#which...fair actually kind of true since i dont go to the Functions a lot

[sanchoyo]

ummm no im not a 'job hopper' haha...im like barbie. multiskilled. multicareered, even. put some positive framing on my impulsive and flighty nature please 😤

[drchucktingle]

As an autistic person, did you struggle to make and keep friends? And have you found friends through the writing world? I ask because my mom always said i needed to find my people. I did finally find them (they are neurodiverse trans nerds, haha), but not until i was like 30. And i wonder if its true of other autistic people too. So i guess my question is: did you find your people, and when?

thank you this is good question. i have always had a LOT of CLOSE BUDS even from a very young age. i would actually say that i am unusually socially adept in my way and that it is partially BECAUSE of my autistic trot. LETS TALK ON THAT FOR A MOMENT

'BUT CHUCK YOU SAID YOU ARE ON THE SPECTRUM AND AUTISTIC BUCKAROOS CANNOT BE SOCIALLY ADEPT' some say. and sure it is UNUSUAL overall, technically speaking, but there is also an important reason we talk about this as a spectrum of buckaroos and not a monolith

when buckaroos ask me what it is like to be autistic i try to explain like this: there are certain cues and markers from the outside that serve as a sort of identification checklist but because of masking they are not always correct. instead i see it as question of WHAT IS IT LIKE INSIDE YOUR BRAIN?

internally my brain is different. its taking in way more information all the time, including the stuff that neurotypical buds block out, and that can become overwhelming. it is hard to navigate because i do not have that automatic neurotypical 'here is what is important here is what is not' function

so yes i can be easily distracted and zone out as i watch the patterns and fractals spin off. and yes i can miss certain things in social situations. in many autistic buckaroos this makes large groups overwhelming and the OUTPUT of behavior matches what we typically know as signs of autism

FOR ME however, same thing is going on inside, but i have managed to HARNESS that information. even from very young age i see that everyone is DOING THE HUMAN ACT but instead of rejecting that and shutting off i think 'well okay i am just going to do THIS because thats what they actually want'

in other words, most neurotypical buds say one thing that has a kind of spiraling social-cue-related OTHER MEETING (they do this ALL the time) and instead of rejecting that i have trained myself to be REALLY REALLY good at knowing the hidden meaning. it is EMPATHY but on a sort of LOGIC BASED level

and because i have always been pretty good at that, people like to trot around me and say 'wow this is a good friend they understand me'. now for ME that can be a little exhausting and there are things i need to do and stims and all that to release the effort, but overall it is worth it to me

OTHER THING is that i was a successful CREATOR AND ARTIST BUCKAROO from an early age which is socially seen as 'cool' especially when you are trotting around in your youth. it is not particularly FAIR but it is true that some level of fame makes buds treat you well even if you are 'weird'.

of course it can be a sort of FAKE 'treating you well' but as an autistic buckaroo it is still more of a chance than you might otherwise get. this timeline has sort of carved out a very special little sliver of social grace for the token odd artistic weirdo to have a seat at each cool kids table

ANYWAY that is the trot of my life. it is a unique trot that i dont get to talk on much but since you asked THERE YOU GO. every chance i get to say 'I LOVE BEING AUTISTIC' and talk on HOW MUCH IT HAS IMPROVED MY LIFE i try to take a moment and do that. when i was young i had few autistic heroes

and OF COURSE it can be difficult and overwhelming and we need to have space for those stories and voices, but i want young buckaroos who get this diagnosis to know there are ALL KINDS of stories and trots on the autism spectrum. MINE IS PRETTY DANG COOL and maybe yours will be too. LOVE IS REAL

[starsandgutters]

Hi so sorry if this is a weird ask but basically im a trans guy and dysphoria really gets me but uve actually really helped me with all your fics because the way u describe aaron in them is like really similar to how i am and i dont like how i look but then Kevin talks about him and he loves him so much and Idk if this is weird but it makes me feel a lot better just about everything So thank youf or that i love your writing

You are not weird for this at all, and I’m really happy you feel this way 🫶🏻 I know some people don’t click with the body diversity I write in my AFTG fics because they have an image of what college athletes look like - which, fair, they’re on really intensive training schedules. I get it, but you can also be really fit and train a lot and still hold weight, especially if you’re fueling properly (with that age group especially REDS is so common! Because there’s this concept that skinnier = lighter = faster, which is not true if your body doesn’t have the right fuel to function, and there’s been a lot of abuse from coaches pushing rhetorics like this, which Wymack would NOT), and also due to biological factors that will impact body shape regardless of other factors!

Personally, I think Nicky & the twins are less devoted to exy than a lot of the others in terms of their general lifestyle. We see them eat junk food. They go out drinking every weekend! It makes sense to me that they’d carry a bit of extra weight from that, especially since the twins probably had inconsistent diets when they were younger due to neglect.

Aaron especially when he drops off his exy schedule and gets buried in the stress of med school and residency I can see getting a little softer when he ages, and there’s something so reassuring to Kevin about that. That Aaron is something he fears for himself, but Kevin still finds him attractive and worthwhile.

Idk I’m just tired of always hearing about how SLIM and LITHE and TONED people are in mainstream media. Like yeah no hate to those body types, Kevin Day’s slutty waist and abs are very hot 🙏🏻 but so are Aaron’s tummy pouch and thick thighs (thick leg supremacy, honestly 🙏🏻) (but also tired of only seeing plus sized bodies fetishised, so even though I will write Kevin’s attraction to certain parts of Aaron, it’s also in connection with him as a person)

I get that it might not make you love how you look. There’s so many layers and outside influences and nuances in how we feel about ourselves, but I truly believe positive representation of body diversity really softens some of those voices, because if you can really appreciate something (or at least see it represented positively by someone else) on someone else, then it’s kind of like… ok even if I don’t like this on myself, what’s the point of hating it if I can see it positively on someone else. At least it gives a more neutral ground to stand on than the constant body image standards pushed by companies who want profit on insecurity.

I’m tired and this has gotten a bit rambly haha All this to say I’m very glad if my work has ever made you or anyone else feel better about themselves. That’s why I always try to put body diversity in them and it’s the nicest thing ever to hear my work has resonated with someone in any way 🥹🕺🏻💖✨

[bitegore]

THIS IS LONG AS FUCK. Consider this fair warning. Also I didn't type this up just now, I copy-pasted it from a google doc, so if the formatting is kind of busted dont worry about it.

Characters covered: - Erica - Haven - Taran

Sections:

Disclaimer and Context Notes Brief Intro to the Characters Mechanics Big Bads and Space Politics Plot Summary (Short) Plot Summary (Long) Trivia

Content warnings: general sci-fi/fantasy fare (murder, torture, aliens with unpleasant attitudes toward humans, that sort of deal), domestic/partner abuse, familial abuse or at least a really profit-motivated cynical approach to one's offspring that turns abusive really fast even if it's absolutely not a familial relationship (god only knows how to communicate that one), child neglect (straightforward-style), abusive workplaces, misogyny, brainwashing/personality-replacement-via-mind-control (consensual), ... i think that about covers it???. oh right the implication of shrimp colors incest that is literally only there because one (1) awful ancient asshole will NOT stop insisting he's everyone's parent somehow but like it's fine it's basically irrelevant. there's so much worse to give a shit about than that. h'zar is just a blood purist about alien shit.

Disclaimer and Context Notes

I made most of these characters up as a teenager, even though they've changed a lot since I was seventeen, and at least in their original incarnations they were really only meant to see the light of day in the form of writing games and roleplays with my then-fiancee. This means there's stuff going on that I personally think is a little iffy when they’;e brought up on a wider scale, generally in the form of like a long extended meta-joke about antisemitic conspiracy theories. 

Haven - the metaphorical main thread and linchpin character of the whole thing, because he came first - is in fact the red-headed lizard-person space alien in disguise as a human who secretly runs the government. Do you guys remember (and/or have you heard about) sitting US senator Marjorie Taylor Greene's various antisemitic comments, many of which were ridiculous to the point of hilarity if you have a brain and aren't wildly antisemitic? Around the time i was doing all this, the really widely-discussed space laser comments were like big talked-about news in my social circle. The situation simultaneously cracked me up and stressed me out, so I channeled that into my not-Jewish-at-all, What-If-All-That-Shit-Was-True-And-Also-A-Fetish-Vehicle-For-Me-Specifically kind of character-shaped hole and then his menagerie of side characters got a little too interesting and I couldn't really change anything about the premise too much without losing the things that made that possible in the first place. 

Nonetheless I still feel a little odd being like "hi, in spite of the fact that i'm Jewish i did just kind of take the david-icke-space-alien-Jews thing and make it the premise of my shapeshifter porn fantasy universe, lets move on without discussing that" or whatever, especially outside a context where everyone knows that's the joke and that the joke is that it’s fucking stupid, so I just kind of don't talk about it instead usually. But like that's it, that's the joke, I don't really want to ~analyze~ it or anything. 

(For what it’s worth, me and my family still make ”Jewish space laser” cracks around the dinner table every time we complain about the weather. The joke is still funny to me. But everyone has got to be on the same page first.)

Brief Intro to the Characters:

Haven (no last name, and he picked the first name himself) is the 'linchpin' character, because he’s the one who the story follows. A lot of the plot summary details him way before the “actual story” really starts, but by the time there’s anything I’m interested in writing about, he has a frankly unfair amount of power over the people and world around him, and is functionally somewhere between a person and an institution.  He is a very unpleasant person. He’s clever, but not as clever as he wants to be, and he’s calculating, but not as calculating as he’d need to be. He is also married to the idea of power dynamics and control, and will never relinquish even an inch of any of them because he’s convinced that the second he slips up, he’ll die. He’s not even necessarily wrong about that for the most part. 

He is old as fuck, having been born sometime around 4000 BCE.  Despite that, I prefer to write him toward the modern day, though I’ve been dipping my feet into the 1700s-1800s period as well lately. He's been everywhere more than once at more than one time in more than one era. He has various interests that do not seem to align with each other well, such as keeping plants and animals, accounting and financial embezzlement, and committing mass murder for his own entertainment. He's been embezzling from the organization he works for for longer than the Roman Empire stood, and gotten his hands slapped for it a fair few times.

He has a job that he hates a lot, never wanted to do in the first place, with a boss who hates him, and which he can't quit. It’s very demanding for a number of factors, many of which he did to himself on purpose, but he hates that, too. He is also hideously entitled and doesn’t see a reason he should care about other people’s feelings, so when he has a bad day, he likes to take it out on everyone around him until he feels better, usually violently.  No one likes him. Even the people who are forced to like him do not like him very much most of the time because he sucks. This makes him mad which he takes out on the people around him. Vicious cycle which could be solved at any point were he not a moron. Very sad. Basically everyone who knows him wants him dead, and it’s only because he’s worked hard to make sure no one can kill him (also through a number of means) that he isn’t.

He turns into an amphibious sea-dragon without wings that occasionally grows antlers, and which develops gills when wet. He's essentially building-sized - approximately 75 feet from head to hips and closer to 300 if you count the tail. His various abilities are really adapted for coastal floodplains, but he's not been small enough to live in a swamp or mangrove since he was, like, 500 years old at the oldest, so it's been a long time.

Erica Rävsdottir is Haven's long-term partner from the years 1789 to 1855-ish, by which point she's gotten so sick of him and his bullshit that she’s faked her death and run away (unsuccessful), tried to kill Haven repeatedly (unsuccessful), learned to kill other immortal dragons (only after she's tied in so many mind-control-related knots that she can't actually use it on Haven once it works), gotten really mad, and decided to piss off Haven's boss so badly that Haven will be forced to kill her. She picked this one  specifically because it’ll be the most effective way to kill herself that’ll also completely ruin Haven’s life that she can possibly come up with. She fails successfully. I'll explain that later. She turns into a fox with human hands and dragonfly-looking wings. 

She is very clever and calculating, and she wants power so that she can live her own life, which was harder in the 1700s than it is today; on top of that, she one-to-one equates 'power' with ‘getting to harm other people without experiencing consequences for it,' and has since before she even met Haven. He pretty much believes the same thing, which she appreciated. She’s also quick to anger but hers burns very, very cold, and she'll nurse a grudge for years while seeming genial and friendly and then stab you in the back the second she thinks she can fully pull off a plan to remove you forever. She fucking loves to murder people, incidentally. She's brilliant with money, tactics, logic... etc... really there's very little she's not good at.

 Erica grew up in Gustavian-era Swedish-occupied Finland in a Swedish landed-gentry family with money problems. Specifically she was a sort of adopted half-kid her father got off some random dragon lady who dumped her on the family, insisted that if they didn't take care of Erica she'd Know, and fucked off for parts unknown. She would not in fact Know, but it's not like they knew that. Anyway, for a number of reasons, Erica hated her family and was convinced that they'd have her killed or thrown out if they weren't concerned about some nebulous consequence for it, and so in response and also because she wants her inheritance and her brother's inheritance and also all the family's capital and funds in general before her parents squander it all, she wanted them dead. She also had a fiancee. She also wanted the fiancee dead. I don’t actually know why because it’s completely immaterial; it could be that he was horrible and it could be that she just didn't feel like being engaged. She'd approach it the same either way. 

She and Haven end up together because she is very analytical and clever and he was absolutely fascinated from the minute they started talking;  he offered to kill her family (something she was working on before they met) and give her a job, without explaining that the job was, essentially, 'live in my house and be my wife’. Erica strongly resented the bait-and-switch and nursed the grudge for the entire rest of their relationship, increasingly hotly. As far as I’m concerned she was in the right for this, which kind of does her a disservice because she’s just as awful a person as Haven is but the narrative doesn’t give her any real room to be evil for fun because she’s too busy having legitimate grievances to get even for.

Erica is everything Haven wants to be. He recognizes this and absolutely admires her for it. Erica, consequently, actually likes Haven - or at least spending time with him - because he is refreshingly straightforward and also because she doesn’t often meet someone who actually understands her and what she wants. This is her own fault because she refuses to be forthright with anyone as much as possible, but by putting her on his pedestal Haven actually accidentally completely got her dead to rights in all the ways Erica actually cares about, like "acknowledging she's insanely good at everything she does" and "agreeing that her goals make the most sense out of anyone's in the room" and "her murders are cool and badass".

 This does not by any means translate to their relationship being good (it’s extremely toxic, actually), but it does mean that they get on like a house on fire in both senses of the phrase. Tither they really enjoy one another, or they're at each others' throats so hard they have no goddamn time for anything else. 

This drives me nuts because after some stuff Erica and Haven could theoretically, like... interact without trying to kill each other.  Like, god only knows, they wouldn't be patching things up and i've started messing around with ideas and they involve some absolutely batshit power plays that are half for the sake of humiliation more than anything else because the two of them are very similar people once the playing field is leveled. But it’ll never happen, because Erica is too smart to go walk over to someone who made her life hell for decades and go "hey i missed you while i was fucking off screwing your boyfriend and refusing to let him tell you i was alive for two hundred full human years, wanna get coffee?" no matter if she's thinking about it or not. And it would work, is the problem. The situation being markedly different would fix basically everything. But it's not happening. head in my hands.  If Erica doesnt get everything she wants including her stupid ex on a leash so she’s got the power this time and he doesn’t i may explode and also die.

Erica is the one I'm most insane about right now.  The next one is the one who got me so I couldn't possibly just shelve them all though.

Taran, last name subject to change but currently Piske, is Haven's long-term partner after Erica apparently dies (1890s-or-so to modern day and beyond).  Haven believes he's taken some important lessons away from this situation with Erica, such as "don't misrepresent the situation to people" (yes, good) and "don't give anyone a false impression of yourself" (okay…) and "you should get the bad out of the way first so they're used to it so it doesn't come as a surprise so they eventually realize it's not so bad" (BAD. NO.). Taran is also very little like Erica, which was something Haven picked him for on purpose but which also pisses Haven off, and it's already established that Haven externalizes all his feelings directly onto whoever is closest at hand. Taran is neither what Erica was or what Haven thinks he is. Taran is very good at keeping secrets.

Taran grew up in specifically a dragon-created-and-focused cult formed and managed by another dragon named Sivexia (name subject to change), a peer of Haven's and fellow ancient-immortal dragon who set things up approximately a thousand years ago and occasionally checks in to make sure they're doing what she asks before vanishing once more.  Part of the use of this cult is to make someone else take care of her kids, at least in large part to get around employment stipulations that literally everyone hates. Taran, being an offspring, was meant to be a head priest of said cult, but he was bad at it so they were going to kill him. Taran wasn’t super interested in getting killed so he fucked off to some random city basically with no idea what to expect of the outside world when he was in his late teens,. He got his shit together and spent some rather lonely ten or eleven years living in a tenement apartment and making it work. Haven only met him after that.

Taran is a very pragmatic person. He’s not a schemer, but he can work with the constraints he’s given. He doesn't like his situation, but realistically, he's pretty sure he’s never getting out of it. And if that’s the case, he'd rather enjoy a suboptimal life than have the same life and also be miserable. After he (far less successfully) gives up on trying to kill Haven, he considers things and decides: fuck it all, he'd rather be content over anything else. So he asks Haven to magically brainwash him into thinking he likes Haven and that he likes his life.

I meant this to be played-straight horror when I came up with it  - this normal guy living in apparent domestic normality with The Worst Guy Ever is actually brainwashed into thinking the most depraved nonsense is basically fine, how scary! - except Taran is happy with his life, and he’s knows how it happened. He got exactly what he wanted out of this, and it worked exactly the way he wanted it to, and now he's having fun and nothing really bothers him. He may be closer to three-quarters of a whole person than anyone else, and he isn’t really able to get upset any more, but that doesn't bother him. He’d be more bothered by the idea that he should be upset about it than the brainwashing itself. There are times where it stops working; usually his main concern is to get it put back so he can move on with his life. The more I wrote him doing anything, the less horror there was, because: it’s not a secret, it was his idea, and he’s enjoying himself more than anyone else around him is! And as far as I’m concerned, if I was him… I’d be okay with that too, you know?

As it stands, Taran’s emotional weirdness  means that, whereas everyone else has to work hard to get Haven to treat them right while also trying to get things they want, most of what Taran wants is already being satisfied. When they’re not, he can get away with bugging Haven into giving it to him because he can just shrug off the violence and insults Haven likes to heap upon people who are getting on his nerves and keep going. Where Erica was never able to make much headway on getting space and autonomy, Taran is a lot more successful, just… because he can be irritating, and he’s having fun with it, and Haven is suddenly the one who is easier to make frustrated or miserable in this relationship and Haven has no idea how to handle it. Taran’s personality is also wildly improved by not being angry and scared all the time, and he is happy, and he’s even pleasant most of the time if he gets what he wants now… so Haven is also not about to take the control off after even like a short amount of time watching it work. No matter how annoying Taran gets to be sometimes. Also sometimes Haven just likes having an excuse to be a horrible person toward someone he cares about and Taran will point that out if he gets pissy, and Haven will cop to it because it’s true.

It is not Haven who solves the plot. It is Taran and Erica who solve the plot. I’ll get there.

Mechanics

This story runs on a system I refer to as “expectation mechanics” - the idea that, if a character truly, on an instinctive level, believes something about themself to be true, it is true for them. This only works for dragons, and only on some fronts. First expectations are set either based on lived experience, or by observing someone else’s experience; furthermore, all the dragons in this universe are low-grade psychic, which means that they often end up skimming some idea or another about what they can and cannot do off a random person’s brain when they encounter something foreign. For this to happen, they need to recognize whoever they’re skimming the brain of as the same “kind” of thing they are. The expectation mechanic does not change material reality outside of the dragon, but it does let them reach anyone they’re psychically skimming off mentally (though not physically).  

“Clades” are a way that the expectation mechanic gets, essentially, made slightly less intense - all dragons can do this as well and it just makes life easier and more pleasant. Clades are a sort of multiple-way low-level psychic bond that lets dragons use consensus mechanics to sync up their expectation mechanics, on top of also getting generalized (emotion-level) psychic feedback, a sense of improved relative location, and improved sleep experiences. Most dragons clade up because they like each other, and it’s something that (at least in this story, in this setting) typically happens by accident for the first time.  Clades can trade off sleep - one member of a clade can sleep at a time and essentially process all the sleep for everyone’s brains, making it much easier for everyone to stay awake longer as long as one person is asleep at all times. It is legitimately a big convenience for everyone, unless someone in the clade dies, at which point the expectation mechanic syncing means everyone dies. 

Mind control in this setting works by hijacking clade-directed expectation mechanics, and is something only a select few dragons can do. It tends to work on everyone as long as the speaker is confident, so for most characters in this setting, they can mind-control anyone they recognize as a person. There is a hard limitation on the mind control, which is that it can’t physically change anyone, including by transferring muscle memory to them. All other limitations are imposed by the expectation mechanic and the speaker. However, there is a generalized consensus among Earth-based mind controllers that holds that commands must be spoken in a language the recipient understands, interpreted by the recipient, and then enacted, which was a consensus originally brought from deep space. 

The expectation mechanic is not well understood by anyone, Earth-based or otherwise. However, the Earth-based dragons are deliberately isolated from any serious information about what they’re able to do or what should be expected of them for political reasons, which means that the expectation mechanic here gets much weirder than it does in a society where everyone generally knows what they are. There is a very wide spread in the number of abilities, understood capabilities, effect of various powers, and even just normal appearances that are not found on other planets where people aren’t dropped into dragonhood without ever hearing anything about what they’re supposed to be able to do outside of fairy tales.  

Big Bads and Space Politics

This is a universe/system with aliens, and the aliens have their own politics.  A major feature of the alien politics that is relevant to this story is that the alien power structure is nominally democratic, and mind control is a known factor that is mitigated on the galactic scale. And also super fucking ultra illegal. There are different classifications for different kinds of mind control schemes, but they’re all massively illegal. On a broad scale, this is because there are a good number of extremely powerful players on the field who cannot do mind control but who also cannot be mind controlled, so they have a vested interest in blocking mind-controllers from seizing power that way because it would tip their own power away. 

Another major feature of this system is that multiple member bodies of the senate are allowed to elect the same representative, in deference to the fact that interplanetary travel is hard, long, and only done by so many different individuals and those already making trips to one planet are more likely to make trips to others. This means that if you’re one person elected for many bodies, you essentially have more votes than a representative of one planet. This means that there are a lot more polities than there are politicians, because anyone who wants to get anything done in their corner of the senate has to throw their weight in behind a politician with actual voting power. Most politicians who aren’t either entrenched or stepping up behind another politician who willingly cedes some polities to give them a leg up on the competition vanish out of the circuit relatively quickly. This is viewed as a corrupt system by most actual civilians, but like, there’s no real clear movement towards resolving it.

This means that getting into the body is hard. That means that getting democratically elected at all is hard, and getting democratically elected into a position of legitimate forthright power is really hard. Anyone who wants to become a power player - which, for the purposes of this part at least, means someone with outsized influence on the direction of this part of the galaxy, politically-speaking - is going to need to work with others to make it happen and probably cheat in some way or another.

 The “big bad” here is a person - his name is H’zar, and he’s very, very old - angling for this kind of influence by setting up several shell structures on various non-member planets with the intent of having them join the body, and using someone on-planet to mind-control a select number of important political figures into electing him as their planetary representative under extreme secrecy… and then having everyone involved executed so that the scheme cannot ever to light. He is working  with a coalition, and on a hideously long timescale, but he’s also managing close to 300 separate planets at this point and has at least nine or ten under his belt “legally” so far.

Naturally, the “you get killed the minute I get what I want” part is a big secret that he tries to keep under wraps. But depending on how analytical you are and how good you are at reading between the lines (and what sides of the big boss you see, how much trouble you cause, etc…), it’s  something that you can put together, and some people in the structure do! Big boss prefers to work with people who want to work with him, and he rewards them handsomely. But when someone starts causing problems, he’ll pick whatever leverage he thinks will work and replace (and kill, or brainwash) them without even blinking. 

The Plot

I am going to start at the very beginning and then run all the way through to the end, so first I’ll give as short a summary as I can so you can skip it if you’d like:

The short version, which is in order of actual events but means certain reveals are, like, sped up pretty significantly: 

Haven gets unwillingly forced into a job which he does not want to do by someone from outside the world, which he works at for a very long time. He assumes if it’s possible to replace him he’ll be killed, so he (against orders) systematically dismantles several other necessary departments he’s not in charge of, destroys all record and knowledge of how to do those jobs, and starts doing them himself. This makes him irreplaceable but also means his boss hates him. Haven continues to act out in many relatively small ways and be curtailed more and more severely each time, until he is expected to work under the stipulations of only having one non-coworker social contact at any given time (violations managed by just killing any other social contacts as punishment) and also a lot of very tight deadlines to keep him too busy to try to do anything too problematic. 

Erica, who Haven takes on as one of his only social contacts in the late 1700s,  decides that this boss is impossible to reach and decides that the best ways to improve her life are to kill Haven or, failing that, kill herself; she tries to commit suicide by making Haven’s boss really angry and getting herself executed specifically because she knows it will get even more restrictions put on Haven, who she is very angry with. Rather than immediately executed, she’s brought to a compound on a different planet and interrogated about Haven’s working methods. Erica reveals she knows how to do anything Haven did and leverages this into a position as a trainee in the organization, using it to gather information about the boss. 

Meanwhile, on Earth, Haven and Taran meet and Taran gets stuck as Haven’s new, replacement single social contact. Taran gets his brain deliberately fried and decides that the real problem in his life is Haven’s boss, and decides to try to find a way to get rid of him. Erica makes contact with him, and together they maneuver to use Haven as a distraction to get the boss into a position that means Erica can kill him.

 Erica then uses to launch a career in politics in space.

 Haven, with free time for the first time in several thousand years, gets into an argument with Taran that he tries to win by prosecuting himself for war crimes, makes a public spectacle of himself, goes to prison temporarily, and then he and Taran live happily ever after on Earth, or something like that in the part of this story; anything past this hasn’t become interesting for me yet, and whatever does will probably follow Erica and not the other two. 

The long version, which I’ve told in the kind of information-reveal order that makes sense if we follow Haven specifically; this means some things revealed much earlier in the short version are touched on much later, and the “behind-the-scenes” stuff is actually behind-the-scenes:

Haven is born around four thousand years ago in some random place, to some random royalty. The specifics here don’t matter because no one alive knows anything about them, including Haven. Haven comes into the ability to mind-control people when he comes into the ability to talk, so his parents, alarmed, decide to have him thrown into the convenient dungeon they own to starve. However, Haven is too stupid to die, and he can also shapeshift, so he ends up turning into a cave reptile of some sort and spends the next sixty-odd years of his life getting the formative experiences of being a mid-size reptile exposed only to living in a basement, and not a human person. This is relevant because it means he develops extremely strange expectation mechanics. 

There is a regime change, and when the regime changes over they storm the dungeons to pull the enemies of the old state out. Upon finding Haven, he is speared through and then thrown off a cliff into the ocean, because as far as anyone knows he is a forty-foot-long snake that sure looks like it’s been eating people. Fortunately for Haven, he is still too stupid to die. He’s never been stabbed before and he’s also never been drowned before. He comes to the snap conclusion that being stabbed sucks and hurts, but water is alright; it helps that he’s not aware he’s supposed to be able to drown. 

He spends a while fucking around in coastal mangroves on the edges of the ocean, getting into the territory of 40-60 feet long (specifics again irrelevant),  before a big storm washes him up on the shores of another place, also not relevant where, where there are also human people present. Given he vaguely remembers  he was also one of those at some point, and also that the last time anyone human saw him as a bigger-than-a-human serpent-type thing they stabbed him unpleasantly but the last time someone saw him as a human they just put him in his basement where he lived for many years without noticing anything was wrong, he opts to just go join human society as a fellow human.   

He spends several years being a human person. One of the earliest and most consequential things that happens is that he learns to speak a language again. This means he gets to start mind-controlling people again. He does not know how to turn this off yet, because he’s never met anyone who can house-train him. Before this he is generally treated with the same courtesy someone would show to any other mannerless, strange person in the middle of a crowded population center, which is to say very little. His quality of life improves significantly enough once he gets the ability to force everyone to do whatever he wants by asking them that he decides that everything can be sorted out through conversation, an impression of the world which he carries for a long time, but absolutely not forever. He doesn’t actually know what he’s doing, because he’s not doing it on purpose, and it’s not something he’s conscious of. He can see and understand that people treat him differently from how they treat everyone else, and he would really like to know why, but without anyone having the terminology for it and without knowing what questions to ask (or how to form a non-leading question in the first place, when leading questions are rewarded  if you can force an answer you like to a question by framing it as leading), he doesn’t get anywhere near finding out what’s actually going on.

The other thing of legitimate consequence is that Haven runs into another dragon shapeshifter. This shapeshifter is younger than Haven by a number of years but knows a lot more than Haven does, mostly by virtue of not having spent the first 100+ years of their life not speaking to anyone and eating mice. This shapeshifter does not have the ability to do mind control, and also cannot breathe under water. Their name is irrelevant and I’ve changed it every single time I try to discuss them, so I’m not even going to bother here. This other shapeshifter introduces Haven to the concept of a clade  (see: Mechanics) because they have a different clademate already, and Haven ends up getting folded in because he asks them to let him join and he mind-controls everyone he speaks to.

 Haven’s later relationships, which I know I’ve discussed more publicly and also just more in general, are complicated and deeply unpleasant arrangements made particularly challenging for everyone else by the whole mind-control thing. This relationship is also complicated and made worse by the same, with the small but significant difference that Haven isn’t doing it on purpose yet. He has other, weirder issues, like thinking you’re supposed to put people you care about in basements. In spite of this, Haven and this other character stay clade-bonded and have a long and basically pleasant relationship where they probably like each other. This is well before anything I’m particularly interested in writing about comes up, so I haven’t bothered fleshing any of this out beyond what Haven thinks about the situation years later, but Haven’s personality here is also very different compared to his characterization by the time I care, so there is basically no question that the relationship is less turbulent than the ones he has later. Over the course of the next few centuries they end up getting two or three  other dragons in on this clade (for a total of five or so), none of whom can do  mind control either. 

The clade has it good for a long time. The consensus they come to is that all dragons are basically immortal and some dragons at random can breathe under water, which means that they generally all keep up with one another and live for a very long time in relative peace and harmony. They travel a lot and broadly keep to themselves, and (as far as they’re aware) fly under the radar, which (also, as far as they’re aware) is a human radar, where they only need to worry about humans. 

Around 1,500 years after this arrangement begins, one of Haven’s clademates vanishes off the face of the earth for a couple days. They return insisting that the entire clade has just got to visit some specific place, but they won’t give a reason. There is no cause for concern as far as the others are concerned, because (also for no given reason, but certainly a strong feeling) it seems like a decent idea to the entire clade, so they all go. When they arrive, they’re astounded to discover that it is some sort of ambush by two other, more skilled mind-control-capable dragons;  and then in very short order the rest of Haven’s clade is essentially frozen so he’s able to discuss and negotiate with a representative of a mysterious figure who wants to recruit Haven to a job without interference.

 The offers on the table include ultimate power, control over the world and the people in it, wealth, and generalized Everythings. But Haven would need to be doing a specific job with specific tasks, deadlines, and travel requirements, and he’d have to dedicate his life to it. 

Haven is broadly not interested. He has a good thing going with his clade, who are not there to tell him this is actually a fantastic opportunity (they would have). He wants to spend his life laying in the sun and eating deer. He still generally has the aspirations of a mid-sized predator and not a person. He’s not ambitious, and the appeals to his desire for power are completely ineffective because he doesn’t know what to do with it. He’s already got everything he wants, and if he didn’t, he’d be able to get it, because as far as he’s ever known, if he asks for something, everyone wants to give it to him. 

Haven makes a legitimate attempt to discuss this (the way he’s used to) and get them to agree to let him and his clade leave, but the other people in this room have the ability to do mind control, so they actually know what they’re looking at when he does this. The string-puller in charge of all this, by name of H’zar, just locks his powers (very easy maneuver: “you can’t mind control me but i can mind control you”) and keeps trying to persuade Haven as they were doing. Haven has no idea how to deal with this because it’s literally never happened before. 

There’s a problem with Haven not being interested: despite the framing, this isn’t an opportunity Haven is being offered. He’s being drafted. The part where they try to recruit him and let him name his terms and preferences is a formality. There’s a specific plan that  H’zar needs to put into place, which requires a specific outside-context actor to work as a stopgap in this specific role, which they are going to use Haven for because he is the only apparent possible choice for at the moment. For this plan, the moment must be seized or it will be lost entirely. That means that Haven’s complete disinterest, which apparently cannot be overcome by any normal methods, is actually a pretty significant problem. It’s not worthwhile to try to use mind control to convince him he does want to accept the job, either; all that it would do is make it really likely that something would remind him that he didn’t originally want to do it, and then he’d be doubly frustrating to work with and unpredictable when he returns to his original opinion. So eventually  H’zar unilaterally decides that, fine, whatever, Haven’s opinions on the matter are actually moot because he’s the right guy for the job, and for his stubbornness he’s just going to have to learn to like it because he’s being forced to do it now. 

Haven, obviously, is not super psyched about this. His clade gets unfrozen and because they’re low-level psychically linked they all get upset really fast. But there’s nothing that can be done about it. He gets pulled into a group and, while he’s not really expected to do much here, it’s obvious that the dragons he’s been recruited by are working hard to scheme some other, grander stuff and put the reins back on some other guy.

During this time Haven and his clade make themselves a nuisance by trying to repeatedly get the fuck out and/or argue with H’zar and his cronies and so on and so forth. Additionally, the fact that Haven is in a clade and they’re all here means that (by the whole low-level psychic link thing) commands put on Haven get spread around the clade, which makes them less potent; same for other classmates. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge problem; it can be worked around. But if you’re dealing with someone really intractable, and someone really annoying, and you’re also mad that you have to deal with them in the first place and furthermore you’re just pissed off in general for reasons that have very little to do with this guy you’re dealing with, you might decide to just… axe the clade! Get rid of the rest of them!

 H’zar is really just a petty asshole, and he’s dealing with very annoying problems elsewhere with someone worse than Haven. He doesn’t handle frustration well and loves making that someone else’s problem (this will become a theme). So in what could best be be described as a fit of pique, the big boss decides that Haven’s clade needs to die, and Haven gets forcibly hooked up to a bunch of fancy alien technology that keeps his brain from turning off and then has his right hand guy go and kill the rest of them. For obvious reasons, Haven isn’t really endeared by this either. But for other, equally obvious, reasons, Haven is also basically catatonic for the subsequent remainder of the scheming, which makes him a lot easier to manage because he’s no longer doing anything. 

In the meantime, H’zar and his schemers pull off their scheme, which ends up putting a stupid-restrictive mind-control-based metaphorical leash on a guy who had formerly been doing the job Haven is supposed to take over. (Their name is also not important  and I keep changing it as well). This guy was recruited the normal way, where they agreed and actually wanted to be there, but after a considerable amount of time being on top of the world, they decided they wanted to be even more ambitious and find out what the hell was going on outside Earth and maybe also get H’zar’s job. This is pretty strictly against the rules. Now they have to be replaced. That’s what Haven is for. 

Haven is handed over to that guy, that guy is told they have to train Haven, and then the two of them are also given a handler who really doesn’t care that much about either of them but is there to make sure the original guy won’t start doing any treason again. Then the three of them are sent off to teach Haven how to do the job. 

The guy despises Haven from the start. Haven, freshly introduced to the idea that he can’t just tell people to stop being huge dicks and do what he wants them to instead, finds himself quickly despising the guy right back. They also both hate the handler, but there’s nothing either of them can do about that. (The handler is theoretically supposed to also keep the guy from exerting undue power over Haven, but, like, he’s not really invested in this whole situation, so he doesn’t bother.)

The training is one part complicated troop-movement planning and logistics drills and one part actually just killing people. Haven is a squishy soft loser baby at the start and he’s having the worst time of his life already, so, given he doesn’t have all that many positive feelings about hurting people unprompted, this is not fun at all. However, he does learn a very important lesson very quickly: if you’re having a bad day, and you hate your life, but you can find some other person and give them a worse day and completely destroy their life, it’s kind of cathartic!

 This is one step in a whole cascade of lessons Haven learns, alongside “everyone is actually out to get you”, and “having power over other people is the only way to keep them from hurting you”, and “negotiation is actually useless, you have to just force everyone to do what you want, which is already what you were doing, but with fewer pretenses”, and a whole myriad of other things. He also gets over his squeamishness about killing people in horrible ways and then to get over his lingering sense that it’s not a very nice thing to do even if it doesn’t make him flinch (and then he develops a taste for it instead). After that, which takes a good half century of consistent work, it turns out that when you take the moral rails off Haven’s brain he has an unexpected knack for the military logistics stuff and he picks that up very quickly, although he has a preference for causing as many civilian casualties as possible on the side which the other guy didn’t. 

The last specific element of the job is that Haven’s supposed to be the specific touchpoint H’zar has with the rest of the organization he’s going to be slotted in - essentially working as a relayer of instructions so no one else has to meet the Big Boss Behind The Scenes. This is Haven’s job and not anyone else’s because Haven’s job is, technically, the least busy; it’s not a super militaristic organization and the warfare is a very small part of things, even though it does need competently managed when it is. It is also meant to keep more particularly tricky workers doing things like “manipulating politics” from getting too close of a view to what H’zar’s actually operations look like off of the planet. 

By the time that Haven can do the job, he’s sick to death of the apprenticeship and ready to get this show on the road. The handler, who isn’t even from Earth and really would like to get the fuck off-planet again, is also ready to get the show on the road. H’zar off in the distance also didn’t expect this to take so long, even with allowances made for having essentially fried Haven’s brain by killing his clade, so as soon as it’s clear Haven actually knows what he’s expected to be doing, he gets the official promotion.  Because it’s obvious that Haven and the guy hated each other, and also because it’s important to tie up loose ends, Haven’s first task is to go kill the guy. 

As far as Haven is concerned, this immediately contextualizes all of the guy’s behavior as something that he knew was going to happen from the moment he saw Haven in the first place (correct) and furthermore means that he is also going to be killed if he needs to be replaced (about half right). H’zar frames it as a treason thing and a reward for Haven’s good behavior, but Haven, who has by now decided that absolutely everyone has got it out for him (and has plenty of reason to dislike and distrust H’zar besides), is pretty sure that that’s an excuse and not the actual reason. 

It’s more luck than anything, but he is mostly correct here. Haven is meant to be a stopgap to keep operations flowing without straining the rest of the organization too much. H’zar in the meantime was looking for someone better - a real handpicked sort, who wanted to be there and had actual qualifications. H’zar’s picky and the actual features he needs from the people he picks are also slow to appear and hard to come by; it’s a plan measured in centuries, not years. But once that new, permanent person is found, H’zar plans on thoroughly menticiding (see: trivia, basically erasing his entire brain and turning him into a different person on purpose) Haven so he can’t tell any tales, or killing him if that doesn’t shake out.

Haven has decided he’d really prefer not to die, so when he decides that if he slips, he’ll be killed, he really doesn’t like that idea. He does complete the task and kill the guy, and then he takes the guy’s place… 

… and then he freaks out, because now he’s stuck under a metaphorical sword of Damocles. He doesn’t do anything super crazy for the first thirty years, because he’s being closely supervised even if H’zar is deliberately making the job and situation as pleasant as possible in a sort of “here, see, you do actually want to work for me” sort of gesture, but he does scheme. He also starts deliberately installing himself as a pyramid-top mind-controller who can control his coworkers but whose coworkers can’t control him, and just telling them they can’t tell anyone he did that. This doesn’t go unnoticed, exactly, but it isn’t parsed as an immediate issue so much as Haven being, like, traumatized, which is kind of obvious to anyone with eyes. At this point he does actually get a lot of leeway from H’zar, because he’s not causing trouble, he’s doing the job well, and like, honestly, H’zar is well aware that the whole situation with Haven’s clade was disproportionate and made for an extremely terrible first introduction. 

Around this point Haven starts collecting a small new clade, which doesn’t fix the part where he’s got a whole bunch of dead connections in his brain, but it helps. He also starts socializing with people who aren’t that one guy and the handler, which also helps some, but not that much because he’s been given power-dynamics brain poisoning by this point and the only way he knows how to deal with being upset or annoyed or stressed  is to go hurt strangers.. 

The supervision eases up about year 35 of the job, because Haven is apparently a pretty hard worker and he’s doing his job and doing it well and seems to even enjoy the work, and H’zar doesn’t seem to need to worry. This is because Haven has learned important things such as “how to scheme” in the last couple hundred years. Approximately a year and a half after the supervision ends, Haven starts surreptitiously pulling his most critical fellow department heads aside, installing them in his department, getting them to show him how they do their work, and then once he understands it just sort of deleting that information out of their brains and sending them on assorted retirements to assorted different places. He starts with the bookkeepers and works his way through financials, the political wing, and whatever the dragon-only-workplace version of Human Resources is called before anything amiss is noticed. Even then, it’s not obvious, because Haven is actually competent at all of these. He’s actually even good at the financials, which is what starts raising flags; suddenly the money is looking better than it was. 

H’zar tells Haven to send a memo to HR to investigate Finances to see if they’re cooking the books. Haven, who is currently both directing HR and Finances, directs someone to write up a little report that basically says “Nope!” and sends it back. H’zar is satisfied with this, which means Haven gets to keep eating departments. 

It takes about a full decade and a half for Haven to finally fuck it up. I keep changing my mind on the details, but eventually he makes the kind of mistake that requires some actual fixing that takes long enough that whoever H’zar has monitoring Earth brings up with H’zar. H’zar sends one of his very few Earth-based investigators outside the organization to take a look around, and they report back that Haven is in fact literally the only department head, actually, and that all the departments are pretty much reporting directly to him. This is not what he’s supposed to do. Furthermore, somehow he’s actually very competently managing all the work, but it’s kind of too much work for one person, and the likelihood is that if things need to change on a dime or ramp up too fast, he’s going to start dropping things left and right.

That’s bad, obviously, but also bad is that Haven is supposed to be being replaced as soon as someone suitable to do the job he’s doing can be found! H’zar pulls Haven onto a space conference call and demands the other department heads be reinstated; Haven explains that they functionally know nothing now and he’s the only one who understands the systems that are in place. H’zar asks Haven to train new department heads, and Haven points out that, per the investigator and H’zar’s own concerns, any distractions will mean the entire organization starts to fall off the rails. H’zar is unimpressed and gives Haven a deadline by which he’ll need to get the replacements finished by, which is about a year and a half out. 

Haven goes about, at this point, eating the second-highest levels of these departments as fast as possible (not hard, because he already has a working understanding of what they’re doing) and then installs figureheads. This doesn’t fly as far under the radar because now H’zar is looking for it, but  it also flies under the radar enough (under the guise of transition-period pains). 

Eventually - again - these things come to light. H’zar is now getting angry, because this is unnecessary and also annoying. Haven did good work until he stopped being babysat, and now he needs to be babysat some more? That’s not worth it. He’s already been looking for replacements, but now he starts to look harder. It has been all of one total century. The last guy had been in the position for minimum seven hundred of those before he started getting difficult. 

H’zar finally caves and assigns someone the specific task of babysitting Haven’s work, and then redoubles the efforts to have his investigators find someone who can do what Haven is supposed to do. Now it’s harder, because there’s a lot more that’s supposed to be done, and because Haven was actively trying to make himself irreplaceable the past documentation is no longer actually applicable and Haven is the only one who actually knows what the fuck he does. 

Another three hundred years in (it’s now approximately the year 50 B. C. E) a passable substitute is found, who can maybe do the same thing Haven is supposed to do - plug a gap while a better person is found - without being challenging. Haven is told to train them; he deliberately does a terrible job and also semi-deliberately fucks up several major processes so that he can stop. Even with a handler over his shoulder it’s hard to tell if he’s “forgetting” or forgetting, and the handlers tend to be disinterested. H’zar asks Haven for an explanation (with mind control forcing him to be accurate) and Haven, doing his best to talk in circles, points out that the trainee is not adequately equipped for the job but might suit a specific position or two lower in the hierarchy, and also that the quality of Haven’s own work has fallen since he was saddled with said trainee and it’s beginning to pose legitimate issues for the organization. This is obviously at least obscuring the truth, but it’s plausible, and if all else fails, it means that H’zar has a ready half-trained and competent operative somewhere in the ranks that H’zar can use to help replace Haven with later, after getting someone else half-trained in the other stuff Haven has decided to do. 

Things continue in this vein for a while, but Haven also starts to get wild. He’s not actually particularly restricted at this point in his life, outside the job. But he’s not allowed to make public appearances, because he looks strange and not quite human, and that’s not good for H’zar’s plans. Haven, who has been operating under all the rules he’s been given for around five centuries at this point, has slowly come to the conclusion (correctly) that he’s supposed to be living a life of hedonism and luxury, and that that’s all allowed. He has also come to the conclusion (incorrect) that, if he wants, he can just go start kicking places over like a kid knocking over an anthill in the regular human world in his free time. He’s been running around taking his pick of the cream of the human crop for his pretty extensive extended polycule/harem/thing and getting ornate jewelry and art and books and clothing and decorative textiles and so on made, and collecting fancy objects and trophies and bones and stuff; but the thing is, he isn’t, like, a figure for basically anyone (barring a specific very small incident mentioned in trivia which was allowed because it was extremely contained). And he’s managing enough stuff; what’s one more? So he starts doing a lot of things, but the most significant of them is that he decides to steal the identity of an up-and-coming Roman emperor (some guy by the name of “Caligula”) and starts playacting at being a human emperor. He also starts to embezzle money from the organization, mostly out of spite.

This is all against the fucking rules. As far as H’zar is concerned, Haven is getting too big for his fucking britches. He locks Haven’s powers entirely for the next couple hundred years (he is still fully employed in the same position) and tells Haven to figure his shit out and only after that will he get his abilities back. 

Haven suffers through these centuries miserably. He does not stop doing the embezzlement, but he does get better at it. Regardless: this is now going on a full thousand years of Haven being an impossible-to-replace, insufferable thorn in H’zar’s side and an active source of constant aggravation. But H’zar has sunk enough resources into this scheme that he doesn’t want to start over, and he’s kind of vindictive with it.  Haven is, also, fucking unusually hard to control to degrees that are genuinely hard to find, because he has so much shit wrong with his brain, between his weird expectation mechanics, weird history and beliefs not held by another living person, and the generalized mental damage from having a bunch of dead clade connections. And he’s genuinely just not getting any easier to work with or replace, and the longer he’s there, the more entrenched he is. 

H’zar is a petty asshole at the best of times, and this isn’t the best of times. Haven is very annoying. In another fit of pique, H’zar has the rest of Haven’s clade killed a second time - this is practically unheard of and really not the best move if you want someone actually functional - and sets about just forcing Haven to keep things running without having the free time to cause trouble. Unfortunately, it turns out that with no clade and social contacts at all, at this point, Haven is a completely useless wreck of a person - he can’t sleep, he doesn’t eat, he has the emotional regulation of a rabid dog on cocaine  - so this vengeful policy doesn’t work. H’zar, still frustrated, decides to find whatever the absolute bare minimum is and instate that as also the absolute maximum. As it turns out this is one person who can stand in as a clademate, which is great, because that’s a hell of a lot easier than more than one, too. 

H’zar instates a lot of restrictions at this point. No messing around with coworkers, or even spending too much time talking to them if it’s not work-required, or else he might start scheming again. Only one clademate at a time, no partners or friends outside of that group, or else H’zar will have them killed and evidence would suggest he’s serious. Abso-fucking-lutely no other clademates unless the last one dies. Personal check-ins on a regular basis. More busywork. And he’s obligated to do some boots-on-the-ground grunt work in whatever fields he feels like, as long as it’s time-consuming and difficult, so that he has a harder time meeting the deadlines, so he’s constantly busy. As far as H’zar figures, if he doesn’t have time to scheme, he’ll stop fucking doing it. And if he can’t get things done, and he knows it’s on his partners’ head if he fucks it up this time, he’ll probably try to find solutions, which means he’ll start rebuilding the organization’s top-level departments without H’zar needing to completely ride his ass over it. And, in conjunction with all of this, H’zar (and whoever is actually most-of-the-time managing Earth on alongside H’zar) get a lot more heavy-handed with the mind control to keep Haven from, like, deciding he wants to do treason - a thing that needs to be constantly kept up-to-date and which Haven gets increasingly good at slipping.

It is the year 1300, or thereabouts. Haven has some number of partners in sequence after this - entirely picked from a pool of people outside the organization per requirements, which means whoever he’s picking up has really variable expectation mechanics at play on them. That means there can be as many as six people (if they all have an approximately standard human life expectancy and believe they’re going to die of old age) or as few as one single person. It doesn’t matter what killed them because I haven’t thought that far, but it probably wasn’t work-related. The point is, Haven’s life becomes a lot less interesting at this point, and I also just haven’t bothered thinking about it yet because it’s not that important. 

Things pick up in the year 1789, when Haven is obliged to - essentially replace his last person after they died (peacefully). He finds Erica, who is (at the time) nineteen, highly ambitious, and in the process of planning the murder of her entire family. Haven is instantly enamored with her personality and attitude. Erica is enamored, but less quickly, with how much Haven genuinely just seems to want her to get what she wants and respects her intellect and decisionmaking, and how willing he is to show her how to do whatever it is he thinks she’d be good at. It is immediately apparent to  both of them that Erica is more cunning and sly than Haven is, but Haven thinks this is one of her more attractive qualities, so he does not find himself concerned. They both have the exact same brainworms about power (namely, that it exists to facilitate hurting other people, so you need every advantage you can get, including advantages that don’t even look like they exist to other people), developed completely independently, and both of them are delighted to find someone who “gets it”. 

After a romance primarily consisting of Haven handing Erica a bunch of different weapons and watching her use them to systematically execute everyone in her household one-by-one, Haven takes Erica with him to his life and Erica discovers that it is stifling to have to live around the restrictions on Haven. It is explained to her that this is because of H’zar, but also that it’s functionally impossible to get to H’zar.  Erica re-sets her sights on something more achievable and works Haven for more freedom, which she wins through hard work and by leveraging the fact that Haven thinks it’s cool when she does things she’s good at. She spends a lot of time essentially learning everything Haven does for his work inside and out because it is an avenue to getting to do things that aren’t insufferably boring and miserable. She also convinces Haven to let her lead multiple on-the-ground strike teams so she can go out and kill people even if Haven is not standing over her shoulder the entire time. For the most part she is unsuccessful, because Haven is stiflingly clingy. Haven is also just a deeply unpleasant person who externalizes all his feelings and has terrible emotional regulation skills, does not believe in compromise, and (like Erica herself also does) revels in having power over other people. She gets really frustrated with the life very quickly.

 Within about a decade Erica decides that this is a pattern which will never change and attempts to fake her death. Haven becomes suspicious before she can put them into motion properly, so rather than complete it properly she runs for the hills. For a half decade she successfully stays under the radar, but Haven is actively not allowed to leave loose ends running around and she’s a major security risk. Eventually Haven brings her back to the fold. At this point she decides the only option is to kill Haven. 

Over the next drawn-out four decades, Erica slowly and meticulously plans to kill Haven, puts her plans into motion, and runs face-first into an exaggeratedly-obvious expression of the expectation mechanic after her first attempt: she uses poisons to force Haven unconscious and then smashes his skull into putty with a war hammer, believing he would die like any other person, but the poisons make him very confused so he wakes up and doesn’t realize he’s supposed to have already been dead until after he’s walked himself into a medical center. This puts a damper on his ability to believe himself possible to be killed, which makes it basically impossible to kill him, either. 

She keeps trying, but it keeps not working. At the same time, Haven continually tries to get her to stop by judiciously applying mind control. This means her options become increasingly limited. With her chances for experimentation vanishing and no headway made, Erica begins attacking other ancient and apparently-immortal dragons. She uncovers during this period an edge of the expectation mechanic, unintentionally discovering that emotionally-significant minor injuries were more important than emotionally-insignificant (ie: they were unconscious when it happened) injuries. After experimentation, she concludes that a dragon has to believe that they will be harmed or killed by something for it to actually harm and/or kill them. She develops an effective method for killing these dragons by physically injuring them so they cannot move and then eating them while they are still at least marginally conscious.  She attempts to deploy this against Haven, but is unable due to the mind control. 

H’zar, who is also still invested in the work being done, is dismayed to see how many high-level workers and dragons he had been able to rely on being present and competent have apparently died, on top of the long but random periods of time where Haven is particularly bad at doing his work because he’s busy recovering from some gnarly injury; even though they’re spaced out on a scale of a year to multiple years, it’s still much more frequent than it had been and becomes a pattern. Erica observes that H’zar becomes increasingly angry about this and decides that, failing killing Haven for the last time, if she were to make herself as difficult as possible, H’zar would come kill her, and then tighten the restrictions on Haven even further. She commits to this plan out of spite. 

H’zar demands her execution for the first time in in 1835, with non-exhaustive wording. Haven goes out of his way to deliberately misinterpret it and does not kill Erica. H’zar finds out that Erica has not been killed in 1842, and demands Erica be killed again, this time with proof. Haven goes through a lengthy and complicated process to fake Erica’s death and hide her in his house. This is the opposite of what she wanted. In 1848, Erica successfully convinces H’zar she is alive by editing Haven’s space emails after years of work. At this point, incensed, H’zar comes to Earth himself again, does in fact tighten the leash on Haven dramatically, and then whisks Erica off to be executed - away from Haven, because he doesn’t even want to give Haven the satisfaction of getting to say his goodbyes or do any of it on his terms any more. 

After this, H’zar keeps a much closer eye on Haven, and essentially adopts a policy of “all unstructured time is dangerous” vis a vis assigning him work, which looks a lot like handing Haven actively impossible deadlines and then getting mad at him when they’re not made. Haven responds by figuring out how to meet about three quarters of them, falling behind on the rest, and taking his frustration out on anyone and anything around him afterward. H’zar is also not pleasant when disappointed and, as we’ve established by this point H’zar can’t stand Haven, H’zar likes to have an  excuse to call him on the phone and use mind control to tell him that he’s stuck his hand in a brazier full of hot coals for being too late to send some email or something. 

Haven is a mess of a person dealing with this and the fallout of Erica’s death, and increasingly difficult to be around, even more than he already was. 

He finds his next person, who is Taran - an offspring of another very old dragon he knows. She has a cult dedicated to her, which Taran was raised in. Many things about Taran bother Haven, but a major one is that Taran generally believes in religious and magical concepts, and Haven himself has a grudge against religion.  Taran also genuinely does not like Haven very much and doesn’t want to be involved with him in any way; Haven essentially entraps him in a relationship against his will. They do not get along basically at all, and Haven is (as usual, for himself) very difficult to be around, and prone to violence when he doesn’t feel like he’s getting his way… which with Taran is basically always. 

Taran spends about a decade also trying to kill Haven, but unlike Erica, most of this takes the form of him trying out various rituals and other magical sorts of attempts that have absolutely no effect, because he’s hideously outmatched by Haven and well aware of it, and unlike Erica he’s not confident enough in his planning skills to think he could just come up with a plot that would work without getting caught. 

After ultimately giving up and deciding the situation is both untenable and inescapable, he picks a different solution that Erica absolutely never in a million years would have chosen, and asks Haven to use his already-established mind control abilities to just force Taran to actually feel like this is fine and make him enjoy his life. Haven himself is taken aback by this because, somehow, he’s deluded himself into thinking that everything is improving bit by bit and Taran is settling in; furthermore he just generally doesn’t like changing other people’s minds that way because he doesn’t think it works very well. Taran insists, repeatedly, until Haven gives in. It’s a good solution as far as Taran is concerned. Now he likes the things Haven likes and doesn’t hate the assorted insufferable bullshit things Haven does, which he would’ve been subjected to either way. 

After this happens Taran discovers that, even having dealt with all of his issues with Haven as well as possible, he still doesn’t really like his life. The reason for that is just a lot easier to pinpoint now that literally everything doesn’t suck so much; Taran’s problems are all the result of Haven’s boss and Haven’s job. The obvious solution to this, as far as Taran is concerned, is to just get rid of Haven’s boss. Haven explains why this is impossible. Taran decides that that’s quitter talk. Haven explains that he’s not even allowed to think about doing anything treasonous right now without having to immediately report it, and he’ll probably have to mention this conversation. Taran goes “oh, okay,” and just stops talking about it. Forever. Taran is great at keeping secrets. The most Taran will do for the most part out loud for the next few decades is just sort of tell Haven repeatedly that his boss fucking sucks and his job fucking sucks. 

That means that, when Taran randomly informs Haven that they’re going to go completely off-grid for a few days, cut the phone lines, and just not talk to anyone, it’s first a huge surprise and second a really strange surprise. Taran doesn’t win him over so much as just sneaks off to cut the connections himself, and then explains that he’s got some contact out in deep space who is actually straight up going to assassinate H’zar as they’re speaking… at which point the mind control on Haven kicks in, he tries to get in touch with the boss against his will, and they’re totally off the grid without power or any telecomms so they get to just sit around and do nothing. 

For someone who just got released from a multiple-thousand-year torture stint, Haven is remarkably ungrateful. He wants to know everything that happened and why he wasn’t involved, and Taran insists that he can’t talk about it or it can jeopardize the safety of the entire operation, so Haven needs to stop asking until they find out if it worked. Haven hates this. Unfortunately for him it also is a completely plausible thing to say, so he contents himself by smashing random objects around the house until he feels slightly better about having absolutely zero control over this situation and then sits it out with Taran. 

They do pull it off, and when Haven finally insists that it’s been a week and a half and no one has come to knock his door down so it’s probably safe to get the electricity running again, it becomes obvious that not only has H’zar genuinely been removed from the connection he’s usually at, so has everyone else he worked with. This isn’t evidence that anything worked, but it’s evidence that something happened. 

Haven demands to be told what happened in space again. Taran repeats that knowing anything and having any contact with Taran’s space assassin would jeopardize everything, and Haven needs to just forget about it forever. Haven really doesn’t like that. Taran deliberately redirects the conversation onto being concerned for Haven’s mental wellbeing, because he knows this will probably implode the entire topic and Haven will stop asking about what happened to get really mad. 

This ploy works too well. Haven gets deeply offended at the suggestion that he get psychiatric help and, in a beautiful demonstration of why it works so fucking well as a suggestion, decides that he needs to stick it to Taran by putting himself in jail. Which is exactly the same as psychiatric help, probably, if you interpret it in the worst light possible and are also really mad. In a fit of pique he figures that Taran will probably try to brush whatever he does under the rug, so he sets up a webpage, puts a shitload of his actual documentation of like, hundreds of years’ worth of war crimes, political interference, and the like, on it, and then uses his actual considerable still-extant political strings to get it all publicized, and then he walks into the United Nations offices at Geneva and demands they prosecute him for war crimes. 

This is obviously not what Taran was looking for. It also just strikes him as a such a strange approach to take that he has no idea what to make of it on many fronts, which means that he does a kind of slow and kind of bad job scrambling to do damage control. The whole situation becomes dramatically public before Taran can do anything about it. The trial itself takes a number of years, during which it becomes kind of obvious to Taran and eventually also Haven that the psychiatric help thing is actually really not optional, actually; admittedly Haven only agrees to speak to a therapist so that he can try and use an insanity plea (didn’t work) but like it’s so clear he has so much wrong with him. 

Taran manages to swing a house arrest deal for the both of them (which means functionally they live life as normal), and then finally after multiple years have gone by Haven asks again what happened to kill H’zar and Taran, figuring that at this point there’s basically no way for them to get back in touch with anyone in space anyway, finally reveals that he was working with Erica - Haven’s allegedly-dead ex-wife.  She’s not dead after all - and she was meant to go kill Haven and take his place. She just decided she wanted more out of life than all that. Haven demands Taran give him her contact information and Taran tells him they haven’t spoken in years and she wouldn’t pick up if he tried. Haven flips out. 

And to be honest, after this point I haven’t plotted anything else out. At least for the main story. 

I have the rough shapes of what Erica is doing in space (using H’zar’s corpse, which she made out of the live version of H’zar,  and then her subsequent reveal of the whole planet-controlling mechanism as the jumping-off point to accuse all big entrenched politicians in the particular governing body as corrupt; then making quick and effective connections with a bunch of assorted opposition parties to H’zar’s coalition, launching a political career as a populist ‘figurehead’ and then performing a coup on her own faction and ending up as an actual leader and highly visible and well-liked politician. Then she turns that into a position of significant crossfactional power, mostly as an excuse to incite a bunch of imperialist border wars because she wanted an excuse to start wars for funsies. Then before public opinion can turn against her with the conclusion of said border wars and the dramatically-increased optics of a whole assload of war crimes she drops out of politics, becomes part of a lobbying group, invests in the Space Stock Market, makes fucking batshit money, and then fucks off to some perma-resort rich person retirement planet to rest on her laurels with her ill-gotten money with the public reputation of, like, Space Dick Cheney) but like that’s also not finished. 

Trivia 

H’zar uses he/him pronouns and, when on Earth, has a generally cis-male bauplan specifically because there’s a patriarchy around here and no matter what else, he demands to be treated with deference.  That said, H’zar is a full-on alien; they have different genders and social classes up there that don’t bear a lot of resemblance to Earth’s. 

H’zar is (probably) Haven’s father - and as far as Haven and H’zar are concerned, this is guaranteed, even though realistically speaking it’s not. H’zar went out of his way to ensure he was one of the the only aliens who even knew where Earth was, largely to avoid culpability for his extensive Space Crimes. In spite of that, H’zar wanted to work with people whose abilities he could predict instead of tailoring every approach to the abilities of the specific alien planets he wants to stake his flag in, so rather than working with fellow aliens who could report him for space crimes, he opted to go to Earth, have a bunch of kids, wait for some of them to grow up and inherit his powers, and then come back to collect them a couple hundred years later. The older an Earth-born dragon is, the more likely H’zar was actively involved in their existence, but beyond a certain point other dragons started having their own kids so it’s very unclear by the time that the story rolls around. Haven actively hates this and it makes him super mad, which means both Erica and Taran think it’s funny. 

H’zar’s organization is ludicrously  streamlined if you look at the in-space parts; this is because anyone who spends any time in space picks up on that they’re doing turbo-illegal bullshit and knows there are significant rewards and whistleblower protections for anyone who reports it. Because of that, H’zar needs very, very trustworthy personnel, which means he also wants as few personnel as possible. They all get paid fabulously. It makes for an unwieldy, annoying organization that streamlines everything to planet-based operations as much as possible so they don’t have to fucking babysit everyone. Which means on-planet operations also have less oversight than is probably advisable… but hey, they can’t call the Space Cops.

Haven’s daily quota of stuff is far-ranging but a lot of it boils down to reading endless lists of bullshit. His primary tasks involve arranging a lot of political nonsense, with the general aim of killing a lot of people. He’s meant to hold Earth in a holding pattern as a fractured collection of infighting subunits until he can be replaced and someone else can take over his job. This is the most important work but not the most intensive - a lot of it is just eyeballing reports and making sure they’re not saying anything unusual. Occasionally this requires him to arrange some background elements that could realistically result in a war and then oversee the direction of that war, which is - literally - the only thing he was originally hired to do besides relaying H’zar’s directives. After that his other tasks are largely reviewing paperwork. He’s the head of the financial department, recordkeeping, and the head of human resources/management, and he needs to keep his position irreplaceable. This means he takes a very heavy-handed approach to all three roles and also institutes labyrinthine paperwork and data-management processes at a rate of something like once every three months, most of which just means filing things in weirder and weirder places - half of the time, the staff that doesn’t report to Haven, a level below that, or two or three levels down don’t even see anything changing, but Haven deliberately makes it really complicated at the higher levels. No one who reports to him likes this and there is a lot of turnover in those levels because Haven is also delighted to grant requests to be demoted, which means that the understanding of said labyrinthine paperwork processes is even more limited than it would’ve been otherwise. He also has a detachment of of research labs (largely biomedical) doing science experiments he’s curious about on the side. When H’zar decides to make him too busy to cause problems, he gets assigned to work on on-the-ground tasks (strike teams causing Political Chaos, sent to restructure small satellite offices, tasked with decrypting random messages, etc) specifically because it makes keeping up with the paperwork a huge pain in the ass and Haven is well aware that he doesn’t want to suffer the consequences of failure any more often than he already does. 

Menticide is a Space Capital Crime, the kind of thing they just kind of throw you in a dark hole somewhere and never let you out for. It refers to a whole manner of ways someone might replace someone else’s personality, deliberately destroying the original in the process. Usually it’s irreversible. The thing Haven did to Taran is fully 100% a botched menticide. If it ever went to Space Court, no protestations that it was Taran’s idea would get him off the hook - and the assumption would be that that was also part of the menticide, and Taran had wanted no such thing until after Haven had started changing his personality in the first place. Space Crimes H’zar, who has also done or directed approximately 10 menticides per week for the last 500,000 years or so, is an outlier adn should not be counted. 

Approximately the same set of decades that H’zar was first “recruiting” Haven, and while he was still courting Haven instead of trying to keep him from starting fires, H’zar (badly) explained the principles of what he believed space-travel-based shapeshifting to be. As H’zar explained it, for a dragon, being exposed to open vacuum or high orbit for about a year would trigger the ability to shapeshift into something almost identical to the first alien the dragon sees, as long as that dragon also recognizes as sapient. H’zar also told Haven to go get launched into orbit and reconfigure himself so he’d stop being so short and round and juvenile-looking. Haven also by that point wanted to look more physically imposing, and generally cooler also. Haven interprets the transformation as a sightlines-only thing and gets a bunch of artists and sculptors to create him models and paintings of his ideal body, which is nearly what he got, with a few particular flaws and a few things that Haven hadn’t expected to happen. He also came back with glowing stripes he could turn on and off at will in his dragon form (because H’zar had those and he thought that he just hadn’t figured out how to do it yet) and looking more like a “traditional” dragon than he had before (because he didn’t have a great mental conception of what he was supposed to look like before that, and was convinced that he was going to shapeshift into something else anyway). If H’zar had tried to do the same thing, or had seen more closely what Haven was doing, he would’ve thought it completely useless, and nothing would’ve happened. He couldn’t shapeshift by looking at a statue. 

Erica looks the way she does because her human adoptive family didn’t want to talk about the dragon her dad had had an affair with.  From vague references, she came to the conclusion that she was sort of a half-fairy monster thing, and based her mental image of what she was supposed to be off book illustrations. This is also why she’s purple and not black. She has hands as a fox because she couldn’t conceive of not having opposable thumbs, and the idea of paws (which to her looked the same on both sets of legs) not matching seemed incorrect to her when she was very young. They’re basically regular human hands. They don’t even have fur on the palms. 

Taran looks the way he does, with an enormous wingspan and very stubby legs, because he’s seen stylized illustrations of his mom but only met her in the flesh when he was in his mid-thirties. Sivexia has much longer legs that are actually proportional to her body, and much smaller wings. 

Around the year 200 BC, it became a trend among all the really old dragons  to start cults worshipping themselves among small, isolated human pockets. Haven also did this. The shine wore off; Haven killed his entire cult, and most of the other dragons just sort of abandoned them. Sivexia didn’t, which is why he grew up in a cult; it’s the same one.

At some point, Erica decided that showing her emotions on her face constitutes a weakness someone could use against her. And she generally believes that she can only reveal a vulnerability if someone is so beaten they can never use it against her. This means that, functionally, she only really ever emotes in front of people she’s in the middle of killing. She gets to have a Slasher Grin. I think she deserves it.

Taran is venomous. Sivexia is not venomous. Taran, resident secret-keeper, looks very similar to her and also has patterns that strongly resemble a sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor), which is also nonvenomous. He doesn’t bite anyone for a while, which means that Haven doesn’t realize he’s venomous until years into their relationship.  It probably wouldn’t have killed him either way, but Taran was saving it to use to try to kill Haven.

Haven has his contingent of scientists because he can see the effects of the expectation mechanic, and it drives him nuts, but because he doesn't actually know what it is. At some point he realized that he, and several other dragons, were - functionally - immortal, but other dragons he knows age like humans, and others age slower but still age; and that he can breathe underwater and survive in vacuum in space but he can suffocate other dragons to death and he’s seen other dragons drown; and that literally every dragon who doesn’t grow up around other “standard” dragons look completely different; and that randomly a dragon will be able to breathe fire or something and other dragons can’t do any of that. The list goes on. When he wrapped his head around having (functionally) infinite resources and infinite manpower, he decided to direct someone to look into it. They didn’t come back with any answers, but they came back with some other interesting stuff, like “we found that in 86% of our experimental subjects, if we jabbed them with this serum, all their wounds healed immediately!” (which worked because they believed in it, and kept working because the results were compelling so it became “common knowledge” that it worked… you see how this goes). So it was obviously a sound investment from an R&D perspective, but also it didn’t answer the question. They never scientifically figure out the expectation mechanic because it’s the kind of thing that Haven expects a hard biological answer for, so they’re, like, not doing psychological experiments on random dragons. Erica figures it out because she does in fact do a bunch of psychological experiments on random dragons. She doesn’t tell anyone what she’s learned, because it’s an advantage, and she wants to keep it in her back pocket until it’s really useful. 

The magic wound-healing serum is a real piece of worldbuilding that’s been established since I first invented Haven. I keep trying to make sound less stupid and not succeeding. It works completely logically according to the rules of the world and makes sense, so I can’t just get rid of it entirely… but it’s also just such an obvious “wave hand, problems gone, this is how I enable grievous bodily harm on a cartoonish scale without killing or permanently maiming my main characters” excuse that I’d like to make it a little less like that. Oh well.

Most of the really old dragons also pull brood-parasite shit, not just H’zar himself. You can see this with Taran and Erica, where they’re both some random offspring dumped on some other random human and told to take care of it or else, and then the dragon fucks off, never to be seen again. I mentioned that this is because of onerous workplace requirements. The general situation vis-a-vis H’zar expecting to use the on-planet dragons as essentially a convenient workforce means that it’s very inconvenient if it’s not, like, super obvious and well-recorded where they are. That means that there needs to be a system in place for keeping track of everyone’s kids, and then generally if you want to keep track of everyone’s kids anyway you also want them to have some set of skills, so they don’t need to be trained later, and so on… On the face of it, “we put your kids in private school, ensure they get a good education, and provide them with a job in the future once they’re of age” is a good deal. It loses a lot of them when they stop being optional. The main reason that people (specific ones) go out of their way to evade the enrollment thing isn’t that, though. It’s that the longer you live, and the further up the corporate ladder you get, the closer you get to Haven, who is a vengeful, petty maniac, and the people who work under him, who are all (by nature of working for a vengeful, petty maniac) also vengeful, petty maniacs. And in that case, it depends on the person, but there’s usually a point at which “I don’t want anyone here knowing exactly where my family is at all times” becomes a salient concern, usually after the first or second time someone threatens them with it.  There are of course other reasons - “there’s absolutely zero career options outside the company once you’ve grown up in our system, and we don’t let you leave,” is one, but for legacy kids, that’s no real concern, whereas even if you grow up in the company you’d probably not want your boss to threaten you by promising they can eat your kids; “if they don’t develop the mind-control ability, we won’t know what to do with them and will treat them as (relatively) disposable,” which is also largely a concern for higher-ups because the less connection you have to proper black-ops operators, the easier it is to put you in a relatively normal part of the company answering phones or something, and certainly isn’t always that big a deal; “you probably won’t see them that often because we’re sending them to fancy magic boarding school” and so on… but the big one is the leverage issue. This is also my excuse for saying that there aren’t that many unaccounted-for dragons running around - not enough to break the urban-fantasy ‘we’re here but you don’t know about it’ convention authentically - but enough that I can pull one out of a hat at any given time without stretching things. Haven personally looks the other way when this happens (his job is to be head of the paperwork brigade, among other things, so he’s not personally involved in a lot of it but if there are serious concerns, someone else in the HR department will forward their concerns to him and he usually chooses not to do anything about it) because he really fucking hates the entire premise of the keeping some random kid around to work for you later and it makes him mad, for reasons I’m sure are impossible to guess. 

know what. im tired enough that i wont have time to pussy out if i post this and run.

everyone BE NICE .

[gunnerpalace]

Hi! Same anon as the previous one. Tbh, I agree wholeheartedly with you. Y'see I do ask rhetorically,too but i could really accept and understand how and why ppl can be oblivious to IchiRuki, and somehow felt that the 'canon' should suffice, even the most excruciating of all is the fact a number found the ending even acceptable (ships aside, too). Again, I could respect that. But it's my greatest bane when ppl ask 'why' and not be clear they are asking rhetorically because I literally will

provide you an actual answer. And I get it, it’s the reason why ppl find shipping wars toxic and silly. But then again, as human, conflicts are always part of us (partly because as social psych explains so, we are gravitated to the negative for that allows us to change and survive), and the reason why “logical fallacies” are coined in the first place. Human will always debate, and argue about something; the only thing we could change is how we approach the opposing views.

Again, I dont condone any way, shape or form of abuse and harm. In some certain extent, I could perhaps understand it’s much harder for some IH to approach the actual argument being there’s either too much noise, and trapped in their own island between sea of salt. Thus becoming too acquianted w/ few IH who shared the same thought until it became their views as the only truth (see, that’s why its important to have debates! it is what keep us grounded and fair! Just like you said)

Who am I to speak though? I never ever challenged anyone anyways. And as you said, you just have to understand things in every way you could possibly think of–endless ‘whys’. Which is where I agree in your reply the most–this silly fandom wars is just the black mirror to every truth that lies beneath human psyche–the dark and the grimy. Heck, being a psych major is like staring at dark hole–at times, good, but most just plain confusing, revolting even or just heartbreaking.

Sorry it’s been long, but for the final of this ask: let me tell how glad I was with IchiRuki fandom I found in tumblr. It was the saltiest I’ve ever been (im not generally a fandom person anyways) but it’s the himalayan salt–expensive and actually nutritive it really deepened my desire to become wiser in general. And you for your wonderful essays, critiques and whatnot. I definitively would love to talk with you more not only about IchiRuki but the wonders and nightmare that us humans! Kudos!

I have sitting in my drafts a post spelling out my thoughts on “canon” (and thus, the people who cling to it) in that as a concept it privileges:

officiality over quality when it comes to validity (thus violating Sturgeon’s law)

corporations (intellectual property rights holders) over fans, and thus capitalists over proletarians

hierarchical dominance over mutualist networking within fandom

curative fandom over transformative fandom

genre over literary content

plot over characters

events over emotions

It is notable that (1) generally degrades art as a whole, (2) generally advances the capitalist agenda, and (3–7) generally advances the dominance of men over women (as the genders tend to be instructed by society to view these as A. dichotomies rather than spectrums, and B. to ascribe gender to them and make them polarities). These form the sides of a mutually reinforcing power structure (in the typical “Iron Triangle” fashion) designed to preserve and maintain the status quo.

Who really benefits from say, the policing of what is or is not “canon” in Star Wars? Disney, first and foremost. And then whomever (almost certainly male) decides to dedicate their time to memorizing the minutiae of whatever that corporation has decided is “legitimate.”

One can imagine a universe in which fan fic is recognized by companies for what it is: free advertising. (Much like fan art already is.) Instead, it is specifically targeted by demonetization efforts in a way that fan art isn’t. Why? Because it demonstrates that corporate control and “official” sanction has no bearing on quality, and it is thus viewed as undermining the official products.

In the same way, by demonstrating that most “canonical” works are frankly shit, it undermines the investiture of fans in focusing on details that are ultimately errata (the events, the plot, the genre), which is the core function of curative fandom and the reason for its hierarchical structure. The people who “know the most” are at the top, but what they “know” is basically useless garbage. And those people so-engaged are, of course, usually male.

To “destroy” the basis of their credibility, and indeed the very purpose of their community, is naturally viewed by them as an attack.

(This is not to say that efforts to tear down internal consistency within established cultural properties are good unto themselves, or even desirable. For example, efforts to redefine properties such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Ghostbusters, for the sake of a identity-politics agenda have largely A. failed as art, B. failed as entertainment, C. failed to attract the supposedly intended audience, and D. failed to advance the agenda in question. Trying to repurpose extant media in the name of culture wars is essentially always doomed to failure unless it is done deftly and gradually.)

(At the same time, this also shows what I was talking about last time, with regard to people seeing whatever they want to see. You will see people complain that Star Trek and Doctor Who didn’t “used to be so political,” which is obviously nonsense. These shows were always political. What changed was how their politics were presented. For example, Star Trek has, since TNG, always shown a nominally socialist or outright communist future, but was beloved by plenty of conservatives because they could [somehow] ignore that aspect of it.)

Of course, almost no one is seriously suggesting that one side of the spectrums outlined above be destroyed, rather merely that a new balance be struck upon the spectrum. But, as we have seen time and again in society, any threat to the status quo, whether that be 20% of Hugo Awards going to non-white male authors or the top income tax rate in America being increased by a measly 5.3% (from 28.7% to 34%… when the all-time high was 94% and for over 50 years it was above 50%) is a threat. This is why, for example, Republicans are out there branding AOC as a “socialist” when her policies are really no different at all from a 1960 Democrat who believed in FDR’s New Deal. (Which they, of course, have also demonized as “socialism.”)

(As an aside, all this ignores the fact that most of the “literary canon” of Western civilization, or at least English literature… is Biblical or historical fan fic.)

And this is when I finally get to my point.

Those people out there who denigrate and mock shippers and shipping, the people who hurl “it reads like fan fiction” as an insult, and so on, are the people who benefit from and enjoy the extant power structure. You will see the same thing with self-identified “gamers” complaining about “fake girl gamers.” Admitting that the hobby has a lot of women in it, and a lot of “casuals,” and is indeed increasingly dominated by “non-traditional demographics” is an affront to the constructed identity of being a “gamer.” They are “losing control.” And they don’t like it.

This exact same sort of population is what the “fanbase” of Bleach has been largely reduced down to through a slow boiling off of any actual quality. Of course they’re dismissive of people who are looking for anything of substance: their identity, their “personal relationship” with the franchise, is founded on a superficial appreciation of it: things happening, flashy attacks, eye-catching character designs, fights, etc.

(What this really boils down to, at heart, is that society at large has generally told men that emotions are bad, romance and relationships of all kinds are gross, and that thinking and reflecting on things is stupid. So of course they not only don’t care about such things, but actively sneer at them as “girly” or “feminine,” which is again defined by society at large as strictly inferior. And this gender divide and misogyny is of course promulgated and reinforced by the powers that be, the capitalists, to facilitate class divisions just like say racism generally is.)

(The latest trick of these corporate overlords has been the weaponization of “woke” culture to continue to play the people off one another all the time. “If you don’t like this [poorly written, dimensionless Mary Sue] Strong Female Character, then you are a racist misogynist!” They are always only ever playing both sides for profit, not advancing an actual ideological position. It is worth noting that there was a push by IH some years ago to define IR as “anti-feminist” for critiquing Orihime for essentially the exact same reasons [admittedly, not for profit, but still as critical cover].)

Which makes it very curious, therefore, that the most ardent IH supporters tend to be women. (Though there are more than a few men, they seem to tend to support it because it is “canon” and to attack it is to attack “canon” and thus trigger all of the above, rather than out of any real investment.) I think there are a number of reasons for this (which I have detailed before) and at any rate it is not particularly surprising; 53% of white women voted for Trump, after all.

What we are really seeing in fandom, are again the exact same dynamics that we see at larger and larger scales, for the exact same reasons. The stakes are smaller, but the perception of the power struggle is exactly the same.

Of course, the people who are involved in these things rarely think to interrogate themselves as to the true dimensions and root causes of their motivations. People rarely do that in general.

Putting all that aside, I’m glad that you have found a place you enjoy and feel comfortable, and thank you for the kind words, although I am not of the opinion that there is anything poignant about the non-fiction I write. It is, as I keep trying to emphasize, all there to be seen. One just has to open their eyes. So, it’s hard for me to accept appreciation of it.

Anyway, don’t feel shy about coming off of anon rather than continuing to send asks. We don’t really bite.

[somnilogical]

they will never be as strong or as fast as i can be

copy/pasted from a convo:

<<somni: ive been exploiting being able to talk about everything vs miri/cfar cant do what i do bc if they did they would talk about how they are evil. it would all chain back.

somni: omg i can just post this to my blog because i can talk about my meta-strategy and it confers pretty much no relative advantage to miri/cfar. because 1 most of them have disassembled their agency so its like talking in front someone who works at the dmv about taking over the world and the ones that have any agency (basically just anna salamon) have to work with and coordinate via brokenness the masses that have and 2 feels secure in the way that saying ill use my soul as my weapon feels secure, like the power of this technique doesnt depend much on people not knowing im using it.>>

truth is entangled and lies contagious. justice is entangled and injustice contagious. in order to sustain their facade, miri/cfar had to chain back to lie about the principles of decision theory itself. lie about the organization structure of cfar, lie about miri's fundraiser. and so much more.

any series of reasoned claims they make will chain back to stuff thats false or injustice, because they seek to maintain a region of untruth and injustice.

so yeah, miri/cfar basically cant talk in public except in staid formalities infinitely pouring the same entropy of "these people are psychotic" "these people are infohazards" "do not read what they write" "stay the course" "everything is under control, do not panic" "i know my associates at miri/cfar, they are good people" "if you talk with these people you may become a rapist". but not actually able to manifest dynamic compute. to explain themselves they built their own personal room 101, filled with miri/cfar affiliates and formed a united front of gaslighting. deluks (author of that one rationalist blog where they worked to read and summarize all the others) talks about the kind of compute miri/cfar manifested:

<<deluks: I also updated a lot based on Bay Area safety discussion

idk if I have ever been in such a hostile environment for anyone trying to discuss making thigns safer

If you wanted to discuss how Anna et all were innocent people would happily chat with you

If you tried to discuss ideas for making things safer either you got silence

or people would be insanely hostle if you plausibly slipped up at all

or even seemed like you might have been not careful enough in how you phrased things

extremely careful -> no engagement at all//even slightly less care -> get dogpilled>>

they have picked up the optimization style of of cops, as alice maz described them:

<<the role of the cop is to defend society against the members of society. police officers are trivially cops. firefighters and paramedics, despite similar aesthetic trappings, are emphatically not. bureaucrats and prosecutors are cops, as are the worst judges, though the best are not. schoolteachers and therapists are almost always cops; this is a great crime, as they present themselves to the young and the vulnerable as their friends, only to turn on them should they violate one of their profession's many taboos. soldiers and parents need not be cops, but the former may be used as such, and the latter seem frighteningly eager to enlist. the cop is the enemy of passion and the enemy of freedom, never forget this>>

i can travel lots of places and regenerate truth and justice.

i can go to a trans support group in the bay and show them logs of what elle said and did and they can recognize the pattern of minority oppression, transmisogyny.

i can talk with uninvolved decision-theorists about why paying out to oneshot blackmail with subjunctive dependence because "In game theory, paying out to blackmail is bad, because it creates an incentive for more future blackmail." is wrong. and why exploiting your subjunctive dependence as a udt agent to not pay out is right. they cant.

--

miri/cfar have to centrally coordinate on lies or they start crashing into each other. independently generating falsehoods in isolation makes them point in all directions.

independently generating and working off of truths allows everything to point in the same direction without needing to communicate. i can write this post and then idk maybe someone im algorithmically colluding with on this writes another post and they dont come out all distorted and skew with each other. this caches out in what looks from the outside as an uncanny ability to start dynamically colluding with people and output distinct strains of philosophy based on shared precepts.

interference with yourself looks like kelsey piper trying to claim that emma and somni are starting some sort of rape cult and anna and miri/cfar trying to claim we are naive victims of ziz's cult and ▘▕▜▋ claiming emma and somni are mindhacking ziz to make her bully them and jade nameless claiming im doing this to get a job at cfar and ...

since they make up their fake coordination points independently they smash into each other. if they want to coordinate over lots of people they then have to work out which of these they want to coordinate around in a sort of market of falsehoods. and have to arrange for it to not contradict any information anything people know. but they dont know all the information everyone knows, and they wont know it even after combing through lots of blogs and reading lots of discord chats.

when they try coordinating on falsehoods like this, its hard to get a coalition together in an environment where what people know is rapidly changing because a bunch of anarchist bloggers keep posting things in a bunch of places on a non-centrally controlled schedule determined by what seems like a good idea at the time to independent agents. and having lots of conversations with so many different people in private and public they cant keep track of them all.

if they try pretending to be dumb and forming a unified gaslighting front in one area. then people will exploit the fact that this is the internet and not the evolutionary environment, take logs and post them somewhere else where everyone didnt collude to be dumb in this particular way. so while their monkey brains get a rush of endorphins from being able to successfully coordinate local humans, what feels like an entire tribe, against the blasphemer, actually they just used their adult intelligence to defeat in front of a bunch of people who dont share their political commitments but who can reason about what is true and what is just.

(of course there are many truths this doesnt work on because of large inferential distance, shared mammalian biases it takes an unusual mind to step over, and shared incentives. but the defense of most regions of injustice and untruth when you ask questions have to keep chaining to more and more absurd things until you are defending causal decision theory or start claiming 'anna salamon, the president of cfar, is not involved in cfar's hiring'. which depend on a social context committed to defending everything that protects miri/cfar and people who dont have the same conclusion-that-must-not-happen can see that its dumb.)

if miri/cfar had committed themselves to the path of expanding agency, maybe i wouldnt be posting my thoughts and meta-process on the public internet. (in the counterfactual where they committed to this path, its likely that i wouldnt be protesting. because it seems actually-hard to stay on the path and remain evil.) but as it stands, i expect this information to differentially help anarchists and do about as much good for statists as explaining updateless decision theory to someone at cfar. its just this inert structure in their brains, they cant do anything strategic with it. they intentionally shut down their ability to take ideas seriously and drive out anyone left who can, calling them crazy.

what they can do is "oh here is a list of people to target" and "see if they said anything incriminating". ive seen their attempts to coordinate enter the attractors of 'authoritarianism' (duncans dragon army, kingsleys "repent and submit to [AUTHORITY FIGURE]") and 'lets all lie in the same direction and disable general cognition to update out of this! the important part is social agreement and that everyone allows social reality to have the final veto on their beliefs. i myself do this so you know im super safe and this is super fair.' (anna and kelsey). this sort of weak coordination based on breaking people can be easily subverted by anything real.

--

if you are actually right, you can exploit useful properties of being right and let that be your asymmetric weapon. such that all that challenge you know they will know its steel. and then people who compute the outcome and expect to lose, dont fight in the first place.

if my chosen weapon were actually the size of my muscles and imposing figure compared to anna salamon as miri/cfar people "believed" (exploiting the already extant anti-transfem psychic suppression field as one of their few functioning coordination points. probably not as functional now after what i have written.), then when i fought people it would create a warp field such that then people with smaller muscles wont fight in the first place, but id be deluged by people with larger muscles. i dont want to create a warp field that summons people with lots of muscles.

if i exploit properties of my souls, of truth and justice. then i have an arsenal of techniques that are stronger if i actually want to save everyone, if im actually right, if im acting for justice. because they exploit useful differential properties of each. and the warp field in higher density summons ... people who care about saving the world, truth, and justice. in other words, a high density of potential allies.

by default i want to exploit "the difference is that im right" not "the difference is that i have larger muscles". i want differential power to push away those who are wrong and unjust and attract those who are right and just into a kind of warp hull.

there are other reasons as well.

[applekitty]

how kitty writes nightmare; brief overview

okay so last post got 8 notes which is surprising so i’ll try to explain how i write nightmare / what i use to write nightmare, which involves explaining main characteristics i’ve gleamed from the anime as well as shoving in my own for personality’s sake. 

i’ll be focusing on post-war nightmare here

in terms of backstory

i’ll be brief here since i have a whole fic explaining it, but nightmare did not have exactly the happiest time back in the day. a lot of stuff happened (betrayal, death, etc) due to him killing two demons that the star warriors hailed, making those gods martyrs and him accidentally making himself the fallguy for them. if he goes around hurting things and destroying things, and the star warriors stop him, there’s nothing but clout for those star warriors and their god. if he doesn’t go around hurting and destroying things, he’d get found and killed anyways because the star warriors hate him for literally killing their two demon gods.

nightmare got it into his head that the only way for him to live, or at least live comfortably without fear of being betrayed (as offers of redemption made him paranoid about their ‘true intentions’), was to be a full villain with no friends. every time he’d given the benefit of the doubt he’d get betrayed or the star warriors would find him and kill him because he’d usually end up doing something shitty in the process (like ally with a planet destroyer or kidnap people, etc). people needed a reason to like him because he was evil and wrong, and there was no such thing as unsolicited kindness. at least, not towards someone like him.

at least if he was evil, he could fight back without fear being something that affects him.

main principals

optimism

nightmare’s optimism is very egotistical, as he’s always 100% sure things will work out for him with the risks he takes. he usually gets smacked for his optimism, but his perspective that everything works out daisys for him is completely unfaultering so long as nightmare has his ego about him. even when things eventually get tough for him (post-anime, no company, no cs), he’d still be positive and willing to work at getting all his stuff back. or. well. try to. 

nightmare’s main appeal here is his goof factor. he is a goof. he does the stuff because he’s having fun, so when he’s having fun, the reader (supposedly) has fun too.

this is arguably nightmare’s most important trait as a villain, because unfaltering optimism and ego makes him who he is and allows everything else in his personality to function.

..to the point of idiocy

nightmare is an idiot. he is always doing stupid shit purely because he’s an invulnerable moron. when nightmare is happy, he’s stupid, and he is supposed to be kept that way, according to characters like meta knight. removing nightmare’s happiness also means removing his stupidity, and the only thing that keeps nightmare at bay at the moment is his overwhelming lack of braincells.

nightmare can be classified as very childish and almost naive in a sense because he has absolutely no common sense whatsoever. he’ll do things for the sake of doing them, piss off people for the sake of pissing them off, etc

loyalty above all else

due to nightmare’s fear of betrayal, he is ungodly loyal. he refuses to betray people. he wants those who he likes to like him back. those he values, truly, are treated like solid gold to him and he would do anything for them.. other than say he values them. because he’s still evil, he doesn’t say he has friends or people he likes. he’ll call them ‘allys’ or ‘pets’ or ‘assets’. asset is the nicest word he could use and it’s hard to get him to say that. he wants to keep his close allys as close as possible and liking him as much as possible in order to quell betrayal. 

when nightmare likes you, for whatever reason, he will do anything for you. well, next to anything.

betrayal aka the only time to feel bad

nightmare’s reaction to explicit betrayal that isn’t immediately rectified or explained is.. well, something. nightmare can’t handle the thought of being betrayed, so his mind sorta shuts down and he goes into autopilot ‘war mode’ wherein he tries to kill his traitor as quickly and painlessly as possible. 

post betrayal there’s a grieving process that nightmare uses to spend alone, typically one day long, then afterwards he’s done because his memory will repress the betrayal, the person, and everything. however, he will be more paranoid of betrayal after it’s happened, and be more suspicious of people’s intentions.

enemies are enemies, really

when nightmare knows someone doesn’t like him, and he knows there’s no point in saving the relationship for his reputation, it’s destruction time. these sorts of people are few and far between, because nightmare / his company is able to pacify most protesters or warmongers. but for the few that exist, nightmare knows no mercy. he very much enjoys getting declared war on, because that means he can go out and have fun destroying things again.

boredom

nightmare is extrodinarily lazy. he sleeps a whole bunch and, well, does effectively nothing in his whole company. he just sits around. this has caused him a fair amount of restlessness, which he takes out on employees. he’ll often hatch stupid schemes to entertain himself (as seen in nightmare’s cat) for a while, or he’ll complain that he’s bored. nightmare needs constant stimulation and constant company. lots of nightmare’s dialogue usually is formed around him being bored and wanting something to do. instead of doing something himself, he’ll usually want someone else do to something for him in order to make him not bored. if that does not work, he WILL start a situation and it WILL be bad for everyone involved.

in the case of characters, he complains a lot that cs is boring because he’s so buisness oriented. he never thinks, however, that meta knight is boring despite mk being much more apathetic and flat than cs is. it depends on how he sees a person or a situation.

‘benevolent’ corpocracy

nightmare is still a very evil man, he’s a warlord. however, he feels incredibly constrained by the current society he himself has fostered. he wants to be as evil as possible, but if he’s evil in his own society, his workers will rise up and kill him. people will develop ways to kill him en-masse due to his overarching affect on their lives, and he does not want that. he is constantly conflicted between good pr and being as evil as he wants. a content populous doesn’t rebel, and rebellion now, when he’s at his best, with the threat of everything he worked for doesn’t just up and poof away in smoke

in terms of blatant evil, he does not allow child labor, general crime, or anything that anyone with any common sense would say is unethical business practice.

nightmare’s buisness model is ‘make sure the employees are happy’, but he does like to have a lot of evil stuff happen. he’s got a whole batch of questionable decisions he makes in terms of other planets. he actively destroys economies on other planets to make them fully rely on his company, he’d sabotage entire galaxies and powerful families just to take their things. though he does this with the ‘illusion of choice’ that impoverish people have. it’s either work until you’re dead or die on the street. which will you choose? you can work for nme, the thing run by the evil space wizard which destroyed lots of the galaxy and is ruining your planet specifically to line his pockets, or you could die on the street. 

nightmare’s fear of betrayal does not line itself to these people and their planets, as he finds them so insignificant that they aren’t worth the effort to worry about. he gave them jobs, he’s giving them money, he lets them have benefits and unions, so they have nothing to complain about. it’s moreso the people in the company, on the actual ship base, that he is worried about.

this is gleamed from the show, as.. aside from a monster every week which dedede specifically requests, things can be seen as peaceful. even on popstar, which is where nightmare seems to be focusing his attention. granted, we dont see much outside of popstar. that, and cs seems to be pretty happy (yes don’t @ me he fuckin does look happy because in the finale he’s smiling and laughing while not on the job and if there were any place to express discontent it would be there) with his job, and yamikage too considering how he’s working with them, even the otakings seem pretty happy which is awful.

i’ve specifically chosen to characterize nightmare’s reign like this because i find it leagues more interesting than ‘nightmare just squashes all rebellion instantly with his big metal fist’ (which is what he most likely is doing in canon) and it allows nightmare to have some nuance to how he does things

egotism

after the war, nightmare got a gigantic ego that’s mostly hooked to meta knight and how meta knight perceives him. if meta knight legitimately does not think nightmare is threatening or in some capacity scar, nightmare takes it as a personal offense. no one other than meta knight’s opinion on nightmare matters to him. he only wants meta knight’s disapproval and anger towards him. that’s the main thing that matters to his ego. disapproval and anger from others can make him laugh and make him feel better, so long as it doesn’t risk betrayal.

forgetfulness

nightmare has an incredibly bad memory due to the past not affecting him the best. bad things will be seared out of his memory, but at the same time so will good things. he can’t remember much of what went on in the war other than ‘meta knight was there and i want to kill him a lot’, that it happened, and that it was cool and he totally liked it. if he can’t remember something, he does not care that it happened.

the part where i talk about meta knight

i already did lol

main fears

isolation

betrayal

powerlessness

captivity / internment 

all of these main fears spark from something that has happened in the past, though nightmare doesn’t remember what. nor does he care. they are things nightmare absolutely positively wants to avoid, and all his actions towards others center around trying to prevent these things. 

nightmare is able to quell these fears, usually, by at least having contact with someone. the most debilitating fear of his is isolation, as if he doesn’t have the ability to talk with others who can talk back, he will undergo a steep dive straight into a pit of despair. his desire for company all the time is partially why he decided on a.. well, company. people always working, people always doing things, he can always see people. always busy. always able to talk to him. it’s comforting, the noise and the bustle.

yeah

i cant think of anything else to say as of the current moment

[robin-hood-for-freedom]

Apparently this article was written a while ago.  But I just recently came across it.  So yea, my answers as a libertarian to these questions.  I’m skipping most of the filler because frankly its too much bullshit to wade through for my taste and it would make this WAY too long for anybody to read.  If someone else wants to tackle that stuff, feel free.  I’m just gonna answer the questions.  

So our first hypocrisy test question is, Are unions, political parties, elections, and social movements like Occupy examples of “spontaneous order”—and if not, why not?

Political parties and elections are certainly not.  Since they involve coercive violence(I suppose you could conceive of a world where elections are not coercive, but thats certainly not the reality of the world we live in now).  Unions could be considered as such in principal.  But in practice theres a fair bit of coercive violence behind the scenes.  And to the extent they are, they are one of the least interesting imo.  I would give more-or-less the same answer for OWS(that really dates this article doesnt it?)

Which gets us to our next test question: Is a libertarian willing to admit that production is the result of many forces, each of which should be recognized and rewarded?

Well, duh.  Have you ever read I, Pencil?  

Is our libertarian willing to acknowledge that workers who bargain for their services, individually and collectively, are also employing market forces?

Again, duh.  Is this supposed to be some kind of ‘gotcha’ question?  

victims of illegal foreclosure are neither “freer” nor “more prosperous” after the government deregulation which led to their exploitation. What’s more, deregulation has led to a series of documented banker crimes that include stockholder fraud and investor fraud. That leads us to our next test of libertarian hypocrisy: Is our libertarian willing to admit that a “free market” needs regulation?

I quoted a bit more than the previous questions to give some context.  And my answer here is that you are talking out your ass.  There was no ‘deregulation.’  If you disagree then please cite what was deregulated and how that led to illegal foreclosures and banker fraud.  

I can accept that the banking sector is corrupt as fuck.  Its also THE single most heavily regulated area of the economy.  I dont think thats a coincidence.  

Does our libertarian believe in democracy? If yes, explain what’s wrong with governments that regulate.

I dont have any particular attachment to democracy.  Though I’m not necessarily opposed to it in all circumstances.  That said, I think the US is WAY too large and diverse for democracy to be effective.  Thats just a recipe for people in one area to fuck over people in another area.  

But how did Peter Thiel and other Internet billionaires become wealthy? They hired government-educated employees to develop products protected by government copyrights. Those products used government-created computer technology and a government-created communications web to communicate with government-educated customers in order to generate wealth for themselves, which was then stored in government-protected banks—after which they began using that wealth to argue for the elimination of government.

By that standard, Thiel and his fellow “digital libertarians” are hypocrites of genuinely epic proportion. Which leads us to our next question: Does our libertarian use wealth that wouldn’t exist without government in order to preach against the role of government?

Again quoting more for context.  And well the assumption that things like education, computing technology and banking(which I thought was deregulated?) wouldnt exist without government is an assumption that I think is unwarranted, and you dont even make an attempt to justify.  That said, I’m not even close to Peter Thiel levels of wealth.  

Many libertarians will counter by saying that government has only two valid functions: to protect the national security and enforce intellectual property laws. By why only these two?

I know I said I wasnt going to deal with most of the filler.  But I just cant help pointing out that I dont think any libertarian has said this.  More often you get national security and courts or law enforcement.  There are libertarians who accept ip as valid.  But not all, and I’m not one of them.  

If the mythical free market can solve any problem, including protecting the environment, why can’t it also protect us from foreign invaders and defend the copyrights that make these libertarians wealthy?

Does our libertarian reject any and all government protection for his intellectual property?

Yep.  Intellectual property rights are not legitimate property rights, but the government coercively restricting what people can do with their own property.  

Does our libertarian recognize that democracy is a form of marketplace?

No because democracy, or more specifically democratic governments(which if you look at the context is what he’s talking about) involves coercive violence.  

Does our libertarian recognize that large corporations are a threat to our freedoms?

Yes actually.  Part of this is large corporations teaming up with government to protect their interests(at the expense of everyone else).  But even setting that aside I think that this is one reason why an absence of government is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a libertarian society.  You also need(among other things) a significant portion of the population to have an entrepreneurial outlook.  So that rather than simply complaining or boycotting large corporations, they are actively trying to build alternatives.  

I’m skipping the question about Ayn Rand.  I personally have a lot of issues with her.  And frankly she’s a lot less important to the modern libertarian movement than most people think.  So that takes us to the final question:

If you believe in the free market, why weren’t you willing to accept as final the judgment against libertarianism rendered decades ago in the free and unfettered marketplace of ideas?

For starters we dont have a free and unfettered marketplace of ideas.  Kids are forced into government controlled schools(even private schools have to meet state requirements) until they are 18, and the bulk of media sources are partnered with and to at least some extent dependant on the government(this is especially true of old media which is directly controlled by the FCC).  

But even leaving that aside, the free market doesnt mean everybody always does the right thing(in fact it actually kind of means the opposite).  Smoking is bad for you but cigarettes are available on the free market.  Beyonce cranks out some of the most annoying and insipid music I’v ever heard, and yet she makes millions selling her music.  

[l0ulabell]

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In order to discuss love and still construct a socially acceptable metropolitan identity, artists have a tendency to execute one of the five successful love narrative forms. No person understands circumstances like that, people cant manage it, so they 'll talk regarding it for life. The female attempting to offer me their latest phone package described a tv advert. She kept me talking for about 10 mins during which time she referred me to this particular TELEVISION advert an additional 4 times, as well as each time I ensured her I had actually not seen it since I do not see television. Knitting can be gotten throughout the adverts as well as operated at for 5 or 10 mins at once. New threads and fashionable pattern layouts make knitting fun as well as fast, and also I can weaved also if I am viewing TELEVISION, albeit an unusual occurence for me personally! With the internet, even if you stay in an area that is small, you aren't restricted to your area, as well as can find people not simply around the UK, but across the globe also! After that enhance with infant images as well as such, after that take it to your local copy shop, like Kinkos, as well as have them publish the page on pastel tinted paper. Sometimes weve happened upon local road fairs or windsurfing events or a version train gallery. Weve spoke about endometriosis, that which can be a cyst. So, you can have hemorrhaging with a cyst yet most of the time those are unusual conditions. The endometriomas, if they continue, as well as theres continual bleeding in the abdomen and the ovary that can trigger bonds. Any type of hemorrhaging cyst can be a trouble. A pregnancy with a corpus luteum, the second type of useful cyst takes place to develop as the baby is growing. Most of these, the larger blood supplies, the bigger capillary on cysts are normally the corpus luteum cyst. The majority of ovary cysts in and of themselves are not going to be triggering an issue. However, the vital thing here, is that cysts themselves, in as well as of themselves are not mosting likely to be an issue or life harmful problem. The nature of the party is probably mosting likely to often tend in the direction of the feminine side; if the organizers of the event have a provision for this, then inviting males would certainly be fine. Certainly, there are numerous males and females that are making excellent loan making use of the web organisation route. In this track, the poet utilizes the perceptual story to recognize that some men "dont be comin right ", yet that he has a various understanding of women than these various other males. Meant to aid with the pain, meant to aid me preserve In this tune, Master makes use of the different story to share his view of what love ought to be. It is vital for the clothing to be entirely dry prior to they are done away with or put on by a child, and also hanging the clothing on kids clothing hangers will certainly assist maintain their kind. However, aspartame was enabled on 1981 for completely dry products and also 1983 for carbonated beverages.

free baby stuff expecting mother

Individuals used to trade items and also solutions for various other items and also solutions before money was produced, and also some people still trade today to prevent utilizing cash (primarily for tax obligation reasons I am informed). A few other terrific solutions are a diaper service for cloth diapering mommies, and even a baby diaper distribution solution for disposables, as well as spend for the initial two weeks or a month worth of diapering items. Even the colors used in the textile ought to be natural and safe. You may be initially drawn in by all the eye catchy colors and also the fanciness of the outfits, but if your youngster is not going to like it, it is going to end up being worthless. Jammies and also bodysuits for little child ladies come in all various colors and also designs, as well as are produced all kinds of climate. 1 or 2 pieces would do - a set of babies suits, a set of t shirts, a pair of jammies. Alternately, you can put a Tees over their pajamas. They will secure and insure any kind of loan you take into a financial savings account and pay you probably 3% annual interest on your deposit. They recognize that if you're pleased with your example, greater than likely you be ended up being a routine client and also spend loan with them. There are really a whole lot of giveaways offered; you simply require to know how to browse for them. Or search by chemical ingredients (see listed here for some examples) and discover what brands contain it. Next off, you will come to your search result web page; this is a checklist of all items that meet your search criteria. Allow us take a peek into what makes these criteria a must for those parents buying infant clothes. Additionally, let your very first couple of road adventures teach you what you require to have along. There are numerous very first time moms out there that have a great deal of details to share with you and also they do not want you to be without the details. They desire to have outfits with breathable material and also very easy on the body. Is this what we have pertained to, - everybody in our region views the same adverts, the exact same programs, the very same newspaper article every solitary day or night? Keep in mind: After attempting solitary foods, excellent mixes are potatoes and also carrots or carrots and also peas. And also not only will I review it for him, Sickness make it seem like the Elvis of foods, due to the fact that Im currently rather sure that Ill enjoy a hamdog. He also describes his love passion as "this Ethiopian queen from Philly ", using the royal characterization so common in spiritual love stories. If you're actually strapped for cash, after that you can possibly make do with utilizing your bed as a transforming table, however if you can, this is something I very suggest. Its better to feed child initial point in the morning, then permit some play or rest time in between prior to offering baby a bathroom. At a "Pamper Party," a concept significantly popular for mothers who already have a number of kids and consequently most of the stuff they in fact require, they might take house medspa devices such as a loofah or bubble bathroom. A great bath-themed present basket would certainly contain some hypo-allergenic bathroom things, like baby baths, talcum powder, towels, and bathroom toys.

The significant plus is that most, if not every one of these cost-free things, are delivered right to the mommy's home. And also, with that said, allows get right down to the nitty sandy. Do you have the software program you require to start? Eventually you are mosting likely to intend to deliver your baby, so you will need to buy something. Unless you're intending to hold on to them for your next infant, they're simply collecting dust. With a few simple skills, an useful collection of "stuff, " as well as just a little bit of preparation and also preparation, youll be on your way! There is a place for TELEVISION in our lives and also it is after all the fastest method of taking in news from around the world. Taking classes abroad Here, the poet makes use of the spiritual narrative to explain the moment, place as well as feelings that his love was started on, talking of them as if they were in some way suggested to happen. Possibly she thought that was her area on the planet as well as no-one might fault her if she performed her responsibilities to the utmost of her capability. I when had a neighbour who educated the world and it's mother she believed tidiness was next to Godliness and also invested all day daily cleansing her residence. It is believed that from this you truly have the alternative to check out everything before you also need to get something. Limited neck lines would certainly problem you as well as also the positioning of switches at strange settings would trigger you troubles, so inspect these ahead of time. At the same time the buttons as well as other aspects in the layout ought to be meticulously sewn. However Betty had the money every single time I went to jail This tune additionally illustrates the use of contrasting stories to express love. This instance better illustrates using initial language in conversational stories. The poet feels it is undesirable for any person to "call you out your name ", or to put it simply, use negative language toward his love. Several of the child shower concepts will function for any kind of place, inside your home or out. Do you want your baby to look cute or cool with child clothing yet you do not have concepts on where to try to find them? Cost is a major thing you would certainly intend to take into consideration when acquiring baby clothes. It's easy, look at an infant clothes shop. Garments treatment plays a big function in your baby's safety and security. Thus, it is always advised that you keep the security as well as convenience variable in mind even when you are going shopping for occasion dresses for your kid. Even when you have acquired a lacy blouse for your little woman, if you end up obtaining a dimension that takes place to be somewhat bigger than her real dimension, she will certainly be comfortable in it. And also, moms and dads will be most likely to maintain getting clothes to stay on top of the modifications in the baby's growth - size, weight, size, and also shape. For this reason, acquiring clothes that are rather larger than the real size of your children body gifts will be excellent as it ensures optimal comfort for the child.

Nonetheless, these immunization procedures will just make their systems strong yet it doesn't give an assurance that bacteria can not penetrate their method in. So why did she behave this way? The same point can be true with, definitely with tube maternities, thats why those 2 can be puzzled. Yes it is real that baby garments do not last lengthy with children expanding as rapid as they do, but taking care of a children garments is still just as, otherwise more, essential. Hip-Hop, you the love of my life which holds true This flow is distinct since it makes use of both the metaphoric and also contrasting narrative strategies. The presentation of Hip-Hop like narratives is a really hard task. Which leads us to one of the most popular metaphoric Hip-Hop love narrative of our time. Children will certainly love this meal. Thick and fluffy outfits will certainly maintain the child cozy from head to toe. Right here is a checklist of preferred items that has actually been investigated with some of the largest online sellers of infant items. Below are several of the fundamental things you'll wish to have. Do you wish to give a present to a brand-new mom without investing a great deal of money? They utilize it when washing to get rid of odors, soften the textiles, as well as offer your baby and also kid garments a fresh and extra natural fragrance. When you are assuming of your childs convenience, its not just about the design of the apparel youre acquiring it will certainly likewise be an issue of just how the thing sits on your babys body. Take into consideration just how much you have right into the item. The following time you are re-assembling your kit, be sure to add that item. I would certainly rather spend time with my friends and family, chatting on the phone, going for long strolls or dancing the evening away. With all that having actually been stated, Ive found a new food that I understand I'm going to enjoy. Quickly you'll discover that having just a couple of great outfits comes to be not practical. I had a great free site a few years ago I visited on a daily basis. Utilize your Roadway Journey logbook to videotape everybodies comments regarding the day. This will certainly serve no good as acquiring baby items indiscriminately will not just be waste of loan yet also waste of time as well as energy which you can put for some constructive use. If taking a trip by vehicle you must constantly use a safety seat and also follow the maker's directions for suitable. If your trip restriction is no even more than a one-hour vehicle trip one way, after that search for areas of rate of interest within concerning 40 miles of house. Which is not a trouble because similar to kidneys, much like testis, women with one ovary can have just as lots of babies as a lady with two ovaries as well as two tubes. Evidently it is a 2x matrix, meaning those first two people you reached sign up with get on your first degree. You must always have 2 pairs in the evening time, because you never ever understand when an infant is mosting likely to spit up or have a baby diaper leakage that can call for a total garment adjustment.

[electricghoulaid]

Run Your Own Company By Reselling Wholesale Baby Garments On EBay

In order to talk regarding love and also still construct a socially acceptable urban identity, artists have a tendency to apply among the 5 effective love narrative kinds. No one comprehends circumstances like that, people cant handle it, so they 'll discuss it for life. The woman trying to market me their latest phone set described a tv advert. She maintained me chatting for roughly 10 mins throughout which time she referred me to this certain TELEVISION advert a more 4 times, as well as each time I ensured her I had not seen it since I don't view television. Knitting can be gotten throughout the adverts and functioned at for 5 or 10 mins at a time. New threads and fashionable pattern designs make weaving fun and also quick, and I can weaved also if I am enjoying TELEVISION, albeit an uncommon occurence for me personally! With the web, even if you reside in an area that is small, you aren't restricted to your local location, and also can locate individuals not just around the UK, yet across the globe also! After that embellish with baby photos as well as such, after that take it to your neighborhood copy store, like Kinkos, and also have them publish the page on pastel tinted paper. In some cases weve discovered local road fairs or windsurfing events or a version train gallery. Weve chatted about endometriosis, that which can be a cyst. So, you can have hemorrhaging with a cyst but the majority of the time those are uncommon conditions. The endometriomas, if they linger, and theres constant bleeding in the abdomen and the ovary that can trigger bonds. Any type of hemorrhaging cyst can be an issue. A maternity with a corpus luteum, the 2nd kind of practical cyst goes on to establish as the baby is growing. Many of these, the bigger blood materials, the larger capillary on cysts are normally the corpus luteum cyst. A lot of ovary cysts in as well as of themselves are not mosting likely to be causing a trouble. But, the vital point below, is that cysts themselves, in and also of themselves are not mosting likely to be a trouble or harmful trouble. The nature of the party is probably mosting likely to have a tendency towards the feminine side; if the organizers of the party have a provision for this, then welcoming guys would be fine. Without a doubt, there are millions of males and females who are making great cash utilizing the internet business route. In this tune, the poet utilizes the perceptual narrative to acknowledge that some males "dont be comin right ", however that he has a various perception of ladies than these other males. Supposed to aid with the discomfort, supposed to aid me preserve In this song, Master uses the different story to share his sight of what love should be. It is essential for the clothing to be completely dry before they are done away with or used by a youngster, and hanging the clothes on childrens clothing wall mounts will assist keep their type. Nevertheless, aspartame was allowed on 1981 for completely dry products and 1983 for carbonated drinks.

free baby stuff expecting mother

People utilized to exchange items and solutions for other products and solutions before cash was produced, and some people still barter today to avoid using loan (mostly for tax factors I am informed). A few other great services are a baby diaper service for cloth diapering mothers, or even a diaper delivery solution for disposables, and also pay for the first 2 weeks or a month well worth of diapering items. Also the colors made use of in the textile should be natural as well as safe. You may be initially brought in by all the eye memorable shades as well as the fanciness of the outfits, however if your child is not going to like it, it is mosting likely to come to be pointless. Pyjamas and also bodysuits for little baby ladies come in all various colors and designs, and also are produced all types of climate. One or two pieces would certainly do - a set of babies suits, a pair of t shirts, a set of jammies. At the same time, you can place a Tee shirts over their pajamas. They will secure and also guarantee any loan you place right into an interest-bearing account and also pay you probably 3% annual passion on your deposit. They understand that if you're pleased with your example, greater than most likely you be ended up being a regular customer as well as invest cash with them. There are really a great deal of freebies offered; you simply require to recognize just how to browse for them. Or search by chemical active ingredients (see listing listed below for some examples) and also uncover what brands include it. Next, you will certainly get to your search engine result page; this is a list of all products that fulfill your search standards. Allow us take a peek into what makes these standards a should for those parents shopping for baby clothing. Likewise, allow your very first couple of road journeys instruct you what you need to have along. There are numerous very first time mamas around that have a great deal of details to share with you as well as they do not desire you to be without the information. They intend to have dresses with breathable fabric and also very easy on the body. Is this what we have pertained to, - every person in our region enjoys the exact same adverts, the exact same programmes, the very same newspaper article every day or night? Note: After attempting single foods, great mixes are potatoes and also carrots or carrots as well as peas. And also not just will I examine it for him, Sickness make it seem like the Elvis of foods, since Im currently fairly sure that Sickness like a hamdog. He also refers to his love interest as "this Ethiopian queen from Philly ", making use of the royal characterization so common in spiritual love narratives. If you're truly strapped for cash money, after that you can probably make do with utilizing your bed as a transforming table, yet if you can, this is something I highly advise. Its better to feed infant initial point in the morning, after that permit some play or remainder time in between before offering baby a bathroom. At a "Pamper Event," an idea significantly preferred for moms who currently have a number of kids as well as consequently a lot of right stuff they actually require, they might take house medical spa accessories such as a loofah or bubble bath. A terrific bath-themed present basket would certainly consist of some hypo-allergenic bath things, like child bathrooms, baby powder, towels, and bathroom playthings.

The major and also is that a lot of, otherwise every one of these cost-free products, are supplied right to the mommy's house. And also, keeping that, lets obtain right to the core. Do you have the software you require to start? At some time you are going to want to carry your infant, so you will certainly require to acquire something. Unless you're planning to hang on to them for your next infant, they're just gathering dirt. With a couple of easy skills, a convenient collection of "stuff, " and also just a little bit of preparation and also prep work, youll get on your means! There is a place for TV in our lives and it wants all the fastest method of absorbing information from around the globe. Taking classes abroad Right here, the poet uses the spiritual narrative to describe the moment, location and feelings that his love was established on, talking them as if they were in some way implied to take place. Possibly she thought that was her area on the planet as well as no-one could fault her if she did her responsibilities to miraculous of her capacity. I once had a neighbor who educated the world and it's mother she believed tidiness was beside Godliness as well as invested all day daily cleansing her home. It is believed that from this you actually have the choice to have a look at everything before you even have to buy something. Tight neck lines would certainly problem you and even the placement of buttons at odd placements would certainly trigger you troubles, so examine these beforehand. At the same time the buttons and also other components in the design should be carefully stitched. But Betty had the cash every time I went to jail This tune additionally illustrates the usage of contrasting narratives to share love. This example further highlights making use of introductory language in conversational narratives. The poet feels it is unacceptable for any person to "call you out your name ", or in other words, make use of defamatory language toward his love. Most of the infant shower ideas will certainly benefit any place, indoors or out. Do you want your baby to look adorable or great with child clothing but you don't have concepts on where to look for them? Expense is a major point you would certainly intend to consider when buying infant garments. It's easy, consider a child garments store. Garments care plays a huge role in your child's safety. Therefore, it is always suggested that you maintain the security as well as comfort factor in mind even when you are looking for occasion outfits for your youngster. Also when you have actually purchased a lacy blouse for your small lady, if you end up getting a size that takes place to be slightly bigger than her actual dimension, she will be comfortable in it. As well as, parents will be most likely to maintain getting garments to keep up with the modifications in the baby's growth - dimension, weight, length, as well as form. Thus, getting clothing that are somewhat bigger than the genuine dimension of your babys body presents will be good as it ensures optimal comfort for the child.

Nonetheless, these immunization processes will just make their systems strong however it doesn't provide an assurance that germs can not permeate their method. So why did she act in this method? The same point can be real with, certainly with tube maternities, thats why those two can be perplexed. Yes it holds true that infant clothing do not last lengthy with kids growing as fast as they do, yet caring for a children clothes is still equally as, otherwise even more, important. Hip-Hop, you the love of my life which's true This passage is distinct due to the fact that it makes use of both the metaphoric and also contrasting narrative methods. The presentation of Hip-Hop like narratives is a very difficult job. Which leads us to the most prominent metaphoric Hip-Hop love story of our time. Infants will enjoy this dish. Thick and fluffy attires will keep the baby warm from head to toe. Below is a list of prominent products that has been investigated with a few of the biggest on the internet sellers of infant items. Below are several of the standard points you'll wish to have. Do you wish to provide a present to a new mom without spending a lot of loan? They use it when cleaning to eliminate odors, soften the fabrics, and also provide your infant and young child apparel a fresh as well as a lot more natural aroma. When you are considering your kids convenience, its not just about the style of the clothes youre purchasing it will certainly additionally refer just how the product rests on your infants body. Consider just how much you have right into the item. The next time you are re-assembling your package, be certain to include that thing. I would instead hang around with my household as well as friends, talking on the phone, opting for long strolls or dancing the evening away. With all that having been stated, Ive uncovered a brand-new food that I recognize I'm mosting likely to enjoy. Soon you'll discover that having just a couple of nice clothing comes to be not practical. I had a good totally free site a few years ago I saw everyday. Utilize your Road Journey logbook to tape everyones remarks about the day. This will certainly serve no good as acquiring baby items indiscriminately will not simply be waste of money however likewise waste of time and also energy which you can place for some positive usage. If passing by auto you need to always make use of a safety seat as well as follow the manufacturer's directions for fitting. If your journey restriction disappears than a one-hour auto trip one method, after that try to find locations of passion within regarding 40 miles of residence. Which is not a problem due to the fact that just like kidneys, similar to testis, women with one ovary can have just as lots of babies as a woman with 2 ovaries and also two tubes. Apparently it is a 2x matrix, implying those first 2 people you reached join get on your initial degree. You need to always have two pairs during the night time, since you never ever know when an infant is mosting likely to spit up or have a diaper leak that can call for a total garment adjustment.

[alexandra-zgz]

Run Your Own Service By Marketing Wholesale Child Clothing On Ebay.com

In order to discuss love as well as still construct a socially acceptable city identification, musicians have a tendency to implement one of the 5 successful love narrative kinds. No person comprehends circumstances like that, individuals cant bargain with it, so they 'll talk about it forever. The lady attempting to market me their newest phone package referred to a tv advert. She kept me talking for approximately 10 minutes during which time she referred me to this particular TV advert a more 4 times, and each time I guaranteed her I had actually not seen it since I do not see tv. Weaving can be grabbed throughout the adverts and also operated at for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. New yarns and stylish pattern layouts make weaving enjoyable and also quickly, and also I can knit also if I am viewing TV, albeit an uncommon occurence for me personally! With the internet, even if you stay in an area that is tiny, you aren't limited to your town, as well as can locate people not just around the UK, yet across the globe as well! After that embellish with child pictures and such, then take it to your regional copy store, like Kinkos, as well as have them publish the web page on pastel tinted paper. In some cases weve come across neighborhood street fairs or windsurfing tournaments or a version train gallery. Weve spoke about endometriosis, that which can be a cyst. So, you can have hemorrhaging with a cyst but a lot of the time those are rare situations. The endometriomas, if they continue, and also theres continuous bleeding in the abdomen as well as the ovary that can create adhesions. Any bleeding cyst can be an issue. A pregnancy with a corpus luteum, the 2nd kind of functional cyst goes on to establish as the baby is growing. The majority of these, the bigger blood supplies, the bigger blood vessels on cysts are usually the corpus luteum cyst. The majority of ovary cysts in as well as of themselves are not mosting likely to be causing a problem. However, the important point below, is that cysts themselves, in and also of themselves are not mosting likely to be an issue or life threatening issue. The nature of the party is possibly mosting likely to have a tendency in the direction of the womanly side; if the organizers of the celebration have an arrangement for this, then welcoming males would certainly be fine. Certainly, there are numerous males and females who are making good money making use of the net business route. In this track, the poet uses the perceptual narrative to acknowledge that some guys "dont be comin right ", but that he has a various understanding of females than these other guys. Supposed to assist with the discomfort, meant to assist me maintain In this tune, Expert uses the contrasting narrative to share his sight of what love should be. It is necessary for the garments to be totally dry before they are placed away or used by a child, and hanging the garments on childrens garments wall mounts will help maintain their type. Nevertheless, aspartame was allowed on 1981 for completely dry products and 1983 for carbonated beverages.

free baby stuff expecting mother

People made use of to exchange items and also solutions for other goods as well as services before money was created, as well as some individuals still barter today to stay clear of making use of money (mostly for tax factors I am informed). Some other fantastic services are a baby diaper service for cloth diapering mommies, and even a baby diaper shipment service for disposables, and also pay for the first 2 weeks or a month worth of diapering products. Also the shades utilized in the material must be organic and also safe. You may be originally attracted by all the eye memorable shades as well as the fanciness of the clothing, but if your child is not going to like it, it is going to come to be pointless. Pajamas as well as bodysuits for little child women been available in all different colors as well as styles, and are made for all sorts of weather condition. 1 or 2 items would do - a pair of babies suits, a set of shirts, a pair of pyjamas. At the same time, you can put a Tee shirts over their pyjamas. They will certainly safeguard and also guarantee any type of cash you put right into a financial savings account and pay you maybe 3% yearly rate of interest on your deposit. They know that if you're pleased with your example, greater than most likely you be come to be a routine client and spend cash with them. There are really a lot of freebies readily available; you just require to recognize just how to look for them. Or search by chemical ingredients (see listed here for some examples) and also uncover what brand names have it. Next off, you will certainly reach your search results page web page; this is a list of all items that meet your search standards. Allow us take a peek right into what makes these criteria a should for those moms and dads looking for baby clothes. Also, allow your initial few road experiences educate you what you need to have along. There are numerous initial time mommies available that have a whole lot of information to show you and they do not want you to be without the information. They intend to have dresses with breathable textile and very easy on the body. Is this what we have pertained to, - every person in our region views the exact same adverts, the very same programs, the very same news tales every day or night? Keep in mind: After attempting single foods, excellent combinations are potatoes and also carrots or carrots and peas. As well as not just will I evaluate it for him, Ill make it appear like the Elvis of foods, because Im already quite certain that Ill like a hamdog. He likewise refers to his love passion as "this Ethiopian queen from Philly ", utilizing the imperial characterization so usual in spiritual love narratives. If you're actually strapped for money, then you can most likely make do with utilizing your bed as a transforming table, however if you can, this is something I highly advise. Its better to feed child first thing in the early morning, after that enable some play or remainder time in between prior to offering infant a bath. At a "Pamper Celebration," a suggestion progressively prominent for moms that already have a number of kids and also as a result many of the stuff they really require, they might take home medical spa devices such as a loofah or bubble bath. A terrific bath-themed present basket would certainly have some hypo-allergenic bathroom things, like baby bathrooms, talc, towels, and also bath playthings.

The significant and also is that the majority of, if not all of these cost-free products, are delivered right to the mom's residence. And, with that said, lets obtain right down to the nitty abrasive. Do you have the software you require to start? At some time you are mosting likely to want to transport your infant, so you will certainly need to buy something. Unless you're preparing to hold on to them for your next infant, they're just accumulating dust. With a couple of basic abilities, a convenient collection of "stuff, " as well as simply a little bit of preparation and also preparation, youll be on your means! There is a place for TV in our lives and it desires all the fastest way of absorbing information from worldwide. Taking courses abroad Right here, the poet uses the spiritual narrative to explain the time, place as well as emotions that his love was established on, talking them as if they were in some way implied to take place. Probably she thought that was her area on the planet and also no-one can fault her if she executed her responsibilities to the utmost of her ability. I as soon as had a neighbour that informed the globe and it's mom she believed sanitation was beside Godliness and spent throughout the day every day cleansing her home. It is believed that from this you really have the alternative to take a look at everything prior to you also have to purchase something. Tight neck lines would certainly problem you as well as also the positioning of buttons at odd settings would cause you problems, so check these in advance. At the very same time the buttons and also various other aspects in the design need to be carefully stitched. Yet Betty had the cash money each time I went to prison This tune additionally illustrates using contrasting stories to reveal love. This example better shows the use of initial language in conversational stories. The poet feels it is inappropriate for any individual to "call you out your name ", or simply put, use demeaning language toward his love. A number of the infant shower concepts will help any place, indoors or out. Do you desire your baby to look adorable or amazing with baby clothing however you do not have ideas on where to look for them? Expense is a significant point you would certainly want to think about when buying baby garments. It's very easy, check out an infant clothing shop. Apparel care plays a huge duty in your child's safety. Hence, it is constantly advised that you keep the safety and comfort variable in mind even when you are looking for occasion outfits for your little one. Also when you have actually bought a lacy shirt for your tiny girl, if you wind up getting a dimension that takes place to be a little larger than her real size, she will fit in it. And, moms and dads will be most likely to maintain getting clothes to stay up to date with the alterations in the child's development - dimension, weight, size, and shape. Hence, buying garments that are somewhat bigger than the real size of your infants body presents will certainly be great as it guarantees optimal comfort for the youngster.

However, these immunization processes will only make their systems strong however it doesn't offer an assurance that germs can't penetrate their method. So why did she act this way? The exact same point can be true with, certainly with tube pregnancies, thats why those 2 can be puzzled. Yes it holds true that baby clothing do not last lengthy with kids expanding as quick as they do, yet caring for an infants garments is still simply as, otherwise even more, crucial. Hip-Hop, you the love of my life and also that holds true This flow is one-of-a-kind due to the fact that it makes use of both the metaphoric and also contrasting narrative strategies. The discussion of Hip-Hop like stories is a really uphill struggle. As well as that leads us to the most prominent metaphoric Hip-Hop love story of our time. Children will certainly like this dish. Thick and also cosy outfits will certainly keep the infant cozy from head to toe. Right here is a checklist of popular products that has actually been investigated with some of the largest on-line retailers of infant products. Here are some of the standard things you'll desire to have. Do you intend to offer a gift to a brand-new mom without investing a whole lot of money? They utilize it when cleaning to eliminate smells, soften the materials, and give your baby and also kid apparel a fresh and a lot more natural fragrance. When you are thinking of your kids convenience, its not only regarding the design of the clothes youre buying it will additionally be an issue of just how the product rests on your infants body. Take into consideration exactly how much you have into the product. The next time you are re-assembling your kit, make certain to include that item. I would rather hang around with my household and also good friends, chatting on the phone, going for long strolls or dancing the evening away. With all that having actually been said, Ive discovered a new food that I recognize I'm going to enjoy. Quickly you'll discover that having only a few good outfits comes to be impractical. I had a great totally free website a couple of years ago I saw on a daily basis. Utilize your Road Experience logbook to tape-record everyones comments regarding the day. This will serve no great as purchasing child items indiscriminately will not simply be waste of money but additionally waste of time and also power which you can put for some positive usage. If taking a trip by vehicle you need to always make use of a safety seat as well as comply with the manufacturer's instructions for suitable. If your journey limitation is no even more than a one-hour automobile flight one means, then search for areas of passion within regarding 40 miles of home. Which is not a problem since much like kidneys, similar to testis, ladies with one ovary can have equally as several children as a female with 2 ovaries and 2 tubes. Apparently it is a 2x matrix, indicating those initial two individuals you obtained to sign up with are on your first degree. You need to constantly have 2 pairs at night time, because you never recognize when a child is mosting likely to spew up or have a baby diaper leak that can call for a total garment modification.

[ramseycrickets]

Run Your Own Service By Reselling Wholesale Child Garments On EBay

In order to speak about love and still construct a socially appropriate metropolitan identity, artists tend to execute one of the 5 successful love narrative forms. No one recognizes situations like that, people cant bargain with it, so they 'll speak about it permanently. The woman trying to sell me their latest phone package referred to a television advert. She maintained me chatting for about 10 mins during which time she referred me to this specific TV advert an additional 4 times, and also each time I ensured her I had actually not seen it since I do not view television. Weaving can be gotten during the adverts and operated at for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. New threads as well as elegant pattern layouts make knitting fun and also quickly, and I can knit also if I am seeing TV, albeit a rare occurence for me personally! With the web, even if you live in a neighborhood that is little, you aren't restricted to your area, and also can find people not simply around the UK, however across the world too! After that embellish with child pictures and such, then take it to your local copy store, like Kinkos, and also have them publish the page on pastel tinted paper. Often weve occurred upon regional street fairs or windsurfing tournaments or a version train museum. Weve chatted about endometriosis, that which can be a cyst. So, you can have bleeding with a cyst but many of the moment those are rare scenarios. The endometriomas, if they linger, and theres constant bleeding in the abdomen and the ovary that can trigger bonds. Any kind of hemorrhaging cyst can be a trouble. A pregnancy with a corpus luteum, the 2nd sort of practical cyst goes on to create as the infant is growing. A lot of these, the larger blood supplies, the bigger blood vessels on cysts are usually the corpus luteum cyst. The majority of ovary cysts in and also of themselves are not going to be triggering an issue. But, the vital thing here, is that cysts themselves, in and also of themselves are not going to be a trouble or life threatening problem. The nature of the celebration is possibly going to have a tendency towards the womanly side; if the organizers of the celebration have a provision for this, then welcoming males would certainly be great. Without a doubt, there are countless males and females who are making great cash using the web service route. In this song, the poet makes use of the perceptual narrative to acknowledge that some males "dont be comin right ", but that he has a different perception of women than these other men. Intended to help with the discomfort, supposed to aid me keep In this track, Master utilizes the different story to share his sight of what love need to be. It is very important for the clothing to be completely dry before they are done away with or worn by a kid, as well as hanging the garments on childrens garments wall mounts will aid maintain their form. However, aspartame was enabled on 1981 for completely dry goods and 1983 for carbonated beverages.

free baby stuff expecting mother

People utilized to exchange goods and services for other products and also services before money was produced, and some individuals still trade today to avoid making use of loan (mainly for tax obligation factors I am informed). Some other great services are a baby diaper service for fabric diapering mamas, and even a diaper shipment solution for disposables, as well as spend for the first two weeks or a month well worth of diapering products. Even the shades made use of in the material must be natural as well as safe. You may be initially brought in by all the eye appealing shades and also the fanciness of the outfits, yet if your kid is not going to like it, it is mosting likely to spoil. Pajamas and bodysuits for little infant girls been available in all different shades as well as styles, and also are made for all kinds of weather. 1 or 2 items would certainly do - a set of babies suits, a pair of tee shirts, a set of pajamas. At the same time, you can place a T-shirt over their pyjamas. They will guard as well as insure any cash you take into an interest-bearing account and pay you possibly 3% yearly interest on your deposit. They recognize that if you're satisfied with your example, greater than likely you be ended up being a routine client and also invest loan with them. There are truly a great deal of free offers readily available; you simply need to know just how to look for them. Or search by chemical ingredients (see checklist below for some instances) as well as find what brand names have it. Next, you will come to your search engine result web page; this is a checklist of all products that fulfill your search criteria. Let us take a peek into what makes these requirements a should for those moms and dads purchasing infant clothes. Also, allow your initial couple of road journeys instruct you what you need to have along. There are numerous very first time moms around that have a lot of info to show you and also they do not desire you to be without the details. They intend to have gowns with breathable textile and also simple on the body. Is this what we have pertained to, - everyone in our region views the very same adverts, the very same programs, the very same newspaper article every single day or night? Note: After attempting single foods, good mixes are potatoes and also carrots or carrots and peas. And also not just will I review it for him, Ill make it seem like the Elvis of foods, because Im currently rather sure that Sickness enjoy a hamdog. He also refers to his love rate of interest as "this Ethiopian queen from Philly ", using the royal characterization so typical in spiritual love narratives. If you're actually strapped for cash, after that you can probably use using your bed as a changing table, but if you can, this is something I highly advise. Its better to feed infant initial thing in the morning, then enable some play or remainder time in between before giving child a bath. At a "Pamper Party," a concept significantly prominent for mothers who already have numerous kids and also consequently a lot of right stuff they in fact require, they could take residence medical spa devices such as a loofah or bubble bath. A terrific bath-themed present basket would certainly contain some hypo-allergenic bath things, like baby baths, talc, towels, and also bath toys.

The significant and also is that the majority of, if not all of these cost-free things, are delivered right to the mother's house. And also, keeping that, allows solve to the core. Do you have the software program you require to get going? At some time you are mosting likely to intend to move your child, so you will need to acquire something. Unless you're preparing to hold on to them for your following baby, they're simply accumulating dirt. With a couple of straightforward abilities, a helpful collection of "things, " and also simply a bit of preparation as well as prep work, youll be on your means! There is an area for TELEVISION in our lives as well as it wants all the fastest means of soaking up news from around the globe. Taking classes abroad Here, the poet utilizes the spiritual story to define the moment, place and also feelings that his love was started on, talking them as if they were in some way implied to take place. Perhaps she believed that was her location in the globe and also no-one can fault her if she executed her duties to the utmost of her ability. I as soon as had a neighbor who notified the globe and also it's mommy she believed tidiness was following to Godliness and also spent all the time every day cleaning her home. It is believed that from this you truly have the option to take a look at every little thing prior to you also need to acquire something. Tight neck lines would difficulty you and also the positioning of buttons at weird positions would cause you issues, so check these in advance. At the same time the buttons and also other aspects in the style need to be meticulously sewn. However Betty had the cash money every single time I went to prison This song additionally shows making use of contrasting stories to reveal love. This example further illustrates making use of introductory language in conversational narratives. The poet feels it is undesirable for any individual to "call you out your name ", or simply put, make use of defamatory language toward his love. Most of the child shower concepts will benefit any place, inside your home or out. Do you desire your infant to look charming or awesome with child clothes however you do not have suggestions on where to search for them? Price is a significant thing you would desire to consider when purchasing child garments. It's simple, take a look at a child garments store. Apparel care plays a large function in your child's safety. Therefore, it is constantly encouraged that you keep the security as well as comfort consider mind also when you are purchasing event gowns for your kid. Also when you have acquired a lacy blouse for your small lady, if you wind up getting a dimension that takes place to be slightly larger than her real dimension, she will certainly be comfy in it. And, moms and dads will certainly be most likely to maintain acquiring clothing to stay up to date with the modifications in the child's growth - size, weight, length, as well as shape. Thus, getting clothes that are rather larger than the genuine size of your infants body gifts will be great as it ensures optimal comfort for the youngster.

Nonetheless, these immunization procedures will only make their systems solid yet it does not provide a guarantee that bacteria can not penetrate their method. So why did she act in this means? The exact same point can be true with, definitely with tube pregnancies, thats why those 2 can be confused. Yes it is true that infant clothing do not last lengthy with youngsters expanding as fast as they do, however dealing with an infants clothes is still equally as, otherwise even more, crucial. Hip-Hop, you the love of my life which holds true This passage is distinct because it uses both the metaphoric and contrasting narrative techniques. The presentation of Hip-Hop like narratives is a really uphill struggle. And that leads us to the most prominent metaphoric Hip-Hop love story of our time. Infants will like this dish. Thick and also cosy outfits will maintain the baby cozy from head to toe. Right here is a list of prominent products that has been investigated with a few of the largest on-line retailers of infant items. Below are several of the standard things you'll wish to have. Do you intend to offer a gift to a brand-new mommy without investing a great deal of cash? They use it when washing to remove smells, soften the textiles, and give your baby and also young child clothes a fresh and much more all-natural fragrance. When you are thinking about your childs convenience, its not just concerning the style of the clothing youre purchasing it will certainly additionally be an issue of how the product remains on your infants body. Take into consideration just how much you have into the thing. The following time you are re-assembling your package, make sure to include that item. I prefer to hang out with my friends and family, talking on the phone, going with long walks or dancing the night away. With all that having actually been said, Ive found a brand-new food that I recognize I'm going to like. Quickly you'll discover that having just a couple of nice clothing ends up being not practical. I had a good cost-free site a couple of years ago I saw daily. Use your Roadway Journey logbook to tape every people comments regarding the day. This will certainly serve no great as acquiring infant products indiscriminately will not simply be waste of cash but likewise waste of time as well as power which you can put for some constructive usage. If travelling by vehicle you need to constantly make use of a safety seat as well as comply with the supplier's directions for fitting. If your trip restriction is no more than a one-hour auto trip one method, then look for locations of interest within concerning 40 miles of house. Which is not a trouble due to the fact that simply like kidneys, similar to testis, women with one ovary can have just as many infants as a woman with 2 ovaries as well as 2 tubes. Evidently it is a 2x matrix, meaning those initial 2 people you got to sign up with are on your first level. You need to always have 2 sets at night time, due to the fact that you never ever know when a child is mosting likely to spit up or have a baby diaper leak that can call for a total garment modification.

[itssoquietintheworldtonight]

Run Your Own Service By Reselling Wholesale Baby Garments On EBay

In order to chat concerning love as well as still create a socially appropriate metropolitan identity, artists have a tendency to carry out among the 5 successful love narrative types. No one recognizes circumstances like that, people cant handle it, so they 'll talk regarding it for life. The lady trying to offer me their most current phone set referred to a television advert. She kept me talking for around 10 mins during which time she referred me to this particular TELEVISION advert an additional 4 times, and also each time I assured her I had actually not seen it due to the fact that I don't view tv. Knitting can be gotten during the adverts and also worked at for 5 or 10 mins at once. New threads as well as trendy pattern layouts make weaving fun and quickly, and I can weaved also if I am enjoying TELEVISION, albeit an uncommon occurence for me personally! With the internet, even if you stay in a neighborhood that is small, you aren't limited to your city, and also can discover people not simply around the UK, however across the world too! After that embellish with infant pictures as well as such, after that take it to your local copy store, like Kinkos, and have them publish the page on pastel tinted paper. In some cases weve come across regional street fairs or windsurfing tournaments or a model train gallery. Weve discussed endometriosis, that which can be a cyst. So, you can have bleeding with a cyst but the majority of the moment those are uncommon circumstances. The endometriomas, if they continue, and theres continual bleeding in the abdomen and the ovary that can create adhesions. Any type of bleeding cyst can be a trouble. A maternity with a corpus luteum, the 2nd kind of functional cyst goes on to create as the baby is expanding. A lot of these, the bigger blood products, the bigger blood vessels on cysts are generally the corpus luteum cyst. Many ovary cysts in as well as of themselves are not going to be triggering an issue. However, the important thing below, is that cysts themselves, in and of themselves are not going to be a trouble or harmful issue. The nature of the event is probably mosting likely to often tend towards the feminine side; if the organizers of the celebration have a provision for this, after that welcoming men would certainly be great. Indeed, there are numerous guys and ladies that are making excellent loan making use of the internet organisation route. In this tune, the poet makes use of the affective story to acknowledge that some men "dont be comin right ", yet that he has a various perception of women than these various other men. Meant to help with the pain, meant to help me keep In this track, Master makes use of the contrasting story to share his view of what love must be. It is essential for the clothes to be completely dry prior to they are put away or used by a youngster, and also hanging the garments on childrens clothing wall mounts will assist maintain their form. Nonetheless, aspartame was allowed on 1981 for dry items and also 1983 for carbonated beverages.

free baby stuff expecting mother

People utilized to exchange products and solutions for other items and solutions prior to loan was developed, as well as some individuals still barter today to prevent making use of loan (mostly for tax reasons I am informed). A few other fantastic services are a diaper service for towel diapering mothers, or even a diaper distribution solution for disposables, as well as pay for the first 2 weeks or a month well worth of diapering products. Even the shades utilized in the textile must be organic as well as non-toxic. You may be initially drawn in by all the eye appealing shades as well as the fanciness of the clothing, but if your youngster is not going to like it, it is going to spoil. Pyjamas and bodysuits for little baby girls come in all different shades as well as styles, as well as are created all kinds of climate. One or 2 items would certainly do - a set of babies suits, a pair of shirts, a pair of pyjamas. Alternately, you can place a Tee shirts over their jammies. They will guard as well as insure any kind of money you place into an interest-bearing account and pay you probably 3% annual rate of interest on your deposit. They know that if you're satisfied with your sample, greater than most likely you be come to be a regular client as well as invest cash with them. There are actually a great deal of giveaways readily available; you just require to know exactly how to browse for them. Or search by chemical components (see listed here for some instances) as well as discover what brand names have it. Next off, you will certainly reach your search engine result web page; this is a listing of all products that fulfill your search criteria. Allow us take a peek into what makes these requirements a need to for those moms and dads looking for baby clothing. Likewise, allow your very first few roadway journeys teach you what you require to have along. There are millions of very first time mommies available that have a great deal of information to show you as well as they do not want you to be without the details. They want to have dresses with breathable textile and very easy on the body. Is this what we have pertained to, - everyone in our area sees the same adverts, the same programmes, the exact same newspaper article every single day or evening? Note: After attempting single foods, good combinations are potatoes and also carrots or carrots and also peas. And not just will I evaluate it for him, Sickness make it sound like the Elvis of foods, since Im already fairly certain that Ill enjoy a hamdog. He likewise describes his love interest as "this Ethiopian queen from Philly ", utilizing the royal characterization so usual in spiritual love stories. If you're truly strapped for cash money, after that you can most likely make do with utilizing your bed as a changing table, but if you can, this is something I very suggest. Its much better to feed child initial point in the morning, after that allow some play or remainder time in between before providing baby a bath. At a "Pamper Event," a suggestion increasingly preferred for mothers who already have several children as well as for that reason a lot of right stuff they in fact need, they could take house health facility accessories such as a loofah or bubble bathroom. A fantastic bath-themed present basket would consist of some hypo-allergenic bath items, like baby baths, baby powder, towels, and bath playthings.

The major plus is that a lot of, if not every one of these complimentary things, are provided right to the mother's house. And also, keeping that, allows obtain right to the nitty abrasive. Do you have the software you require to get going? At some time you are going to wish to move your baby, so you will need to purchase something. Unless you're planning to hang on to them for your next infant, they're simply accumulating dirt. With a few basic skills, a convenient collection of "stuff, " and just a bit of preparation and also prep work, youll be on your means! There is an area for TV in our lives as well as it desires all the fastest method of taking in information from around the globe. Taking courses abroad Below, the poet utilizes the spiritual story to define the time, area and emotions that his love was started on, talking them as if they were somehow meant to take place. Probably she thought that was her place on the planet and no-one can fault her if she did her duties to miraculous of her capacity. I as soon as had a neighbor who informed the world and it's mother she believed tidiness was next to Godliness and invested all day each day cleaning her house. It is believed that from this you truly have the option to take a look at everything before you even have to get something. Limited neck lines would certainly problem you and even the positioning of switches at weird positions would cause you troubles, so check these ahead of time. At the same time the switches and other aspects in the layout ought to be very carefully stitched. Yet Betty had the cash every time I went to prison This track even more highlights using contrasting stories to express love. This instance further illustrates making use of introductory language in conversational stories. The poet feels it is undesirable for any person to "call you out your name ", or in various other words, make use of disparaging language toward his love. A number of the child shower suggestions will work for any kind of place, inside or out. Do you want your baby to look cute or great with child garments but you don't have ideas on where to search for them? Price is a major point you would intend to consider when acquiring baby garments. It's easy, take a look at a child clothing store. Clothing care plays a large function in your child's security. Therefore, it is constantly advised that you keep the safety as well as convenience aspect in mind also when you are shopping for occasion outfits for your kid. Even when you have purchased a lacy blouse for your tiny woman, if you end up obtaining a dimension that takes place to be a little larger than her real size, she will be comfy in it. As well as, moms and dads will certainly be likely to keep buying garments to stay up to date with the alterations in the infant's growth - size, weight, length, and also form. Hence, getting garments that are somewhat larger than the actual dimension of your infants body gifts will be great as it ensures optimal comfort for the kid.

Nevertheless, these immunization processes will only make their systems solid however it doesn't offer a guarantee that bacteria can't permeate their method. So why did she act in this method? The same thing can be real with, certainly with tube pregnancies, thats why those 2 can be perplexed. Yes it holds true that baby clothes don't last long with kids expanding as rapid as they do, but caring for an infants clothes is still equally as, otherwise even more, crucial. Hip-Hop, you the love of my life which's real This flow is unique because it uses both the metaphoric and contrasting narrative methods. The presentation of Hip-Hop love stories is an extremely challenging job. And also that leads us to one of the most prominent metaphoric Hip-Hop love narrative of our time. Babies will like this dish. Thick and cosy attires will certainly keep the child warm from head to toe. Here is a listing of prominent items that has actually been looked into with several of the largest on-line merchants of baby products. Right here are several of the standard points you'll wish to have. Do you intend to offer a present to a brand-new mother without spending a whole lot of cash? They utilize it when cleaning to remove odors, soften the fabrics, as well as offer your baby and also young child garments a fresh and also a lot more natural fragrance. When you are thinking of your kids comfort, its not only about the design of the clothing youre buying it will certainly likewise be a matter of how the product rests on your children body. Think about how much you have into the product. The next time you are re-assembling your kit, make sure to add that item. I prefer to hang around with my family as well as close friends, chatting on the phone, going for lengthy strolls or dancing the evening away. With all that having been said, Ive uncovered a brand-new food that I recognize I'm mosting likely to love. Soon you'll uncover that having just a few great clothing ends up being not practical. I had a good totally free website a few years ago I checked out daily. Utilize your Roadway Experience logbook to tape everyones remarks regarding the day. This will serve no excellent as getting baby products indiscriminately will not just be waste of money but additionally wild-goose chase and also energy which you can put for some useful use. If passing by cars and truck you must constantly utilize a safety seat and comply with the producer's guidelines for suitable. If your journey restriction disappears than a one-hour car ride one means, after that look for places of passion within about 40 miles of house. Which is not a problem since much like kidneys, just like testis, women with one ovary can have equally as several babies as a woman with two ovaries and 2 tubes. Evidently it is a 2x matrix, suggesting those first 2 people you obtained to join are on your initial level. You ought to constantly have two pairs in the evening time, due to the fact that you never ever recognize when a baby is mosting likely to spit up or have a baby diaper leak that can require a complete garment adjustment.

[michaelina520imvu-blog]

How to get free imvu credits without human verification or survey check now

IMVU Credits

People today today prefers to reside in virtual globe rather then genuine globe and you have arrived here which means you are at the moment active user of globe popular on the net 3D virtual metaverse referred to as IMVU and want to generate amount of credits but just before reaching to that let's initial start out with short introduction about IMVU. A number of resellers obtain in credits from IMVU content material creators, facts and restrictions vary between every reseller. In order to retain fraud to a minimum most resellers that buy in IMVU credits will limit obtain to creators that have been on IMVU for a minimum period or have a few products in their catalogues. Again, terms could differ. See items marked "sell" for information.

IMVU credits generator buying is an essential portion of the exciting game IMVU. The index is packed with thrilling articles with objects what can be obtained to make the game customized according to the player and will be enjoyed with lot lots of luxuries. This not only makes the game eye-catching but also rewards with creating greater levels of sport with competing with further persons all more than the world. So that competition is additional exciting and thrilling with the appear that person have to cash.

For Tiny Organization Saturday, creators of all reputation and success levels had been encouraged to place with each other person public chat rooms (or group up with others) to highlight some of their items and attract new customers. This event is something the IMVU team takes incredibly seriously, and it's the second year this event has been held.

imvu Credits Generator Vip hacks Imvu Credits Generator+vip imvu credits hack 2018 imvu credits hack no survey imvu credits hack no survey no download imvu hack 2018 imvu credits hack no human verification imvu cost-free spin credits Cost-free IMVU CREDITS HACK — Create Unlimited IMVU CREDITS On line It might look absurd when you feel about passing up Get pleasure from in IMVU Absolutely free Credits. Notes and Credits IMVU Credits Hack — Unlimited Free Credits Tool update version is ready for all imvu credits generator is usually called the IM with image.

Credit is the virtual currency playing an important role in the quicker progression and finding great dresses. If you don't want to end up having into an situation and want to progress more rapidly, then using IMVU hack can help here. It is extremely dependable, and most of the gamers favor it to receive limitless credit. Do you want it also? Well, there is no have to have of worrying about a single factor.

If 13 sounds a tiny young to be engaging in this kind of virtual globe, you are not alone. Typical Sense Media, a non-profit media rating web site for parents, provides IMVU an iffy for ages 15-18” rating. (Iffy” signifies somewhat edgy for the age.”) For me, what's most disturbing about the website is the powerful sexual undercurrent of the whole factor. The buxom female avatars in scanty clothing give me the willies, particularly when I believe that my 14-year-old babysitter could be behind one of them.

In order to get enough quantity of credit in the game, you need to remain selective and come across the proper tool. Hope, this guide will enable you use IMVU credits hack and progress faster in the game. There are several websites but locating the proper 1 matters a lot. The tool described right here is really handy, has optimistic reviews, and it is extensively preferred amongst gamers from a long time.

This game is actually a representation of how a $#!ty game should be. At first when I played this game i thought it was fairly cool becaue it had cute garments and so forth and they give at least 4000 absolutely free credits, but the moment you run out of credits and attempt to earn additional it is a big pain in the ass, they make you do a million surveys for just about 40 mins just to give you ten credits when it says your supposed to get 1000. And dont even get me began on how weird and rude the persons are on this game, your just gonna have to play it for yourself since I am not about write about that $#!. And the graphics are trash, the maps are ugly and its just a retarted game overall.

In a way, all on the web flash games will be the very same. They are made to find the gamer connected to it so that as the game progresses it becomes complicated. When it becomes pretty complicated, you are needed to acquire the credits for real revenue. You then are torn among your addiction for the overall game and the guilt brought on when you may devote sufficient cash purchasing credits.

Want To Step Up Your IMVU CREDITS? You Need To Look at This Former

The world of IMVU is a creative and imaginative world that simulates actual life. Rather of working with true money the gamers have to use the currency of the game that is known as credits that will need to be collected majorly with the enable of genuine revenue. To be well-known amongst the competitors in the gaming planet one wants to have the credits in abundance to attain higher levels of the game or we can say to score properly. For this one requires to have lots of credits in the account of the game. The IMVU hack tends http://generatefortnitevbucks.info/how-to-earn-free-imvu-credits-without-any-adds/ to make the game a lot bigger and much more realistic.

Before we explain how the IMVU free of charge credits generator functions, we need to know why we need in the firs location such tool and how advantageous it is. Nonetheless, the plan is very basic to use and you can also go straight to the IMVU credit generator web page exactly where you will be in a position to generate free of charge imvu credits.

It is less complicated and virtually as satisfying as getting no cost cash in genuine life. What will hold you protected at the end of the day is the actual each day limit of cost-free credits you can create. It would be best if you utilize this device 1 to week or max two instances. Considering the fact that the on the internet version is more utilized it is fair to be far more engaged with it by releasing new updates. With these credits, you can get pleasure from quite a great deal anything in the games. With our hack, you will be capable to obtain infinite amount of Credits instantaneously.

IMVU users are 13 years old and up and the majority of users are 18+ with the sweet spot at 22 years and female. Peak concurrency is 150K users in a 24 hour period. IMVU has reached 50 million registered customers, 10+ million unique guests per month and a $40+ million annualized income run price. IMVU has the world's largest virtual goods catalog of far more than six million things, pretty much all of which are designed by its personal members who contribute over 7,000 new things to our catalog each day.

What will preserve you safe at the end of the day is the actual everyday limit of cost-free credits you can generate. We began in January, and worked via February and March to get this game or app added. When your account is connected, you have to opt for the number of credit required in the game. It can be employed in most nations, but there are a handful of countries that it might not work effectively. If you want to skin suggestions, then hit the hack button.

Today I am going to go more than the hundreds of attainable ways you can potentially get credits inside your new or old IMVU account. Understanding what IMVU credits are is the first big step, and for those of you who could be new to the web-site or app this may perhaps be anything you are stuck asking yourself, when opening the shop modal and thousands, upon thousands of products are presented in front of you, the overwhelming demise of what-next crossing not only your mind, but your in-app balance as-nicely. Within this post, I also go more than some of the other purchasable things within the app, that may well go un-noticed by some customers.

[soulsplosion-cs]

here is souls advice on making a popular species

i am not lying when I say Viscets were literally a social experiment that I made for the sole purpose of getting popular with effort & business tactics. I wanted to take a giant shit on the stereotype that popular species are entirely the luck of having a cute drawing style.

If you disagree with me that’s cool!!! I just want to throw my advice onto this hellsite before I frolic my way to sweet blissful freedom

- the lineart and stuff Obviously the appearance matters, but don’t let yourself believe that’s the only thing. The most common complaint I see is how making a popular species is the luck of striking something cute. I mean sure that’s a definite possibility, but viscets used to look like this!! That’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen!!! (no offense to anyone that liked them in that stage)

- cater to these sparkledog-loving children I don’t even like viscets!! I only own 1!! The majority of my species are demonic alien dragons, insects, and monsters. Viscets weren’t an “I have this cute idea and I want to share it with the world”-type species. I literally designed them specifically to what I thought the inhabitants of CS would like. Granted you don’t have to do that, but know that it’s a definite option. people on CS like: - cute and fluffy things - a brief and catchy name - some thing that’s recognizable (kalons have the tail shines, plumies had the trademark feathers, etc). Viscets have unique anatomy, but they also have the bottom mane and the top crest, so you can recognize the species even from headshots. There needs to be a few generic things that you know people were like, but at least 1 thing that they will easily recognize which will make your species stand out.

- Devote honestly you could throw everything else to shit but if you run the species for at least a year then you’ll pretty much be semi-popular by default. People won’t become devoted members of a community that they know won’t last long.

- Be a decent human being!!! You don’t know anything!! we’re all idiots!! One of the worst mistakes a species owner can make is saying ‘well it’s my species so I can do what I want’. no!! fuck you!! the phrase “the customer is always right” exists for a reason. it’s completely wrong. but it exists for a reason. Be kind to people. Discourage cliques. Make everyone feel included. No matter how much you want to hack the chickensmoothie site just to ban the idiot that’s asking you super obvious questions, always respond with smiley faces, patience, and fake friendliness while screaming inside. being a decent person is remarkably easy. i dont know what’s real anymore when in doubt make a vaguely-true excuse! if an art comp was full of buttshit-ugly designs I’d say “These are all beautiful so far! I’ve extended the comp a bit to allow some people more time.”

- Communicate!!!! Again with the “it’s my species I can do what I want”. no!! fuck you!! I carried out no major decision without first polling who it would impact, especially the staff. Whenever people complain I always try to peacefully explain the decision so that no one’s left in the dark. Most importantly, always be willing to apologize and go back on something. Tell everyone everything. Keep no secrets. Listen to all the feedback you get and use it to become better.

- Choose good staff!!!!! Another common mistake is when species owners hire people just because they’re popular or make cute designs. Your staff have to be a good team that understand how the audience functions, and you have to be ready to intervene on troublesome ones. All the Viscet staff I hired had moderating powers and I made sure to inquiry about that ability in the art comps. I passed several applicants solely because I didn’t think they’d be good at leading a community, and it makes me real happy whenever people praise the viscet staff because!! i did that purpose You also want staff who will be able to expand the community and share it. Staff who will engage with their characters of your species, make editables, etc.

- Prepare for shit !!! Prevent the apocalypse by making a plan!! At one point we had 2 archives and 4 archivists (5 including me). Once I corrupted the Viscet files and we had to make a new main thread from one of the artists’ adopts which happened to have all the lineart and ever since then I made sure to make a billion backups. I divided the workloads do carefully that I was able to shimmy out of there on the breeze. sometimes i’d disappear for 3 days and nobody would hardly notice

- Convince people they’re popular!!! Tbh viscets never even got popular, I just convinced people they were popular and then they started believing it and the lie took life. i am evil. Use whatever cheap advertising tactics you can: - ART is good because drawings in the Oekaki or commissions from Popular Artists are just free ads. a lot of the early viscets required art. You have to balance it out to accommodate those who can’t work with it, but use it whenever u can - i often went on the “Rate the Character” thread asking for feedback on my viscet designs. that is a lie. i was trying to show them off - DCAY was invented when i wanted to get art of my viscet. i literally made an entire forum game just for that. DCAY was a part of Viscet’s marketing - affiliate with as many people as physically possible!!!!!! that never held me back - REFERRALS. The Stub Shop was the Viscet babyboom. It put viscets Everywhere. they were Inescapable. And that made people think that that means they must be Popular. ding dong they were wrong but they made it right just by thinking that. it’s a paradox. this paradox is your friend - In the early stages sometimes I would specifically choose popular owners or artists that draw in the oekaki a lot because they were vital in spreading the word and jumpstarting species (but ONLY for the early stages--obviously if you always do this you’re just an asshole. it’s only a good beginning tactic. and still be fair about it ofc) Being a good person is important but never forget to be a merciless businessman

- cater the community to your intended audience the appearance ain’t the only thing that must be specifically designed. I also made sure to design the community to the kids I was aiming for, even against my own beliefs. Part of the experiment was to create a safe space for children, and specifically for children, so I made the rules as friendly as physically fucking possible. I outlawed NSFW because I know what my audience was. (I mean I personally love gore, but kids don’t, so I outlawed anything to do with it in the community, even off-site)

The community is what’s actually fun about species. anyone who’s devoted to a species is also devoted to the community, so making it a safe and friendly place is what’s most important.

If you’re catering to an older audience, you should have more formally-written rules, a more adult-orientated interface (not cute/cartoonish), and can be more free with having strict lore, which young kids generally won’t like

anwayys that’s a shitton of words and i probably wasted my life writing this but here u go. do what u will with my secrets

.

[comicteaparty]

October 11th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on October 11th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Four Corners by Boniae.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Four Corners by Boniae~! (http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

RebelVampire

one of my favorite scenes is actually when hideki and kazuhiro have their little confessions. i really loved the silence, pacing, and paneling in that moment. the time it took to depict it and the fact that the images were allowed to speak for themselves made it a really great moment with fantastic atmosphere.

another scene that i quite enjoyed was when we first see ranmaru. i felt like itd been quite a while since there was a good fight, so it was good to see. but i also like the story effects the scene had. since this was really the moment hideki stopped toeing the line and was ready to admit he was in it for something more. and i think this sort of fighting parallel worked well with having such a pivotal character development

less of a scene, but in general i liked that whole chapter where hideki and kazuhiro spend time together. it was nice to see them bond over not work and learn a ton more about hideki. i think as a whole it was a needed chapter because it helped bring the characters closer together to create a stronger dynamic for what i imagine will be many troubles ahead

mathtans

I made it! ^.^ I only got partly into Chapter 5, busy week... for everyone, apparently.

I'm guessing the bonding was mostly in Chapter 5, that seemed to be where it was heading.

Superjustinbros

Hello!

RebelVampire

yes it was chapter 5

cause i had to look just now XD

mathtans

Was Ranmaru the guy who drugged people?

(I'm bad with names, for the record. Every week.)

Superjustinbros

Can I just say that I'm in love with the art style?

mathtans

I liked seeing how the art evolved over time myself.

Superjustinbros

It's very manga-like and I like how the faces don't go overblown with details

RebelVampire

yes ranmaru was the guy who drugged me.

yeah i also like the art style in regards to the setting. its got a kind of older manga nostalgia feel to it

but the art evolution is also fun. i forgot how diff that first chapter was (cause this is my 2nd time reading the entire comic for the record)

mathtans

Okay, then yeah, I also liked the scene with Ranmaru and the two of them fighting (I'm assuming you meant that, since I think the first time we see Ranmaru he's with the fortune teller).... though part of the reason I liked it was because the guy had call waiting for another fight or something.

Superjustinbros

I actually never thought that it looks like the "vintage manga" style until you mentioned it

mathtans

I noticed a mention that the comic had been reviewed in StArt Faire.

Superjustinbros

That's cool

mathtans

Yeah, and it went from shading to colour - I think the artist said it was to deal better with shading? I might be misremembering. Interesting.

RebelVampire

yeah i meant the fighting scene. sorry. im like on 3 hours of sleep atm and havent quite woken up to full function yet.

but yeah i liked how the fight was ultimately ended by a phone call

like that takes a lot of gall, but i like how it shows off ranmaru's character of not really giving a damn about their little fight that much

mathtans

Not a problem, I understood, and the wee one kept me up last night here too.

Yeah, that's true, it went to characterization.

Then there was the little bonus comic (non-canon) where he was called away to talk about types of shirts. I gravitate towards the humourous bits.

Superjustinbros

That sounds cute, lol

mathtans

It's cool that in a comic like this which has fighting and relationship issues, that there's still fun to be had.

Superjustinbros

Indeed

I mean if it was nothing but those two it'd get boring/repetitive.

mathtans

I dunno, they have pretty good chemistry. But yeah, not totally feasible for world building.

I want to see Hideki at an all you can eat buffet.

RebelVampire

yeah. i really like that the gang focused on also is a gang who is just going around protecting ppl and stuff. i think that gives them a needed high ground for what the comic is doing.

hideki at an all you can eat buffet sounds spooky XD

Superjustinbros

Well it's almost Halloween so X3

mathtans

Yeah, that was an interesting take on gangs! Doesn't seem to net them any additional popularity in the school though (or with the ladies).

I wonder if "four corners" is from, like, if you're doing evil anywhere in the four corners of the room we'll spot you.

Superjustinbros

Well it's always good to see characters doing things outside what the audience expects them to always do

Helps flesh 'em out, if you know what I'm saying

RebelVampire

ya know ive never actually thought about what the name might stand for and now im curious

mathtans

Indeed.

Their founder really liked squares?

RebelVampire

i was just gonna make a square joke XD

Superjustinbros

Quick, what's the square root of 24

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. Though some things have been revealed over the course of the comic, Hideki still remains quite the mystery. In what way do you think Hideki was involved with Four Corners in the past? Was he some sort of consultant, a member by association, or something else? Do you think Hideki really left gang life just to avoid violence, or do you think there is something more to it? What do you think he did that gave birth to the dark rumors surrounding him? Further, what is Hideki’s relationship with the man he keeps hallucinating on seeing? What exactly happened that seemed to cause Hideki such worry and trauma? Does it have something to do with why Hideki is so knowledgeable about gang activity? Lastly, do you think his current involvement will have negative consequences for his future, especially in regards to taking over for his father?

mathtans

A bit under 5, SJ.

Superjustinbros

Nice

mathtans

Well, Hideki's family is into big business and all, maybe he was just looking for something to analyze in that sense, like as you say a consultant or something... makes sense that he would attempt the same thing later with ... ... damn it, I forget name of protagonist. x.x

RebelVampire

kazuhiro

mathtans

Starts with Y.

Superjustinbros

Thanks Rebel

mathtans

Oh, right.

That's not even a Y. (Is there a character page? I always need one to keep everybody straight, it's the visuals I remember more than the names.)

RebelVampire

http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/characters/

mathtans

Sweeeeeet. I didn't remember seeing a link.

Superjustinbros

Nice hairstyles on these characters

mathtans

Anyway, back to what I was saying, maybe Hideki was just looking to apply his skills, and was turned off by the violence; maybe I just don't look that deep.

Superjustinbros

Keiichi especially

But I digress(edited)

RebelVampire

maybe although idk. itd be weird if hideki was involved cause of the business. but then again maybe his father has secret gang connections we dont know about? tbh tho i think he was just assumed to be part of the gang cause he followed keiichi around. that and was into his own sort of trouble.

keiichi does have great hair

Superjustinbros

http://i.imgur.com/qvXivUg.png Dare I say he looks like a total daddy

RebelVampire

so i assume the man hideki was seeing is arakawa (fortune teller guy), though i didnt want to be presumptious in the question. so im wondering how the heck do they know each other. cause im worried hideki tried to join the yakuza or something but then chickened out. and thus sought refuge with the four corners when the yakuza were mad

mathtans

Oh, that'd be interesting, Dad with secret connections. Or maybe the mastermind behind everything is a half brother Hideki doesn't know about. And he keeps getting pulled in by those forces.

Arakawa is half brother. Calling it now.

Superjustinbros

That would be an interestign twist

RebelVampire

i did consider that. or if the mystery man and arakawa are two diff ppl, the mystery man is hideki's secret brother.

mathtans

Hideki maybe got in over his head and figured he might need the gang, perhaps? But then realized he could just run away and that worked better, so gave it up.

I'm impressed, I just came up with random crazy plot off the top of my head.

RebelVampire

that could be maybe. although idk where hideki's quitting resides with keiichi's death

mathtans

Or maybe part of Hideki was thinking he was gay, and gangs are largely guys, and so he figured he'd try it out as a way to meet more guys, but then was turned off by the actual fighting and stuff. Because he hadn't met best fighter Kazuhiro yet.

RebelVampire

it could be keiichi died before hideki quit

and hideki was like peace out

mathtans

Hmm. Maybe but I didn't get the vibe from the timelines.

RebelVampire

i didnt get it either but hard to say for sure.

i do think hideki had a run in with the yakuza in some way. cause itd make sense then why hed know how to watch gangs or something. and itd explain why hideki's cousin was super extra worried at the path hideki was starting down again

or maybe...keiichi was the one in the yakuza all along O_O and hideki found out and was like "how dare"

mathtans

Oooh, there's a twist.

Superjustinbros

That'd be... kinda scary

mathtans

I've been continuing my reading in the background and just got to this page: http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/comics/2456598/ch5p18/. Maybe Hideki is rebelling a bit about the fact that his future is laid out for him? Could explain some of the worry about him, as well as his investigative skills.

"I don't want to be a businessman. I want to be a private detective."

RebelVampire

yeah on a more mundane but equally believable level, it couldve just been youthful rebellion. albeit id more believe that keiichi helped hideki with some bullies or something and hideki was like "wow if i learn to fight i can control more own life." and he just happened to be super good at it

i wonder if well get to see hideki's dad ever cause that could be an illuminating conversation

Superjustinbros

I wonder which of those two occupations would be more troublesome to work in

RebelVampire

which two occupations?

mathtans

Could be. (I think we saw his dad in a flashback panel or something, but he doesn't seem to be around. Maybe Hideki was also hoping to get Dad's attention?)

Superjustinbros

The ones Match mentioned

mathtans

Businessman or private detective, I wager.

Hideki just needs to make friends with a gourmet chef. Oh wait, he has Kazuhiro there.

RebelVampire

i dont think hideki's relationship with his dad is bad. but maybe his dad has all the answers. is like "hideki i know you miss your secret brother"

and businessman is probably harder

given the setting

mathtans

Oh whoa, comic has multiple languages. (I guess when we see English they're actually speaking Japanese, and so this is... chinese?)

Yeah, his family relations don't seem bad, just distant.

Superjustinbros

I heard Japanese

mathtans

I'm still reading Chapter 5, they just met Hideki's cousin.

Oh, Taiwanese. Helps to keep reading.

RebelVampire

yeah youre gonna see some info about hideki there

which shows his dad is actually not that bad a dude just busy and socially awkward

mathtans

Maybe Hideki's mixed heritage is also how he ended up so aloof.

Superjustinbros

Perhaps

RebelVampire

yeah. hideki has a lot of demons there i think. or had cause i feel he seems probably more adjusted than he used to be? not that hes fully healed but he seems less troubled than in that one flashback

mathtans

Seeing the banter reminds me of another scene I liked, after Hideki had turned down the girl or whatever, and Kazuhiro is hiding and then he goes... wait, why am I hiding?

RebelVampire

yes i enjoyed that moment too. especially cause i was already laughing wondering why he was hiding.

in terms of comedy i like hideki with his "friends"

and his magical excuses to leave

QUESTION 3. Besides Hideki and Kazuhiro, we also see several scenes with the villainous Arakawa who seems to be immensely involved with what’s happening to the gangs. What do you think Arakawa’s aim is? Is it a solo goal, or does it have something to do with the yakuza? For what reason do you think Arakawa hides under an assumed identity? Is it related to his goals, or is there a different reason for it? Do you think Arakawa is still even part of the yakuza in full? For what reason do you think Arakawa tolerates Ranmaru, and how might Arakawa’s plans change to deal with him? Finally, Arakawa mentions fortune-telling and how knowing what’s going to happen beforehand is a viable strategy. What do you think this might mean for what’s going on in the story, and do you think Hideki and Kazuhiro will be able to handle it?

Superjustinbros

Money, dear boy

RebelVampire

i mean its possible. although if arakawa wanted money i dont think hed be worked a service industry manager cover story.

mathtans

Right. Also interesting how at the festival when he left his friends and encountered Kazuhiro that he played it off as the guy's just another friend from a year down.

The Arakawa fortune telling thing is an interesting angle. I wonder if he can do readings on people without their knowledge. I also wonder if he just tries to make things come true that he sees, like a self-fulfiling prophecy.

Superjustinbros

That would be interesting

mathtans

As far as tolerating Ranmaru goes, sometimes it's fun to have someone around to tease? ^.^

Superjustinbros

yus

RebelVampire

oh thats a good line of thought. id never consider that arakawa meant he didnt actually tell the future. he meant that he just makes the future happen to suit his vision

maybe hideki was arakawa's apprentice and arakawa was trying to teach hideki all about fortune reading but hideki was like "fortune telling isnt profitable" and bailed

im gonna go the simple route with theories and say arakawa's goal is simply to eliminate competition. cause he wants to push the drugs but cant do so easily when gangs are around protecting territories. so hes just making it easy for himself

mathtans

Hideki preferred using a crystal ball, but only amateurs use crystal balls, so they had a falling out.

That makes some sense, except why knock the gangs out rather than simply cutting a deal with them or something?

Pride? Desire for a monopoly?

RebelVampire

desire for a monopoly. and like really why cut them in if theyre so simple to move out of the way. arakawa seems very much a play the long con game sort of guy. so if he has to put more in the overhead to get tons more profit later, hed probably do it

mathtans

(Oh, hey, a trans character, that's neat.)

I suppose, just seems like that would call more attention to you, putting down all the gangs, which is something Arakawa wants to avoid. Maybe that's also why he has Ranmaru, to act as a lightning rod?

Superjustinbros

(Good to have them trans characters, always)

mathtans

(Wow, Hideki's pretty sharp, picking up on things.)

Superjustinbros

So sharp he can easily pierce through steel

RebelVampire

but is anyone gonna care about gangs besides gangs? cause nobody of the general public seems irritated that the gangs are being taken out XD

but yeah i do think this is why ranmaru is around

Superjustinbros

XD

RebelVampire

he can deal with the gangs and is crazy enough to follow arakawa

mathtans

I suppose there's that. I wonder why the Four Corners is being targeted now? Is it just they were next in the region, or if there's some method behind it? Like, maybe Arakawa's behind Keiichi too.

RebelVampire

are they being specific target tho? cause i took the 'they're next' thing as more metaphorical. in the sense that theyre on the chopping block in general and could be next or they could be taken out at any time

mathtans

Not sure, just wondering if there's more to it somehow.

RebelVampire

there could be

QUESTION 4. Compared to the present, Kazuhiro’s time before the Four Corners seems drastically different. Do you think their walk-out father is the only reason Kazuhiro and Keiichi had a strained relationship? Or was there something else going on between them? Why do you think Keiichi started the Four Corners, and why do you think Keiichi kept up with it in the face of his family’s disapproval? Why do you think Kazuhiro was so compelled to take over the Four Corners, especially considering the drastic change in personality and style he underwent? Do you think Kazuhiro will be able to uphold Keiichi’s ideals and save the Four Corners at the end of the day? Also, do you think he’ll repair some of his relationship with his sisters, or will his pursuits continue to cause a rift? Lastly, do you think Keiichi died of natural causes, or was his death caused by sinister means?

RebelVampire

the keiichi segue

mathtans

Well played.

RebelVampire

i dont think keiichi died of natural causes. if nothing more than the fact that nobody has yet said how he died in the comic and that is hella suspicious

Superjustinbros

yes

mathtans

Interesting point about Kazuhiro taking over Four Corners, given how they didn't get along too well, that didn't even fully register with me. Maybe he realized his brother had been trying to do good? Maybe he was even a member before Keiichi passed away? (I mean, you don't get promoted from outside, do you?)

Keiichi, suspiciously walked in front of a bus.

RebelVampire

idk id believe he got promoted from outside. if only because none of the other members ive seen strike me as leader types.

mathtans

There is that. He knows the gang members pretty well though.

RebelVampire

i do think theres some message of respect hidden behind why he took over. and he just didnt realize how much he respected his bro till it was too late

mathtans

Yeah, I can see that. Nice thought there.

(Made it through Chapter 5, OMG, the anniversary/april video at the end... that's amazing. And Arakawa has a magic 8 ball, hilarious!)

Superjustinbros

lol

I used to love those

mathtans

As to why Keiichi started it up, maybe a bunch of them wanted to clean up the four corners of the neighbourhood, and decided a gang would be the best way.

RebelVampire

maybe keiichi just thought if he tidied the neighborhood their dad would come home

although maybe keiichi felt he didnt belong to his own family. so he started the four corners to create that sense of family and fill the gap

mathtans

The sister relationship angle is also interesting, I liked that it was brought up back in chapter 2, to help put the family in perspective. Might be interesting if that one unapproving sister met Lei... um, the cousin character, not on the character page... they have some things in common.

Maybe. Lots of Dad issues on the part of both main characters, for different reasons.

boniae

(whispers) HI everyone!! btw im here just listening into the conversation and screaming on the inside dont mind me

Superjustinbros

Hello!!

I see you're the maker of this lovely little comic~

mathtans

Oh, hi creator! Hope you're screaming for good reasons.

boniae

Hi everyone!!! HAHA yes for good reasons!! Im so blown away by this conversation and just thank you all for reading it this week!!! ahhhh

mathtans

So yeah, as to whether Kazuhiro will save the Four Corners, I think obviously he'll die a tragic death saving Hideki, who goes off to become a monk. It paves the way for the sequel involving sister Kiyomi taking over the Four Corners next.

Superjustinbros

Heehee, glad you're enjoying the show.

RebelVampire

glad you could make it, @boniae ~!

Superjustinbros

Well there's only about 15 minutes left so...

I'm sure you got my comments on the art style when I popped in earlier

also lol Math

RebelVampire

haha i did kind of route for kiyomi taking over. just an endless cycle of respect, the four corners will never die. its why the mom had kids.

Superjustinbros

oh yes

mathtans

Actually, Mom had four kids... and they're the four corners gang... coincidence?

It was the Boxing club in the video parody.

boniae

@Superjustinbros YES AH thank you im so glad you like my art?! @RebelVampire LMFAOO

Superjustinbros

Aay, you're welcome! It some really good art you got going on~

boniae

@mathtans somebody's onto me...... you know too much....

Superjustinbros

lol, that's math for ya

mathtans

Or possibly too little. But maybe Keiichi had wanted a boxing club and was rejected and figured, I'll start a gang instead then.

Then someone dropped a piano on him. Tragic.

Superjustinbros

Math running a gang

I can sense all the incoming math puns

RebelVampire

couldnt get enough members to make a boxing club, but everyone was totally up for a gang

Superjustinbros

and characters with outrageous hair

mathtans

Oh, speaking of gang members, just wanted to add that Azumi's an interesting member. Not just for the female perspective, but how she seemed to know how to push Hideki's buttons.

RebelVampire

yeah i also liked that azumi had been around when keiichi was. cause i think that adds an interesting dimension to the whole kazuhiro takes over thing. since he really did kind of overtake more likely ppl to take over

mathtans

Yes, that too. You can see how the continuity goes through the two leaders, and there's still respect there.

Superjustinbros

Yuh

RebelVampire

i wanna see more of the gang in general tho. especially makoto since hes supposedly a great but unreliable fighter

Superjustinbros

^

mathtans

Started a bit into Chapter 6. Interesting fleshing out of the 'villain' characters. There's a lot of interesting characters overall.

Superjustinbros

I second Rebel's comment

mathtans

Could work as a flashback. "Remember the time Makoto slept in for the big fight?"

Actually, some of the flashback stuff has been interesting in it's own right. And I felt like it was well placed. Like, relevant.

RebelVampire

since makoto liked manga apparently, i hope the context of them seeing him fight was that someone told him his waifu was trash

yeah i really loved getting to actually see past hideki in the house and kazuhiro being grump master of glares

mathtans

Heh. Gotta pick your battles.

Superjustinbros

And pick them well

mathtans

Ranmaru prefers to just let things happen. He's gonna annoy the wrong person the wrong way some time... needs to adopt Hideki's "run away" strategy more often.

RebelVampire

are there any final comments anyone wants to share?

mathtans

One last thought, I wonder if the setting of 1995 is relevant? Or is that just to avoid cell phones?

Superjustinbros

Nothing much, other than that I'd like to quickly wish Boniae success on the comic, it's coming along great so far and I'm sure it'll grow to be even bigger!

mathtans

(My history is pretty bad.)

Or maybe it's to have Makoto be a fan of the anime back then.

boniae

Aww thank you so much!!! I appreciate this so much you guys!!! and LMFAO i legit dont even remember why I picked 1995, I think it was on a whim and then realized i had/have to do so much research to see if things existed and what was happening in 1995

mathtans

I guess we'll see then! Thanks!

Superjustinbros

You're welcome, @boniae!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Boniae, as well, for making Four Corners. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Boniae’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/

Boniae’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boniae

Boniae’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/cooljalebis

Comic Tea Party- Thursday Book Club

Next week’s Thursday Book Club will be about The Origin Story by Carolin Reich. For participants, you have the next week to read as much of the comic as you would like~! We hope to see you on Thursday, October 18th, from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat in #thursday_bookclub!

Comic’s Main Site: https://tapas.io/series/The-Origin-Story