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celestaux-branchais · 6 years ago

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Forsaken Vows

{{These events take place 3.5-4 years ago IC, a loose blurb around Celestaux leaving Ishgard. It’s also rambly and jumpy and very self-serving and I only proofread once, you’re welcome.}}

Carvallain had always been fire. Bright and passionate and full of life- that had been what had drawn Celestaux to him as a child. The wild streak that somehow shown through the oppressive weight of Ishgardian nobility. Courage to the point of recklessness, and the silvertongue that always managed to talk his way out of it. Watching him was mesmerizing, to the point that the mask had slipped more than once or twice.

But Celestaux had always been ice. Cold with broken, jagged edges that he kept close to his breast in the hopes they’d not strike those around him. Where his friend threw sassy grins and the occasional wink, his face had remained smooth as stone. They’d made an odd pair, and more than once Celestaux had tried to peel away- for fire melted ice, and how could one afford to melt when there was naught else to protect the soft heart beneath? But he was weak and he could never drift far for long.

Until, like smoke, his flame had vanished. Gone, they’d said. Left aboard a ship to explore the realm. And then, not much later, dead. Ship overtaken by pirates, and slain in the fray. Had his heart existed outside a cage of ice, it might have broken. The cracks left were quickly refilled, strengthened with the permafrost that snaked its way in. He redoubled his focus with the blade- a weapon he hated but that had become like an extension of his own arm, and sunk himself deeper into Knight’s training.

The quiet moments he’d taken for himself- stealing away to his cousin’s room, perhaps the only place he’d been able to have a quiet discourse on literature- all but ceased. Lucien had been growing stronger, and Celestaux withdrew further. After so many summers spent abed, he was not about to force his cousin behind closed doors and away from his studies. They’d drifted, and by the time his cousin took his trip down the Witchdrop, they’d spoken hardly at all. The guilt settled heavy on his heart, frost slowly covering it until that, too, had become a part of him.

If he’d hoped to have learned his lesson, he failed. The draw to flame- to bright sun and optimism- had not left him. Bitter and cold as he was, he still gravitated towards those who put out light. Aymeric- a ‘dirty bastard with no business taking the mantle of a knight’, his father had said- found himself with an occasional second shadow. His burden was heavy, and yet he still retained his charming exterior. A lovely face, but that had drawn no special attention; that Aymeric spoke to him as comrade and knight- not as dreaded noble and hated Dzemael- it had been enough to warm the frozen spot within his chest.

And so he’d gone on, slowly mending any holes and cracks with frozen resolve. He kept his head down, avoiding promotions that might draw too much attention, speaking up only in support of those that rightfully deserved them- and quietly suffering the consequences for embarrassing the family name at home.

But then there had been a whisper. A knight’s cousin’s courier had made mention of a pirate in a far off port city. One that bore striking resemblance to the Lord de Durendaire. And wouldn’t that just be the funniest thing? A pirate for a bastard.

He’d sat on the rumour- it was hardly a rumour, for the it had been quashed as soon as it had begun- and at first did nothing. Moons passed, and while hope had long been something he’d long reconciled as foolishness, he found himself clinging desperately to it.

“If he were alive, and he had wished for you to know, he would have sent word.”

Those were the words that had kept him in place. The warning that, even should he dare go looking, he would almost certainly not like what he found. How many years had passed? How much had changed? How had he changed, growing ever colder and shrinking further behind the mask until it had become his own skin? He was not the boy he had been- and so how could he expect that he had not changed either? And even if he hadn’t- even if the pirate were still the boy he’d known deep down- what use had he for a frozen knight?

“What am I doing?” He tilted his head back to look at the stars, snow falling into his hood. The long robe hid his armour from view, but there was still the familiar clinking of chainmail with every step. Luckily, this far out into the wilds, he had little concern of being heard. His hand stayed steady on his sword, the shield long since pitched into the void of the Sea of Clouds.

He trudged deeper through the snow, keeping his distance from Whitebrim Front. Getting through the gates had been easy- he’d been another faceless guard, safe beneath the chain and helm of a Temple Knight- and had shown a false letter of great import that required urgent delivery- something far too dangerous for a simple courier, especially this time of night. And then, once he’d slipped well out of sight, he’d pulled the robe from his bag and replaced the helm with hood and pitched the wretched headpiece into the Sea of Clouds after his shield.

Daring the Coerthan wilds in the middle of the night- in the middle of winter- was a fool’s choice. But he hadn’t wanted to risk being followed. Though he left heavy footprints in the snow, they were quickly covered with fresh snow- all traces gone, as if he’d never been there at all.

The trek to the Twelveswood was long and grueling, but the Temple Knights had instilled in him a soldiers discipline. Even running from them as he was, he was grateful that the mindless march south was that much easier when he could simply fade back behind a soldier’s drive.

He’d stopped to rest but the once, a few bells of rest with his back pressed to the mountainside perhaps a bit closer to Dzemael Darkhold than was wise. But naught came of it, and it was not long before he was leaving the frozen north behind and stepping into the beautiful wilderness of the Northern Shroud.

Greenery and trees were things he’d only seen on campaigns since he was but a boy, and he found himself pausing long enough to draw the attention of the Wood Wailers. Just a traveler, he’d assured them, before requesting directions to Gridania.

It wasn’t that much farther- he could make the trip easily, but the moment he stepped foot in Fallgourd Float the weight of what he’d done weighed him down. He rented a room at the inn, using more gil than he’d allotted for this leg of the trip, and collapsed in the bed still fully clothed.

'What am I doing?’

The question repeated itself without end, the words becoming so blended together that they no longer made sense. This was madness- complete and utter madness. What business had he, abandoning his family- his oaths, his duty, his obligations- to chase what was surely just a rumour from a commoner spewing nonsense for attention. He would find nothing for him in Limsa Lominsa. He would end up a sellsword or dead in the gutter- or tuck his tail between his legs and return home to beg forgiveness.

Returning home was not an option.

There might be nothing for him in Limsa, but what awaited him at home- a furious father who knew how to hurt without leaving marks, an arranged marriage to a woman he dreaded- was worse. He’d prefer to be gutted in the streets for his coin purse than turn back now. Which, now that he thought about it, was another possibility in Limsa.

Sleep did not come- it hardly ever did, these days- and it was some bells later that he finally hauled himself out of bed to make use to the facilities. As much as he craved a hot bath, he settled for lukewarm so that his still-frozen toes did not burn. He scrubbed off the sweat and allowed the heat to seep in beneath his skin. Only once the water turned cold did he force himself out, drying quickly before simply collapsing back onto the bed.

Sleep did come, then. Just a few bells, hardly enough to call an actual test, but enough. When he awoke, he rose and donned his armour with mechanical motions. The robe he threw overtop, for even now out of Coerthas he was too freshly gone to feel at ease without it, and set out into the early morning light.

Gods, he’d missed trees. And foliage and animals that were not frozen hellbeasts or dragons ready to eat him whole. Despite his drive, he found himself taking his time through the forest. He could disappear here, instead. Learn the lay of the land, settle as but another labourer in whatever small settlement he stumbled into first. But that would not satisfy the curiosity, the driving need to know whether one he had lost yet breathed.

He abandoned you once. Why, then, would you not take the hint?

He grit his teeth, pausing within sight of the gate to Gridania. Why was he so set on finding this man? Would he even be remembered? He’d been one face of many- an annoying shadow at best- and here he was, so many summers later, attempting to track down someone who had so desperately wanted out that he’d organized his expedition and set out without a second thought.

Slowly, he took another step. It mattered naught, whether his old friend lived as pirate or privateer or whatever it was they were these days. There was a guild in Limsa, one of magic, and he would find something for himself that did not require ponzes of armour and blades and mindless obedience. Shunned or embraced, he could start over. Be someone who was not hated for his name and an utter disappointment to it besides.

Gridania was… not at all what he’d expected. Even as a city, it was full of greenery and plantlife. The market seemed as good a place as any to explore. He browsed over the wares, stopping only once his eyes settled on a smooth black mask.

“Ash Mask. Import from Limsa, real popular with those arcanist types.” The merchant behind the table spoke up, noticing his pause. “For you? Three hundred gil.”

“Two hundred.” Cele raised his eyes, studying the man. He pulled the coin from his pocket, waiting. They settled at two twenty-five, and yet he still walked away feeling ripped off. Perhaps this was why he’d never been allowed to visit the markets on his own.

With mask firmly affixed over his face, he finally dropped the hood. With face safely covered, he set out on the rest of his journey. He hitched rides with traveling merchants, trading protection for food. The journey through the Twelveswood was pleasant enough, and he’d have happily traded the oppressive desert heat of Thanalan for another ambush by Ixal or poachers. Coerthas had not always been ice, but dry heat was not something he had ever been prepared for. Though even miserable as he was, he’d elected to take the long way; seeing at least a little bit of what Eorzea had to offer had been his hope, and he’d certainly not been disappointed.

The ferryman in Vesper Bay was, despite his desire to wander, a welcome sight. Traveling was rough, and he longed to collapse in a proper bed for a night before throwing himself headfirst into what was hopefully a new life. The possibility of rejection still weighed heavy in the back of his mind, but it was easier to ignore when crowded behind the exhaustion of traipsing across the desert.

He’d parted ways with his latest companions back in Horizon, and so he boarded the ship to Limsa alone. The boat was all but empty of other travelers and so he’d dared to slip the mask from his face to get his first real look at the sea.

An endless expanse of glittering blue, teeming with life just below the surface. The further from shore they went, the more fish seemed to drift close to the surface. The shifted in a million shades of brown, all beautiful despite surely being robbed of their true colour. They passed large ships, with sails taller than buildings and weighed down with cannon that would give any Ward a run for its money. The sounds of men shouting carried on the wind, and he could practically feel the salt in the air. He leaned back in the boat, eyes drifting and trying to take in everything. Limsa was bright and shining and loud and so very alive.

Perhaps he could understand why someone might prefer the sea.

#cele lore #woops it's bad #cele snaps #{drabble}

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timeisacephalopod · 6 years ago

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Famine

Have some more of that Tony/ Stephen/ Peter YouTube AU for reasons lol.

“Wong is dead to me,” Stephen says and Peter rolls his eyes.

“He can’t be dead to you, we don’t know how to cook and he’s good,” he tells Stephen. “Also dead to you doesn’t mean dead to the rest of us. I still like Wong. Please come back from Nepal,” he says to the camera, almost pleading really.

Tony sighs. “We ran out of food three days ago and I feel like we’re living in a Mad Max dystopia type world where Stephen is Immortan Joe except instead of withholding water from us he tries to feed us his cooking as torture.”

Stephen gives him an offended look but he shouldn’t. Tony has never met a steak he won’t eat, he doesn’t even care if its shitty its good enough for him. Unless Stephen is the one who cooked it, then he’d rather risk chewing on a lion’s ass for sustenance.

“God, it is a dystopia over here. Wong, if you’re watching, please save us from Stephen and his attempts to cook,” Peter says, looking upset.

“That’s dumb, we’re not talking about that,” Peter mumbles.

“It was cute,” Tony says.

“No it wasn’t, but your discomfort with the subject is enough for me to remain interested,” Stephen tells him.

Peter gives him a dirty look, “oh fuck off, man. Why are you like this?”

Stephen shrugs delicately, “I’m sure I have no idea what you mean,” he says, nose in the air.

“Do so. But the point here is that you totally called mini Peter your son and that’s adorable,” Tony says.

“When did this even happen?” Stephen asks and honestly only he could live under a rock so much that he missed the entire social media frenzy about it. Buzzfeed wrote like five articles and Tony has to commend the company for managing to squeeze that much content out of a single line Peter said.

Tony looks over to Peter and he rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed but he goes with it. Probably because he’s mostly only fake annoyed. “I was doing an interview and the guy was a dick and he went to say some asshole shit about Peter, of the mini variety, so I uh...” he trails off and Tony rolls his eyes.

Of course he stops there. “So he snapped at the guy and told him not to talk about his son like that,” Tony says. “Which is the cutest shit I’ve ever seen.”

Stephen squints, “why do you like children and parent child bonds so much when you had horrible parents?” he asks. Peter smacks him for being an insensitive prick but Stephen ignores it, giving him a dirty look before turning back to Tony. “I’m just saying, children are messy, vial little beasts who scream and are more trouble than they’re worth. Especially with those insane disease spreading soccer moms who think their two hour YouTube search makes them more of an expert on vaccines than doctors and if you insist on turning your child into a biological weapon of warfare you keep that thing far away from society or vaccinate it,” he says, arms crossed in anger.

They pause for a beat and Tony sighs. “Children are not vial little beasts Stephen, they’re just little people.”

“No, little people have dwarfism. Children are the modern day rats.”

“That’s not fair to the kids Stephen, their parents are the rats, the kids are just the carriers,” Peter says.

Tony squints at him, “that’s the problem you found with that statement?”

Stephen considers him for a moment and sighs. “Fine, children aren’t the worst. That goes to idiot adults with no medical degrees and such a flimsy understanding of science that I’m surprised they aren’t flat earthers too.”

“Oh for gods sake how can anyone in this century be so fucking stupid! We have pictures of the earth from space! What more evidence do you need? And these morons, talking about how you can’t see the curve just looking at the earth- do you know how big this god damn planet is? Of course you can’t see the fucking curve-”

Peter cuts him off before he gets going, which might be for the best. “Yeah, can’t believe I’m saying this but uh. Back to me calling mini Peter my son,” he says somewhat awkwardly. “Before you two go off and bring up science shit only you and three other people know about.”

Tony opens his mouth to dispute that, considers, and then sighs. “Okay yeah, academia is a small world. There are definitely fields of study where its only five people yelling at each other. Anyway, children are not modern day rats that’s dehumanizing, flat earthers need to be shot to also round Mars, and Peter. Explain why you called other Peter your son. Because I’m curious.”

“I’m not,” Stephen says.

“Well no one asked your opinion,” Tony mumbles.

“I’m a third of this show so yes actually, you did. And children are absolutely modern day rats. Except the rats might actually be cleaner. We’ve seen the video of that rat showering and it probably scrubs better than any child washing their hands,” he says, nose wrinkled.

“I can see how much you want to dispute that but Tony you were a kid, I was a kid, Stephen was also a kid but probably a weirdly clean one- we all know how fucking gross we were. I don’t think I washed my hands after going to the bathroom till I was like seventeen,” he says and Stephen wrinkles his nose so hard his entire face wrinkles up as he leans heavily into Tony.

“I lied, its not children spreading disease like vermin, its people like you,” he says.

Peter rolls his eyes, “I obviously figured out washing my hands,” he says. “You’re being dramatic.”

Tony shakes his head, “oh he so isn’t. That’s disgusting, shit fingers.”

Stephen snorts and tries to avoid laughing but mostly fails at it. Peter squints, “dude, if I got actual ass shit on my hands obviously I washed them, I wasn’t out there with skid marks on my palms, Jesus.”

“Okay shit fingers,” Stephen says, causing him and Tony to start laughing.

“You know what, fuck you guys I’m going my son figure after this because he’s better than you two,” Peter mumbles.

“He won’t return your calls once he knows you’re obviously one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Hello, pestilence,” Stephen says.

“Oh give me a break, that’s total bullshit. Okay, you know what,” Peter says after a slight pause. “No, I will be pestilence and Stephen can be war because he can’t ever keep his god damn gate shut and has to start something about anything and he’s damn dramatic out of it too. Only war would consider haunting his roommate out of an apartment instead of moving like a normal person,” he says, nose in the air.

“What’s that make Tony then? Wouldn’t he be war?” Stephen asks and Tony rolls his eyes.

“No dipstick, I’d be death. You know, like the Merchant of Death,” he says, reminding Stephen of his past nickname. Absolutely not a point in his life that he’s proud of.

Stephen frowns. “Who’s famine?”

“Wong, because he left us here with your shit cooking, which you’re clearly using to try and starve us into war,” Peter tells him.

God, Tony didn’t think he’d ever find one person more dramatic than him let alone too. How does Rhodey deal with them all in a room? How does Pepper? “Peter Parker being your son,” Tony reminds them all, wrangling. Damn this is a wayward episode.

Peter sighs, “what? I like him. I don’t see why that needs further explanation.”

“I like Stephen, doesn’t mean I see him as my son,” Tony points out.

“I wouldn’t mind if you were my daddy,” Stephen has the gall to say with a straight face. Tony doesn’t even respond, he picks himself up and leaves the room without a word. “What was that for?” Stephen asks Peter.

“You brought up daddy kink to someone with daddy issues? The hell is wrong with you?” Peter asks.

“And here I thought the two of you wanted father figures,” Stephen says. “I’m also happy to play the role of daddy too,” he adds.

Poor Peter, he makes a gagging noise and flees the scene immediately. Stephen sits perched on the couch looking pleased with himself because he’s a bastard.

Tony sits in Peter’s lap with a back scratcher pointed at Stephen to keep him on the other end of the couch where he belongs. “We’ve decided,” Peter says, “that without Wong you’re not worth it. You try and kill us with food, you’re mean, and you brought up daddy kink. Actually, I think we’re just going to replace you with Wong.”

“He’s nice, and he knows how to cook, and he doesn’t bring up daddy kink,” Tony says. “All the things we need out of a person. And he’s funny,” he adds.

Stephen rolls his eyes. “You two are not ditching me for Wong,” he says, rolling his eyes.

Peter and Tony exchange a look. “Actually yeah, we are. We like Wong better.”

“Also, Wong isn’t disgustingly dirty. You think Peter is pestilence with your dirty ass habits? Fat chance,” Tony tells him. God they had no idea how much Wong did for them. The man is a blessing from a god Tony doesn’t even believe in.

“Hey, yeah, side note. When the hell did Wong move in with us?” Peter asks.

“Who cares, we’ve never encountered wet dirty underwear on a pillow until now so we should just count Wong as a blessing,” Tony says.

“If you’re implying that I wet myself I most certainly did not,” Stephen says, irritated.

“Since you had just showered I assumed that wasn't the case, given that the whole bathroom turns into fucking water world whenever you’re in there. But thanks for that not at all reassuring statement, Stephen.”

“I didn’t know he managed to get water on the ceiling until now. Wong, please come back,” Peter pleads.

Gamora frowns, “you just left the guy there?” she asks.

“Look Gamora, he brought up daddy kink. He did this to himself,” Peter points out. “Plus the shoot isn’t that extensive. Couple days, he can suffer for that long.” Shorts aren’t that hard and he’s not even out of the city even if he totally didn't get permission to film in Central Park so he’s going to have to watch for cops and shit. But that seemed like work and its like, a two minute scene. They can do that fast probably. Like, not with lighting but whatever. Rocket can make it work in post.

“Where’s Tony?” she asks, predicting correctly that Tony’s also out of town.

“I think he went to Nepal to go get Wong back.” Peter hopes he succeeds because he is a savior in the dark and they haven’t been giving him enough credit. Or any credit, and that’s terrible. Wong needs to know that fifty percent of their love for Stephen was actually for him.

Gamora rolls her eyes. “I don’t get you three,” she mumbles.

#tony x stephen x peter Q #youtube au #fanfiction #alternate universe

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inktuitive-blog · 5 years ago

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Inktuitive - STOP These Hidden Money-Repelling Beliefs - For Quicker & Easier Wealth Attraction - Part 3 of 5

Three Truths You Must

Ignore To Get Rich

Welcome to our third installment of this five-part series on the beliefs that repel money from your life.

If you haven’t read the first two installments, check them out here and here. We’ve gotten TONS of amazing feedback on how they’ve already changed so many peoples’ relationships with money and how they make it! If you take the information in this series seriously, it can help you, too.

Today, we’ve got a special one for you…

You’re about to discover three new money-repelling beliefs. We grouped these three together in this post for an important reason.

See, most of the beliefs that hinder your wealth are completely false. They’re complete mythology. They easily crumble under the force of logic…

But today, we’re covering the only wealth-blocking beliefs that are 100% TRUE.

So if you want to be afraid of something, be afraid of these. Because they’re absolutely real.

By the time you’re done reading this, however, you’ll discover why there’s no reason to be afraid of them at all.

You’ll discover why they’re completely over-hyped, and why letting them get in the way of you and the wealthy life of your dreams is still a colossal mistake.

Ready? Let’s begin.

Wealth-Blocking Belief #3:

“Having Money Will Alienate Me

From Family & Friends”

This is a BIG issue for a lot of people. They don’t want to be the only one in their circle to be wealthy.

But will being wealthy really alienate you?

It definitely will from some—especially if you say “no” to them!

Having a suddenly wealthy friend or family member does weird things to people. Your friends and family are no exception.

So here’s a strategy to remember for when you enter the “elite”.

It’s a true story to keep in mind for when your hustling pays off:

See, there was once a guy from Cleveland who hit the lottery for millions.

He knew once he went down to cash the ticket, he’d be on the news with that huge check. Once that happened, friends and family would know…

So before he cashed it in, he made a truly genius move:

He called all his relatives and his friends. And he said,

“I’ve got an emergency. I need to borrow a thousand dollars. And I can’t tell you what I need it for. Can you get over here tonight?”

And he “checked” each person off.

As you might imagine, he didn’t have a lot of people running over with a grand to “help him out.” Family and friends gave him a REASON. Not a check.

The next day? They all saw him on TV having won the lottery. And his strategy dramatically reduced the number of incoming calls trying to tap those lottery winnings.

The bottom line:

Friends and family WILL treat you differently when you become wealthy.

When it happens, it’ll be eye-opening to say the least. Because essentially, you’ll be the same person. You’ll just be a lot richer. But the sudden change in how you’re treated will be eery to say the least.

This is NOT a bad thing…

Just don’t be surprised when the coaxing begins. They’ll use guilt, shame… you name it:

“It’s been really hard for us lately…”

“I would do the same for YOU…”

“But we’re family…”

Now—it’s up to you to decide who you lend money to…

Just remember: if people treat you differently once you’re rich, it won’t be because they’re alienating you…

It will be a product of your sudden change of status. And when a person’s status changes, people don’t know how to react.

And the truth is—not everyone will treat you differently…

Some of your family or friends will treat you the same as they did before.

That’s why getting rich is a great way to find out who your real friends are. You gain much deeper insight into the character of people around you.

And who wouldn’t appreciate that?

So you’ll be able to keep—and start—plenty of fulfilling relationships once you become wealthy. Don’t let this one stop you from doing it.

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Shop NowMoney-Repelling Belief #4:

“Having Money Will

Create More Problems For Me”

The title says it all. And it’s completely true.

Getting rich brings PROBLEMS. All kinds of ‘em!

What’s worse: initially, you probably won’t be equipped to handle them.

When you have a lot of money, you’ll have the responsibility of looking after it at all times. You’ll have a lot more of it to lose, too.

You might feel obligated to spend money on things you don’t need…

You might even acquire emotional stress from figuring out how to manage it all…

The list of problems that come from getting rich will pile up. That’s guaranteed.

But are these problems a reason to avoid creating wealth for yourself?

The answer is a resounding…

F&$K NO.

Here’s why:

Having money has its problems. But NOT having money has a whole bunch of problems too!

Which set of problems would you rather have?

Ask anyone… the problems of Bill Gates sure as hell beat the problems of every 37-year-old Wendy’s employee.

We’ll put it like this:

As a wealthy person, it’s not uncommon to get a brand new Lamborghini Diablo…

…leave it in a well-lit, public parking lot…

And come back to find—OH NO—it got keyed.

Some people just have it out for rich people, right?

When that happens—yes, it’s disappointing. Annoying even. But hey—

If you’ve been truly immersed in the entrepreneurial struggle, you might've also had the car where there were no floorboards…

…and you couldn’t change the tires…

…and you’d been ignoring the “check engine” light for 3 months, praying to the gods of entrepreneurship every time you drove it was just the light that was broken…

…and that your engine won’t suddenly stop in the middle of an intersection, making you late to meet your next prospect.

Give anyone the choice between those two problems, and they’ll take the keyed Lambo any day of the week—as truly painful as it is.

The bottom line: wealthy problems are better problems to have than not-wealthy problems.

That’s an undeniable fact.

Wealth-Blocking Belief #5:

Having Money Will Make Me A Target

To Be Taken Advantage Of

Again, the headline is self-explanatory. And this is probably the most true out of every belief we’ve listed so far.

The more wealth you’ve got, the more visible you are with it… the more people will try and take it away from you.

The only way to not have to worry about that—is to not have anything for them to take.

That’s the deal. Plain and simple. So what’s the solution?

Don’t be a target!

Don’t get us wrong—displaying your wealth to people is a blast.

Getting stares on the street, throwing fabulous parties for your friends in at your sweet new mansion, new connections, and any form of showing off in any way—that’s all part of the thrill…

But—at the same time—you’ll have to know when to display your wealth and when to play it down.

There are all kinds of wealth protection services to assist you with just that. They’ll help you both enjoy your money—and appear to other people like you don’t have money…

Basically, you want to appear broke on paper to as many people as possible. (With the exception of the IRS. That’s tax evasion and they’ll throw you in jail for that.)

Other than that, there isn’t a truly great solution to this…

But if you’re smart about it from the start, it won’t be a problem.

Finally…

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(And The Real Reason These Beliefs Repel Money)

The three beliefs outlined above are the only ones in this series that are true.

They WILL happen when you become wealthy. Almost a guarantee…

But there’s still one HUGE myth perpetuated by our society about all of them.

This myth is the part that actually blocks wealth. Not the facts themselves.

So what’s the myth?

The myth is that those problems are so bad… they SHOULD deter you from getting wealthy.

That, somehow, once you get rich—the three problems listed above will create such overwhelming pain for you, you’ll want to go back to being poor.

I mean… let’s be real.

The three small points above are the ONLY downsides of being wealthy?

It’s quite obvious they pale in comparison to the upsides:

Exceptional treatment everywhere you go, whether it’s on a private jet, at a show or concert, or a high-end restaurant… with less waiting in lines, more comfort, and better service…

Luxury cars, watches, gadgets or toys…

Any experience you’ve ever dreamed of, you can make happen and enrich your life…

New connections with other wealthy people and access to information and technology the public at large doesn’t yet know about…

The places you can travel, the freedom, the heightened immunity from danger and superior medical treatment, the respect and social status, the fun you can have...

…the upsides to being wealthy are literally endless. We can go on for hours and hours about the upsides.

The only downsides are the three mentioned above in this post.

Which brings us full circle:

If you read the previous posts in this series, you know most people have no clue how to get rich.

(Either that or they don’t want to put the work in—and don’t want to admit it.)

They make up reasons why getting rich is bad. It makes them feel better for not being rich. It also gives them an excuse not to hustle like mad to become wealthy.

This exaggeration of the “downsides” of being wealthy… are merely an extension of that. So don’t pay attention to any of it. It’s hyperbole.

Stay focused on your target of getting wealthy. Never let the small downsides sway you. It will serve you well.

– To Your Success,

Inktuitive

#canvas art prints #canvas wall art #inspirational wall art canvas #canvas wall art quotes #inspirational quotes on canvas #inspirational canvas art #motivational canvas art #modern canvas art #inspirational canvas painting #inspirational quotes canvas wall art

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theliterateape · 4 years ago

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Squaring the Circle: Tips on Managing the Chaos

by Don Hall

“Goddamnit. How do you manage to cope with all of this...chaos in the world and still stay optimistic? I don’t think you’re stupid but maybe you’re just too stupid to see how bad things are getting.”

It’s true. Maybe I am stupid. I’ve certainly been called worse by both political extremes since...well...as long as I can remember. If I am stupid, I’m definitely too dense to recognize it. Managing chaos, living in uncertain times, is just that. Managing and living.

Back in 2015, Alice Kim and I were a dysfunctional couple. That relationship was a constant source of tension and did some damage to both of us. I did, however, learn many things from it and from her. One gift she gave me was the idea of reframing things to see a different angle. I have always been on the outside of things and perpetually looking for that contrarian point of view but that was as much about fueling conflict as it was about the frame.

As a theater artist, my work was inspired by DADAists and the legend of Andy Kaufman. Framing society as a series of ongoing behavioral experiments. Pushing buttons on people to see how they would react. Not so much instigating mean-spirited pranks but close enough to bear that definition.

Alice’s view was that one could gently shift the frame on a given situation. Reframe reality because, for most of us, reality is cemented in our perception of it.

2020 seems to be a real shitshow. Trump is still in office. A pandemic rages throughout the globe. Massive unemployment and the coming of our second Great Depression. A video of George Floyd being murdered by a police officer has been seen 800 million times by one million people. Protests for civil rights. Alt Right terrorists joining the protests to foment the idea that these protests are really riots. While in the back of the queue, we still contend with pending climate disaster, crumbling credibility on the World Stage, an almost maniacally conservative federal court system, and an increasingly powerful and poisonous cancel culture that now seems more like a raging wildfire consuming every and anyone who bothers to even question the orthodoxy of the Extreme Zealots of both White Supremacy and Critical Race Theory.

We’re fucked.

Reframe.

There is actually little evil in the world (if you choose to see things in the binary Good & Evil mode) but metric tons of stupidity and selfish interests. While brutal cops are a problem and the mostly accidental murders of citizens by police are motivated by incompetence driven by lived experience bias, the vast majority of people are merely focused on themselves without much thought put into how their actions affect others. Not evil but certainly fucking annoying.

That guy who parked in two spots isn’t evil, he’s a selfish asshat. The guy who makes a racist joke to make his Black co-workers laugh isn’t evil, he’s just a bigot but one trying to find a way into his 1970’s version of race relations in an increasingly fed up world.

Most people are motivated by what they perceive as good intentions despite their born-in tendency of stupidity and selfishness.

Further, simply looking at the history and progress the world has made gives us a macro-view of things. That more objective scene demonstrates that in the past fifty years we are living longer, healthier lives, literacy is at an all-time high, being gay is no longer stigmatizing in many cases, Black incarceration has declined dramatically, police killing people has declined dramatically, women are more empowered, run more businesses, and are increasingly being elected to public office.

Is there still suffering? Of course. Everyone (even the white people) suffers. The question to ask is not Who suffers more? which invites nothing more than an Olympiad of Victim Status but For what reason are people suffering? Nobody should be insulted, attacked, threatened, etc. but we live in a country of 330 million people and that Shangrala is not realistic in any meaningful way. If we (as in society of free thinking but incredibly stupid and selfish people united by the Grand Experiment in Diverse Democracy) hope to stand up against hateful ideas, we have to be willing to sacrifice a bit.

Uncertainty and chaos are no more bad than good. They simply are.

Most aspects of our lives are completely beyond our control and the attempt to control them is like lighting the candle scented “Frustration” while sipping the “Disappointment” cup of tea.

Living for thirty years in Chicago was instructive to this point. The weather in Chicago is the perfect incarnation of Chaos at Play. On any given day during any given month there could be thick humidity and stifling heat, pouring rain, sleet, or thirty below zero skin-cracking freeze. If control is your bag, living in Chicago could likely drive you insane just trying to be fully prepared for going outside.

How does one handle it?

The cliché is to Expect the Unexpected which is some fucking feel-good bullshit as it is easy to attribute to wisdom and completely unhelpful. The more substantial answer comes in three parts:

Always have the worst case scenario in mind while simultaneously understanding that the Vegas odds of that same scenario are heavily favored against it.

Actively lower your expectations in keeping with how unrealistic your wants actually are.

Realize that no one owes you anything — not respect, not deference, not politeness — nothing. The world owes no one anything because the world is designed in every way to make it difficult to survive.

Number one is pretty easy. Over the years of reframing, I’ve trained myself to ask that question: What is the absolute worst case possible?

Take the civil unrest at play right now. The worst case scenario is a full-out war between those protesting for substantial police reform and the police. The police have all the military-grade weapons which would be Kent State meets every school shooting plus some The Purge impunity. That is highly unlikely to happen because while we are stupid and selfish, for the most part, no one really wants to be in a firefight if it can be avoided.

Number two is probably the most taxing. In an age of instant satisfaction — fast food, same day delivery, instant messaging — dialing down our expectations is a pain in the ass. Our emotions dictate so much of how we behave and our emotions are an erratic, messy, impulsive roommate in our head. There’s no shame in feeling the Big Feels but acting upon those feelings is like taking advice from a dude masturbating into his hat while singing nonsense songs about BitCoin conspiracies. Not a great road map to solid decision making.

Number three is kind of an extension of number two. In a democracy, we believe we have rights. Our rights are guaranteed. We feel like we can demand fealty to these rights from everyone around us but the fault in that logic hits the record scratch when we are confronted with everyone demanding their rights at the same time. Adding to that the simple truth that things like pandemics and earthquakes give no fucks whatsoever about your unalienable rights and it just works out better to assume you deserve nothing, are owed nothing, that your rights are as fragile as your credit score.

If there is a fourth reframe to consider it is limit the things you take personally. Most people don’t have much concern for you or your existence as most people in a planet of billions are abstract rather than concrete. George Floyd is concrete because we saw him die on video. Black Lives are abstract because the concept lacks specificity.

Like it or not (and in direct conflict with the notion that there are enemies at every gate) most people are not so much against you as they are for themselves.

Finally, do your level best to explore perspective. Reframing requires looking outside of your lived experience and looking at things from another’s.

Donald Trump is a horror on a daily basis. Stream The Madness of King George and realize that other people have had it worse and survived.

COVID-19 is a scourge that is upending the carefully laid table of society. Go read up on plagues throughout history to gain understanding that these things are simply not the end of all things but the beginning of new things.

Abolishing the Police is a great idea until, like the small neighborhood of well intentioned white liberals in Minneapolis who decided to no longer allow police on their blocks only to suddenly have their public park filled with occupying drug addicts and carjackers, you kind of need someone to call when the shit hits the fan.

Reframe. Relax. Go to sleep and wake up. Eat something. Do something nice for someone without hopes for reward or social media kudos. Drink some water. Make a few bucks. Do it again tomorrow.

#Reframe #Managing Chaos #Pandemic Behavior

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barbosaasouza · 7 years ago

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Moonlighter Review: Commerce and Combat

It's not very often that a game manages to take familiar genre mechanics and reshape them into something that feels fresh and interesting, but that's exactly what developer Digital Sun has done with action RPG release Moonlighter. The studio's latest Kickstarter-based title takes the concept of inventory management and molds it into its own sort of meta-game, tasking players with displaying items, setting prices, and making sales, all in order to provide funding for dungeon exploration. It's an addictive formula, and its appeal is largely based on the fine balance between both commerce and combat.

Of Merchants and Men

The heart of Moonlighter is based around the game's interplay of item acquisition and shop management. Players will spend almost all of their time either diving into the game's various dungeons or selling the goods they find within them, and the money procured from said transactions helps fund the weapons, armor, and potions needed to make further dungeon exploration possible.

Keeping up with shop duties is fairly straightforward: players will set prices for their items, then gauge the response to the price based on four different customer reactions. Items can be sold for more than their typical value assuming demand is high and supply is low, though pushing the price too high will result in unhappy or unwilling shoppers. Likewise, players looking to sell new or unfamiliar items may set the price too low, prompting customers to excitedly purchase the item for well less than what it's actually worth.

The shop known as Moonlighter in its modest early stages.

Once prices are set and items are laid out across various tables, opening the shop for business starts a minigame of sorts where customers come in, browse for a bit, then take their desired items to the register for sale. Business hours run out fairly quickly, and making the most out of a business day means keeping tables stocked with items and looking out for thieves that try to sneak away with valuable goods. Once the day's commerce has completed, players can either go to sleep to start a new day or head east toward the dungeons for some nighttime spelunking.

Acquisitions Unlimited

The other side of the Moonlighter formula involves diving into one of the game's five different dungeons. These procedurally generated areas are comprised of rooms with random enemies, items, and exits placed in cardinal directions. The system is similar to titles like The Binding of Isaac, where the initial rooms and levels are relatively easy and players who dive further into the dungeon will find both greater challenges and greater rewards.

Stay away from this guy.

Making way through the dungeons involves going room-to-room, clearing out enemies using any preferred weapon type, and claiming all of the loot that monsters drop when they perish. Inventory management plays a big part in this, as the hero can only hold so many items in his bag, and taking too much damage will result in a loss of all acquired goods. Items also sometimes carry curses with different effects: some curses make the item fragile and liable to break, while others may immediately send the loot back home or even remove the curse from other objects.

Despite the random nature of the dungeons, there is some method to the madness: pathways and enemies may be randomized, but players will always encounter a healing spring on the path to the next floor, and each floor will have a special room featuring a tent and notes left behind by fallen heroes. Every now and then players will encounter a passage that briefly dives into an entirely different dungeon, often making forward progress much more risky, and the third level of each dungeon contains a special boss that must be defeated in order to access the next dungeon type.

The Golem King coming to terms with his imminent demise.

The challenges offered by the dungeons at first seem daunting, as players will be working with limited or underpowered equipment. In the early hours, players will likely teleport out of the dungeon as soon as they've acquired enough valuables to unlock the one-way portal back to town. Before too long, the hero will be able to sell items within the dungeon (at a substantially reduced price) in order to clear up space for items of greater value. Eventually, players will be also able to spawn their own temporary two-way portal that allows them to go home, drop off goods, run the shop if desired, then return to the place in the dungeon where they left off.

Beyond the Gates

Though dungeon raiding and shopkeeping duties make up the bulk of the Moonlighter experience, they aren't all the game has to offer. The town of Rynoka is itself a home base of sorts, and aside from buying new items, the player can put gold toward town upgrades, which ultimately bring new merchants and citizens to the area. Players can also build various extensions to their shop in order to increase everything from its overall size to the number of sales tables and more. There are four different shop upgrade packages available, and each one offers up three different sub-upgrades, the likes of which offer the option to offer items at special discounts or earn gratuity from paying customers.

New weapons and weapon upgrades are available through the smith Andrei.

Additional town merchants also help toward this front, as they can provide new equipment for the hero, upgrades to equipment, or decorations that can provide passive bonuses to the shop, like ones that increase customer shopping speed or decrease the likelihood of pilfer-happy ne'er-do-wells. There's even the option to bring a competing merchant to town that the player can go to for items they don't feel like searching for within the dungeons.

Despite the number of different mechanics in play, Moonlighter manages to feel very approachable, and its split between shopkeeping and dungeon diving makes it well-suited for both short and extended gameplay sessions. The graphical style hits all the right marks for retro-inspired titles, and the music on offer is very well-composed, providing just the right amount of old-school flavor without drawing too much attention to itself.

A cleared dungeon is a happy dungeon.

The way that Moonlighter splits gameplay between item acquisition and sales makes for a pleasingly circuitous formula. Selling out of inventory items is a great incentive to go find new goods within dungeons, and finding increasingly rare loot in dungeons provides incentive to go back to town and open up shop. The interplay between commerce and dungeon diving means there's never a moment where players feel like they aren't making some sort of progress, as success in the shop leads to success in the field and vice versa.

Because of this, Moonlighter feels like one of the more immediately gratifying action RPGs on the current market. It may not do anything players haven't seen before, but the focus on earning and selling items transforms simple commerce from a banal activity into an addictive process that only gets more entertaining as the game progresses. There are a few annoying flies in the ointment — item descriptions don't always fit on screen, weapons occasionally miss enemies within range, and in-dungeon inventory management sometimes feels too time-consuming — but otherwise, the game's engaging blend of active shopkeeping and dungeon crawling should be more than enough to keep retro-styled action RPG fans smiling.

This review is based on a download code provided by the publisher. Moonlighter is available in digital stores on May 29 for $19.99. The game has been rated E for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.

Moonlighter Review: Commerce and Combat published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

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barbosaasouza · 7 years ago

Text

Moonlighter Review: Commerce and Combat

Of Merchants and Men

The shop known as Moonlighter in its modest early stages.

Acquisitions Unlimited

Stay away from this guy.

The Golem King coming to terms with his imminent demise.

Beyond the Gates

New weapons and weapon upgrades are available through the smith Andrei.

A cleared dungeon is a happy dungeon.

This review is based on a download code provided by the publisher. Moonlighter is available in digital stores on May 29 for $19.99. The game has been rated E for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB.

Moonlighter Review: Commerce and Combat published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

0 notes