#would be a good incentive to work hard this week

[smallersmallersmaller-again]

The maintainerrrrr

[artytaeh]

𓆸 ֗ ˳ DRABBLE : [ meschinità ostinata ] 𔓘

theodore is a man of patience, or at least that's what his reserved behavior hints at. obviously, everyone has a limit; if you made your moodiness his problem, then he'll make his annoyance yours. it's only fair, right?

taglist : p in v, hinting towards theodore being a brat tamer. no further descriptions because i don't ruin surprises. obvious +18 content; read at your own risk.

"you're not stopping, are you?" the thick italian accent doesn't cover for the clear tease within his tone, a breathy chuckle leaving theodore's lips, as his hand smacks another slap to your asscheeks: "come on, tesoro; you have a lot to apologize for, don't you?"

one would have thought that, from the way theodore seems oh so patient with his girlfriend, that any annoyance would be sucked up, forgiven and forgotten. although theo is a good boyfriend... he's also a slytherin, and slytherins rarely forget resentments without a good bribery, you know? like a serpent, theo cunningly waits for the right time to strike.

in a more rational part of your mind — since everything else seems to become too blurry and white out.from the pleasure that keeps poking on that sweet spot, again, and again and again —, you ponder about regret.

should you have been impatient this afternoon? no, it wasn't fair to push your pettiness and moody behavior onto theodore, especially not when the italian was just trying to smoke his afternoon cigarette, hopefully to expel some accumulated stress, from this week's assignments.

do you regret it? not exactly.

how can anyone regret anything, if the outcome is theodore nott under you, blue eyes piercing into your soul with the cockiness of who knows what he's doing — gaze dispersing from your fucked out expression, only to stare in marvel at the way your chest bounces with every. single. movement. of your hips? oh, he's loving this.

theo loves your bratty side.

it's not a secret either. why do you think he likes the sassy ones? the comebacks make him laugh, and theo definitely laughs harder when he gets you so tired and fucked out of your attitude, that not even a huff of annoyance he gets out of you.

and he's working in that direction.

well, it's more accurate to say that he's making you work for that.

his hand lazily settles on your hip, caressing the skin already tainted with darkening fingermarks; so what? it feels so damn good to be inside you, it always has theodore muttering in italian—cursing and praising, depending on his tone, you've learned from pure experience. the other one, as if to taunt your attempts of scolding his unhealthy habit of smoking, holds a cigarette between his index and ring finger.

you know, the ones he used to impatiently prepare you for his cock, still wet with your slick. theo loves to feel you drooling for him, already fidgety and sensitive when he slips inside you — or, in this case, having seen you sink onto his painfully hard erection. the heaven's view, he swears.

taking a drag from his cigarette, theodore ponders whether you deserve an incentive, or to have him being mean with you. weren't you so smart earlier?

his fingers bruise the skin on your hipbone yet again, this time thrusting up for a harsh thrust, contrasting with this slow rhythm you're providing. theo scoffs, "seriously, is this your way to apologize for your bitchy behavior? dai, amore, non deludermi."

as if it's that easy to make your body work faster; it's already uncomfortable to be in this position, especially overwhelmed from his fingers!

not that theo cares about that, anyway.

another harsh slap to your asscheeks; a raise of his left eyebrow, and you know that he's losing his patience: "don't make me do it for you, dolcezza. i'll rip manners out of you."

and as delightful as that sounds, you're not sure if you could take that sort of overstimulation today. not when you're already like this, even less when theodore is savoring the idea of bullying your pretty lips and sensitive core.

so, hands falling for support on his abdomen, you do your best to ignore the aching on your thighs — perhaps you should do this more often or exercise? — you force yourself to lift your hips, only to slam them again until theodore is so deep inside you, that your clit makes a wet mess of his groin. theodore fucking loves that, expelling the smoke from his lips with a breathless chuckle, head tilting back to the headboard.

yeah, mattheo is probably sleeping in the common room tonight.

not appreciating the lack of response, zero empathy towards the effort you're already doing, theodore sneaks his free hand amidst the mess of your hair. his fingers tangle between your locks, until his nails lightly scratch over your scalp and tug you closer to him; a demand from him that feels ridiculously good to you. his free hand moves the cigarette away from his lips, and taking the chance of your gasp from the extra tug on your hair, theodore blows the burning smoke to your lips; inside your mouth. taunting how much you dislike this vice of his.

nicotine swirls between your tongues as they meet; that, however, isn't the reason why you crawl back to him everytime.

theodore nott is a drug of his own.

perhaps he decides to be nicer now, sloppily exchanging slow kisses with you, letting his hips roll upwards to pursue his orgasm.

"non puoi nemmeno essere una vera troia," theo is so close to you, that the movement of his lips, pronouncing each foreign word, brush against yours, creating a tingling sensation that only adds to the notion of being cursed and insulted—at least, that's what your intuition tells you.

his hand blindly abandons his cigarette on the ashtray, keenly aware that you can feel—and taste—that acid smell of tobacco and cigarettes, less considerate than he usually is about your irking over it. his fingers grip your jaw, his thumb squeezing your cheek as his other fingers do the same, not even letting you moan from each sharp thrust that kisses your cervix.

"cazzo, it makes me want to laugh at you. you talk, talk, talk my ear off," even breathless, theo seems to have too much to say; it should be embarrassing, really, if his disdain didn't make your inner walls clench tighter around his thickness. "and can't even own your bitching afterwards. didn't even properly apologize; maybe you don't deserve this, huh?"

it takes a moment for you to understand the implication there, too distracted by the toe curling sensation of being repeatedly filled up. it's when theodore stops, resting on the mattress once more and giving up on the fluid movement of his hips, previously bouncing you on his groin, that your eyes widen with disbelief. seriously?

at first, you think about calling him out for his pettiness.

but it's the smug look and smirk that makes you want to sob instead, dignity crumbling to ashes, reborn as despair to finally cum. please, please.

his hand lowers to your neck, fingers curling around your throat, even though there's not much of a threat there. it's a loose grip; not even properly holding it, a simple squeeze that feels rather gentle, more like he's mocking you, in a way.

the worst is that theodore isn't even being mean. no, this is him having fun; if he was being mean, he'd be teasing you about the first semblance of frustrated tears, and you'd have to cry for it.

picking up the pieces of any strength left, the smartest choice is to surrender yourself, hopefully calming down the fire that burns within theodore's temper to slowly sneak into his good graces again. your hips move — unable to exert the tired muscles of your thighs — grinding helplessly against the firm muscles of his groin, the movement enough to rip out a low groan from theodore, appeased that he won't listen any whines from you, for now.

"brava ragazza," comes as a praise; before the compliment gets over your head, his free hand slaps your thigh, "go on. use me like a toy, carina, cum on my cock."

yeah, this would be a long night.

[puckinghischier]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[latenightdaydreams]

I have an idea that Konig was kicked out of his old apartment because his last deployment was last for years and he decided to find another place to rent a share apartment. When he opened his new apartment's door to move in, reader accidently greeted him with the biggest squirt in his life that he's ever seen =)))) (like reader didn't know he'd move in that day)

I love it, a great way to start off a new lease😈

Roommates (fem)

MDNI🔞

Master List

Part 2 Part 3

>cw: fem/afab, masturbation

1.5k word count

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Coming back after four years of being deployed, he was greeted with a huge pile of mail. Plopping his body in his desk chair, he began to look for a new place to live. That when he finds you listing. Pets are okay, no smoking, and only one other roommate. The apartment was in a nice area too. Without going to look at the place, König messaged the tenant to apply for the available room.

When you posted the ad, you didn’t add that you’re a woman. You didn’t want people applying just to be creeps or to get harassed. When König’s application comes in, you think it sounds too good to be true. Older man, no pets, doesn’t smoke, is military so he would be deployed for months at a time, maybe years, and willing to divide the rent 40/60, him covering the larger half, since he said he is paid well. It was an incentive König was hoping would help inspire you and make you pick him since the spot was perfect for what he needs.

Flipping back and forth between König’s application and this woman your age, you feel torn. The woman would make a fun roommate, but she is a struggling artist and you don’t want to be put in a situation where you’re paying full rent WITH a roommate.

König on the other hand, while he is a man, will be gone most of the time and is willing to pay more meaning you’d be able to set aside money and finally save some.  It’s a selfish reason, but times are hard right now.

You send back a response message to König to tell him that he’s got the room. You send him the move-in date and where to pick up the key. Instantly you get a message back saying he will be about a week late to move in but will send you the money now. You phone chimes and you see your Venmo with his portion of the rent. Feeling like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, you go back to cleaning up the apartment.

Two weeks pass and König gets back from his mission a week earlier than expected. He walks past the boxes of his belongings stacked along the wall of his office. His shoulders slumped over, exhausted from all of his recent travels. He sits at his desk, pulling off his sniper hood and opens up the email with all of the information about his new living situation. Leaning back, he lets out a deep sigh and looks at the time. Figuring it was too late he decided to wait until tomorrow to move in.

The next morning you wake up a little after 9am and make yourself breakfast. You check your emails to see if there has been any word from König. Nothing. After you eat breakfast you sit on the living room couch, wasting time. Since today is your day off you planned on getting some chores done, but you have other things on your mind.

Quickly, you stand from the couch and go to your room. Opening up your underwear drawer you grab a black bag of goodies. You open it up and pull out your favorite silicon toy before going to the kitchen sink to wash. The hot guy from your commute to work everyday comes to mind as you begin to daydream about him naked, kissing you, touching you, fucking you...

Drying off your dildo and walking back to the living room couch, you pull the throw blanket from the back of your couch and lay it down as a makeshift towel. You pull down your pants and underwear before laying back on the couch. Your fingers go to gently rub your clit while you close your eyes and begin to day dream.

Him kissing your neck lightly as his fingers circle your clit, leg twitching as you moan to him. His fingers slowly inching lower and pushing into your tight little cunt. His fingers pumping in and out quickly as he moves his lips to yours; his mouth devouring your moans. His other hand moves to your breast and begins to lightly tug at your nipple.

You open your eyes for a second and remove your fingers from your cunt and rub your arousal on the blanket underneath you. Moving your hand from your breast, you reach over and grab your dildo from the coffee table. You move yourself so you can get more comfortable, rubbing your dildo over your wet folds. Letting out a sigh, you lean back and close your eyes again.

His naked body looms over you as he rubs his erection over your wet little pussy. His hand reaches back out and begins to rub your nipple.

“You ready y/n?”

You let out a soft yes before he shoves his cock inside of you slowly, inch by inch. He begins to thrust into you quickly, the sound of your loud moans filling the room. His hand moving off of your breast so he can fuck you quicker. You reach out gripping the bedsheets and pulling them as your legs begin to tremble from his cock hitting your g-spot over and over…

König decided to only grab his duffle bag full of clothes and a few boxes for his first trip. He will be off the next few days so he has time to go back and grab his stuff, take his time moving in. He walks out to his SUV and loads up the trunk with five boxes. Sitting down, he puts the address into his GPS and begins to take off.

The building was nice, there was a park nearby and it was 40 minutes from base. That gave him a sense of privacy. He parks his SUV at the front, pulls his sniper hood off, and walks inside to go to the building manager. He welcomes König and hands him the key to the apartment that you left for him two weeks ago.

“Danke.” König takes the key and begins to walk back to his SUV to grab two boxes.

Apartment 304. König walks up the stairs and gets to his floor. He looks around the hall, doors with cute welcoming mats and small seasonal decorations giving the complex a nice homely vibe.

Your eyes still closed and hand behind your head holding on to the couch cushion as your legs are spread wide open. Your 7-inch dildo moving quickly in and out of you as you moan out, but quietly enough that the neighbors can’t hear. One of your feet moves to the coffee table to spread your legs open even more, back arching as you get close to release.

König gets to the front door, holding his boxes in one arm as he opens the front door. He hears your moans and the sound of the dildo in your pussy before you begin to squirt. His eyes glued to your pussy as he watches the impressive stream leaving you. His jaw drops and he accidently drops one of the boxes. He looks down at the box and then back up at you to see you open your eyes and look at him.

You freeze as you realize your door is open and a giant man is just standing there. You assume it’s König, but he wasn’t supposed to be here for another week. You feel as if your heart is going to explode. Your face is hot with embarrassment. Before anyone can say anything, you pull your dildo out, get up and run to the bedroom.

König stands there looking at the wet spot on the blanket and the wet mess on the floor. Your pants and underwear tossed onto the other end of the couch. He takes a deep breath and picks up the box on the ground before walking further into the apartment. He closes the door behind him and just stands there awkwardly with a boner.

You’re in your room dying of embarrassment. You don’t know what to do, you can’t face him now. Not after that. You put on underwear and pants to open your door and yell out.

“Your bedroom is the last room down the hall to the left!” Thankfully on the other side of the apartment from yours.

“Okay, thank you!” He yells back.

He walks towards his room, his eyes lingering on the mess you left behind for a moment. Finally, he makes it to his bedroom door. He opens it to see a queen size bed and two dressers. The window is letting in the bright sun. He drops his boxes on the floor and sits on the bed, looking around the room for a while.

He can’t stop replaying the scene of you squirting over and over in his mind. His hand wandered to his boner instinctively. You’re his new roommate, he doesn’t want to start the relationship off by jerking off to you. Yet, he can’t seem to stop himself as he unzips his pants and pulls them down enough to release his cock. He closes his eyes and replays your sounds and the moment over and over as he strokes his cock.

Part 2 Part 3

[anantaru]

any starrail character with breeding kink

cw. jing yuan + breeding, fem! reader

there was rarely an incentive to leave the bed this week, but jing yuan quietly feared that he would turn utterly enchanted by you if he doesn't go to work already— because, how come you're all warm and soft under his hands, and he wants to start a family with you, hankering over the thought to make it happen, just imagining himself being a father was enough to kiss you like a starved animal again, correlating a swelling demand.

jing yuan felt really good pressed against you, better when he lowers his lips to gnaw along the outline of your jaw, "right there?" a tease, quite well-pleased with himself as he rubs the tip of his member over your dripping hole, slow circling motions, easily creating a parted mouth on your face, a silhouette of a little surprised ‘o’ for a moment before you discern a dirty flicker in your lovers golden eyes, "you'll have me right there tonight."

you giggle, cheeks holding onto heat, exactly knowing what he meant by that little sentence, "you promise?" and you roll your hips into him barefaced and a teeny tiny bit smug, being aware that you'll feel it writhing against your stomach, mirroring your own movements as he fucks his cum into you.

jing yuan affirms you with a gentle smile before placing one palm against your hip, your soft skin shivering beneath his hands. "tell me if it's too much for you," he asserts, a glimmer of worry purled on top of his handsome countenance.

you nod firmly, closing your eyes and wrap your arms around his chest with your hands resting on his back, your heart rumbles in your chest and fuck, there really was nothing better than this, there simply couldn't be anything else that would make you feel this way. the mood changes, always being so warm and cozy later, sensitive and open for him, and jing yuan's own sweet excitement multiplies and heightens by a tenfold when he fucks himself into you at last, catching your needy, little pants huffing and puffing on his face.

you nibble on his bottom lip, suck on his tongue and let him use you, fuck you, pouring and sliding into you in a slowed, even manner, until he successfully overflows your insides, and then his cock pulses right inside you while you constrict on his girth.

jing yuan was perfect, yours.

he moans into your mouth, both catching sweet, tender tunes in tandem with each others movements, "oh fuck, fuck! you're so…" his breath shutters lightly, body screaming and convulsing, aching to already cum inside of you.

"i'm not gonna last long like this." his strong jaw was clenched and his blatant admittance was a clear turn on— in truth, you never wanted it to end, the more he roughly pumped and thrusted into you, bored his eyes over your lewd reactions while washing multiple shivers down your spine was haunting, tantalizing your entire figure for more of him. yet do not get fooled, he seems like he got lost in it as well, long-windedly groaning and panting and praising you.

the general swoops down to kiss you again, cutting off your quite limited space when you notice the piercing coil, the largely aching and built up bubble in your stomach snap into two pieces, and so did his, at the very same time.

you convulse around him, melting like butter, milking him dry and hard with all of your remaining energy, together worshipping and touching your faces to please please see your expressions become slowly screwed up with pin-pointed pleasure, eyes rolled back while he swiftly licks the drool dribbling down your chin.

you continue to clench around him strongly, pulling more out of jing yuan until he was practically empty, his warm, white cum stored inside of you, glistening, and you're all happy and fulfilled now, couldn't fathom that you even had this much of him in you.

but then, when it ends, both out of breath and feeling a little light headed, jing yuan collapses on top of your figure— one arm holding him up fairly enough so he wouldn't cut off your breathing space entirely, sweat stricken foreheads resting, suddenly putting a trembling hand on your belly and rubbing it in circles.

"just imagine baby."

©2023 anantaru do not share, copy, translate any of my work

[spiderhanzzz]

"I'M FUCKING SPIDERMAN, BABY" — han jisung.

who would've guessed that the guy you've been texting on tinder is spiderman?

word count: 2.7k

pairings: spiderman!han x journalist intern!reader

genres: humor, fluff, slight angst, comfort, kind of fake dating???

warnings: swearing, drinking, han is referred to as peter, reader and han are both uni students, mentions of vomit and violence, mild injuries, lowkey blackmailing if u squint, no use of y/n & gender neutral reader, han calls reader "pretty" once, usage of "baby" and "sweetie" too

playlist: les childish gambino, dare gorillaz, novacane frank ocean, i bet you look good on the dancefloor arctic monkeys, making the bed olivia rodrigo

a/n: my first fic raaahh!!! >:3 so so excited for u 2 read all these crazy ideas swirling inside my head

“...whoever provides the information on Spider-Man’s real identity will receive a cash prize of $1,000 US dollars…”

Your gaze bores to the glow of your old crappy TV. You haven’t had the time nor funds to purchase a new one, given that your only employment at the moment is a journalistic internship. It’s a good agency, the same one reporting on screen right now, and you acknowledge how hard you had worked to get the position. Nevertheless, you wish you prioritized financial gain over prestige, because now you’re stuck in your run-down apartment in New York, investigating the biggest issues for no money at all.

So you guess it’s not that big of a deal that you have no leads on who the hell Spider-Man is. If any higher-ups scold you, you could just hit them with those snarky remarks you’ve kept in the back of your mind all this time. How do you expect incentive from me if you’re not even paying me? I’m writing all your scripts because everyone else is a damn deadbeat! Maybe then they’ll start appreciating you.

You released a heavy sigh. All this nonsense is giving you a permanent headache, and it doesn’t help that you spend most of your free time scrolling mindlessly on your phone, which lights up with a new text notification the moment you start thinking about it. Perhaps you’ve spent so much time on your phone it’s becoming a part of your brain?

Peter Han: hahah tbh im pretty busy this week, but i’ll let u know for sure :)

A light shade of embarrassment tints your face when you catch yourself smiling at the text message. Usually Peter— the cute guy you’ve been texting on Tinder— never uses any emoticons. In fact, he’s been acting pretty uninterested and dry with you, which wouldn’t bother you as much if it weren’t for the fact that you desperately need a date to your friend’s birthday party next week.

Despite your humiliatingly destitute lifestyle, you pride yourself for your unmatched abilities to blend into any crowd. So like any other New Yorker, you decided to surround yourself with upper class Manhattan socialites. They like you; they don’t need to know about your financial status.

But with great power comes great responsibility, and with great social life comes great expectations. Last week it was a certain Kate Spade wallet with the intentions to match with the whole group of girls, and the week before it was table manners at a European restaurant (how in the hell were you supposed to know which fork to use for a crème brûlée?) This week, though, they gave you the most impossible task of all: get a date.

And you would. Truly, you would. It’s not like you’re particularly unattractive or unlikeable or anything like that. It’s just that you haven’t dipped your toes into the dating pool since university started, and you’re too far gone now. Your peers are fluent in these unspoken rules of dating and you don’t even really know what a situationship is.

Thus why you’re acting a little bit too desperate with Peter.

As you draft a response to him— is it better to use two or three y’s in hey?— your train of thoughts are interrupted by a loud thud on your balcony, followed by a shadow of vibrant colours. Your couch is situated safely so you can see right out the window, but angled in a way that someone outside wouldn’t be able to see you inside. You found this hack on social media on a particularly paranoid rush of nerves and thanked whoever that person was every single night.

Hesitating for a minute, you consider your options: a) attempt to fight off whoever is in your building, b) run out and alert security, or b) pretend like you didn’t hear anything and pray you don’t see your own face on TV tomorrow instead of Spider-Man’s.

If you were acting rational you would have chosen the last option. After all, it’s New York— if there’s anything prevalent here, it’s crime. But you are just so fucking bored. 

So you grab a baseball bat and swing open the window. 

“Get the hell off my balcony, dude!”

To your surprise, you stand face to face with a pair of dangling Converse All-Stars (really dirty ones, too). In your spur of confusion you come to the conclusion that whoever is sitting above your flat has the ugliest red socks you’ve ever seen in your life.

“What the fuck, man?” The person exclaims. “You bruised my knee!”

“That sounds about right for messing with my place, no?” You say, stepping out onto the balcony to get a good look at the stranger.

Just when you think you couldn’t get more disoriented, you realize the man you’re looking up to is not a stranger at all. It’s none other than Peter Han, in a full on Spider-Man suit.

“Peter…?”

The stranger, AKA Peter, breathes out a nervous laugh, raking his hand through his messy hair. Cute, you think.

“I think you mistook me for someone else. I’m not Peter.”

“Okay…” You say dubiously. “Why are you wearing a Spider-Man suit then?”

“I’m a… uh… cosplayer?”

When his eyes meet yours, the truth sings: he’s been caught. Peter Han is Spider-Man.

He’s terrified, you can tell. You don’t blame him— you would be too in his position. But it’s not just the fact that you know now; it’s also the mischievous glint twinkling in your eyes. Just what the hell are you thinking about that could be so amusing right now?

“W-what’s that look for?”

You can’t hold it in anymore. Maniacal laughter bursts out of you like you’ve been possessed by the spirit of a circus clown, and you have to hold on to the balcony railing to stop yourself from falling over. “Oh, Peter, you naive little fool.”

Peter’s brows furrow in confusion. You mentally curse yourself for admiring how handsome he looks when he doesn’t know what’s going on.

“Didn’t I tell you? I’m on the case to find out Spider-Man’s identity. Well, your identity, I guess.”

“You did not tell me that.”

“Yes, I did.” You cross your arms over your chest, shooting him a judgemental look. “You’d know that if you paid any attention to what I have to say.”

“Look, listen…” Peter braces his lean arms on the side of the window to lower himself on your balcony. Standing face to face, you note that he’s not as tall as you thought. “I know I haven’t been the warmest person to you, but I would literally get on my knees and beg for you to please not tell anyone about this.”

You hum in amusement, taking a step closer to him and raising your chin with undoubted sanguine. Like this, you’re almost the same height as him. “As tempting as that sounds, I’d rather have you doing something else for me.”

Peter chuckles in disbelief, eyes wandering to the sky as if to ask God what have I done to deserve this absolute nonsense? His palms rest upon your shoulders when he looks you dead in the eye and says, “You are not blackmailing me, sweetie.”

“That’s a lot of confidence for someone who has very blackmail-able secrets.”

“That’s not even a word!”

“Whatever.” You peel away his hands from your shoulders, straightening your posture and pulling your shoulders back. Peter faces you with a puzzled gaze as you offer him your hand, clearing your throat and stating, “Peter Han, I would like to make a deal with you.”

He doesn’t move. “And that is…?”

“Date me.” Seeing his face contort into an even deeper state of befuddlement, you follow up with elaboration. “One date to a party next week, and just a few meet-ups and texts to prove that our relationship is going strong. In return, I’ll pretend this whole exchange never happened.”

You’re both silent for what feels like hours, eyes fighting a silent mental battle, until Peter’s rough palms finally envelop your own. You’re aware of how crazy and delusional you sound, but you swear he pulls you in just a little bit closer.

“Deal.”

It’s your third year in the city, and you’re still not fully familiarized with the parties. Contrary to your expectations of drunk sweaty bodies dancing up on each other, your friends’ definition of parties consists of low warm lighting embracing their glittered luxury brand dresses as they swirl their fancy little martinis and cosmopolitans. You appreciate it, really, since you don’t have to use up your voice every other night just to shout over the deafening electronic music. However it’s much harder to appreciate the pressure it puts on you to behave a certain way— dance like nobody’s watching, but be aware that they are.

As you slowly walk to approach your friends (rule #32: no running in public spaces, you’ll look like an idiot) you feel a large hand brush softly against your waist. You turn to face your date for the night, warmth creeping up your cheeks as you take in his appearance. The only suit he’s wearing now is an all-black tuxedo with no tie, the first three buttons of his shirt opened. His black hair is brushed down smoothly, pieces of it falling just right to frame his glowing face.

“You clean up well,” you remark, circling your arm in his as you guide him towards the bar where your friends are sitting.

“I could say the same to you, pretty.” With the sleek black shoes he’s wearing, he’s a few inches taller. Slightly looking down on you, he gives you a subtle wink.

God, he’s such a heartthrob.

Your friends round up to give you hugs and kisses to welcome your presence, ever so politely. One of them acknowledges Peter’s companionship. “You must be the date.”

“That I am.” Peter returns the approach, showing off his adorably heart-shaped smile. “Peter Han, pleasure to meet you.”

The rest of the night runs as it does in your dreams the night before. By the time you had arrived, your friends were already buzzed enough to pay no mind to the way the leather is peeling off your only pair of formal shoes nor to the typo on your fake branded bag. Just the way it’s supposed to be.

Peter doesn’t leave your side the entire night, only lifting his arm around your waist to grab more drinks for the both of you. Occasionally you catch him absentmindedly rubbing your back, and occasionally you catch yourself wondering how someone who spends so much of his life fighting can be this gentle.

During a small bathroom break, one of your friends pulls you aside and whispers, “He looks at you like you hung the stars, you know.”

If you weren’t so swept up in the feeling of finally belonging under the subtle incandescence of a high-end bar in Manhattan, you would have noticed the way Peter’s eyes darken when he read a notification off his phone, or the way his lips press into a tight line when he gazes at you, laughing your heart away amongst your friends.

So you’re nothing short of confounded when he wraps his arms around your waist and leans down to mumble, “Baby, I have to go, there’s a work emergency. I’ll catch you later, alright?”

Your friends bid him farewell and you press a chaste kiss to his cheek, immediately turning away when you feel his body tense. When he walks out the door, you keep your eyes focused on how his soft hair loses its shimmer as he walks out into the night.

And you try to enjoy the warm liquid pouring down your throat for the fifth time tonight, savoring the way you can almost taste a bit of yourself pull away from reality each time, knowing at least one of the people around you will walk away tonight asking, “don’t you think that Peter is a bit cold?”

You sit on the edge of your balcony, something you never do unless you’re going through an existential crisis or drunk off your ass. Tonight it’s both. As usual, the distant sirens and exclamations of curses wrap a tight band around your head. You’re dizzy; either from the alcohol or situation or both.

The ocean of fluorescent lights from the streets of Queens drift your mind to recall just how you ended up here. Three years ago, you were a fresh high school graduate with a million opportunities in front of you. Now you’re broke and rely too much on the validation of your non-broke friends to fulfill the void inside you. The thought of eventually having nobody but yourself after you graduate makes you wanna vomit on a passerby’s head.

“Hey, baby.” A particularly resonant voice startles you out of your thoughts. Peter is swinging from your balcony railing, a pair of gray sweatpants and zip-up jacket slung over his Spider-Man suit. “Sorry for ditching early. I got pizza and flowers to make it up to you, though.”

He swings himself to sit down next to you, placing the box of pizza and bouquet in front of your crossed legs. When he pulls his mask over his head to remove it, your eyes glance over his cuts and bruises. They definitely weren’t there earlier.

“What happened?” You unconsciously bring a hand up to his face, brushing your knuckles tenderly over the sensitive areas. It’s only when he winces that you drop your hand back down to your lap.

“Some guy tried to rob a bank.” Peter shrugged, refusing to meet your gaze. “Turns out he brought a bunch of other guys to back him up.”

“Did you win, at least?”

Though his face is turned down, you can see Peter’s eyes crinkle into a smile underneath his tousled hair. “Yeah, ‘course I did. Who do you think I am, a loser? I’m fucking Spider-Man, baby.”

Ten minutes later you’re seated face to face, still on your balcony, with you dabbing a cotton pad onto his injuries. No words were exchanged; you just went in and out to grab your emergency medical kit and grabbed him by the chin. The pizza box is left unattended, but neither of you care much about the hunger puncturing your insides.

“Why do you look so down?” Peter inquires as you place a Hello Kitty bandaid on his cheekbone, giggling breathlessly as you do so.

“Do I?”

“Yeah.” He brings his own hand up to your face, brushing away the strands of your hair on your forehead. “I mean, you’re smiling now, but your eyes have this sadness to them. So, what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

What the actual fuck? It literally takes you every nerve in your body to fight the urge to propose to this man right then and there.

“Hey, come on,” he urges, delicately pulling your face an inch closer to his. His thumbs run down your flushed cheeks, and it takes you a while to notice he’s brushing away your tears. “I said talk to me.”

“Well, you’ve probably already noticed that I’m different from my friends.” You wrap your fingers around his wrists. “I guess I thought I could pull off the whole socialite act, but I’m starting to feel so…”

When you can’t find the words, Peter finds them for you. “Lost?”

He presses his forehead to yours as you nod softly. “This might not be the best time, but I think you’re a star.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning you shine the brightest amongst everyone else’s shadow. And your friends probably see you that way too. Also that I really, really want to take you out on a real date.”

“You were right, it’s terrible timing.” You fake pout, pretending as if your heart didn’t skip a beat at his words.

“Sorry, sorry!” Peter laughs, setting distance between the two of you once again. There is no inclination to pull him back, though; the space devoid of someone else finally feels comfortable.

“My answer is yes, by the way, you can take me out on a real date. Unfortunately no blackmail this time, though, I think I'm gonna quit that dumb internship.”

Both of you share a fit of affectionate laughter. The temperate scent of food merges with that of the flowers and caresses your senses as Peter opens the box of pizza. “If they ever make fun of you for not being rich, we can always stage one of them as Spider-Man. We'll even get $1,000 from it, then you'll actually be rich."

“I’ll take you up on that offer, Spidey.”

[lanabenikosdoormat]

OC interview with Jed Solaris !!

thank you for the tag @frauleiiin !! reading about Mave (from her herself no less) was such a treat I just knew I had to hop on this ASAP!

■ Basics

Name? “Jed. Jed Solaris. Though I’ve gone by many others as well, for the record.”

Are you single? “No. Who’s asking?”

Birthplace? “This dodgy little fringe planet. Sacorria. Grew up just outside the imperial embassy. It was… quaint. Not the sort of place I have any interest in going back to.”

Hair Color? “Ginger.” He sighs. It’s long and overdramatized. “Come on then, I’m waiting for the usual jokes.”

Eye Color? “Brown. Well, one still is. Back in the day I got myself in a bit of a jam. Lost my eye, suffered brain damage, got this scar, the works. The cybernetic used to brown actually, it was hard to tell the difference. But the infrared lens within started to bleed into the fake cornea. Hence: red. Everyone told me it’d be no trouble to get it fixed — but I haven’t bothered.”

Birthday? “March 20th. Pisces, I believe. Tell me, what’s your read on that?”

Gender? “Male.”

Mood? “Slightly irritable. Shockingly I found myself with a bit of a hangover this morning. Those don’t happen very often, I assure you.”

Are you happy? “Today? Sure.”

Are you angry? “There’s a lot to be angry about.”

Summer/Winter? “Winter. I tend to overheat.”

Morning/Afternoon? “Evening. Or I suppose very early morning.”

■ Eight things about your love life

Are you in love? “Possibly.”

Who ended your last relationship? “Well. It wasn’t the best of circumstances, we fought a lot. Fucked a lot. Nothing that was destined to be substantial. Granted, he did go and.. die on me so that was how it ended.” 

Have you ever broken someone’s heart? “Countless times. Seduction was a vital part of espionage. And the girls never took it well when they realized I could never truly reciprocate what they wanted.”

Are you afraid of commitment? “What a fascinating question.”

Have you hugged someone within the last week? “Yes.”

Have you ever had a secret admirer? “Oh plenty. You should see them.” As if he sees the usual suspects among the crowd, his eyes narrow. The few of you reading this know exactly who you are.

■ Six choices

Love or lust? “Both tend to be fleeting. Depends on the kind of love, or alternatively, how many drinks i’ve had.”

Iced tea or lemonade? “Anything if it’s spiked.”

Cats or dogs? "Cats. Theron and I have two loth cats here at base. They’re terrible little things. I love them.”

A few best friends or many regular friends? “A few truly good friends will have your back no matter what. Friends are good too. But in this line of work, it’s got to be about the few you can trust.”

Wild night out or romantic night in? “Both. And in that order.”

Day or night? “Night. For the same reason I prefer evenings. It’s still. Quiet. Sometimes it’s too quiet and that gives you an incentive to find something to do.”

Been caught sneaking out? "At the imperial academy it was practically all we ever did. We’d rush over to the cantina and try and haggle our way into some drinks and a round of blackjack. I was the best at it. No need to sneak around these days, unless it’s for work.”

Fell up/down the stairs? "No. But Theron did all the way back on Rishi. It was cute. He’ll get embarrassed if I mention it. So naturally, I do.”

Wanted something/someone so badly it hurt? "Yes. But I’ve learned I can get what I want these days. Nothing to hold me back anymore, except myself.”

Wanted to disappear? "I quite literally did. As a cipher agent, it was expected of you. And even after Intelligence disbanded, I worked with the Empire in silence. Even with the Revanites, I strayed from being a public figure. Left that to Lana. Arcann and the Alliance have pushed me back out, that’s harder than disappearing. To be honest, part of me would give anything to go back to being in the shadows.”

■ Four preferences 

Smile or eyes? "Eyes. If they’re really smiling, you’ll be able to tell in the eyes.”

Shorter or taller? “Shorter. More fun to tease.”

Intelligence or looks? "Intelligence. You have to keep up.”

Hookup or relationship? "Hookups. Most of the time.” There’s a pause. He falters, flushing a little. “Don’t look at me like that — it’s the honest truth. Theron is an exception — a miracle! I would never be married to anyone else.”

■ Family 

Do you and your family get along? "I don’t have any family to get along with. Not anymore.”

Would you say you have a "messed" up life? "You’re kidding right? On one of my more tame days, Arcann found me sneaking swigs of rubbing alcohol. Not even counting the various galaxy saving antics, I wouldn’t wish my vices on anyone.”

Have you ever run away from home? "Home fluctuated. I don’t think I had a chance to run away, even when I wanted to at times.”

Have you ever gotten kicked out? "Not that I can remember. I was too valuable.”

■ Friends 

Do you secretly hate one of your friends? "Oh there’s plenty of friends I have some semblance of loathing for. But it’s no secret. You all know who you are.”

Do you consider all your friends good? "Absolutely not. Some of them are even worse than me. Far worse. Doesn’t matter, I’m in no position to judge. Besides, ruthless maniacs make good friends in a fight.”

Who is your best friend? "Lana. Without question.”

Who knows everything about you? "Theron likes to think he knows everything about me. He probably does. As far as a devoted husband goes. But Lana knows everything from my files by memory. Prescriptions. Dates. Serial numbers. It’s… a little scary actually.” He shudders. 

“Oh, is that all the time you have? Wonderful. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m off to the lounge for a drink.”

WHEW! that was long, but i knew i had to go for it, it looked too fun to pass up! The jed art in my header was drawn by my dear friend Jay (@firebird-legacy) and colored by me!

No pressure tags for some folks I would love to see try this: @pixelplanetig @ebitenpura @zabrakghoul @certified-anakinfucker @justiceforc3po @mauls-fair-in-love-and-war @the-ozzie @the-tomato-patch @catohphm @shanaraharlyah and literally everyone!! go write from your ocs perspective this was fucking rad

[vox-solaris]

Untouchable - Chapter 2 [Deimos x Quincy]

[Chapter 1]

A particularly stupid knife saves Quincy's life.

Sol's light blazes over the war-torn streets of Höllvania, casting an irritating glare in the corner of Quincy's scope.

Laid out flat at the edge of a rooftop terrace, the sniper keeps a careful lookout over his surroundings, monitoring the movements of a nearby Scaldra convoy while his squadmates raid the facilities below for much-needed supplies. The opposition is unalerted for now, leaving him with little to do but watch and wait... and so his mind wanders, turning over recent events.

As hard as it was to believe, things were starting to improve for the Hex. They'd established a stronger perimeter around the HCM, and word was spreading fast. More civvies were flocking to the nearby tenements every day, and under their protection, the area was shaping up into something of a safe haven, at least as far as Höllvania was concerned. But as good as that all was, it wasn't what was occupying Quincy's thoughts today.

No, he was thinking about the Drifter. Again.

It had been months since his arrival now, and the outsider had come a surprisingly long way in such a short amount of time. Where once he'd barely spoken a word, he was now a regular appearance throughout the mall, making idle chatter with the Hex between assignments and patrols. Just the other day, he'd even seen him hanging out in the arcade with Amir of all people, getting his ass kicked at air hockey, and laughing about it.

If you asked anyone else, he was well on his way to proving himself as part of the team.

If you asked Quincy, the Drifter was hiding something.

He didn't know how to explain it. Maybe it was just intuition. Maybe it was the timeframe, how quickly he'd started working to gain the Hex's favor after shutting them all out for weeks. A man doesn't turn around that fast without some incentive, and unlike some people, he didn't buy into the whole 'good intentions' act for a second.

Not after Entrati.

He scowls to himself. Trusting that damned 'doktor' was what got them all into this mess in the first place, and it was starting to feel like he was the only one who still remembered that. There was no shot in hell he would make the same mistake twice, and certainly not with another time-traveling freak.

The convoy has stalled at a checkpoint, giving him a few precious moments to relax. He lowers the scope, briefly closing his eyes to let them recover from the glare. His mind continues to spin.

While the Drifter certainly acted like he was on their side, there were still too many unknowns for Quincy to trust him on that. Sure, he'd saved them. And sure, even he couldn't deny how useful those 'frames' of his were against all the shit they were scrapping with, even if thinking about them too hard made his skin crawl.

But what Quincy didn't get was why.

He wasn't trapped in this warzone like the rest of them. He could fuck off to the future whenever he wanted, no obligations to keep, none of it. He had the kind of freedom Quincy would have killed for... yet for some reason, he'd chosen to stay.

It stood to reason: the Drifter had a motive, and he was determined to find out what.

So, he'd gone along with it. Every day for weeks now, another little chat with the Drifter, putting on a friendly front as he searched for a sign of whatever it was that eluded him about the other man.

But, try as he might, Quincy couldn't nail down a thing about him.

Whenever they spoke, it was always the same dance–he would press him on something, and the Drifter would evade, either changing the topic completely or leaving things so vague that he'd walk away with even more questions than he started with.

And then, the guy had the absolute bollocks to turn around and start asking questions of his own–prying into his personal shit, all while giving up nothing in return. That had pissed him right off, and he'd lost his temper over it more than once now. At this point, it was probably expected that the two of them would be at each other's throats over something new every week.

But it didn't matter. He knew this playbook well. When it came to the long game, Quincy was a professional, and whatever the Drifter's angle was, mark him, he would find it first.

Fuming quietly, he returns to his watch, re-centering his scope on where he'd left the convoy. Shit. They'd already moved on while he was distracted, and were now out of sight. He'd need to find a new angle, and radio in a warning to–

A soft sound interrupts his thoughts. Something heavy is dragging across the roof behind him, getting closer by the second. Had someone managed to read him? How?

Nah, this wasn't happening. No Scaldra pillock was getting the drop on him.

Instincts kicking in, he rolls onto his back, bringing his Neutralizer up with practiced ease to take aim at his assailant–only to freeze as his scope is filled by a hulking mass of decay and half-melted plastic.

That definitely wasn't Scaldra.

Quincy's finger closes on the trigger, a single shot ringing out over the rooftops. In his shock, he'd aimed wide and only clipped the Techrot monstrosity–and now it was barrelling towards him, a garbled electronic roar emitting from the speaker sunk into its torso.

He tries to evade and activate his cloak, but his reaction comes too late–the behemoth crashes over him, driving the air from Quincy's lungs as it pins him down. His armor buckles beneath its weight, wiry tendrils snaking around his limbs and throat, coiling and crushing as they hunt for a gap in his carapace to burrow into.

Locked down and helpless, he can do nothing but watch as one winding limb wraps around the barrel of his rifle, ripping it from his arm and sending it skittering over the edge of the roof.

Through the searing pain, a cold panic sets in. He can't move. He can't breathe. He's alone–and this time, no one is coming for him.

As his vision starts to swim, strange words drift into his mind, bringing with them a sense of utter despair.

His own last words, from another life.

"See ya soon, momma."

No sooner does he think them, then the pressure around him shifts.

Something pushes into his palm, and he grasps instinctively, recognizing it as a weapon. Suddenly filled with furious resolve, he wrenches his hand upwards, tearing free of the ensnaring wires to drive the other end deep into the infested mass.

For a moment, nothing happens.

Then, crackling heat races up the metal of his arm as the weapon abruptly discharges, forcing him to let go. A chorus of computerized shrieks rips from the monster's chest-speaker as energy surges through its warped circuits, its tendrils spasming from the sudden overload.

Seizing the opportunity, Quincy shoves back hard. The weight lifts from his chest, and he gasps, pulling in a lungful of air before diving sideways and reaching for his sidearm.

Eight more shots sound off in turn, each sending a spray of viscera outwards. The Techrot convulses, crumpling to the ground, its shrieks fading into jittering static, then finally, silence.

Quincy's hand trembles, his finger locked tight to the trigger, still holding it down despite having emptied his clip.

What the hell was Techrot doing this high up? And how had he been so Sol-damned stupid as to let himself get caught out like that?

A scream of rage and fear suddenly billows up inside him, threatening to spill out of his throat. He sets his jaw, swallowing roughly and forcing it back down into the locked box it came from.

Instead, he takes a deep breath, letting it fill his aching chest and holding it there for as long as he could.

He's alive. That's enough.

Exhaling slowly, he lowers the gun and hauls himself to his feet. He doesn't have time for this. His position is now compromised, and without his scope, he's blind. He has to move fast, or the whole operation could fall apart on his watch.

Ignoring his injuries, he lets his training take over, automatically packing up the rest of his kit, as he'd done countless times before.

As he finally turns to leave, he freezes, his eyes catching on a familiar object protruding from the Techrot's still-twitching corpse.

Was that...?

Numbly, he sinks to one knee, carefully grasping the handle and tugging it free of the infestation, as if to confirm to himself it was real. A makeshift knife falls into his hand, its blunt edge sparking faintly. 

This was impossible.

He hadn't brought the Drifter's knife with him. And even if he had, there was no way he could have pulled it out on his own...

As he stares, the space around the knife shimmers and twists, briefly thrumming with pale void-light. A cold needle shoots down his spine, his stomach tightening as an uncomfortable recognition sinks in.

…fuck.

…FUCK.

That wasn't part of the plan.

[regina-bithyniae]

I don’t think it can reasonably be assumed that “the price sector will get more value out of [high performing employees]”.

The private sector will encourage them to work more hours. However, depending on the field, a profit motive can create a very perverse incentive with respect to actually solving problems or delivering a service.

I was, for a time, on Medicaid. (Pandemic related, I have a degree and job skills and so on). I had better service and better interactions with the Medicaid system than I’ve ever had with any for-profit insurance company. Things just got done. The only thing that was worse was dental, the Medicaid dentist didn’t pay their hygienists enough, or something, and so they were always quitting and my cleanings would get rescheduled.

I’ve worked in private companies, for universities, and for small business.

The private sector sometimes gets more done per [number of days of the year] but mainly because people work more overtime hours, often haphazardly scheduled overtime, and have significantly fewer labor protections.

Small businesses are great, but only if your boss personally likes you, otherwise they’ll frequently make your life hell. It’s also very easy to end up with a situation where one person is a critical hingepoint for the entire store and the whole operation just collapses because Martha got sick for a week.

Personally, I think it’d be much better for society at large if big private sector companies were more like public sector jobs, rather than the reverse. I think we have to seriously consider that some of the problems in current America are downstream of people working too many hours and feeling too much financial or class precarity to form sustainable relationships and communities. If you’re grinding away 70 hours a week, when are you going to date?

Same thing in Japan, although they’ve got it worse than we do, and with different aspects.

I really doubt many people are clocking 70 hour work weeks, just right off the bat.

---

My main point was that I think public sector work is seriously misaligned from actually providing value to society, even before you argue about productivity or laziness. I don't think people seriously addressed this part, particularly once it leaked out to general population and tumblr commie-ism became the main analysis method.

In a private sector company, at least most of the time they are producing a product people want to buy. If they do that they're adding value. But government economists updating the quarterly report on a small and declining economic sector, which nobody reads anyways? Hard to make that argument. If there was serious demand for it then you could end the government department and interested firms might just commission their own researchers.

I do see a role for government to collect and publish data of general interest but not put a ton of work into doing much with it.

Choosing healthcare is a bit of a cherry-pick. The US system is a perfect worst case of extremely generous plans for some (medicare, medicaid) and nothing for others, subject to profit-seeking and competition-protected hospitals, with highly protective pharmaceutical IP laws that act as an implicit subsidy to the ungrateful rest of the world, applies to an extremely fat, sedentary, unhealthy and wealthy population. Hard to think of how it could be more wasteful! Oh and they had a moratorium on new medical schools being created for a good while, too.

[beevean]

🌹 :)

enough of this. got some of the worms out, it's time to let the other worms wriggle

~

“Well, it’s nice to see that Carmilla has no preferential treatment.”

“I’m serious! It’s as if they forget that I am a queen too!” she speaks, with a voice too animated, charged with the pressure of the last weeks. “But no, it’s always silly Lenore, wasting time with her games! ‘Oh, you are but two hundred years old, what do you know about the real world?’ Well, this kingdom would have been long stuck in a centuries-long war were it not for me keeping peace!”

Too far. She masks the viscous anger flowing in her veins with a giggle, acting as if she were ashamed of her outburst. No, Hector doesn’t need to worry, and he doesn’t need to question either, his only concern should be working and eating and sleeping well.

Where did that come from? Why is it harder to put on the mask with him?

“Hah!” he barks a laugh; and even though Lenore is displeased at her lapse in control, she can’t quite regret the soft look in his puppy eyes. “I would have loved to see you at work.”

She can’t keep a rueful smile from stretching her lips, as she draws her legs closer to her chest. “With how things are going, you might not be waiting for long.”

This is, of course, the optimistic perspective. A cold fear has been creeping up Lenore’s chest, wrapping its tendrils around her. The humans… wouldn’t have a good incentive to commerce with an empress deadset on conquering as far as the maps reach…

And it would be up to Lenore to find a compromise with her friend, right? That’s what she is here for.

Carmilla has always been a determined person, who always knew what she wanted and never accepted anything less: a trait Lenore deeply admired, in her lack of it. But there is a fine line between determination and foolhardiness, hard to spot… and Lenore can’t quite vouch for her sister to see anything past her nose.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

WhatMatters

Your guide to California policy and politics

By Lynn La

May 16, 2025

Presented by Child Care Providers UNITED, Climate-Smart Agricultural Partnership, California Alliance of Family-Owned Businesses and California Strawberry Commission

 

 

Good morning, California.

CA Democrats save face on sex trafficking bill

Assemblymember Maggy Krell during an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 6, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

From CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu: 

In the state Legislature, an open rebellion sometimes does wonders. 

Two weeks ago, Assemblymember Maggy Krell, a first-year Sacramento Democrat, publicly defied Democratic leaders in attempting to pass harsher penalties for soliciting sex from 16- and 17-year-olds. Joined by some moderate Democrats and Republicans, the fight laid bare the splinters among Democrats and forced Assembly leaders into damage control mode. 

The end result? An overwhelming Assembly vote on Thursday to raise penalties for teen sex solicitation, with no votes in opposition. 

The measure — amended after a weeklong negotiation between Krell and Assembly Democratic leaders — would allow prosecutors to charge someone soliciting sex from a child more than three years younger than them with a felony. It would also increase the fines on businesses and hotels for facilitating or shielding sex trafficking activities and require the Office of Emergency Services to fund up to 11 district attorneys’ efforts to prosecute human trafficking. 

It was a victory lap for Republicans, who have long fought to enhance punishments for child sex trafficking and solicitation. During a Thursday press conference, they urged Senate Democrats, who will consider the measure next, to leave it intact.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego: “Don’t you dare water down a word in AB 379 as passed today. We will not tolerate any weakening of the tools that law enforcement needs to protect these children.”

It is unclear how Senate Democrats will respond. Last year, Senate Democrats removed provisions from a Republican-backed proposal that would have applied harsher penalties to soliciting 16- and 17-year-olds — the same provisions that Krell unsuccessfully fought for this year. 

Krell, who was stripped off of the bill as a principal author after her defiance, told CalMatters she is “thankful” to others for cooperating. 

Her takeaway after all this drama? 

Krell: “I’m easy to work with, hard to f—k with.”

Join CalMatters and Evident in Bakersfield on May 21 for a screening of Operation: Return to Sender, a short documentary uncovering what really happened during a three-day Border Patrol raid in Bakersfield. After the film, CalMatters’ Sergio Olmos and others will discuss what the team uncovered and what it means for immigration enforcement. Register today or attend our Los Angeles screening on May 22.

Other Stories You Should Know

Support for Hollywood, not so much for news

Technicians work on a TV set the day before the Golden Globes at Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Jan. 4, 2025. Photo by Etienne Laurent, AFP via Getty Images

As California faces a $12 billion budget shortfall, Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing to expand support for one industry, while reducing support for another. 

In recent years California’s film industry has been struggling due to pandemic-era production shutdowns, labor strikes, deadly wildfires and competitive tax incentives offered by other states. 

The Legislature is considering a bill that would expand the state’s film and television tax credits and set aside as much as $750 million annually to film production. It would also raise the tax break applicants can receive, and extend the credit to live action and animated series. 

The bill is backed by motion picture studios, unions representing entertainment industry workers and Newsom, who told reporters on Wednesday, “we need to step things up,” when it comes to supporting the state’s film industry.

At the same time, the governor wants to reduce the first-year payment the state is required to provide to help fund local news outlets from $30 million to $10 million. H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance, said in an email the proposed cut is due to “fewer resources than projected in the January budget.”

The money stems from a deal lawmakers brokered with Google last year: To support California’s beleaguered journalism industry, the state and the tech giant agreed to put millions of dollars into a fund to be distributed to outlets over five years. In exchange, the Legislature pulled two bills that would have forced tech companies to pay outlets for their content. To date, no money has been distributed to news outlets.

Read more about the proposed film tax credits and cuts to the news fund from CalMatters’ Stella and Jeanne Kuang, respectively.

 

GOP wants to preempt state AI laws, including CA

The U.S. Capitol Building viewed from the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 2025. Photo by Samuel Corum, AP

Though it’s unlikely that a congressional bill to implement a decade-long ban on state governments from regulating artificial intelligence will pass out of the U.S. Senate, proponents of AI regulation are still ringing alarm bells about the bill’s broad implications.

As CalMatters’ Khari Johnson explains, Republicans from the U.S. House of Representatives included the AI proposal in a sweeping budget reconciliation bill. On Wednesday the House approved that budget bill along party lines. Now sitting before the Senate, the AI proposal faces tough odds since federal rules require that budget reconciliation bills be strictly related to fiscal matters.

But if passed, the legislation would make enforcing over 20 laws California passed last year illegal. It would also jeopardize 30 bills the state Legislature is currently considering to regulate AI, including ones to protect consumers from AI-powered price gouging, or require reporting when health insurance companies use AI to deny care.

Proponents of the bill say a moratorium is necessary to resolve a patchwork of state regulation. But the proposal also aligns with efforts by the President Donald Trump administration to curb AI regulation, which it argues stifles innovation. A White House plan to advance the AI industry’s growth by lifting some regulations is expected this summer.

Read more here.

 

And lastly: Mental health crisis calls

A Sacramento County Sheriff's Department vehicle outside of a church where a man shot dead four people before turning the gun on himself on Feb. 28, 2022. Photo by Andri Tambunan, AFP via Getty Images

If you live in Sacramento County and you call the Sheriff’s Department because someone in your family is having a mental health crisis, there’s a chance they may not come. That’s because of a new policy that says deputies will only respond to those calls if a crime has already occurred, is in progress or the person in crisis is putting someone else in imminent danger. 

But this isn’t just a Sacramento issue. An investigation by CalMatters contributor Lee Romney has found that other police agencies are also backing away from mental health crisis calls. 

This week Lee joined the health policy podcast Tradeoffs to break down her findings. Listen here. 

California Voices

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Democratic candidates for California governor avoid giving direct answers about the potential negative consequences of the state weaning itself from fossil fuels and oil refineries closing.

Other things worth your time:

Some stories may require a subscription to read.

State worker payroll freezes in Newsom’s revised CA budget // The Sacramento Bee

CA likely to pay for Republican budget cuts // San Francisco Chronicle

Paying rent in CA? It could now help your credit score // KQED

The worst of avian flu outbreak may be over in CA, health officials say // San Francisco Chronicle

Waymo recalled 1,200 robotaxis after repeated crashes with road barriers, filings show // San Francisco Chronicle

Bags of cash from drug cartels flood teller windows across LA County // The Wall Street Journal 

Questions loom over Trump’s order to create housing for 6,000 homeless veterans in West LA // Los Angeles Times

LA council backs $30 minimum wage for hotels, despite warnings from tourism industry // Los Angeles Times

 

See you next time!

Tips, insight or feedback? Email whatmatters@calmatters.org. Subscribe to CalMatters newsletters here. Follow CalMatters on Facebook and Twitter.

 

     

 

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[hassianlovebot]

okay after going insane-o style on the elderwood update and watching the roadmap (!!), here are some actual Thoughts:

warning for spoilers! also this list is a little disjointed

infected essence should act like a currency - get that shit out of my inventory

i think the devs need to balance out some of the co-op gameplay. they're trying really hard to make everything solo and co-op possible but more often than not, it tends to heavily lean on one side. either co-op isn't necessary at all, it's 100% necessary (groves), or it's Technically not necessary but a huge pain in the ass to do solo (wavebacks my detested...). i think it would be worth really looking through certain "co-op or solo" gameplay like hunting for ex and balance it out more. imo, nothing should make players feel like they Have to play a certain way (groves exempt since players are used to relying on the server and it's not necessary to group up).

collecting artifacts is getting. annoying. tbh. personally. it was really fun at first, but after the fourth #1 sword piece (with no one willing to trade cause they don't need it either),,, it remains to be seen, but i'm worried about how long it'll take to actually complete them if certain pieces are more rare For Everyone (meaning less people are putting in the time to hunt for them, actually getting them, and trading extras,, which they're less likely to get. because it's rare. you get the point). i'm sure for people who put Insane hours into the game, it'll be fine. but i think this could very easily turn into another example of palia discouraging players who can't spend 24/7 playing

as much as i love plushes, it's getting annoying that the only go-between-updates incentive is plushies. which are incredibly hard to get and almost force you to group-up just to ease the pain. they really need to balance the chance of getting them. not too easy, but not too hard either. i still haven't gotten a single chapaa plush since those got released (and yes, i've been farming). again, a perfect example of the game only rewarding people who can spend all day playing. i shouldn't have to put in weeks to Months of real time to get one bug plush (lunar moth plush when i catch you...) but this also goes Double for plushies that come from epic things (i am never getting that rainbow butterfly plush. i don't think they even exist actually). listen i Love plushes and it's great for them to be releasing so many but when it's That hard to get them, it just makes players feel overwhelmed instead of excited. balance!

i think the devs need to figure out a different way to,, idk do the "after lore-dump gameplay". i said i would scream if the elderwoods update was just more bundles and like. you can dress it up all you want, but the artifacts are just more bundles. and this time it's more annoying since you have less control on completing them. i understand that farming bundles is an easy way to get players to keep playing while they work on the next update, but good lord. if the next adventure zone is more bundles, i'm gonna lose it

balance the damn wavebacks

i am VERY obsessed with the lore and i think more players would be too if we got more lore updates. it'd be nice if they could figure out a way to push more of the lore in-between these two year long big updates lol

i still think they need to add something shepp-related to either the quests or dialogue. who even is my shepp. i forgor. i mean i know who it is but that's only because it's the love of my life. hassian my beloved. but also seriously what point of shepp quest if no shepp

let me make nai'o my housewife... let me put him in my garden NOW alkdhg

put the deep woods sign on the ground... i don't care about immersion... put on ground... stop making me climb :(((

this is fully unrelated to this update but i think something they could add to the home tours section is a monthly challenge! this would, i think, help incentivize players with furniture making and using the tour board. i think making it anonymous During the challenge might help with the popularity contest feeling of the home tours? but! the challenge could be a specific design thing like "secret garden" or "vampire's dwelling" or even character things like "auni's dream house" yknow? i think this would be a relatively easy thing for them to add!

and i know this would be.. a challenge considering their current challenges with the housing system, but i still dream about different styles of houses... treehouses, gothic mansions, fairy abodes... also basements... could they do basements.....

man idk... i feel like the housing system needs a complete overhaul to truly make it work for players who love customizing their house but that would 1. be a lot of work 2. would likely not be something they could reasonably mesh with the current system which would require players to either opt in to the new one or completely redo their plots 3. be really annoying for devs and players so. yknow. i think the devs may have underestimated just how much their playerbase would go ham for decorating

ANYWAY lots of thoughts i might add more if i think of more !

[playfulbit]

Destiny 2 Posting Inbound

I just finished Heresy and after we get the pre-expansion cutscene, I think I'm done. I started back in Witch Queen and while I was incredibly lost, I had some people try to guide me through it. I abused the $1 PC game pass trial for the longest time to play through the old campaigns for Last Wish and the stasis subclass. I scraped by at my own pace and cleared every raid except for Deep Stone Crypt. I was disappointed alongside everyone else with Lightfall. I was going into TFS with weak expectations after the first wave of layoffs and Lightfall being what it was. But the Into The Light event brought back that glimmer of hope that TFS would be a fantastic ride (and it was!) only to have that hope of the game having a bright future again squandered for good with the second round of layoffs.

I had already bought the deluxe edition on that tarnished good faith, so I stuck around for the Episodes I already paid for to see the content that the team was working so hard on before the axe was dropped.

Echoes was mediocre but brought me my favorite exotic weapon in Choir of One.

Revenant felt like a premonition of what was to come with the buggiest the game had ever been, bizarre character choices and poor rewards for daring to spend time with the game.

Heresy was by far the best of the bunch and had that combination of engaging character motivations, decent polish compared to Revenant and abundant weapon drops.

It is sad to say that I don't think I'll ever have that social incentive to play again. Most of the people that got me into it have set sail long ago or have this game so low on their list of priorities that it isn't worth bothering to ask. The new player experience is such a nightmare and the company was mismanaged so poorly that I do not dare invite other people to join other than blitz through TFS and The Witch Queen campaigns and drop it ASAP. I am not convinced that the game's story will be interesting enough to grab me again after they fired most of the narrative team. I can't shake this feeling that the game will be lesser from this point on with the people who put their hearts into it long gone even if Apollo and Behemoth look good. I have no faith at this point essentially.

As for what now, I have a bucket list of things I want to do before closing the book. I want to get my dang Buried Bloodline catalyst! I kinda want to get my Shadowheart and Navigator Catalysts too (mostly the latter). I only just got Microcosm a few weeks ago. I want to do the new dungeon at least once! I want to run Deep Stone Crypt with friends for the first time! If Trials of The Nine sounds fun, I might give it a few tries but I'm not going to dedicate myself to the challenge like I did with Pantheon.

But after that. After I get those last drops of joy from this stone. After being on this wild ride for 3 years though the highs and lows, I'm done. No new expansions on day 1. No more weekly logins to check the Eververse bright dust store. No more reading the patch notes.

I won't uninstall the game (unless space becomes an issue) in case a friend group wants to run an old raid or a dungeon because as much as I hate to admit it, no other game comes close to having to coordinate like that with your squad in a PvE environment with the flexibility this game provides.

[sanstropfremir]

Hello i hope you don't mind but in your opinion what do you think makes a good survival show. I know you talked about wild idol and 0 year 0 class but i wanted your in depth thoughts on the topic.

ohhhh i looooooove when people indulge my bullshit god bless you anons. before i talk about what makes a good survival show, i want to illustrate why the produce format makes a bad survival show. and we can start that by asking a question:

why is fan voting allowed?

obviously you can give the typical answer of 'if fans are engaged than it will drive up numbers' and that the shows are basically only made for fan engagement because we all know that kpop is profoundly and tragically numbers driven at the end of the day, but let's instead live in a world where the producers who pitch and head these shows actually want to make a talented group. so why are the fans involved? at all? sorry to say it, but fans are stupid. they aren't trained professionals in this field, so do you actually think they're going to be thinking carefully about the trainees that they see on screen every week and how their skills fit together? about the fundamentals of group direction and management? no of course they aren't, they're just going to vote blindly for their precious meow meow of the week. so already, we're at a deficit. and if you include the fact that these companies will rig the shows to their own biases (that are not artistically motivated), a double deficit.

second issue: the 'challenges'. they're trash. yes you do want to test an idol's vocal and dance skills, but just because you put a group of the most talented people in a room together does not mean that they will get along or have good chemistry. a huge part of being in a performance group (of any kind) is how well you communicate with each other, and that requires you to know how to compromise, how to be kind, how to take feedback, how to work collaboratively. but when you run trainees through week after week wringers of difficult choreo and tough vocals with very short deadlines, how can you expect them to actually be able to internalize and act upon any of these other skills? they may on a surface level, but the priority is not placed on it. AND when you add individualized voting into the mix, trainees have no incentive to actually meaningfully work together.

what makes wild idol and 0year 0class different from this typical formula is that the emphasis of both these shows was actually on making a well rounded group, so the shows were structured in order to faciliate that happening. both had limited trainee numbers (wild idol 40ish down to 16 in the third episode, 0y0c 15), have little to no fan voting (none for 0y0c, only in the last few rounds for wild idol) and both had challenges that were about testing 'non traditional' idol skills (throwing fuckin logs around, doing fashion shows and photoshoots, writing poetry/rap, doing a lot of repetition, etc). personally i think 0y0c is the better show in general because it does everything the way i would do it, but also it would never be watched by a korean audience so i think wild idol is the best a korean survival show is gonna get.

the difference that makes the biggest impact on how effective i think 0y0c over wild idol is the fact that the producer (avu chan) is a significant part of the show itself. she's literally there with the trainees in every episode, giving them assignments and evaluating them, talking to them about the issues they're having and why they aren't succeeding. there's discussions with her about why she chose to do the show and what type of group she wants to make, she's incredibly transparent about what characteristics she's looking for in the trainees and also about how difficult the industry is; the tagline of the show is 'welcome to your nightmare' bc that's literally what she told the group in the first episode. she's honest about the fact that it's hard, that you will have to work with people you don't like, that you will be rejected many many times, and that people won't always like you. she puts them through challenges that are meant to bring out how well the trainees understand themselves and also give them opportunities to grow and develop into well rounded people with good communication and emotional skills. watching 0y0c actually made me realize that i sincerely believe that the lack of a visible producer with a goal in kpop survival shows is actually a huge reason why i don't think they work. 99.9% of these shows are transparently just making groups to make money, so they have no artistic focus, no creative leader, no drive except to be the lowest common denominator to get the most fans. why wild idol worked for me was bc the producer was clearly trying to make a 4th gen group in the second gen model. even though it wasn't explicitly stated by anyone, the mentors they brought in, the songs they had them cover, even the styles of original songs they did, made that very obvious. i know people say kpop isn't supposed to be serious but like. the people who make it, the fans who enjoy it, we ALL deserve to have something with creativity and drive to enjoy, not just a race to the bottom of the capitalist money pit.

[wirewitchviolet]

Do experience systems do more harm than good?

Earlier today I saw someone talking about the common wisdom that you can't make an RPG without SOME sort of system where after you finish a session (or maybe an adventure), the GM gives you some sort of points that, whether automatically or based on assigning them, makes your character better at doing stuff. Not only do I strongly disagree that that's something every game needs, I'd like to present the argument that even in games you'd have a hard time imagining without them, experience points might actually be doing more harm than good.

Before I even get into this, let's take apart the obvious perks to having experience systems:

1- It helps maintain longterm interest in keeping a campaign going when the players are getting some sort of regular reward.

This is true of certain campaigns, but I don't think I'd really ever want to be in one. In a good campaign, everyone involved should be having a fun time just hanging out with each other, putting themselves in the shoes of the characters, building up a story and a world together, and generating cool memorable scenes. That should be more than enough incentive to stick with a game, and if you don't have those things going on, you should really stop and work out what's going wrong, not try and pave over it by powering everyone's characters up. I don't need to boost some Watcher Score when I marathon through a good TV show or a movie, and I'm not even getting to influence how those unfold, you know?

This is also one of those many things where what we have today is sort of a twisted ghost of what was originally conceived back in the early days of D&D. I had an old project on this very blog where I was reading through the books for 1st edition AD&D with a critical eye, and a huge takeaway from that was that Gary Gygax seems like he was just the absolute worst kind of GM (also backed up by reading message board posts of his, and various accounts). Back in his day, leveling up wasn't the expected inevitable progression as a game went on necessarily. You'd roll your stats, with some harsh restrictions, be forced to play what you had, roll your HP too, and the game was just kind of inherently hostile to the PCs, so you had a good chance of dying in a given session. Not only that, but when you did, there was no real coming back from it, you make a new character, starting from scratch, with 0 experience, and see if you can keep this one alive long enough to get up there again.

And aside from the carrot of maybe getting one of those elite high level characters if you stuck with it, there was the stick of characters partying their gold away. Seriously, by AD&D 1e rules, characters would just kinda burn through... I want to say it was 100 GP per level per day. And not in-game day. Real life day. You'd better show up for every session, because a week from now, your character's going to have 700 less gold in their pocket whether you show up to play or not.

We don't really play that way anymore. At least nobody I know does. Leveling up is planned out in advance by GMs, characters level up at the same time as everyone else even when the player misses a session, and if you need to make a new character or you're just joining the game late, obviously you come in at the same level as everyone else. I don't even want to dignify the arguments against doing that with discussion. It's even common for people to start games at levels other than 1 because people just don't like low-level play.

And you know, this is way outside the scope of what I was sitting down to write, but I've gotten into the jobification of video games before, right? Where people keep doing stuff like daily login rewards and weekly challenges just so there's a sense of obligation to log into games every day? That crap doesn't actually make things more FUN, it's in there to keep players compelled to play regardless of how much fun they have, and that's... literally the argument behind experience as an incentive to keep a game running.

2- It good when number go up!

Funnily enough, this is the hardest one for me to refute. There is some basic direct release of the good brain chemicals when you have numbers, and they go up. And I mean... sure, but in a tabletop game you're not generally seeing a number climb on its own, you're getting points thrown at you that you have to jot down or mark off or otherwise track and do math with, and like... there's plenty of other results from playing the game good to release the good brain chemicals. You don't explicitly need this one.

3- It's cool when you can have a story where like some dorky little kid starts off barely able to do anything and all unconfident and then gradually gets it together and gets more confident and competent as time goes on!

Oh yeah, everyone loves that sort of thing, and there's a strong case to be made that this is the primary reason people feel the need to put an experience system in basically every RPG, but those systems are all kind of just the worst at actually delivering on that, is the thing.

D&D and its derivatives are the absolute worst with this. The way I put it in this earlier conversation, you start out all, "I am a poor peasant child, barely able to afford the clothes on my back, a length of rope, a week's worth of food, and this dagger here" and then a few months later "I am basically a god and any amount of money less than 1,000,000 times my starting net worth isn't even worth stooping over for." And when I made this point someone corrected me that if you really go by the expected pacing, a campaign without big stretches of downtime between adventures with the recommended combat pacing is going to get you to level 20 in a month.

Now, I don't want to completely spit on the D&D power curve here (the economic one though can absolutely go to hell, stop making me a billionaire as a side effect of killing monsters and do all that bookkeeping). I do enjoy the eb and flow, campaign to campaign, of playing the same characters as wimpy little nothings and demigods over however long it takes my regular group to finish a campaign. But as far as having characters with arcs to them? It is AWFUL!

First off, it's just too damn fast and abrupt. When our little ragtag band heads off into the swamp to deal with those goblins or whatever, we're going to come home from even that little speed bump of an adventure tougher than all our neighbors and absurdly wealthy, to a point where it feels almost inevitable that you leave your old life behind completely and look down on everyone you grew up with.

It's not IMPOSSIBLE to have some sort of long or medium-term personal quest to avenge my parents or show I'm better than some bully, but it takes a real delicate touch to do it right, since you really have to decide up front when exactly I'm going to have that confrontation, make the villain something of an appropriately challenging nature for the level I'm going to be when I settle things, and that I don't manage to arrange that confrontation much earlier or later than planned, because again I'm pretty quickly going from dealing with food rationing, animal attacks, and slippery ravines, to taking down monsters four times my size without breaking a sweat, to like changing the course of history and rivaling evil gods. There's a very small window where it makes sense for me to get back at that owlbear who put me in the hospital or whatever.

And that's not even getting into the problem of how I've got these other three humble little kids from home experiencing all this rapid growth at the same time. Can't really have a wise old mentor if we're using experience as experience. We're either never going to catch up, or we're going to leave them in the dust if they're not leveling with us.

Now, again, D&D is kind of a huge exception here. Most RPGs I've played instead go with a starting setup where you don't start off as some starry-eyed youth who can't do anything, but instead have some skill-based system where every character is an expert without peer in a handful of skills that fit some archetypical theme, and for anything else, they need outside help, either from fellow PCs, or making arrangements with NPC experts. Standard with this is a little drip-feed of extra skill points, but this... really doesn't work for what we're looking for here. If I want to be the party's hacker, I'm going to start off as an excellent hacker. I'm not going to put all my points into shmoozing people and then expect the rest of the party to put up with me looking for the any key over a dozen adventures before finally working out this make or break ability.

4- You gain new abilities as you level up!

So... first off this actually isn't generally all that true. If you're playing a wizard in D&D, sure, every couple levels you get access to a new tier of spells, and hey that's a big game changing deal maybe. Most level-ups though are just about numbers going up. All of them in most games. Hitting harder, more often, in bigger areas, maybe. Skills and abilities work more consistently. You maybe get more HP.

For now though let's focus on when you do level up and get cool new abilities. One moment you're some kid with a stick, then you bonk the magic number of goblins with it, and now suddenly you can make all your friends fly, unbound by gravity, or you can read the thoughts of everyone around you, or you can teleport home where it's nice and safe no matter what the situation. Well that actually really sucks for the GM!

Let's say I'm doing what everyone ever making an 8 or 16-bit RPG did and lifting plot concepts shamelessly from Laputa. We've got our big floating continent. Maybe we've got some kinda evil emperor up there, raining terror down on people or something. Nobody can get there and confront him... until they hit level 7 or whatever and have access to the fly spell. I better get any air superiority based adventures out before then. Also anything where there's a tower that has windows, or dangerous terrain, etc. Better get mysteries and hidden agendas taken care of before that mind reading. Better not think about trapping the party or them getting word of an attack somewhere else before that teleporting. And that's assuming I'm being on the ball about that sort of thing. I might have this whole thing planned, where the party desperately needs to get to that flying continent, and it's this whole quest hook where maybe they have to befriend a dragon or help build an airship or get some kinda rubber bones potion and access to a powerful cannon. Whole adventures about getting that power of flight, and any of these might just totally fizzle because oh whoops, the party leveled up and they just do that now.

Less dramatically, what if we're playing of those skill point games. I'm already a super great seductive femme fatale sneaking past laser sensors and stealing keys off people I'm charming right from the start of the game, and hey, cool, that's a nice simple archetype, everyone knows what I'm good at, we can plan missions around me being all sleazy over here while someone else sets up in a sniper position and someone else is in the basement hacking and all that. Several adventures down the road, well, I have all these skill points, I haven't been able to put them into the stuff I'm good at, so now I'm also a combat monster. The original combat monster can also hack. The original hacker can also charm the pants off everyone. We're starting to develop a lot of redundancy, but that's not necessarily bad? But then we play a bunch more adventures. Those secondary concepts capped off, we're working up more. Nobody is unparalleled at the thing they originally did. Have the party is equally amazing at a given thing. If we keep going like this, eventually everyone is going to loose all sense of unique identity, and there isn't really a strong in-game reason we need this whole ragtag crew anymore. Anyone of us can take on any problem solo, really.

5- The power fantasy of being super amazing.

This is kind of a point I've already hit but I'm stuck with this format, but the thing with experience is, again, sometimes sure you gain new abilities, but usually all your various numbers go up, and that actually kinda sucks in practice. First off, it's a lot of tedious bookkeeping, in basically any system you can name. It also doesn't generally really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

I'm level 3. I've got a +7 to hit, doing 15 damage a hit, and an AC of 18. I'm fighting some orc with 40 HP, 15 AC, and attacking at +5. I level up a few times. Now I'm level 7. I've got a +13 to hit, doing 30 damage, and an AC of 24. I'm fighting crustaceanoids now, with 80 HP, 21 AC, and attacking at +11. Objective numbers wise, crustateanoids are way way tougher than orcs, but in my experience this is the EXACT same fight. I hit on an 11. I need 3 hits to take something down. It's bad news for me if my enemy rolls a 13 to hit me. All we've done is a bunch of annoying math refactoring with nothing to show for it but cosmetically reskinned mooks.

Now here, interestingly enough, I ONLY have the D&D type example here. Again, most other RPGs I have don't have that same sort of rampant power creep. You start out absurdly skillful at whatever your specialty is, and there's little if any room for growth, numbers wise. So here, if we go from orcs to crustateanoids to hellborn cyberdragons as enemies, not only is this technically a set of progressively scarier enemies to have to deal with, they actually ARE more meaningful threats to the party. Maybe those orcs were all show, they never really hurt us because we're awesome secret agents or something, but now things are getting serious because these crustaceanoids are just as good at sick flips and firing machine guns in two different directions as we are, so we have to take them much more seriously. And oh damn, after this we have to deal with a hellborn cyberdragon? Those are so scary if we all just rush in we're probably all gonna die. We need to come up with a whole complex plan to avoid directly engaging that if at all possible, and run for it if that doesn't pan out, or something.

And hey, we don't need something even more epic than a hellborn cyberdragon to top that. One of those is still going to be harrowing no matter how late in the campaign we bust it out. We can establish a power balance early on and keep it relevant like that. PCs gotta get more innovative and clever not just kill most monsters until demigods are easily punchable.

6: Revenge of 3- Well character growth is still important!

So, I really shouldn't be trashing experience points' ability to deliver cool character growth if I don't have some alternative to it, right? We need some way to change things up so the game doesn't stagnate. Well sure, but we can do better than experience there.

Just off the top of my head, how about we go with plot relevant respec-ing? Like at any given time a character's got their main spotlight thematic kit. Your best of the best at being a hacker or wizard or whatever. Maybe also a secondary skillset. And then definitely some number of slots for stuff they're into but it's not their main thing. Maybe we have a few variant minisets for those. Like if someone just unlocked their psychic powers and haven't fully figured them out, you have access to this here set of abilities. Once you have your big dramatic power mastery moment, that becomes their main thing and we demote their previous main thing to a secondary thing... and if we don't like this psychic stuff in the end, we demote it back down and fill a tertiary slot with like Lost Psychic Powers, where you still get to be all knowledgeable about how this sorta crap works and maybe have some battles of wills but your cool telekinesis is all locked away. At least for now.

I don't want to sit down and fully design a game at the tail end of a blog post here, but feel free to try this out with whatever system you like. Just pick whatever level feels like the good one, build characters with that as their basic kit, let'em have a few dips into secondary and tertiary angles, do a lot of getting thrown out of orders and taking major injuries and getting temporarily possessed or infused with mystery things. And you can do the plucky young kids in over their head thing with this sort of system easily enough. Start off with just the tertiary interest/mini-skill-packs, and once whatever you want to grow into starts coming up, rapidly grow into that over the course of a few adventures, no needing some big dramatic status quo change like this usually calls for.

Oh and I haven't been talking about video games here, but kill experience there too. If I'm not doing the whole Metroidvania/Zeld'em Up thing to pick up new powers as I explore, just gimme the whole kit from the get-go. Have traditional difficulty curves. We're good. Leave the skill trees and the level-grinding out of it. What are you holding back for, replayability? It's been raining free big-name big commitment games for years. Quit demanding that much of our time.

Oh and I keep forgetting to beg for money while I write these. I went 24 hours here without eating because I was just out of food and couldn't afford to go to the store. Someone took pity on me and hand delivered a big bowl of soup. Things are getting real bad. Patreon link.

[f0point5]

My hot take is they should really push education more in the junior series (and soccer). Oscar had an event a few weeks ago and they asked him his proudest accomplishment and he said it was the fact that he finished school and then went on to talk about how most drivers don’t. And I truly respect him for that. Ik it’s hard when we have the minimum age continuously dropping but I don’t think the schedule is really so heavy that you couldn’t finish school if you tried.

Education and having access to it is genuinely such a privilege and there’s thousands of young athletes who drop out to try and pursue careers and they just flat out won’t be successful in them and then they don’t even have a basic education to fall back on.

As an American we get clowned on a lot for having “old” athletes compared to other places (especially in soccer) but here they all have to at least finish high school before they are allowed to compete professionally and with the presence of school teams for every sport it’s a lot easier to meet accommodations. We legally require education until you’re 18 (parents can go to jail if not) or you can work faster but you have to still cover all the material so some people finish younger. And I do think it’s beneficial to require kids to complete schooling. Ik it differs by country but from what I’ve seen a lot of places school continues until at least 16 but these guys are quitting or basically quitting school at like 13/14.

Idk how the FIA would manage it, maybe some type of centralized tutor system? France has a boarding school geared towards young athletes that helps them finish school while also being flexible and Ik Pierre went there so there is ways to pull it off.

I just don’t think it’s funny to be generally uneducated (about normal stuff I’m not expecting university level knowledge or anything) when you have the resources to get a good education. And I’m tired of seeing drivers make jokes about having low attendance rates or dropping out. Your 30% attendance rate isn’t cute it’s embarrassing

Ooh this is actually such an interesting take.

I don’t think it’s so much about the actual schedule as it is how much travel is involved. The most competitive karting is in Europe. So for lando for example, he was karting a lot in Italy. Say the race is on Saturday…you have to fly on Friday, that’s a day out of school. If you have to drive to transport the kart, that’s Tuesday. Most karting events have multiple races over a weekend so even if you make it back home on Sunday it’s probably late in the evening. You probably haven’t even thought about homework. Your education will suffer, even if you’re lucky enough to go to a school that is diligent with sending you work remotely. The school Lando went to is actually known for accommodating kids with athletic careers. But even so, when you complete your “essential” exams (GCSEs) there’s not a lot of incentive to continue if you’re on the cusp of a career in motorsport.

I don’t agree that it’s up to the FIA to decide how educated people need to be. That’s up to the parents and the drivers. It’s not funny to be uneducated but at the same time being articulate, literate, and having a good amount of general knowledge are things you choose, and don’t have to be taught in school. I think the parents need to consider what they want to prioritise and a lot of them probably make the wrong choice. But at the end of the day I don’t agree with governing bodies interfering with that sort of thing.