#the residencies ok i dont have an option here

[faggotcitosis]

trying to avoid suffering by anticipation in regards to the usa internship & residency application

states i applied for internships in (2 years)

tn

nc

ks

ny

or

fl

out of these, the only ones in a consistently blue state is ny right? idk much about politics in other states

for residency, i applied to only two: ny and nc. i really want the ny one, but the nc would also be awesome

if i get in the residencies im going for sure bc its my Dream Career, no questions asked, but if i get in the internships if its not in ny idk if im gonna go or if i should go....

[crushedsweets]

Can you draw or talk more about Toby and Eyeless Jack or even the X-Virus?

YESSSS i can. heres a lil doodle to get me started.

OKKKK the little concept in my head has slender's MAIN GOAL being to prevent any paranormal/supernatural stuff coming out to the general public. hence his proxies being made to get rid of tapes, evidence, and kill if Necessary. sometimes slender makes paranormal/supernatural ppl help out his human proxies "as payment for refuge" in his forest. SO that sorta explains how toby and jack know each other and why jack helps at all. he can't rlly go out to the public so he's stuck with these assholes. it's not really supposed to be a 'mansion' trope, moreso random cabins and shelters littered about the forest, but it could work in the mansion au too

Imma ramble abt toby n jacks friendship (in my head) under the cut + a random x virus doodle

as for toby and jack specifically. toby is impulsive, aggressive, can't feel pain, and doesn't know what's good for him, so he's forced to get help from jack a good bit. for a long while there was hella tension between them since, again, jack isn't helping these guys out of the goodness of his heart. he's helping them bc the forest their boss resides in is the only place he's relatively safe. jack has a weird mix of a inferiority and superiority complex, since he envies toby's humanity but also feels like he's 'better' due to toby's own . . violent habits. toby thinks jack is pretty cool from the get-go ('wooow ur grey..') but he gets pissed off with jack's questions and demands of 'DONT RIP UR FUCKING STITCHES' and 'u have a concussion don't fucking scroll on your phone for 5 hours a day'.

toby has no idea if these demands come from actual concern or annoyance, and frankly, neither does jack. regardless, toby's with jack a decent bit. partially since jack makes a lot of people really uncomfortable so it's easy to go hang out with jack when he doesnt wanna deal with anyone else but still wants company. eventually theyre capable of some decent banter and conversations. theyre both mamas boys so thats a very weird touchy topic that they kinda dance around but both feel very deeply and know the other relates. THEY MISS THEIR MOMS SO BADLY.. :( mayhaps one year toby helps drop off flowers to jack's moms house for mothers day. jacks way too ashamed to even get within a 10 mile radius of his mom. that's kinda the moment things really shift between them and they actually become friends.

toby also asks abt university. lyra was at community college until she passed, and toby never considered college as an option, so he gets curious on what he missed out on. he also likes to share stuff abt lyra and their old shenanigans. tim and brian have used his childhood against him multiple times before, and it's not like he's gonna trust ben or jeff with that information. jacks sort of like a void he could talk into. jack feels uneasy talking about his life before the sacrifice, since he misses it so unbelievably bad, but toby accidentally got him to talk about it while treating a burn before.

ok and to top this fucking essay off heres xvirus. i had no idea he existed until this year and someone sent me an ask about his updated design, so he's some scribbles for him :9 his concepts super cool tho so maybe ill get more into him later on

[growling]

Ok one more thing about Hundred Line is apparently they are currently hosting a user survey (the links is in the official website) So after the questionare…please tell them to make the characters normal teenagers.

The first question is "please indicate your area of residence" with a bunch of continents listed and I picked Europe and they thanked me for the cooperation and told me to close the browser the poll ended I just thought it was funny. None of them Europeans allowed we've heard enough of you's

So I thought "huh whats up with that" and tested the other options. Asia is fine. North America is fine. Literally anything else listed? The survey just tells you to fuck off. Which like, kinda hilarious. I mean the largest fanbases/people who Buy That Stuff for Danganronpa/THL are in Asia (mostly Japan) and North America (mostly USA) so it makes sense they aren't interested in anything the other ones have to say. But damn. That is cold sjdhfgdajwksdfdskldj. A bunch of people in the twt post comments are pointing this out they're so mad lmaooooo

Ok so I'm going undercover as a north american dude named uhhhh John Freedom. Ok so first question. Gender question ok this is easy I'm getting such a good grade on this. Second question. Age question also a classic. Third question is how you found out about this survey uhhh from the tweeter post yesterday. Ok fourth question. Occupation?? damn shit they gotta know I'm unemployed now. Fifth question devices that you can use freely (to Buy Their Games). Ok I said none I'm actually writing this reply from my family heirloom world war II era calculator connected to wifi. Sixth question. "average amount of money you can spend in a month" ohhhh you rapscallion, I know what you're doing buddy haha you're so silly. Seventh question. Some game events that you have watched recently. I watched none I got no idea what they're talking about. Eighth question select all game streamers slash youtubers you have watched. They're all japanese I think so I don't recognize any of these uhh none. Ninth question select all following games you know of. As in played or just know of. Well now that you mention them existing I know all these this is so easy. Why is among us here. Tenth question oh now this is one for all the games you played haha I see. Eleventh question thoughts on danganronpa v3 uh oh. uh oh. uh oh. I'm gonna pick the "not satisfied with the pricing cus too high" so they take my helpful advice and make that shit cheaper. Ok twelvth question. "why didn't you play rain code but played danganronpa" im sorry i am so sorry im sorry im fucking sorry im sorry okay leave me alone im sorry.

Sigh thirteenth question. Line break cause now they're actually asking about hundred line... "what do you think of it" ohohohoho. what i dont think of it. im just picking options i dont have the energy to submit an essay i just know theyll skim over and disregard. lmaoo one of the options is "i can feel the essence of danganronpa". Oh wait they don't have an essay option that is great. Fourteenth question is what kind of bonuses would you like to receive when you purchase the game. hahaha i do not care. Next fifteenth quesion if tookyo released another game what elements would you look for in it or something. oh they have essay option enabled im gonna say something deeply fucked up and evil but straight from the heart. Sixteenth question. if tookyo releases a game what device would you play it on. None. Next question. Seventeenth question. Final question comments and requests for THL... damn this is hard. Ok I said something profound. Survey ended

I feel empty

[solardick]

She strides beside him. Happy and care free. A full youthful smile. Laughter on the tip of her nose. Luv,

I am not a fun man. I fear ill on’y let you down. Turn it all upside down. I do not know how to be this way. And you deserve to be kept up.

When eyes cross as they always do singled out in a crowded room. I keep to myself, luv. The devil’s card is the one drawn. Chained to a single purpose of being. That we seem to share. Its automatic. When we cross. But distance is what i know. How else to be. The weight of rising trust shouldn’t be beared as your responsibility. Neither is it on anyone else. Liv, i fear ive lived out here too long.

And apparently im a homophobic asshole who deserves to be raped by cum guzzling femme bots. I may be a bit of a sexist now. But i domt see how thats a bad thing.

Wonder how my austrailian whore is doing. If she cleaned up her act or is still being a dumbass. Thabks for showing me you listened in the end. Its a rare thing to come by. Hope my bs made a difference. Your saturn return cost me quite a bit luv.

And now my pluto in aqua is gonna be chnaging the lives of alot of people. If im not being delusional.

But fuck astrology. Thats a womans game.

Though my Гг card next yo my Ии card is a little disconcerting. Considering when it was put together. Not the same dragon. But, in the mind. Thats a different story. But the work schedule now isnt too supportive of my « work ». Used to be after the job hours. But thats not an option anymore. And the sleeping pills im dependant on dont allow me to do

Anything after 7. And being able to gwt uo

In the morning.

So good bye card gane. All i got nownis television.

Hey s’ept. And It on’y took 40 hours. It was a broken sleep and i awoke a few times. Ut mando kwpt me company. Just hate that starwars is an anti-communism ww2 perady. Still dragging it out. Its not like america list 27 million people during the war. And has zero compassion. For all those deaths. They got a paper cut by comparison. Not a mutilation.

A war agaisnt misinformation, uh? Thats laughable. Marijuana is the hateway drug. By the way merry christmas, happy halloween and …. Easter. Habe some sugar sweetees. -Guess theres no prefix for easter. Its just easter. But lets celebrates jesus’ rebirth by eating the shit that comes out of a rabbits ass.- And cigs and alchohil at every station thats is next to manditory to visit every day just to get to work. Freedom For all! Marijuana is the gateway drug. Ok ok we give up lets legalize it. I can go on at length. But. I wont.

Ah but, i want. I hear more about the nuvlwar power plant accident at Chernobyl than i do about the americans firing nucklear missiles on Hiroshima…. Something to think about. Stupid incompedant russians. You got to be more careful.

Astological’y speaking. The war in ukraine or agaisnt russsia which ever side you choose. Is the end of the pluto nuptune aspect that has been dumbing an entire generation -with queer brainwashing bs-. Ehich ends officially on 2034 and putin retires on 2036. Wonder if there will be released the cure for radiation poisoning…which will

Make all nuclear weapons threats obsolete. Like theres not worse biological weapons threats far worse than isolated radiation poisoning. And the cure for that would reside in « nano tech ». Younlnow since genome reconstitution is « illégal ». But than so will the ability to fight agaisnt « brain washing » become obsolete. Becaus eit will become internal and not external.

Too bad im not going to live to see it. With whatever they did to my nervous system that prevents me from falling asleep at a reasonable hour. Guess im no longer artistic.

Wsit to thenpills kick in go to work and be aggravated by the foreigners. Instead of having any shape or form of a social life. Thats ok. I have tv to ontimatly listen to instead of peaple. Except that i font care ehat you say anymore. Fuck off. Tell me your problems and ill pretend like i give a shit.

Rhink im resigning from the health and security commity because i dont care. Youve killed any positive lunar development. I dont fucken f’csre anymore.

And god no longer talks to me.

Some foreigner starts plutoing me. I siad fuck off. And left. Im gonna fucking quit soon.

Yay, im degrading. Good eveninh tv. Hiw are you? Oh yeah. Yii dont talk back. My bad.

Good thing im not attracted to her uh. Like im going to waste anyamount of time trying to speak to somebody that doesnt speak english.

Hey, iulgh banah that ova theyr. What? Barngh there. What?! Fuck off give me the paper. This is what you want. Theres ten mins till break its goona take me over half an hour. No. Ill get it later.

This is the giy you fucks put me with. Jesus fucken rape a donkey. Hood job parkign everything in the niddlemog the fllor like no one else fucken works here. Sanré securité. Fuck off i wuit.

Great. I dont remember if i took a pill or not. Yay!

Guess we’ll find out when im still awake a t 3 am.

Thanks for robbing menof the one thing i had that i actually liked about life. So grateful.

So whos whats to come work with me. Since i have zero sleep and have to operate a forklift.

Lets google the news and read soemthign thatnisnt a total fucken lie. Hahahha

I bought bananas that never browned. Ive boughten apples that never browned i bought berries that my pet fruitflies or gnats or whatever the fuck they born out of nothing. And didnt go anywhere near them. Even after a week of rotting. nfeel so safe.

Whats the point of caring anout tourself. Nonone else does.

The world has gone to shot and eveyone is too busy sucking each other off to give a fuck.

Went to the pot shop a good while back and saw this woman walking uo yo the line and her internal god was acreamign at her not to. And she did anyway agaisnt her own better judgement. Thats what out country encourages.

Thank god health care is free cause thr only help uou honna get is a pill which the governement collects on anyway.

Instea dof trying to silience me by torttuing me into suicide how about ya actually make some fucken changes that actually fucken benefits people instead all these fucken lies and stupid bs that only fools retards.

Now i got to go to work and put everyones lives in danger. But thats ok cuase theyr all foreigners anyway. They all still need to be conditioned into cock sucking siddies anyway. So theres no loss.

No doeant look like i can worj. Today. There goes 300$

Too bad theres no girl to keep focused in positives. Try that for 26 years. Still as of yet to have a cinversation with ine. Well in confidence at any rate.

Found one but she was too busy being an evil ho. Cant blame her though she did live northern austrailia.

Yay its over. Fuck i hate life. The other guy doesnt like me no more. Since i told him to « Get the fuck away from me!” Yesterday. Deserved. Fuck man.

Munble mumble slur slur. “What?” Mumble mumble slur slur. What. I dotn havr time for this. “No get out of the way. Move it. What do you want. …… help you. Finaly. Something vomprehensable. No i dont need your help. Laughs. No go do something else. …. I dont need you. Im going to get mad. “What” leave. Im getting mad. Im… “Get the fuck away from me!!” Oh you understood that, uh.

But now that my sex is broken. Ill be alone forever. Not even going to try and befriend. Alone and sick for the rest if my life. But thats ok. I dint know anythign else.

Start smoking pot again. Somi can get in mind to work on my cards. Simce im noy allowed to be awake during the prime time of evening and night to be able to anymore.

Welcome to canada where your not allowed not to do drugs.

Welcome to canada where slim ciggarettes are illegal because they conatin less tobacco and less nicotine. But cigars are ok.

Welcome to canda where you have the right to be alive. But thr governement doesnt give a shit about you.

Welsome to canada where a wuick suicide is illegal but, you have every given advantage to kill yourself slowly.

Welcome to canada where a ten minute drive gives you an illegal 90% discount on all coggarrets. With no search blockade leading out of “reservations”.

Welcome to canada where all magestic males get hunted for sport.

Welcome to canada where your not allowed to defend yourself because its a threat to american pride.

Welcome to canada where you have not say or choice in what kind of government youd prefer to live by. Conservatism or liberalism. Not either or. Unlike austrailia or america. Dont like a political value? Too bad suffer.

Welcome to canada where it preached about marijuana bring a gateway drug but did nothing to prevent it being ordered from a magazine and then puts dispesaries in every city.

Welcome to canada where degeneracy is encouraged. Welcome to canada where you can buy alchohol and fule up your car at the same time.

Lloks like i got drugged again on my days off. So i can be a brain dead zombie and do nothing but sleep into a state of sickness. Therw goes anything thats requires energy. Like reading something or gaming or anything.

Watch out. I might have actually drawn something. Or meditated. Or picked yp the trash laying everywhere. Cant rven speand time by myself minding my own fucken bussines.

Going on 40 statrwight fucken years of being fucked eith by other people. Yay.

Well im not allowee taking care of myself but atleast im allowed at harmong myself. Rmthats all everyone else has ever done maight as well join the club.

Welcome to canada that encourges this kind of behavior instead of a civil social life or an active live life. Have some more drugs instead. I dont even drive because its too limiting and frustrating. But oh well. Cant not be aggravated. But outside forces intentionally going out of the way to do it. Ill pribably just get harrased by the cops again if i do or get my vehical sabotage as another outlet to harm me. Same reason i font have any pers. Theyll probably just get murdered like my brother used to do.

These aew the same pills i have been being dosed with for the last few years at least. Same feeling behind the eyes. Controling when i was well rested and when i wasnt.

Well we’ll see who this girl im scripted to meet soon is. And after that im stepping down drom the position. Thats two bodies in the commity now saying something wrong. Mentioning thr meds im on. Asking me how a gum ball machine works get bent tapist cocksuckers.

I give up trying to have a life, ok? Just keep fucken with me. Its all life is goid for anyway. Judt keep fucken with me. Battering me. Drugging me. Lying to me. And wraaping me up in this bubble of bs. Where im isolated and alone. I was birn to be rapped into nothing. Always was always will be. 40 fucken tears. Go get a bunch of guys to gang fuck me every day until i die.

All there is is evil in the world. Nothing else. So many fucken people are corrupted by this bs. They all think its right. But fuck them. Gods never spoken to them before. What the fuck do they know. They promote and fight for evil bs. Ive proved it. Its not up to me to listen. Its all i do.

Come give me another massive dose of ass stimulating drugs and i can go full limp dick queer. Then i can get gonareah, aids and heroies and shit. And more fears to sex than i already have.

Fuck my father he used to laugh at his kids, and treated me like a battered woman. And fuck my mother she used to beat on me and overparent. I just eant people to

Leave me the fuck alone. Thats all ove ever fucken wanted.

Bow iexcuse me i have to sleep all day and then take a pill so

I

Can sleep all night. Nothing else for me to do. And then go to

Work and be a good little boy and play the fool.

I want to see the world burn for its crimes agaisnt himanity. Or god. The real one. Not that biblical brainwashign bs. And the neo new age jesus. The king of queers because its possible now with modern technology. Guess what happens if civilization falls. They all die by desease. Slow painful desease. And theyll be singing we are the champions as they do.

Its date night. Gets some junk food. See a girl with a big lasting smile for me. And watch daredevil.

[butch-bakugo]

Anyway here's your reminder that people on this website are ok just straight up fucking lieing to you half the time and the only chucklefucks who still bring up kamala's stance on Palestine, despite her saying MULTIPLE TIMES over the last few months AND DURING THE DEBATE her intention is an immediate ceasefire and two state solution with a stop on sending more weapons to isnotreal, are just trying to basically make you feel bad for doing what most oppressed people have had to in this country for the last hundred years: the best option over all even if it isnt perfect.

This weirdo's main point is " why hasn't she done anything to stop the genocide already >:(" cause shes the VICE PRESIDENT, DUMBASS, they don't fuckin make laws, they don't make decisions, she has litterally no control or power over genocide joe. Even if she was nudging that corpse awake and point out what she already had on the campaign trail, Biden in particular has a fondness for Isnotreal that Kamala could more than likely never shake. She has no real political power unless someone pulled what they supposedly did on Trump and didnt miss. For fucks sake, please understand the powers of a specific political position before you start spouting off about what they are or arnt doing.

The only point of posts like this are to sow disaffection with the best, most qualified and most competent person the democratic party has had in 2 decades. Do you not think this is on purpose on such a politically polarized site like Tumblr. Tumblr, the home of " if you do not 100% align with everything I've ever believed, you must be a raging Nazi bigot the likes the world has never seen because you don't believe in he/him lesbians. The only way to atone for your horrendous actions is to to kill yourself." Type takes. Russian bots, psyops and people with hidden views are horrific rn. They will spout all the wrong things in PC language just right so you think they are one of us. They are not one of us. They are not your friend. They were the origin of the horrifically stupid take that was popular for so long of "protesting voting". I can not believe so fucking many of you fell for it and STILL FUCKING ARE. WHY ARE YOU WILLINGLY GIVING UP ONE OF YOUR RIGHTS TO INCREASE YOUR OTHER RIGHTS OVER A SINGLE ISSUE THAT WILL ONLY BE MADE WORSE BY YOUR STUBBORN REFUSAL. Voting isn't a fucking testament to your "stubbornness to stop a genocide and protest what's been allowed to fester 😒". It doesn't make you a more moral person cause you didn't vote for one singular reason. In fact, if the history of "online activists" is to be believed with how little y'all actually volunteer or vote in your local elections or donate or do fuck all but reblog reblog reblog, y'all probably wouldn't of voted anyway cause you're fuckin lazy.

Idk how to tell you there's really only 4 options in the upcoming election and only one actually reduces harm for us here in the states and the Palestinians.

Option 1: Vote for trump. Your a shitty racist cause trump wants to " finish the job" aka complete the genocide. He also will enact project 2025 and sucks Putin's dick. He will happily kill you. You are a fucking idiot.

Option 2: Vote for Kamala. She wants to stop it and is the most progressive person we've had on the ticket and potentially could be the first female, biracial black president in us history. There is litterally no reason not to. She's stated at least 8 times on the trail she wants a fucking ceasefire.

Option 3: Vote third party. Dosent really matter the reason, wether trump is a little too extreme or not extreme enough for you or your stupid and dont realize 0 pple outside of your state know who your resident popular independent is. Jill stein should die. Wether trump or Kamala are too moderate or extreme for you, in our current climate, it's basically the same as throwing your vote away cause there's 0 chance in hell they will win. One vote less for Kamala might as well be a vote for trump or lack of vote. This does nothing for Palestine.

Option 4: Don't vote. Throw away your own voice to scream it on social media where it won't make any material difference. Sure you can scream about Palestine but you intentionally did not do one small free thing you could do to materially help them, like voting for a candidate that vocally wants a ceasefire.

The literally only option that helps Palestine in any major way is option 2. Dose she "both sides" the issue? Yes, abit. But grow a fucking brain and actually listen to her. She litterally, word for word, stated that the children of Palestine are being mistreated and killed in unprecedented numbers and a ceasefire and two state solution is the only way forward. That's what she fucking said. Imma be a realist again and some people will be mad but as much as I'd love for all of Palestine to be restored, Isnotreal to be completely dissolved and force Israelis to step out of their little white bubble and realize you can't just force your way onto a land without consequences, its not gonna happen. What will most likely happen, best case scenario, Palestinians will get part of their land back and be forced to reforge their own nation from the ground up mostly alone without much help. Which fucking sucks but it's better than ethnic cleansing and hotels built on mass graves.

Please disregard any of the nasty shit you " suddenly" learn about Kamala until the end of the election. Russian bots are also literally making up ai images and fake journalism websites claiming Kamala hit and ran a 13 yr old in 2011 and paralyzed her with a news title that did not exist on a website made only 3 days prior to posting only that story. We know it's fake because if it was real, all the conservacucks wouldn't of just discovered it now, they would of brought it up when she was running with biden. The local cops had to discredit the story as it was completely and utterly false with the picture of the car being from a bad crash in Ghana, the video of the " victim" being a victim of DV in fucking North Carolina and supposed x rays of her body being from medical journals talking about chest decompressions from car accidents and hip injuries having different symptoms between adult care and pediatrics. They are claiming Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, a place very close to my own fuckin home town, are eating cats and dogs... trump said it during the fucking debate... the Springfield police department and city manager had to come out and say it's not happening and they have zero reports. It's believed the lie got started when russian bots dug up the body cam footage and story of a white american born woman with severe mental issues in Springfield ate a cat on the street in 2013-2015... It's getting insane y'all, please be EXTRA FUCKING THROUGH with your sources and be suspicious of anyone still trying to split the party this close to the election.

Do not allow it and call out these moral purity dumbasses who straight up lie about candidates takes to make you feel bad over a singular issue. Kamala stands with Palestine, they are either intentionally lieing to you or that fucking stupid and didn't see the fucking debate they are claiming to paraphrase. I did. This is just stupidity. Please be more fucking critical than this.

[carp3vinum]

I dont want to be in pain anymore

It doesnt get better does it

I have been sober for less than a fucking month, not that I did any serious shit, but I'm turning 19 in 6 days, so I can legally buy alchohol and weed, fuck. I am going to be an adult in 6 days and it feels like the cut off, I am not ready, I want to have a childhood, I fear growing older more than I do death. I know I won't be able to handle it. I have no life, friends or prospects. My death will do more good than harm, as at least my carbon footprint will be gone, I'll be buying the world precious milliseconds of life lmao. I don't want to grow old, ever, I wish I could go back in time and fix it all. I hope there is an afterlife, I dont want to be nothing, I want to exist, just not here. Even if I go to hell, I would rather that than becoming nothingness, cause after the rapture or some shit don't the residents of hell leave. One sec, gotta search this up, nvm, I'd fight like hell on behalf of the antichrist tho, lmao I'm not even christian. I have 1 friend, and I hope she will be ok if I die, never met her tho, so I doupt it will really mean much. I would give all my money to her and then kms, idk I'm rambling but fuck this isn't worth it none of it is, this life is too short to do anything meaningful with, I hate this world and everything about it. I hate that there are better options, better worlds, but we are stuck here. Why? If you put enough humans together they manage to rob themselves of free will which I think is hilarious considering we require community and cooperation to survive, its literally ingrained in us, a lack of human connection leads to a fucked up mental state. I wish I was a panda, they can survive a long ass time without ever having to encounter another of their species, unless its to mate. And why are there 3 theirs, as in there, their and they're. Fuck, I hate it, so very much lmao. And the constant pain, no matter what, in various parts of the body, it always hurts. I hate feeling shackled to my genetics. I hate my gender but am too chickenshit to transition, I will be stuck like this untill I die, which won't be long now lmaooo. I will be a statistic, a note in the ode of this universes only law, I have striven, in futility for objectivity, and soon I will find it, be an atom in the monument to the only objective truth their is. And fuck you, ima be dead soon so let me play the part of the edgy suicidal poet lmao. My nails arent chipped anymore. I am in pain. In 6 days, tequila, weed, and a thick woven hemp scarf. Lmao, idk if they actually make it in hemp, prolly plastic. I have seen more dead bodies than I shouldve, through a screen tho, haha, that sounded darker then I intended.

I am so done.

[hulijingemperor2]

The Soiree is still going on~~~

Zixuan and Yanli just has a large family lol.

Announcer: entering Miss Luo!!

Luo Qingyang, aka Mianmian is now rich and married with one daughter.

As she's Zixuan's friend, he gifted her a silk company ~ that she named Luo Silks. Her husband however owns a vegetable stall. But technically Mianmian is the one taking care of her husband. Well we already know that she believes in being an independent woman, who can and will stab a sexist idiot with her sword.

Yao: Miss Luo is here.

Zixuan: Mianmian!!

Yanli: it has been so long.

Wuxian: is she going to make back up with Lan zhan.

*cries*

Lan zhan called his other woman.

Lan zhan: *confused*

Jiang cheng: first of all you're a man. Second, she's married, and you're married to Hanguang Jun, you a*hole.

Lan zhan: mn, love Wei ying.

Mianmian: Huangdi!

Zixuan: how are you, Mianmian? I missed you.

Mianmian: I'm good for now. Congrats bro!

And congrats sister-in-law!

Yanli: thanks Mianmian. *hugs*

Mianmian: how are you feeling?

Yanli: fine.

And I'm happy that my family and friends came to visit.

Mianmian: aww. *cups face* and look how you're glowing. Congratulations, meimei!

Yanli: thank you!

Mianmian. Can your daughter and my child become sworn siblings?

We did the same with A-ling.

Mianmian: of course! You don't need to ask.

Yanli: that means a lot to me.

Mianmian: I can't wait to see Huangdi as a nervous wreck again.

Remember when A-ling was a baby.

Yanli: hahaha.

When A-ling cried in his arm for the first time, he was like, how do you turn this off?

Mianmian: what a mess!

Zixuan: hey! That's embarrassing.

Yanli: this is what we must talk about in the Soiree, Zixuan. Heehee.

Mianmian: lol.

Yanli: when he cried again, he let him play with the little tassels on his sword.

Zixuan: I didn't have any other option. And at least it worked.

Worked a little too much, because the kid uses my sword a lot.

Mianmian: Huangdi you spoilt him.

Oh Yanli, do you remember when A-ling was hungry, and Xuan was like, A-li A-li, help! How am I supposed to make milk when I dont have breasts!

Yanli: oh gosh.

Yao: *laughing in the corner* I think I'll pray for Zish.

Mo xuanyu: who's gonna blame him. He was a first time parent.

Mianmian: yas. A first time wreck.

Zixuan: stop. Lol.

Meanwhile with Huaisang......

Huaisang: *serving him some more tea*

Jiang xiong!! Love.

Jiang cheng: you're working here?!!

Huaisang: *dramatically* yes!! And working for Zixuan isn't a piece of cake.

Jiang cheng: I know. He's a diva.

Huaisang: maybe if someone carries me to lotus pier with them. I can be saved from this torture!

Jiang cheng: Huaisang, you're just an attendant. Nothing is stressful about that.

Huaisang: can we be engaged again, Wanyin?

Zixuan: how dare you flirt with my guest!!

Huaisang: *runs away*

Wuxian: Huaisang is into you lol. And want to get into you as well.

Jiang cheng: shut up.

On the other hand, Rusong and Jinling were immediately swarmed by young ladies when they were in the city.

Aww hulijing Dianxia!!

Rusong Dianxia is soo cute!

Did you see his baby face and dimples!!

Ling Dianxia is so adorable as well. But I'm afraid of his uncle.

Aw Ling Dianxia.

Rusong Dianxia, can you take me back to Jingjing. I'll he a dubious wife.

Rusong: *smile* sorry. I'm still dedicated to my work.

But you're too kind.

Jinling: leave my cousin and I alone guys!

But you both are super hot.

Rusong: thank you.

Jinling: A-Song, let's run back home!

Rusong: yea.

Jinling: you're a complete chick magnet.

Rusong: *punches playfully* you're the chick magnet.

Jinling: are dimples a curse.

Rusong: no. But a weapon. Hehehe.

Ok maybe sometimes.

Jinling: and the jianghu is already submerged in Xiao shushu's dimples.

Rusong: lol yes, exactly.

~~~

Next day!

Well, everyone went back to their residences, as it's the next day.

Yao: lipsy.

Xichen: yes my A-Yao. *cups face*

Yao: *hugs* Am I the cutest and richest hulijing?

Xichen: of course you are, A-Yao.

Yao: do you care about me?

Xichen: more than life.

*squishes his dimples*

want do you want?

Yao: I want some new robes, and diamonds. As well as some black gloves, for the fox aesthetic.

Xichen: *kisses* of course, my love! You'll get that.

Yao: thank you!

Huanhuan, I didn't know that Lans had a reset button.

Xichen: who told you about that??

Uh.....

Of course not, A-Yao.

Yao: *kisses* don't think about that.

Xichen: *nosebleed*

A-Yao, where's team dimple?

Yao: they were bored so now they're torturing the new prisoner.

Xichen: ah, as team dimple must. Why do team dimple behave like vultures.

Yao: because I'm death to my enemies.

But....At least I'm cute.

Xichen: so powerful and cute of you.

Yao: right! *kisses*

Xichen: my adorable Huangdi.

Yao: my adorable Lan!

Xichen: mn.

Yao: I'm going to wait for Zixuan. He'll arrive shortly.

Xichen: anything important?

Yao: kind of. But you don't worry.

That new prisoner was staging a coup against my empire.

Xichen: oh my. So sad to hear that. But good that you got it under control.

And Zixuan is helping you.

Yao: as always.

Xichen: you're so smart.

Yao: *blushing*

Gonna wait for him in the conference hall.

Xichen: ok, go ahead then, Huangdi.

Yao: but your arms are still around my waist.

Xichen: oh *blush* now you can go ahead.

Meanwhile with team D.

In the dungeon 📍.

Zixun was chained and spent the night behind bars. Unruly fox spirits however scratched him all night with their claws.

Su she: good day.

Xue yang: slept well?

Mo xuanyu: you look very uncomfortable.

Zixun: where did you three idiots come from.

Mo xuanyu: *grinning*

Su she: did you miss us?

Xue yang: or do you miss being mauled by wild fox spirits?

Mo xunayu: look at you. All caged up.

Xue yang: someone with a bird brain should be in a cage, right?

Su she: good one yangyang.

Mo xuanyu: lol. Brilliant.

Mo xuanyu: ugh! something stinks in here!

Su she: maybe because he's sleeping in filth, yuyu.

Xue yang: ohh poor guy. Hehe.

Zixun: keep you sarcasm to yourself!

Mo xuanyu: maybe if you please Huangdi then he might get a better cell for you.

Su she: one with its own toilet.

Zixun: I won't reconcile with that bastard!!

Mo xuanyu: aiya. You shouldn't insult him in this condition!

Su she: would he ever learn.

Xue yang: never.

Mo xuanyu: Xuan and Yao gege will deal with you!!

Zixun: Zixuan knows about this?!! How?!

Xue yang: Jiggy maybe told him by now.

Su she: for some reason they're brothers who share everything. I'm not really sure.

Zixun: shit!! I'm fried!

Mo xuanyu: you already are.

Team d: *staring ominously at Zixun*

Zixun: *terrified* team dimple! Mark my words! I'll break out of here and kill you, your Dianxia and your huangdi!!!

Let me out!!

Su she: he has lost it.

Mo xuanyu: ew.

Xue yang: what a disaster.

Mo xuanyu: yangyang, I'm bored. Torture him some a little nah.

Su she: he looks a little too comfortable.

Xue yang: I got this guys, don't worry.

Xue yang: *takes off one of his shoe.* you miss sucking guangshans feet right. You can suck on mine if you want.

Zixun: eww!! You mad man, get your foot away from me!!

Mo xuanyu: *laughing*

Su she: when last did you clip your toe nails?

Xue yang: like. Last month-ish.

Su she: oh my goodness.

Zixun: I don't suck people's feet!

Mo xuanyu: dude you have a foot fetish and can't hide.

Xue yang: I like to call my toe jam salted caramel. Do you want to try?

Zixun: *screams*

Mo xuanyu: so guangshan is Ruohan's side chick, right?

Zixun: how did you guys know?!

Su she: Huangdi told us.

Xue yang: Ruoruo had the entire Jianghu simping for him like Jiggy.

Mo xuanyu: maybe this dirty Zixun sucked Ruohan's toes too.

Su she: eww. You're very very sick.

Xue yang: I didn't even do that, man. This guy is on another level.

Feng: *entering with some guards* team dimple.

Huangdi requests that we carry this criminal to him.

Su she: right, go ahead. It's Huangdi's orders after all.

But is Xuan Huangdi here?

Feng: on his way.

Mo xuanyu: that's good. My two geges won't spare you.

Xue yang: hope you have a nice meeting with them.

Su she: piece of thrash.

~~~~

Zixuan: Yaoyao. I'm here. I came as fast as I could.

Yao: have a seat.

Zixuan: certainly, A-Yao, now spill.

Yao: well someone tried to stage a coup, and they got some of my people held hostage, as well as executed.

They threatened to kill us and overthrow me.

Zixuan: what?!!! Who dares!!!

I want them flogged!!!

Yao: soon you'll see who's the culprit.

Zixuan: we're the most powerful persons in the Jianghu! Who dares to challenge you.

A chained Zixun enters with some guards.

Yao: I found him. *smile*

Zixuan; *furious* Zixun! That's where you went!!! Don't you have any shame!!

You tried to sabotage the hulijing Huangdi!!

Zixun: that hulijing shouldn't be Huangdi! And I'm tired of you two getting all the fame, glory and success. I come from a wealthy family! Why I must compete with that son of a wh*re!

Zixuan and Yao: *furious*

A guqin wave came out of nowhere and knocked him in his chest.

Zixun: *spits out blood*

Yao: Song'er.

Rusong: you should know who you're speaking to, Zixun!!!

Zixun: kid!

Rusong: Rusong Dianxia.

And you must have respect for Huangdi.

Zixun: let go of that thought, you privileged brat.

Rusong: *hits him with a guqin wave again* treason is an offense.

Yao: A-Song, don't go near him! I don't know if that animal will try to choke you.

Rusong: I got this A-Die.

Zixun: oooo, you don't want anything to happen to your dear Rusong. Watch how I would break out of these chains and kill him myself.

Rusong: try. I dare you.

I'm not afraid of a little troll like you!

Zixuan: face it. We three are very powerful. Now give up.

Team D: *entering*

Su she: *grabs Zixun by his collar.* how dare you misbehave in front of them! Especially when you're a prisoner!

Mo xuanyu: very bad.

Yao: kill him!

Xue yang: wait Jiggy. I want to send him mad, and control him with some resentful energy.

I'll teach him how to respect you!! In my xue yang way.

Yao: hmm. I like that suggestion. Alright then. Lock him up.

Feng: sure Huangdi.

Rusong: *makes guqin disappear*

Zixuan: good riddance.

Yao: I know right.

Zixuan: at least Huaisang is my attendant now.

Rusong: *hugs A-Yao* A-Die. Are you ok?

Yao: I'm used to it, Song'er. But this time *cups face* I wasn't hurt, because I was caught up on your confidence. It touches a parent's heart whenever their child stand up for them.

Rusong: as I must. I must protect your image. No one should insult you like that.

Yao: Song'er, everyday I see a little bit of young me in you.

Rusong: you told me that you have always tried to protect Nainai. So I consider it a duty to stand up for the ones you love.

Yao: awww.

*hugs* Song'er.

And where did you learn guqin combat?

Rusong: from you, A-Die.

Yao: heehee, I know. *kisses his forehead*

[trans-axolotl]

hey ive only recently learned that antipsychiatry is a thing and im trying to learn more about it. i came across your psych ward post and i totally see your point. and im trying to think about what could be done differently. for example a couple years ago my friend had drug induced psychosis and his friends brought him to a hospital where he then had to stay in the psych ward. especially in the beginning i could tell he hated it there. but at the same time he was having delusions. and unfortunately i just dont know what else couldve been done in that situation to help him. do you think theres a better way to deal with that kind of situation? or would it only be possible to deal with it differently in a totally different world? i hope its ok to ask u this question im just interested in ppls perspective who have personal experience w this

hey, anon! thanks for the ask.

I think it can be really difficult at first to imagine what alternatives to psych wards are when psych wards are all we've ever known. It can feel like the options are psych wards or no mental healthcare at all, which really sucks! But I firmly believe that there are other options, and in fact there are people creating those in the world right now. My answer might get a little long, but I'm going to try to organize my thoughts!

Replacing psych wards is definitely a big task, and is one that requires fundamentally reshaping the entire psychiatric system. Right now, so much of mental healthcare is really entwined with the restrictive, carceral, and oppressive systems of government. Whether it's the fact that most crisis hotlines call the police, that therapists have mandatory reporting laws around self-harm, or incredibly restrictive medication laws that make it difficult for people to actually get the meds they need, almost every area of professionalized mental health is connected to this fucked up structure. Lots of different parts of the mental health care system work together to perpetuate psychiatric incarceration, so it's not just psych wards that are the problem.

Another factor that feels important to me when talking about getting rid of psych wards is addressing some of the factors that push people into psych wards in the first place. There are always going to be mentally ill/mad/neurodivergent people and there are always going to be people in crisis, but I think that if our mental healthcare system wasn't so fucked, that maybe some people would be able to get help before things get to a crisis point for them. If medication was more accessible, if therapy wasn't super expensive, if there is more acceptance and education and resources and communities were better informed about how to support mentally ill people, then maybe not as many people would end up in some types of crisis. We can't talk about getting rid of psych wards without also talking about fighting against racism, colonialism, capitalism, transphobia--the things that are contributing to a lot of people's experiences of crisis.

In terms of actual physical replacements for psych wards, something that I think is really promising is peer respite houses. Basically, peer respite houses offer 24/7 crisis stabilization, staffed by people with lived experiences of mental health. They differ from psych wards in that they are not locked spaces, they are usually in a home-like environment, they are not focused on psychiatric diagnoses, and there's a large focus on trying to eliminate power imbalances between staff and residents. Here's a great link to read more about the mission and structure of peer respite. Here's a link to a mostly current directory of peer respite in the USA. I think peer respite is pretty awesome, and that's definitely something that's on my personal crisis plan for when I get to a crisis point where I cannot stay safe living on my own.

Realistically, psych wards don't really provide treatment, don't really work for many people, and are not really places that you go for healing. When you're at a psych ward, you aren't getting tailored therapy, you often only see a psychiatrist for fifteen minutes once or twice a week, and the stated goal really isn't on healing or treatment. It's on crisis stabilization to get you to a point where you are no longer at risk of harming yourself. And I think peer respite can do crisis stabilization so much more effectively, without locking up people, without giving them huge medical bills, without restraining people or drugging them without consent. There's a lot of peer respites that are connected to outpatient treatments and get people set up with therapy and medication if that's what they need.

I can't really speak to what would or wouldn't have worked for your friend, but I fundamentally believe that mentally ill/mad people deserve the right to our autonomy, and deserve our consent to be respected. It can and does get tricky in cases when people are harming themselves, delusional, or incoherent. However, as someone who has experienced all of those things, that is still not an excuse to just take away people's ability to consent and to lock people up. There are ways to support people who are refusing treatment, don't think there is a problem, or are unable to express their wishes. I could go on about that specific topic for a lot longer haha, but I'm just going to end with the fact that although it can seem like psych wards are the only option, there actually are a lot of people creating community resources as alternatives to psychiatry! We are working on building the different world that we want to see, and even though we are definitely not even close to there yet, there really are so many cool things that people are already doing to support each other.

[floating-in-limbo]

You're my sun, my moon, and all my stars.

Tw: self h*rm, depression, angst.

GN!Reader x Hawks angst

A vent fic I wrote because I needed to do something to cope healthily. I might write a short second ending, but idk. I didn't beta read this, but I'll polish it tomorrow and post it to my AO3 as well. Much love.

BNHA writing blog @hawksmodelofficial

The room was dark except for the faint light shining from your phone's screen. It was some what quiet due to the sound of your fan whirring, keeping your room cool. All this was part of your typical nightly routine and wouldn't be concerning except for the fact that you felt suffocated. Again.

You're sitting on your bed, the air blasting you giving you one of the only physical sensations you can feel in this state. Staring ahead into the black room, you sit and listen to all the horrid thoughts running through your head.

You feel numb and would give anything to feel something other than this suffocating emptiness. You tried your usual coping mechanisms: watching videos that usually make you laugh, listening to your comfort bands, distracting yourself with any sort of pastime.

None of it is working though. None of it has been working for a while now. This numbness, emptiness, hollow feeling consuming your body grows every day. Some days you can manage to push past it, jump over the hurdles and clear the finish line. Not today.

The last option you can think of before doing something harmful is to reach out to someone. You've been isolating yourself, but you desperately want their help at the same time.

Looking at the phone resting in your hands, you pull up Keigo's contact. It had been a couple days since the last time you two talked. He's the #2 pro hero, so he's constantly busy, but always tries to make time for you.

Y/n: are you awake

You sent the message and watched it deliver. You only ask because it's currently 3:26am and most people are asleep at this time. He responds a minute later.

Dodo Brain: what's up?

You're staring at his message. On one hand you're relieved Keigo's awake but on the other, you can already feel the guilt eating away at you for bothering him.

Y/n: i need help

Y/n: i hurt

You typed out the messages with shaky hands. Your chest tightens and you feel sick. You hate asking for help. Why should you make other people suffer because you can't help yourself?

Dodo Brain: are you ok, kid? what's wrong are you hurt???

Looking at the clock, it really hits just how tired he must be and how much you're intruding on his personal time. You decide to call off your cry for help before you make it any worse for him.

Y/n: ah yeah nvm dont worry about it sorry to wake you

You toss your phone onto your pillow. Once again, you're sabotaging yourself but you don't care anymore. Getting up from your bed, you head to the bathroom to get bandages, and tissues. While doing this, you fail to notice your text notifications going off.

Dodo Brain: kid what are you talkin about

Dodo Brain: why arent you answering

Dodo Brain: please answer me you're making me worried

Dodo Brain: im heading over now

Once you have your supplies to clean up, you head back into your room and sit back on your bed. You grabbed your hidden blade on the way and now just contemplate your actions.

Craving to feel something, anything, even if its pain and regret, you'll take it. You chose where you want to cut and begin, pulling a long line across your skin. You hiss at the immediate sting. Blood already begins to bead.

You continue to do this, almost in a daze yet you feel tears suddenly well from your eyes and fall. It hurts. Not just what you're doing, but what lead you to this point.

Unbeknownst to you, Keigo immediately flew to your residence. He grabbed the spare key you gave him and unlock the front door. Its eerily quite except for the faint sobs he can hear as he navigates the dark residence.

After you were satisfied with your work, you just sit there letting the blood drip down your skin. You'll have to do laundry but that's the least of your worries. You lean your head back against the wall and cry. Soft whispers of "I'm sorry..." leave your lips.

Keigo finds your room, using your quite cries and soft words to navigate. He flips on the lights and gasps at the scene in front of him. You jolt your head forward, eyes wide and you scramble to hide yourself. Unfortunately that only makes you wince in pain and open the wounds further.

"We need to get you cleaned up. Dont move okay? You already have bandages so let me do the work." Keigo's words dont really reach you but you sit there anyway.

He moves towards you with conviction but the energy around him is scared, nervous even. Sure he's seen your old scars before but never this. He grabs the bandages and antiseptic, applying them to all the wounds.

Every now and then you wince, and he immediately spills apologies. Your head is hanging low, you can't bear to make eye contact with him. Once Keigo finishes cleaning you up, there is an awkward silence.

"I'm sorry..." is all you can croak out before your sobbing into your hands. Embarrassment floods your head. Regret. Resent. Why did he have to come? Why did he have to see this?

"Fuck, kid. Please don't apologize. You didn't answer my texts and I figured something was wrong. I just wish I got here sooner." You can hear the pain in his usually cheery voice.

"I didn't know what to do anymore! I'm sick of feeling like this! Im sick of hurting so much that I have to hurt myself to distract from everything else. It's not fucking fair..."

Keigo stands in front of you assessing the situation. He reaches out to touch you but you shrink away from him. "Please leave, Kei...please...I'm tired."

"So am I, y/n but if you think I'm leaving you alone like this, I'm pretty sure you're the dodo brain out of the two of us." You smile ever so slightly. Its broken and he can tell.

"Let's get some clean sheets on the bed first, ok? Then we're going to sleep and I'm not leaving you alone. Not when you're hurting like this. Can you move?" You shake your head no. Not only do you hurt, exhaustion set in.

"I'm gonna pick you up alright, kid?" You nod and that's all he needs. Gently, he wraps his arms around your frame and pulling you into his chest. Red feathers move throughout your room, pulling the bloodied sheets off and tossing them into your hamper.

"I'm gonna set you down so I can grab the spares. Promise me, you'll be okay until I get back."

"Kei, you're just going down the hall."

"Y/n." His voice is stern but still soft at the same time. "Look at me." You gaze up at him and see the broken expression on his face. You never noticed the pain he probably feels right now.

"Pinky promise you'll be okay for a couple minutes." He holds out his hand, sticking his pinky out for you to reciprocate. You slowly do the same and cross fingers. "I'll be right back."

He leaves your room and you can hear him grabbing stuff from the closet with spare bedding. You sit with your head hanging down, eyes closed, thinking of everything. Keigo comes back with am armful of bedding and you shakily stand so he can change the sheets completely.

"Let's go to bed, okay?. I'm taking tomorrow off and I'm staying with you until we figure this out.

"You dont need to do that. I'll be fine, really. I dont want to burden you..." You can feel the tears well up again and you begin to shake. "Y/n, please. I can't bear to see you like this. You're the sun I see in the sky when I fly and the moon when I rest at night."

You look at him with disbelief. "Let's go to bed and talk more in the morning okay?" You nod and he moves you to bed, pulling you close but still aware of where you're hurt. His wings come around on top of you, almost like he's shielding you.

Your eyes slowly dip close as he rubs circles on your hand with his thumb.

[celesticadream]

i love animal crossing but here's my wishlist of ideal changes:

more slots for custom designs!!!! im suffering!!! esp when it's a path w/multiple parts (i don't even use those anymore bc i dont have space)

being able to store flowers til you're ready to plant them! it'd make design planning so much easier and free up a lot of pocket room- or at the v least make them stackable

for all villagers with five o clock shadows to just not exist. same for rodney.

having an external storage chest on the island!

for isabell to stop being mad picky ab "clutter"/for the rating system to be less strict/not based on one standard design style

being able to move resident services or the airport, bc listen. i'd pay like a million bells to move mine if i could.

an option to keep the snow year round because it's so pretty!

directly giving someone straight up nook miles (the same way you give someone bells) instead of nook mile tickets bc it'd make trading a lot easier

more items to purchase with nook miles + updated DIYs, and more stuff in the nook shop

the option to NOT take a DIY that you already have from a villager who's crafting

more than 8 inclines/bridges! esp inclines

having more than one island on each switch!!

ok that's it but feel free to add your own ideas if ya want :)

edit: they gave us extra design slots!!!!

[bxthharmon]

Never Go Home Again, Pt. XIII || JJ Maybank x Reader

Words:2715

Series Warnings: violence / talking about abuse / toxic relationships / talking about nudes sex and sex tapes / drugs / underage drinking

Pt. Warnings: abuse / being a fugitive???

Series Summary: A new girl, a shoebox of old memories, a past she’s trying to forget coincide with a hotheaded, but selfless, boy.  teenagers getting in way over their heads

Pt. Summary: In a desperate attempt to sort everything out, Y/N finds herself in the ones place she least expected to be

A/N: ok ok ok i promise im writing my requests oops anyway love yall send more requests cuz im always bored. Also, yall dont understand how sad i am that this is ending :( BUT started writing another series so lemme know if u wanna get tagged in that <3

Chapters linked in my masterlist.

“masterlist”

“John B, what are we doing at the police station?” JJ asked, breaking the stuffy silence that was consuming the vehicle.

“Somebody’s gotta tell them what happened.” He justified.

“Need me to come in, like, as a witness?” you asked. He shook his head. 

The heavy quiet was broken by Pope, coughing like he’d inhaled chili powder. “Easy there, chief.” JJ reprimanded, and you took the blunt away from your friend. “Alright,” JJ leaned through to John B, “I’m just gonna be real with you right now,” You watched his red cap, “You might end up in the lion’s den, but you don’t go there on purpose. It’s fundamental, just like my old man always told me, you should never, ever trust cops. No matter what the circumstance is.”

“Your old man’s an abusive liar.” Kie countered.

“I agree with JJ.” Pope spoke, and you frowned, holding back the giggle in your lips as he continued, “Fuck the police.”

“You going to the dark side now?” Kie snarked.

“When was the last time the police ever helped us?” He countered.

“Peterkin looked out for me, alright?” John B interrupted, “Or tried to, at least.”

There was a moment of thick quiet before he continued.

“They need to know.”

He looked around, none of you willing to argue as he got out of the car and entered the station. You looked over to JJ, who was determinedly ignoring your stare. You wondered what the fuck was going on because last time you checked, you had been on good terms with him. You sighed, looking out the window and waiting impatiently for John B to return so that the awkward silence would end. You took a hit from the blunt you’d taken from Pope, letting the smoke swirl around in your lungs before gently blowing it out, ignoring the frustrated looks you got from the other three.

Next thing you knew, everyone was shouting and the car was accelerating, the officer trying to open the car door discarded as the shocking adrenaline rush took ahold of the speeding car. Eyes wide, you took another hit from the blunt.

--

“Good news for residents of the Outer Banks, Dominion Power says their underwater transmission line, which will restore power to 95% of the area, should be functional within 24 hours.”

Sirens passed, but in the hazy atmosphere of the car, no one moved, other than to make sure the car didn’t turn. Pope and Kie sat in the front, JJ and John B to your right, seats reclined as you all attempted whatever kind of rest was possible on the worried heat of the day.

“And still no arrest for the shooting death of Sheriff Susan Peterkin. The state police have issued a statement regarding a local person of interest, a juvenile from-”

Kie clicked the radio off, glancing over at the three of you in the back.

“Let’s game this out.” JJ suggested, “Maybe you guys can help, being the smart ones and all, but… who are the cops going to believe? Ward Cameron or us? So the accuser is a big shot developer, kind of lord of the island, got the governor on speed dial kind of person, and the accused…” he looked over to his friend, “is John B, who is pretty much a homeless 16-year-old boy at the moment.”

“Thanks.” came the hoarse voice of the boy across from you.

“Shit.” you muttered, running a hand over your face and sitting up straight for the first time in hours. You twisted so that your back was leaning on the back oh Kie’s seat, and you were facing the three boys.

“Okay, man, Yucatan, alright?” JJ said, swiftly avoiding your arm as you stretched, “I’m saying, that’s the only option, what other option do you have?”

“Enough with the Mexico bullshit.” John B shook his head. “Sarah’s gonna bail me out.”

“She did witness the whole thing.” Kie pointed out.

“So did I?” you reminded, “So what? She’s gonna snitch on her brother for her dick appointment of the week? No offence, bro.”

“It’s not happening.” JJ reiterated, “We’ve gotta get you off the island.”

“The ferry.” Pope said, “It’s the only way.”

“Exit stage left while you still can.” JJ added. “Before the entire island is on lockdown.”

“Get down.” You reminded him softly, and you all ducked. You reached for JJ’s hand, but his simple gesture of pulling it away made you feel embarrassed, unsure of whatever was going on between you. You turned away from him, looking out the window again.

“Sarah’s not a pogue, John B.” Pope reminded.

“Yeah, you can’t stay here, man.”

“Let’s go then.” You muttered, and Pope pulled out, driving carefully to the docks. They were crowded, and you got out before anyone could argue, thankful for even two minutes out of the suffocating atmosphere. You walked to the sign, reading the notice about the ferry closure and ripping the wanted poster off its staples. You walked back to the car, reading it as you reached the vehicle, then passing it through Pope’s window and shaking your head solemnly. You got in next to JJ as they passed the paper around, JJ making a joke.

“Okay, so the whole island’s looking for John B right now.” Pope said.

“Well at least you know how much you’re worth.” You joked, receiving a frustrated look from Kie.

“Congratulations, John B,” JJ smirked, “you’re famous.”

“We gotta get to the HMS. We need small, no running lights-” kie began to reason, but John B cut her off.

“It’s at the Chateau, Kie.”

“And I wonder if the cops have got the entire place staked out.” JJ said, voice dripping with sarcasm, “Let me think. Yeah, no, they definitely have that place locked down.”

“Hey Jay?” you nudged him, an idea forming, “Like, a couple of weeks ago, you mentioned your dad’s boat? The Ghost? Spectre?”

“The Phantom!” JJ and Pope caught on.

“He still got it?” Pope asked.

“Maybe.”

“You could get that right up the coast, no problem.” Pope said.

Bickering followed, and then the sudden realisation that Pope’s car was on the poster. Suddenly, someone was hitting the window and the car wasn’t starting and everyone was shouting. The car lurched forwards, straight into another car, and then took off, driving away as people watched, shocked.

The car sped forwards, crashing around as you all shouted for Pope to stop, his high ass was definitely not fit for driving.

“JB,” you shouted over everyone, “you need to get out.”

Pope braked, all of you thrust forwards with the force of it, and you found yourself pushing John B out of the car while JJ shouted instructions at him.

--

The two field tents were massive, rows of chairs on either side as swarms of people worked, talked, and typed. You wandered around for a minute or so, watching the officers interact, always being pushed back when you tried to talk to anyone. You could feel the eyes of the security team burning into you as you looked for Shoupe. Eventually, you saw him, talking to a taller man in an SBI windbreaker. You walked towards them slowly, finalising your plan in your head.

Shoupe saw you, and stepped aside from the conversation so that he was facing you, the agent turning as well, a frown forming as he took in your scruffy attire and the faint smell of JJ’s weed that was clinging to your clothes. You looked between them, “Uh, Officer Shoupe, I have some info.” You greeted.

“Who are you?” The agent interrupted, looking you over again.

“Um, I’m Y/N Y/L/N, I know John B.” you clarified, and he nodded.

“What have you got for us?” he asked, and you breathed in, and out, pinching yourself slightly.

“I saw everything on the airstrip.”

The SBI agent introduced himself as Bratcher, then they sat you down in one of the tents, letting you explain what you saw, uninterrupted, and asking questions when they saw fit. They told you that your account, while plausible, was a hard one to argue, especially against Ward Cameron, unless you had a second account to back it up.

Sarah Cameron, you thought. Talk to Sarah.

After taking your statement, they left you to sit in the field tent, shivering in the cold breeze and no coat, watching them call your dad, listening out for any relevant information you could gather. 

You could feel their eyes on you, discussing what to do with the information you had for them. An officer, you couldn’t remember her name, had draped a jacket over your shoulders at some point, then led you away while the SBI agent gave a briefing.

You waited at the end of the tent, looking for anything to cease your worry and boredom.

Then you saw her. She looked as lost as you had, trying to work out who to talk to, just like you had a few hours ago. You stepped towards her.

“Sarah?” she turned to you, going to hug you, but an armed officer stepped between you, pulling you apart. “No, she’s my friend!” you struggled towards her, another officer holding her away from you, both of you shouting.

“What’s happening?” Bratcher asked, all of you stopped struggling. 

“This is Sarah Cameron,” you explained, “she was there, like I said.”

He looked between you, and nodded, asking her if she was able to make a statement. They took her away, sitting her down at the other end of the tent, letting her talk. You saw Ward approaching.

“Y/N?” he frowned, and you raised your eyebrows.

“How do you know who I am?”

“Sarah’s mentioned you.” he looked around, “have you seen her?”

“Oh, is she no longer locked away in her room?” He tensed, confusion and anger contorting his features.

“How do you know about that?” 

“Can’t say.” You said, “Not a great parenting strategy, just saying.”

He leapt forwards, a madness in his eyes that you’d never seen before. He grabbed you by the throat, screaming in your face while you clawed at his grip. Within seconds, other bodies were pulling him away. Your panic subsided, and you looked at Bratcher. You could use the situation to your advantage.

“See what I mean?” you yelled, pointing at him as you faced Bratcher, “He’s crazy! I told you, he attacked Big John, he’s the reason this is all happening!”

Bratcher sighed, signalling for his men to take away the older man. “I have to say, Miss Y/L/N, your story is making more sense. Two stories matching perfectly, his temper. But we talked to your father, you’re free to go, we’re almost done with Sarah.”

“What’s going to happen to John B?”

He sighed, “We’ve gotta bring him in, you understand that.”

You nodded, “I hope I shed some truth to the situation.”

You walked away, leaving the jacket on a chair as you passed, sending a reassuring smile to Sarah on your way out, you wandered the streets, finding your way to JJ’s house.

By some kind of miracle, you arrived at the same time as Kie and JJ. He was getting out of the car when he noticed you, and instead of making any move to hug you as normal, he froze.

“Look, JJ,” you sighed. “Why are you mad at me?”

You stood opposite him in his front yard, staring at the way he sighed, an odd mix of relief and defeat adorning his features. “I saw some texts, from Tyler.”

You nodded slowly. “I rejected him, if that’s what upset you. Since I met you, no guys have been the same, you know?”

His eyes pulled in slightly, as if realising that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t one-sided. “Did you sleep with him?”

“Yeah.” you glanced at the floor, “I don’t really know why. Things were weird between us and I just - I missed my old life. But it was like, the confirmation I needed.”

“What do you mean?”

“I love you.”

His jaw dropped slightly in shock, running you words over in his head, working out whether you were genuine. You began to step back, and before you could think about what had just happened, he was kissing you.

It was urgent, emotive, full of everything that you couldn’t put into words. You broke apart, still slightly shocked at the confession. You looked at his front door.

“Do you want me to come with you?”

He looked to Kie, who was pretending she hadn’t watched, and nodded apprehensively, slipping a hand into yours and leading you to the door. He opened it, leading you through into the mess. You stepped over shoes and bottles as he led you in, calling out for his dad.

You ventured into the living room, seeing his dad passed out on the sofa, a half empty bottle of something on the table next to him. “Dad, I need the keys to the Phantom.” a snore sounded, “Dad?”

You looked down, noticing the sleeping pills and picking them up, showing the bottle to the blond boy next to you. Watching him, you could practically feel the hurt resonating off him, masked by his strong resolution as he looked back at his dad. Noticing the chain around his neck, between you you found a pencil and pin to get the keys with.

You stood a couple of feet behind him as he knelt down, preparing himself.

“Well, I didn’t expect to see you.”

The voice was a murmur, almost soft, and your heart was beating in your throat. You knew what he was capable of.

“You’re back.” 

This time, Luke had more clarity in his voice, and was more awake. He hadn’t noticed you yet.

“Just checkin’ in.” JJ said, backing away as the older man sat up, taking a swig from a beer bottle.

“School out already?” 

“What?” JJ frowned.

“Did you ditch? It’s alright, you can tell me.”

JJ nodded slowly, “Yeah. I hit the break, you know?”

“I hated school too. My boy!” Luke chuckled. You felt intrusive, like you were standing in on a moment that wasn’t yours to see. But the moment felt intimate, hitting you where it hurt as your eyes went glassy. “You know what? Listen, hey.” he stood shakily, “Hey, look, I know I’m hard on you sometimes.” JJ hummed, fear mixing into his pain, “But sometimes I - I see your mother in you, and it gets me a little tweaked, you know?”

You wiped a tear away, the scene before you hurting more than you would like to admit. The man looked at you, and you could see JJ’s shoulders tense.

“You got a girl?” he didn’t look away from you.

“Uh, yeah, Y/N.” JJ looked over at you, worry seeping into his eyes.

“You treat my boy better than I could, okay?” You nodded slowly, more tears slipping down your face.

“Of course.” your voice broke slightly, “I love him.”

“Me too.” His head turned back to his son, “I love you, son.” He pulled JJ in, “Come here, I love you. I love you, son. I love you.”

More than anything, you wanted to call him out. Tell him that if that was true, then he wouldn’t hurt JJ like he did. But whatever this moment was, it wasn’t the right one to do so.

You could hear JJ sniffling, letting his hands find their way onto his father’s back. When he spoke, he sounded like he wanted to be stronger than he felt, his voice thick, pained, struggling. “Love you too, Dad. I’m sorry.”

“Ain’t got nothing to be sorry for.” His father muttered, the sleeping pills pulling him back out of consciousness, slowly as ever. JJ helped him down onto the sofa. “You’re a good boy.” came the murmur.

JJ let out a shaky breath, not sparing you a glance as he pulled the chain from his father’s neck and stepped away. He looked back at you, almost embarrassed to have let you see him in such a vulnerable state. He turned to leave, your voice came out as a hoarse whisper.

“JJ, you don’t always have to be strong, you know that, right?”

Tags: @tangledinsparkles​ @jellyfishbeansontoast​ @lolitstiana​ @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch​ @teamnick​ @thoughtsofthestars​ @obxmxybxnk​ @pcterparxer​ @kaelyn-lobrutto24​ @sxcretinhuman​ @alexa-playafricabytoto​ @angvelics​ @badwolf00593​ @coloradogirl07​ @mendesmaybank​ @jiaraendgame​ @5am-cigarette​ @emerald-xcd​ @haharudy​

[lucidpantone]

Reacting to reactions: Kynicole s4 ep1 (comments edition)

Okay, so you know when something comes out and you need to talk about it with other humans because you can’t hold it in?  This is me right now with the youtube comments on kynicole’s reaction video. I am about to burst 🤯.

**First and foremost lets thank kynicole for doing what most of us aren't willing to do for ourselves which is revisit the trainwreck that is wtFOCK s4.**

Disclaimer: This is long as hell

Ok so literally first comment I see is this:

People!!! Moyo from all the information we’ve been given as a fandom am pretty sure is not blocked. You know that saying, actions speak louder than words?Well let's analyze the actions of wtFOCK(particularly Rutgers) and Noa. I have asked sooo many people about the block question and I always get the same answer “I don’t know”. Which coupled with everything else that has played out tells me a lot. Ok firstly, we are all aware that wtFOCK is yet to comment on or even acknowledge s4. The newsmonkey article wtFOCK did after every season they skipped entirely after s4. You know what wtFOCK did do? They sent out Nora b4 s4 even ended to calm down the fandom. Oh lets send the WOC out to quell the screams from all the fans that are screaming at the injustice of giving this season to Romi(who was a way less experienced actor, who had no previous backstory on the show, who no one asked for, who was white, a legitimate model, and to put it simply didn’t work anywhere near as hard as Noa for 3 seasons). Anyways here is why I am pretty sure Moyo isn't block.

Think about everything we know about Noa as a human being the way he treats the fans, his demeanor and just overall vibe. To me he seems like a very nice person, he writes back to most of you guys when you talk to him. I saw him comment heart emojis to fan accounts that commented on his award acceptance the other day and you know what he said at the award “That the fans are the most important thing”. Now connect the Noa we know from his actions to his own words on the day the main was revealed:

To me this tweet implies whatever he is speaking about involved a choice and the chooser chose to make money over morality. Now lets exam Rutgers actions. He has never publicly spoken about the season and the reason I believe he doesn't speak is because any decent journalist is going to ask him to explain his casting choice. Also your telling me that if Moyo had been blocked after week 4,5,6,7,8 of having the fandom hurl insults at wtfock and also Romi calling a meeting they wouldn't have used their end of the season interview to confirm Moyo wasn’t an option to shut the fandom up? Oh and last week Noa accepted the award for wtfock and Rutgers posted Noa on his story??? Moyo wasn’t the main of s4. Wouldn't it make sense to have a main accept the award? Why Noa? Rutgers is not stupid. I don’t believe for one second that Moyo was blocked. What I believe is that wtFOCK’s leadership who happens to all be white men are to embarrassed to go on the record and say “yeah Moyo wasn’t block but we still didn’t chose him” and that instead of giving the season to Noa who worked his ass off for 3 seasons they gave it to Romi because they thought “her look” was more appeasing to advertisers. Her look was obviously what sold them on her because next to Noa we know who the better actor was and Noa literally landed a feature film to prove that. Anyways everyone needs to stop pushing this idea that Moyo was blocked because if you actually look at everyone’s actions involved its pretty clear to me he wasn't blocked and Rutgers and the team are refusing to confirm what to me is fairly obvious answer because they know they are going to get fucking dragged. Also whoever this commenter is they know what's up. I agree with everything you stated:

☝️☝️☝️Say it louder sis. wtFOCK bypassed Noa on purpose they chose to do what they did to him. I do genuinely believe they regret the decision now because from everything I heard I really do believe they wish they could go back and chose Noa but the damage is done. 

Next YT comment:

You know when early on in the season a bunch of POC said that this season was merely a platform to embolden and give free reign to those who already harbored racial micro-aggression 👇👇👇

Oh surprise, surprise..... this commenter sees no redeeming qualities in both black boys who in their respective remakes are written as being homophobic, with undertones of aggression and as bad friends. Oh and then this commenter points out how poor Moyo treated Kato. Bwahahahaha what?? Yea Moyo insulted Kato but he never accused her of being a drug dealer, or implies she has a drug problem, or racially profiles members of her community or manipulates her with saying I love you as a form of keeping her but Moyo treats Kato badly. GTFO!!! I am sure this commenter is a Mailin stan too and would say Ava isnt someone she would be interested in seeing main either. Wonder what all these characters have in common🤔. This type of commentary is what created the divide that still resides in the wtfock fandom to date. This shit is what tore the fandom apart and eventually led people to leave the fandom or take time off because people went for each others throats as the season got worse and those who defended wtfock at the beginning were eaten alive. Honestly tho I dont want to excuse people’s troublesome povs on race but wtFOCK’s decision to make a season where their white main never fully apologizes or owns her behavior with the appropriate language perpetuates a pattern of bad behavior so am kinda of not shocked no one came out with some insight on race relations after s4 if anything probably with less of an education then they began with because wtfock themselves peddled the agenda that its ok to silence people of color (as they did with moyo at the end of the season, he never says his piece to kato and stays with her) and Kato never takes ownership of her actions and states that her actions stem from some form of racial micro-aggression.

Final Comments reviewed:

I mean.... look I will always adore season 2 & 3 of wtfock. Nothing will ever change that for me but these people ☝️☝️are right. It takes a real fan to be honest with themselves and to me this is the worse season in the universe and it makes me so sad mainly because it could have been the most fearless, ground breaking season but wtfock made a choice. They literally had the opportunity to go big and do something that had never been done before and in the end they choked and paid the ultimate price. What a waste.......could have been amazing the had the perfect actor to main and they fucking blew it because in their mind Moyo wasn't an important enough story to tell 😞.

p.s. I noticed kynicole said at least half a dozen times in her video I still dont get why this wasn’t in Moyo’s pov? Literally said EVERYONE!!!

[thechoicesforrealin]

OPEN HEART 2

MY FAN FICTION

CHAPTER 11

HAPPY LIFE 

She was happy that her dad is also one of the reason for Ethan to confess his love for her. But something inside tells her that it is more than that for now she just wants to enjoy the moment with him.She spent a week in her house with Ethan and Leo 

AFTER 2 WEEKS

She will never forget those memories with him.She bid goodbye to her brother and she finally arrived Edenbrook

She is getting ready for a party in Edenbrook hospital.She is finally going to be a junior resident or Diagonist under Ethan .She cant wait to see her friends and all

She laid 3 option dress infront of her 

one is the dress that her dad bought for her 

another one is from her mom

Ethan also bought her a cute red gown for her with some sparkle silver

she was confused what to chose

she took a deep breath and selected the dress that Ethan bought for her

She did some makeup even though she knows Ethan do like when she puts some makeup and take care of her

knock knock

 Sienna : look what i made for u babe!!!

Casey: come on in Sienna is it my favourite  boston cream doughnuts 

Sienna gets inside

Sienna; Woww u are correct guesser no wonder why Dr.Ramsey has confessed his feelings for u 

she starts to blushing

sienna starts to giigle bcoz  she knows whenever she talks abt Ethan she will automatically blush

SIENNA: ok thts enough now lets get this doll to meet his boyfriend comeon lets go

CASEY: yeah 

she put her heels and hop into Bryce car  the moment when jacke bryce and all see her they are speechless like how stunning she looks

JACKIE: wowwwwwwwww just woww how in the earth u are this beautiful

she gigled a bit

BRYCE: wow dude u look freaking awesome Ethan is gonna take u to his home thats for sure

ELIJAH: yeah that is Definetly is going to happen he cant able to take his eyes from her

CASEY :ok you all please stop ,my man is waiting for me there so now lets go

they all arrived at party 

Ethan was standing there and talking to harper boyfriend

CASEY step out of the car . when Ethan saw her he was completely astonished how the way she looks

The guests in the party are all looking at her

Ethan went upto her and bowed his head

ETHAN: WELCOME MY LADY the seat and ur man is waiting for u

she laughed 

CASEY:  ETHAN stop it 

she gigled and took his hand

from far distance she can hear the gossips but she didnt mind 

NAVEEN AND HARPER SHOOT THEM A THUMBSUP 

she only cares abt Ethan at the moment she is worried what his reaction when he is hearing these gossips abt them she looked up at them . he is smiling very brightly . that made her forget all of this

they both sit in their respective places

naveen and harper with her boyfriend joined them

CHRIST: HEY girl iam christ aka harpers boyfriend

HARPER :christ 

CHRIST : What babe? i am telling truth only

they introduced each other

they all talked for a while

INES: CONGRTAS CASEY

CASEY: THANK U INES 

ZAID : WELL WHATEVER HAVE A HAPPY LIFE AND DONT TORTURE ME

both of them laughed 

she talked all of her nurses, coworkers all

when she was drinking water 

SUDDENLY A FAMILIAR VOICE CALLED HER

SHE SEARCHED UNTIL FINDING HIM ON STAGE 

SHE WAS SO CONFUSED

ETHAN: THANK U ALL FOR COMING HERE .CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL INTERNS NOW AS RESIDENTS . AS MANY OF U KNOW MY ROOKIE DR. CASEY VALENTINE AND I ARE DATING SO U DONT NEED TO BE CONFUSED ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP . YES WE ARE DATING .SOON SHE WILL BE MY WIFE . THANK U ALL. AND , I LOVE U ROOKIE

THE ONES  THAT GOSSIPED ABT HER ALL SHOCKED 

SHE WAS SO HAPPY SHE WENT UPTO STAGE AND KISSED HIM

VOICE :WOULDN’T THT BE AGAINST HOSPITAL RULES ETHAN

                          end 

next chapter will be out soon

tune in to find out thank u for reading

TAGGING @kaavyaethanramsey  @lilyvalentine @caseyvalentineramsey

@drethanramslay @rookiefromedenbrook @drethanbigsoftie

[dragonfelling]

For Aquarium enthusiasts suffering from the fires.

Hey! I haven't seen any resources for people with aquatic animals who are prepping for evacuation so heres some helpful information. This info is to my knowledge correct but I am just human. This is mainly for fish can be applied to amphibians/other aquatic animals. This is not from experience but from theory, but the listed suggestions should work just fine. Most of it is taken from suggestions ive heard in the past as well as basic water chemistry knowledge.

Put a heavily woven blanket over your tank and its filter (Fish are just fine in the dark provided you dont have plants that need medium-high light. low lights should last a few weeks)  Put extra activated carbon in the filter and do frequent water changes. Add a sponge as well if you don’t already to hold the bacteria instead so you can renew the carbon sheets more often. Get SEACHEM prime and double dose as it is known to be effective at combating toxins that may enter the water as well as neutralizing ammonia into a less toxic ammonium. It is safe to use multiple doses for prime but im not sure about any other type of dechlorinator. You can also get an ammonia trapper filter media for an extra measure for if you have to go.

 Remember that water doesn't hold a fraction of the the bacteria your filter and gravel does so its ok to do heavy water changes if the options available to you.

You can add plants hanging from the tank such as spider plants, creeping fig and pothos to assist with ensuring the fishes health in the chance of an evacuation where you cannot take them. Many people have these plants sitting around in their house that they can move to their tanks. You just have to clean the roots bare and put it in. trim the roots to encourage new growth.

Put the tank on the ground or better yet a basement as well as less smoke will reside there and if fire spreads into the house there’s a lesser chance of its stand melting/burning and the tank shattering from a fall.Even if its only a small chance of survival for the fish its still better then nothing. If you don’t have a basement and you must evacuate but you do have a balcony or yard the fish probably have a better chance outside then inside where the tank may be engulfed. 

In the case of an evacuation as well, DO NOT OVER FEED TO COMPENSATE FOR YOU BEING GONE OR GET AN AUTO FEEDER. Doing that runs the risk of the water fouling and creates a risk of ammonia spikes. Most fish and frogs can go weeks and still survive with little to no food. There is also a high chance the fish will simply graze from algae/ microorganisms in the tank.

 If your tank is tropical, its likely that your fish’s metabolism will drop if your power is cut or you have to move the tank outside which is also why I further encourage you not to add a bunch of food before you leave.

If you have a betta/gourami/ other air breathing fish, and you are able and willing to you can put them in a small container temporarily and bring them with you along with some extra dechlorinator. They will have a better chance at survival in a box in a small jar then they will at home in a tank.

If you have any questions about transporting fish or other specifics even if it doesn't have to do with the wild fires feel free to send me an ask (anon or non anon I dont mind) and ill try to find the answer for you. Fresh water fish keeping was kind of my special interest for a few years so I know a fair bit about the specifics of keeping them. Unfortunately I don’t know much about salt water but I do know basic brackish.

[justsomeantifas]

its 11:59 its still technically tonight so

this is gonna be my reference point to questions abt venezuela, at least regarding things pre- May 19 2019. Its a bit scattered and it may get edited down along the road, but yeah.

short version that draws some similar conclusions: https://www.salon.com/2019/05/17/the-plot-to-kill-venezuela_partner/

one difference in scales that’s important to keep in mind: the lifespan of people is 2-7 decades. the lifespan of colonialism lasts centuries. the lifespan of media memory is a couple years, tops.

Most western narratives of venezuela start meaningfully at chavez, which is a mistake. The focus point in history around which the country flowed was the Caracazo. You probably already know about this, but a massive uprising took place in the heart of Caracas, against decades of dictatorship both formal and informal, after severe instability in the global oil market. The people were hungry, the riots were fiery, and the bullets bled. knows the death toll even now, but its estimated well into the thousands.  This happened pre-chavez, and started a cascade of events which brought him into limelight that you can read about here. not gonna go into more venezuelan history, but i talk a bit more here

chavez was democratically elected, multiple times.

   in 2002, after his first democratic election, he was kidnapped by US-backed troops and replaced by someone who threw out the 1999 constitution, which was as legitimate as any other made in venezuela’s colonial and violently capitalist history, seeing as it was the first (aka only, so far) of 26 constitutions actually approved by popular referendum. He was reinstated largely due to massive protests in support of him. Maduro however doesn’t really have as much of the charisma and support of chavez, which is creating problems - as well as exacerbating problems created by the economic crises ramping up just around chavez’s death. In 2015, there were elections to the National Assembly, which ended up with the Opposition winning a majority of the seats (which does show that there’s some degree of fairness in the elections, at least verifiably up til that point, yet that isnt rly accounted for when western media describes it as “undemocratic” - many of whom don’t apply the same scrutiny to their own country: such as this UN Human Rights councilor who also happens to be the crown prince of british-iraq, currently residing in the noted democracy of the Kingdom of Jordan, which has no vested interest or control over any particular export of Venezuela.).        

This turnout showed most of all that maduro had alienated as many as 2 million of his supporters, who didnt end up voting (though many also voted against him - trying to act on their feeling that whatever they want, its “not this”). This decreasing support also accelerates whats known as “Everyday Sabotage” - people not trusting in the government, and look out for their own interests contra everyone else. This is a danger inherent to tying “Socialism” to a primarily state project.       

However 1999 Constitution was never meant as an eternal document & it created mechanisms to call for new popular constitutional referendums to be held. That’s what the “Constituent Assembly” is about, which is what a lot of the western world is describing as him singlehandedly rewriting it (while also being “vague about its contents”), or “created by him”. Elections to the constituent assembly were boycotted by opposition, so that it would be government controlled & look like a sham in the eyes of the broader world. That being said, the assembly was called both as a reaction to losing election but also in response to intensifying crises - it was put forth (i don’t see any reason to believe in bad faith) as a way to come together and figure out how to address the needs that were driving people to protest - to address the desire for “not this”, but bc of the uncertainty, it was easily twistable by reactionaries by putting all emphasis on the former. Also timing corresponds with increasing fears of maduro straying from the path of chavez, the image of scrapping one of his strongest plays for smth unknown is risky - tho if there are other meaningful options given the situation im not sure. And the body’s got at least as much constitutional legitimacy as Guaido  (Chapter III)  

The 1999 constitution also enabled a recall election to be called against maduro in 2016, bc it was written with particular attention to holding public officials accountable - similar noble commitments helped to end the presidency of Rousseff & bring in Bolsonaro (who was also one of the people spurring on the investigations and whipping up a social base).

     (speaking of guaido & bolsonaro)

on Guaido:

part of student group in 2007 protesting against non-renewal of coup-assisting network, who the CFR (one of the major think tanks of the cold war still playing a big role in foreign policy today) considered “most important network”   

close friend of Leopoldo Lopez, the aforementioned coup plotter.

politician since 2010, won a couple small elections

Unknown to majority of general population until 2019, most venezuelans surveyed didnt know him   

Plan Pais       

plans to privatize state owned industry & allow investment from foreign oil companies       

center-right neoliberal draped in platitudes of “stability”, “revitalization”, “security”, and “rescue” - a message seemingly deliberately targeted to become more and more resonant with increased sanctions.

/on Guaido

governing is about the expression of power. I wanna live in a world where that power isn’t expressed, but as long as the exploitation of the global working class continues unabated, id prefer some of that power be put towards helping the poor.     

there is no such thing as a static state of affairs, there’s no “goldilocks zone” out in the political universe where we tweak things finely until we find whats best for everyone, only different rates of change in different dimensions. what we need to do is figure out how we can push that state of affairs in a direction so that everyday people have the power to take control of their lives. re

re: “constitutionality” - if the supreme court calls it constitutional then its constitutional. period. There’s no such thing as a supreme court as an “independent branch” of government, but there are different degrees of integration into the rest of it.       

The Supreme Tribunal of Venezuela has 32 members, (a bit more than a dozen put in by the national assembly, while the PSUV held it), and the opposition holds abt 3 away from a supermajority. Each member of the court holds their spot for 12 years. If that’s “The Most Corrupt In The World” according to Transparency International, i wonder what world the 9-person lifetime-appointed US Supreme Court (2 of which appointed by trump, and save for pulling a Weekend At Ginsbergs, likely 3) is on. In fact, one of the tactics that the more radical circles of democrat voters are putting forward is to pack the Supreme Court. Because thats how shit actually gets done, or at the least how shit is prevented from being committed w the stamp of legality. FDR learned that lesson too, in trying to pass what is today known as “The New Deal”

My comparisons to trump are for specific end: these actions are exerted on levers of liberal democracy, and every single liberal democracy is susceptible to them in some ways.

whats a “dictator”? if hes unelected, the millions of people who participated in the elections dont seem to think so. if maduro is a dictator, then what is donald trump? the majority of ppl didnt vote for him yet hes still governing. macron’s popularity has at several points been less than 1/3, and the yellow vest protestors have been violently attacked - why is he not “a violent dictator with only the support of the military”? These terms are not neutral.

“their elections are highly flawed” So What? show me a country whose elections arent.   

“opposition jailed” - ok but coup plotters don’t get off easy in any liberal democracy. If someone - say Bernie Sanders - said “enough is enough” and succeeded in overthrowing the current government with the help of a foreign government…. you think they’d let him go free? what if ten years later he was getting his supporters all riled up to do it again? how long you think he’d be in jail for (assuming he can survive well into his 100’s)? You think more than 13 years? Think he’d get house arrest? Some US states lock you up for posessing weed up to 10. If you stay long enough around this blog, youll find plenty of other examples of much more cruel and unusual punishments. Look at Chelsea Manning, look at Oscar Riviera…   look at the US protestors saying Guaido is illegitimate

 what we have to keep in mind most of all, is to show that the contradictions being exploited are inherent to Liberalism. Contradictions are just expressed most freely at the margins - the interstices

poor economic decisions happen everywhere - 2008/2009 still affecting the entire world there’s violence thats “natural”, and violence thats “intolerable”. The dividing line is whether we have anything to gain by changing things.

sanctions:    started under obama, originally targeted specific individuals, used as precedent for more generalized. They’re indirect - they have a “squeezing effect”, takes already-existing problems & just makes them markedly worse. also doesn’t necessarily correlate with emigration, bc it takes a lot of money to start a new life somewhere else, and sanctions disproportionately affect the poor.   

war wouldnt likely look like (many) US boots on the ground - we’ve got plenty of other places to be. It’d look like guns being smuggled to counter-protestors. It’d look like sending resources to neighboring countries like Colombia or Brazil who would then use their troops. Colombias ruling party is right wing populists - much of current president’s campaign was run on fearmongering abt venezuelan socialism - they’re raring to go. It’d look like drones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracas_drone_attack. Also means there likely won’t be a sudden trigger, its a gradually escalating stressful gradually-more-warlike situation.  

If war does break out - where would the refugees go?  In reality the majority would go to Colombia, but if anything significant breaks out there will be a stream of those looking to find shelter in the US, which has advertised itself as a beacon of hope - what would happen to them? some may get taken in as a gesture of showmanship, but nowhere close to the majority.   

speaking of the US - imagine if trump and bolton manage to actually plot a winning coup. Do you think that that wont be his main bullwark against ppl like Bernie? you think the media and rest of the democratic party wont jump on that narrative and “begrudgingly” support a fascist because the alternative might mean supporting single payer and not-having-good-for-ratings-climate-apocalypse?

another term thrown around without regard is “once vibrant” - for whom?

most articles ive seen just take this as an axiom, and dont find any cognitive dissonance when also saying chavez reduced poverty hugely.

 The answer to that rhetorical question: Citgo is venezuelan, before chavez none of the wealth went back to venezuela - thats what “vibrancy” means.  

     many similarities with BP (the-artist-formerly-known-as-the-anglo-iranian-oil-company)

in age of climate change & vocal ppl about phasing out oil, the more one’s livelihood is connected to oil, the more unstable ones country will be - either that, or the more instability ones country will cause.

“Oil exports fell by $2,200 per capita from 2012 to 2016, of which $1,500 was due to the decline in oil prices.”  

The drop in price that affected the venezuelan economy so much in 2014 was largely by US shale fracking

in 1970’s Chile, copper was the main product of Chile - allende nationalized the mines, and in return wall street dropped the

(also worth noting that venezuela’s got non-insignificant untapped shale basins)      

At least venezuela used the oil money to fund social programs instead of like, pad the pockets of Raytheon.

also oil price wars in africa highly correlated w oil (whose annual production doesn’t even combined total venezuelas)

a couple ppl have raised concerns abt my strong stance on equivocal dismissal - if there’s a difference, if there’s some way of reading your statement that says “X country that the State Dept wants to invade is an anomoly in the otherwise free world”, then that’s acting to push the discourse towards normalization & invasion. It’s not “whataboutism”, just basic consistency.   

now more than ever, narratives are affected by people. They may not be ones we had a hand in forging, but the way that we propagate them actually does have measurable effects on the larger-scale political outcomes. Always look for the base assumptions, as well as the direction   

sure denounce Chavez. sure denounce Maduro. denounce Kim, Xi, Castro, anyone. But if there’s no equally or proportionally loud denunciations of the horrors perpetrated by allies - the “assumed”, “natural” violence, then you’re acting to reinforce the narrative of exceptionalism.   

Just make sure after you take a breath, you denounce Saudi Arabia & Yemen, Israel for Palestine, the conditions which brought Argentinian/Brazillian, Brazilian coup, the US for Puerto Rico, the conditions which have murdered dozens of journalists in Mexico per year…  

what people want most of all is stability. “A debate over whether it is mismanagement and corruption by the Maduro government or the sanctions that are the author of the crisis is largely irrelevant. The point is that a combination of the reliance on oil revenues and the sanctions policy has crushed the policy space for any stability in the country.”

government’s errors and tensions   

fixed exchange rate -> black market      

took 5 years to address changing relation between dollar & BsF, all the room between those two curves left a huge room for intensifying crises, though since it also corresponds with the death of chavez, it sorta makes sense.   

antidemocratic actions and remarks by maduro  

scattered responses filled w half-solutions   

diversification needed, but how do you diversify an economy filled with rampant poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy… 

(nominally begrudging) support for mineral extraction 12.4% of territory opened to extraction - “Special Economic Zone” as a method of managing decay       

this is also what much of the reality of “economic diversification” looks like

not enough socialism. (even fox agrees!) Venezuela shows the limits of Social Democracy in countries living outside of the Imperial Core - esp the dangers if you’re in the crosshairs already bc of oil         

started out as populism, gradually grew as confronted more.            shows shaping influence on political organs from actions of foreign actors - if you’ve survived a coup before, you’re gonna become paranoid about any more of them - especially when the coup plotters say “hey lets do more coups”       

also shows the weakness of only having a small number of charasmatic faces representing the movement - if one dies and theres no clear and popular replacement, then you’ll lose ppl who were largely brought in by the charisma, weakening your political project, and creating cracks for reactionary forces to take advantage of - especially in times of transition.       

bourgeoisie still control a majority of the economy.            Capitalist businesses are internally unaccountable, and in this age of intensified global trade, one can punish countries for straying from the pack by moving business & focus away. If you’re looking for dictatorships, look at the thousands of private companies run as dictatorships daily       

capital flight is a real effect, precisely because socialism is fundamentally and irreconcilably against the self-interest of the bourgeoisie. not necessarily against the interest of the humans-who-are-also-bourgeois, but of the impersonal self-sustaining force of capital.           

Have you ever pulled something out of an electrical socket, and seen a quick spark? The reason that occurs is bc of what’s called an induction current, which is a fancy physics word for flowing electricity not liking to suddenly change its flow. If you accidentally touch that spark, you might feel it, but youll live to tell the tale. But if you only take the plug out halfway & touch it, that’s a different story.  Capital flows similarly.

   my country (lithuania) has been facing sky-high emigration since the collapse of the USSR (with an added boost after 08-09), we have also consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the world (#7), a minimum wage of about 3 Euros an hour (after a recent increase), as well as one of the highest prison populations in Europe (discounting Russia & Belarus… which like….)   

when are we gonna be invaded? when will the US media talk about our pain?  

oh wait, they did. We cried all pretty for the TV cameras, then they got a bozo nobody really knew of to denounce the government, who they called dictatorial (though it was far from ideal, massive bureaucracies dont tend to mix well with single-person-decision-making). And to be fair, the fact that the government was unpopular wasnt entirely undeserved. But what was promised to us was the idea of “Freedom”, “Free Enterprise”; to “Get Rid of Corruption” and institute “Real” Democracy". They said we’d be integrated into the glorious capitalist west, and we understood that to mean that we’d be in the position of a Germany, or at least an Austria or smth. But they never meant to integrate us into the imperial Core, we have always been seen as part of the Periphery - the “assumed” violence that “naturally” happens.    

Then we got to where we our today. Some of the stuffs more available, but expensive. Most of the bureaucracy’s still around, it just helps fewer people. We stand as an example of what to expect, in one of the best case scenarios, you would join our emigrees now making up a significant percentage of underpaid house-servants aka maids across the EU.  

if we want the people of Venezuela to be healthy, safe, and fulfilled, then:

speak out and pointing to the effects of US sanctions is incredibly important. They’ve already killed 40,000 people in the last year, and 300,000 more are in extreme danger (and millions more in long-term risk).

what does it mean when you simultaneously sanction trade with a place but also demand they let you give them humanitarian aid?

if there is to be action taken by the international community, then the US has forfeited its right to speak. They threw it away once in 2002, and obama rhetorically picked it up and dusted it off so that trump could throw it in a bigger dumpster, thats also on fire. However we also still live in a world deeply shaped by US Hegemony, so the opinions of its close trade partners & closest-knit media buds should be seen as influenced as such. Doesn’t mean that theyre wrong on everything too, but they still feel the magnetic pull of the US economy and ecosystem (as well as their own potentially imperial interests) and the effect of that force cannot be discounted.

transitioning our economies away from oil & away from globalized neoliberalism which only values peripheral states by their exports - dissolves tensions of how to produce in unproductive terrain   

socialize medicine in the US, so that drug companies run by dictatorships can’t control their lives & ours. healthcare is especially reliant on imports, sanctions affect especially strongly.  

normalize the ideas of Socialism, without taking the easy way out of “oh no dont think of Venezuela, think of sweden or denmark”. None of them are Socialist, but to avoid the complexities of Venezuela is to imagine that US attempts at socialism wouldn’t involve significant capital flight. If we don’t consider that, if we don’t have solid actionable plans to deal with that, while also facing the inherent complexity of changing material conditions, then we’re gonna waste whatever shot we get.   

redirect conversation normally centered around government towards support of the tens of thousands of small business co-operatives, where people live their daily lives in a democratic manner.

on The Communes:

    “delegating responsibility throughout all members, and bringing important decisions to the whole to work through and find the best possible solution��� They create “collective criteria” together; agreements stipulating whether individuals have power over certain decisions or whether it is up to the whole group. However, he assures that these “are not rigid, they can change at any moment.” The cooperative I lived with in Venezuela had regular organizational meetings where they informally came to agreement and were even able to come back to re-evaluate decisions that didn´t seem to be satisfactory for the whole group in this same way. Decisions and decision making, in this way, are viewed as a process not contained by meetings and discussions in board rooms, but are always being analyzed and made better by the process of putting them into action, and not only by thinking them out and writing them down.”

- the “Self Government of the Producers” - aka what it looks like for cooks to govern.   

they have communal councils as well - neighborhood councils in the same vein that so many (rightfully) find inspiring in Kurdistan . They preexisted chavez, but they were able to proliferate and be given legal recognition through him. I understand that legal recognition can act to ‘name’ a body & pin it to smth that doesn’t match its requisite variety - how dynamic it is, but imo as its currently legislated it recognizes a good amount of the autonomy that they had already been excersizing. - liable to change                                government recognition of co-ops has drawbacks too, and correlates negatively with that coop’s success           

           "A good example of this intention is the de-emphasis that cooperatives in Venezuela put on advertising or “marketing” products, and instead push to find more people to become part of the cooperative, and choose the services or products they provide based on community decisions about what is needed. A cooperative I worked in […] was originally a family owned and operated theater group that traveled around the country performing theater pieces that highlighted social and environmental issues. When they joined the […] cooperative, the larger co-op did an analysis and decided they wanted a natural fruit juice concentrate producer and gave the group a loan to acquire capital and start producing. They have been doing this for only a couple of years now but have already paid back the loan to the larger cooperative and are bringing extra money in to support themselves, better their services, and supply extra funds to the larger cooperative for community projects such as the recently [2012] built community health center…                  

The cooperative services I experienced and learned about in Venezuela were health, dental, food, and a separate example of trash services. A dental cooperative […] provides quality dental services (I know because I used them) almost every day for affordable prices. You don´t have to be a member of the cooperative, and you don´t have to make an appointment. It takes only a couple of hours, and emergency situations are treated with urgency. The health center, built with funds provided by all the associated cooperatives[…], works the same way. Anyone can go there, the services are subsidized by the cooperative so they are affordable, the clinic and workspaces are clean and well taken care of, and the quality of the service is great. Worker-members of the cooperative receive health care at the facility without charge except for the massage and acupuncture services that they also provide at a really low price.

           […] food services are priced to provide more access to food for the community in which it exists. The original and persistent intention is to make the best situation for people on all ends of the process. The producers are part of the cooperative and are part of the group that decides the prices that growers get, as well as the prices that the food is sold for. This means that both farmers and workers at the market decide what to charge a person, which ultimately affects how much money the growers receive, as well as if the food is affordable for the people who need to eat who live in the city. In a normal capitalist market system these parties are separated and put up against each other, raising prices for consumers and lowering them for small producers, excluding those people from getting enough money to afford all the necessities that are typically only provided at a high price.

           One communal council, a parallel governing organization of community members linked to investment funds from the national government, in the city of Merida, Venezuela organized themselves to get funds to buy a trash collection truck. The truck at the time was used for a specific waste removal project that removed waste from their community regularly but was not a traditional collection service. However, they did have plans to expand the project to start their own collection service, and this would be provided by the commal council, an anti-capitalist organization which does not require people to pay for the service. Although this is not a “co-operative” as some hardliner co-operative enthusiasts might point out, it is a horizontal anti-capitalist organization widening access of necessary services to the larger community run by community members; following cooperative values of equity, inclusion, and solidarity I believe this to be an example of cooperative economics and action. It appears to me that economic inclusion is much more likely to widen only when those who are being excluded are included in the process of organizing the services and are in control of the economy.“

until the communes, workers cooperatives, and the like are strong enough to rule themselves, having Maduro in power is the only option given to us which doesn’t trigger the control of reactionaries. People make their own history, but not in situations of their choosing - the exact outcome isn’t predetermined, but there’s only a limited number of poles - gravitational attractors - towards which that trajectory is heading at any particular time.   

if maduro acts to squash the power of the communes, then thats a different situation. but until that point, we outside of the country must work to center any discussion on these bodies - they are the heart of the country and of whatever social revolution has occurred/is further possible. They are filled with lessons for us to learn from, and show how rich and dynamic the organized populace can be if they are allowed to control their communities. (ex of dealing with gang violence from @ 22:50)       

This is all said with recognition that many chavistas have acted against communes, the bureaucratic machine acts to co-opt much of their energy, its linguistically obscured the concept of "ownership” with that of “control”, and that the state has changed its messages over time. But the heart of the communes is what’s a priority, and they have acted against the government overstepping its bounds & mis-identifying them. But whats important is that there’s a feedback process in the gvt to actually allow them to assert their autonomy. Liberals will do their utmost to close those channels.

   If Guaido and the Popular Will take control of power, be assured that whatever gains made in organizing the everyday people of Venezuela will be at the top of the chopping block. How effective that suppression turns out to be is undetermined - it might turn out to strengthen the communes, but that outcome would be damage control, not something to try and bullseye.

Effective Propaganda knows that its more effective to control what’s left out than control what’s put in. Keep that in mind, and study trajectories and forces.

other links:

https://next.podbay.fm/podcast/1363342644/e/1551711604

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voc08vh9cJY

https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/a-cowboy-in-caracas/

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/the-tragedy-of-venezuela/

https://www.multpl.com/venezuela-gdp

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/04/fivethirtyeights-venezuela-problem

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-venezeulas-middle-class-is-taking-to-the-streets/

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/bjkmq8/fiery-protest-leader-leopoldo-lopez-faces-13-year-sentence-in-venezuela

https://potent.media/minimum-sentencing-for-marijuana-possession

https://www.thoughtco.com/core-and-periphery-1435410

https://popularresistance.org/building-the-commune-radical-democracy-in-venezuela/

http://www.antiwar.com/regions/regions.php?c=Venezuela

[homespork-review]

Homespork Act 2: The Racism of the Conductor’s Baton (Part 2)

FAILURE ARTIST: We don’t get much time to mourn with Dave because the comic flashes to a weird wizard statue. This statue is ZAZZERPAN THE LEARNED. Wizards are another recurring theme in Homestuck. Andrew Hussie once artfully defaced this cheesy book called Wizardology (warning: lots of really offensive humor). Anyway, Rose hates the giant statue and the other wizard paraphernalia her mother collects and believes her mother does this only to spite her. On a platform is a bronzed vacuum (with a place to put alcoholic beverages) that Rose gave her as an ironic present. On the couch there’s a life-sized princess doll that Rose has attached a Cthulhu-type head to. All these things set up Rose’s troubled relationship with her mother. Rose believes her mother is taunting her and Rose taunts her back.

BRIGHT: This scene also establishes that some things (the Cthulhu doll for one) are too big to be captchalogued.

CHEL: Actually, that was noted with the harlequin doll earlier but we forgot to mention that.

FAILURE ARTIST: Rose goes to the kitchen. On the fridge is a crude picture of her late cat Jaspers, who turns out to be more than a family pet. There’s more signs of this cold war between mother and daughter on the fridge.

CHEL: Also, numerous liquor bottles in the kitchen and comically exaggerated displays of wealth, such as a fifteen-thousand-dollar picture frame.

FAILURE ARTIST: After fussing with the fridge, Rose tries to leave the kitchen only to run into her mother. She tries escaping but lands comically in some wizard statuettes.

CHEL: Mom Lalonde is mopping the floor, with no water in the bucket, holding a martini in her other hand. The woman clearly has a problem. Again, this is an issue with the portrayal of the parents; this is pretty funny, but were a real mother behaving this way, it would seriously mess up the kid, and whether we’re supposed to take it as Rule of Funny or not later becomes inconsistent.

BRIGHT: I think a lot of the humour here is supposed to come from the implication that Mom Lalonde actually is a loving if clueless (and drunk) parent, and Rose is reading her badly. On the other hand, something is clearly very wrong, and while Mom Lalonde may indeed be loving the situation is definitely having an impact on Rose.

TIER: Say whatever you want, but when putting on the late game Cerebus Retcon goggles there are probably non-humorous questions to be asked about how screwy Mom Lalonde is as a parental unit if her daughter has ended up interpreting most of her actions as mocking or backhanded towards herself. Like, kids don't just decide that.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 3

CHEL: Back to Dave, he’s chatting with GG and they’re being adorable. GG comments about her birthday present to John, the green box we saw in the car earlier, and…

GG: no!!!!!!! GG: he will not open it GG: he will lose it!!! TG: oh TG: uh TG: wow sorry to hear that i guess? GG: no its good actually! GG: because he will find it again later when he really needs it GG: which of course is why i sent it in the first place! TG: see like TG: i never get how you know these things GG: i dont know GG: i just know that i know!

I think here is when we start to get inklings of the kids’ unusual abilities - I mean, unusual in the context of the weird world they live in. A bit more is established about GG’s home life and Dave’s attitudes, too:

GG: i have to feed bec which is always a bit of an undertaking TG: man TG: if i were you i would just take that fucking devilbeast out behind the woodshed and blow its head off GG: heheheh! GG: i dont think i could if i tried!!! TG: yeah TG: say hi to your grand dad for me too ok GG: ._. GG: yes i guess an encounter with him is almost certain GG: it is usually........ GG: intense!!! TG: well yeah isnt it always with family TG: but he sounds like a total badass

“Intense” in a world where attacking your father with a hammer isn’t worthy of comment sounds worrying. We’ll see how that goes.

FAILURE ARTIST: Dave has the tiniest of smiles here and in Hussie’s annotation he says that one pixel created Dave/GG. Whether or not their connection is romantic, Dave obviously feels great affection for her.

CHEL: Interactions between all four of the kids are really sweet, honestly. Dialogue and character interactions are one of the strongest points of the comic overall. Personally I have a soft spot for the OT4.

TIER: In my unprofessional opinion, the beta humans are by far the most functioning and tight knit group of the various groups within the comic, for what that's worth considering the overall dysfunction junction. They're sweet to one another is what I'm saying.

CHEL: Dave talks to John, who mentions the creepy trails around his house and how he thinks he’s seen monsters, which we the audience have definitely seen; creepy little black imps with fangs and, oddly, jester outfits. They bear a striking resemblance to the Wayward Vagabond, in fact. Dave makes fun, but at least pretends not to disbelieve him, and urges him to keep his hammer at the ready. Dave can’t find his Bro, but can find “Lil Cal”, implying Bro is nearby.

TG: lil cal is the shit EB: that's fine, you are entitled to your opinion, i am just saying that being a white guy who is a rapper with a ventriloquist doll is not cool by any stretch of the imagination or by any definition of word cool, ironic or otherwise. that's all i'm saying. WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM: 5

Would a non-white rapping ventriloquist be any cooler? I’m struggling to see how. Ventriloquism, by definition, sucks the cool out of any other aspect of the thing. And now I’m picturing Carlton from Fresh Prince trying to rap with a ventriloquist’s doll.

BRIGHT: Back at the Lalonde residence, Rose attempts to ‘Youth Roll’ out of the front door, but her escape route is blocked by her mother, who appears with martini glass in hand. Time for our second Strife of the comic! (And can I say that I really like the music for this one?)

As with John’s strife with his dad, this strife tells us a lot about Rose’s relationship with her mother. John had the AGGRIEVE and ABJURE options; Rose also gets AGGRESS (PASSIVE) and ABSTAIN. It’s pretty telling that one of these options is an EMPTY SUICIDE THREAT, and ‘Abstain’ has Rose fending off her mother’s insistent offer of the martini glass.

FAILURE ARTIST: I liked the EMPTY SUICIDE THREAT at the time but now I think it deserves an ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?

BRIGHT: Mom Lalonde may be intended as loving-but-clueless, but she’s offering her thirteen year old daughter alcohol, over Rose’s protests, and something is clearly very wrong if suicide threats are a normal part of life. (Something similar will come up in the future, but in that context it isn’t played for laughs.)

ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY?: 4

On a lighter note, ‘Abjure’ has her mother offering her A BEAUTIFUL PONY. Rose reacts in the moment like this is terrible, but does later pat the pony’s nose.

At any rate, the strife ends when Mom Lalonde apparently gets bored and decides to do some dusting. This takes all the fun out of using the front door, so Rose goes around the back to make her break for the generator.

Meanwhile, John is trying to read up on weaponizing sylladexes (sylladices?), but is being nagged by a voice to turn around — which he finally does, just in time for a monster to ram into him so hard it turns the panel pixelated. Strife time!

John’s bout with the Shale Imp kicks off with the monster threatening the Con Air bunny. John’s efforts to defend it are intercut with Rose’s progress out of the house and through the rain to the mausoleum. I think this interplay works quite nicely — it keeps both things moving without letting the reader get impatient -- but your mileage may vary.

The imp aggravates John by punching the bunny in the belly and waving it at him. John attacks the imp and breaks his hammer, then attacks it with the handle and gets knocked flat. Finally he weaponises his sylladex and chucks his inventory at it until it explodes into a shower of grist.

PUT THE BUNNY BACK IN THE BOX!!!!!! Now why couldn’t he put the bunny back in the box?

Because he’d set it as his strifekind, it turns out.

In true video game style, defeating the imp causes John to level up! In Homestuck, this is done by ascending one’s echeladder, a series of player levels with whimsical, old-fashioned names. John climbs two rungs, from Greentike to Plucky Tot, and earns 125 Boondollars.

Note how efficient this is: In one panel we can see that the echeladder is a levelling system, that Boondollars are in-Game currency, and that levelling up has increased John’s amount of grist and how much of it he can carry. He’s also got a new kind of grist called ‘Shale’. Hussie does take an extra panel to clarify the grist capacity expansion, but that makes sense as it’s a small part of the original panel. Compare this to the dozens of panels we’ve had laying out how sylladexes work. These panels are much more information-dense, and the comic flows better for it.

CHEL: Exactly what “grist” is and what it does beyond allowing changes to the house, why those changes are needed, and what “boondollars” are for hasn’t been explained yet, but will be soon, and it’s clear they’re something to do with the game so it’s not outright confusing.

BRIGHT: John spends the next few panels sorting his strife specibus out, and stashes the bunny in there for safekeeping. There’s something amiss, but he can’t quite put his finger on it...

Meanwhile, Rose has reached the mausoleum and prepares to activate the generator. The taxidermied corpse of her beloved pet lies in state, dressed in a tiny suit. A sad fate for an animal who should have peacefully decomposed in a flowerbed. Rose kicks it off the pedestal to make room for the laptop.

John discovers what’s wrong when a bucket of water perched atop his door lands on his head. The culprit behind this sudden dousing?

"[S] WHAT THIS IS SO OUTRAGEOUS (HD)" (Watch on YouTube)

Apparently the sprite has a sense of humour.

Next up is a pesterlog between Rose and Dave. There are hints that all is not well in the Strider residence.

TG: hey TG: dont tell john this but i think he might have been right about the puppets TG: theyre sort of starting to freak me out a little TT: You're referring to your brother's collection? TG: i mean dont get me wrong i think its cool and all TG: the semi-ironic puppet thing or whatever TG: or semi-semi ironic TG: man i dont even know TG: im just starting to think some of this shit is going a little far and its kind of fucked up TT: I've seen his websites. TT: I like them. TG: haha yeah well YOU WOULD TG: oh man i wish lil cal wouldnt look at me like that TG: with those dead eyes jesus TG: sometimes i dream that hes real and hes talking to me and i wake up in a cold sweat and basically flip the fuck out

Well, not so much hints as flashing neon signs. Dave’s gone very quickly from insisting that everything his brother does is cool and Lil Cal is awesome, to admitting that he has nightmares about Lil Cal and is freaked out by his brother’s ‘semi-ironic puppet thing’. We don’t know much about Bro’s websites yet, but we do know that Rose has a morbid streak, and Dave is clearly disturbed by the content.

Dave leaves to find his brother’s copy of the game, and we return to John, who, to quote Rose, has ‘just had a bucket of water dumped on his head by the ghost of his dead grandmother, who also happens to be dressed like a clown.’

And yes, that is indeed John’s dead Nanna, returned to help him on his journey through The Medium and beyond -- or at least, she claims she is. John has to take her word for it, as he doesn’t remember her at all. According to his Dad, John was pretty young when she died. Speaking of his Dad, he’s been kidnapped by the forces invading John’s home.

Nannasprite gives John the background of the game and what’s going on. His house is now in the Medium. This place was created by the game software, but is physically independent of it -- and no, he’s not inside a computer. The Medium floats in the Incipisphere, a place outside the normal flow of time in the kids’ universe. Above the Medium is the realm of Skaia.

According to Nannasprite:

Legend holds that Skaia exists as a dormant crucible of unlimited creative potential. What does this mean, you ask? I'm afraid my lips are sealed about that, dear! Hoo hoo!

Nannasprite is somewhat like a tutorial assistant for the game -- she helps guide John and provides information, although she’s somewhat cryptic.

We are getting a lot of new words here, but Hussie is defining them pretty well as we go, so I don’t think it merits a point.

At any rate, Skaia is defended by the forces of light, while forces of darkness plot its destruction. These two forces exist in an endless stalemate on a stage at the centre of Skaia until a player with a prototyped Kernelsprite enters the Medium. Then the prototyped Kernelsprite splits, with one Kernel carrying the prototyping information up to a kingdom basked in light, and another Kernel carrying it down to the kingdom of darkness. Each kingdom has four Spires, and when the Kernel reaches one, it propagates the prototyping information to the kingdom’s forces.

This is why the imps were dressed as jesters: John prototyped his Kernel with the harlequin doll, and whatever the other players prototype with will influence what forms the soldiers take. When the first Kernels reach the spires, the battlefield gets bigger and the war begins for real.

Oh, right -- and the forces of light are always destined to lose.

So what’s the point? Apparently, that’s for John to find out. For now, though, he needs to head towards Skaia, going through the first of seven Gates. The first Gate is situated directly above John’s house, but the others are going to be harder to reach. We now find out what all that Build Grist is for: To get to the Gate, they need to build the house higher to reach it. And then they can rescue John’s Dad, solve the ultimate riddle, and save the Earth from destruction!

...or not.

Nope, according to Nannasprite, Earth is doomed. Done for. Kaput. There is nothing they can do to save it.

John is pretty bummed about this. He isn’t cheered by Nanna’s assurance that he has a much more important purpose than saving the planet, although she fails to elaborate on that point and instead floats off to make cookies.

CHEL: I think here we earn another couple of points.

HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING: 2 HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC: 11 Failing the Turing Test - wherein the character has no reactions whatsoever While the emotional lives of characters should not be described in their every tiny wrinkle, characters must have emotional lives. When someone boos them off a stage, they should experience chagrin. When they fall from a tenth-storey window, they should feel alarm. The writer should not count on dialogue like “Yikes!” to get the point across.

Brief confusion and feeling “bummed out” by the news that one’s entire planet is doomed does not count as an adequate reaction. I’d expect more fear, more concern. As pointed out before, doesn’t John have any friends other than Dave, Rose, and GG? His Dad has friends, wouldn’t he be concerned for them on Dad’s behalf? If nothing else, more curiosity about this “more important” business?

BRIGHT: Now, I could actually buy this in some circumstances — John is a teenager, doesn’t seem to have close connections outside those we see on screen, and he’s been having one hell of a weird day. I wouldn’t be surprised if grasping the scope of destruction was simply beyond him at this point. It’s a lot to take in, and it’s only been a few hours since life went to hell in a handbasket — not to mention, he’s in an active combat zone. There’s a lot going on, and if he was to shove it out of his mind while he dealt with the immediate crisis, I could see that as pretty realistic.

Of course, that would depend on him actually reacting at some later point, when he had a chance to slow down and it could sink in. As it stands...well, if that does happen, we never see it.

CHEL: Does this also count as “Oh, Don’t Mind Him” for the How Not To score?

BRIGHT: I think so, yes.

CHEL: Then here it goes!

HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC: 12 Oh, Don’t Mind Him - where a character’s problems remain unexplored In real life, people are riddled with chronic problems that are not addressed for long periods of time, if ever. But in fiction, all problems are just the opening chords of a song. If there is a brother who has a problem with alcohol, a child who has lost her dog, or even someone whose car has simply broken down, the reader will worry about those people and expect the author to do something about it.

Technically, this could count for seven billion or so points, minus any people who successfully entered their own game sessions, but we don’t want to get out of hand here and it really only counts as one big problem.

However! I am very fond of this idea in theory. The obvious option would be that the purpose of the game is to save the player’s homeworld. We’ve all seen the “save the homeworld” idea in scifi and fantasy before. Here, the homeworld is beyond saving, but there is another option, and exploring that is the storyline. The forces of light cannot have a traditional victory; the protagonists must find a victory on the terms they have. It’s not a theme one sees often, and I like it.

FAILURE ARTIST: John and the other Beta Kids’ lack of angst of the destruction of their planet doesn’t stick out as much here as it will later when almost everything else is milked for angst.

CHEL: I’m not really sure the planet being destroyed is a great basis for a Rule-of-Funny-based story if that was what he was going for, to be honest. “Billions died, lol!”