#repayment period

[freakoutgirl]

I need to do scary hour

[cappurrccino]

nothing makes me want to start a riot quite like doing student loan exit counseling and seeing all the different ways they're going to fuck me over because i can't immediately repay all $12k the exact instant i'm no longer in school

[deathbind]

Canonically, the Yikarian Empire is the longest lived on the continent of Zakhara. My loophole for making Meket predate them is that they do not now, nor have they ever, termed themselves an empire. Whether they fit the technical definition of one may itself be disputed and perhaps depends on time period. How to explain . . .

Their primary method of expansion is not conquest. They have had periods of warfare, and they have emerged from their victories with new territories, but they rarely start wars. They have often provoked wars, often through the most subtle of means, but they'd prefer the other party strike the first blow / take the role of "aggressor" so that their response may be "justified". They are only "defending" themselves.

It adds to their reputation that they supposedly never start fights but always finish them. Their prosperity has caught the eye of many a conqueror — and some have succeeded. By provoking wars they're certain they can win, downplaying their readiness, they make the prospect of war undesirable. Their record of victories is impressive. They also make themselves seem nearly harmless, attacking only when "provoked". Think of it this way: perhaps you could slay a dragon and claim its hoard, but why would you take that risk when it's nesting peacefully in its own domain?

Far more often, though, their expansion is even subtler. They "ally" with neighbors. Usually weaker powers, nations on the knife's edge of conquest, peoples with common religious beliefs or common enemies — whatever gets their foot in the door. They come as a friend or maybe the other party comes to them. They aren't domineering or demanding. They don't attack differing beliefs / traditions, instead strongly emphasizing commonalities. It's a slower form of conquest. The longer the alliance goes on, the stronger it becomes, the more reliant the nation grows on Meket, and the more firmly they are brought under the banner. Everything melds together into one whole. It is arguably more dangerous to be their friend than their enemy.

[socialistexan]

Hey, y'all, this is a reminder for anyone that has student loans that they are defaulted on or in collections for:

Apply for Fresh Start NOW if you haven't already done so. Like right now. Do it right this very second do not put it off any longer.

If you don't know, applying for Fresh Start will move your loan status from "Default" to "Current," you will no longer have to deal with collections calls! You won't have your wages garnished or your tax refunds taken by the Education Department! The default gets removed from your credit and you become eligible for federal mortgage programs! You become eligible for Income Driven Repayment (IDR) programs that can reduce your monthly payment in a huge way (from $400/month to $50/month for me!) and you get IDR credit for the three years you were in default during the pandemic freeze!

It only has upsides!

I mean it, it can make a huge difference! You can even submit both Fresh Start and an IDR application at the same time. It takes literal seconds. I had my name legally changed and I'm still eligible! I clicked like 3 buttons, checked a couple boxes, and boom. I sent off the application August 22nd and I got the letter yesterday (Sept 20th), but that letter was dated Sept 1st and was only to inform me that my loan was no longer in default would be transferred to a new loan servicer by the end of the month. It took a week and a half to process.

I also became eligible and received a refund check for money taken from me during the starting stages of the pandemic.

The best time to do it is now. Period.

Do. It. Right. Now.

[puckinghischier]

Can we talk about how hard Luke would try to be helpful while you’re on your period? I just feel like all of his efforts would be so endearing

oh this is so perfect bc my body decided to give me its own christmas present yesterday 🤩

he would be so attentive, god love him. he’d even have his own tracker on his phone so he can be prepared and make sure he always has your favorites stocked when the time comes.

the second he starts seeing the signs, he’s making your coffee or tea, whichever you prefer, in the mornings and having it waiting on you with your favorite breakfast pastry. on your worst day he’s bringing it to you in bed, heated blanket on his arm.

if he has a day off from practice or gets back early from a morning skate, he’s assuming all housework duties. he’s making sure the kitchen is clean, bringing you your favorite comfort meal from your favorite restaurant, doing the laundry, tidying up the living room. he wants to make sure you don’t have to lift a finger.

he secretly loves when you’re having a rough cramp day, if he’s honest. not because he enjoys seeing you in pain, it’s the opposite really. it breaks his heart that you have to go through this every month, knowing there’s nothing he can do to take the pain away. but he loves how clingy you get, whining every time he gets up to leave the bed or the couch, even if it’s to get something you asked him to get.

he’s constantly calling and texting you to see how you’re feeling and asking if you need anything when he’s not with you. the guys in the locker room all make fun of him for it, but he could care less. it’s the least he can do. you’re constantly taking all of this on every other week of the month, doing all you can to make his life easier, wanting him to come home and be able to relax and focus on resting before or after games. so he’ll gladly take the responsibility on for this one week a month, to show you how much he appreciates you and loves you.

you become such a homebody when you’re on your period and luke eats it up. he loves nothing more than being lazy with you, and he gets at least an entire week of it each month. you refuse any offer of plans, not wanting to have to put on ‘real’ clothes, content with living in one of luke’s oversized shirts, period panties, and a loose pair of his boxers. and luke loves coming home to the sight more than he could ever express.

you love the effort he takes each month to make sure you’re comfortable and cared for. you don’t know how you did it, but you truly hit the jackpot with him. you hear him constantly on the phone with ellen, double checking which painkillers work best for cramps and what the best remedy for period induced headaches. you crawl into a freshly made bed every night, despite rotting on the couch all day. you get baths drawn for you with soothing smells and low light, like either joining you or sitting in the floor with you and telling you all about his day. you have a never ending supply of sweets and baked goods, thanks to his bakery runs every morning.

you always ask him how you can repay him, but he always tells you the same thing. “what you do for me every day is enough. being able to do this for you is repayment in itself. this is what i’m supposed to do. it’s my job to make sure you’re comfortable, taken care of, and loved.”

of course, the words always make your hormonal self emotional, tears falling every time at how much you love him and how lucky you are he loves you. but then he ruins the moment, adding in “plus, the post-period sex is always great, so that’s a good incentive, too.” you swat at him, telling him to shut up.

“i’m just kidding, sweetheart. i love doing this for you, seriously,” he’d back track, nuzzling his face into your neck to place small kisses there.

rolling your eyes, you respond with “you might like doing this for me, but you weren’t kidding, don’t lie.”

he gives you a “welll….” look, making you laugh, forgetting all about the ache in your lower abdomen.

[fanged-fanfics]

Hello, Good Sir!

I would like to request Silly/Flustered Wukong just constantly thinking about the fact that he's actually with the love of his life and how he never thought this was in his future- just pure concentrated silliness and fluff! <3

👑🧡 Flustered in Love — Wukong x GN Reader HCs 🧡👑

Genres: Romance, Fluff || they/them pronouns for reader || No warnings needed

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁⋆˚｡⋆୨👑୧⋆˚｡⋆✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖

- Wukong seriously cannot believe that he made it to this point most days. He's still surprised that he managed to get here, with you, and in a way that he feels more genuinely fulfilled than he has in a long time

- He tries to act all cool and brave but he's undoubtedly freaking out internally whenever you do something he sees as really cute or sweet

- Sometimes he doesn't even know how to express it. He just feels so happy, so comfortable and at ease with you. He's never really been the best with his words, so he tries his best to show you through actions like being extra clingy or spending more time with you

- There was a time or two (or three) where you just give him such a genuine soft and loving smile that makes him feel so warm he has to look away to hide how giddy it makes him feel

- His tail batting around and always wrapping around you in some way always manages to give him away though

- He's used to thinking a lot on his past. Where he was, where he could've gone, how things might have gone differently if he just changed a few things. But he decides at the end of the day that if it all leads to you, he'd leave everything as is

- He gets double flustered if you notice him getting embarrassed and tease him about it. He blushes a lot and playfully tries to get you distracted somehow so he can calm his heart again

- He practically starts punching the air in excitement if you give him a victory or good luck kiss, they're his absolute favorite. Then he gets this big stupid grin on his face wherever he's heading off to for the day

- Sometimes when you're doing casual things around his dojo he'll watch you with a completely smitten expression cause he's just so glad to see you by his side, especially in his home with him

- Absolutely stares at you for long periods of time absentmindedly and tries to act cool about it whenever you notice him

- Every little act he does to make you feel loved and special he sees as repayment for bringing warmth and comfort back into his life. He isn't perfect, but he does his best to try and let you know in the little and big ways that he couldn't imagine his life without you

- He gets light amounts of cute aggression with you and shows it in ways like shaking you a little or dragging you around with him almost everywhere. Though he tries his best not to be too harsh since he knows he's really strong in comparison to even demon kings, but sometimes it's really hard not to give you a huge bear hug

- Sometimes hides his face in your shoulder or neck if you're cuddling and he gets flustered thinking about how he's really more touch starves than he always thought and this is the most comfort he's felt in literally thousands of years

[the-cimmerians]

The Biden administration yesterday rolled out its latest tool to tackle the student debt crisis, and as we discussed earlier this year, it’s a good one. While the administration is still working on a broader debt forgiveness plan that it hopes will survive the Trump/McConnell Supreme Court, the new income-driven repayment program, called the “Saving on a Valuable Education” (SAVE) plan, should drastically cut the amount of student loan payments for lower-income borrowers, and for many, will actually get those payments down to zero.

[ ]

With the SAVE plan, the Education Department will no longer charge any interest that isn’t covered by the monthly loan payment, putting an end to the interest-accumulating hamster wheel that so many of us know all too well, where you make your payments on time but your goddamn loan balance keeps growing. As the fact sheet explains:

For example, if a borrower has $50 in interest that accumulates each month and their payment is $30 per month under the new SAVE plan, the remaining $20 would not be charged as long as they make their $30 monthly payment. The Department of Education estimates that 70 percent of borrowers who were on an IDR plan before the payment pause would stand to benefit from this change.

As with other income-driven plans, once a borrower has made payments for 20 years (for undergrad debt) or 25 years (for grad school debt), any remaining balance will be forgiven — yes, even if the monthly payment amount was zero for some or all of that period. Explain to your rightwing uncle that such forgiveness is not a new gimmick Joe Biden made up; it’s how IDR plans have worked since Congress authorized them in the 1990s.

[myluvmine]

The Void

Pairing: Matt Murdock × fem!reader

Summary: If he had been a bit more careful, maybe this wouldn't have happened. But it did, and Matt believes it was all his fault. Now, the void is all there is left.

Word Count: 0.7k

Warnings: mentions of blood, ANGSTY angst, no happy ending, it's a tad bit sad overall yk

A/n: I'm on my period and feeling angsty, this was a direct result of that I'm afraid😭✋.

💞reblogs and feedback are tremendously appreciated!!💞

His knuckles hurt. The overwhelming copper tang of blood invaded his senses so strongly that it was impossible to ignore. They were certainly bleeding, he was sure.

The bruises and blood hurt, but the void that resided where his heart once did was a lot worse. The emptiness was a lot worse.

"Matt you've gotta stop this, you're gonna end up dead!"

He'd been distracted for just a moment, but it'd been enough to change the entire trajectory of his life.

Matt hated himself in that second. This was nothing new ofcourse, Matt Murdock had never been his own biggest fan. But never had he experienced such unadulterated rage towards anyone— or anything like this before.

And there would never be another before, he'd made sure of that.

"Goddammit Matthew, are you even listening to me?!"

The film of muted buzzing that had wrapped itself securely around him, slowly choking him, seemed to loosen it's grip for a minute. Matt deliberately clenched his left hand into a fist, it definitely hurt— the raw skin stretching painfully, sending sharp pangs shooting mildly up his arm. He could feel his helmet pressing into the back of his calf as he uncrossed his ankles. He was on his couch. Back in his apartment.

"Foggy?" he enquired brokenly into the surrounding darkness, his voice scratching his windpipe. It felt so very foreign— speaking. Almost like something he hadn't done in weeks.

He felt Foggy's demeanor soften as his best friend's wounded voice reached him. "What— what're you doing here?"

"This has gotta stop buddy" came Foggy's soft but stern reply. It wasn't a suggestion, but a statement. The joint symphony of heartbeats and footsteps indicated his best friend was moving towards him— closer, but with measured steps.

The void in Matt's chest only seemed to grow with each passing day, almost drowning him in it's depths. In an attempt to fight the darkness pulling at his feet, he had sought to fix the irreparable damage he had done by attempting repayment in blood and bruises, by starving himself of peace, sustenance and sleep. By carving himself inside out to rectify the irredeemable.

He'd stretched himself thin in the process, to put it kindly. Going after every petty robber that crossed his path and putting all that he had into bringing down the new branches of the Irish crime syndicate that had recently popped up in and around Hell's Kitchen.

It was far from what those who cared for him — atleast the ones that were left— had wanted for him, but it didn't matter now. None of that mattered. The void was getting even bigger.

"She wouldn't have wanted you to go on like this" although the words left Foggy's lips in a whisper, they pierced through Matt's skin with the impact of a thousand knives, embedding themselves between his ribs— a throbbing pain twisting in it's place.

The tone of finality along with the implications of it being something from the past, licked up his ribs like the hottest flames.

It was his fault.

If he'd been quicker, acted a little more fast, you'd still be here. You would be the one reprimanding him for not taking care of himself. You would have gently run your fingers through his hair as you scolded him. Afterwards, you would have held him close and pressed kisses to the expanse of his forehead, the button of his nose and he crook of his neck, as he looked on with adoration, as you told him how much he meant to you. How you loved him.

But you were gone, and the void almost had him now.

"I'm the reason she isn't here now, Foggy" Matt let out dejectedly, his voice quivering. His eyes were empty now as the tears that filled them to the brim — but stubbornly refused to fall — clouded his soul.

"I can't stop seeing it. Every time I close my eyes it's like I'm right back there, reliving it over and over with no way to change the outcome."

The past could not be changed and the present, which lead to a future devoid of you was quickly cementing itself as an event inevitable in Matt's mind.

Matt Murdock's world had been swallowed whole by the void, his heart lost in it's valleys and crevices.

[qqueenofhades]

I'm a little confused by the left's repeated assertion that they're "trying to hold Biden accountable" and push him left, things they've been talking about since before he was elected, and the ramifications of that at this point in time. I do think we need to be calling out things we disagree with and making our feelings known, but seeing people like Nina Turner complain about student loan forgiveness when it's been made abundantly clear Biden is doing all he can and he can't actually cancel anything as just the President (without being sued or having it reversed by Republicans - please correct me if I'm wrong and there's more he could do here?) doesn't feel like it's that? I just don't understand the logic behind people on the left adding to this narrative that he isn't trying hard enough on what we want, rather than the Republicans are preventing things from being done. We need to not sit back and get complacent, yes, sure, but I feel like the line where it goes from helpful and necessary to harmful and more beneficial to the right was crossed a while ago.

The thing is, you're confused by it because it's a bad-faith argument. Actually "holding someone accountable" means honestly assessing what they can do, what they have done, what they can be expected to do in the future, and if they haven't done it, what's stopping them (i.e. have they just not done it or are they being actively stopped from doing it by factors beyond their control)? It doesn't mean "constantly moving the goalposts to constantly criticize someone if they don't magically get everything done immediately, regardless of reality." The way Online Leftists use it, "holding Biden accountable" means "relentlessly criticize him every instant he doesn't magically transform into the Socialist Messiah overnight, the end." That's not actually a useful, honest, reliable, or constructive metric.

This is also the case because their version of good policy is "someone thinks the Correct Thoughts all the time and any failures to achieve it means they are not thinking the Correct Thoughts hard enough." I'm not sure how anyone could have missed what SCOTUS is doing right now, but Online Leftists remain determined to discount, minimize, or otherwise totally ignore its role, because that would mean a) there is in fact a difference between the parties, b) Hillary Clinton would not have made the same appointments Trump did, and c) they might therefore have some responsibility in not voting for her, none of which can be countenanced. As such, if Biden has failed to wave a magic wand and get all student debt erased for everyone overnight, He Is Just Not Trying Hard Enough. SCOTUS very notably outlawed his first forgiveness program? BIDEN'S FAULT!

Even though Biden extended the Covid-era payment pauses as long as he could (it was Congress that passed the law mandating an end to them, because THE PRESIDENT IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH!), and even though he's now rejiggered the entire repayment program so that your monthly payments can get lowered to $0, these count as payments, and no interest accumulates as long as you "make" them, which in practice adds up to full forgiveness -- this still isn't good enough for the Online Leftists, because it happened after trial and error, is a partial solution, doesn't snap its fingers and erase everything, and relies on slow and careful policy work. And yet, it's going to be a lot harder for SCOTUS to overturn than just "the president forgives your debt," which was the first thing he tried to do and it didn't work! With a different SCOTUS, it might have! But we have this nightmare court BECAUSE OF TRUMP, and all the Pure Thoughts in the world won't get rid of it!

Biden is the most liberal president we have ever had, period, full stop. It's not sexy and it's not exciting and it's not something the Online Leftists will ever acknowledge, but it's the truth. And whenever he is actually and extensively pushed, he goes more left, not less. I suspect at least part of the recent negative press barrage he's gotten is because he's openly come out with a plan to raise the tax rate on billionaires to 25%, and the corporations and oligarchs that own the mainstream media Really Don't Like That. (They've always been unfair to Democrats, but look for it to be especially so.) That would be, BY FAR, the highest the top-rate tax bracket has been since Reagan. Biden is the first president ever to actually address the scam of "Reaganomics" and take credit for "Bidenomics," which actually does represent a major rearrangement of the way capital is envisioned and distributed in this country for the first time in the 40+ years since Reagan wrecked it. That's why the capitalist media is really, REALLY determined to muckrake him as much as possible, and to do Kamala even dirtier than they did to HRC in 2016.

Anyway also: Holding someone accountable also implies that you're working with them and will reward them (i.e. voting for them, engaging with them) if they do the things you expect, which is another thing the Online Leftists won't do. So yes. This. The end.

[jymwahuwu]

You should be mentally prepared when you take out a loan to open a store. Although the IPC salesperson did overlook some "extremely egregious" clauses in the presentation, it's your fault if you don't sign every clause carefully. Everything is written in accordance with interstellar recognized laws that even your planet recognizes (they must, unless they want to feel kicked out of the interstellar credit system and the economic collapse that comes with it).

As a member of Non-Performing Asset Liquidation Specialists, Aventurine is responsible for your case. You have exceeded the agreed repayment period. He held his chin while browsing your information and curled his lips. So… naive.

That's why Aventurine is here to help you. He provides you with a suitable "debt repayment plan". Strap you into an electric dildo and you'll be able to repay 3,000 credits. Riding on him can repay 50,000. If you are smart, you should know how to choose. Spanking, blowjobs (including swallowing his seed), and masturbation all at the right price for you. It's a pity that the interest will double.

You have to work hard to serve him.

(Sometimes when he brings the professor over, Ratio sees you standing naked in embarrassment.)

[lindsay00000008]

Ghost x Fem!Reader

DownBad!Simon Ghost Riley x JustAFriend!Reader

A little worldbuilding for ya. Enjoy! Maybe next will be a how-they-met drabble.

Part 3 (Prev)

CW: cursing, reference to solo hanky panky

“Beer?”

“Beer.”

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

So it turns out a honey glaze can catch fire in the air fryer. Who knew?

The Thursday Dinner Experiment dissolves into a slapdash affair of side veggies (sautéed onions, broccoli and peppers) with frozen beef and bean burritos as the main course. You and Simon settle on a movie to offset the stress of dousing the flames, have a couple more beers on the couch, and talk about the project Simon wants to complete before his next gig.

“Built-ins.”

“Incredible. Love a good built-in.”

His fixer-upper has been the highlight of his time off, it seems. Not a distraction, per se. You get the feeling he likes the act of creation, healing the house and seeing the effect of his work in measurable ways. He says he intends to sell it for profit, but those times you see him at work it’s a bit hard to believe.

“The roof is all fixed then?”

“Mm,” he gives a more-or-less wave of his hand, and you snicker.

“Remind me not to sleep over. Or would you hold an umbrella for me?”

He huffs and takes a swig of his drink.

“Oh, hey have you heard from Johnny lately?”

He gives you a look that seems to say o‘course I have, and you continue.

“Ok yeah, I just meant I haven’t been able to get ahold of him in a bit.”

“Some’n you need?”

“Um, it’s more like I owe him,” you chuckle. “He told me I could buy him dinner but he’s been slippery.”

Simon snorts, covering his mouth and nose before beer can spout forth.

“What?” You smile, bewildered at his sudden humor.

“Hmm. Johnny... yeah, you could say he’s slippery.”

“Is this a sex thing? Cause I remember that story Johnny told at the bar and it really-“

“Nah,” Simon can’t hold in his laugh this time, “Nah it’s not a sex thing. It's a... work thing. Inside joke.”

"Oh, haha..." You laugh faintly, that familiar, outside-looking-in feeling creeping up. You're not exactly sure what Simon does for work. You've been friends for two years now, and see him constantly for those periods of time when he's home, but there's still so much you're in the dark about. You don't need to know these things to enjoy your time together. And Simon seems comfortable separating his work from his daily life. Besides his attachment to his coworker Johnny, of course, the two closer than brothers.

Sometime you think they're in some kind of international mafia. Simon shows up after a month away looking like he's been steamrolled and blown up, with trinkets and treats from places far away. Specialty coffee, a tiny stained glass lamp, an ocarina engraved with a lily. The military maybe - but you've had friends in the military, a cousin who joined the marines even, and this feels very different.

Simon rubs his mouth, slotting the bridge between his thumb and forefinger beneath his nose, an action you've noticed seems to sooth him. Perhaps he's thinking the same things, feeling the secrets between you. You want to pull him away from the thought, show him you're fine with however much he can give you. Your friendship is all that matters.

"So he's good yeah? Just busy, then?"

"Hm. Bloke's fine, probably just joined a knittin' club or sum'in. I'll ask 'im."

"Hah. Well like I said, it's repayment, for that time he spotted me at Hooligan's. Don't want to be a bother."

Simon levels you with a serious look.

"He'd be a big idiot to turn down your offer."

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

"Why are you avoiding her, ya big idiot?" Simon accuses Johnny when he phones him later that night.

"Oh 'am the idiot? Yer the one who can't see 'am tryin' to give ye room to make a move on the lass."

"Fuck righ' off Soap, we're just friends. Thought the two o' you were friends too, but you're making her wonder."

"She'll ge' over it. But you won't ge' over it if she goes out with me and falls for my charms, no' will ya?"

"Gimme a break."

"Look. I like her. Which is why I'm backin' off. It's no' so rare for me to have a wee crush. But the second I saw you makin' goo-goo eyes-"

"I do not make-"

"Hush it, LT. 'Am just tryin'a give ye yer best shot. She's the first thing ye think of when comin' off deployment, yeah? 'Ah know, I see it in ye every time. One day you'll thank me."

"Look, just..." Simon speaks through a raging blush, his voice a grumble that sounds grumpier than he really feels, "call her back, would ya? Go grab a coffee or something. I'm not pressed. If she likes you... I'll deal. Don't count on it though. She's too smart for you."

"Sure LT. I'll do it for you, alright? Kisses,"

"Soap..."

"Yeah, LT?"

"Fuck off."

"'Night, LT."

"G'night."

Simon tosses the phone to the floor beside the bed and curses up at the ceiling, rubbing his hot face. His mind turns back to the wrestling that afternoon. The way he "accidentally" fell atop you when you tripped, how you were enveloped perfectly beneath his body, the way your eyes widened and cheeks flushed when you both looked at the salacious packaging spilling out of the nondescript cardboard box. Oh, how he wanted to tease you relentlessly. Give in to the desire to drag your pure, ladylike demeanor through the mud and then lick it all off. If he said the things he was itching to say, would you cover your ears, or laugh? Would you bite back? What would happen then, on that couch, if you hadn't scurried away when you did? The images take him away.

It's a long time before he finds sleep, his hands too rough and knowledgable to truly satisfy.

He can't go on like this. Not forever. But what else can he do?

Taglist:

If you've given me love in the comments or reblogs I've added you too! Thanks for the support! Lmk to add/remove.

@littleghostbride, @cmbghost, @anotherrickinthewall, @etherealinthewoods

P.S. About Simon's mask

My sister told me she was confused as to why Simon doesn't have a mask in these drabbles. I have the idea that he keeps his civilian life so entirely separate from work that he can't wear a mask all the time for fear people might make that connection. People know him in the field as the guy who always wears the mask, right? He has two identities. With the mask, and without. Ghost, and Simon. He does still wear a plain black KN95 on errands, citing health awareness (it's really his anxiety). But when he's comfortable at home or with friends (even at his favorite bar, sometimes), he takes it off. That's my headcannon, anyway.

[demonshauntingthedoves]

Right of the first night - providing to the lord to have sexual relations with any female subject, particularly on her wedding night.

Pairing: Lord Jungkook x florist reader

Timeline: medieval period (inspo french revolution)

Warning: yandere, dubious consent, power disparity, peasantry, feudal system, sexual acts.

Explained : when a peasant (especially women) migrated from one town to another, it was seen as a loss of workers in that town under that lord, the worker was indebted and had to compensate for that loss, in a way the lord demanded, which in case of women was mostly sex.

a part of my Debt series (maknae line)

--------------

"You look so radiant!"

One of your cousins remarked, your eyes fluttered down in shyness. The giggling sisters circled your chair, one interlaced white flowers in the braids of your hair, the other one patted blush on your face.

The house was full. Filled with clutter of relatives and their chatters. The groom was yet to arrive. The cousins kept teasing you to contain yourself. And it was true, you couldn't contain yourself, eager and nervous. Your heart thrummed and your face glowed.

Your groom came from a family of bakers, but they weren't like commoners, despite coming from the lower societal tier, they'd prospered. He was from the other town. You were favoured to become a wife to such a gentleman, who'd even agreed to wed you, knowing you didn't come from money but a poor florist family, you were grateful to him.

Amidst the thought, you didn't realise the house had suddenly quietened down.

"I think your groom is here." Your sister shrieked, running to open the door to get a glimpse. Your heart lurched for a second. It was finally happening. You were going to be wed.

Your father entered the room and looked at you, his face adrift. He chased all your cousins out and cleared his throat. Your smile faltered as you stood, concerned at your father's rigid countenance and asked,

"What's wrong, father?"

You saw him blink at you and hung his head low, in shame and defeat. A sigh shuddered out of him as he squeezed his eyes with his fingers.

You neared him and asked again,

"I'm sorry, dear."

"Wha-why are you apologising?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't become a good father to you, I couldn't give you a better life, I'm so sorry you had to be born in this low life peasantry." Tears lined your eyes hearing your father so vulnerable.

"Father, I don't understand. Why are you apologising. What has happened? Please tell me."

He cupped your cheeks and gave you a wounded stare,  "I feel so much rage right now, but I cannot do anything, nothing, I'm so helpless dear."

"What happe-"

"You are told to sleep with Lord Jeon's son before the wedding begins." The single statement sucked all your breath out.

"What?"

"I had dreaded this but I-I cannot do anything. The noble threatened me if I refused, he'll wreck us, he'll leave us with nothing and I owe him so much money, he said he'll take this as repayment. I'm burning with anger but I can do nothing." Your father cried in frustration and anger. 

"Tell me what I should've done? Tell me? I'd better die than see you get raped by someone. This vile society and these vile noblemen have no mercy for us. They're monsters."  You hugged your father and wailed in his arms. You knew nothing could save you from this doom. Nothing could. Because if you refused, everything would crumble.

"I-I will do it." Your father's hands tightened around you as his chest rumbled with his cries.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know how I'll live with this guilt. I'll die before that."

She pulled away, eyes watering more.

"No, you won't. You know I'll do anything for you. I cannot ever see you hung your head low. I will do this, if it saves us then I will do this." She breathed in, hardening her eyes to seem stronger, even if her body trembled with a cold fear of what was to happen.

Your father stared at you for a long time, before giving a sigh of surrender and  leaving the room.

--------------------

It was minutes after your father left, did the door creak open and shut. You felt goosebumps rising on your skin, hearing the thumps of shoes approaching where you sat on the edge of the bed. The man loomed over you but you kept staring down at your clasped hands that were shivering badly.

You yelped, when your jaw was clutched with rough fingers and pulled upwards. It was then Jungkook's eyes withheld yours, stricken with lust.

"You are more beautiful this close."

Jeon Jungkook. The son of the town's man. He would frequent the inn across the seller's streets where you sold flowers. He and his acquaintance sat in the large balcony of the inn and did what the nobles did, drink and debate, exploit their noble rights.

You had always wondered why he'd preferred to visit this old inn over other ones, with a bizarre street front at that. Now you're scared that you know the reason why.

" Such a pity." He clicked his tongue and licked his lips. He withdrew his hands and stepped away from you and breathed in dramatically as if to control himself.

"Stand up"

At his demand, you stood up and stared at him with a film of tears in your eyes as his eyes wrecked over your whole body.

" You know, you should be obliged to me?"

You gulped and nodded, your legs trembled feeling his intimidating stare. Your breath shuddered when the tip of his finger trailed down your neck towards your cleavage. "Because if not for my pity, you were to lay down with my father."

" You should feel honoured because it is me who is going to shed your white gown."

Shameful tears trailed down your face as he dragged the neckline of your dress down.

" And lay with you." He grumbled hungrily at the reveal of your chest.

"Please, don't do this sir." You gripped his wrist in resistance and begged him. "My groom will not accept me after this. No one would want to wed me. Please show mercy, sir."

His moves faltered and he nodded his head as if he understood your turmoil.

You were wrong to think he would reconsider, because after the halt, he smirked and leaned closer to whisper to you,

"But that's what I want to do, darling." 

his breath draped over yours, eyes intense with conviction,

"To ruin you for others."

Your eyes widened in horror at his claim.

A helpless "no" left past your trembling lips, as the sleeves of your dress were lowered, revealing more expanse of your pale skin. 

"You owe me, remember."

You were doomed. You did nothing, but turn your head away and cover your mouth, to silence the aggressive sobs that erupted in you.

| park jimin |

[probablyasocialecologist]

During the socialist state period in Hungary, for example, widespread soil acidification problems are traceable to heavy use of agrochemicals, like ammoniacal nitrate, but the problem could have been averted or at least reduced by refraining from producing the likes of sausages, fruits and vegetables for Western markets, especially West Germany and Austria, to fulfil loan repayment schedules imposed by Western financial institutions. In effect, the more an economy is integrated with international capital flows, the higher the ecological footprint. Accordingly, China, as a country embodying the main contradictions of the world capitalist economy, should be expected to have a worsening environmental record. As Peters et al. have shown, the wealthiest countries (largely liberal democracies) can overconsume fossil fuels and spew out the most greenhouse gases by appropriating natural wealth (e.g. fossil fuels) from the rest of the world, where there is chronic underconsumption relative to fossil fuel production.

Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro, Socialist States and the Environment: Lessons for Eco-Socialist Futures

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Molly McGhee’s “Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind”

Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind is Molly McGhee's debut novel: a dreamlike tale of a public-private partnership that hires the terminally endebted to invade the dreams of white-collar professionals and harvest the anxieties that prevent them from being fully productive members of the American corporate workforce:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/734829/jonathan-abernathy-you-are-kind-by-molly-mcghee/

Though this is McGhee's first novel, she's already well known in literary circles. Her career has included stints at McSweeney's, where she worked on my book Information Doesn't Want To Be Free:

https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/information-doesn-t-want-to-be-free

And then at Tor Books, where she worked on my book Attack Surface:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250757531/attacksurface

But though McGhee is a shrewd and skilled editor, I think of her first and foremost as a writer, thanks to stunning essays like "America's Dead Souls," a 2021 Paris Review piece that described the experience of multigenerational debt in America in incandescent, pitiless prose:

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2021/05/17/americas-dead-souls/

McGhee's piece struck at the heart of something profoundly wrong in American society – the dual nature of debt, which represents a source of freedom for the wealthy, and bondage for workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/19/zombie-debt/#damnation

When billionaire mass-murderers like the Sacklers amass tens of billions of liabilities stemming from their role in deliberately starting the opioid crisis, the courts step in to relieve them of their obligations, allowing them to keep their blood-money:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

And when Silicon Valley Bank collapses due to mismanagement by ultra-wealthy financiers, the public purse yawns open and billions flow out to ensure that the wealthiest investors in the country stay whole:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/18/2-billion-here-2-billion-there/#socialism-for-the-rich

When predatory payday lenders target working people and force them into bankruptcy with four-digit APRs, the government intervenes…to save the lenders and keep workers on the hook:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/29/planned-obsolescence/#academic-fraud

"Debtor vs creditor" is the oldest class division we have. The Bronze Age custom of jubilee – the periodic cancellation of all debts – wasn't some weird peccadillo. It was essential public policy, and without jubilee, the hereditary creditor class became the arbiter of all social priorities, destabilizing great nations and even empires by directing production to suit their parochial needs. Societies that didn't practice jubilee (or halted it) collapsed:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/08/jubilant/#construire-des-passerelles

Today's workers are debt burdened at scales and in ways that defy comprehension, the numbers are so brain-breakingly large. Students who take out modest loans and pay them off several times over remain indebted decades later, with outstanding balances that vastly outstrip the principle:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/04/kawaski-trawick/#strike-debt

Workers who quit dead-end jobs are billed for five-figure "training repayment" bills that haunt them to the end of days:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

Hospitals sue indigent patients at scale, siccing debt-collectors on people who can't pay – and were entitled to free care to begin with:

https://armandalegshow.com/episode/when-hospitals-sue-patients-part-2/

And debt collectors are drawn from the same social ranks as the debtors, barely trained and unsupervised, engaging in lawless, constant harassment of the debtor class:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/#fair-debt-collection-practices-act

McGhee's "American Dead Souls" crystallized all of this vast injustice into a single, beautiful essay – and then McGhee crystallized things further by posting a public resignation letter enumerating the poor pay and working conditions in New York publishing, triggering mass, industry-wide resignations by similarly situated junior editorial staff:

https://electricliterature.com/molly-mcghee-jonathan-abernathy-you-are-kind-interview-debut-novel-book-debt/

Thus we arrive at McGhee's debut: a novel written by someone with a track record for gorgeous, brutally insightful prose; incisive analysis of the class war raging in the embers of capitalism's American Dream; and consequential labor organizing against the precarity and exploitation of young workers. As you might expect, it's fantastic.

Jonathan Abernathy is a 25 year old, debt haunted, desperately lonely man. An orphan with a mountain of college debt, Abernathy lives in a terrible basement apartment whose rent is just beyond his means. The only thing that propels him out of bed and into the world are his affirmations:

Jonathan Abernathy you are kind

You are well respected and valued by your community

People, including your family, love you

That these are all easily discerned lies is beside the point. Whatever gets you through the night.

We meet Jonathan as he is applying for a job that he was recruited for in a dream. As instructed in his dream, he presents himself at a shabby strip-mall office where an acerbic functionary behind scratched plexiglass takes his application and informs him that he is up for a gig run jointly by the US State Department and a consortium of large corporate employers. If he is accepted, all of his student debt repayments will be paused and he will no longer face wage garnishment. What's more, he'll be doing the job in his sleep, which means he'll be able to get a day job and pull a double income – what's not to like?

Jonathan's job is to enter the dreams of sleeping middle-management types in America's largest firms – but not just any dreams, their nightmares. Once he has entered their nightmare, Jonathan is charged with identifying the source of their anxiety and summoning a more senior operative who will suck up and whisk away that nagging spectre, thus rendering the worker a more productive component of their corporate structure.

But of course, there's more to it. As Jonathan works through his sleeping hours, he is deprived of his own dreams. Then there's the question of where those captive anxieties are ending up, and how they're being processed, and what new products can be made from refined nightmares. While Jonathan himself is pulling ever so slightly out of his economic quagmire, the people around him are still struggling.

McGhee braids together three strands: the palpable misery of being Jonathan (a proxy for all of us), the rising terror of the true nature of his employment, and beautifully turned absurdist touches that are laugh-aloud funny. This could be a mere novel of ennui and misery but it's not – it's a novel of hilarity and fear and misery, all mixed together in a glorious and terrible concoction that is not like anything else you've ever read.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/08/capitalist-surrealism/#productivity-hacks

[kaile-hultner]

GoFundMe Update, 8/12/2024

Hey y'all! it's been about a week since the last GoFundMe update. We've hit a pretty predictable slow period in this fundraiser, a kind of doldrums, but I also got super busy over the last seven days, so it's all good there. So what's been going on in the past week?

To start with, as I mentioned last week I'm down to just one installment loan. This in itself has already made a massive difference just even in terms of how I'm feeling. It no longer feels like I'm being crushed by this massive weight on my shoulders or chest. I know I've mentioned this a lot, but it's such a weird feeling after experiencing the opposite for most of my adult life.

With that, things are already starting to change rapidly: my credit score has gone up 23 points in a week and a half, for example. I hate that this is even something we should have to pay attention to, but I can't help but feel relieved when number go up instead of down. The number of phone calls I'm getting per day, in the evenings, on the weekends - all the debt collection calls - has dropped dramatically. Now it's mostly just spam and companies trying to get me to take out more loans with them. I've experienced a burst of creative energy that has gotten me back in the game-playing-and-reviewing saddle - I just wrote a piece about "A Short Hike" as a donor request fulfillment exercise. (You can check that out here.) I was able to get through an entire weekend of work at my side-gig with no issues or delays—something I haven't been able to say for a few months. And when I finished that work? You'll never believe it, but I didn't feel stressed out or exhausted! I felt normal!

This doesn't automatically catapult me into 24/7 comfortable living, and now I really have to focus on the hard and dirty work of living within my means, building a budget and being an adult when it comes to daily choices, but I always knew that. This GFM has never been the magic bullet that would solve all of my problems - and I've never wanted it to be. However, it's helped assuage such a significant portion of my problems that I can focus on other things for once, and navigating that for the first time has been a pretty significant experience! This comes after months of having to transfer my paycheck from my bank to my Apple Pay account and a litany of other sketchy shit just to make sure it didn't all get swallowed up by various debt repayments and years of sometimes paying rent in parts instead of all at once. With most of that gone and cleared out, I no longer have to do all that! I don't feel like I'm constantly between a rock and a hard place, and that's… honestly pretty significant.

So what's next? Why am I still moving forward with the GFM towards $8000 and eventually $10000+?

Well, as I've said in prior updates, it's still pretty unbelievable that we reached $6500+ and I genuinely have no expectations about getting even a cent more. If nobody else donates, I think I would be pretty pleased with what this GFM was able to accomplish. But I don't think I'm totally out of the woods yet. Thanks to your help, I've upgraded from "basically completely underwater" to "balancing precariously on the edge of the dock," and there's a WORLD of difference between those two states. But that doesn't mean I don't ever again have to worry about the possibility of almost drowning.

Goal 4 would help me pay off my remaining installment loan, and with that close the book on that chapter of my life altogether. I've got these two annoying (paid monthly) loans in the background, but paying $40 and $78 a month respectively for them isn't really all that bad. It's not moving the needle the way these installment loans (paid every two weeks on my payday) were. I'd like to get rid of this final installment loan pretty quickly if possible. I'm currently just a bit under $1400 away from that goal, and I think it's pretty attainable.

Goal 5, $10,000, and Goal 6, $10,000+, are maybe my vaguest goals, so I want to flesh those out a bit. For those goals, I'm thinking of my long-term future more than anything immediate. If I can get anything past $8K, great! That will be money I put into a savings account and start adding to on my own. The reason I'm putting these goals at the end of this GFM is because in a little bit less than a year, I'm looking at the end of a pretty long arrangement I've had at the place I'm living, and the situation is that either rent is going to raise pretty significantly or (more likely) I'm going to be finding a new place to live. Having some money in savings is going to help me out with this in two ways: first, being able to pay a deposit on an apartment or absorb some of the cost of raised rent. Second, being able to put down a down payment on a car. My (smaller) worry is that, even with the radical erasure of my most immediate and crushing debts that this GFM has already afforded me, I may not have enough time to save this kind of money on my own, and/or that my credit score won't heal fast enough to qualify me for cheaper car payments, apartment deposits that aren't an arm and a leg, and so on. For context, I live in Oklahoma, which has a relatively cheap cost of living, but it's practically impossible to get around without a car as OKC's transit system is bootycheeks.

Finally (and least importantly), I promised when I set this GFM up that it would be the last time I asked for money from the Internet for this or any reason, outside of like a medical emergency. I set $10k up as a moonshot goal, something I didn't think it was possible to achieve - and yet here it is, barely $3400 away. If we make it to the end, that's gonna feel like a wild achievement! I'd finally be able to rest easy.

Here's a bad car metaphor I just thought of: you know how when you jump a car, you don't just plug up the jumper cables from one car to another and call it good when the car in need of jumping starts? You have to give it a little bit of extra juice in order for the car to restart its own charging capacity? That's kind of what this GFM is. I'm the car being jumped. The fundraiser is the other car revving its engine and giving me a bit of extra juice after I was able to start my own engine again.

See? told you it was bad.

Anyway, as always, I cannot thank those of you who have already donated enough. None of this would be possible if it wasn't for you, and my inbox is always open if you want to suggest cursed internet artifacts for me to look at. Someone suggested the entire series of Eyewitness children's science documentaries to me. I have no clue if I'll be able to find them. I've been vibing on the theme song for days tho. The only thing I would ask of you at this point is to share this GFM on social media, maybe link back to this update directly, and let's see if we can't find some extra wind for these sails to get us closer to that final goal. If you can't donate, please don't feel pressured to donate! Just reblogging it is more than enough help.