

It took a while, but: "I found her on social media and it looks like she's an employee of CMR, a driver." He looked up at his friend with a cheeky grin, "She wants her boss at her wedding?"

"Her boss's boss's boss's boss's boss, maybe. How did she get your address?"

"Why is she inviting me? Maybe this is some kind of... You know, like a stunt or a trend?" Rosaire poured over the card again and had a little laugh. "I've never received anything like this before." He paused to think about the flowers on the cover of the card and the nicely printed details on the RSVP card inside. "Maybe I'll send in toward her charity, for a laugh. It says here 'no gifts, please send a check or digital donation to' some organization. I'll send a little card too!"

"A card to who?" Both Fabienne and Rosaire looked over as Toshiya entered the office, straightening his overshirt and offering a curious smile as he often did.

-

As soon as that RSVP card landed at the return address the bride-to-be blew up her social media circle with the news. It seemed like a joke response, or someone intercepted the letter and replied with a 'yes, plus one, both meals pasta but one must be dairy-free'. A new friend on her social confirmed it was no hoax; the username RosaireRouSo wasn't a spoof account at all. (He ended up posting a selfie with his username, real name, and date and time written on paper and stuck to a current-dated magazine [since he didn't have a newspaper!]) And when an agent on Rosaires behalf contacted the brides to inform them of his security needs and to confirm other details...

Well.

Needless to say the donation to the charity was quite large and it was presented in person. Rosaire's agent had expressed his clients desire to *not* take attention away and that he was adamant to be treated as any other guest. No photos save for private ones with the brides. He was strongly encouraged to attend, just for fun and out of the kindness of his heart, by his boyfriend. Toshiya saw the best in everyone and he knew Rosaire had that kindness in there somewhere. Plus, they got to play dress up! And see a new part of the world! (Where they learned exactly what Des Moines, Iowa was all about... and Rosaire cut another check to a local LGBT group.)

The pair took the brides out for lunch the day before their honeymoon; the women were happy to accept! It was an all-expenses paid meeting with the owner of one of the world's largest logistics companies! (And his precious boyfriend, of course.) The women spoke about their lives and what they envisioned their life together to be, and it made Toshiya's heart melt.

By the time the pair returned to Japan... well, the women had an IOU for a new house, their honeymoon was paid for, and a word was going to be put in with the supervisor for the gal who worked for Rosaire's company.

And by the time the pair went to bed that first night in Japan, Rosaire phone was absolutely blowing up from the positive PR and the hate messages alike.

"It still cost you a mindblowing amount of money-- well, mindblowing to most people. I thought you were trying to find ways to do good and lift your spirits without it costing you money?" Toshiya pondered.

"Well, aren't we supposed to offer our best skills and assets to our friends in times of need? And what am I better at than making money..."

Toshiya sighed, "Well, I think you mostly got the message."

[the-firebird69]

Sorry that's good it is part of our agenda to get you some funding and we did and we'll see what the result is so it's a positive test and it gets us working. A little bit of money is enough for us to work for a few days solid and we understand it and what you're saying and he set up I don't have to work anyways so we're going to go ahead and do it more often and we need you to hang on cuz you might be getting a bunch of money and then pressure and we mean it too pressure to go north I know what you say. And we're going to help I do it I just hear what you're saying. We do need a whole lot of something. And we do mean it too in other words I've been instructed to start cutting checks and getting them to and that means we're just going to force it based on what happened with the hundred bucks and they were cruel to Ken. It's mostly the warlock and he knows I just don't know what to do with us they should be doing scams and stuff like that on them not us they have a different plan so okay you're welcome and thank you work pretty good. There are a lot of sources out there you say and one of those Kia the other one is a class action you had in your drawer and there's several class actions like that when is risperdal when is the mesh and there's a bunch of them but really the car was a big one and that should be coming and there's more too answer just basic stuff that you don't care about Kia you know so it works and we're going to proceed that's a lot of money and I know how you hold on you ask Hera and she helps you with a list and helps you to prioritize and that's good and she's having fun doing it she likes to spend money when she was Jen she's spending a lot of money it made it look like you had money cuz you're giving us some money some manly thing she smiled and said thank you very much and she's going to buy food excuse me buy food sometimes cigarettes and you say buy some food. So we're supposed to ask me well I talked to her and then it's probably all ironed out when we make sure and it will come to you so don't waste your time actually right and then people go over it it's a good idea I need to take care of essentials even by personal insurance, some better clothes some furniture some transportation perhaps the freezer and some other stuff to make life a little more tolerable the grill maybe this is power oh a whole bunch of stuff. That was her son the last three lines with Hera, true too thanks a lot of money to live here I just got barely making it with as bed as on The Fringe and more. And something's work okay that really is going to need new stuff soon. And he doesn't have Wi-Fi he doesn't have the cable with it wouldn't use Wi-Fi and he doesn't have a bed that is a decent you know all that stuff I mean it's going to be a real money and I guess you're right we're going to ease you into it and see what you're saying like 700 bucks isn't enough for 10 grand you need 25 Grand and still spend a little and save the rest feel like 250 g and probably spend 50 on things that can take with you that's true too as it is we're starting to see what people are saying this place isn't that great but the race is not too bad it's kind of high but the clientele is horrible what are you going to do. Tell you what, his stinkers are acting like they already gave you the money to try and do stuff when you get the money to you. So you're right we should get you some more and more and then get more people here kind of calm down already you have stuff for it and they can see it and they just don't do anything so now we know what to do

Bitol and Goddess Wife

This morning I went over with the court did and said the sign off and all of them they sent them to the Magistrate and it's with them now and they tried getting checks and they're about to print them and the printer went down no and send out for it the checks come from somewhere else. Justice from the court so the letter says if they interfere with it they go to jail so we're on track and thank you for thinking of me and calling it's a good idea when you say it is getting cut off to your head the only thing is a little bit in the cherries that's what it is from. We shoot a lot of people over the bridge for slander. They're in court not going to jail lots of go to prison the chair not the cherries. Now it looks like there's a storm there is something California and that's what's been up there and it's all the way up there in Oregon no it's not the British Columbia and it's where the diamonds are and that's why the storm's there in California is a mess and I'll send that building a deck with Tommy f and Dan said I've had enough of this guy stalking us like you're stalking Chris and I can hear and say f*** they see what it's like they got really mad and said you're out of here you p**** boy Tommy has got mad and said you're in my s*** so I can be in your s*** and they turned around said I don't think so you're ruining my name the slandering your cousin Storm still and people aren't doing anything you should rough you up and then start getting ready and he ran into his car so start getting ready for him to arrive and he started sending people one by one at first then groups of 10 and 20 and 50 and 100 and then this was swamped with them by that time is there people came out they came in a big barrage of people snuck up on their position and hit them all they're starting to get intel

The cases are going pretty good the judge said for them to issue checks and they sent it out like within 20 minutes to their second payroll company but it's not it's more like a government ranch it's the State Treasury but the check will have the courthouse symbol. Returned and what age was received by the company that doesn't or government branch it's not Terry cheesman it's not trying to read the Lord and it's not tell me if so welll see if they can do it

[writtentodeath]

a villain who wants to get caught vs a hero who enjoys the chase too much to let it end

This was it. Villain had the city, and now their sword was biting into Hero's throat, their arm pinned down, useless, scrabbling for purchase on some stone, some last desperate bid at life, and the blade was carving deeper and deeper and they would die in this alley with Villain cackling above them and the knife was cold-

Villain released them and stepped back. "I'm done." Their knife clattered to the ground.

"...What?" Hero took a step back from Villain, hand clutching their throat, long dagger forgotten by their side. They blinked. "That's not what you're supposed to say," they said, raising the blade to Villain's throat. "What are you playing at?"

Villain scoffed, hands up in a supposedly nonthreatening gesture. "No games. Not this time. I'm done."

Hero took a step forward, pressing the blade into Villain's skin ever so slightly. "I don't believe you."

"You don't believe me, or you don't want to believe me?"

Now, that was just unfair. Hero took a moment to study Villain's face. They looked tired, sure, but a life of crime did that to someone. Maybe Villain had gotten tired of scams and hacks and terrorizing the people of San Marcent, but Hero found that unlikely. Not when they had already won.

"I don't believe you," Hero said coldly. "You've done nothing but lie, in your words and your actions. Why would you change now?"

"Why wouldn't I? I have everything I want." Villain grinned, staring up at the sky. "I won. There's nowhere else to go."

Air heaved fast and heavy out of Hero's lungs. Their throat throbbed, their heart pounded, but none of it seemed to matter. This wasn't happening. This was... good?

"You're lying," they decided. "You're trying to extend the chase. You want someone to fight against you- you're pathetic, you know, you destroy everyone's lives because you feel like it and then throw away your victory like a petulent child-"

"Are you done?" Villain asked. "I think you should turn me in to law enforcement now."

"No!" The word burst out of Hero's lips unbidden, more forceful than they meant. "I mean- You would kill them."

"Kind of you to think that." "You would," Hero said. "You would. You're not done, I know that."

"Is that a prophecy or a command?" Villain rolled their eyes, moving away from Hero's knife.

"Stop moving," Hero hissed, stepping closer. Villain did stop, eyeing them up and down with the upturned curve of a smirk starting in the side of their mouth.

"Are you gonna arrest me or not? Make up your mind."

"I- Shut up." Loathe to take their eyes off Villain, it took a few moments of blind searching to find their handcuffs, but they pulled them out. They took an uncertain step towards Villain.

Villain turned, presenting their hands behind their back for Hero's convenience.

They had to be planning something. It was a trap- something was wrong. Hero snapped one cuff on, tightening the cold metal around Villain's wrist.

Just the other wrist now. It had to be a mistake. They were being fooled, Villain was tricking them even now. They were. They had to be.

"Come on. Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now."

Hero snapped the other cuff onto Villain's wrist, realizing a moment later that they had essentially followed Villain's orders. Their hands shook as they resisted the urge to uncuff Villain. This was so wrong.

But if it was a ruse... if Villain was just gonna break out of jail or rob the courtroom... what harm would it do to try locking them up? They would escape, the farce would be over, and Hero could catch them for good the next time. It hurt nothing to let Villain think they got away with it- their overconfidence would be their downfall.

Armed with that thought, Hero manuevered the cuffed Villain out of the alley.

"You hesitated," Villain said. "Why?"

"Are you actually asking or do you just want to tell me what you think?"

Hero couldn't see Villain's face, but they knew they were grinning. "You got me. I think you didn't want to believe me because you don't know what you'd do without me."

"Sure. You can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better."

"I think you need to chase me." Villain turned, pulling away from Hero. They rushed forward for a second, trying to keep Villain from running, but Villain didn't move farther away- they were looking at Hero face to face. "You need to chase me, so the best way to hurt you is to deny you that."

"Keeping saying that, maybe one day it'll be true."

Hero didn't want to think about how much that thought scared them.

[recurring-polynya]

Have you ever had an odd moment when rereading/rewatching a story you love and get that feel like you're reading fanfiction?

I'm currently reading Bleach for the first time since watching the anime and, the missing bits from the manga kinda hit different.

It's like the world feels a little more lived in with the way characters emote and goof around. A lot of fun characterization gets lost.

Like Rukia, she wasn't my favorite character, in the anime, she felt like a motherly/older sister type of figure. Sure she does have her silly doodles and her love of bunnies but I got the vibe of action girl with like 2 quirks.

The manga on the other hand, an old man almost scams her, a celebrity absolutely scammed her and she sold out Ichigo. And she's "researching" human culture via horror manga lol.

It just let me see a bit of why the entire bleach fan base is overly protective of her. (It's still a bit scary, but what can you do?) Knowing her backstory already, it's like she's been stressed out over dramatic changing in her life and Rukia finally had a chance to slow down and relax.

And that's something that fanfiction let's readers indulge in. Seeing characters you enjoy goof around and take a breather.

So it's kinda nice to see. 😊

I'm not quite sure I agree with the comparison to fanfic, but it is certainly true that the Bleach anime did a real hack-job on Rukia's character.

I know that it's easy to dismiss the "Studio Pierrot screwed up Bleach!" as a shipper's complaint, because Studio Pierrot absolutely screwed up the minor bits of romance that Bleach actually contains, but the fact is, they screwed up a lot of other stuff, too.

It's really weird, because so much of the time, it's just literally for no reason? @star-snail started to do a really nice analysis of this once, and got exhausted one episode in (I encourage you to read their thoughts on it this sideblog). One example that really sticks with me is that they made Rukia show up earlier in the episode, while Ichigo is interacting with a ghost, whom Rukia ignores. You might say "who cares?" but then that ghost gets eaten by Fishbone, and the end effect is that one of the first things we learn about Rukia is that she's bad at her job.

Another example is this asshat, wholly an invention of the anime:

T(thanks Bleach Wiki for the pic, since I refuse to waste energy on this guy). If you don't remember him, good for you. He shows up in the Memories in the Rain storyline to "help" Rukia and Ichigo fight Grand Fisher. Here is a short list of what's wrong with him:

In the manga, Kubo really slow-plays revealing anything about Soul Society or other Soul Reapers. Take a look at these shots-- the first Rukia thinking about Kaien's death while Ichigo fights Grand Fisher, the second is the first glimpse we see of Byakuya and Renji being sent to apprehend Rukia. Look at the composition, the care Kubo took to make these scenes mysterious and intriguing. Now look up at that guy.

He claims that he was two years ahead of Rukia in school and that she was known as a Kuchiki princess? a) of all, this makes no damn sense because Rukia left school when she was adopted. b) she was only there for 2 months and she was a freshman? Why would this guy even know her? More importantly, though, in the manga, we don't find out that Rukia is Soul Society royalty until Byakuya and Renji show up. Instead, the anime blows all that build-up and dramatic tension by just having this dude... blurt it out? Also, he implies that maybe she was spoiled and stuck up at school? We know nothing about Rukia's life in Soul Society at this point, so as the viewer, we just take this information for granted and... for what? What were they going for?

Memories in the Rain is a story about Rukia allowing Ichigo to fight for his honor, despite Kon begging her to intervene. It's a mysterious fight that is an allusion to her trauma at killing Kaien, and it's a really important character moment, telling you what kind of person Rukia is. Having some other guy there disrupts all of that.

He's gross and makes a bunch of jokes about Rukia and Ichigo being together. Again, for what??

Another bit in the anime that gets re-arranged for absolutely no reason is Prelude for the Straying Stars, the flashback where Renji, Momo, Izuru and Shuuhei are attacked by Hollows during a school training exercise. In the manga, Renji explicitly says they've been at school for 2 months. In the anime, they change it to 6 month. In the manga, the training exercise is to go perform konsou in the Living World, in the anime, it's this elaborate thing with dummy Hollows. In the manga, one person is killed and two are injured, in the anime, there's a slow pan over a group of student corpses, dripping blood. Mostly, I am just mad about this because I tried to write a fanfic about it once and I couldn't figure out any of the details and it made me really mad and I never finished the fanfic. Also, they skipped this for some reason, how dare they.

On the other hand, the anime does include a lot of little character scenes that are great! Ikkaku training Renji! That Academy flashback episode and A Star and Stray Dog, Rukia and Renji's origin story, both contain a lot of extra scenes, which are really nice!

People complain about the anime filler arcs, too, but to be honest, the vast majority of the Karakura kids being pals is from filler. If you have ever enjoyed a story where Rukia is hanging out with Ichigo in Karakuratown after getting her power back, it's not canon!

To be honest, I really like the aspect of Bleach that you can really just pick and choose what you want to be canon. Filler arcs, the movies, the light novels. People on the internet will try to argue that you must accept such-and-such, Kubo approved it, or whatever, but you don't have to accept shit. Zabimaru will only ever be a nue to me, no matter how many people tell me that there was an omake where Kurotsuchi offered to change their gender. I don't care.

Anyway, I'm glad you read the manga, Anon, because, personally, I think it is straight-up better. Rukia is a goddamn dirtbag delight.

[colettearsine]

Colette was complicated in oh so many ways. She had friendships with everyone in that group, to some degree or another, possibly because she was too prevalent and rich to be ignored. She oozed money and status like most people sweat in rough situations. You might not like Colette but you would generally still rather be her friend than her enemy, and even THAT was dangerous.

That meant that she was intimately aware of Brie's foibles and actions. She'd heard it from both sides and knew that she didn't give a fuck one way or another what had happened between any of their fucking relationships, but she would choose Nova if push came to shove. The biggest problem was that Brie and Colette enabled one another. They weren't friends in the sense that either of them really trusted the other, but friends by circumstance and status and a need to have someone you can be fucked up with sometimes.

With Nova, it was family. Brie had never (and likely would never) broach that subject with Colette. She might want to, but she wouldn't knowing full well that even if Nova and Colette were in one of their knock-down, drag-out moments the heiress would still 100% go to bat for her best friend. Ride or die, even if it's a little dirty.

"There's really no surprise that this shit keeps coming back up. None of you seem to have evolved from when we were in school," she says, as if she herself had evolved at all; the only evolution she'd gone through was having more money to throw around freely and graduating to a higher class of scams, "I mean seriously. You're all attractive, willing, and capable... if a bit naive, so why the fuck is any of this even a problem? They will be in bed together again at some point, mark my fucking words. Messy finds messy and they might not want it but they'll end up there... as for her and Gabe?"

She pauses now, running her tongue across her lower lip as Nova messes with the tea, allowing her to calculate exactly what she wanted to say. The problem with giving a shit about someone is that if you were slow you could consider their feelings, but it took actual effort (that sometimes Colette didn't wish to expend or even consider) but tonight she was tired enough to get those punches a bit pulled.

"They'll meander through some complicated feeling bullshit and come out of it on the other side still fucking broken. None of us is capable enough to hold a relationship — me mostly because fuck them and fuck that and fuck everything — but the rest of you get so caught up in your shit. You with your art, which is at least like... sort of noble, I guess," pulling punches, sure, "but everyone's got so much fucking baggage."

First, Colette reached for the tea, pulling it over and taking a long sip, then into the pocket of the suit coat she was wearing that was way too big for her but still somehow looked chic, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and plopping one into her mouth before lighting it, "Honestly?" a pause, taking a draw and moving it to between two fingers to look over at Nova and sigh, "You should just give up on the lot of it. I'm entangled in this shit by birthright but you're not obligated and I honestly don't know why you're still here."

It sounded harsh, but Nova would know on some level that Colette wasn't telling her she didn't belong, but more that (in some ways) she was above it all... even though they both know that Nova was very much not. The thing that separated Nova from the rest of them was the thin line of money; she thought she was above it and that was fine, but... no one was. That's another reason she and Colette probably got on.

Colette thinks she's better than everyone when she's a barely functioning wannabe-sociopath with delusions of grandeur and too much money; Nova's a girl who grew up on the poor side of everything and was thrust into this world very much against what she wanted but never once stopped diving into the messiness of it like a fish in water. They were messy, they were flawed, but neither of them wanted to accept that and instead wore their 'fuck you' badges very proudly on their chest any time they were around their peers.

"My point is, this shit's going up in flames gloriously and I'm gonna watch the bonfire. You're better off focusing on your own shit anyway. You don't still have feelings for him, do you?" Did she mean Gabe or Elliot? Did it matter?

Pressing her hands back into the counter, Nova did a little jump before she was sitting on top of it legs swinging back and forth as she watched her friend closely. There were times when Nova wondered how or when they even became friends. It was just a moment in time that she couldn't seem to pin-point. It just was. "Of course my love. Anything for you."

They were so different. Colette had all the money in the world to waste, and did so freely and without a care. Nova worked for everything that she had and sometimes that still wasn't enough but she was content. Their personalities were like the sun and the moon, complete opposites. While Colette had no qualms about tossing things out and discarding, things and people like trash, Nova was definitely on the frugal side and if she was going to get rid of something she tried to re-purpose it first or at the very least donate it to Goodwill.

Maybe that's what it was though, they say opposites attract.

And as they've absolutely had some blow up the entire city fights, Nova couldn't stay mad at Colette for long and she knew Colette felt the same. They were just at home with one another and that was saying a lot since Nova felt so out of place in the world of the elite otherwise.

"Alright so, first things first Elliott is back. After a year away and a year since he left Brie at the alter, he shows up at the party. The moment Brie spotted him, she marched right over and slapped him right in the middle of the room. And this is after GG let everyone know that they were back. So that give you an inclination of how mad she was." Shaking her head, she thought back to it. That slap could have been heard around the world. "He apologized to her of course but yeah... I'm pretty sure they've done for good. There's no coming back from leaving someone at the alter, ya' know." She did feel a little guilty about her part in it all but in the end it was Elliott's decision to make and he made it.

"Gabe... he's back too. He got back around thanksgiving and avoided me like you wouldn't believe. He wasn't back like two weeks before he was with Brie. Yes, you heard me right, Gabe and Brie." She looked dead at her friend. "Now you know that don't even sound right, but they broke up after a short time. He also came to the party, I don't know what words were really exchanged between him and Brie but as far as he and I go... we're done. He's still mad about that damn song!"

Sliding off the counter, she moved for the stove as the kettle began to whistle. "You know that whole thing was just stupid to me. He knew I owned the song when he allowed me to put it in the doc!" Yes, she was still frustrated about it and that being the stupid reason they broke up in the first place. "I'm not mad or whatever though." She was lying through her teeth. "But I should have known the moment Brie got her grubby little hands on him, that he and I would never be together again." Grabbing a mug and a tea bag, Nova poured the water into the cup before she moved to the fridge for the milk. She added just a pinch of it and grabbed a spoon to stir before she left it to sit.

Turning to Colette she continued, "I know he and I had our share of ups and downs over the years but I never thought that's how we'd end. I guess we were both just passionate about our crafts and never really about each other..."

[faeriejukyung]

True Beauty’s Gaping Mother Wound

*disclaimer*: I understand that all the listed traits are things which are often very common in Asian households, and it may seem that rather than being concerning, these are just a part of Asian culture. That is why, I feel that it’s necessary for me to make it clear that I am, in fact, Asian (Indian to be specific), and parental abuse is something that is extremely normalized here. As someone who has experienced it firsthand, I want to say that just because something is common/normal, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is correct. If you or anyone you know is in a situation like that, it’s very very important to speak out. And it’s not your fault, i know it’s easier to believe that way but it’s really not. We deserve to be in a loving environment, regardless of what culture we are born in.

Throughout the drama, Jukyung’s mother shows many traits of an abusive mother. I have been able to outline 4 of them. I don’t mean to write her off as an evil character,, because overall she is well intentioned, and just like any other mom, she does love Jukyung. This is shown in episode 8 too, where she shows remorse for her actions. That however, doesn’t justify her abusive behavioral patterns in any way. Because we can see how badly it affects Jukyung, her self esteem and her overall view of herself.

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Act 1: “I’m going to kill you today and go to jail” -- Physical Violence.

Throughout the series, we see Jukyung's mother being very violent. But one scene which particularly stood out to me was the scene where she finds out about Jukyung's dad getting scammed. (in episode 1). While it is true that her dad caused a huge financial loss to the family, and anyone would feel angry in a situation like that, it is also true that there is never a good reason to physically abuse someone.

After hearing the news, Jukyung's mom is overcome by anger. It's completely okay to feel frustrated, but the way she violently jumped at her husband, clearly intentioned to hurt him, and the way she needed to be held back by juyoung and heekyung highlights her abusive nature. And this isn't a one time thing where she momentarily lost control of herself. She constantly shows similar behavioural traits throughout the drama.

In the scene where we see Jukyung's mom and dad together properly for the first time, their relationship dynamic is established. He's meekly massaging her shoulders while she orders him around. Their is an obvious power imbalance in the relationship, and the way Jukyung's dad cowers in fear around Jukyung's mom is a proof of that.

-

Act 2: "Why would you kill my precious son?" -- Conditional Love.

We see examples of Jukyung’s Mom’s conditional love in the kdrama AND in the webtoon. Conditional love is when a parent or a parental figure makes their child compete for love. They withhold their affection until the kid acts in ways that are desirable to them, and if the kid fails to do so, the parent often punishers them through different methods. This is their way of maintaining control over their children.

Jukyung’s Mom’s conditional love manifests itself in the form of favoritism towards her eldest daughter Heekyung, who’s not only conventionally beautiful but also very smart and has a high paying job, and towards her youngest child and only son, Juyoung, who is also written to be very attractive. Both Juyoung and Heekyung have gifts that Jukyung does not posses -- beauty and brains. The conditions that are established in order to attain their mother’s affection are getting good grades at school, and being conventionally attractive, which is why Jukyung often gets the shorter end of the stick

In the scene where we are first meet Heekyung is the drama, their mom’s affection towards her is very evident.

This is shown in the webtoon too.

She displays this favoritism towards Juyoung too, and even more so. In episode 1 where Jukyung tries makeup for the first time, and gets ridiculed by him for doing a bad job at it, she naturally feels angry and yells at him, “do you want to die?!”, but instead of telling Juyoung to stop, their mother yells at Jukyung for yelling at Juyoung (”why would you kill my precious son? why?”). It’s already very evident that Juyoung has picked up the habit of constantly taunting Jukyung for her face from his mom. In the webtoon, when Jukyung decides that she wants to pursue makeup arts and asks for her mom’s support and fees for academy, her mom flat-out refuses, saying that they don’t have enough money. However as we find out later, money wasn’t the problem, because she had enough money to send Juyoung to a cram school for acting.

I find it hard to believe that any good parent would constantly compare their children and pit them against each other like this. In the webtoon and the kdrama, it is made clear that Juyoung doesn’t have particularly good grades either, but he doesn’t have to face his mother’s wrath by the virtue of being good looking. Jukyung on the other hand, does not have any redeeming qualities.

-

Act 3: “I’m going to throw all your makeup away” --Excessive Anger.

Another sign of parental abuse is display of excessive anger. It’s usually used as an intimidation tactic to keep the child in line. Sometimes, it can simply happen because they lose control of themselves. Either way, parents who get angry more often than what is supposed to be normal, and hurt their children (physically or verbally) in the midst of their anger, repeatedly, are abusive. I feel like I don’t even need to elaborate on this one. Jukyung’s Mom is angry during half of her scenes. And the way she acts upon that anger crosses the limit too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to express your the way you feel, but the way Jukyung’s Mom does it, is extremely unhealthy and hurtful to others around her. Whether she’s jumping on Jukyung’s dad or talking down on Im Jukyung, she’s very inconsiderate of how her anger affects others. She almost always expresses herself in an extremely volatile way.

Jukyung described makeup as a hopeful light opening up a new life for her. There’s even a whole music segment of her discovering the powers of makeup, characterized by pastel and bubblegum tones, and the segment has a magical feel to it. Suffice to say that makeup brought an almost magical kind of hope and optimism to her life. In episode 6, Jukyung's Mom goes to her school to get her report card. When she sees her low grades, she gets so angry that she threatens to throw away her makeup, without once considering why Jukyung is so attached to it. In my eyes, she's actually very similar to Soojin's dad who also uses intimidation and physical violence to keep his daughter in line. If we put the same background music for the scenes where we see Jukyung's Mom threatening her, as the ones where Soojin's dad abuses her, they'd practically be identical. The only difference is that the show often plays Jukyung's Mom's behavior as a joke.

In episode 7, after seeing that Jukyung didn't improve as much as she wanted her to, she actually threw away all her makeup. Even though Jukyung did try, and did improve, it still wasn't enough for her mom. Jukyung's restlessness after not seeing her makeup on her table was palpable through the screen. Finding out that her mother threw all her makeup away sort became her breaking point. We see her yell at her mother and express her feelings for the first time.

I think it's important to note that Jukyung, who's already finds it very tough to reach out to her courageous side, was inspired by this incident to stand up to her mom, to express her outrage. Saying that makeup meant a lot to her is an understatement.

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Act 4: "What's the point of looking beautiful with all that makeup on if you're ugly underneath?" -- Verbal Abuse.

We all get into arguments with our parents from time to time, and I’m sure we’ve all been yelled at by them at some point. Verbal abuse however, is not something that is normal, and the two shouldn’t be confused. A parent who constantly humiliates their child, yells and screams at them, talks down on them is in simple terms, an abuser. 

In episode 1, when Jukyung tries makeup on for the first time and goes to school, she gets ridiculed by her bullies and her classmates. Crestfallen, she returns back home after school and goes to her mother for reassurance. Instead of providing that, her mother ridicules her even more and calls her makeup “Ghost Makeup”. This is something abusers often do. Under the guise of teasing the victim, they often attack the victim’s self esteem, appearance etc, to make them feel insecure and to maintain their position of power over them. Jukyung’s mother isn’t very different from those bullies who told Jukyung that she was ugly and made her feel like she could never amount to anything. 

Another example that irks me a lot is from episode 3, when Jukyung’s Mom is chewing her out for being late, and suddenly the conversation turns to cosmetics and makeup. This is also one of the traits of verbal abuse. Instead of arguments surrounding the basic issue, they branch out and turn into character assassination. Her mom accuses Jukyung of wasting all her time on makeup instead of studying, even when Jukyung clarifies that she got late because she missed her bus, not because she was out buying cosmetics. But her mom doesn't listen and says to her, “What’s the point of looking beautiful with all that makeup on when you’re still ugly underneath?” 

Jukyung’s face after hearing her own mother say that was heartbreaking. Unfortunately, this type of mother-daughter relationship dynamic isn’t something  that is rare. Mothers frequently project their own insecurities on their daughters and put them down. Jukyung’s Mother’s behavior explains her self esteem issues, it gives an insight about where her insecurities really stem from. Sometimes our abuser’s thoughts and image of us start maligning our own self image. Frequently hearing them tell us that we are worthless, and that no one will ever marry us or love us, makes us believe that we are in fact, worthless and incapable of being loved unless we change something about ourselves. We frequently get an insight into how Jukyung thinks of herself throughout the drama. 

“It’s not my fault that I was born dumb” (In episode 7, after finding out that her mother threw away her makeup.)

“You know that I’m messed up” (In episode 2, referring to her face, while asking Lee Suho to keep her bare face a secret)

The drama is yet to end so I don’t want to completely write Jukyung’s Mother off as an abuser. I hope she becomes a better mom in the show, I really do. Because Jukyung deserves a loving mother. And Jukyung's mom does in fact have a few redeeming qualities, however, simply love and caring isn’t enough, you need mutual respect, reassurance and effort in each every relationship. We know that Jukyung’s mother is also often labelled as an ugly woman, and she believes that she could only get by through studying well. (“It’s going to be okay as long as you study well” - episode 1). In a world where a woman either has to a exceptionally beautiful to be considered worthy, or be exceptionally intelligent and professional lest she isn’t blessed by beauty, it’s very easy to internalize self hatred and direct it on to other individuals (especially if those individuals are your children). That is why i genuinely find myself rooting for Jukyung’s mother and hoping for a character development arc -- because i understand where she comes from, and because i can empathize with her. 

-

Fin.

[meanautisticenbian]

Fuck it, I'm gonna dissect all the bullshit in that one Lilith post bit by bit

TW// Lilith hate, victim blaming, abuse, cult mention, ableism towards Autistic people, sexualization of minors (briefly mentioned)

I'll be putting my text in bold just in case it's hard to distinguish between the pictures and my commentary

Here's the post I'm referring to in case you're curious

Moving on and starting with this bit

People pay attention to Eda all the damn time, she's literally one of the main characters. Funny how you only mention tik tok and nothing else. Is that the only other social media you have? Because fans on different social media platforms act much differently; on IG and Reddit stuff like the sexualization of minors and fucking ODALIA AND ALADOR STANS are normalized, where everywhere else it's pretty much universally agreed that that stuff is bad. I don't know a lot about what toh Tik Tok is like just because I don't usually go on tik tok, but even if it is like this, it's not the same for the rest of the fandom. A lot of the fandom still hates Lilith and blames her for her abuse and not being able to leave

You say that like she's a bad person, she's really not. The curse she placed on Eda wasn't intended to be permanent and probably wasn't even supposed to take the effects that it did. She was most likely scammed. I mean look at how she reacts when Eda transforms for the first time. She also feels guilty enough about it to throw herself into an abusive situation and spend almost her whole life trying to make up for it. Lastly, yes she hurt Luz, but let's not forget that Belos threatened her life upon Eda's capture and Lilith was running out of time and had no other option. Obviously what she did was wrong but she's not the real monster here.

"I do like Lilith" this entire essay says otherwise.

Literally none of us ignore any of the bad shit she's done, stop lying about us.

Yes, Lilith did mock her for her curse, which was messed up, but we don't actually know for sure if the curse is basically canonically a disability in that world, so if that's the case then for now it's technically not ableism until we get confirmation otherwise.

"it was an accident and I forgive Lilith" no you fucking don't. First of all this entire essay is you talking about how evil you think she is and secondly, if it really was as bad as you view it, you wouldn't be that forgiving.

Ah yes the victim blaming, the one thing that almost everyone does to Lilith and barely anyone talks about.

There is literally not a single Lilith stan out there who blames Eda for getting cursed. You're just mad that your victim blaming towards Lilith got called out so you silence us by lying about how we do the same thing to Eda.

No one is making Eda out to be the villain either, the only example I can find of this is a few fanfics where she treats Lilith a lot more harshly than she should, and even then, scenes like that are written in a positive light as if you're supposed to be on Eda's side, so with that in mind, the writers of these fics are clearly not even Lilith stans. In terms of how actual stans treat Eda, the worst they do is make her slightly ignorant of Lilith's trauma, kinda like the fandom, minus the "slightly", until she grows as a character and learns to see the red flags. If that's the problem you're talking about, then breaking news: Eda's not perfect either. She has flaws too just like literally everyone else in the show and people are allowed to write about them

Tell me the truth: are people making playlists for Lilith that include a lot of sad and angry songs because she's not a happy person anyway so there wouldn't be a point in having any happy songs, or are they making "trauma" playlists? There's a difference

I'm sorry, are you trying to tell me that people recognizing Lilith's trauma is victim blaming Eda? That's not how it works sweetycakes

There is far more Eda angst out there than there is for Lilith, where are you finding so much Lilith angst? LILITH is the one who's traumas are being ignored while Eda's gets all the attention. You're acting like one of those white cis gays on twitter who see black people talking about the anti blackness they experience daily and accuse them of being homophobic because "there is so much homophobia in the world and they still manage to make it all about race".

No one is saying that Lilith has worse trauma, we're only saying that her's is also severe and that it definitely exists. Also funny how you're allowed to be mad at us for comparing Lilith and Eda's trauma (once again lying about us), then you go on to do the exact same thing and say that EDA'S trauma is worse. Even if, hypothetically speaking, Eda did have it worse, that doesn't mean Lilith doesn't have the right to be traumatized. Both of them have trauma, both should be recognized. Also, Lilith had far more going on in her life than just the guilt of her actions, she was was implied to have been psychologically and maybe physically abused, and was probably even tortured. Stop ignoring all the red flags and condemn the actual abuser (Belos) before you criticize anything the abused (Lilith) has done.

We're not making everything about Lilith, like shut up.

Please don't say that autistic people "have autism", it implies that it's something that can be removed from us. For example: you don't say "a person with blackness" when referring to black people or "a woman with homosexuality" when referring to Lesbians.

Oh yeah I'm also autistic so here are MY thoughts

Amity and Lilith are not antagonists anymore, hcing them as Autistic is not villainizing autism.

The autistic Lilith headcanon was made by autistic fans, allistics only latched onto it because they either wanted to be supportive or they saw that she actually had a lot of autistic traits

You're not the only autistic person alive, just because you're not like Lilith or Amity doesn't mean none of us are or they're not autistic. I mean, I know I am

You're not fun or funny

"not all Autistic people are like this" remember that line, dear readers

Actually, I prefer the autistic villain trope MUCH more than the grown ass autistic adult that acts like a five year old trope. At least we'd have less stereotypes associated with us.

Autism is not supposed to be portrayed in only fun and happy characters, that is literally the epitome of stereotyping and infantilizing. You literally just said that not all autistic people are the same, doesn't this count as being all the same? Does this mean I don't exist anymore? Am I just not autistic? Are you even aware that a flat affect or monotone voice is literally a very common autistic trait? You can't just say that we're stereotyping autistics and then just go on to stereotype us, like what the fuck are you even on? Is it only ok when you do it?

Amity is not edgy for fuck's sake

Literally no one is headcanoning Lilith or Amity as autistic because they're mean, we headcanon them as autistic because they actually show traits of it

Oh, our harmless headcanons are making you feel uncomfortable because they don't fit into the stereotypes you made up about us? Good to know our plan is working I guess

Last thing I wanna say regarding this post as a whole: why are you acting like liking Lilith and feeling sympathy for her is a bad thing? If you find this then don't say "I don't think that's a bad thing", answer HONESTLY

Well that's all I have for now, thank you for reading, I need to go to bed soon