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bondsmagii · 3 years ago

Note

Hey read (some of) this blog post (long as hell), tries to pick it up where your old scp cult post left off: lackoflepers medium com/scp-is-not-a-cult-196e87ce6b11

(link)

this is insane. I've never written anything that's ever received a full response before, so that's exciting. what's even more exciting is that this piece does raise some really interesting questions, and is very well-written and thoughtful.

the strange thing is, I think we're both in agreement -- but I'm calling it a cult, and the author of this piece is calling it a "fledgling religion". I agree with this outlook, if I'm honest -- but at the same time I can't help but think that this has filled a hole in my cult theory, rather than poked a hole in it.

when I wrote the original cult post, the one thing I couldn't quite equate was the religion aspect. there was a lot of things to consider from that aspect, in terms of cults requiring a certain doctrine, rituals, etc, and while I was able to draw comparisons to the site culture and these things, it didn't quite fit. this article explains and illustrates exactly what all of these things are, and the sheer amount of similarities between the SCP wiki culture and religious fundamentalists. it's absolutely incredible, how it all still adds up.

however, some things are way off. I understand the author has a history with site and with staff, and they obviously understand that there's a complicated relationship between the two. the piece certainly tackles the question from an educated site-critical standpoint, but I can't help but notice some glaring omissions and in some places, assumptions which I feel are quite simply incorrect. under the cut we go, because this is long.

the author seems to be very ignorant of the site's cyclical patterns. one of their main arguments for the wiki's not being a cult is how people like Dr Gears and thedeadlymoose don't have more power over the masses, being such important figures. the problem with the wiki is that it is very cyclical, and big names of one era do not translate over to new eras. big names replace old ones, and the old ones either become fond grandparent figures (like Gears, who had the sense to take a step back before the tides changed against him) or they become irrelevant or reviled (like thedeadlymoose, or pixelatedharmony (Roget).) this means that if the former appeals to the group, they will get essentially a pat on the head and a gentle dismissal, or if the latter speak out they will be silenced, harassed, banned, etc. this is very cultlike behaviour -- if somebody goes against the grain, they become an immediate enemy of the people. the only way to survive fame on the wiki is to retire quietly, at your peak, and keep yourself to yourself.

going on from this, there are also different levels to how a staff member is seen. there have been eras of the site where the site admin might not be as impressive as one of the prolific writers, for example. who these days knows about The Administrator? it's all Dr Gears to them. different authors have different levels of unofficial authority, and the author of the piece doesn't seem to realise that it's a cult of personality as much as anything else. there are constant divisions among staff, even if they present a united front; frequently those not toeing the party line have been ostracised or purged, and this filters down to the average user. just because a person is on staff does not mean they immediately skyrocket to godhood, if we're using the religious metaphor. this is why it seems as though "staff" as a whole isn't uniformly worshipped -- they're not. there are complex currents of power at work here, and it's frustrating because at first glance it seems to invalidate the very real fact that a few site members have all the authority. the staff worship extends to staff members. those in lower tiers will act similarly to those in higher tiers as a new member would act towards all staff.

the author draws attention to thedeadlymoose's impressive efforts to bring the site forward from its 4chan beginnings and make it more inclusive to LGBT members -- something that has undoubtedly had an effect. however, the author does not mention that to date, the site's only successful splinter site (as in, a site that lasted more than a few weeks) is RPC, and while this website came about for multiple reasons, it's undeniable that one of these reasons was because of the fact that the wiki was openly supportive of LGBT people during Pride Month. it's also interesting to note that the author is also a member of the RPC site, so it's odd that this piece of the site's origins is not mentioned.

the acceptance of these pro-LGBT policies also seems to be less wide-spread than the author believes -- most people don't care, there does exist users who are homophobic or transphobic, and -- something I'm surprised wasn't mentioned at all in the piece -- when LGBT members of the site spoke up and said the new logo made them feel pandered to, and the resulting blowout made them feel targeted and unsafe, they were mass banned from the subreddit by a rogue moderator who, incensed by the fact his authority was so challenged, then ragequit and abused people on the threads for several hours. this is a typical staff response to discontent in the masses. so yes, thedeadlymoose did have some significant sway in the attitude changing somewhat, but it was not as widespread (nor as cared about) as the article's author seems to think.

now, I shall move on to specific quotations.

Furthermore, as a gaggle of creators, SCP should never feature the mass conformity of thought that defines a cult; theirs is an ecosystem that predicates itself upon creation, and obsessively on the new and original — that is to say, the different (but tempered).

while the author does elaborate on this idea of creativity and conformity, this is just wrong. again, I blame the author's ignorance in regards to the cyclical nature of the site -- which isn't the fault of the author, in my opinion. such cycles are slow, measuring out in years rather than months, which is insanely long for an internet community. in order to notice them, you would have to have been observing for some time -- which I have been. since I have been observing the site (which has been since its very creation -- I was on the 4chan thread in 2007 when 173 was created and I have seen the wiki from its infancy on EditThis over to wikidot) I have seen this happen countless times. a type of writing, be it style or genre, takes off. it could be LOLFoundation, grimdark, whatever -- it takes off, it runs the site for a year or so, and then it crashes and burns. when it takes off, there are rules for writing it that must be obeyed lest you be downvoted to oblivion. as the attitude turns against it, those who still write it are vilified and ostracised, and the new one takes over. there have been mass purges in the past, and there has always been, since the wiki's inception, conformity of thought. one of my oldest complaints about the wiki is that, for a site full of writers, they have no imagination and absolutely no desire to step out of the approved style.

To put it very broadly, things get accustomed to the status quo in a highly regulated environment, and get better at simply remaining and surviving in that.

this could be a decent rebuff to my previous point, but the fact is that while the SCP wiki harbours cultish behaviour, a vast majority of the users are casual readers who maybe write one or two articles. the stagnation is, at least partially, because of the fact that most users sign up, read some articles, think "cool, I have an idea for one!", write it -- and have it emulate the articles they've read, thus sounding similar in tone and content to the rest of the recent articles -- get a semi-decent response if lucky, and then move on after a few months or years.

the people who power the wiki, however -- who are prolific, who churn out insane amount of articles -- are suffering from what I outlined in my above point. a small percentage of the wiki dictates the direction it goes. it has always been like this -- and people who go against the grain that staff have employed, be it old user or new, will pay for it. this payment is often in downvotes, but occasionally comes in harassment, bans, or deletions, too.

Lastly a cult is really the most extreme version of a religion, it is a religion on steroids.

this is straight-up incorrect. cults began as religions gone hayware, yes, but the idea of a cult as a Jonestown-style compound in the middle of nowhere is outdated. cults are the most extreme version of an ideology -- be it religious, political, or otherwise. they are ideologies on steroids. thanks to the internet, they also no longer have to be in real life spaces. you can be in a social cult on Twitter or on Discord; you can be in a cult of ideology on an incel forum or in a social circle of TERF blogs. all of these things are cults. they have cult-like behaviour and thinking.

this is where the author proves my point beyond all doubt. the author says the following about the wiki's increasingly left-wing inclusive policies:

What was intended to be an executive extension in peace has, due to the force required to counteract the sheer hostility and persecution once leveled at this group at its peak, instead overshot its mark and has become a brutal bureaucratic sanctioning of political identity. (I can hear someone saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.)

the biggest shift in this cult-think, for me, was observed when the shift towards Terminally Online Woke Left attitudes began to be increasingly observed. I'm not talking about getting people to tone down the homophobia and whatnot. I'm talking about this culture of purity and suffering that the author outlines very well in the article; if you have read the article, I needn't go over it again. the wiki now holds a monopoly on suffering using the same kind of Oppression Olympics as other spaces devoted to purity culture -- and purity culture is a cult. this is straight-up fact at this point. it is my belief that staff identified the power available to them in a) targeting people from oppressed and vulnerable groups and giving them a so-called safe space and b) using their various oppressions to their advantage.

something that is prolific in purity culture circles is that somebody who is oppressed in any way cannot be held to blame for their actions. they cannot be a bad person. this is ideological armour, and staff wields it. they also use purity culture and apparently progressive ideology to shut down anyone who dissents, and to smear their name and have then ostracised as an enemy. why do they do this? liking the power and fame of their position is a big part of it, as the author outlined, but something major is missing.

throughout the entire article, the author does not once mention the detailed and extensive history of staff sexually abusing minors on the site.

this is well-documented by this point. staff has seen many predators in its ranks, including one of the most prolific site members of all time -- AdminBright, or The Duckman. staff has known about these staff members and has covered it up over years. I myself have heard testimony from countless victims, but whenever we raise enough of a stink, a staff member does an "internal investigation" and nothing comes of it. the fact that the cult-like behaviour of this website can be discussed without one of the cornerstones of cult activity -- using its members for financial or sexual gain -- is astounding to me.

to go on from this, there is also no mention of the SCP lawyer fund, which raised over $30,000 and then faced staff actively resisting transparency as to the case and the funds. financial manipulation is another major example of cult behaviour.

without acknowledging these two things, I do not think that a full argument against the idea of the SCP wiki as a cult can be possible.

the author raises a good point that illustrates both why staff acts the way it does, and why the users are so eager to imitate:

The answer is something that can turn someone into their nemesis; something that would make someone sell their soul for 1000 upvotes; that tragic commonality that binds all individuals who feel the need to write; the need to be received, but more, to be loved for it.

this is a big reason why staff clings to its power, and why people sell out their creativity, and why people emulate this behaviour, and why prolific authors burn out so fast. however, running through all of this at its core -- through the need to be received and loved -- is the power that comes with it. this is all about power.

to mention the specific example of LordStonefish, and his reaction when he found out that his interviewer was enemy of the people pixelatedharmony, now of "burning out, ragequitting the site, and going to talk shit on KiwiFarms" infamy:

[...] it was as if LSF was speaking to a leper, and that the ongoing participation in the salvation of public approval (not to mention site participation as well) was directly dependent upon LSF’s rebuke of pH as a demon who is only worthy of a terrible fate and, as we see in the screencaps, even death.

leaving my personal opinions on Harmony out of this, going from a perfectly civil interview to finding out that the interviewer was an enemy and not only dumping all of his private information to offset doxing, but also going into detail about some highly personal stuff for shock value... I don't think Harmony quite required that treatment. the fact is that, as the quote outlines above, the only way to ensure that he wouldn't be completely ostracised for fraternising with the enemy (KiwiFarms -- of which Harmony is apparently the ambassador) was to behave like a man shunning a sinner. Harmony has sinned -- she rejected the status quo, she defied the group and its authority, and LordStonefish, in order to remain safe from being tarred with the same brush -- has to react with suitable horror to her presence.

it should be noted here that while KiwiFarms has a reputation for being a hive of scum and villainy, its main reputation regarding the SCP Wiki has been for being the one place where complaints against the site are openly discussed, often by defected staff members such as pixelatedharmony and Cyantreuse, and perhaps most telling of all -- the place where a lot of accounts of sexual harassment and abuse have been filed. staff rails against it on the grounds of it being filled with people who use slurs and have questionable ideological beginnings (ironic, coming from a website which began on 4chan) -- but as a leftist myself with extensive knowledge of the wiki, I can confirm that no criticisms I've seen on there have been unfair or inaccurate, and in fact a lot of the evidence and testimony posted there is damning. it would be fair to not wish to associate with the site because of its content in other places, or even its past reputation, but the fact staff rail against it so hard when it's currently one of the only places (and certainly the only public place) where their deeds are on display? it's interesting.

of LordStonefish's reaction, the author says:

This is the behavior of a deeply religious figure.

it is. this is the reaction of a Mormon meeting an old friend who has left the church. this is the reaction of a Jehovah's Witness crossing the street to avoid a shunned neighbour. it is the behaviour, you could say, of a cult member.

in the conclusion, the author states:

And if anyone is to shoulder blame for the creation of this pathology and its complex, it are those true bigots of history and today, who don’t have the spiritual maturity to understand that someone’s sexual preference or identity shouldn’t be enough to categorically separate them from a definition of humanity; to beat, maim, and wish death upon them.

perhaps this might have been true, perhaps this might have drawn a thoughtful and damning line under the whole affair, if not for the fact that this behaviour has been occurring since long before the internet became known for its progressive and now increasingly often, ridiculous takes on inclusion and sensitivity. this kind of cultish groupthink has been ongoing since the wiki's very first inception. the cyclical worship of a group of staff members and other prolific writers (though the group are often one and the same) and their chosen theme or genre has occurred like clockwork since the late 00s. it has occurred when the website was still entrenched in its 4chan days and saying slurs was barely blinked at. it was still there back when staff was predominantly (or at least presumably) cis, white, and male. it was there when being gay was the butt of a joke and being trans was all but unthought of. it has always been there, and while the latest progressive policies and attitudes have had an effect on how the power is wielded, it has not changed the power itself. if the tides ever turn on the Terminally Online Woke ideology, staff will change with it and adapt their policies and ideologies to keep their power.

if anyone is to shoulder the blame for the creation of this pathology, it is the elitist attitude that has allowed a select few to be worshipped unquestionably. it is the power-hungry individuals who seek out fame and respect on a writing website and then use this fame and respect to treat others badly and their fear of a fall from grace to shelter others treating people worse. it is on the shoulders of the staff members who use their position to groom and sexually assault minors. it is on the shoulders of the staff members who keep it silent. as the severity of staff's secrets has increased, so has their attempts to silence dissent and reform at all costs.

the author agrees that this kind of religious think might lead to a cult in the future. the author says the cult will be a cult of vulnerability, but I disagree. I believe the cult is already there, and it is -- and always has been -- a cult of power.

#scp shenanigans #anon #asks

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narcicious · 2 years ago

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I know this is unlikely to convince folks who call other people "dumbass" on the internet, but here goes...

Okay, let's talk about this. A big point made above here is that that people born in or before 1964 have more wealth on average than people born thereafter. This is true, at least for the US where the data being cited is sourced. To be particular, since I didn't see it linked anywhere, the image shown above is from this blog post [1] which cites the US Federal Reserve [2] on total wealth and they appear to be calculating generational wealth per capita by taking the mean: dividing this total amount by the population alive within each generation in each year. This is a good way to get a general sense of the way the total amount of money is distributed by age. This is a very bad way to tell the amount of wealth any individual within each generational category is likely to have.

Consider the following: Of the 20 richest people in the US in 2023 [3], 14 were born in 1964 or earlier. Their combined net worth was 1,172.8 billion dollars (1.17 trillion). This is about 1.3 percent the total wealth (90.4 trillion$, 64.7% the total wealth) in 2023 of all americans born in 1964 or prior. To put that number in perspective, if you distributed the remainder of that total to people so that they had the same average(mean) amount of money as these 14 people, you'd only need 1,066 people. Based on data from the most recent US census, 25% of US residents were born in 1964 or previous [4], placing the total number of people in that category at around 83.7 million. If you instead distributed the remainder of the money evenly among all of those people, you would need 1.1 million people to equal the net worth of these 14. And, as a reminder, the distribution in relaity is very definitely not equal, as we will discuss below.

Let's consider the rest of the data available from the federal reserve. You know what division of the population also holds enormous wealth? The college-educated! College graduates hold about 71.5% of the total wealth of all americans (~100 trillion$) despite making up only around 50% of the population [5]. You see similar trends in demographics by race: 81% of total wealth is held by white americans despite only composing only 57.8% of the population. Most of those 14 people mentioned above just so happen to be white and college educated as well as being 59+ years old.

So what's a better measure to get a sense of what the average person has? The median value (the "middle" value in a distribution) is akin to the answer you are mostly likely to get if you walk up to a random stranger and ask how much money they make (assume they're honest and you ask nicely). Let's look at the median household income in 2021 by age. The median annual household income for all ages is $70,784 [5]. The only age categories that make less than this are people ages 12-24 ($51,645/yr) and ages 65+ ($47,620/yr). People ages 55-64 make about as much ($75,842/yr) as people ages 25-34 ($74,862). Even assuming one could save 15% of your income every year and keep making the same amount year on year, it would take both categories 89 years to save up 1 million$. Elon Musk, one of the top 20 who isn't a "Boomer", makes that much in less than an hour.

As @headspace-hotel put it: "You have more in common with any working-class "Boomer" than you do with a rich young person."

[1]: https://www.self.inc/info/generational-wealth-gap/

[2]: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:119;series:Net%20worth;demographic:generation;population:all;units:shares

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_Americans_by_net_worth

[4]: https://www.census.gov/popclock/

[5]: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/p60/276/tableA1.xlsx

I have no patience for negativity toward "boomers" anymore.

Almost everybody doing the work to restore ecosystems, grow native plants, and preserve rare species is 50 or older

The people I work with IRL have told me that my presence is encouraging because it means "the younger generation is getting involved with this stuff too." There's really not very many people my age

Who do you think was fighting this fight in the 1970's

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wizkiddx · 4 years ago

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worst case scenario part 3

umm so, never ever intended it to be this long but here we are. again this is v dark so please please read the warning!! also [and obvs] this is very medically inaccurate and just a work of my head aha

[part 1] [part 2]

warning: mentions of death / hospital / mentions of childhood abandonment too- please don't read if this could affect you <3

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His heart was thundering in his chest, so much so it drowned out all other sounds making all the doctors words fade into the background. Conciously, he really was trying to listen to what the doctor was saying; consciously he knew she was trying to prepare him to see Y/n; consciously he knew she knew he wasn’t okay. But really? It didn’t matter, and as they drew closer to his fiancé Tom felt an urgent sense of relief purely know she was there. She was there and she wasn’t dead…yet.

Only two people were allowed to go up, just because the nature of the ward - everything was meticulously controlled, including the comings and goings of visitors. If you’ve never been in an ICU it’s a pretty hard environment to describe. Really, it’s just another hospital ward, with capacity of about 20 beds. Each bed has much more equipment surrounding that the average and a nurse is stationed per patient, monitoring every possible variable that the machienes are measuring, so any trend (either positive or negative) can be identified at the earliest point. Though in everyones head, it seems as though ICU is a common place ending up for some unfortunate sod when something bad happens, it’s actually really rare for someone to be so ill and dependant on medicine to maintain normal body functioning. Only the most severe trauma, infection of the most dangerous microorganism, surgery of such high stakes normally make an appearance on the ward. And ,on average, between 8-20% patients that are admitted to an ICU never make it out.

And those grim figures were unignorable to anyone. As soon as you walk through the doors, the atmosphere is intense and ineffable. It’s not spoken, but is so incredibly morbid it makes anyone shiver.

Dom felt this, squeezing his sons shoulder as he followed Tom and the doctor, just a pace or so behind them. Having offered to go with Tom, whilst Harrison took Nikki to see the baby, Dom was now feeling just as clueless as his son did. Except he was actually listening to what the doctor was trying to warn them about and it scared him. The three, made it to the door and with a swipe of her ID card the doctor admitted the Holland men in. Gratefully, none of the staff took any notice of who was walking in, they were much too busy for that - Dom was incredibly relieved, had someone recognised Tom when he was in this state, god knows what would’ve happened.

The doctors pace was with purpose, perhaps so that the two couldn’t spend too long ogling the other patients in the beds - who all looked almost unhuman with the amount of tubes and wires coming out and into them. But then, she slowed up, halting infront of a bay about 5 or 6 down the ward. Spinning on her heel and with a subtle nod to momentarily release the nurse from her post at Y/n’s bedside, to give them a bit of privacy, she looked at the two men.

“You can touch her, just be gentle with the wires.”

Shellshocked and terrified, Tom was frozen those 2 metres away from the bed barely able to see her face over all the equipment. Yet undoubtedly, it was his finance’s delicate visage lying on the white pillow, with a thick white mouthpiece and tube covering her mouth and stuffed into her nose. Not able to move, both Dom and Dr Goodwell sensitively waited - it was an adjustment to say the least, seeing someone you knew so well look so different. With quiet tears starting to roll down his eyes, Tom eventually started to inch toward the bedside, taking his time to try and absorb everything of this frankly ridiculous situation. He couldn’t get over how, even considering it all, above her nose it just looked like Y/n. Like she was asleep in their bed, eyes closed as if she had once again fallen asleep infront of a random Netflix movie Tom had bugged her enough to watch in bed. And it was, ever so slightly comforting. That was still her, that was still the love of his life lying there. And she was still alive - which given the last few hours, was enough.

Reaching the bedside, Tom naturally reached out and stroked the top of her head delicately, pulling into place a few rogue strands that seemed to have a mind of their own - she had always hated when her hair got frizzy. The picture had Tom’s mind casting back to their first holiday, a serene if quick few days in Fiji- though Y/n didnt know this , that holiday had been one of the most important times in their relationship for Tom. Until then, given the nature of his job, the couple had only ever managed brief periods together. They spent time together as and when they could in between Tom’s busy schedule but it was never as long as they’d like. Somehow though, he’d managed to squeeze a few days away to surprise Y/n with the trip.

It was everything he’d ever hoped it would be and more. In fact it was then Tom was oh so sure he would be spending the rest of his life with her. This thought crossed his mind on the last morning, when he had for once woken up before Y/n - her head mere cms away from his on the pillow. Just like now, her hair had been all over the place and her sparkling green eyes locked shut. Contrastingly though, in Fiji the sight had made him smile softly; now it just made him cry again.

“Would you like a minute alone Mr Holland? We will just wait outside?” Not even turning round to properly respond to the doctor, Tom just nodded violently, not taking his eyes off his fiancé - waiting till he heard his Dad and the doctor leave the bay; then the curtains be completely drawn to a close, before he shakily cleared his throat to whisper.

“Hey darling… you um-you’ve scared me shitless today… and… and I’m supposed to be the dramatic one in the relationship.” Chuckling wetly, Tom clasped his other hand in Y/n’s - still mindful of the IV port coming out of the top of her wrist. Not that he was expecting any sort of response, yet the lack of her squeezing his hand back still had his heart sink. “Look I…I love you so bloody much and I really need you to get better okay? You’ve never listened to me before but I really am begging you to now, I just.” Swallowing thickly, he shut his eyes momentarily and delicately rested his forehead on hers - his touch feather light. Just needing to feel her. “I just really need you and I really love you., okay?”

Unsurprisingly he didn’t get a response. The rhetorical question hung in the air alone, safe the mechanical whir of the ventilator and various chimes of the machines and monitor, till his Dad came in. Grasping and squeezing his shoulder lightly, Dom provided the stimulus for his son to unfold from over the bed, standing upright, as both men just took in the sight of Y/n lying there for a minute or two.

“I need her Dad. I-I-“

“I know Tom.” Speaking so quietly it was barely audible, Dom’s eventual agreement at what Tom was saying was in a way a relief. Haz and his mum had both either been saying or implying that they would be okay no matter what - which came from a good place but was so infuriating. Because god forbid, if this situation got worse Tom knew it wouldn’t be okay. Nothing would ever be okay again. So his Dad’s simple acknowledgment meant a lot, causing Tom to turn round and embrace his slightly shorter father.

Dr Goodwell silently watched the exchange for a short while and once the men eventually pulled away she stepped forward to give some more information. She went through what all the biggest and scary looking tubes and wires were doing for Y/n, before explaining the next steps.

“Now as I said before we are sedating her at the moment, while we wait and see if she gets any complications from the surgery that are better treated while she is asleep. By this afternoon we will have a clearer idea and by that point we may choose to withdraw that sedation. It’s important that you are aware though that she might not wakeup immediately. Sometimes some people that have suffered similarly to your fiancé will be unconscious for a while in what I’d presume you’ve heard of as a ‘coma’. Now it’s not as dramatic as you see on TV shows, it’s just Ms Y/l/n’s brain giving her body a chance to recover. It’s often a longer process, which I know is something you don’t want to hear, but I have to be honest.” The doctor was stern but in a softer and from-a-caring-place. “These patients are suggested to possibly recover quicker if they have a steady support network behind them, which it seems like she does. That means that you need to look after yourself so you can help her sir, especially in what could be a long process. It’s not going to be helpful for Yn if you’re killing yourself trying to be here all the time… It seems like Y/n already has quite a big group of you here for her, so please remember you’ve got all of her care team here and everyone else to help you too….Does that make sense sir?”

“Tom” His Dad, in a gentle but firm warning tone, urged Tom to speak and to listen. Properly listen.

“Yeh… I-yeh It’s just all a lot right now.”

“Of course… and we promise that if anything changes with her condition, you will be phoned straight away. You are welcome to stay as long as you want - the only rules are two at a time, no flowers, sign in and out and then sanitise your hands pretty excessively. If you need anything, Ms Y/l/n’s nurse will be your first port of call.”

“Thanks for everything” Dom nodded in a gracious manner, which the doctor seemed to massively appreciate - apparently, for the job they do not receiving a hell of a lot of thanks.

“I’ll pop back in a little bit.”

And for a couple of hours everything everything felt like a bit of an anticlimax, nothing happened, not a lot changed. Just Tom and Dom sat next to Y/n’s bed in silence; Harrison and Nikki downstairs with the baby, till Dom got a phone call from Nikki asking them to meet at the neonatal unit - which was limited by visitor numbers unlike the ICU. Thinking it’d be simple, the elder man gained Tom’s attention with a call of his name, explaining they should go down to meet up.

“I’m not going down there.”

“Son, I know you’re worried by Y/n isnt going anywhere right now. The doctors said they’d call you if anything happens.”

“It’s not-“ Tom stopped himself, biting his tongue and looking away from his Dad. “I just don’t want to go down there.” Slowly, Dom was more and more realising Tom’s thought process and honestly… it scared him. In the hopes this was just a big misunderstanding he offered a different option - hoping Tom would equally refuse that. Dom suggested going down to the cafe instead, which most unfortunately Tom agreed to. It wasn’t leaving Y/n that was the issue, it was being near the baby.

Tom’s daughter. Unnamed and apparently abondoned by both parents.

Anyhow, Dom resigned to playing into Tom’s choice, perhaps Nikki and Harrison would be able to swing him round, to see sense. It still took Tom getting the nurse to triple check they had his correct number on record , just in case, before Dom could tear him away from the bed. Fortunately the pair found a quiet and secluded corner table, where Tom was still yet to be recognised, while Nikki and Haz found them too.

What followed was Tom answering all his mum and Harrison’s questions about Y/n’s condition, in a blunt and emotionless manner - without Tom returning fire by asking any questions at all about his beautiful little baby girl. Eventually Nikki braved it, someone had to bring it up.

“Well it sounds like littles going to change for a while… maybe you should head home for a bit? You’ve been up half the night and you look shattered love. You don’t have to go back to yours… you could stay in your old room for a bit?” Tom being by himself at the moment sounded like the most incredibly stupid idea ever, Nikki was offering it as a choice - when in reality there was only one option.

“Maybe later this evening I will? Just don’t want to leave her alone yet.”

“It’s already 7 love, you’ve not eaten all day, you got to look after yourself too.” Harrison and Dom sat awkwardly while Nikki tried to delicately encourage Tom into what was the only sensible plan, watching him nurse the small hot choclate in both his palms. Time really had lost all meaning at this point, for him it felt both years since he’d first arrived with Y/n and at the same time barely 10 minutes ago. It felt weird.

“We can take shifts? If-if you want someone with her I mean… I don’t mind staying for a bit longer if it means you head back to your parents.” Harrison really truly didnt mind, in fact he sort of wanted to. He wanted to see Y/n’s face definitely alive, wanted to feel reassured by the monitors. Shockingly, Tom slowly nodded his head, surprising everyone with his lack of argument. None of them could work out whether it was a good thing him not putting up much arguement ; either he was heeding everyones advice of taking care of himself - or he had just given up. Harrison, as much as he didn’t want to, was favouring the latter.

“Okay” Nikki declared optimistically “So maybe you and Harrison go up so you can say good night to Y/n, then we can all go and pick up the baby?” She opened the plan to the floor, allowing for input but got nothing - except maybe Tom’s jaw unconsciously tensing uncomfortable at the latter part of her statement. Dom noticed.

Not one noticed but knew what it meant. His son blamed his granddaughter. His son, right now in that moment, hated the unnamed and totally helpless baby girl.

part 4?

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #dad!tom #tomholland #tom holland angst

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celestial-violencia · 4 years ago

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10 Things to Expect as a Client – Preparing For a Tarot Session Pt. 2

Getting or considering your first tarot reading? Then this post is for you. Tarot readings can seem mysterious or scary. After all, how can a total stranger, or sometimes worse-a friend or family member, be able to dig up your secrets and know things you haven’t told them? How does tarot work? What should and shouldn’t your reader do?

One of the most frequent misconceptions about tarot readings are that all readers are mind-reading psychics. I have some bad news for you: most readers are not mind readers. “Testing” a reader by staying silent will result in the Universe giving you the message it thinks you need to hear…and if you’re sending telepathic signals to your reader that they can’t pick up on, this may not be what you were expecting. Does this make your reader a bad tarot reader? Absolutely not. Not every reader is psychic, period. Some readers simply read the cards and that is okay. Make sure you’re finding a reader that fits your needs. If you want someone who has more of a psychic connection, be up front.

The other thing to know about tarot readings is that they are not always love and light. Sometimes tarot can open up some heavy-hitting topics. The cards can indicate mental illness and sometimes even death. While you should never ask a reader to give you medical or legal advice, sometimes these topics do show in the cards. Your reader may give you general advice on the topics or ways that these topics may be affecting you emotionally, but again, do not accept any medical or legal advice from a tarot reader at face value and remember to consult with a licensed professional.

Another misconception is how a tarot reader presents themselves. Sure, some readers play into the stereotypes with their appearance or their shop appearance, but the majority of readers look just like you and me. There’s no wild costumes or anything crazy. Many readers now conduct readings in plain street clothes. So don’t be too surprised or disappointed that they might look “average” or be lacking the appearance of a “mystique.” They’re still perfectly valid readers.

So what happens when you get into the chair or video call from your reader? Your reader may ask you some basic questions to help get a better context for your reading, such as your relationship status if you’re looking for a love reading. Some people get defensive about this, but again, not all readers are psychics and need this information to read your cards in the correct context. For example, the 2 of Cups for someone who is single might indicate meeting someone new, whereas if you’re in a relationship it can symbolize being closer with your SO.

Your reader should be up front about pricing before the reading starts. Most readers charge by their time and these rates should be presented to you before you begin the reading. Many readers have you prepay before you sit with them, even if it is just a partial amount. But you should be clear on the price and how it’s measured. Your reader should never charge you for additional services such as curse removals, spell supplies, or anything along those lines. Those readers are scam artists and should be avoided at all costs. Your reader will never tell you things such as “You have a dark aura that needs cleansing” or “You have a generational curse on you that needs to be removed!” These people are not interested in helping you or giving you an honest reading. They just want to take your money. If a reader asks you to do anything along those lines, leave the reading.

If something negative does come up in a reading, your reader should have the tact and ability to broach the subject without being overly blunt or hurtful. Unless you’re paying for a tarot roast, your reader should be respectful towards you and treat these topics carefully.

Every tarot reader has their own tarot rituals. Some readers want their clients to shuffle the cards while other readers don’t allow anyone else to touch their cards. Some tarot readers cut the deck a certain way while other readers don’t cut the deck at all. There is no one right way of doing any of these things and they are personal to each reader. Do not worry if you sat with one reader who set up their rituals one way and then sit with a different reader who has set up their rituals another way. This should not affect the reading that you are being provided.

If you are paying for a reading and they do not tell you up front that they will be using a guidebook for your reading, I would be extremely wary of this. Some readers may reference the book for an oracle deck, but if they are reading verbatim from the guidebook, I would avoid these readers. In order to be a successful reader, you need to know your working decks inside and out. Not only is this unprofessional, but it shows a lack of experience. If you as a reader need to use a guidebook to conduct the reading, in my opinion, you are not ready to be a professional reader and need to obtain more practice before charging for readings.

Sometimes readers will give you homework after your reading. If you’ve been given a shadow work reading especially, your reader may give you things to do after your reading. These should not cost you any money to complete. Maybe they suggest journaling about experiences that are currently affecting you. If a tarot reader gives you homework, it should be something along those lines. Not “do this spell and it will fix your problems, and pay an extra $200 to buy the supplies!”

Some readers will record your reading. This can be an audio recording, video recording, or a written recording. This helps readers keep track of the readings they’ve done and enables them to go back and see how things have played out if you are a returning client or allows them to keep readings on record in the event that you want to request a copy of your reading at a future date. If you are receiving an online reading, most readers will email you a copy. Check with your reader before the reading.

These are some common misconceptions and practices for tarot readings from the client end. Always communicate with your reader and ask what their practices are as every reader has their own way of doing things. Don’t be afraid or feel like you’re bothering your reader by asking them about how to prepare for your reading and what to expect. Your reader should have a clear answer for these things. If they do not, don’t be afraid to cancel your booking or ask for a refund.

I hope this guide helps!

#tarot #tarot reading #witches of tumblr #witchcraft #occult #wicca #spirituality #divination #cartomancy #seriously pls don't assume your reader is psychic #if your reader asks for some basic info this is not fishing and not a scam artist #also why do some of yall expect readers to be dressed up like a halloween costume #im just asking for a friend

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clonethoughts · 4 years ago

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30 Questions

Tagged by: @gothwarlocks thank you UwU

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 5 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better

Name/Nickname: Danielle/Dani

Gender: Female

Star Sign: Virgo

Height: 5′2-5′3 depending on the day

Birthday: August 25th

Time: 8:40pm

Favorite bands: AJR and Glass Animals. Neotheater and How To Be A Human Being are some of my all time favorite albums.

Favorite solo artists: Rex Orange County and Ryn Weaver. And MARINA when my brain bothers to remember that I really like her music.

Song stuck in my head: I’m unfortunately a fan of the dreamsmp so because of a certain animatic I currently have Evelyn Evelyn by Evelyn Evelyn stuck in my head.

Last movie: Oh jeez uhhh I think it was Into the Spider-verse. I really love that movie an unhealthy amount.

Last Show: Wandavision. I’m loving the show and I miss being this involved with marvel content.

When did I create this blog: Haha oh boy wish I knew. I think it was uhhhh November of last year? This is a pretty brand new sideblog.

What do I post: This is a Star Wars dedicated side blog so Star Wars! Mainly prequels and old republic content with the occasional dash of the original era.

Last thing I googled: Can you use too much chapstick (the answer is yes)

Other blogs: I only have my main which is kermitdahoe. Funny story, I used to have way more followers on that one but I accidentally deleted it! Please don’t ask how I managed to do that.

Do I get asks: Not really! I do get some from my friends and one wonderful mutual that make me very happy. I don’t mind though, this is a brand new blog so it makes sense that I wouldn’t have any real interaction right now.

Why I chose my url: It says in my bio! I wanted to call it clonethotty but my best friend said I wasn’t allowed to so I went with the next thing I could think of. It still works, I have so many thoughts about the clones.

Following: 144

Followers: 29 and I’m very grateful for every single one of them

Average hours of sleep: I would say 10 but don’t let that trick you into thinking I have a good sleep schedule.

Lucky number: I don’t have one.

Instruments: I never learned to play any.

What am I wearing: Hoodie and jeans.

Dream job: Psychology professor! That’s what I’m currently going to school for :D

Dream Trip: I don’t really have one to be honest. Although it would be really cool to visit the Disney in Japan. Or go back to the one in Orlando.

Favorite food: Rice. It’s rice.

Nationality: American unfortunately.

Favorite song: Oh jeez, I don’t even know. It changes like every week. Probably Pluto Projector by Rex Orange County.

Last book read: Does a textbook count? Cause then it’s Conducting Research: Measuring the Weight Of Smoke, 5th edition. If not, then The Jedi Path.

Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in:

Star Wars (preferably as a mandalorian).

Marvel as a version of spiderman

Full Metal Alchemist, I just think it would be neat

Tagging: Feel free to do this if you see it! And tag me in it if you do. (I have no one to tag on here aujhflkas)

#the terror of being known #tag game #my posts

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sweetdejun · 5 years ago

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medical!au x nct 127

I was reading a post about a doctor!doyoung and was inspired to do this... if nct 127 were workers in the medical field, I think..

taeil would be a pediatrician. he seems like he would be very good with kids, and I could see him distracting a patient with like funny voices and shit while he gives them a shot. when occasionally, a child is being fussy, he proceeds to sing to them, and that distracts the kid to a whole other dimension (as it does for the most of us lmao). he also seems like he’d end the day by giving his patients those big ass stickers. the kids love him, because he’s not scary, the parents love him because he’s amazing with their kids and he loves his job as a pediatrician.

honestly, taeyong gives off dietician vibes. yeah, I see him coming into the office, telling his patients like, “it’s true, an apple a day really does keep the doctor away,”. when he calls his patient into his office, he has like a food scale and measuring cups and shit and he’d show his patients like comparisons of how much the average person eats versus how much the average person is supposed to eat, and he uses sugar cubes to measure grams of sugar in front of his patients and he just LOVES the look of astonishment on their faces when the realization dawns on them.

it’s fitting to see yuta as a dentist, because in all my visits to the dentist, they’ve always had a shining smile, which is exactly what yuta’s patients see as soon as they walk in. he understands that some people are afraid of the dentist, so to ease their nerves, he tries to make them as comfortable as he can. this includes him cracking jokes, singing, but most of the time, he’s usually telling stories about his crackhead friends and how in college, they’d draw dicks on his face when he was asleep, or embarrassing stories of his assistants (who don’t mind because it’s yuta, c’mon).

I think johnny would be a obstetrician-gynecologist. I say this because he just feels like the doctor who’d say reassuring things during important things like ultrasounds for pregnant women, or just women who come by to get check ups. again, the patients he sees, especially those coming to him for the first time or after a long time, are coming in super nervous. so he finds ways to calm their nerves: maybe by talking about what books he’s reading currently or a little “segment” he has called “johnny’s fashion evaluation” and the patients really seem to enjoy his comforting persona. perhaps that’s why he’s usually the most requested doctor in the department.

doyoung as an otolaryngologist is something I feel like we’ve all known indirectly. I think I would see him taking that career, if he wasn’t a singer, tbh. like when patients come and sit, and they tell him about a pain in their throats, he’s able to deduce the symptoms down to two or three diagnoses, and once he takes a peek in their throats, he’s got it all figured out. the same goes for the nose and the ears. the patients are always so shocked, wondering how he figures it out right away, and doyoung is filled with joy as he tells them it’s his privilege, and loves his job. and he’s honest every time he says it, because he really does love his job and it’s unconventional, but it’s him.

but yoooo.... jaehyun as a neurologist... can you imagine him analyzing brain scans, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and twirling a pen between his fingers in his hand? wow. no but seriously it’s his passion to understand how all sorts of things can have an impact, large or small, on the human brain. he’s worked with big people, which has given him opportunities of recognition and he’s spoken at medical schools (and he gave a ted talk that had assloads of comments talking about how hot he is ok i’ll stop). he doesn’t really know what else he sees himself doing, if he wasn’t a neurologist.

it almost felt instinctual for me to see winwin as a pharmacist, because that’s the kind of job that requires a lot of knowledge and patience which I firmly believe winwin has. he just has this constant curiosity of knowing what medicine cures what, or at least lowers the symptoms for a certain illness. he’s so interested in them he’s learned all and every detail about what his pharmacy sells, and he can even eyeball the right dosage without having to use a scale (of course he still uses one just to be sure) and that always leaves his coworkers so dumbfounded. the job fills him with a sense of pride, that he’s confident he doesn’t wanna ever let go of.

maybe it’s because he’s such a fragile-looking squish, but I see jungwoo as an anesthesiologist. that is a stressful ass job and trust me, jungwoo definitely knows that. but it’s just one of those things, you know how some people work really well under pressure? yeah, that’s what it is for jungwoo. he performs his best under stressful conditions and when he knew he wanted to do something in the medical field, he knew that this was the job for him. he doesn’t have to worry about being the person that operates, and all he does is make sure to maintain the correct amount of anesthetics based on whatever’s happening in the surgery.

mark matches being a physical therapist the best to me. I’m pretty sure mark would be the kind of physical therapist that’s like buddy-buddy with his younger patients, like the teens. he’s always making tik tok references and always does his ‘let’s get it’. they think he’s pretty cool, and they all only ask for him. he’s just that good, too, like he doesn’t want to let the patient go until they’ve shown a sign of improvement. he keeps track of all his patients, and remembers all their details each time they come for their appointments. once they’ve completely healed, he also provides his patients with prevention tips, and always urges them to stop by and say hi. and they do; after all, he helped them do what they love again.

last but certainly not least, I see haechan as a surgeon. I know that sounds like some crazy shit, but I have always felt that he’s very meticulous about certain things, and he’s very precise. not only that, he’s always been very interested in the human body, and how if something’s wrong on the inside, how can it be fixed? haechan always loves seeing the expression on people’s faces when he meets them for the first time, and he tells them what he does. when he asks why, they say, “you just seem so young, and you don’t seem like someone who would enjoy the job.” but it’s very much the opposite. he loves what he does, and the fact that he’s also helping people? what other job can offer him the same, if not more, satisfaction? he has yet to find it.

a/n: lmk if y’all want a scenario or something based on one of these! I’d love to write them!!

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letterboxd · 5 years ago

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How I Letterboxd #3: Dave Vis

If you are one of the thousands of Letterboxd completists attempting to log every film on our official top 250, you have Dave Vis to thank for keeping that list current. He tells us why he adopted ownership of the list, how he felt when Parasite “dethroned” The Godfather, the curious case of A Dog’s Will, and several Dutch filmmakers worthy of discovery.

You wear your tenure proudly on your profile (“Member since 12/11/2011”). How did you come across Letterboxd way back then? I joined in the beta days when I got an invitation in November 2011 from a good friend who knew I was into film. Up to this date, I have no idea how she got a beta invitation for a movie geek website from New Zealand, but I’m happy she did!

Here’s the $49 question: How do you Letterboxd? I joined because I found it useful to keep track of everything I watched. At that point, I was probably still ticking off films from IMDb’s Top 250, and Letterboxd was a cool way to make other lists and see how I was progressing. When I started using the site more often, I also got to follow more users and enjoyed reading their takes on films. I don’t follow a lot of people, just a few that I know in real life and some other early adopters of the site whose opinions of film I got to value.

Talk us through your profile favorites. What spoke to you about these four films? The pragmatic reason for these four is that they were the last films I watched that got full marks from me. So the four favorites on my profile keep changing as I come across more films that I think deserve five stars. About the current ones: Jaws, of course, is an absolute classic, maybe even Spielberg’s greatest. How he creates that much tension with minimal exposition is masterful. Blade Runner 2049 baffled me, especially on an aesthetic level. I love how the story slowly unravels in probably one of the best world-building efforts of the last couple of years. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring doesn’t need much explanation, I think. Peter Jackson did what was generally thought impossible and in a way that had me walking out of the cinema in awe of the spectacle and production design. Last but not least, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I’m a huge fan of the Studio Ghibli films and this one, [as well as] being the studio’s unofficial first, is probably my favorite. You can just tell that they worked years to get Hayao Miyazaki’s life’s work to the big screen.

Let’s get down to brass tacks: for the past six and a half years, you’ve been running the Official Letterboxd Top 250, one of our most popular and important lists. What prompted you to start the list? Did you think you’d be keeping it going this long? At least part of the credit goes to someone else on Letterboxd, because even my list is a cloned one! A great deal of thanks goes to a member called The Caker Baker, who sadly isn’t part of the community anymore, for having the idea of doing this list even before me. On the exact day Letterboxd introduced a sorting option by average rating on the Films page, he created the first top 250 list.

I decided to clone that list [Dave has archived it here], because I wanted to filter out the documentaries, shorts and miniseries. As long as I am interested in film and won’t have completed the list, I do see myself keeping it. I feel the overall quality of the list is outstanding and for my taste and film-watching experience it’s probably the best combination of blockbuster hits, timeless Hollywood classics, non-English spoken gems, and some pretty obscure entries.

What’s involved in keeping the top 250 up-to-date? What’s the hardest thing about it? Have you ever found the responsibility a burden—your ankle chained to Letterboxd each week? (We’re grateful!) These days it isn’t much of a bother at all, actually. I’m still so grateful for you guys introducing the ability to sort lists by average rating when editing them a while back. That was a huge relief, I can tell you! And apart from the odd comment when I’m a bit late on my weekly update or when I’m on a well-deserved holiday (yes, even the ankle chain comes off once in a while), I don’t feel like it’s a burden at all.

Let’s unpack it a bit. What are the best films you’ve discovered because of the list? Shoutout to my choices: A Special Day, Harakiri and The Man Who Sleeps. Harakiri is an excellent choice! If it wasn’t for Letterboxd’s top list, I would probably not even know about it today, although it also cracked IMDb’s top 250 last year. What a beautiful film. If I have to name two other, one would be The Cranes Are Flying. I’ve rarely seen a film about war being depicted so beautifully. The other is It’s Such a Beautiful Day, the animation by Don Hertzfeldt about a stick figure you get to care deeply about in a time span of just over an hour. Very different films that, without Letterboxd, the chances are next to zero that I would have checked either of them out. Joining a Kickstarter to finance my own Blu-ray edition of the latter was special too.

Béla Tarr’s 1994 masterpiece ‘Sátántangó’.

So, what’s your percentage-seen of the top 250? Which films rank highest on your list of shame? Are there any that you don’t think you’ll ever watch? At this moment I’m at 175 of 250, so 70 percent. I rarely consider films as being on a ‘list of shame’, but as I scroll through the unseen ones, there are a few that stand out. La Dolce Vita and Sátántangó [Editor’s note: recently re-released in 4K, nudge nudge] are ones that I feel I should have watched by now. Both are magnum opuses from legendary foreign filmmakers. Don’t really know why I haven’t though, but all in good time. Any that I think I’ll never watch? There’s not much I wouldn’t watch, but some are just so daunting in their runtime, that I’m not sure if I will ever feel up to the task (yes, La Flor, I’m looking at you). Probably also the reason I never popped Sátántangó in.

Has the way Letterboxd’s membership has changed and grown affected what’s in the top 250 in any interesting or unexpected ways? That’s not a very easy question to answer, because different people will be surprised about different things. However, you do see a trend—surprising or not—of traditional western cinema classics giving way to more non-English language films doing well on the list. Asian and Brazilian films have skyrocketed to great heights, often at the expense of western classics. Films that are traditionally doing great at IMDb, such as Pulp Fiction or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, were in Letterboxd’s top ten for a long time, but have both dropped out of the top twenty. Beloved classics among film critics such as Citizen Kane, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Casablanca aren’t even in the top 100 anymore.

We now have a top ten with three Japanese films, one Taiwanese, one Russian, one Brazilian and a South Korean film at the very top. The only English spoken films left there are the two Godfathers and 12 Angry Men. I do tend to suspect that the growing community causes more diversity while also fuelling the more traditional moviegoers to broaden their interests. I personally think that’s a great development.

How did you feel when Parasite overtook The Godfather to become Letterboxd’s highest-rated film of all time? Do you think it’ll ever sink at this point? To say I was surprised is quite the understatement. For something to even come close to The Godfather’s record borders on sacrilege, let alone dethroning it. What you usually see is that new movies with overly positive reviews enter the list’s higher ranks with a bang, but when they are introduced to a bigger crowd, they slowly descend. For example, fellow acclaimed Best Picture nominees 12 Years A Slave, Her, Call Me By Your Name and Roma all peaked in the top twenty and only Call Me By Your Name is still in the list, at number 232 for now.

In these days of ready availability it is extremely hard to create something that has such a large following. That’s why this takeover by Parasite is so extraordinary. Seeing it rise day-by-day—even after the masses took it in—was something I didn’t think possible. I, for one, am very slow to watch new films, so when I got to watch it, it was already in first position. Safe to say my expectation level was through the roof, which probably wasn’t really fair. While I thought it was an excellent film, I personally wouldn’t rank it among my favorites. However, it’s not only the highest-ranked film on Letterboxd, but also the most popular one [a measure of the amount of activity for a film, regardless of rating]! So don’t expect to see it sink lower any time soon.

The top 250 is home to the largest comment section on the platform. Congrats! What’s monitoring that mammoth thread like? Thank you! Although that’s hardly an achievement on my part. I have to be honest, I don’t read everything in the comments section anymore. I try to keep up as much as possible, in order to respond to people who have an actual question. However, when I sign in in the morning and see dozens of new notifications, most probably about A Dog’s Will being in the top ten or about recency bias or about objective quality versus subjective quality, I let it pass me by every so often.

What is your take on A Dog’s Will’s rise to Letterboxd stardom? (At the time of writing, the 2000 Brazilian film from director Guel Arraes holds the number eight spot in the top 250.) Ah, there it is: the elephant in the room… My honest answer is a politically correct one, but also the truth: I haven’t seen it yet, so it’s impossible to pass judgment. However, from the comments section on the top 250, it seems clear that there are two camps: the Brazilians, who adore the film and continually claim the importance it in their cultural heritage. And there’s the other group, mostly non-Brazilians of course, who think it’s a fine film at best, but in their opinion not deserving of a top-ten spot. I’m quite impartial: if the statistics say that it is one of the best-rated films of the Letterboxd community, why would it not deserve to be there? I am curious though if more non-Brazilians will see it and if so, if that will have a significant effect on its rating. We can only wait and see.

Are there any films you’re surprised to have stayed in the list for so long? Conversely, what are some films that we’ll be surprised to hear have never made the list? If I have to name one film that I’m surprised about, it’s one I haven’t seen yet: Paddington 2. Every time I scroll past it, I find myself asking: “wow, this one still in?” It’s probably because I haven’t seen it, but it always strikes me as an odd one. I really have to seek it out some time. Some films that might shock people never having made it… Well, if you look at IMDb’s list for reference, you could say it’s shocking that a film like Forrest Gump never made it onto the list, but that might not be as much of a shock to Letterboxd members. Other popular crowd pleasers that never made it include E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Gladiator, all of Disney’s non-Pixar animated classics, and one of the films that also sparked my interest in movies, The Usual Suspects.

Dave has not seen ‘Paddington 2’.

I’ve actually been working hard on completing the list during quarantine and I finished it yesterday. Has anyone else gotten to 100 percent yet or am I the first? I have no idea, to be honest! There will probably be others who have, but I wouldn’t be able to name one. I suspect Jakk might have reached 100 percent at some point.

My completist streak will need a new avenue. What are your next most essential top lists? If you ever feel up for a challenge, I recommend Top10er’s 1001 Greatest Movies of All Time. He combined the average ratings of critics and users from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and Letterboxd, and then weighted and tweaked the results with general film data from several services. I have no idea how, but it’s a terrific list. Also, the directors’ favorites lists that are on Letterboxd are awesome. Edgar Wright’s 1,000 favorites and Guillermo del Toro’s recommendations are especially worth your while.

The top 250 list is the tip of the iceberg for the lists on your account. What is it you enjoy about keeping ranked lists? It’s a compulsion. I just really enjoy making lists, ranking films by certain directors, franchises or studios. Not really useful, mostly just fun to do! And I’m not the only one, it seems. Although, of course, lists like the Letterboxd Top 250 will always be an inspiration for finding well-rated films I haven’t seen yet.

Which films got you hooked on cinema? I do have a few titles that were important in terms of my film-watching development. Films like Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park came out when I was an early teenager and those were the ones luring me to the cinema to see and experience things you just couldn’t in the real world, both with groundbreaking special effects—I’m a sucker for those. Not much later, titles like The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction were popular and that’s probably around the time that IMDb’s list got my attention. That top 250 gets a lot of criticism, but the overall quality is fine and for me it was the perfect step in broadening my film-watching.

So, for a long time I watched a lot of films on that list and went to the cinema for your usual blockbusters, probably until Letterboxd arrived. That’s when I started watching the artsier stuff and foreign cinema of which, of course, all classics eluded me up till then. It was films like Seven Samurai, Persona and Werckmeister Harmonies that sparked that particular period. Now I just watch everything that comes my way that seems interesting or entertaining, from the new Marvel instalment to classic Godard.

Tell us about the one and only movie you’ve given a half-star. Ha, that’s an odd one… Once there was a challenge on the site that you could ask a fellow member to pick the next ten films for them to watch. I participated once and, of course, there would be underseen gems or personal favorites on that list, but also one or two that would be almost unwatchable. In my list that was Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. If that title alone doesn’t give away how bad it was, watching the first five minutes will.

In your opinion, what’s the most underrated film according to Letterboxd average ratings? One that comes to mind, which was in the top 250 once, but has dropped substantially in the last few years, is Gravity. I also have a list where I collect all the films that were once in Letterboxd’s top 250 and it’s at the very bottom there. For me, seeing that film in a theater is what cinema is all about—finding new ways to immerse your audience into a movie experience they have never had before. Oh, did I mention I’m a sucker for special effects?

Dave is a sucker for special effects, including those in Alfonso Cuarón‘s ‘Gravity’ (2013).

As a Dutchman, please educate us: what are the greatest Dutch films people should see? The Netherlands doesn’t really have a thriving movie industry that brings its films across borders. If I have to give the essential tip, it would be Spoorloos, which was remade starring Kiefer Sutherland and Sandra Bullock and was not half as good. Other than that I would recommend Paul Verhoeven’s early work, such as Soldaat van Oranje and Turks Fruit, and the two Dutch films that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, 1986’s De Aanslag and 1997’s Karakter. And to top it off, I want to mention two Dutch filmmakers worth your time, Alex van Warmerdam, director of De Noorderlingen, and Martin Koolhoven, director of Oorlogswinter.

What comfort movies are you watching whilst in quarantine? Are you working on any viewing projects? I actually am in a viewing project at the moment. One of mine and my wife’s guilty pleasures is superhero movies! So currently we are, again, on a Marvel Cinematic Universe rewatch streak. They just provide a wonderful form of escapism and are definitely deserving of the term comfort movies. Some are better than others of course, but the perspective of rewatching The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok or Guardians of the Galaxy after a while still tends to fill me with excitement. In a way, there’s still a bit of the twelve-year-old in me that was so thrilled to see T2 or Jurassic Park.

How do you plan on inducting your kids into the cinephile life? Well, most important is that they just enjoy going to the movies like I did when I was young. Let’s hope we will be able to do so again in the near future. They are still young, but their access to screen time with Netflix, Disney+ and (mind-numbingly stupid clips on) YouTube is so different than the days when we were young. So having them watch some Ghibli classics is already quite a step. And then I think the rest should come naturally. If not, so be it.

Which, for you, are the most useful features on Letterboxd? Did you know they have a list with the 250 best rated narrative feature films? That’s basically all you need to know… All kidding aside, just reading reviews once in a while by fellow members whose opinions I value is still the heart of the service to me. That and the statistics pages. And browsing other lists.

Does anyone in your real life know that your list is kind of a Letterboxd big deal? Not really! Mostly because I don’t exactly feel that way about it. I mean: my wife knows, but other than that it’s pretty much still my pet project. To me, it’s still just a film enthusiast’s list that so happened to become the site’s official top 250. I do have to say that it is humbling to see the numbers of new followers every day—especially when Letterboxd mentions the list on her social accounts—and to realize that apparently almost 23,000 people around the globe have taken a liking to it.

Please name three other members you recommend we follow. Fellow countryman and longtime member DirkH. He is not as active as he was before, but writes beautifully personal reviews, always with his trademark witty humor or sometimes cheeky sarcasm, not always to the liking of everyone. You all got to know Lise in the first How I Letterboxd, but I’d definitely also recommend following her other half Jonathan White. His reviews are great, he knows so much about film and is always willing to share his thoughts or answer questions. And damn, that man can rhyme. Then there’s Mook, if only for his franchise lists. Check out his MCU list, it’s my go-to place when I want to read up on anything Marvel.

Related content

Official Top 100 Documentary Feature Films

Official Top 100 Narrative Features by Women Directors

Letterboxd’s ‘Official’ Top 50 of 2020

Several of the films mentioned in this interview—Sátántangó, La Flor—are (at the time of writing) available for virtual screenings. The details are in our Art House Online list.

#letterboxd #how i letterboxd #top 250 films #letterboxd top 250 #dave vis #cinephile #film lover #letterboxd members #letterboxd community

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solitaria-fantasma · 5 years ago

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((Extensive Session #3 highlights.))

We go to Von Trikona’s tower and are greeted by three students and a handful of golems.

Humphry eyes Mountain with abject terror.

Von Trikona gives us the preserved bodies wrapped in burial shrouds, and teleports us to the town of Fwee - just past the security gates, but not right in town square.

The map for the town of Fwee is heckin’ pretty.

“Oh no...oh no, I fucked up. I made a mistake! UwU!!!”

“Please don’t comment on the corpse-shaped backpacks!”

Udaji may be tol and stronk but she is also dumb and can’t roll higher than a 10 on her Perception checks.

“The only ones who don’t blend in with the local crowd are the Halfling and the Dragonborn.” Claus and I just can’t catch a break…

We walked around the marketplace with the preserved corpse backpacks for a while as we asked for directions to the Rose family home.

Mountain’s intimidation checks are on-point.

Udaji’s average Perception roll is a 4 while the rest of the party averages around 16.

It has been decided that this scaly baby should never have been allowed out of town on her own.

Somebody in this town is throwing mud balls and glitter bomb darts at our rogue and Udaji is seeing NONE of it.

“Claus would like to point out that you’re covered in paint.”

We entered a house and the DM resized our icons to reflect the height differences. It looked like a bad game of Agar.io and I was winning.

Matthias - still covered in paint - was politely asked not to sit on the furniture, and handed a single tiny-ass napkin to ‘clean up’ with.

“Yeeeaaahhh...there was no easy way to do this, was there?”

“Is it more disrespectful to put the bodies on the ground or the table?”

“It might be more disrespectful to try and unwrap the bodies one handed and risk dropping them.”

“Above the board, do we have to tell her that the bandits were already dead when we found them?”

Matthias ‘accidentally’ smeared paint on the servant on his way out, and offered him the tiny-ass napkin back.

Lady Rose thanked us for returning her family’s bodies, but asked us to give her some time to process her loss.

We then went to the magic district (mostly wizards, mostly elven) to get started on the errands we promised to run between Von Trikona and her friend Vincent.

We knocked on the door, heard a loud ‘CRASH’, and poked our heads through the unlocked door Scooby-Doo style.

The DM promptly had us roll for initiative.

I keep forgetting to select my token BEFORE rolling for initiative heck.

“Hopefully you guys don’t die.”

“Gotta be honest - I’ve thought about what character I’d bring in if Udaji DID die. But it would be really, REALLY sad.”

I had to run down to get dinner and missed half a turn of combat but I made it back just in time for my second go.

“Oh! Udaji! You missed this part, but the old wizard man has cried out for you to not set anything on fire.”

“Can do! That’s not my kind of dragon heritage!!”

The old wizard man is ‘Vincent Oman’ - an artificer. We returned his stuff, and he offered us dinner.

“This guy is, like, peak Grandpa. He’s very happy to have people over.”

Vincent has not heard of Lord Hassan, but recalled an enchanted lockbox a cohort of his (Ceri, another artificer) had made on commission for the dowry of a local girl marrying a man in the next kingdom over.

That lockbox (enchanted to be neigh on impossible to break into) was part of Clarissa Rose’s dowry, and now I’m sad.

Vincent drew us a map to Ceri’s house, and then we nearly left without picking up Maxine’s books (three advanced spellbooks & some of her notes).

He also offered to let us sleep in his attic for the night, since it was getting late, only asking us to try and keep quiet, as he was a delicate sleeper.

Matthias finally got to wash off the paint in the ‘waterifier’ (re: magical, water-creating shower).

Vincent reminds Udaji too much of her own dad, and she took one point of homesickness damage. Vincent gave her heartwarming life advice, and more food.

“It’s okay if you get sad sometimes, when traveling far from home. You will find people who will not, perhaps, fill the void, but surely make it feel less empty.”

I’m going to adopt Vincent holy heck

Ceri confirmed that the lockbox was commissioned to keep safe a dowry traveling a long distance, and told us that it could only be opened by using two skeleton keys simultaneously.

We had found one of said skeleton keys in the bandit/necromancer lair back in Session 1.

“We were too eager to shout ‘MURDER!’ in front of the guards back in Torrin so now we’re afraid to whisper it in Fwee.”

Ceri confirmed that the key we found is one of the lockbox’s two keys.

We then debated for five minutes who the key, lockbox, and dowry would legally belong to, now that Clarissa and Donald are dead, but never officially reached the wedding.

“This is not the kind of law my family studies!”

Ceri whispered a few rumors of engagements in the area that had fallen through due to ‘accidents’ which saw the dowries go missing, and that the enchanted lockbox had been commissioned by the Rose family to protect against that.

He then told us to get out of his house.

“That’s the kindest ‘GTFO’ I’ve ever gotten.”

“We haven’t heard back from Lady Rose yet, but I feel like it would be too awkward to go back to her house and knock on the door like “Hey, are you done grieving yet?”. The answer is probably ‘no’...”

“Maybe if we walk around town, someone will try to throw more paint at Matthias.”

We wandered around the marketplace for a while, trying to lure out the mysterious woman who’d been throwing things at us the day before.

[Just to set a little reference - this is all happening within the first two hours of the campaign.]

Matthias got egged, and we chased the perpetrator into a public park.

Mountain got distracted by the beautiful view, and Matthias threatened the woman with his bow. The woman pulled her own bow and threatened right back.

“I am going to swing my lute around in front of me to act as a shield in a worst case scenario. I’m not taking an arrow over an egg.

THE WOMAN. IS MATTHIAS’. CHILD.

DM: “How long has it been since you last spoke with your lover?”

Matthias: “Let’s say it’s been….twenty-five years, seven months.”

The kid’s name is Astrid, and she is mAJORLY pissed off at ‘dad’.

Udaji is backing away from the awkward family reunion, and Mountain is still distracted by the park scenery and has no idea.

“You’re Hohenheim, and she’s Edward.”

[I understood that reference!!]

“Udaji makes eye contact with Mountain and shakes her head like “Don’t get involved you’ll regret it”.”

Mountain officially confirmed for Tiefling.

Claus tries to calm Astrid with the blessings of Lathander. She refuses. Udaji bends over a little and pats Claus on the shoulder consolingly.

His player has difficulty articulating it (and honestly, who wouldn’t? Words are hard), but Matthias is legitimately upset to hear that his lover had died.

“You go up to her and give her a hug with a pat-pat?”

“She immediately starts sobbing in your arms.”

“I shed a single manly tear.”

Mountain has only just now caught up to the fact that these rogues know each other.

Astrid is now refusing to leave. Udaji is still the party baby.

“The only reason I was allowed out of town is because nobody could physically stop me.”

“Claus gives you a comforting pat on your hip, as that’s about as high as he can reach.”

After all that chaos, we were approached by a servant from the Rose family, calling us back to Lady Rose’s house.

Her name is now Ingrid Rose, because the DM forgot to name her until this very moment. Mood.

Matthias is still covered in egg.

Lady Rose admits that she thought the offer of marriage from Lord Bryant Hassan to her daughter was too good to be true.

She also admits that she thought the Lord had asked for a rather greedy amount of dowry with the proposal.

“Were any of my husband or daughter’s possessions recovered?”

Don’t look at Matthias. Don’t look at Matthias. Don’t look at Matthias.

Lady Rose asks us to look into the recovery of the enchanted lockbox that was carrying her daughter’s dowry, and offers to reward us for it.

She ALSO asks us to put a knife in the throat of whomever arranged her daughter’s death, should we find it to not, in fact, be a tragic accident.

Astrid is basically June from AtLA but without Nyla.

Everybody stocks up on rations for a long trip back to return Maxine Von Trikona’s books.

We get on the road back to Torrin, retracing the ill-fated Rose party’s steps as we go.

After two days on the road, we come across a seemingly wounded man on the side of the road, by an overturned cart.

He asks us for gold to get back on his feet.

Udaji immediately fell for it, and had to be physically stopped from reaching for her gold.

Miraculously, we all managed to avoid a bunch of mysterious projectiles and whistling noises.

Interestingly, both of the guard corpses we had ‘interviewed’ reported hearing a whistling noise before their death.

Mountain took an arrow to the horn, but only three points of damage.

We were all tired by this point and there were a lot of bandits so combat was looooooong.

Claus has two waiting Bardic Inspiration dice and is having a very good day.

“You’re going to shoot THROUGH your daughter and your cleric??”

ONE BANDIT DOWN!

I charged at a bandit, sword drawn, but couldn’t quite make it there in one turn, so I added an intimidating roar for good measure.

I rolled a nat 20, therefore proving that I inherited SOMEthing from my white dragon mother, and the bandit pissed himself.

THREE BANDITS DOWN!

I took 8 points of damage from the other bandits and it’s a good thing the DM had us level up at least once bc if I’d still had my lvl. 1 total of 9hp that damage would have damn near killed me.

“Ew, he’s got a skull face with horns! ...oh, wait, he’s just ugly nevermind.”

“If I cast the magic, but Matthias says the words, can we duet ‘Vicious Mockery’?”

“My mother [the white dragon] would be proud of that, and I’m not sure I’M proud of that.”

I stand corrected: Astrid is a ranger, not a rogue.

Dragonborn zoomies.

“I may be wearing a flower crown, but I’m still scary.”

I have now decided that there will be - at minimum - one fight where I take off my flower crown and force someone else in the party to hold it.

Probably Claus.

SIX BANDITS DOWN!

“Well, they identify as a corpse right now, so…”

We got distracted for another five minutes arguing about how useful Hawkeye was to the Avengers in the MCU vs. how useful Hawkeye was to Loki in the MCU, which spawned from the DM apologizing for her slowness in playing out Astrid’s turn, as she had never played a Ranger before because she thought they were useless.

Poor Hawkeye.

The bandit captain tried to ambush Astrid, hit her with one of two scimitars, and failed his dagger roll badly enough to stab himself.

Claus - incredibly inspired by Udaji’s music and heroics - saved Mountain from dying.

Udaji keeps rolling really well on attacks and damage...if only I could shuffle some of those over into Perception.

Astrid got the killing shot on the bandit captain.

I looted his body, and found (2) scimitars, tattered leather armor, the queen piece from a set of dragon chess, and (7) silver.

I took the chess piece, and nothing else.

Astrid found footprints leading back to the bandits’ camp, so we took over it for the night.

We leveled up! Woo!!!

Zone of Truth. Zone of TrUTH. ZONE OF TRUTH-

And College of Creation. This is gonna be fun!!!

#OOC #Quarantine D&D #((these keep getting longer and longer...))#((I need to learn to summarize))

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beginagainbugle · 5 years ago

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An Essay in Response to "On Diplomacy: A Manifesto by Magneto" & the newly Ratified Accords

The Daily Bugle received this letter only a day after Secretary Ross and Agent Ross announced the new amendments to the Accords. It seems not everyone appreciates the olive branch – and money – thrown their way. But we’re an honest source of news here at the Bugle! We’d be remiss if we didn’t show you this shocking story just as we received it! – J. Jonah Jameson

First and foremost, I feel the need to start off by quoting an old friend of mine. Several weeks ago, an anonymous source delivered quite the message from him and his words were as follows:

There are those amongst us who believe that diplomacy is the answer to the conflict between mutants and humans. I regret to say that there can be no diplomacy. Diplomacy and negotiation are predicated on the very simple idea that two opposing parties have some measure of equality; that one can offer something to the other and gain something in turn. Further, both parties must have a degree of respect for the other party, something that will hold them to account for any agreement reached.

There is no equality, and there is no respect…

I ignored his speech because I know him. We never agree on anything these days and even if I hope to reason with him, nothing I say will ever change how he feels about you people. The two of us — and I mean not to sound boastful — but we have been tasked with leading a sizable amount of mutants with each group strongly believing in one idea or the other. In Magneto’s case, I refer back to the quotes above and in my case, I have always given you a lot more credit than you probably deserve. My ideals and the ideals of many who look to me as their leader, all revolve around finding a peaceful means to end the conflict that you started between those with ‘gifts’ and those without. I am the person he refers to in his point about diplomacy.

However Mr. Secretary, if I am to be completely honest, my old friend has a point. It almost pains me to agree with him on anything these days because in order to see his side of the coin, that means I must face the reality that my ideals fall on deaf ears sometimes. I had hoped it would not come to this; that I wouldn’t have to leave the shadows and safety of the school I protect in order to speak on the hypocrisy within the propaganda you keep shoving down the American people’s throats, but it would seem you have left me no choice in the matter. Let us begin…

Agent Ross starts his foray into this shameless propaganda that means to justify discrimination of mutants and those like us by offering a rather smooth, backhanded compliment ——as if he has ever been in the presence of a mutant as opposed to the heroes he/they once hailed that are the primary reason for these Accords in the first place.

“There are those among us who have incredible gifts. Dangerous gifts. A brave new world.”

Dangerous, Agent Ross? Our ‘gifts’ are incredible, but dangerous? We do not need your backhanded compliments. Call it what it is. You all think that we are something to be feared and leading your speech with such nonsense is an insult to our intelligence. Your words are but a subtle jab; a way to incite fear into average person, but I digress. There’s more, my fellow mutants.

“The secretary says that I’m ‘uniquely qualified,’ because I’ve seen it. Not because of my training or my expertise. Not because of the missions I’ve flown or the lives I’ve saved. But because I was there, when Superheroes fought. And I gotta tell you –” He laughed again. “It’s amazing.”

Just what exactly have you seen Agent Ross that uniquely qualifies you to speak on behalf of mutants? Aside from Dr. Banner ( a special case I will not dive into today ), how many mutants have you seen up close? How many have you actually met in person and conversed with in some lengthy form? How many have you seen in combat against ‘your kind’? One experience with a bunch of heroes that — at one time — could freely walk the streets without being persecuted does not make you uniquely qualified to do anything on our behalf. All the people have is your word on your experience, but who’s to say your word wasn’t fabricated for a moment such as this?

You go on to describe what you saw in Wakanda as a beautiful dance that left normal people in awe of what you were witnessing. You practically ooze saccharine as it pertains to our unique abilities but then you swing the hammer in such a way backwards that I have to wonder if my hope is wasted on the likes of you homo sapiens.

“…the dance has to end… the dancers have to come offstage, and into the audience…. We have to learn how to share that world. It needs to be safe for everyone who lives here.”

Agent Ross… Mr. Secretary, it is rare that I read something that isn’t written by Magneto and feel the need to react harshly, but this is one of those times I cannot let your unfairness go unaddressed. I will not reduce myself to inciting a war you all cannot win, but I will say this:

You claim that the ultimate goal of these Accords is so that we can all share the world and feel safe while doing it, but what you fail to understand is that we mutants have wanted this all along. Not the Accords, but the permission to live among you as regular people. We all bleed the same thing Mr. Secretary, but I cannot help but point out the hypocrisy of your words. Furthermore, who are you to tell those with gifts they were born with to ‘get off the stage’, as if this stage was one many mutants asked for. Even IF we register; take off the masks and reveal our locations to you day and night, what are we truly accomplishing here? Registering our names won’t make anyone feel any safer. All this does is allow you easy access to us. Should you decide in your next speech that the best thing for the entire world is to eliminate those pesky dancers then we are but sitting ducks — something I hope has never even crossed your mind.

Persecuting people… telling the public that we’re all dangerous mutants that need to be put in check is not how you make the world a better place. You hardly know us, Mr. Secretary. You’ve never once sat down with us nor taken the time to reach out and actually educate yourself about what you are truly dealing with.You are operating on assumptions; using your irritation at the Avengers for costing you billions of dollars by assuming all of us are exactly the same.

Not all of us are like my old friend. A vast majority of us are living every single moment alone and in fear; fear of you and the world that continues finding ways to paint us out as horrible people. Instead of trying to find common ground that does not include throwing us in holding cells for not bending to your will, you and Mr. Stark — who likely hasn’t met many mutants either — decided that we needed to be checked; never mind the fact that most of us haven’t done a single thing to deserve this treatment except exist in a world that has never taken kindly to anything different. My mutants are not suiting up everyday fighting aliens on your behalf. We’re not costing you billions or embarrassing you on national televisions with our heroics. The true embarrassment is you, Mr. Secretary.

“We made these rules for one reason, and one reason only. To prevent terrible intentions from becoming unbearable realities.”

What intentions do you speak of? Even though I do not know the Avengers well enough to speak on their behalf, I think it’s safe to assume that all they’ve ever done is use their abilities on behalf of humanity. I’ve never met Captain America but of all the Avengers, I admire him the most. Not only did he help save your sorry hides from an alien invasion, but he walked away with no bloodshed after the very people who made him turned their backs on him. If that is how you treat one of your own, I shudder to think how you would treat people like us. Speaking of us and your so-called rules…

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. —Article 14; the US Constitution

The rules of governing citizens as stated in the Constitution apply to all and we mutants have never questioned it. Many of us walk the straight and narrow; we obey the laws despite being forced to remain in the shadows due to the prejudices you keep pumping into the media. A majority of us have never broken any of the laws and on the off-chance you happen to catch an occasional rule breaker, it’s often because of something your people have done first. Left unprovoked, we go about our business. When provoked, well…

My point is that despite the clear violation of the Constitution that these Accords are in direct opposition of, we mutants carry on anyway with the hope that things will change for the better. Your latest stunt does nothing but further HIS argument — that you not only see us as monsters, but as something other than rightful citizens who are awarded the same protections by the Constitution as everyone else. Yet you extend a hand to us as if things are going to magically change with the signing of our names yet in the same breath, we are to be taken by deadly force if necessary; killed, chained or even locked away without any kind of trial if we oppose you.

And if I am mistaken and by rules you meant the Accords, then I must sincerely apologize. The rules placed in society are meant to be followed if the government and the people governed are meant to coexist peacefully. However, when the rules are unfair and unabashedly biased, the people… the citizens of that society, have a right to push back. I’ll not deny my mutants that right.

Mr. Secretary, up until now, all I’ve ever done is try from behind the scenes to see both sides of the coin. I have done nothing but train my students in the art of peaceful coexistence. Nothing good can come from fighting our own people. In the same breath, it would seem that the world I’ve been fighting for all my life seems ever more out of reach with each law you pass. It’s a shame we are all being forced to suffer on behalf of your ire with others, but shame on me for expecting more from a government who — historically — has a nasty habit of destroying the things that make them uncomfortable or feel inferior.

This new law you have passed will only incite the rage of the one who continues to be a thorn in your side. This is my final plea to see reason. At the end of the day, when you finally grow tired of ratifying papers and decide you wish to solve the issue in the same manner you have solved all of this country’s issues in the past, I will go silent. I will stand aside and let things unfold, no matter how much it may pain my heart.

TO MY FELLOW MUTANTS, my final message to you all is to survive; to use your common sense when presented with scathing propaganda like this and proceed in a manner that allows you to live with no regrets down the road. I will never fully relinquish my faith because it is my hope that someday the people in power will realize their mistakes. It’s never too late you see. However, my loyalties have always been first and foremost, to my fellow X-Men; my mutants and my family. I will NEVER encourage you to retaliate with violence, but I will understand if you see things HIS way as opposed to my own, especially now.

In closing, Mr. Secretary, I will NOT be registering under your Accords and neither will the children left under my legal guardianship. Do what you must, but heed my warnings: even the most docile of creatures will fight back when backed into a corner. I pity anyone who comes at me or my students looking to collect when we’ve done nothing wrong. When you are finally ready to accept just how wrong you are and agree to work with me on an answer that doesn’t just benefit your side, give me a call. You won’t find me or my school, but finding you — wherever you are in the world — will never be a problem for someone like me. My powers are something that should keep you and your entire staff awake every night, but is it not fortuitous that I have always been on your side?

Sincerely,

Professor X & Leader of the X-Men

#beginagainbugle #beginagaineditorial #char: charles xavier #topic: mutants #topic: accords #submission

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escalonservices · 5 years ago

Link

Are you looking to start your own small business in India? Let’s be honest — it can be a challenging, yet exciting process. Starting a business in India requires numerous technicalities and procedures, which should be adhered to so your business can run with ease and generate maximum profits. At its core, a good business structure requires a solid business model and a firm legal foundation — irrespective of the country where it’s based.

The ease of doing business in India has improved exponentially over the past few years. India now ranks 63rd among 190 countries on the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” index. The rankings are based on the average of each economy’s ease of doing business scores for the 10 topics included in the aggregate ranking. This improved ranking followed the reforms implemented by India’s government in the areas of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, trading across borders and resolving insolvency.

Consider this step-by-step guide for starting a small business in India.

Step 1: Incorporate a Business Entity

After you have zeroed in on an idea for your business and you’ve done proper market research to validate that idea, the next step for starting a business in India is to choose a business entity. The right format will support your business plan and help accelerate its growth. It might also help you avoid high tax rates in addition to personal liabilities.

In India, a business can be set up by way of the following:

Sole Proprietorship: This form of business entity is owned and managed by a single person, called a proprietor. Since the business doesn’t have a separate legal identity (from its owner) under the law, the proprietor is personally liable for all business debts. There is no specific procedure for setting up a proprietorship, and the proprietor cannot raise capital by selling an interest in the company.

One-Person Company: This is a fairly recent concept introduced under the Companies Act, 2013. A one-person company has only one director, who is also the sole shareholder. According to the Act, only a natural person who is an Indian citizen and resident in India is eligible to act as a member and nominee of the OPC. The structure under OPC has high compliance requirements and cost, and few tax advantages.

Partnership: If two or more founders are looking to set up a small company, then it can be registered as a partnership. This type of entity is controlled by the Indian Partnerships Act, 1932, and can have a maximum of 20 partners. The terms and conditions are bound by a partnership deed, which needs to be signed by all the partners. A partnership firm is suitable for small- and medium-sized businesses because debts can be recovered from the personal assets of the partners.

Private Limited Company: This format has its own legal existence separate from that of its owners. Here, the owners and shareholders are only liable to the extent of their shares in case of a financial emergency. A minimum of two and a maximum of 200 people are needed to start a private limited company. The Companies Act, 2013 holds the provisions related to such companies in India, and all such entities must be registered with the Registrar of Companies. It is mandatory for these entities to file annual compliance , and failure to do so may lead to serious legal repercussions. If you are looking to raise funding or have shareholders, this would likely be the ideal option.

Limited Liability Partnership (LLP): An LLP is a legal entity that offers the benefits of limited liability and the flexibility of a partnership. In terms of liability protection, a partner is liable only to the extent of their capital contribution. In addition, a partner cannot be held personally liable for any independent or unauthorized acts of any other partner. However, any such independent or unauthorized acts can tie up the LLP itself. Activities under an LLP system are managed as per the provisions of the LLP Agreement.

Public Limited Company: This type of business is more suitable for mature businesses. A public limited company enjoys the advantages of a private limited company, and it also allows its shareholders to freely transfer their shares. Such businesses are highly regulated.

Step 2: Obtain the Necessary Registrations, Licenses

All companies are required to be registered with various government authorities, depending on the nature of their activities. The registration process differs based on the type of entity and structure you have chosen for your business. However, these are the various registrations and licenses that may be required by your organization to operate a legal business in India:

Digital Signature Certificate (DSC): You can obtain a DSC from one of six private agencies authorized by MCA 21. All directors must submit the prescribed application form along with proof of identity and address.

Director Identification Number (DIN): You can apply for a provisional DIN by filing application form DIN-1 online. A physical application form must then be signed and sent for approval to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) along with proof of identity and address. After verification and approval, a permanent DIN is issued.

Company Name: Approval for a company name must be done electronically. You must check the availability of your chosen company name on MCA’s website. A maximum of six names can be submitted. The selected name will appear on the website, once approved.

Permanent Account Number (PAN): The application to obtain a PAN is made using Form 49A. It can be made online, but the documents need to be physically sent for verification. After the PAN is obtained, a printed PAN card is issued. The PAN is mandatory for opening bank accounts and filing income tax returns and TDS returns.

Tax deduction Account Number (TAN): To apply for a TAN, you need to use form 49B and submit it at any TIN Facilitation Center. After verification, your application will be sent to the Income Tax Department and the TAN will be issued. The application can be made either online or offline. The TAN is needed by such companies engaged in deducting or collecting tax.

Certificate of Incorporation: To apply for this certificate, you must electronically file such forms as the e-form 1, e-form 18 and e-form 32 on the MCA’s website. You are also required to attach scanned copies of the consent from the initial directors, as well as scans of the signed and stamped form of the MAA to Form 1. In addition to this, submit one copy of the MAA, Articles of Association, Form 1, Form 32, Form 18 and the original name approval letter, consent of directors and stamped power of attorney to the Registrar of Companies. If everything is in order, you will receive the Certificate of Incorporation at your company’s office by registered mail.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Registration: As of July 2017, any business that has an annual turnover of more than INR 2 million (for some states, the amount is INR 1 million) must register for GST. The GST registration is also mandatory for those businesses involved in the intra-state supply of goods and services, irrespective of turnover.

Import Export Code (IEC): IEC is a 10-digit code required by importers and exporters to clear customs and shipments, and to transfer money to foreign banks.

Office of Inspector, Shops and Establishment Act Certificate: This is required for shops, eateries, restaurants, places of interest, theaters and so on. To obtain this certificate, send a statement containing the business owner’s and manager’s names, along with the establishment’s name, postal address and the category, to the local (state) shop inspector, along with applicable fees. The Act regulates the working conditions of employees with respect to the health and safety measures, number of working hours, payment of wages, holidays, etc.

This is not an exhaustive list. There might be other registrations and licenses that you would need to obtain, depending on the nature of your business. For example, you may need to get a FSSAI license if you are a food manufacturer, transporter or distributor.

Step 3: Trademark Your Brand

As your company grows, so will its brand value. Hence, it is imperative that you protect your intellectual property (IP), which can include your trade name, logo, tagline and other key phrases. Trademark, if registered with the government, gives you protection against misappropriation of value that you create in your business through branding and advertising.

The Trade Marks Act, 1999 registers trademarks applied for in India, provides for better protection of the trademarks for goods and services and also prevents fraudulent use of the marks. It is a good idea to file for your trademark at an early stage, before you begin your branding activities.

Step 4: Raise Capital

Apart from bootstrapping, there are other ways you can raise money for your startup, including angel investors, venture capitalists, business incubators, bank loans, government schemes or crowdfunding. Preparing a detailed business plan that includes market analysis, financial projections, organization management, sales and marketing strategies and so on can play a huge role in impressing potential investors.

Originally published at https://blog.escalon.services on June 18, 2020.

#Business Services #back office services #business in india #startup business #small business #startups business #smallbusiness #startups #businessowner #entrepreneurs

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oddcoupler222 · 6 years ago

Note

do you have any pov swapped chapters of those who wait that you never posted? i love it so much i want to read the whole story from both of their points of view lol. if you don't that's okay. i just want everything about them :)

well. i do have chapter 1 written from margaery’s point of view, if you are interested in that…

Not getting home from the office until almost ten at nightwasn’t even common for her renowned workaholic self. Not on a Friday night, atthe very least.

Though, she should probably gear up for more of those, shethought, pausing for a moment, as she slowly closed the door to her apartmentand shook her head. Because campaigning for the small council, on top of herjob that already kept her late several days during the week, wasn’t going to bea small feat.

It was happening,though, and that much was for certain. She was going to run for the newly openseat on the small council.

She almost couldn’t believe it – mostly because it didn’t goin accordance with the plan. The plan she’d outlined and had in place foralmost ten years now. The Plan, really, of her entire life. First, to intern atthe Keep throughout college as she got her political science degree –completed, rather masterfully if she thought so, herself, considering she’ddone so with honors and holding a record number of jobs and internships in theKeep.

Then to jump head-first into whatever department had anopening; truly, it hadn’t much mattered to her which department it would be,because she knew she could find the passion for any of them somewhere inside ofher. Also rather masterfully done, as she’d been there for just shy of fiveyears and was already the assistant director.

But the plan after that had been – well, calling it simplewould be the world’s biggest understatement and, honestly, utterly foolish.Margaery was no fool. So, the plan was by no means simple, but it was well-crafted and thought out. To be on the smallcouncil by the time she was twenty-eight. To be inducted to the World PoliticalLeader’s summit by thirty, and work on a liaison team from King’s Landing withthe cabinet of one of the other regions. Most likely The Reach, as that madethe most sense, but once again, she would make it work wherever she could.

Then to be on the high council by the time she was thirty-five,so that by the time she was in her forties, she could fastidiously andundoubtedly have gotten every possible kind of governmental experience shewould need to run for Prime Minister by the time she was fifty.

It was ambitious, she knew. It was crazy, if she asked herbrothers. It would take a nearly single-minded focus and determination thatwould be almost impossible – her grandmother’s words. Words that she’d utteredwith that proud slight smile that told Margaery what Margaery already knew.That she could do it.

And even though the Plan didn’t entail her actually runningfor the small council for another two years, when the next traditional electionwould be held, Jon Arryn’s unprecedentedly vacant seat… well, it presented herwith the only deviation to her plan that she’d ever truly considered.

If she could attain her goals even sooner than planned, itwould only make things simpler for her in the long run. She’d thought about it,whether or not she should campaign for it, unable to think of almost anythingelse for a few days.

The email she’d gotten from her grandmother this evening,sending an attachment for the official forms to file for the small councilelection with the simple note – No timelike the present – only confirmed it.

And in the three hours since officially deciding to run, Margaeryhad already started to come up with a plan for the coming months.

Of course, she’d need to officially file the documents and announceit. Especially to Renly, even though, she grimaced slightly as she took off herheels, she didn’t quite know exactly how he’d take the news. It wasn’t asthough she wanted to leave theDepartment For the People. Yes, she would have taken a job at any department inthe Keep fresh out of college, but she was lucky to land in one she genuinelyloved. And she knew her boss and best friend may not have anticipated herpossible departure so early.

Releasing her hair from the twist she’d had it in for work,she reached for a wine glass and the bottle of Dornish red she’d planned tobreak open this weekend with Loras and Renly. But getting a head start tocelebrate by herself – she deserved that.

Tilting her head to the side as she cradled the wine glassin her head, she hmm’d in thought. Organizinga small staff to help keep her campaign in order would have to be a priority, too,but that would take a bit of time and research to determine who she was runningagainst and viable candidates.

“And that’s only the start,” she murmured to herself,thinking of the to-do list she’d been working on for the past few hours. Andrather than feel overwhelmed at the prospect, she felt buzzing with life.

This was the time to start climbing the ladder. And for thesake of the Seven, she was so ready for the rest of her life.

Drumming her fingers on her countertop, she felt that buzzdrop just a bit as she looked down at her phone where it now lady next to herwine glass.

Because there was the small but significant matter –relatively high on her new to-do list – of getting rid of the only somewhatpublic evidence of her sexuality. And if she was being entirely honest withherself, and she was, this was probably the biggest hold out Margaery had hadagainst running for small council now.

Being discreet about being a lesbian had never bothered her.Going to fundraisers and promotions and galas and every event in between witheither Renly, a family member, or by herself rather then with a “romantic”partner had always been a benefit to her, really. Not that she’d ever had awoman interest her in a romantic fashion beyond the physical, anyway.

No, Margaery hadn’t made her profile on the aptly named WomenLovingWomenofWesteros app severalyears ago to find a love connection by any means. She smartly steered fairlyclear of anyone who’d messaged her seeming to look for anything deeper than ahookup, and found that the app’s promise to maintain privacy of it’s users tobe entirely accurate.

What she had madeit for, though, had worked out so truly well for her.

After a stressful week at work, there was never a shortageof attractive available women who wanted exactly what she wanted – mainly, tofuck. Once or twice, and then part ways.

It was satisfying and quick and easy. And Margaery wasalways smart about it – chatting for a couple of days and getting a read on whoshe was getting involved with before offering to meet at one of the places thatshe and the majority of the women on the app understood to signify that thiswas going to be nothing more than casual.

Not once in the last five years and too many women to count,not that she would, had her read on people even via the short, impersonalmessages let her down.

Did she want to give up having sex while her name and facestarted to become more recognizable? Of course not; the idea of committing toanything other than her job made her grimace, but the idea of giving up all ofthe orgasms…

She sighed again, heartily. It wasn’t like she would becelibate forever. Eventually, when she had a more secure foundation, she knewshe could very carefully indulge in some flings.

And besides, she could give herself orgasms. In comparisonto this small council opportunity, giving up WLWoW was a no brainer.

With that in mind, she opened the app. Instead of her semi-regularFriday night hookup perusal, she’d delete. She had to do it before shesubmitted her campaign paperwork at the beginning of the week, anyway.

After taking another sip of wine, though, she decided toprolong her last foray and check out her inbox that was beckoning her with threenew messages since the last time she’d opened it.

Genna, 2:11PMFunny thing, coming across yourprofileagain so soon. But messaging you last timeseemed to work out fantastically for both ofus, so I figured why not? Want to start withdrinks?

With a laugh that wasn’t quite a snort but very close, shedeleted that message in a second. Genna, she remembered the name and the prettybrunette in the picture accompanying it, wasn’t wrong in her assertion. They had a good time getting drinks aboutthree weeks ago, and the sex after was pretty good too.

But Margaery could count on one hand the amount of timesshe’d slept with a woman on multiple occasions, and on a couple of thoseoccasions, there always seemed to be a graying moment on the other woman’s end.It was a moment she could sense here and there of – could there be more?

And she sure as the seven hells wasn’t going to even pretendthat would be happening at this stage. Not even a polite message back. Besides,her profile would be gone soon anyway.

Addison, 5:56 PMIt looks like we both like dancing and dornishwine and gorgeous women… I’m thinking there could be a few other similarities as well. HMU

On a normal day, Margaery would go to this Addison woman’sprofile and check out what she had to say for herself, get a closer look at thefew pictures she had up – that read like an average first message for someonewho might be interested in the same thing she was interested in.

But today wasn’t a normal day, “Goodbye, Addison, niceknowing you,” she murmured with an eyeroll, and deleted that one, too.

“Lucky number three…”

Sansa, 7:43PMHey, there. I saw your profile and you look really interesting – and hot. Do you want tohook up meet up sometime?

Her thumb, that had been settling over the delete button asit had for the last two messages paused. Before she read the message overagain. And then again, once more, for good measure. There was just – anaudacity, she guessed was the best way to say it, in those words that gave herpause.

She straightened her spine as she leaned farther over hercounter, and instead of delete, she tapped the icon to get a better look at thetiny thumbnail size picture.

Oh.

The tumble of wavy red hair that had stood out in the tinychat icon screamed for attention when she pulled the picture up to full-size. Itwas blowing in the wind, the moment clearly a snapshot where she wasn’t tryingto pose or be anything. She was half-turned, as she genuinely grinned into thecamera, as if whoever had taken the picture had just said something that shecouldn’t help but giggle it. That was no manufactured-to-look-alluring smile.

It was warm, she decided, tilting her head as she felt herown lips quirk up in response to it. It was almost like she was the person onthe receiving end of that warmth, the person on the other side of the camera.

She was almost hesitant to leave the profile picture toclick through the few others. One where she was grinning again, this timealmost incredulous, Margaery thought, but with a sparkle in her eyes that wasso… open.

And then a third, that had Margaery pausing again. Thistime, though, it was the eyes that stopped her. The clear, light blue of themand winged with more makeup than she’d worn in the previous photos, it couldhave easily looked like seduction, she was sure. With a bit more pouting onsoft looking pink lips, or even a change in angle or… anything. But instead, shehad the barest of what seemed like a sincerely innocent small smile, the bit ofmakeup accentuating her eyes looking flawless, the bit of rosiness in hercheeks giving Margaery the oddest sensation to want to stroke her thumb overher cheekbone and see if it was as soft as it looked.

The entire look of her, of these guileless looks, made herseem somewhat exposed even though none of her pictures were indecent by anymeans of the word. The warm feeling of wantthat had settled in her stomach wasn’t really unexpected – this was a verybeautiful woman, after all – but it was surprising in how much she felt it inresponse to pictures that were so very innocent in nature.

In the years she’d been using this app, it was herexperience that there was typically at least one picture that women – women whosent provocative messages at the veryleast – posted to look purposefully alluring. With smoky makeup, smolderingeyes, revealing clothing… a whole number of things.

And who was Margaery to judge, when she admitted to all ofher pictures being selfies with the eye smolder in at the very least one ofthem? It was a tool of the trade, so-to-speak, and she’d hooked up satisfyinglywith many women who played that specific game.

She took just another interested perusal at the pictures,before tapping back to her profile.

Likes: literature, dogs, snow, knitting, running, and lemon cakes.

Her eyebrow quirked up at that, unable to stop herself. Just becauseseveral of the likes weren’t even typical to find on here – knitting, hello? –and Margaery was often skeptical of the truth in “literature” being alegitimate interest, but something about this woman had Sansa truly believingthat all of these were very true to her.

“Sansa,” she murmured. Not the most common name, definitelynot beyond the North, but pretty. It rolled off the tongue easily.

She could imagine the way it would sound from her own voice,panted or shouted, depending on what the girl with the fiery hair and the oceaneyes could make her feel.

Going back to the original message, she shook her head asshe reread it. The you look really interesting – and hot and the clearly crossed out rather thandeleted hook up invitation. Both very flirty remarks, no subtlety in theapproach. Not a hint of shyness, even coyness.

Not that she minded – she could even prefer such astraightforward attitude, really – but something about the message feltstrangely at odds with the unassuming, almost gently disarming look of thewoman in the pictures.

Granted, Margaery supposed that she didn’t actuallytruly know this Sansa; she could look like an angel while underneath being someonewho was going to completely knock Margaery off her axis.

All she really knew at this moment was that if she wasgoing to delete her profile and go into sexual exile for the foreseeablefuture, she could do with one more potentially great fuck.

Feeling herself smirk, she finished her wine and tookanother look at Sansa’s picture – make that three or four great orgasms; if shewas getting all of this from just a read on these pictures, she was more thanwilling to bet that Sansa’s effect would be even better in person.

She ignored thedelete option again, and instead hit Reply.

Margaery, 10:02PM My, that is one of the less subtle approaches I’ve received on here, I must say.

A shiver of anticipation worked through her already. Afterall, she might as well make the most of this last weekend before she officiallyfiled her campaign forms.

She was meeting her grandmother in the morning to iron outsome details and ask some questions she had about some campaign particulars,and had potential plans with Loras and Renly. But those were for dinner;nothing too late. And if it conflicted with Sansa’s schedule tomorrow, well,dinner with her brother was easily rescheduled.

Yeah, a sex Saturday with Sexy Sansa seemed to be just whatMargaery needed as her final big bang.

She was pouring herself another glass of wine, this timepreemptively toasting to herself and the hopefully illustrious night in storefor her.

The reply she got in less than five minutes made her smirk –until she read it.

Sansa, 10:05PMGods, I’m so sorry! I’ve been wanting to sendthis for hours, but couldn’t message you againuntil you answered. That’s not – I’m not theperson who sent that first message! My friendcreated this account and sent that to you. I’msorry, again. And dreadfully embarrassed.

Well. Margaery blew out a breath,pursing her lips as she read the message over. And a part of her that couldn’thelp but question and analyze first wondered if perhaps she was embarrassed ofthe original message and was trying to backpaddle.

Then again, she supposed, she didhave the distinct impression that the message with the hooking up implicationdidn’t seem to fit the persona she’d somewhat expertly put together. Shesupposed she could at the very least take away that her people reading skillswere still proven to be spot on.

But just to be sure Sansa knew there was nothing to beembarrassed about if that was whatwas holding her back…

Margaery, 10:07PM I never said lack of subtly was a bad thing. Perhaps in other matters, but not when it comes to this.

She paused, tapping her fingersagainst the counter for a moment before she figured she may as well just askfor her own sake of figuring out how likely it was that there could be anythinghere.

So, your friend arranged this? Are you not a lady loving lady of Westeros, then?

She’d barely had a second torinse her glass out in the sink before her phone buzzed in response.

Sansa, 10:08PM Oh, I am. Yes. Well, kind of.

Her eyes narrowed even as she felt her smirk returning. Nowthat was an answer that was a little too fast for true disinterest.

Margaery,10:10PM Kind of?

Sansa, 10:12PM I meant to say, that I like both men and women.

She waited a few minutes, weighingthe words as she brushed her teeth. It was because of the pictures, she wassure, that she almost felt like she could see the earnest expression on thiswoman’s face as she said the words. And the way she could imagine it, sheimagined a lot of discomfort in those words. As if she perchance hadn’t reallydisclosed the “woman” factor of her sexuality much.

After all, quite literallyeveryone she’d ever spoken to on here had thrown their sexuality into thisconversation fairly quickly, easily, when prompted.

So she took a guess.

Margaery,10:16PM You haven’t done this very much, have you?

Sansa, 10:18PM No. Never, actually. Is it very obvious?

“Extremely,” she murmured througha chuckle, amused and unsure if she should be alarmed or endeared at her starkhonesty, as she made her way into the bathroom to start getting ready for bed.

Margaery, 10:19PM Only a little ;)

As she slipped into her bedroom, she debated leaving theconversation there. After all, there wasn’t going to be anything coming fromthis, clearly. And it was getting a bit late.

But on the other hand, Margaery found her curiosityunusually piqued.

This Sansa seemed to be… different from what Margaery wasused to encountering on here, to say the least. Intriguing, really, and sincewhen had Margaery ever been able to pull herself away from something who’dtugged at her curiosity? It just was a matter of being that it was very rarethat someone made her curious.

Margaery, 10:22PM Tell me, why did your friend deem it necessary to create this account and send messages from you that seem to be more suggestive than you would like?

For a few minutes – the longestit seemed to take Sansa to answer – she wondered if she’d overstepped – itwasn’t as though she was ever willing to answer questions beyond fairly lightones to establish a flirty rapport, personally.

Sansa, 10:27PM She thinks I need to get out more, I guess. Andshe thinks that I should, um, go out and hookup with someone.

She had no idea why she thoughtthat the somewhat rambling of words seemed endearing. And the thought made hernarrow her eyes at her phone, “Your friend certainly knows how to tease me witha good time, then, doesn’t she?”

Margaery, 10:30PM And that’s not what you want?

Alarm for the morning set, andshe climbed under the blanket just as she got her answer.

Sansa, 10:34PM I – well, no. Not that I don’t want to ever meetsomeone, it’s just… I’m not wanting to go outand find a hook up just for the sake of hookingup. You know?

It was probably a good thing, shethought, that hooking up didn’t seem to be what Sansa wanted. Mostly because,truly, a beautiful woman like Sansa with this apparent penchant for telling thetruth and revealing more than necessary information even to strangers on adating app would get truly eaten alive on here.

Which… oddly, she didn’t want toenvision for her.

Even, she sighed, if it meanttheir paths definitely weren’t going to line up. Because Margaery certainly wasone of those who would very much like to eat her alive.

Margaery, 10:39PM Unfortunately, that is where you and I differ. Which is a shame, I might add.

She couldn’t resist adding it.Especially when she could imagine the reaction it might have on a woman likeSansa who seemed so very shy.

Sansa, 10:45PM Do you? Do this very often, that is.

… okay, not the response she’dbeen expecting.

Eyes narrowed, even though shewas not really feeling insulted, because she truly wasn’t ashamed of hersexcapades via WLWoW, and she didn’t generally give a damn what the few peoplein her life who knew this side of her thought about it, either. But she foundthat with a small kernel of something, that she didn’t quite likethinking that this woman might be judging her for it.

Margaery, 10:48PM Are you insinuating something?

Sansa, 10:50PM No! No, no. I was asking because I was just,well, curious about how this usually happens?

Sansa, 10:51PM I mean, you seem… like you know what to do,in situations like this. Unlike me, clearly.

Hmm. So she was going to go withmore endeared tonight than alarmed, apparently, picking up her phone to typewhen it vibrated yet again for a third time.

Sansa, 10:52PM Gods, that was probably a very silly thing toask. You can just ignore me.

“Ignore you… not quite yet,” shehmm’d to herself, still grinning slightly as she shook her head.

Margaery, 10:56PM Oh, dear girl. I don’t typically make it a point to reveal the inner-workings of my interactions on here, you know. A true lady shouldn’t reveal her secrets.

This, she firmly did believe wastrue. There was no need for her to share her inner-workings and dealings onhere with anyone, and frankly the thought of telling almost anyone else she’dmet on here about her somewhat formula for picking up women made her feel a bitdistasteful.

Granted, those were all differentscenarios. Because she would be using those moves on those other women.

Margaery, 10:57PM However, I could make an exception for a pretty woman in need. I only need to know one thing…

Sansa, 10:58PM Which is?

Briefly, she wondered if this wassomewhat too much – after all, she had made it abundantly clear that if Sansawanted to hook up, it would be something Margaery would also very much enjoy.

But then she landed on Sansa’spicture again, and figured it couldn’t hurt to ask…

Margaery, 11:02PM Just to be completely clear, there is no chance of you being interested in – as your first message said – a hook up? Because I absolutely cannot abide showing my hand in that case.

Especially because Margaery couldmake a few tweaks to some of her rules of thumb in this case. She got the verydistinct impression that everything in this conversation with Sansa was thepainful truth. If Sansa, this seemingly sweet-and-sexy, albeit charmingly naïvewoman wanted to forgo meeting at a club or a bar, in a place that she feltuncomfortable, Margaery would make an exception for that.

Sansa, 11:05PMI can confirm that I don’t think I will be preparedto hook up with anyone any time soon.

Regretful. Truly regretful. Shetook a moment to say goodbye to her imagined fantastic final sex for theforeseeable future, before she got herself more into a work mindset. Aproblem-solving, question answering mindset. She could field questions for asweet girl like Sansa for a night.

Margaery, 11:09PM Well, then, disappointed as I may be, I am now willing to answer what you’d like to know. Do you have specific questions in mind?

Sansa, 11:11PM Do you only use this website for hooking up?

Huh. Well that question seemedrather her-specific rather than about the app community populace in general.

Margaery, 11:13PM Yes. Though in the name of honesty, I am always upfront about my not-serious intentions.

Sansa, 11:16PM Okay. But what happens then?

It took her a moment, as she re-settledunder the covers, to decipher what she meant by that. Because as soon asshe read it, all of the images that Margaery conjured to mind were so veryX-rated.

But… Sansa, this innocent Sansa,certainly wasn’t asking her to essentially sext with her, right?

No, she reasoned. Probably not.

Margaery, 11:18PM I do hope you aren’t asking me to explain the proverbial birds and the bees, sweet girl. I was under the impression you wanted this to be PG ;)

No harm in testing the waters,though. It wasn’t as though she would be opposed in the least to indulging in abit of dirty talk with Sansa. It wasn’t something she really did on here,admittedly. Some light sexts as a prelude to meeting up on occasion, maybe.

Sansa, 11:19PMNo! No, I know how… that… works. I meant, like, how do you go about doing all of this? Whena woman messages you, what happens then?

She found herself shaking herhead, grinning minutely down at her phone as she blew out a breath. Of courseall signs pointed to Sansa being a bit flustered by her – the unexpected partwas how much Margaery was into it.

She’d never really considered herselfhaving a thing for naivety before. It never really crossed her mind that shewould find a bit of excitement in this somewhat shy, almost innocent approach.It wasn’t really like she was going to often find her hookups in genuinely shyand/or naïve women.

Another regretful sigh, this onea bit lofty, left her, before she nodded to herself. They may not be havingsex, and she didn’t really want to reveal that she had somewhat of a pattern onhere with women, but Sansa seemed to genuinely want to know, so.

Margaery, 11:22PM Well, it’s all fairly straightforward, no pun intended. We chat a bit here and make plans to meet up. Typically at a bar or perhaps a club – always somewhere public. We spend a bit of time out to make sure we’re… compatible. And from there, I see if they’d like to go back to my place for the night.

Really, ideally, she typicallymanaged to finagle the situation so that they went back to the other woman’splace. She didn’t necessarily enjoy having the women she was sleeping withoccupying her personal space – not that she was entirely against fucking womenin her own bed, but the few times where they’d gotten the mistaken impressionthat they were going to stay for the night were never a fun aftermath foreither party involved.

It entailed Margaery being ascourteous and magnanimous as possible, as she essentially showed them the door.

She hesitated for a moment,before figuring – what the hells? If she was being entirely honest:

Margaery,11:22PM Not to boast, but they usuallydo.

Sansa, 11:23PM Oh, I can imagine.

The reply took her by surprise –in all honesty, Sansa had probably taken her more by surprise in the last hourthan anyone had in the past on this site.

But that instantly smoothdelivery…

Margaery, 11:25PM That was smoother than I expected. Offense entirely unintended.

Sansa, 11:27PMNone taken, as it was actually inadvertentlydone.

So very charming, she thoughtwith a tired laugh. Yeah, she was fairly certain that if Sansa got a tighterhold on her confidence in messaging women on here she would kill it. Seeminglyintelligent, a knockout, and the utter lack of falsities – a dream for manywomen.

Margaery’s ideal hookup dream,apparently, too.

But it was truly best to cut thisoff now, before Sansa drew her into more conversation that enticed her despitethe lack of chance of anything going on between them. Really, it would just beteasing herself, plus the fact that she had to be up in less than seven hours.

Margaery, 11:30PM You’re an interesting woman. Unfortunately, however, it is getting late, and I must be getting to bed. I’ve an early morning tomorrow.

Sansa, 11:33PM I don’t think I’m quite as interesting as youare. But I should be going, too. Thank you, forthis. You know, not mocking me like youundoubtedly could have.

That damn sincerity she couldjust feel coming through in that message. She briefly wondered why Sansa wouldbelieve Margaery would actively mock her, before she decided Sansa wasentirely, completely unaware of her entire appeal.

Margaery, 11:35PM That’s not really my style. But it was more entertaining for me than I might have anticipated. Goodnight, Sansa.

And good luck, if you stick itout on here, she silently added. But she couldn’t quite envision Sansa continuingon here for a long time. In a way, she didn’t quite want her to. She had asneaking feeling that if she burned herself out for too long on here, thatquite engaging thing about her wouldn’t shine quite so bright.

For that sake, she hoped Sansafound what she was looking for relatively soon.

Sansa, 11:36PMGoodnight, Margaery

She plugged in her phone, rollingonto her side as she cuddled into her blanket. She still had to delete herprofile and wipe the app itself from her phone – the entire goal of the nighthad been sidetracked, and she rolled sleepy eyes at herself.

The chat with Sansa was still up,though, when she looked down again. The bright laughing smile and red hair gleamingoff the screen at her. Instead of deleting, she hesitated for a moment andlocked the phone. She still had a few more days before it was a necessity.

#those who wait #sansaery

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ultradoggyblog · 5 years ago

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TOP 15 QUESTIONS NEWFOUNDLAND DOG OWNERS GET ASKED

Most Newfoundland dog owners can relate to not having the ability to travel call at public with their Newfoundlands without getting asked a bazillion questions by curious bystanders. i feel it’s safe to mention that if you’re looking to possess a quiet outing and keep to yourself, you’re not getting to get that with a Newfie by your side.

Are Pet Cooling Mats Worth Your Money? As a Newfie owner, it’s just something you've got to urge wont to . I’ll admit that within the past I found this a touch annoying. All i would like to try to to is obvious my mind and walk my dog. I don’t like people. But over the years I’ve began to embrace it. i really like talking about my dogs. It’s what sparks me. i really like spreading the Newfie love and watching my dogs bring a smile to other people’s faces. Having a Newfie has connected me with numerous people over the years that I otherwise would never have met. You never know who you’re getting to meet.

Here are a number of the foremost popular questions that Newfoundland dog owners get asked once they are out with their dogs:

What quite dog is that?!!!!!! It’s a Newfoundland. A NewFOUNDlander? No, a Newfoundland. WOW! I’ve never seen a dog that big!! Do they shed? Absolutely. a minimum of twice a year and each Sunday. they're going to shed an entire other dog and that they got to be brushed regularly. they're a double coated breed and maintaining their coat may be a lot of labor

Do they drool? This answer may vary by the dog but briefly , yes. Some drool quite others. Some may drool only they drink or are begging et al. will drool more on a daily basis. It always makes me laugh once they ask this question and you say yes, but they still go right certain a pet under the chin then they appear at their hands and nonchalantly wipe it back on the dog. Hahahahaha. Good times. Top 15 Questions Newfoundland Dog Owners Get Asked Is that a bear? It doesn’t matter what color Newfie you've got this question are going to be asked of you a minimum of 1,000 times. It’s one among those silly questions but one that comes from someone who has no idea what quite breed it's therefore the very first thing that involves mind may be a BIG mammal. Let’s face it, regardless of how annoying we expect this question is, it makes both parties giggle and may be a good icebreaker. It sets us owners up for an excellent chance to teach about the Newfoundland breed. How much do they weigh? Of course, this answer will vary supported the dog but most of the people are surprised that the amount is less than they expected. this is often what we would like . We don’t want people thinking that Newfs are alleged to weigh 250 pounds. a number of us can also respond with, “How much does one weigh?” How much do they eat? Another question which will vary supported the dog and what sort of the diet that they eat but most of the people are going to be very surprised that they eat way but they thought. No, they don’t eat 10 cups of food each day . Top 15 Questions Newfoundland Dog Owners Get Asked Is that a St. Bernard? While the resemblance are often understood coming from someone who isn't conversant in either breed, this might be the foremost offensive question a Newfie owner are often asked. Nothing against a St. Bernard but no, no and no. It’s one among those questions you only need to laugh away then explain. Believe me, the person who asked this question will leave KNOWING what a Newfoundland is so you’ve made another person conscious of the breed. Do you sleep in an enormous house and have an enormous yard? Again, another answer which will vary but i feel several owners with Newfies sleep in average size houses with average size yards. Newfies are BIG but they don’t necessarily need an outsized space to measure in because they need to be wherever their family is. Where you go, they go. It doesn’t matter if you reside during a mansion or a granny pod, a Newf are going to be within 1 foot of you in the least times. How old is he? How long do they live? one among my least favorite questions since my boys are seniors but i feel most folks say 8-12 years. I wish the solution was FOREVER but I’ve got a ten and almost 12-year-old Newf so I even have to remind myself nearly a day that age is simply variety Do you have a saddle for him? Do you ride him? one among those questions that hit right where it hurts for many Newfie owners but we've to think about the source and assume that this is often an equivalent person who asked if our dog was a bear and laugh it off. Unless, of course, it’s the guy who’s aunt had a Newf and once they were kids they use to ride him. He died when he was 5 because he had back issues. That person usually gets the look . Top 15 Questions Newfoundland Dog Owners Get Asked I didn’t know they came in brown. What other colors are there? I don’t realize people with black Newfies but this is often a typical question that i buy all the time. Of course, black is that the commonest color seen in Newfies and it’s great to be ready to explain the opposite varieties that Newfies can are available . It’s also an honest chance to dispel any mythical colors out there. No, Newfies don't are available blue, red or champagne. Where does he sleep? Report this ad Mediavine I get this one tons and it always makes people laugh once I say on the couch. then I tell them that Sherman sleeps on the ground and you'll tell they're quite tired of that answer in order that they return to asking how big our couch is. Is he friendly? I have to admit that this is often probably not a breed specific question and it’s an honest question for anyone to ask once they are approaching any dog but I find that the majority people ask this after they’re watching the dogs for 20 minutes OR they ask as they're getting into for a pet. just one occasion I skilled a man with, “God, I hope so.” while he was already sitting on the ground next to Leroy petting him. Top 15 Questions Newfoundland Dog Owners Get Asked Can I take a picture? Do you ever wonder what happens to those pictures? Where do they go? Who sees them? i really like that folks want to require pictures of my dogs and send them to a loved one . I remember just one occasion a person asked me if he could take Sherman’s picture and send it to his mother who was sick within the hospital. He said it might make her smile because she loved dogs. That warmed my heart BUT if I charged a dollar for each picture that has been taken, I’d be one rich lady. Who’s walking who? This is one among my complaint questions and doubtless my least favorite. I don’t realize you but I’m a touch one that walks an enormous dog. I’m sure it’s a sight to ascertain BUT I’ve worked long and hard training my Newfoundlands to steer well and WITH me. Absolutely there are occasions when Leroy uses his size to his advantage and he has been known to tug me BUT that’s rare and typically when nobody else is around. i might prefer, “Wow. That’s an enormous dog who is well trained.” When you are blessed a Newf in your life you've got to stay in mind that once you are call at public with them, it’s all about the Newf and not about you. It’s their world, you only sleep in it. So how about you? What questions does one get asked?

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the-lupine-sojourner · 5 years ago

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Meeting the Bakusquad [Eijiro/OC Commission]

I got another commission! :) This time from the super sweet @asrasdarling. They are a pleasure to work with, and this prompt is a fun one.

Now, their OC is something of a self-insert, which is kinda what mine are lol.

Anyway, Asra asked for a Kirishima X OC piece where the OC isn’t from UA, but is Kirishima’s girlfriend, and how he introduces her to the Bakusquad. I thought that was a super cute, fun prompt and eagerly accepted!

Only thing is I’m not terribly dirty-minded, so I might not have been able to fully capture your OC, Asra, but I hope you like how I portrayed Jenna!

Sorry it took so long!

As always, if you want your own Commission, please look over This Post Here about pricing and how I do my commissions.

One last thing; word count, as usual. This piece sits at 3026 words.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

God Bless and Good Day!

~The Lupine Sojourner

(Thought this GiF was super cute! (: )

Jenna ran along the hall, eager to get to class before the bell rang, before she crashed into someone, leaving them both on their butts on the ground, whatever had been in their arms spilled out between them.

Jenna looks up and sees a boy with black hair and red eyes, blushing in embarrassment as he offers her a hand up.

“S-sorry!” He murmurs. Jenna is tugged to her feet quickly and she dusts herself off.

“Hey, no big deal. Take a breath.” She advises, picking up her stuff as quick as she could. It’s then she takes another look at him and realizes she may know him. “Hey, you’re Eijiro, right?” She asks. He nods, seeming to recognize her, too.

“Yeah, that’s me. We have English and Science together, right?” Jenna nods.

“Yup!” They finish grabbing their things and face each other. “Speaking of, we should go.”

Eijiro nods. “Yeah, or we’ll be late.” They walk together, neither speaking.

The classes went by quickly and soon enough it was lunchtime. All day, Jenna had struggled to focus on classwork, but her mind seemed drawn to Eijiro. He seemed like a nice kid, but she didn’t know much about him.

Jenna liked mysteries. And so, she sought him out for lunch.

“Hey, this seat taken, hot stuff?” She asks, winking for good measure.

Eijiro spits out a bit of his drink. “I-I’m sorry?” He asks, blushing a little. Jenna laughs. He was cute when he blushed. She bet he was easy to tease.

“I asked if this seat was taken.” She decides against continuing to flirt with him...for now.

“Oh, uh, it isn’t. Feel free to sit.” Eijiro replies politely.

The pair share a decent lunch, and that seems to be that.

=#=#=#=#=

Since that first encounter and lunch, Jenna had decided she was going to pursue Eijiro.

Thus began a series of flirtatious remarks and awkward, unsure responses from Eijiro.

Jenna liked seeing him blush. She knew it was childish and that she should simply make her intentions known, but they were still in middle school. It’d be a bit weird to start dating right now, even if they were nearly graduated.

Or so Jenna told herself. “Hey, Eiji! Wait up!” She calls, shaking herself out of her thoughts and running after Eijiro.

He turns. “Oh, hey, Jenna. What’s up?”

“Which high school are you going to?” She asks. Eijiro suddenly seems incredibly nervous, paling and scratching at the back of his neck.

“We-well, I, uh, haven’t decided.” He explains.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to try for UA?”

“I did, but, you know, it’s a really big school, and super hard to get into, so I guess I’m just keeping my options open.” Jenna nods.

“Makes sense. Race you to the bus stop!” She cries, running after him. He laughs, forgetting his previous insecurity for a moment, and chases her, easily winning. Jenna was a little surprised.

“You been working out or something?” She asks.

“Yeah. I do want to- -I am still tossing around the idea of being a hero, so…” Jenna frowns. He seems off somehow. Unsteady and unsure, which was so unlike him.

Normally, Eijiro was the kinda guy that knew what he wanted and would do what it takes to get there.

Now, it was like he was afraid to say he changed his mind, but still having second thoughts.

“...You okay, Eiji?” Jenna asks. “You don’t seem your usual self today.” Normally, she’d have made some flirty remark, but this seemed serious, so she knew better.

“Y-yeah, never better.” He mumbles. Jenna huffs.

“And I’m All Might.”

“I’m serious, Jenna. Leave it alone.” There was no fight in his words. There wasn’t much emotion, either. There was just...nothing.

“Ei, I’m serious.” Jenna murmurs, hands on her crush’s shoulders. “You can talk to me.”

“I’m fine, Jen, just please go!” There were tears in his eyes. Jenna decides to take a different approach.

“Alright, alright. Text me later?” Eijiro nods mutely and walks away as soon as Jenna’s hands let go.

“...sure.”

As soon as Eijiro was gone, Jenna pulled out her phone, typing up a search for the latest local news. Scrolling down just a little, she saw that there had been a villain incident just last night. On a street Eijiro would have been walking home on since the buses needed maintenance.

Suddenly, the pieces fell into place. Eijiro had seen a villain situation and had been scared out of his mind. He was still dealing with that fear now.

Jenna had an idea. Waiting til after she’d gone home and ran, she texted Eijiro and asked if they wanted to meet for sparring, something they sometimes did after school.

Surprisingly, Eijiro said no. He said he had already run himself and that he was working out at home. Something told Jenna that was a lie, but she didn’t have it in her to press him.

Jenna accepted it and wished him luck in his workout before going at the punching bag.

Her Quirk, Archer, let her sharp shoot anything with a bow with pin-point accuracy, so she needed to get good at hand-to-hand combat if she was ever going to make a real difference.

Unlike most people, Jenna didn’t want to be a Hero. No, she wanted to be a police officer, using her Quirk to protect as many average citizens as she could.

As her knuckles slammed into the bag, Jenna considered how best to break down Eijiro’s walls and get him to tell her what was going on in that amazing mind of his.

There was something eating him from the inside out, Jenna could easily tell, but how could she press him into talking to her without jeopardizing the friendship between them?

=#=#=#=#=

Turns out, the answer was nothing.

He voluntarily told her after basically avoiding her all day with that awful, defeated look on his face.

Then, once they’d done their runs, he randomly called Jenna and she instantly picked up.

“Hey. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you all day.” He begins.

“Did you miss me?” Jenna asks, winking at him through the video chat. She feels a little better when he manages a small smile.

“Very funny. I guess I did a little. Anyway, that’s not why I called. I called to say I’m ready to tell you what happened, why I’ve been off lately. It’s true. There is something wrong.” Jenna doesn’t dare interrupt, nodding to show she was still paying attention. “The other day, there was this villain...and I saw some of the girls from school being questioned by the villain to find some agency. I wanted to help, but...but my body wouldn’t move. My spirit was too weak to do anything. I realized I didn’t have what it takes to risk it all to save people. At least, that was how I felt after what happened, but then...let’s just say I’ve found my spirit again! I’m not gonna regret anything anymore!” Jenna grins, excited to see the flame in Eijiro’s heart ignite again, burning brighter than before.

“Hell yeah! Let’s do this, Eijiro!” She calls, pumping her free fist excitedly.

“Yeah!”

And so, the pair began sparring more and more, getting better and better. Jenna also helped Eijiro increase his Hardening’s strength by firing at him while he stood there, unafraid, his arms and face Hardened and determination blazing in his eyes.

Weeks went by quickly and Jenna was the happiest she’d even been, Eijiro by her side and with a fiery determination to match his renewed spirit. Jenna could tell Eijiro had truly gotten over his slump and was back on track, chugging along and making up for lost time like he’d never faltered.

And Jenna was right there, chugging along beside him on her path to being a cop.

Jenna noticed that Eijiro spent an increasing amount of time with her these days, a fact which she was quick to use in her flirtatious remarks, and a fact that made her heart quicken a little.

Even after weeks had gone by, Jenna still found herself crushing on Eijiro and wishing she had the guts to tell him, but every time she opened her mouth to confess her honest feelings, it came out as just another flirty joke, another poorly veiled attempt to get him to see her the way she saw him.

Eijiro never saw through the flirting to the genuine feelings Jenna held for him.

That is, til one day.

It was shortly before the entrance test for UA, and the pair were hanging out after a rough sparring session.

“Hey, Eijiro?” Jenna asks, squirming a little, but determined not to back out this time.

“Yeah?” Eijiro asks.

“You’re going to UA, right?”

“Yeah, I’ve told you. Why?”

“It’s just...we’re not going to the same high school, and there’s some- -well, I’ve been meaning to tell you something before we separate.” Eijiro laughs, turning to look at Jenna, who was focused on her fiddling fingers.

“Jenna, c’mon, lighten up! We’ll still be best friends, right? What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is I like you, dummy!” Jenna blurts. “And now you’re going away and I won’t see you that often, and- -”

“Wait, what? You...you like me? As in...like like?”

“Yes, you baka!” Jenna barks. “Geez, you’re oblivious!” Eijiro hugs her so he could get a word in edgewise.

“Jenna, look. I...I like you, too. I just figured you didn’t feel the same way. And besides, we’re not going to stop talking to each other and sparring and stuff, plus, um...maybe dating stuff, too, like hiking and picnics, and- -wait do you like picnics? Or hiking?”

Jenna playfully smacks his shoulder. “You dork! I was so worried you didn’t feel the same way I felt! You mean to tell me you like me, too?!”

He pulls you into a kiss in the heat of the moment and Jenna can’t find it in herself to complain at all as her body lit up at the feeling inside her, knowing Eijiro liked her back and they were finally kissing. Her hands wound themselves into his hair and she pressed herself against him as the kiss lengthened.

Eventually, Eijiro leans back and stares at the girl in his arms.

“That was...amazing.” He murmurs.

“You’re telling me.” Jenna replies breathlessly.

“What was that about being worried about separating?” Eijiro teases.

Jenna laughs. “I don’t remember.”

Eijiro nuzzles into Jenna’s neck, laughing. “You’re a dork.”

“And yet...you kissed me.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it.” He retorts.

“Oh you like me, huh?” Jenna couldn’t resist teasing him.

“Did I not make it obvious?”

“No! No you did not! As far as I knew, you only thought of me as a best friend! I had to sit there, crushing over you and burying my feelings cus I didn’t think you felt the same!”

“Sorry!” Eijiro squeaks, suddenly slammed with guilt as accidentally upsetting the girl he’d slowly come to like...a lot. “I’m not great at this romance thing! I thought you were flirting for fun!”

Jenna groans, running a hand down her face. “Good Lord we’re morons.”

“Yeah...sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, Ei. Kiss me again and I might forget all the waiting.”

Eijiro instantly obliged.

=#=#=#=#=

“How much further to the top?” Jenna asks, huffing a little as you continue trekking up the mountain.

“Not too far, you baby.” Eijiro calls back teasingly.

“This was your idea, idiot! I wanted to watch Netflix!”

“And I said this was a better idea!”

Jenna huffs. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Listen, when we get to the top, the view will be worth it.” Eijiro promises, dropping back a little to walk beside his girlfriend.

“It better be, Ei.” She grumbles.

Eijiro kisses Jenna’s temple. “C’mon, sourpuss. Once we’re done, we’ll shower at my dorm and by then my friends should be done shopping.”

Jenna could never stay mad at him for long, so she grabs his hand and continues walking, determined to get to the top.

Once there, Jenna could begrudgingly admit that Eijiro was right; the view was amazing. She could see the buildings that made up UA in the distance, proud and tall among the other buildings in the city.

“There it is.” Eijiro muses as if reading her thoughts. “UA High.”

“It’s so amazing you got in.” Jenna asks. Eijiro nods, smiling eagerly. He always loved talking about UA.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it, either! It’s so incredible there!”

“I’m sure it is.” Jenna replies, genuinely happy for him as she leans her head against Eijiro’s shoulder.

“I’m really proud of you, too.” Eijiro says as he wraps his arm around her shoulder. “You’re on your way to your dream, too.”

“Thanks, babe.” Jenna grins and leans up a little to kiss her boyfriend. As always, she let it continue for a while.

Once it ended, the pair stayed and enjoyed the view for a while as the city bustled beneath them.

“Speaking of schools, how are things in your high school?” Eijiro asks, feeling bad he couldn’t remember the school’s name off the top of his head.

Jenna nods. “They’re going great! I’m loving it!” Eijiro squeezes Jenna to him proudly.

“That’s my girl. I’m happy for you.” He kisses her temple and they return to admiring the view. “Hey, we should probably head back down.” Eijiro notes after a few minutes. “Your mom might start worrying.”

Jenna nods. “Knowing her, she’s worrying already.” She chuckles. “C’mon, loverboy.”

The pair half-run, half-walk down the mountain and then walk to the subway station nearby.

=#=#=#=#=

“Ah. You must be Jenna.” Iida calls once he spots the pair entering the dorm building. “My name is Tenya Iida.” Jenna extends a hand and Iida shakes it firmly.

“Pleasure.” Jenna intones politely.

“Ashido, Sero, Kaminari, and Bakugo are not back yet.” Iida reports and Eijiro nods.

“Yeah we’re gonna shower real quick before they get back, then we’ll have lunch and hang out.”

Iida nods. “Alright then.” He motions them on. The couple leave and Jenna has to school her thoughts carefully as she walks toward the dorm her boyfriend stays in.

Her mind kept wandering, however, and she couldn’t fight a blush.

She walks in, and...her jaw drops. “Dang, babe, this is...impressive.” She says, trying not to succumb to her knee-jerk reaction of ‘what is this?’. All around her were ‘manly’ things and workout equipment, including a punching bag.

“I call my ‘cave of manliness’.” Eijiro explains proudly. Jenna laughs.

“It’s great, honey.” She replies, kissing his temple.

“Really? Hagakure said if she had a boyfriend with a room like this, she’d dump him.” Eijiro murmurs, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

“Well, she’s a bit petty, then. This room is great! Perfect for you!” Jenna replies, waving aside any thought that she’d dump Eijiro on such minor grounds.

“Thanks, Jenna.” Eijiro breaths out, smiling a little shakily.

“Eijiro, don’t listen to anyone who judges you based on such petty things like room decorations. They’re being a little shallow.” Eijiro nods.

“I’ll try not to.” He then takes a breath. “Now, we need to shower. Mina texted me that they’re heading back and they didn’t go that far.” Jenna nods, smirking a little.

“Want me to join you, save time?” She teases, unable to resist.

On cue, Eijiro’s cheeks turn as red as his hair, and he backs up a few steps. “J-Jenna!” He squeaks, putting his hands over his face. “C’mon! Don’t do that!” Jenna laughs, unable to help it.

“Ei, I was teasing. It’s adorable when you blush.” Eijiro pouts, cheeks still red.

“Jen…” He whines.

“Look, I’ll take the first shower real quick, and then you can shower.” Eijiro nods mutely in embarrassment.

Soon enough, the showers were done and Eijiro and Jenna were back in the main living area of the building.

As it they’d timed it, the doors open and the quarter of students enter, Katsuki yelling at Kaminari as usual. Eijiro walks over.

“Hey, guys!” He greets. Katsuki turns to him once he was through with what he was saying.

“Hey, Shitty Hair.” Katsuki retorts. “Where’s this girl we’re supposed to meet?” Eijiro turns and motions Jenna over.

“H-hi.” Jenna says, trying not to stutter, but feeling a little nervous now that the moment had come.

These were Eijiro’s friends. What if they didn’t like her?

“...Not bad, I guess.” Katsuki sniffs, walking away to head into the kitchen, grumbling at whoever was in there to get out so he could cook.

“Yeah, she’s a cutie!” Kaminari chirps, walking over. “Good to finally meet you!” He says, almost in a flirty way. Jenna chuckles as she shakes his hand.

“You’re not bad yourself. What’s your name?”

“Oh! Sorry! Denki Kaminari.”

“Good to meet- -”

“Hi there! I’m Mina Ashido, but you can call me Mina!” Ashido interrupts, shaking Jenna’s hand eagerly. “It’s so awesome to meet you!”

“Awesome to meet you too!” Jenna replies, easily feeding off Mina’s energy, which seemed to ease Jenna’s nerves. Mina then finally lets go of Jenna’s hand as Sero walks over.

“I’m Hanta Sero. Good to finally meet yah, Jenna.” He says, bring a bit more calm into the meeting.

“It’s great to finally meet everyone.” Jenna says, meaning it.

And, it seems, they liked her already, so she had nothing to be nervous about.

“Who’s hungry?” Eijiro asks. “I think I saw Katsuki walking into the kitchen, so we should follow and get lunch.”

Jenna clutches her stomach, not realizing how hungry she was till someone mentioned food. “Yes, please! Good God, I’m hungry.” Eijiro takes her hand as they walk, unashamed.

Katsuki took convincing to let them help, but eventually they were settled at the table, food and drinks aplenty, banter and stories flying back and forth as the group enjoyed lunch.

Jenna quite liked Eijiro’s friend group, she decided. They were all so unique and boisterous in their own ways, and she could easily find her place among them, even if she didn’t go to UA.

#Fanfiction #Fanfiction Commission #Commission #MHA #BNHA #Eijiro Kirishima #Eijiro Kirishima X OC #Meeting the Bakusquad #Asrasdarling

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furnace-repair-contractor-blog · 5 years ago

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Furnace Service Services For Hire in Vancouver

How do you actually feel with regards to Home Furnace Installation?

Pioneer Plumbing has built a reputation of honesty with our long time returning customers. We’ve found that “doing the right thing” in all aspects of our company has brought us to where we are today, and will continue to guide us into the future. Don’t hesitate to call and ask us any plumbing, heating, ventilation, or gas related questions. Chances are if you have a tricky issue, we can solve it.

We have a few goals for our clients. One is to be available for you. It is very uncommon that when you call us we are unable to make it within the same day. We give our repeat customers priority service so if you’ve used us before and you have an emergency, we are going to do what we need to, to get someone there.

Two is to be upfront and honest. From our quotes to our service techs on site, we don’t like to beat around the bush. We will let you know our concerns, our recommendations, and our opinions on how we would handle each situation as if it were our own residence where the problem occurred. We won’t tell you the job is only a 2 hour repair when we have had situations where it turned into an all day repair.

Three is to stand behind our installations and repairs. With mechanical work, it is very common for jobs to get larger or go sideways as you get into them. If we give you a quote we will stand true to the price, if we complete a job for you and you are unhappy with the finished product, we will come back and make it right. In return, all we ask is that you communicate with our office respectfully and honestly so that we can make sure at the end of the day you are happy with our services!

So next time you have a plumbing, heating, cooling, or gas question, repair, or installation you would like quoted, give us a call! Were here to help.

HVAC in Vancouver

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Types of Heating Systems

Central Heat

Furnaces

The majority of North American households depend on a central furnace to provide heat. A furnace works by blowing heated air through ducts that deliver the warm air to rooms throughout the house via air registers or grills. This type of heating system is called a ducted warm-air or forced warm-air distribution system. It can be powered by electricity, natural gas, or fuel oil.

Inside a gas- or oil-fired furnace, the fuel is mixed with air and burned. The flames heat a metal heat exchanger where the heat is transferred to air. Air is pushed through the heat exchanger by the “air handler’s” furnace fan and then forced through the ductwork downstream of the heat exchanger. At the furnace, combustion products are vented out of the building through a flue pipe. Older “atmospheric” furnaces vented directly to the atmosphere, and wasted about 30% of the fuel energy just to keep the exhaust hot enough to safely rise through the chimney. Current minimum-efficiency furnaces reduce this waste substantially by using an “inducer” fan to pull the exhaust gases through the heat exchanger and induce draft in the chimney. “Condensing” furnaces are designed to reclaim much of this escaping heat by cooling exhaust gases well below 140°F, where water vapor in the exhaust condenses into water. This is the primary feature of a high-efficiency furnace (or boiler). These typically vent through a sidewall with a plastic pipe.

New furnace standards are currently under development by the U.S. Department of Energy, and are due to be finalized in the spring of 2016. The current furnace standards have not been updated since 1987.

Heating system controls regulate when the various components of the heating system turn on and off. The most important control from your standpoint is the thermostat, which turns the system — or at least the distribution system — on and off to keep you comfortable. A typical forced air system will have a single thermostat. But, there are other internal controls in a heating system, such as “high limit” switches that are part of an invisible but critical set of safety controls.

The best gas furnaces and boilers today have efficiencies over 90%

The efficiency of a fossil-fuel furnace or boiler is a measure of the amount of useful heat produced per unit of input energy (fuel). Combustion efficiency is the simplest measure; it is just the system’s efficiency while it is running. Combustion efficiency is like the miles per gallon your car gets cruising along at 55 miles per hour on the highway.

In the U.S., furnace efficiency is regulated by minimum AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency). AFUE estimates seasonal efficiency, averaging peak and part-load situations. AFUE accounts for start-up, cool-down, and other operating losses that occur in real operating conditions, and includes an estimate of electricity used by the air handler, inducer fan, and controls. AFUE is like your car mileage between fill-ups, including both highway driving and stop-and-go traffic. The higher the AFUE, the more efficient the furnace or boiler.

Boilers

Boilers are special-purpose water heaters. While furnaces carry heat in warm air, boiler systems distribute the heat in hot water, which gives up heat as it passes through radiators or other devices in rooms throughout the house. The cooler water then returns to the boiler to be reheated. Hot water systems are often called hydronic systems. Residential boilers generally use natural gas or heating oil for fuel.

In steam boilers, which are much less common in homes today, the water is boiled and steam carries heat through the house, condensing to water in the radiators as it cools. Oil and natural gas are commonly used.

Instead of a fan and duct system, a boiler uses a pump to circulate hot water through pipes to radiators. Some hot water systems circulate water through plastic tubing in the floor, a system called radiant floor heating (see “State of the Art Heating”). Important boiler controls include thermostats, aquastats, and valves that regulate circulation and water temperature. Although the cost is not trivial, it is generally much easier to install “zone” thermostats and controls for individual rooms with a hydronic system than with forced air. Some controls are standard features in new boilers, while others can be added on to save energy (see the “Modifications by Heating System Technicians” section on the heating maintenance page).

As with furnaces, condensing gas-fired boilers are relatively common, and significantly more efficient than non-condensing boilers (unless very sophisticated controls are employed). Oil-fired condensing boilers are uncommon in the U.S. for several reasons related to lower latent heat potential, and potential for greater fouling with conventional fuel oil.

Heat Pumps

Heat pumps are just two-way air conditioners (see detailed description in the cooling systems section). During the summer, an air conditioner works by moving heat from the relatively cool indoors to the relatively warm outside. In winter, the heat pump reverses this trick, scavenging heat from the cold outdoors with the help of an electrical system, and discharging that heat inside the house. Almost all heat pumps use forced warm-air delivery systems to move heated air throughout the house.

A ground-source heat pump heats and cools in any climate by exchanging heat with the ground, which has a more constant temperature.

There are two relatively common types of heat pumps. Air-source heat pumps use the outside air as the heat source in winter and heat sink in summer. Ground-source (also called geothermal, GeoExchange, or GX) heat pumps get their heat from underground, where temperatures are more constant year-round. Air-source heat pumps are far more common than ground-source heat pumps because they are cheaper and easier to install. Ground-source heat pumps, however, are much more efficient, and are frequently chosen by consumers who plan to remain in the same house for a long time, or have a strong desire to live more sustainably. How to determine whether a heat pump makes sense in your climate is discussed further under “Fuel Options.”

Whereas an air-source heat pump is installed much like a central air conditioner, ground-source heat pumps require that a “loop” be buried in the ground, usually in long, shallow (3–6' deep) trenches or in one or more vertical boreholes. The particular method used will depend on the experience of the installer, the size of your lot, the subsoil, and the landscape. Alternatively, some systems draw in groundwater and pass it through the heat exchanger instead of using a refrigerant. The groundwater is then returned to the aquifer.

Because electricity in a heat pump is used to move heat rather than to generate it, the heat pump can deliver more energy than it consumes. The ratio of delivered heating energy to consumed energy is called the coefficient of performance, or COP, with typical values ranging from 1.5 to 3.5. This is a “steady-state” measure and not directly comparable to the heating season performance factor (HSPF), a seasonal measure mandated for rating the heating efficiency of air-source heat pumps. Converting between the measures is not straightforward, but ground-source units are generally more efficient than air-source heat pumps.

Direct Heat

Gas-Fired Space Heaters

In some areas, gas-fired direct heating equipment is popular. This includes wall-mounted, free-standing, and floor furnaces, all characterized by their lack of ductwork and relatively small heat output. Because they lack ducts, they are most useful for warming a single room. If heating several rooms is required, either the doors between rooms must be left open or another heating method is necessary. Better models use “sealed combustion air” systems, with pipes installed through the wall to both provide combustion air and carry off the combustion products. These units can provide acceptable performance, particularly for cabins and other buildings where large temperature differences between bedrooms and main rooms are acceptable. The models can be fired with natural gas or propane, and some burn kerosene.

Unvented Gas-Fired Heaters: A Bad Idea

Gas or kerosene space heaters that do not have an exhaust vent have been sold for decades, but we strongly discourage their use for health and safety reasons. Known as “vent-free” gas heating appliances by manufacturers, they include wall-mounted and free-standing heaters as well as open-flame gas fireplaces with ceramic logs that are not actually connected to a chimney. Manufacturers claim that because the products’ combustion efficiency is very high, they are safe for building occupants. However, this claim is only valid if you keep a nearby window open for adequate fresh air— which defeats the purpose of supplemental heat. Dangers include exposure to combustion by-products, as discussed in Ventilation, and oxygen depletion (these heaters must be equipped with oxygen depletion sensors). Because of these hazards, at least five states (California, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Montana, and Alaska) prohibit their use in homes, and many cities in the United States and Canada have banned them as well.

Electric Space Heaters

Portable (plug-in) electric heaters are inexpensive to buy, but costly to use. These resistive heaters include “oil-filled” and “quartz-infrared” heaters. They convert electric current from the wall socket directly into heat, like a toaster or clothes iron. As explained further under “Selecting a New System,” it takes a lot of electricity to deliver the same amount of useful heat that natural gas or oil can provide onsite. A 1,500- watt plug-in heater will use almost the entire capacity of a 15-amp branch circuit; thus, adding much additional load will trip the circuit breaker or blow the fuse. The cost to operate a 1,500-watt unit for an hour is simple to compute: it is 1.5 times your electricity cost in cents per kilowatt-hour. At national average rates—12¢ kWh for electricity— that heater would cost 18¢ per hour to run—and quickly cost more than its purchase price. On the other hand, for intermittent use, it is the “least-bad” solution when alternatives would require major investments to improve ductwork for a specific area, for example. Just remember, electric resistance heat is usually the most expensive form of heat, and it is, therefore, seldom recommended.

“Electric baseboard heat” is yet another kind of resistive heating, similar to a plug-in space heater except that it is hard-wired. It has two principal virtues: the installation cost is low, and it is easy to install individual room thermostats so you can turn down the heat in rooms that aren’t being used. Operating costs, as for all resistive systems, are generally very high, unless the house is “super-insulated.”

Wood-Burning and Pellet Stoves

Wood heating can make a great deal of sense in rural areas if you enjoy stacking wood and stoking the stove or furnace. Wood prices are generally lower than gas, oil, or electricity. If you cut your own wood, the savings can be large. Pollutants from wood burning have been a problem in some parts of the country, causing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement regulations that govern pollution emissions from wood stoves. As a result, new models are quite clean-burning. Pellet stoves offer a number of advantages over wood stoves. They are less polluting than wood stoves and offer users greater convenience, temperature control, and indoor air quality.

Fireplaces

Gas (and most wood) fireplaces are basically part of a room’s décor, providing a warm glow (and a way to dispose of secret documents), but typically not an effective heat source. With customary installations that rely on air drawn from the room into the fireplace for combustion and dilution, the fireplace will generally lose more heat than it provides, because so much warm air is drawn through the unit and must be replaced by cold outside air. On the other hand, if the fireplace is provided with a tight-sealing glass door, a source of outside air, and a good chimney damper, it can provide useful heat.

State of the Art Heating

Radiant floor heat generally refers to systems that circulate warm water in tubes under the floor. This warms the floor, which in turn warms people using the room. It is highly controllable, considered efficient by its advocates, and is expensive to install. It also requires a very experienced system designer and installer, and limits carpet choices and other floor finishes: you don’t want to “blanket” your heat source.

Contact the Radiant Panel Association(link is external)

Ductless, Mini-Split, Multi-Split. Residential ductwork is relatively rare outside North America. “Ductless” heat pumps, which distribute energy through refrigerant lines instead of water or air, are widely used. Large field trials in the Pacific Northwest suggest that they can have good cold weather performance, and be very cost-effective where replacing electric resistance heating. Like ground-source systems, relative immaturity of the market helps assure that whole-house multi-split systems carry premium prices.

Combined heat and power (CHP) or cogeneration for houses is being seriously studied in some countries. The basic premise is to use a small generator to meet some of the electric demand of the house, and recover the waste heat (typically more than 70% of the heating value of the fuel) to heat the house (hydronic or water-to-air systems) and make domestic hot water. These systems are not yet widely available. They are likely to have the best economics in houses with high heating bills because the house cannot be feasibly insulated, such as solid stone or brick homes.

https://smarterhouse.org/heating-systems/types-heating-systems

How To Avoid High Heating Repair Expenses

There are a few ways to maintain your furnace system. Odds are, during wintertime months your furnace runs all day trying to keep the home warm. In fact, it is probably on more than it needs to be because it is unable to maintain an efficient atmosphere. When troubleshooting and optimizing the heating portion of your furnace system, there are several things to consider.

Change The Air Filter

This is the part you typically hear people speaking about most often, but so few individuals take the recommendation and do anything about it. When there is a blockage, you either run the risk of not distributing heat appropriately or possibly igniting a fire.When the air filter gets dirty air will not flow through as well which suggests the furnace must work overtime and could also mean a likelihood of fire. If the system is not circulating heat properly, it will be working overtime. The fire issue is obviously self-explanatory. In each case it is not suitable for peace of mind or your budget.

Assess The Blower

Have a look at the blower blades to make sure they are free of crap. Should there be any build-up of dirt and dust, your fan will work overtime to blow the air around, and the heating will be overexerting itself. This means the system is overworking and costing more money to run.

Check To See That The Fire Damper Works

Next, look at the fire damper to make sure it is running properly. The fire damper explains itself so pay attention to this aspect.

Look For Holes In The Flex Duct

It is feasible that your ducts have become damaged throughout the years for different reasons. If a duct has collapsed or become blocked, your system will think that the right temperature has been achieved, which will not be true. Ultimately your equipment will be working harder to keep your home cool while you continue lowering the thermostat to get to comfortable settings.

Band Insulation

Insulation is usually missed but is perhaps the most regular reasons why an furnace system fails. Take the time to look at the insulation in between the duct work and the outside to make sure it has not worked itself loose. When this has happened furnace works more than wanted while trying to reach the best temperature.

Air Ducts Need To Be Sealed

See that the ductwork has not become separated from the next section. Disconnected ductwork will permit hot air to escape and of course add to the running costs.

Check For Leaks In The Return Air Inlets And Zone Dampers

Be certain to check that return air intakes are clean and in good shape or your system will be out of kilter. Examine the zone dampers to see if they are in the correct place. Through the year we could change the positioning of the damper for many reasons (i.e. getting into a tight space or arranging for storage). Check to see that the dampers are actually in the right position too.

If that is a little too much to handle by yourself, we propose you hire a local plumbing business certified for furnace and heating repair. You should manage to find a reputable heating company who can take care of this for you. For optimum results you could arrange annual upkeep for furnace and the heating people will call every year to take care of it.

https://www.google.com/maps?cid=16109373416364653742 https://vancouver-plumber.business.site/

https://www.pioneerplumbing.com/

Pioneer Plumbing & Heating Inc

626 Kingsway, Vancouver BC, V5T 3K4 Phone: (604) 872-4946

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