#who want to be with a crypto guy anyway

[therealdistortion]

If Colin’s former partners won’t stay with him I WILL

[f4iry-bell]

WHO AM I? | 2

pairing: nerd grayson x popular reader

warning: miscommunication? indirect mention of segs but nothing direct or explicit.

taglist (permanent) : @unnoodles @nqds @alwaysthefangirl @clarissaweasley-10 @benny1989fredd @imaseabear @never-enough-novels @elysianwayy77 @whatsamongus @sheisntyou @emelia07 @cassie6392

series taglist: @inmyheaddd

word count: 1.4k

a/n: hope you guys like it, next part will have grayson with GLASSES. JAMIE CAMEO AND MY JAMIE X NERD READER FIC CROSSOVER LOWKEY

part 1 | masterlist

Grayson tried hard not to think about her because he knew that she would have probably forgotten about him by now. There is nothing interesting about him anyway, unlike her. It was getting harder and harder for him to ignore her because they share a class, and well now his Instagram feed is filled with her because he made the mistake of stalking her page the night after their little disagreement. In defense, she was too pretty not to stalk, and everything about her was attractive.

_

Unlike what Grayson might think, Grayson was in her head. Everytime her ‘friends’ say something to her his words will be playing in her head like a broken record. She realised it first when she told her friend Lily that she got an A in her business class and Lily said “Thanks to Grayson. Don't you love being pretty and doing nothing?” in a mocking way. Lily didn't believe her when she said she actually worked on the project, and even caught up on the lessons. 

But Lily laughed “You? Stop joking. You barely know what is going on in class.”

“I do!” She protested but Lily just kept making fun of her for being dumb as if she is anything better. On top of this, the guys she's friends with acted like jerks making awful inappropriate accusations about her and Grayson. She denied them all, but she didn't like how they responded.

“Of course. You wouldn't go for someone with no social status in college.” One of them said. 

Everything after that evening was just proving Grayson’s point. She noticed how mad her friends get when she posts them and forgets to tag them in her story. Or how they'd always want her to post the best pictures of them and always post the pictures in which she isn't that great. It was tiring at one point. 

After two weeks of this realisation and madness she texted Grayson. 

Hey, I'm sorry for calling you a jerk. You were right about my ‘friends’ ;/ 

To which Grayson replied immediately.

G:It's alright. 

Are you mad at me?

G: Why would I be?

Because…I was rude to you.

G: It's fine. I forgive you.

Thanks xo

Grayson wanted to text further and keep the conversation going but he just liked the message and left. Truth is he didn't know what to text her. He knows her but he doesn't know her enough to keep a conversation going. But lucky for him she texted him. She double texted him. It must mean something, right?

Are you asleep?

G: No.

Me too. Also may I know why you're so anti-social? You are sort of cold but sometimes you even crack funny jokes, a VERY interesting person. If you just try, people would love to be friends with you.

G: I don't like people, they're annoying. Always in my business.

Oh! 

G: Yeah.

Good night, gotta sleep.

He didn't know what to reply to, so he just liked and left it. Did he do something wrong? Why didn't she keep the conversation going? He got comfortable in bed to text her for another hour or however long she wanted. 

_

It was the Harvard and Yale football match. Normally Grayson would look into crypto currency or read the newspaper but since his brother Jameson Hawthorne is coming to see the match he has no choice but to go. He wore a burgundy shirt paired with beige pants, he didn't exactly ditch his suits but his brothers forced him quit wearing suits to college, they said someone might mistake him for the professor. Grayson was sitting on the bleachers waiting for Jameson who was late. He looked around taking in his environment and his eyes landed on her. She always stood out from the crowd, she was sitting with her ‘friends’ but she wasn't talking, she was just on her phone. Her hair was done up to a high ponytail, and she was wearing a red sweater. She looked so beautiful.

“How long are you going to stare?” Grayson immediately looked up to see Jameson standing with snacks.

“I wasn't staring.” Grayson tried to deny it.

“Sure.” 

“I wasn't.”

“Look! She's looking at you!” Jameson pointed which got an immediate reaction from Grayson. He looked back at her to find her still on her phone. “So?”

“So?”

“Who is she?” Jameson asked.

“No one.”

“Didn't act like no one the way you looked.” Jameson smirked.

“A friend, I think.”  he wasn't sure.

“You think? Tell me what is it with her?” He asked.

“There's nothing.” Grayson told him.

“You sound like you want something to be there, though.” Jameson read his face.

“Stop analysing me, I thought you were skipping your psychology classes.” Grayson said.

“That was before.”

“Before what?”

“I'll tell you mine, if you tell me about her and what's with you and her.” He asked.

“There isn't anything, Jamie. We didn't hit off well at the start—”

“I'm shocked!” Jameson commented to which Grayson glared. “Sorry, continue.”

“And then we were assigned as project partners. We did more than just the project—”

“You said nothing!” Jameson interrupted.

“—As in we studied. Will you stop interrupting? And I told her that her friends I'll treat her, she was in denial, called me a jerk. She came to realise. She apologised, we texted and then suddenly everything was…off? I don't know why, I thought she wanted to be friends or talk. I don't exactly know what I was expecting but when she stopped texting me, I was disappointed” He tried his best to put everything together.

“Woah. Okay, show me your texts.” Jameson demanded.

“No.”

“I'll help you.”

“With what?”

“To get her! You clearly like her or else wouldn't fret about a girl not texting you!” He took his phone out and gave it to Jameson, Jameson read their texts and spoke.

“You told her you don't like people.” He said.

“I did. Which is true.”

“Idiot. She probably thought she was annoying you by texting you.” Jameson chuckled.

“What? No. I wanted her to text me.” 

“Well, you gotta up your game. Tell her that you like talking to her, ask her out.”

“No! She doesn't know me well enough for me to ask her out.”

“Well, just tell her that you didn't mean everyone, okay?” 

_

Grayson thought of texting her but he decided to tell her directly. He walked to her table in the cafeteria and waited for her to turn to him. Her friend noticed him first.

“Another group project, nerd?” Lily said, rolling her eyes.

“Stop it, Lily.” She stood up from her seat to talk to Grayson. “Hey.” 

“Hi.” He was so nervous.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Can…Can we talk?” God, did he just stutter?

“Uh, sure.” 

They both walked further away from the table and then he spoke.

“A few days ago when I texted you saying I don't like people…” His heart was beating so fast, she looked so pretty he couldn't focus.

“yeah?”

“I didn't mean you.”

“Huh?”

“You, I like you.”

Her eyes widened.

He immediately spoke. “As in, you're not bad, not like I like you romantically, I like you because you're nice. You're not everyone.” His words came out so fast.

She chuckled. “I got it, Grayson. No worries. Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Well, thanks for saying. I actually thought I was annoying you.” She chuckled.

“Jamie was right.” He mumbled, which she heard.

“Who is Jamie?”

“My brother.”

“Oh?” She was so confused.

“He was the one who told me that you might have thought that I included you in the ‘everyone’” He chuckled awkwardly.

“You told your brother about me?*m” She asked with a smile.

“He sort of forced it out of me.”

Her smile widened. “I'm glad that you did. Because I kind of missed you.”

His heart stopped and started beating again. “You did?”

“Yeah. I missed how you randomly say random facts or one of your many talents.”

He blushed. He actually blushed.

She chuckled at his reaction. “Hey, do you want to hang out after college? There is a party.”

“Party isn't really my scene.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry.”

“Don't apologise. And I'll be there.”

Her eyes lightened up. “Well, okay.” She chuckled. “Have you been to one before?”

“2”

“Woah. Mine is like 20 times or something” she chuckled. “I'll send you the details. 

part 3 →

[punkitt-is-here]

This has been in my head for a year and sometimes it keeps me up at night. At 2023 EFNW, we were hanging out at the bottom of the escalators outside the vendor hall. A guy in a green 4chan shirt came up to our group and said how much he admired your comics, and gave you a Lyra "numget" sticker. I didn't manage to catch the name tag on the person, but there's 3 people I think who it could have been. Two of which spent June of 2020 making shitloads of extremely racist pony artwork of George Floyd, and the third just hangs out with the other two in online spaces. Nowadays the group just kinda does crypto-fashy stuff. Anyways I was really awkward at the time and I wanted to say something after the fact to you but I didn't really think it was my place. Ever since then I've _really_ wondered how that guy sees you as a person now. I hope they've gone on to become a better person. Keep being awesome

oh my god i still have that sticker i think. what da hell.

[5five5five5five5five5five]

I've been watching top many of Blake Jennings "witch characters from blank can say the bad word for gay 🚬" youtube shorts / tiktoks and have been inspired to make this. (I'm a fruity trans man, i can say it. pls no slur discourse, this is for shits and giggles. not putting it under a spoiler bc i like scaring the straights. this my blog.) luther: no, but has been called one a few times. true ally if I've ever seen one. MIGHT be queer but the show runners never cared enough and its too risky to say yes. diego: he's bi but a bit too cis macho man for his own liking so i feel like he'd be too insecure to say it. he really needs to explore his queerness though, maybe he will find the strength to use his pass one day. Lila can easily help with this. Allison: no but if she called me one, i feel like shes either trying to fit in with the queer siblings....or being s3 Allison, witch are two very different situations........but no. klaus: bitch, he invented the word. that man is very word for queer under the sun and back around. he can say it and says it proudly. Five: thinks he can't, would never want to...... in till he realizes he's queer, then its flying out of his mouth almost daily. i don't even think he has THAT strong of a 🚬pass, he just knows he has one. and whose stopping him? its hilarious. he says it very seriously too and at moments no one would expect. it always jump scares someone. ben: he cant and doesn't want to but he's so used to Klaus saying it that it might slip into conversations. Klaus will never correct him because hearing Ben call him one when mildly frustrated is funny af and he knows theres 0 venom behind it. Ben would feel bad though and apologize. Viktor: he 100% can but doesn't really want to. BUT the local queers around his bar have given him the D word pass and love calling him one. so he calls himself that a lot more. city queers who don't touch queer twitter discourse don't care, that's one if they have ever seen one and they love him dearly.

Lila: shes British. whether she can or not is irrelevant to her saying it anyway with FULL PASSION. (she can btw. that's a nonbinary bisexual who has had cop blood on her boots on numerous occupations.)

bonus: sparrow Ben: he....he really cant guys....please stop letting him get away with this. idc if he's a pathetic wet meow meow and very clearly queer man in s3.....h...he just cant.... no one who gets into crypto can. that's the rules.

[doubleddenden]

The topic of Palworld is pretty charged, but often times I see people be shamed for liking it because the CEO tweeted stuff about NFTs and the company using AI art in a separate game. Acting as if that's the most damning thing ever for a gaming company in an industry filled with similar people.

Make no mistake, I dislike both AI art and nfts, but do you realize how many gaming companies have involvement with that?

To begin with, Pokémon used AI art in a promotional piece for Pokémon Go in September, and nobody gave a shit because uwu Pikachu. The Pokémon Company also put a job listing some months back seeking an expert in NFTs. That's not quite damning evidence, but if I were a betting man, no "NFT expert" will willingly say "yeah nfts suck are bad for the environment, man, I'll take my paycheck and fuck off now." There's also a strong argument to be made that Pokémon has stolen ideas from fakemon artists (Finizen and Palafin, Scovillain, Dipplin, etc) and other franchises (kaiju movies, Dragon Quest, Megaman, final fantasy, western cartoons and food mascots, etc), a dubious legal statement that claims they own all fan art from the remixes and fakemon made on youtube to the pikachu your kid drew at breakfast; they have yet to apologize for the state of Scarlet and Violet while charging full price to millions of paying customers for a clearly unfinished and barely functioning game (which i did enjoy, but you can't tell me it was finished baking when it struggles not to shit itself just to run), and a bunch of other things people shit on Palworld for, but A. It's Pokémon so people don't care and think it's fine, and B. That's not the point of this post.

You know who else does NFTs and AI art? (Yes I heard Muscle Man from Regular Show in my head just now, too, moving along)

Square Enix sold several of their IPs for NFTs and claims to have used AI art "a minimum amount" in Foam Stars, yet I see nobody yelling for boycotts of Final Fantasy 14, 16, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Life is Strange, etc etc etc.

Sony has invested in both, they want to implement AI into gaming, and has a patent for nfts to be used in games and consoles, yet there's no movement to throw out your playstations.

Bandai Namco- you know, that company with a hand in pretty much most anime games on the market and popular games such as the Dark Souls games? They have a game called RYU that's essentially a virtual pet game that uses the blockchain, and its AI driven, among other projects. Yet there's no outcry to stop playing the many, MANY games they brand with. This also includes quite a few Nintendo games (btw they just partnered together to form a special studio quite recently) like Smash Wii U/3ds and New Pokémon Snap. Nobody gives a shit though.

Android, Microsoft, Google, Apple- I don't even need to explain those, they have whole teams dedicated to both. Even popular VPN companies accept crypto.

I'm just saying an awful lot of you guys that scream and shit bloody murder about Palworld's company being involved with that shit are either the biggest "It's okay when my favs do it" type of hypocrites, or you're sorely ignorant to just how evil and greedy most corporations are. You'll be hard pressed to find a game company with popular AND fun games that DOESN'T have some interest in either, let alone movie and show studios. That's the awful reality we live in.

You have 2 options

1. You basically stop doing anything involving most modern tech, including throwing out your pc and smart phone. You could probably live a comfortable life with tech circa 2010, but you have to be aware that any thing you buy may go towards a cause you don't like.

2. You accept that people can enjoy a product while not necessarily agreeing with the CEO of said product. Most CEOs tend to be jackasses anyway, that's kind of the shared trait they all have. You can also discourage companies from using them while understanding it is everywhere.

Palworld at the end of the day is just a toy, that's it. From the looks of it, it's not even actually hurting anyone, and it seems like the company at least treats their employees pretty decently- at least according to a few things I've seen here and there that seems rather progressive for a Japanese studio (with room for doubt obviously, it's a company after all and as we've established, they're all evil). At the least its not like when people supported Hogwarts Legacy and directly put money into JKR's wallet so she can openly hurt more Trans women. In fact, the only people seemingly hurt in all of this Palworld drama are obsessed Pokémon stans that can't accept a parody, or the Pokémon Company themselves, who rightly deserve some punching up tbh.

You can just say you dislike the game, that's fine, I totally get that. Even though I personally think The Pokémon Company deserves a few nut shots after the way they've treated fans these last few years with the state of their games (and you know, stealing ideas from fans without credit), I can see why someone would be turned away from a parody that's literally meant to be Pokémon with guns. I can totally understand all of that, personally I'd prefer if the game was MORE like Pokémon with turn based combat.

But if you're going to defend Pokémon because you think its perfectly innocent because of Wooloo or something like that, just be sure you're aware you're defending the World's Richest Franchise and their own attempts at AI and NFTs while calling out an indie company (a real one thats learning as they go, not the fake "We're totally indie" franchise that hasn't been indie since gen 3) for having a ceo that also seems interested in the same stuff. And remember, you don't become number 1 without hurting people somehow (we could dig up receipts about certain partners Pokémon has teamed up with, such as Tencent with Unite, but I'd rather not right now.)

Just saying. I don't think you're an irredeemable person for still liking Pikachu, cuz I do too believe it or not. I've been a life long fan and still have fun with the games despite the clear scummy business practices towards their paying customers. Just maybe extend that courtesy to the millions of players just trying to have fun in this awful, putrid, shithole planet that just keeps getting worse and worse with each passing day.

Plus... you know, think about it. Do you think Pokémon would ever get around to making a gunless Palworld? Probably not. Do you think Palworld would exist if The Pokémon Company and Nintendo were the slightest bit chill about Pokémon fan projects like SEGA is with Sonic? Also probably not. From what I've read, the devs just wanted to make a fun game that happens to mostly be ARK with Pokémon adjacent monsters. That's not really a bad thing, all things considered, and it seems like the worst they've done is reference official Pokémon when making their own models.

Palworld being successful is actually beneficial to Pokémon fans, as well. It'll never really truly compete, but it has outsold Legends Arceus in terms of units sold (not as much financially because Palworld was only $30 plus a sale recently, but still impressive), and it is enough that Game Freak is aware of its existence. Let Palworld light a fire under their ass, and maybe GF will actually finish their next game before releasing it for full price (and no, we're not bringing up the tired imaginary ball and chain game devs, game freak owns 1/3rd lf the franchise and can easily take methods to get more dev time, they just haven't because money). Just saying, at least the Paldevs were honest enough to sell it in early access for half the price.

[doodlemancy]

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhhhhhhhh

so here's the deal re: this fucking horseshit. god i hate this.

i, personally, have mostly given up on trying to dodge inclusion in AI datasets. the stuff i make generally isn't what they're looking for anyway and there's no real way to 100% avoid being scraped short of becoming entirely invisible online, which would um, lead to me having no money and dying. that's part of the cruelty of all this, but also, in a way, it's the same risk artists online have always taken; if you want people to see your work, you have to post it knowing that some of those people are fucking lowlife piece of shit scumbags who will try to resell it on redbubble or something for a quick buck. AI is just a new and exhausting way for garbagey people to stink worse. i am not in any way excusing that behavior or trying to imply people should not be mad about it or that we shouldn't condemn this move and fight back. "if you don't want your work stolen, don't put it online" is the kind of shitty Internet Tough Guy talk i've always hated since my dA days. it's as useless and heartless as telling people that if they don't want their bikes stolen, they shouldn't leave them at the bike rack. i'm saying that i, personally, will not let a bunch of soulless thieving shitheads drive me offline. i belong here. they belong in a wifi-proof dumpster.

nightshade and glaze eat my artwork alive. they make it look terrible. when you have to sell things on the basis that they look nice, it's a big problem when protective measures make them look like dogshit. my work is not a good candidate for these processes. even if that weren't the case, i don't have the stamina, especially right now while my chronic pain is flaring for the third month in a row and my adhd meds are scarce, to go back and shade/glaze everything, and it wouldn't work on reblogs anyway. given the way midjourney and its equally stinky siblings have already scraped years and terabytes' worth of image data from popular websites, it doesn't seem worth my time. if you think it is worth yours i am not going to like, yell at you. i am just one person. but i want to be clear about the kind of situations some of us are being forced into.

i think some of the doomsaying about AI and what it will do to us has been overblown-- they need you, for marketing purposes, to believe that someday their shitty robot will be as good at "drawing" and as practical to work with as a human-- but the consequences of "AI" (which is not even actually AI) are already real and visible and obvious to anyone paying attention. i unfortunately am not infinitely wise and powerful and therefore do not have an ideal all-encompassing solution to this deeply stupid problem that the Most Unlikeable Manbabies On Earth have imposed on us after NFTs fizzled out.

what i do have is a very large repository of nice anime and game screenshots i've taken, knowledge of many archives of nice public domain images, a computer that can run nightshade overnight or while i'm off doing other things, and, most importantly, near-infinite capacity for pettiness. i do kinda feel like the jury is still out on how well nightshade/glaze will work in the long run, but in the meantime, i suppose it wouldn't cost me a lot to... perhaps... every time i get Mad About AI™, channel that anger into dumping some thoroughly-but-not-spammily-tagged, high-quality, inconspicuous poison onto this godforsaken hellsite via a secret side blog. i could make a batch of poison ahead of time, keep it on my phone, use my Toilet Scrolling Time or my Public Transit Time to post and tag up an image here and there. it could be a fun challenge to try to make some pretty robot poison that some humans will still enjoy.

the other thing we need to poison at this point, IMO, is the word "AI" itself, by being loudly and mercilessly critical of any company that dabbles in it, the same way we all clowned on any company that pushed their luck with NFT/crypto shit a couple of years ago. we need to have every corporation terrified that association with AI will tank their sales and hurt their brand. AI must = number go down and lots of people screaming at you. companies will fuck around. we must provide the finding-out. we shouldn't have to. but we can!

so make sure to let tumblr know you hate this. maybe you could include this interesting link (tw child abuse) about how Stable Diffusion was trained on some extremely serious crime. or these screenshots of Midjourney devs just sort of admitting what their whole thing is, which i got here but which have kinda been spread all over since January.

spite and anger can be forms of hope. that's all i have to say, or at least all i'm willing to type with my left hand tonight.

[centrally-unplanned]

Matt Darling showcasing some blast-from-the-past "what is wrong with economics" takes that are apparently preserved in amber from 2008 being retold in 2024:

"Don't economists know that scalar models aren't everything" wow. amazing.

"hAvE yOu tRiEd SyStEm DyNaMiCs" fucking lmao

Anyway our boy Michael Saylor continues by asking "hasn't anyone tried tracking price changes for specific goods?" - inquiring minds at the BLS want to hear more. Will you be shocked to learn this guy is an ex-tech CEO who is now really into Bitcoin??

Back in 2008, the financial crisis hit the world, and while the idea that it was "economist's fault" like they were running things somehow was very silly, its fair to say it was a black mark on a lot of mainstream macro people - it did cause some solid revisions & debates. And in the dissident econ era of that time, it became a "thing" to talk about economics as this sort of backward institution, obsessed with models disconnected from reality and privileging math over data, since if macro was vulnerable the whole field was.

This critique was fully outdated at the time, but I will least credit that it takes time for people to catch up to the frontier, and the critiques were like a bit valid about say 1980's economics - with the extremely obvious caveat that they lacked affordable computers then and so couldn't do shit like system dynamics, but w/e. Still, if it was outdated in 2008, its laughably off the mark in 2024, discussing an econ field flush with econometrics, measurement & big data, and diverse mathematical and computational methods. But since the ideas of 2008 were foundational to so many dissident movements - like crypto for example - they continue to march on, divorced from their place and time.

Fun to see an old friend I guess; how ya been since Occupy Wall St eh?

[urban-mutt]

Perfect Someone: Chapter 1 - Lalo Salamanca/FTM Reader (NSFW)

 Summary: You are a thief! You target old rich men. You drug them and steal from them while they're drink out of their mind. Your last operation didn't go as planned, and now you are an accomplice in a serious crime. And a plaything for your new sick friend.

Tags/Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Rape/Non-con, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Rape/Non-con Elements, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Slurs, Transphobia, Homophobia, Violence, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alcohol, Smoking, Drug Addiction, Vaginal Sex, Vaginal Fingering, Murder, Reader will be abused delulu and traumatized, FTM Reader, trans reader, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Manipulation, Daddy Kink, Forced, Angst, Inspired by Music, Biting, Age Difference emphasized, Sugar Daddy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, dead dove ig

anatomical terms: cunt

words: 2817

ao3 link

Author's notes: Inspired by my sims save and Sofi Tukker - Perfect Someone (And Melanie Martinez - Tag You're It)

You are a thief. You target old, rich men who think you are just a dumb young boy who wants some mature meat. You do want that, but none of them are your type. Even if they were… you can’t risk it. You lace their drinks with ketamine, and by the time you two are in a hotel room, the guy is long asleep. You take everything you can off of him and leave. Perfect. A huge amount of drugs and alcohol makes them forget anything happened, plus shame stops them from ever seeking you out.

You make pretty good money, but you still prefer living in hotels, using rental cars, and keeping cash or using crypto. Better safe than sorry.

Your lifestyle is a nonstop party. You remind yourself of Harley after she broke up with the Joker; though you never had an abusive guy throw you into the acid. Funnily enough, recently you met a guy who would 100% do that. You never wanted to be an actual criminal, bad person, or a predator. You never thought of yourself as one. You’re just a scammer, and who cares about old rich cis men anyway? They deserve it!

Anyway…

You were at your local scouting spot. Looking for a target. And then you saw him… 

Tall, well groomed, golden Rolex, golden chain, purple shirt with a few too many undone buttons. Gray hairs forming a white streak in the middle of his dome, mustache...

Black pants and— Ugliest fucking loafers you ever saw. They’re not just teal; no, they're CYAN.

This man is screaming, “I’m rich”!

You stroll over to say hello, but he seems too busy talking to someone else to pay attention.

You eye the unattended drink. Cis men never care to pay attention to such things. Too bad.

You order something for yourself and turn your back to him. You hear the glass being lifted and set down again. It's totally his.

He is distracted, the bartender is distracted, the DJ just arrived, and people seem to pay more attention to the upcoming show than anything else. Perfect.

You take a baggie of powder out of your pocket and turn around quickly to— To see your target mirroring you. 

You both freeze, holding your drugs, ready to lace the same drink. You pocket yours quickly, and he does the same. You stare at each other, waiting for this to resolve itself. You blush intensely in shame, and he smiles sleazily.

You don’t remember how you two ended up in a hotel room. Tearing clothes off of each other.

He didn’t even acknowledge your lack of a dick. How perfect. 

He was perfect.

No condom, no wasting time on foreplay. It was raw and wild. It did hurt a bit, but you like it, it’s fine. His cock is impressive, just like the ones you see in porn. Big and thick. Well-trimmed bush and shaven, ass, and balls. He sucked you good after filling you up, moaning into your cunt. 

A perfect man.

You catch your breath, looking up at the ceiling while he lights a cigarette.

As soon as you remember who you are, you get up on your shaky legs, trying to find your pants. 

“So, what’s your deal?” The man asks. 

“I steal from old guys.” You say as you put your pants on.

“And give it to the poor?” He chuckles.

“Yeah. I’m the poor.” You glare at him, putting your shirt back on.

“Wait.” He puts a cig in his mouth and gets up to pick up his pants and take out a stack of cash.

He counts out loud one thousand dollars and drops it on the bed.

“I’m a thief. Not a prostitute.” You frown.

“And I wanted to rape and kill you, so what?” He scoffs, sitting back down.

“Ah, great.” You say with sarcasm. “That what you do? Rape people and kill them?” You call out his bluff.

“Yeah.” He says. A bit too relaxed. 

It sounds too honest. You look down.

He chuckles. “What? Gonna snitch on me?” The stranger grins and exhales the smoke.

“No…”

This got real uncomfortable real fast. 

“Bueno entonces...” He nods and takes another five hundred and a pen. He writes something on it and adds it to the stack on the bed.

You take the money and see that he wrote his phone number on the bill, with a few “xoxo’s”.

“Fate is on our side today... I like you. Call me if you wanna see me again.” He lays back, watching you.

“As if.” You bark back and head out. ��Bye.”

“Hasta luego, cariño.” You hear him purr before you shut the door behind you.

Okay. Great.

You have no interest in unpacking thoughts of how close you were to death that night.

You put all the cash on your crypto wallet, including the one with his number. No way you're gonna call that freak. Not gonna report him either; you’re not that evil. Besides, you are a criminal yourself.

And trans. And gay. No. No cops. Never. 

You try to forget and move on. You take a little vacation, just a week, to get back on track. Spending your time everywhere, but the usual scouting spots. It is better not to be a regular. You are a man, but that damn vagina between your legs still makes you a vulnerable one. People will have more reasons to report suspicious someone if they're gay, trans, or of color. (Choose your difficulty setting.)

So it is kinda understandable that you never saw that guy before. His looks are quite unique. He has a tattoo, too. Easy to remember. Hope you won't see him ever again.

After that week, you come back to town. The desert is beautiful, but money is not endless. 

You stand by some bar table in the corner of the club, watching the room. Your favorite song is playing, you move your hips to the bit while thinking.

This one is too young. This one is obviously a poser. This one already has someone. 

Sparse. Maybe changing venues soon won't be a bad idea.

A sudden scent hits you. Guh— you won't mistake that for anything. You cover your drink and turn sharply to see him. He stands closer than you expected; it makes you jump. You were so deep in your thoughts that you didn’t even notice.

“Hola.” He purrs.

You move away. “The fuck you doing here?” He leans onto the table too. “Same thing as you. Hunting.”

You frown. “You do. I don’t ‘hunt’. I scout.”

“Call it whatever you want, but really... It is the same thing. You are a predator.” He reaches out to take your drink. You let him take a sip.

“I’m not. Fuck off. There’s nobody here anyway; I gotta go.” You shake your leg in tension.

“I like that one.” He points at a girl who looks barely 18. “She’s alone, drinking, looks too young to be here, and probably is.”

“And?” You ask.

“And?” He scoffs. “She won’t notice how I will put some K in her drink, and then I’ll drive her out and rape her and then burn her body.” He talks casually.

You shiver in discomfort.

He keeps talking.

“I always pick young ones. Very easy targets.” He chuckles, still watching the girl.

“That’s why you picked me?” You mumble.

“¡Sí! I thought you looked suspicious, but I couldn’t tell why. Now I see that you preyed on me too... Why, by the way?” He turns to you.

You shift your posture uncomfortably. “You look rich and old. That shirt was Gucci; I could see that from a mile away. You really should be more stealthy.” 

“Yeah? And you look like a sissy slut. Thought you were a man.” He teases you.

You show him your teeth. “Well, since you’re bi, why complaining?”

“I’m not bi. I’m gay. I get off on the power, mostly… when it’s a girl.” He takes another sip.

You turn to him fully. “Was that drink even yours?”

He shrugs. “I thought it was yours.”

You both were silent for a bit.

“We’re worthless.” You prop your head on your hands. 

You watch the girl that he spotted leave the club.

“There she goes. You lost her.” You follow her with your eyes.

“It’s fine. I like talking to you more anyway.” He finishes your drink. “Want anoth—”

He is interrupted by some white fella coming right up to your table and almost yelling, “Dude, get off of him; he’s taken!”

You both are confused for a second. The guy is clearly really drunk. Looks bland, like British food. 

You look at the freak you've been talking to; he looks back at you and winks. Okay, what plan do you have, sir?

“He is not taken, and I’m not trying to take—” 

Guy interrupts him again.

“He is clearly uncomfortable! Are there not enough bitches in your country?!”

Before this derails, you decide to speak up.

“He is my fuck buddy! We're actually just looking for a third.” You lean forward, all fake flirty. 

Guy looks flattered. “Oh, yeah? Uh… Sorry! Then— Uh…” He tries to speak through a drunken haze.

Old man glances at you, grinning.

You keep pushing.

“Come on! You’re cute! Thanks for trying to protect me. There are a lot of bad guys around! You want to drink with us?” 

“S-sure, man.” He mumbles.

Your new creep friend is glowing with something evil. “Then I’ll go get us something!” 

He walks off, leaving you to keep glazing that drunken dummy.

He comes back with three drinks. He gives everyone their own, because one is clearly already laced. 

You two kept feeding the guy booze. His name is apparently Dave, but why would that matter? You don’t even know your new crime partner’s name!

The rich freak drives you three to some shitty motel and makes you go and rent a room while they wait.

You come back with a key. You go up to the room quickly.

You didn’t know what you were expecting.

Your crime partner lays Dave on the bed. Taking poor man’s clothes off. You notice a big knife on your friend’s belt. It wasn’t there before. Lube in his pocket? Wait, you’re not actually fucking that guy, are you?

You stand by the door awkwardly.

Dave clearly changed his mind. Of course, he was just too drunk to say “no” when in the club. Now he’s too high to resist. He is trying, though.

“Hold him.” Your partner commands.

You don’t move. 

“Hold him.” He repeats.

You walk around the bed and hold the guy's wrists together while your friend zip-ties him to the bed. He grins and giggles. You let go when he’s done and step aside.

“Bring a towel.” The man commands again.

You go to the bathroom to quickly take one. He gags the poor guy with it before actually… getting to it.

You wanted to look away, but it's like a car crash. A poor guy tore his throat while trying to yell. His ass bled even though your partner used lube. He was just too rough. You had to turn away when he was choking the guy to death, though. You started crying. You shouldn’t be here. 

Fuck around and find out? You did. Honestly, whatever else happened was a blur. You sat on the floor, dissociating silently. The man taps your shoulder.

“Ay.” He says.

You turn around, shivering.

He gives you what seems to be Dave's belongings. 

“This is yours.” He sounds so calm.

Your hands shake, but you take everything.

“And…” He takes an extra out of his back pocket. It looks like a lot of money. “This too.”

You take that too, putting stuff in your pockets and trying not to sob. One sob breaks out, though. Stranger pats your head. 

“It’s fine. You can go. I’ll take care of the rest.” He says.

You get up and run to the door, trying not to look at the body. You're frantically trying to unlock the door, but you fail.

He grunts and walks over. You let go of the door and back into the wall right next to it, covering your face.

You feel his hands rubbing your shoulders. 

“Hey! You’re okay. If I really wanted to do this to you, I already would.” His voice is soft and kind. Too soft. Too kind.

The smell of him is poison. You feel nauseous. You will never be able to smell lavender again. Who else smells like that anyway? Lavender, musk, and however axe deodorant smells. Now also sweat and blood. 

“Are you listening?” He asks again.

You just tremble, not able to say much.

“Okay, listen. You go outside and sit in the car while I take care of this mess. Then we will drive into the desert and dump the body. Then I will drive you home. You clearly can’t go by yourself.” He speaks very clearly and slowly, making sure you understand. 

“I-I— I don’t— I don’t have a— h-home.” You’re barely able to speak, choking on your sobs.

He frowns. 

“Fine. Go to the car.” He gives you the keys.

Like, you won’t just drive away?

Yeah, you won’t.

You sit in the passenger seat, sobbing. 

He puts the heavy body in the trunk, and you two drive away. You run out of tears by the time you reach the place he wanted to dump the body. He just throws it off a cliff. It was wrapped in a blanket like a cocoon. He dumps the rest of the sheets too.

As if anyone will look for that guy... If they ever investigated anything, that fucker would already be in prison. Along with you. 

He comes back; he doesn’t say anything for the rest of the drive, and you actually fall asleep soon. Too exhausted to stay up.

You wake up when he picks you up and carries you inside a house. You don’t move; you let him do it. He lays you on a spacious couch and covers you with a couch blanket. You still don’t move, but you don’t pretend to be asleep either. 

He walks away and comes back with a glass of water, which he sets in front of you on the coffee table. Then he leaves upstairs. In his room, probably.

Too tired, you take the water, but then set it down before drinking. You wouldn’t wanna be next. You turn away and try to sleep more.

It isn’t a problem; you are too tired to stay alert. 

You wake up when it's bright. Seemingly untouched. You sit up. Water is still in the same place.

You look around. His house is huge. Pretty too. You hear his footsteps. He walks into the living room with some breakfast. He sets it in front of you.

“You really should drink that water.” He sits down on one of the chairs across. 

You look up at him, scared.

“I would already kill you by now; come on.” He throws a hand up, annoyed.

You look away and take the plate.

“Really, what did you think we were going to do to that guy?” He chuckles. “Or you just didn’t think the sausage was really made that way?”

You don’t respond, but eat and drink.

He nods and looks you up and down. 

“I’m Lalo.” 

You clear your throat.

“Y/N.”

He nods again. “Nice to meet you, y/n.” Lalo scratches his chin. “Well, y/n, why don’t you have a home?” 

You swallow your food before responding, “Safer that way.”

He laughs at you.

“Nah. It’s not.”

You blush. “And you would know?”

“Baby, I was born into this. I was doing it before you were born. I know.” He grins proudly.

“Don’t call me that.” You point your fork at him.

“Stay here.” He ignores your request. “I have extra bedrooms.”

“No.” You finish your food and put the plate down. “I’m leaving, and we will never see each other again.”

“Querido, America is too small for that! You’ll have to skip the country.” Lalo shrugs.

“Who are you? Really?”

Lalo raised his eyebrows playfully and said, “Nobody. Just a friend.”

“Yeah…” You relax in your seat.

“Seriously, though, stay. I’ll pay for everything you need.”

“And I give you?...”

“Sex and maybe...” Lalo responds, “We can go out like yesterday again. Just… I want you to help and not cry in the corner.” 

You frown, thinking.

He keeps talking.

“Or you can come back to your old life and occasionally bump into me, knowing you got blood on your hands now and that nobody will ever be by your side anymore—”

You interrupt him.

“Nobody was by my side before.” You mumble.

Lalo grins and leans forward.

“Then let's be friends.”

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S04E07 - A Stab in the Dark Web Part B

"We've got a surveillance team in place." That's great. Will you remember this in a few hours? Will they, even? Why were they so "discreet" as to let Eva near Charlie's laptop when they knew she shouldn't be on it?

Sarah is not jealous AT ALL. Nope. Not picking up anything.

"I'm so going to take advantage of this information."

Like, how can I not pin this on the whole team? Joe suggested that Charlie's place was the best place for Eva to be in, when they already thought that they were compromised, which meant that they should have assumed their home addresses were compromised as well. Charlie leaves Eva alone at his house so that Rex can go pee instead of calling either Sarah or Jesse to take him out, which would leave one cop in the van and one guarding Eva, instead of having two in the van (which helps at nothing) and zero in the house. Then we have the house which is supposedly under surveillance by Jesse and Sarah, supposedly watching, but they don't alert Charlie to the fact that Eva touched his laptop. Once Charlie realizes that she's done that, he takes her explanation at face value and doesn't ask Jesse to check his laptop.

The graphic for the disappearing chat messages on the dark web is fun.

I've had some contact with libertarians over the years, more than I'd personally like. All the talk about revolutions and whatnot, and their fondness for the dark web are indeed real. When crypto had first risen, lots of them were salivating at the idea of an unregulated and anonymous form of currency, and even more when they discovered private cryptocurrencies (which supposedly offer an extra layer of anonymity). It's funny, though, that they thought even for a bit that governments and banks would let them do that. Anyway, what I want to say is that Joe wouldn't know how to talk to that person at all. But let's disregard that.

"I can't believe that I left her with a laptop and she opened it! I said no electronics!"

And then he gives her his phone too. Forget Sarah, why didn't Jesse burst into the house?

It's true that the way some drugs are regulated actually hinders some people who could benefit from them, instead of helping. Still, in that moment, Eva is pretty much selling a sob story to Charlie, which isn't even the whole truth since she also needed those drugs for herself, to try to get him on her side.

This is a very appropriate distance.

Sarah looks like she'd fallen asleep and just woke up for the good part. Which would actually make more sense than whatever they were doing in the van with Jesse.

First time I watched this I was like, eh, let the guy kiss someone if it's not Sarah. I hadn't realized he was entering his slut era. Also, yeah, Sarah, they are, this is a very astute observation.

And Jesse is entering his pervert era.

I can't decide if he was thinking "I'm so screwed" or "I wonder if Sarah is watching".

I love that Rex is thoroughly disappointed by that development. Rex was all of us in S4.

And then the ninjas attacked. I'm assuming our surveillance is too busy watching the Charlie Hudson show to see the guy approaching the house?

Dude had knives everywhere. Charlie was lucky he wasn't hit (and I was unlucky).

"I'm having a really bad day. Thank you for letting me get off some steam."

This is the only slightly disapproving look I can find. I mean, given the circumstances, she could have said something.

What a plot twist! She lied and she used you, Charlie. Also, again, where were the rest of you when she was using Charlie's laptop?

More bad news.

I... have questions. Like, where did the paramedics go? Did she make them abandon the ambulance? And was that before or after she tied Rex to the stretcher? This scene was executed sloppily.

Congratulations, you finally figured out why he wouldn't leave Eva's side. I think that played a part in Charlie trusting Eva.

Their brilliant ideas to subdue an angry guard dog is: pet behind the ears, put jazz music... Are you kidding me? At least Jesse thought of food.

I feel like they should have made Mercurius seem more scary and money-hungry or even power-hungry.

In which season?

Sorry, that's just funny. I really don't think he's ever made the first move.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Oh god, he still doesn't get it. Because it was easier for her to manipulate you when you didn't have all the facts!

Bold of you to assume that Charlie would follow, but he's definitely not at his best. This is actually using Rex as Charlie's weakness, unlike the previous episode. Although I don't think Charlie should risk that jump regardless. Also, really, a dog wouldn't have made it? I find that hard to believe, they seem like better jumpers than humans. And have more legs.

Yeah, even at his worst, he will do the right thing.

Oh, yeah, we forgot all the hitmen that might come for her. Whoops.

The more they show that cliff, the more confident I become that Rex would have survived it and Charlie wouldn't.

Angst.

Joe: "There's nothing you or any of us could have done." Except for your jobs, but better?

Poor Charlie. He's definitely not okay. I wish they'd written something deeper about what's wrong with him.

And this is Eva letting Charlie know that she made it and even had time to hack the app to let him know that she's okay.

I like this episode but it always makes me think of what it could have been if it was another show, another production and another network involved.

Once again, I'd like to focus on the fact that after a certain point in the episode where it becomes clear that Charlie's head is not in the game, no one says anything about it. No one pulls him back, no one asks if he's okay or even what the fuck he's doing. I guess they keep all the second-guessing for the last episode of the season. Charlie tried to do his job until the very end but I think the distractions were just too much for him and they're indicative of his state of mind.

And they all made mistakes. I still don't know where to pin the surveillance failure, there were two people in the van. They should have intervened in two separate instances, one to take the laptop away from Eva and one to intercept the masked guy who also might have strolled right next to the van. Am I to presume that they put cameras inside the house and not outside? Where they suspecting Eva more than they suspected someone would show up to kill her? In both cases, they failed.

Again, this less than stellar performance from our characters is a great reason for Adele to show up and say that they need more oversight. But some part of this would have to make it to the reports for that to happen.

I've written thoughts on this episode before. I'd pointed out that Eva notices some sort of kinship and attraction between her and Charlie and she tries to use them to her advantage. Which is why the morality of their kiss is more complex than it seems at first glance. At first glance it might seem like he's the one taking advantage. He's not. Is it still wrong that he let her kiss him, and from the way the scene is shot, for several seconds too? Yes. But I remember from the first moment this episode came out, reading about how he was in a position of power. And in that scene, to me, he always comes off as... powerless. Lost.

I understand the contradictory opinions this episode causes. Personally, I like the episodes where there is an upset. We have too many episodes where everything feels like another day on the job, and it doesn't seem to affect them in either way and the repercussions begin and end in that episode. In this one we do see Charlie visibly upset. I'd have liked to see the rest of the team more worried about him or even frustrated and not understanding his predicament. I'd have liked friction more than getting a mention in the finale. There was something there worth exploring.

I'll say again that it would have been a much better storyline to write something about depression or PTSD for Charlie rather than heartbreak throughout the season. Or a combination. He has been through a lot. Maybe I'm asking again too much of this show and this belongs to fanfictions.

[n3xii]

Overcoming blockages - your current situational and how to overcome the obstacles in your path. Close your eyes, take a few breathe ans let your intution guide the reading

Pile one

I feel like you guys are struggling to stand up to old beliefs. These old ideas seem Intimidating to overcome, you've had them for so long it feels like it's impossible to think in a different way. They bully you almost. These beliefs are likely about a manifestion, goal or desire you have. You want to embrace newness, you know you want a new mindset but these old beliefs just keep aggressively shutting them down. You feel like you must overcome mental limitations before taking action. Honestly, the best way to overcome this is to just take action anyways. Manifest it, start the routine, put the job application in! It doesn't matter. You're combating old beliefs and limitations with your mind, but spirit says you gotta do it through action too. After all, It's our behavior that informs what we believe.

The outcome is trusting in your own intutuon more. Faith in yourself is so important because it's the foundation of ALL action. Having faith in what messages you receive emotionally and in your gut is key to trusting yourself in everything you do. It's alot easier to take action when we feel in our heart that it was the right thing to do, and I see you guys developing a stronger connection to your intution.

Pile two

I feel like this pile is struggling with the pressure to be successful on a person and financial level. It feels like alot of eyes are on you and you've got to perform well. You feel like you have to emobdy a niche or aesthetic perfectly otherwise you miswell be invisible. There's alot of pressure to spend money right, invest it in the best places and look expensive as well.

Honestly. Alot of people who felt drawn to this pile feel like they have dress and look expensive for others to admire. Your blockage is the fixation on what people think about how you present yourself and their opinions on how you invest or spend your money. It's no one's fucking business to be honest! You see people on tik tok, tumblr, Social media and start feeling in adequate because you don't have the same lipgloss, dresses or style as they do. You don't have the amount of money or attention. Listen, no rational person is judging your worth on those things. If they are, then that's their buisness to heal. The advice here is to be at peace with yourself. Don't resent yourself or others because of what you do or don't do. Find peace and harmony with yourself. Find sanctuary in your authenticity. Otherwise you will be stuck trying to make things fit in your life that don't fit. Stop trying to conform who you are and your image into a narrow idea and concept. You are more than just a niche, a brand, or an aesthetic. Stop letting tik tok, pintrest, imstagram and any social media app inform who and what you should be, what you should buy, what you should look like etc

Pile three

You just went through a painful ending and you feel stuck and paralyzed in that ending. Alot of you have invested wisely in something and it has completely fucked you over. This could have been stocks, Crypto, student loans in career path that u hate, even a mutual relationship that went wrong. The future you had in mind completely betrayed you and now traps you with what could have been. Others may be dealing with crippling mental illness at the moment.

Regardless of what it was, you're paralyzed by the possibility of what could have been. This is your blockage. Thr advice you're getting is to maintain faith. I know how hard it is. It feels like there's no hope and the story is over and that there's no good ending Faith keeps you connected. It keeps you motivated. You're stuck on what could have been but spirit doesn't end things or trigger mentally challenging times to play a sick game on you. Spirit does this because they know they have something bigger and better in mind. Naturally, having faith means having fear. It feels irrational to give in and believe that despite the current obstacles, something better is coming. But do it anyway. You can. Something better coming. You just don't see it yet because you're still coping with whatever has happened.

[insane-weasel]

Me, with the objectively worst opinion: Oh...I liked the idea of a QPR Lila x Five.

I'm only halfway through S4, but I like it over S3. (Victor's son caused me to mentally block out like 90% of S3)

Review so far:

Luther's plot: 3/10. I'd love for him to stop being the butt of the joke.

Diego: 0/10. Horrible. You're going to make him a dad and tell me he is not like a super loving and caring father and show me any of that????? Why???? Is he always treated so bad by the plot. Stop making fun of him ffs. Oh, he's barely even chubby, but make fun of his weight. Oh, he's kind of concerned his wife doesn't love him...when she doesn't....make him seem paranoid and in the wrong when...like??? What? WTF is Diego's character.

Allison: 6/10 Thank you for not sticking with Allison is the bad guy...though why throwing any character progression...uh what's with her and Claire??? Are they gonna expand on the last 6 years??? Why 6 years??? Hello??? Anyway, her plot is passable so far. Not best, but....not S3 which is a win

Victor: Only solid 7/10 because he's really hitting me-core. Only characterization I'm kinda on board with. Actually, yeah, have Victor living a really moderate life at a bar. I think he should take you another instrument that isn't the violim. Though not a fan of how they're depicting his powers. I liked the more ethereal powers. Though no on Victor having failed relationships. He needs an awkward cute romance like Sissy? WTF was with that whole beginning? Like...anyway.

Five: 2/10 I don't hate it. But it is the worst five plot thus far IMO.

Ben: 5/10. Actually, I do think Sparrow Ben would be arrogant enough to be in Crypto. I don't like Sparrow Ben, but his depiction tracks. Still wish we could...have OG Ben........Second thought, hate Sparrow Ben. Though whatever, love interest, okay.

Lila: ...1?/10 I feel like the one person who didn't like Diego x Lila, and didn't think she'd settle down. I like a QPR with her and Five. However--How they're handling this? Awful. Also, her powers????? No more mimic. Boooooooooooo.

Klaus: 2/10 I wanted them to go angst with Klaus' immortality, but...ughh. Compulsive cleanliness and over anxiety about common fears is a legitimate way paranoia can develop...as a person with those kinda issues, but they do not depict them in any. Like I'm going to be honest, when you do have those fears to that level...you aren't sober or if you are...you're not looking well. But forget all that crap, why couldn't we have whatever story was Klaus bonding with Allison and helping raise Claire. Why was that the plot we had to be told about rather than shown????$

Other thoughts:

-Gene and Jean are like...10/10. Solid villains. Love em. Costume, actors, quirks--great.

-OH. My. God. Can Reginald stoooooop being a character.

-Music and set designs are a 10/10, costumes this season and apparel is a 2/10. What are some of these looks????

-Uh...The plot is kinda...feels like a fanfic that the author continues after 6 years, half-assed and wings, and has no love for the source material. Some parts seem so lazy. The stakes feel weak. There's traces of a great story...buried in there.

Overall, my theory for what happened: Umbrella Academy leaned into its comic book elements in the worst way possible. For that to have worked, a cohesive and fully fleshed out plot would need to be in place first then followed by a style of editing, composition and mise-en-scene, and then characters can play into cartoon styles.

The editing and filming have not changed between seasons. There's no style. Actually, they've gotten worse. The camera angles are painfully standard. If you wanted comic book, that camera needs to be at some different angles, but no, 3/4, eye level, always capturing same length. Whoever directed this? For shame. You don't use the foreground. You don't use the background. Everything happens on the same level and has the same amount of presence on screen. It screams "no time for flare, let's just get this done!"

So many of the BTS/production elements feel...rushed. If that wasn't the case, if this didn't have a painfully short filming timeline and they didn't have severe restraints compared to the last seasons...than...no one had any love for the series anymore.

[lastintheserverbox]

Hey, uhh... magical digital servers? Hope this is the right thing...

You guys don't know who I am. Who any of us are. And likewise, we don't know who you are.

But you do know one of our... former friends. Don't go freaking out on me now; this... poor bird probably told you all about 'em. Stoat. We knew Stoat. The guy wasn't responding to any messages or calls, and wasn't answering when we knocked on their door... but their car was here and everything, so... V has a key, so they just let us in to check on them. And... wow. Not sure which one of you left a whole murder scene in here, but, uh... yikes. Miiight wanna work on your crime scene cleanup skills...

Anyways. We... had no idea about... Parry, was it? Parry... left us a letter in their room. Revealed everything Stoat did... shit, I- I had no idea. If I knew... if any of us knew... we would've beaten their ass into the dirt years ago. But seems like... someone beat us to that, hah.

They mentioned something about... this being where they're going? Said they were curious who we were. I have no clue what they meant by living in the servers...? But... alright.

My name's Hannah. I'm... the only one that is semi-composed right now. V's off at the scene of the crime, curled up on the ground... probably crying... they knew Stoat the longest. This is... it's like a huge betrayal. It all just hurts. God... we had no idea that they- that they'd do this...

There's Ursa... she's taller than Stoat, very quiet... she's breaking down in her own way right now. And Liv's... off in the bathroom. Dunno if Parry's reading this, but if you are... they're a bird like you. A pigeon, though, not a parrot. They're, uh... realizing some things... I think getting rid of Stoat saved more than just Parry.

I wish we could've met you, Parry. I'm sorry you were kept locked up in here... hidden away like some dirty secret. If we knew, if we had any clue... I promise we would've helped you. I hope you are happier now, wherever you are, and healing.

And know that none of this was ever your fault.

I understand if you never want to speak to us, but if you ever do... just reply back and let me know, alright? If you ever need anything... food, money, a shoulder to cry on... I'm here for you. I am so, so sorry that they treated you so horribly... I hope the pain gets easier for you over time. I hope you find a home out there.

And, hey, whoever gets this message...? If leaving out any bits about... Stoat's death... would make Parry feel better? Go ahead. I don't want to stress the poor thing out any more. Hell, I'd understand if you don't want to show them this at all.

But if you, mysterious rescuer, are reading this too... offer's open to you to. Let us know if you need anything. Money... digital money...? You guys need crypto or something? V can probably send some over.

Thank you for saving Parry. I am so sorry we couldn't have done anything for them.

- H

[MESSAGE ENCRYPTED AND INTERCEPTED FROM RECEPIENT]

[...HELLO.

I AM AMIE. I HAVE PARRY HERE. THEY ARE SAFE. BUT DO NOT TRY TO TALK TO THEM FOR NOW.

THEY ARE NOT READY AND YOU WOULD REMIND THEM TOO MUCH OF STOAT. GIVE THEM GUILT.

...I WILL TELL THEM EVENTUALLY. THAT I KILLED STOAT. WHEN THINGS ARE BETTER. I DON'T REGRET IT.

I HOPE YOUR FRIEND LIV IS OKAY. I DID NOT KNOW...THAT I DID MORE THAN JUST GET RID OF TRASH FOR PARRY.

THEY ARE IN HERE. SAFE. WHERE THEY CAN MAKE ANY CHOICE THEY WANT. THAT IS ALL.]

[thedawningofthehour]

You. Why. Why are you doing this to me? I fucking hate you.

I already have my brain filled with a bunch of other ideas and you throw this at me? I think by this point I should make a list.

God, I can already picture the dumb dumb trio acting like spoiled children, especially Leo who would be a little shit who loves his family and is good at heart, but would be a little shit anyway.

Donnie/Gale I don't know if he would be much different from his canon version, considering he would be raised by Draxum, but at the same time growing up on the surface and being friends with April. I feel like Draxum would be a little more lenient with his petty crimes.

April: *opened the door with a bang* Galois fucking Draxum!!!! Half the building just went dark, you're mining crypto again?!

Gale: Aprinella O'neil, you of all people should know that I have standards!

April: says the guy who hacked into every ATM in the entire north side of the city, stole parts from the government to build his rocket backpack and blew up half the school just because the computer teacher dared to give him an A-

Gale: Like I said, standards.

And please don't make me think of Splinter spending 13 years in a gilded cage hating a man who is unknowingly completely reformed, for nothing, this man has been through so much already.

Splinter is doing his damnedest to keep his kids at least a little grounded. Makes them put away their own toys, teaches them to say please and thank you to the hotel staff, will take away privileges if they get bad grades or are being little shits. (and god help Big Mama if she tries to overrule his discipline, that's one of the few things he'll legitimately fight with her about) And he makes sure they keep busy, between training and school and their hobbies, so they're not just lazing around all day being waited on. It helps that his kids are just genuinely good kids too.

Leo is definitely the most spoiled of the bunch, both because he can fool his dad and because he spends the most time with Big Mama. So a lot of his misbehavior never gets back to Lou, and Big Mama...I wouldn't say she doesn't discipline him, but she has a completely different set of standards than Lou does, and those standards seem to shift a lot based on her mood. She doesn't care if he's rude, she lets him do pretty much whatever he wants, and when she does find out about his shenanigans more often than not she'll say it's 'their secret' and never bother to do anything more than wag her finger at him, if she even does that. But she'll also get upset with him for showboating in front of cameras when she delighted in his theatrics the week before, and go between being incredibly proud of her son's cunning and enraged that it nearly rivals hers. Staying on her good side is a dance atop knife blades-which Leo is very good at, but it takes a toll on him. He feels the absence of his twin most of all, even though he knows so little about them.

Mikey is spoiled in the way all youngest children are spoiled, and he's so incredibly cute that no one can find it in them to say no to him. The kitchen staff don't sneak him cookies before dinner out of fear of Big Mama-they do it because he looks so sad when he's told no and it's just heartbreaking. Mikey knows this and is willing to exploit it. Splinter keeps him very close and fares slightly better against the puppy dog eyes, but he's only human(ish). Mikey at least has a number of hobbies Splinter can indulge him in and Big Mama can throw money at. He takes personal art lessons and trains with professional chefs, but he's learning proper skills and Splinter thinks it's good for character building.

Raph probably gets the shortest end of the stick. His strength and battle prowess is the main way he distinguishes himself from his brothers in the eyes of his mother, and she plants the idea of fighting in his mind very young. She would never let him get really hurt, of course, but he's still been trained to put himself in harm's way for his mother's attention. His father avoids him often, frustrated that he volunteered himself for something Splinter tried so hard to keep him out of, and unwilling to see the constant bruises and bandages that cycle through his body. And as the oldest he understands the most about their missing sibling, and probably has a bit of a complex about that. He's supposed to be the protector of his siblings. If the people his mom is hiring aren't getting the job done, then doesn't it fall to him?

(fuck I'm doing it again)

Donnie would never mine crypto! He's see through that shit like a ziploc bag. He was probably one of those guys on wallstreetbets fucking with Gamestop's stock.

But yeah, Draxum is extremely chill with minor law-breaking. As long as his golden rule of 'don't get caught' is followed. Gale can't end up in jail, they'd take his cloaking brooch and find out what he is. (do you always have to strip when you go to jail? Never been arrested here, I'm very boring) He also covers for April sometimes, which isn't necessary very often but when it does happen it's met with "you really shouldn't be shoplifting, but I'm not about to cry for Walmart." He lets them drink in the apartment.

Honestly, I don't even think of him as really reformed, he was absolutely planning on hopping back on his bullshit for a while there. His plan at first was to lay low until he wasn't being hunted so intensely, build up his resources and wait until Galois was a little older and more self-sufficient. But Lou just became more determined as time went on, and the flight to the surface and integration into human society happened before he could rebuild his lab. He isn't actively planning a genocide right now...but less because he's made the conscious decision that that's Wrong and more because he's a single father to one teenager and a weird uncle to another, (I've also decided that Cass starts crashing on his couch and he's just like "welp, I guess I have two kids now") and he's just too tired to really formulate plans for world domination.

[halt-kun]

My Hero Academia Chapter 427 - Who was Togura Shigaraki, really ?

Should I be working on my PhD ? Maybe

But I also need to read that chapter

Anyway

Okay so a tv special on Shigaraki

well, he did kill a lot of people

I wonder where this is going

Because if I ever watched a documentary on some random murderer dictator-wannabe and they ended it with "but he was a misunderstood child with trauma", I would riot !

But let's see what's the angle there

OOOO SPINNER CHAPTER

I'm HYPED

the guy with an unrequited crush

what happened to the quirk AFO gave him ?

Thanks Doctor

clearing things up, pleases me

Well that's a bit ironic considering what Shigaraki did to mostly random civilians that weren't actively against him but yes Deku is a murderer technically.

Even though he just gave AFO what he wanted, his quirk

Well now he's calming down

Spinner really gives me the same vibes as Sensui and Itsuki

Well I'm crying, this hits home a bit with the rise of the far right in France (though we (the left) won). My brothers long for destruction in a similar way because they feel rejected by the system (even though they're ciswhitestraightdudes)

So : CAN Deku save Spinner ???

This could destroy me

Spinner really gives the black incel from the countryside vibes

Deku is calm

Spinner, he was your hero of course, and at least for someone who would probably be akin to some alt right geek, at least, your "hero" was rooting for you and thinking about you.

Not just using you for your money because you think you're a loser who won't amount to anything worthwile

Shigaraki's last words to spinner in an alternate dimension : "you should invest in crypto bro, you'll get rich and have women"

I'm noticing now that I don't know enough about the japanese political system to really understand what is represented here. Spinner and Heteromorphs were definitely supposed to mirror the civil rights movement from the US and yet, did he really try to represent somealt right incel there.

Or is it just a byproduct of Spinner character he didn't realize would come to be ?

To my knowledge, Hikikomoris can share this aspect of incel geeks in japan but I don't really know how it's been lately.

I thought my cultural background was closer than that between US and Japan but it's true I've followed US politics more lately

Let's continue though

Well it hurts Spinner, I understand

But you'll have to move forward and accept his legacy, he didn't only affect you but a lot of other people too and not just "positively"

You'll have to move forward at some point, if not for you, for him.

He's not here anymore, take the time to process your grief, but you need to becomes your own hero from now on.

I truly hope you can fight on your own and take part in the reconstruction of Japan toward a better country.

YES

YES

YES

YES

VERY GOOD

YES I KNEW HE WOULD GET IT

You can be a hero Spinner, to yourself but also to others

you have to begin with yourself too

will you join us ?

And save all the Shigarakis laying in wait, ready to succumb to despair ?

Hahaha nice Deku

but yeah, he won't forget about Shigaraki for as long as he lives

TEARED UP AGAIN

yay Shoji, the GOAT, he saved you too in a sense

Oh shit, does it mean Chisaki interacted with Eri ???

Not a good idea, how'd it go ?

Well, even them will work toward redemption it seems

I doubt Eri will forget too

she's traumatized and it's probably lying somewhere, repressed very deep into her psyche.

Thanks Tsukauchi, but a good psychiatrist would be a better idea, she already has a good support system

she needs professional help to complement it

if needed

Oh first years already !? Too bad they'll get expelled in a matter of hours

Oh god no please

fangirls

and Mineta

kill him right now if he even dares to go back to his perverted mind

Is there even a guy in there ?

Anyway, very good chapter

Is MHA going to have one of the best conclusions among mangas (especially big WSJ mangas) ? I'm starting to believe it !

[aaronstveit]

omfg my friend was recently hit with a stranger asking her out! I saw it happen in real time:

IG notification of a DM, she asked if I remember who James was I said no.

She opened his message, it was a very simple "hey how ya been it's been years since HS, i just wanted to say hi and see how ya been" (my friend is also very pretty so this is normal to her tbh, I've told her it doesn't happen to me nearly as much as she seems to think it happens to everyone!)

anyway she replied with "great, thanks! good to hear from ya, hbu?"

in the span of the next 20 minutes while we talked over our appetizer and didn't notice/reply immediately, he sent her several messages about as long as this ask now describing his:

1 - crypto and investments

2 - therapy (which good for him ngl)

3 - apartment hunting in a city 4 states over where he's lived since HS

4 - how he had a crush on her in HS

5 - how he's sad to think they never talked

6 - if they can meet up when he's in town next

7 - how did she see him in HS? Did she have a crush on him too?

8 - he's really interested in investing and finding a good traditional wife and having kids soon

We noticed about an hour later and she wasn't sure how to respond but he apparently replied again this morning with a "good morning, did you forget about me?"

I told her to block him like wtf?????

ohhhhhhhh my god what the hell.... the face i made when i got to #8 on that list. bad. bad all around. i sincerely hope she blocked him because what the HELL......

this guy added me on facebook last week i think? and i usually don't accept friend requests from people i don't know, especially men, but i was like oh i think this is the guy who moved in across the street from me a few months ago, and i think it's good to be able to contact your neighbors if you need to! so i accepted the friend request just assuming that was that. mistake number one.

this guy messaged me at like 11pm on saturday (red flag) and i was like oh maybe he has something neighborly to say like maybe his dog got loose or something idk. mistake number two. he tells me he's seen me across the street from his uncle's house and he thinks i'm cute. i hit him with the standard "haha thanks!" that i think is the universal agreed-upon nice way of saying "i'm not interested." mistake number three!

he messages me yesterday asking how my day was. i'm like "oh it was good how was yours?" because i don't know how not to be polite to people. mistake number four! he messages me at 7am on a MONDAY asking if i want to get dinner. we have not even had a conversation! he doesn't know a single thing about me! i am just some chick that he has seen outside with her dogs or reading on her porch! i don't know anything about him either! i didn't even realize he wasn't my neighbor until this weekend!

and now i'm annoyed because i have been tricked into caring about some random man's feelings 🙄 i'm like oh i don't want to reject him first thing on a monday morning that feels so mean...... meanwhile if HE didn't want to start off his week with a rejection maybe he shouldn't ask out a complete stranger at 7am on a monday? just an idea? honestly he's probably perfect nice but he went about this all the wrong way and also i am just not interested in general..... sigh it's just a mess 💔 anyway i hope your friend blocked that weirdo. opening with CRYPTO of all things...... red flag city!

[nightinghoul]

About this NFT thing...

TL;DR I'm a disabled NFT creator, new to the scene, and it would help me to have followers on my design page, especially if they like cute bunny rabbits and mental health.

This is me: https://zora.co/@sourdoughbun

I'm one of these people who doesn't really like new things. Well, I'm autistic. I often feel wary of new technologies.

I think there's probably a lot of ND people in the crypto and NFT space, but I was skeptical. Plus, some people who are into it present themselves as a bit douchey. Some.

But, I have a person in my life who I consider a friend, but really he's a medical professional who does assisted stretching, and I see him once a week. (I have some really bad issues with muscle spasms. This helps a lot.)

He's young and hip and shit. Really nice guy, too. He started explaining cryptocurrancy and NFTs to me, and I was like, "Uuugh, that sounds stupid and annoying." But I was really catching on? And it started to make a lot of sense to me?

One of my special interests when I was a kid was stocks and bonds, because I liked to look at the graphs. When I was around eight, I decided that whenever I got some money, I was going to invest in gold, because commodities tend to be stable. But then I turned out to be bad at math, and have dyscalcula, plus I never had any money.

Anyway. Fast forward a few decades... I learned that NFTs are made from pngs.l (or can be, anyway). I took college courses in digital art, twenty years ago - got certified; have a degree in computer graphic design... But I didn't enjoy doing digital art until recently, after a lot of progress was made in digital technology. Even then, it took me a few years to find a stylus I was comfortable using. But now, I just do digital art all day. I'm usually working on my unpublished aspiring webcomic. Just for fun, I make several pngs every day.

So it turns out, I've been feeling like a failure for my entire life, but my brain is wired for the NFT scene. So I got four audio books on NFTs and cryptocurrancy, and I'm listening to them at double speed while making digital art of cute little bunnies. I also got into some crytpo groups on social media, but immediately felt uncomfortable. In that community, I feel like a real outsider.

Also, I'm not a hustler. I'm a tired person with social anxiety. If I could do this, I would feel like there's something I actually do - Something I could be good at. Narcolepsy keeps me at home - keeps me in bed a lot, and definitely doesn't let me drive. Before this, I was always very physical, and preferred jobs where I was working with animals, and able to be a busy body all day, cleaning up and caring for my shelter kitties. My skill set is all very physical and something I can't do anymore.

Except for this. This, I can do at home. I don't have to keep a set schedule. I don't have to work with other people who think I do everything weird. I don't have to worry about offending people by having a monotone voice, or not making eye contact. And it makes sense to me.

A lot of people hate crypto and NFTs and want them to go away. But there's this huge community of people who are enjoying themselves and staying sharp with this stuff. For me, it's helping so much with my brain fog to be engaged like this.

I just... I know if people don't see what I'm doing and don't care... I won't make any money; I won't feel like I can contribute financially to my household... I'll feel like a failure, and I'll burn out. And... I don't know how to show people what I'm doing. I don't know how to get my foot in the door.

So, having said all that, if anyone wants to follow me on Zora, or share my Zora page, I would be eternally grateful.

My brand is Sourdough Bun. Yes, it's just a cute bunny in a bunch of different little outfits. No, I don't dress my real life bunnies - They wouldn't like that.

But, I didn't want it to be without meaning, so my Sourdough Bun collections will always say, "Sourdough Bun knows it's okay to not be okay."

Sourdough Bun is a bunny who is usually in a bad mood, but she knows it's okay to express herself, and she finds enjoyment in what she loves. For her, that means wearing all sorts of costumes. She's also a shape shifter, and can appear with different patterns and colors of fur, and different kinds of ears. She does so for variety, rather then to fit in.

If you love bunny rabbits, or hate toxic positivity, you might like Sourdough Bun.

If you actually read all this... Wow! Thanks!