#EDIT: CEO has spoken:

[buryam-soul]

Desert gang co op with @flowerhotpot <3

Bonus:

Tag yourself, are you the partner doing the cool magic thing or are you the partner staring off into the distance

[youremyheaven]

Random Mini Astrology Observations: Vedic Edition

Warning: This is just a string of random thoughts lol, don't compare it to my best work on here. It's a bunch of stuff I've had in my drafts and I'm trying to clear it all out

Before I get into this, I just want to say, that whether my observations are positive or negative, it won't apply to every individual who has these placements. 8 billion people exist on this planet, and not everyone will exhibit the same good or bad qualities. I hate having to put this PSA because some people don't get it but yeah "not all Lunars/Venusians/Nodals/Solars/Jup/Sat are going to be the same".

Jupiter influenced men are known for being introverted cutie pies who kinda have that mature-dilf-y vibe.

Obviously, another category of Jupiter men are often loud, extroverted and very outgoing but I've noticed these placements heavilyyyy in celebrities "known" for being private and introverted. They are also often known for being generous and kind hearted.

Prabhas, Vishaka Stellium (Moon, Mercury and Venus)

He is known as "darling star" and brings food that he has prepared at home for everyone on set (he is an actor). He is known for being very shy and introverted but also super sweet, generous and kind.

Sidharth Malhotra, Vishaka Moon

Sid is known for being extremely lowkey which is RARE for a Bollywood actor. He's also quite gentlemanly and charitable

Ratan Tata, Vishaka Moon

He is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur who lives in a small 2bhk apartment and has donated most of his personal wealth to charity. He is known for having led his company in a very humane way (there are lots of controversies and im aware of them but compared to the work culture and quality of life that most other indian companies offer its employees, TATA is in a different league).

Keanu Reeves, Punarvasu Moon (and stellium)

i dont have to explain but Keanu is the king of kindness and generosity

Mads Mikkelsen, Vishaka Moon

unlike his characters, Mads is actually a sweet guy and very private

Adam Driver- Vishaka Sun

he's so private that nobody even knows he's married with a kid

Tom Hanks, Punarvasu Sun

known for being a gentleman and quite modest. the OG nice guy and obviously very private

Ethan Hawke, Vishaka Sun

another lowkey, private guy who is known for being nice

2. Rashmika Mandanna and Surbhi Jyoti, Swati Moon

I find their eye area to be kinda similar?? I know they don't look alike but there are some overarching similarities between them and I think its bc they have the same moon nak.

3. I came across a comment that Akshay Kumar made about Asin and her CEO husband Rahul Sharma.

“He is madly in love with his wife, his child. It’s like he treats her like a goddess.

and guess what?? Rahul is a Purvashadha Sun 🥺😌😌

4. Ashwini natives often have post-apocalyptic dreams

Since its the first nak and is ruled by Ketu and is in complete darkness, symbolically representing the stage before creation (which happens in Bharani), the subconscious mind is susceptible to having really strange, fcked up, war-like dreams/visions. Also bc Aries rashi is ruled by Mars, God of War.

5. every Venusian man I know kinda has a voice kink

6. Many Punarvasus crave for a simple, rustic, relaxed type of life. In fact many famous Punarvasus live on a farm

Kaley Cuoco- Punarvasu Moon

Bretman Rock - Punarvasu Sun

MS Dhoni- Punarvasu Sun

Dennis Quaid, Punarvasu Moon on his ranch

7. Jupiter and Venus are 'Brahmins' or priestly, the Sun and Mars are 'Kshatriyas' or warriors, the Moon is 'Vaishya', or a trader, Mercury is a 'Vaisya', Saturn 'Shudra', or a lower caste and Rahu and Ketu are outcastes.

This is not an observation but just an astrological fact that I thought I'd mention

8. Magha girls are often the spoilt daughters or come from very bougie families where they're the princesses. They might emotionally suffer but materially and otherwise, they're very comfortable

Shruti Hassan- Magha Moon

she has spoken about how rough her childhood was bc of her parents' tumultuous marriage and subsequent divorce but that doesn't change the fact that she's the daughter of Kamal Hassan, one of the biggest stars in the history of Indian cinema

Kiara Advani- Magha Moon

Kiara is from a very wealthy and illustrious family, and she grew up as a much loved, spoilt ish daughter<3

Wonyoung- Magha Sun

Wonyoung is from a filthy rich family and she has said that she grew up very pampered. And that she didn't have an allowance bc whatever she asked for she got. However she became a trainee at 12yrs of age and that journey could not have been easy. Despite being born rich, she's had to go through a lot in life to be where she is today

Aditi Rao Hydari- Magha Moon

she's of actual royal lineage so she's a real life princess but her parents divorced when she was a kid and she grew up with a single mom in delhi and not in a palace

9. DMX- Mula Sun (dog yoni) was obsessed with dogs

The late rapper DMX's relationship with dogs, which seems almost mythical. He was born in 1970 - the year of the Metal Dog, and in his teens he ran away from his abusive household and befriended stray dogs while vulnerable on the streets. He began to gather dogs for protection, intimidation and family, and was sent to prison for stealing a dog (a neglected dog chained up in a scrapyard). In prison, he wrote a lot of his early songs, in which he came up with his "dog" mythology, in which he imagines himself as a monstrous dog-themed gangster who barks and howls. He had a huge tattoo of his favourite dog Boomer on his back. In 2008, his 12 dogs were taken from him by cops after there were reports of animal cruelty - DMX had paid a negligent caretaker to look after the dogs while he was on tour. (The dogs lived out the rest of their lives as therapy animals in a women's prison)

I think its interesting how our yoni animal influences our life

10. As Vighati graha, male planets are: Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Rahu; female planets are: Moon, Venus, Ketu whilst two eunuch planets are Mercury and Saturn. All the standard rules for determination of the sex of the child are applicable, female signs are: Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn and Aquarius; male signs are: Aries, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Pisces. Exalted planets indicate male issue and debilitated planets indicate female.

11. Mercurial men and Jupiter men are soooo flamboyant, sassy and gender non-conforming

RuPaul- Vishaka Sun & Moon

Elton John- Jyeshta Rising

Jeff Goldblum- Jyeshta Moon

Prince- Vishaka Rising

Jimi Hendrix- Mars in Vishaka atmakaraka

[mariacallous]

In the last two months, more than 50,000 U.S. government employees have been fired, put on leave, or told to halt work—most of them by the writ of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But some cuts, such as the one gutting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), came directly from the pen of President Donald Trump. In an executive order signed last month, Trump ordered widespread cuts to the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), a congressionally funded organization that oversees several journalistic outlets, including RFE/RL, Radio Free Asia, and Voice of America.

RFE/RL fought back, swiftly filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration. It yielded almost immediate success—at least on paper—when the administration said it would reinstate its approximately $77 million funding grant. But most of that money is still “sitting in somebody’s bank account,” RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in an interview with Foreign Policy. As of this week, USAGM has been ordered by a federal judge to provide RFE/RL with a new grant agreement.

Speaking from the outlet’s offices in the Czech capital of Prague on April 8, Capus—who previously spent two decades as a journalist and an executive at NBC—detailed the motivations and mechanics of RFE/RL’s legal battle with Trump, the expressions of support they’ve gotten from European leaders, and the lessons for U.S. media.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Foreign Policy: You got the Trump administration to publicly back down in its efforts to shut down your organization. What’s next?

Stephen Capus: We went to court exactly three weeks ago, which was three days after USAGM tried to terminate our grant agreement. We moved very quickly in the courts because we believe this is an unlawful act, that they had not presented any reason, any grounds for termination, and that they had given us no justification for withholding congressionally appropriated funds. So, at that time, we requested a temporary restraining order to prevent them from doing the grants termination, and then we requested a preliminary injunction around their continued efforts to withhold the $77 million of congressionally appropriated funds.

We need the funds to keep going. The court has sided with us so far, and we believe we have a strong case to make. The court strategy is one of many things that we’re doing right now. But it is the quickest way to get access to our funds.

Today [April 8], we received $2.8 million from them, which was for a very brief phase. So we still are owed $74.2 million. I don’t know why they decided to give us those funds now, but we’re still waiting for April. It’s now more than a week delayed. The funds that are sitting in somebody’s bank account doing no good for anyone could be used to keep us within operation through the end of the fiscal year as Congress intended.

We’re not even jumping up and down demanding our money. Congress has spoken—the will of Congress is very clear. There’s a line in the U.S. budget that says we shall receive this amount of money with our name. All of this could help a great deal.

We have a multinational workforce from people who grew up in some very, very difficult areas, like Afghanistan, Iran, Belarus, and Russia. If we go out of business as they [the Trump administration] are trying to do, then what happens to those people? Are they supposed to just simply go back to Iran? Or Kyrgyzstan? Or any of these other places that now call us foreign agents?

I’m really looking for a sign that the people at USAGM understand the implications of their move. I haven’t heard a single expression of support. Instead, I hear them disparaging us, using childish language to describe us. It’s a real blow to the people who risk everything to come and work for us because they believe in the mission.

FP: You mentioned that the courts are just one of the strategies you’re looking at. What are the others? Are you looking at other funding sources or backing from European governments?

SC: We’ve not exhausted all the possibilities with the United States. We’re still in court—nothing that I do will put that at risk.

We also have bipartisan support inside Congress. The United States options are what we’ve relied on for 75 years, and this is what we’re going to continue to aggressively explore.

But something happened the day that [then-USAGM senior advisor] Kari Lake announced that she was going to close our grant agreement—unceremoniously, no advance warning, no indication to us that this was going to happen. I immediately started getting calls of support from various European leaders. The Czech minister of foreign affairs was the first one, and very quickly, high-ranking European officials stepped forward. And almost to a person, they said to me: “This is deeply meaningful to me personally and my family. This was a lifeline to us any number of different times, including recently when we wanted to know what was happening in Ukraine.” We have journalists there who’ve risked everything to try to make sure that the world still knows what’s going on there. So they came forward and they said: “We believe in this mission. We don’t want to see it go away. Tell us how we can support.”

This is not the time for me to say to them: “OK, give us this, and everything will be OK.” It’s not the right time for that. But believe me, having that overwhelming response from the world community has been very, very gratifying, and it’s a little bit different than what we’ve heard from Washington.

What it turns into long term? It’s premature to say anything because we are a nonprofit corporation headquartered in the great state of Delaware, and that doesn’t change tomorrow. It doesn’t change the next day.

Get us our operating funds. If you want to cut us loose at that point, then let’s have a conversation.

Thank goodness, though, for those European leaders, those brave leaders, to step up and say: “We get it, we feel it, we understand it. We are terrified at the thought of Russia having all of this information space to themselves.” It’s not like we’re the only ones doing it, but we’re the most successful. We’ve got the biggest audiences. We’ve got 75 years of brand equity and relationships with our audiences. You know, we’re reaching 9 percent of the Russian audience on average every week. We’re reaching 10 percent of the Iranian audience on average every week.

We’re reaching close to 40 percent of the Ukrainian audience every week. Why is that? We’re doing something different in Ukraine. We’re covering Russian atrocities, we’re covering Russian war crimes, and we’re keeping the [Ukrainian] government accountable in the anti-corruption space.

FP: RFE/RL was set up to counter hostility to free speech and a free press in authoritarian nations. How do you view that same type of hostility now being shown by the U.S. government?

SC: Well, I don’t know what’s motivating them right now to take these actions. We’ve all seen what Elon Musk is up to in DOGE and the desire to save money—OK, I’m a proud American taxpayer, I like government efficiency, too, but I also have a healthy respect for our people who are doing this kind of work.

Generally speaking, I’m going to support the countries that want to have a free press and want to have access. Notions of a free press help keep societies healthier. It’s part of the reason that when we do our programming in some of the places that I listed before, I know we’re a thorn in their sides. I know that they don’t want the kind of coverage that we give to these regimes, and they go to great lengths to try to shut down our websites, block our feeds, beat up our journalists, and throw them in jail.

The head of Russia’s RT went on the air recently gloating that they’ve been trying to do this sort of thing to us for years, and she [basically] said: “We didn’t succeed, but thanks to the United States, it’s happening for us. Thank you, President Trump.”

That should give everybody pause. Everybody should be nervous if people like that are celebrating. Look at some of the rhetoric from China and Iran. It makes me personally ill to see that.

FP: What would your advice be to the American media that is trying to cover the Trump administration and its more authoritarian behavior?

SC: I think that the issues are somewhat different. We view this as an existential threat. I don’t think that the American media is facing an existential threat when the president chooses to criticize The Associated Press for the reasons that we’ve all seen, so it’s a little bit different.

I would just say that I know that this mission is respected, is valued, and is needed to keep everyone safe.

I like the work I did at NBC—The Today Show, Nightly News, Meet the Press—that was important. Is it the kind of thing that Americans at home are kept safe by? I don’t think it’s at the same degree. This work that we’re doing now is of vital importance. And it is something that we operate in concert with the national security interests of people all over the free world.

I think all democratic values are worth safeguarding and jealously protecting at all costs.

I’m not looking to get involved in the U.S. internal politics. I’m not saying that there were political reasons behind these moves. I don’t know what the motivation has been—it might simply be part of the DOGE efforts. But regardless of the intent, the inescapable conclusion is the world is not going to be as safe of a place without us. That’s what we hear from our supporters in Congress, that’s what I hear from government leaders all across Europe, and that’s why people come and do the kind of work that they do, at great personal risk in many cases.

FP: And what would your message be to other U.S. government agencies facing these cuts from the Trump administration that you have fought back against?

SC: I’m really reluctant to get in the middle of the U.S. political process right now, and I’ve got my hands full just with this case.

If anybody wants to take away some important things from our success thus far, it is: Act quickly, be prepared as much as possible, and if you have something worth fighting for, keep going.

FP: Radio Free Europe was, of course, created to go behind the Iron Curtain. How do you feel about the way Trump and the Trump administration have been dealing with Russia, and how are you seeing it in the regions where you broadcast?

SC: It’s not my place to weigh in on the political moves of the president. But what I would point out, and I do point out every time I’m in Washington, especially with members of Congress, [is that] our people who are based in Ukraine—which include Ukrainian journalists, which include people speaking in Russian for Russian audiences—all those people have told the world under no uncertain terms what’s going on there, including the outright commitment of war crimes that have happened in Ukraine, targeting a civilian population, looking at those schoolkids who were bombed to smithereens by Russian missiles.

But it doesn’t just stop there. At the same time, we’re holding the Ukrainian government accountable for all of this money that has poured in there. Everybody wants to follow the money. Everybody wants to know how true to anti-corruption measures are the Ukrainians being. We do this all day, every day. And what I would say to President Trump or what I’d say to our stakeholders in Congress: That’s the kind of work that should be supported. It helps the world, and [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky understands the importance of it. We’ve spoken face to face about it, and I believe it’s all true.

We document the war crimes. We follow the money. Ukraine is a beautiful country with wonderful people who are not just living in their evacuation shelters. They are resilient. They are proud. They are independent.

We’ve had to reduce the size of the staff, to slow our rate of spend. But you know what? Every single language service is existing right now. In some cases, people are volunteering. We program for 23 countries, 27 different languages—every single one of those services is still operating right now, even though they told us weeks and weeks ago that we needed to stop. We’re not going anywhere.

[honeyhaeya]

🎮Part-Time Lover | JxW 🎭 `~^\___TEASER___/^~`

JxW Fanfiction / Jeonghan & Wonwoo FF (SERIES)

Afab!Reader x Jeonghan & Wonwoo - MDNI Genre: Smut, CEO x Streamer, CEO x Employee, Gamer x Gamer, Streamer x Gamer, Streamer x Streamer, Enemies to Lovers(?), Friends to Lovers(?), Friends with Benefits, Slowburn, Angst, Romance, RomCom, Workplace Romance, Love Triangle(?), Slice of Life, Modern AU, (inspired by GAM3B01) ⚠️ WARNINGS ⚠️: explicit sexual content (18+, smut), alcohol consumption, mentions of drunken behavior, slight workplace power imbalance (CEO x Employee dynamic), strong language (profanity), cyberbullying/online hate (mentions of rumors, edited content), emotional manipulation (mild, e.g., jeonghan’s cold treatment), petty arguments (playful/tense, potential verbal sparring), depictions of stress/anxiety related to online and work life, light suggestive jokes/humor, mentions of romantic/sexual tension between characters, enemies to lovers-style tension (includes teasing, rivalry, jealousy), and my shitty writing (lol I hope y'all enjoy on this one) wc: 734

TEASER

🎮 "In a world where gaming isn’t just a hobby but a battlefield..." 🎭

By all accounts, your life shouldn’t be this complicated. You’ve mastered the double life effortlessly—or at least, that’s what it looks like from the outside.

By day, you’re the razor-sharp assistant to Jeonghan, a CEO whose reputation is as sleek as the tailored suits he wears. In the professional world, you’re known for your no-nonsense attitude, your precision, your ability to keep up with a man whose demands leave most people in the dust. By night, though, you’re a completely different force: Kitsunya. The streamer with a bite, whose persona is as sharp as her gameplay. You’ve carved out a name in a world that doesn’t give second chances, where every mistake—or perceived mistake—can uncover years of hard work.

And for a while, you had it all figured out. A rhythm. A balance. Two worlds, perfectly parallel, never touching. Until that night.

You don’t need anyone to remind you what happened—though your brain seems to enjoy doing it anyway. One drink too many, a kiss you didn’t mean to give, and suddenly, Jeonghan was no longer just your boss. He was the man you’d kissed. The man whose lips lingered far too long in your memory, though you can’t tell if it’s from embarrassment or something else entirely.

The fallout? Silent, subtle, but impossible to ignore.

Jeonghan hasn’t spoken a word about it since. But he didn’t have to. His actions say it all: the coffee runs to nowhere, the cold detachment, the subtle but deliberate way he keeps you at arm’s length. And yet, his eyes linger. Longer than they should. As if he’s waiting for you to say something—or maybe daring you not to.

But here’s the kicker: you’re not even sure you know what you’d say.

And then, there’s Wonwoo.

Oh, Wonwoo. The thorn in your side, the bane of your streams. The gamer who seems to have made it his life’s mission to get under your skin. What started as casual teasing during streams has evolved into full-on verbal warfare, the kind that has fans pulling out popcorn and hashtags. It should be easy to dismiss him as just another troll in your life, but there’s something about him that’s… infuriatingly magnetic. You hate that you’re even thinking about him right now.

The tension between you and Jeonghan is one thing. But now, people are starting to notice the dynamic between you and Wonwoo—particularly Jeonghan. You can feel it in the way his gaze sharpens when your name comes up, the way he watches your streams a little too closely. It’s not possessiveness, not exactly. But it’s something, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel the heat from it.

Then, just when you thought things couldn’t get messier, the gaming world turned on you.

A viral clip. A doctored video accusing you of hacking. In a space where credibility is everything, the hit was personal. Haters piled on, armed with accusations and hashtags, while loyal fans fought to defend you. It was chaos. But you? You handled it like you always do—with a smirk, a quip, and a gameplay session that shut them all up.

Still, the stress is starting to seep in, and you don’t know how much longer you can keep your walls intact.

And then, Seungcheol happened.

A party, he said. Just a casual get-together for streamers and friends. You’d turned him down initially—your schedule was packed, and honestly, you weren’t in the mood to socialize. But Seungkwan and Hoshi wouldn’t let up, their constant nagging somehow finding its way into your streams and DMs. By the time the weekend rolled around, you found yourself with no choice but to show up.

So, here you are.

Jeonghan’s there, of course. Polished, poised, and watching you with an intensity that makes your skin prickle. Wonwoo’s there too, leaning against the bar with that infuriating smirk of his, as if he knows something you don’t. And the rest of your circle? Laughing, teasing, acting like life isn’t one giant chess game where every move feels loaded with meaning.

The night is young, and the air hums with the kind of energy that promises something big.

You thought boss battles in gaming were tough? This tension, unresolved feelings, and unexpected rivalries would be enough to make your hairs attached to your head fall out. Because the real game? It’s just getting started.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a/n: to make up the loss of my sudden-long vaca, i wrote this for the reader-anon who requested this ages ago (a wonwoo ff but i decided to add my lovely wife, jeonghan to the mix cause i love and miss him so fucking bad). and now, im making a teaser cause i feel bad for staying out far too long. i have a ton of works pending and im already on it cause like wtf i love writing and this has been on my head far too long. I HOPE YOU GUYS WOULD WANT TO READ THIS AND LMAO I HAVENT EVEN FINISHED OMC SERIES AND IM ALREADY MAKING ANOTHER ONE WTF ajwnruoenfguoaofa im making a masterlist, for those who wants to be added on the taglist reblog / comment on this post and you'll be automatically added ! TY FOR READING ILY GUYS SM

[mistressemmedi]

could you please summarise the Horner situation. I'm not asking for drama or anything like that, I have just been completely unaware that Ford got also involved? so a mini timeline or credible sources to read would be appreciated

Short timeline: at the beginning of February, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf breaks the news that an employee filed a complaint with RBR's parent company in Austria about Horner's behavior. The initial news article did not clarify what the nature of the allegations were against Horner. (Link)

Red Bull GmbH said they took the allegations seriously and had hired an external lawyer to investigate the matter.

Horner denied any wrongdoings and retained his position as TP for the team. He also hired his own lawyer. (Link)

De Telegraaf released another article further clarifying that the allegations were of a sexual nature and that Horner attempted to buy the employee's silence for the alleged price of £650,000. De Telegraaf further said that there are many WhatsApp messages that prove the allegations were true. (Link)

Horner continued to retain his position as team principal and was operating as usual during testing.

Ford, future engine supplier, was the only sponsor (related to the team) that spoke up about the allegations and said they were keen to have this resolved quickly and said they would want Horner gone ASAP its company and partners to very high moral standards. (link)

The CEO of Ford sent a letter to Red Bull wanting a resolution ASAP because the racing season is starting this week and if the allegations are true, they do not want any association with Horner/RBR with their brand (link)

I tried to link everything to one single source, and AP is a good unbiased news outlet. There has been speculation as to why it was a Dutch newspaper that broke the initial news 👀, and whether or not Red Bull has been unhappy with Horner for a while and they're using this as an excuse to kick him out.

Regardless, what remains a fact is that Horner is working as per usual, RBR has defended him, and nobody in the circus has spoken up in regards to the issue.

✨ EDIT AS OF FEB 28/2024: Reb Bull concluded its internal investigation and cleared Christian Horner of all allegations (link)

[vclvetfleur]

Obedient Chapter 10

roman roy x fem!reader

Summary: A week has gone by since you and Roman had argued and you both refuse to let it go. He even had resorted to ignoring you and making your job difficult. You get an offer from Kendall and take it.

TW: dr*g and alcohol abuse

Note: I had such a difficult time trying to figure out how to close this era off to the next. But thank you tik tok for giving me an idea.

Chapter 10: Nut milk

You and Roman hadn’t spoken to one another in over a week. You turned down Shiv’s dinner request, knowing it would be too soon to be around Roman for that long after just spending your morning and afternoon with him. You just thought it was for the best to give him that space. But in return of that, you were spending more time with Jess. You felt guilty though. You constantly lied to her about what happened with Roman. You just passed it off as you both saying very nasty things to each other because Roman was upset about the CEO position being taken away from him. Jess felt sorry for you. It had really taken a toll on you that even Kendall mentioned it. He offered to bring you on his morning runs, but you weren’t up for it. But he did finally come up with an offer you were willing to take.

Since Kendall began seeing Naomi Pierce, they’ve been both falling into bad habits. Their dynamic basically consisted of binges and partying together. He thought it’d be great to invite you out since he had tried to promise you that his idea of fun wasn’t as boring as you assumed it would be. You fought with the idea for a bit before accepting his offer.

You had gotten ready in your normal clothes for the first time in a while. This was the only time you had didn’t feel the need to dress up professionally. You had asked Jess to tag along, but she felt a bit burned out to go out to a party that realistically was going to last awhile. Kendall’s car was going to be there soon. He had brought a few more people out with them, which were all of Naomi’s friends that she felt comfortable sharing her relapse with. She wasn’t willing to let the news break out like the last time. Which she blamed ATN for. You made final edits to your appearance before finally rushing out of the apartment. You had gotten into the limo the Kendall sent out. No one was in there though. I guess you were the only one who lived farther from them. I mean, you did live in Brooklyn, and they probably were in Manhattan. But eventually the car filled up. You had just chatted with the girls that came in, pouring drinks for each other and laughing. They weren’t typically your type of people, but a night out could be fun with them. As long as they didn’t act too out of line. But everyone stopped as the host of the night, Kendall and Naomi got into the car. He seemed a lot more jumpy than he has ever been. He spoke a lot quicker too and seemed to stumble on his own words a lot. You had spent enough time in the club scene to see what was happening. He had just done a couple of lines with Naomi before getting in the car. You just decided to not say much. It wasn’t really your business. He had relapsed long ago, you knew that. Maybe he was handling his addiction better? You tried to rationalize it. Kendall kept encouraging everyone to do shots, even you. “Come on! One more before we go in.” Kendall encouraged. One of Naomi’s friends had poured everyone one before raising hers in the air. “One! Two! Three!” One of them counted before they all downed your shot. You were psyching yourself out before taking the shot down. You dry heaved from the taste of it. “Isn’t fancy tequila supposed to go down easier?” You coughed, grabbing a soda to drink to get rid of the flavor that was still on your tongue. The car stopped, but you fixed your lipstick before getting out with everyone. Kendall made sure to watch over you tonight. He wasn’t sure what you were really prepared for and how much you were willing to even be around. He also did have some care for you after having to see you constantly. He didn’t want to leave you behind. He spoke to the bouncer before leading you all in, keeping Naomi on his arm. You were let into a dark room before the doors open to reveal lights flashing everywhere. There were people covering the entire floor, either dancing or making out with a stranger they had just met. You hadn’t gone out in a while actually. Not since you left college a couple months ago. You had no one to go with. And you were too stressed out. But you use to go out 2 or 3 times a night. “You alright?” Kendall shouted over the music into your ear. You nodded, raising a thumbs up. “Our table is gonna be over there. So just order from there. It’s all on me.” He told you. You appreciated the sentiment. Once you adjusted to the environment, you loosened up. You went into the crowd, dancing with yourself or whoever was willing to join you. Every so often Naomi’s friends would join with you or wonder around and discover more stuff in the club. You had gotten a few drinks, downing some shots to keep your energy up. You knew you’d crash eventually, but you weren’t slowing down anytime soon. After a while of going around, you decided to find Kendall. Luckily for you, he had been looking for you as well. You walked to him, his arm wrapping around your shoulder as he brought you over to Naomi. “Hiiii my gorgeous girl.” Naomi giggled, pinching your cheeks. You were too drunk to even understand your surroundings. “Where have you been tonight? Me and Sophia had just scored some coke, if you’re up for it.” She tried to test out if you’d join or not. Kendall wasn’t sure where you stood with drugs, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

But you were in a place to want to keep excitement in your body. “How long til it gets here?” You asked her. She smiled, looking at Kendall then at you. “20 more minutes.” She told you. You nodded, agreeing to the offer. You had taken a few hits of poppers from strangers today. You weren’t oppose to it. Plus, Kendall could probably afford coke that wasn’t laced with anything. Thankfully Naomi’s friend, Alisson, knew what was going to go down for the night and brought test strips with her.

“Come on, dance with me till it gets here.” You giggled, dragging Naomi away from Kendall. She laughed, putting her hand on your shoulder as you pushed through the crowd to find enough room for the two of you. You listened to the music, moving your body to the beat of it, not caring who was looking or judging you. You finally broke out of your shell that Roman had created. Being around the Roy’s made you feel so self-conscious of how you acted or dressed, but in a setting like this, it didn’t matter when they were just as much of a mess as you were. After dancing to 3 songs, Naomi broke it short, saying her dealer was here. You both rushed out, you stumbling a little. You sat back with Kendall and Naomi and her two friends had gone out to meet with him.

“You look like you’re having fun. I-uh- I feel like I hadn’t seen you smile-y’know since Nan’s.” Kendall expressed to you. You shrugged, slumped on the couch that was in Kendall’s paid section of the club. “Well, you can thank your dumbass little brother for that.” You giggled, grabbing the alcohol that was on the table, pouring cranberry and vodka into a cup before sipping on it to make sure it tasted good enough. You laid back, looking up at Kendall. “Give it up to Roman for ruining things.” Kendall put his glass up to make a toast on Roman’s behalf. You laughed loudly, probably cause of the alcohol, clinking his glass with yours. “What even- “He started before Naomi came in, tapping you both on the shoulder. She directed her head to the direction of somewhere more private. They couldn’t risk pictures leaking out. The club was huge, there were multiple rooms that had some kind of privacy to them. You followed them as they lead you and 2 other girls to a room that was small, but quiet enough. Naomi cut up lines for everyone, preparing some of it and testing to make sure it was good enough to even sniff. It was. But she couldn’t be too stupid. Naomi leaned forward and took a line before the rest of them took a turn, leaving you last. You held the rolled up dollar bill to your nose, leaning forward and inhaling it. You pinched the bridge of your nose, sniffling to make sure you had gotten it through your nose. It felt a bit like a burning sensation. You just had to wait 2 or 5 minutes before it was going to actually start to kick into gear.

“Have you ever done this kind of stuff y/n?” Naomi asked with a little smirk on her lips. “I mean I did a lot of regrettable things in college.” You laughed, palming your nose. You let your hand drop down. Naomi couldn’t stop laughing. You think it finally had hit her. Her high started. Before you knew it yours did too. You all had about 40 minutes before you come down. But Kendall and Naomi weren’t going to wait for it. They had drawn more lines, offering you some. You took the offer. Your body felt a jolt in itself as you had felt as though you were on cloud nine. Your body had a lightness to it. The rest of the night went on, you all just come back and then going out to dance and cause some kind of issue for yourselves. You and Kendall sat together alone, him finally having a come down. It was 3 am, Naomi was almost ready to leave, but was holding out for her friend who was busy with some guy.

“So what happened between you and Rome? You both seemed to be in some kind of fucking little honeymoon phase.” Kendall wondered; his sunglasses put on in an indoor setting to hide what utter shit he looked like after treating his body like that. “I mean- you both- come on.” Kendall teased. “You both basically eye fucked all day.” He wouldn’t let it go.

You would’ve never said this. But you weren’t in the headspace to even talk about anything serious. You had an awareness to you, but your mouth moved faster than your mind. “Roman and I kissed.” You confessed. Kendall shot up, clapping his hands together once. “I fucking knew it. So what? What’s wrong?” He was trying to invade your personal boundaries, but it was just nice to be able to even say anything to anyone. “I uh- well the next morning- I told him we couldn’t do that anymore.” You shrugged. Kendall laughed in disbelief. You were happy that someone finally knew. “Don’t tell Jess.” You begged him. He crossed his chest, making sure you knew he was keeping the secret with him.

“Well, did you want to kiss him?” Kendall was deeply curious. He didn’t see why Roman out of all people. Yeah, it was his brother, but he knew Roman’s personality mostly ruined every relationship he was in. “Yea. But that’s not the point. I just- it’s wrong, right? Me kissing my boss?” You asked him realistically. It was ethically and morally wrong, but it was something you wanted. There was no pressure. But it was social pressure of how you’d be treated. But regardless, you did want him in that way.

“Fuck no!” Kendall went on and tried to break down his thoughts people being upset about that were at the end of the day pussies. “Do you still want him?” Kendall egged you on. You nodded, admitting it to yourself finally. “You should go to his house.” Kendall continued to egg you on. You weren’t sure it was a good idea, but you took a shot of liquid courage and got up. “Wait- are you actually?” He laughed, wanting up with you. You nodded before grabbing your things. “Thank you for the best advice I could ask for Ken.” You hugged him before leaving him alone in the room. He was in complete disbelief that you would actually take his advice in any consideration; nonetheless you did. Roman’s house was just 10 blocks away, so it was about a 15 minute walk. You stumbled down the streets of New York, drunkenly laughing to yourself. You decided to even call Roman to at least give him a heads up. But he never responded. Regardless of you laughed and practically shouted at your phone to let you in when you finally get there. Before you knew it, you were at Roman’s building. You gave your name to the front desk, they’ve seen you before multiple times, letting you in easily. You had gone up to his floor, stepping out of the elevator and knocked on his door. You had probably been standing there for a good 5 minutes before you saw the lights come on in the hallways. Roman had been asleep, hearing buzzing and slamming on his door. He looked around, rubbing his face before finally sitting up in his empty bed. He looked at his phone, seeing a miss call from you, along with a voicemail. He got up, putting on some lounge pants and shirt before going downstairs. He played the voicemail, hearing a lot of laughing and giggling through his phone’s speaker. He could barely understand what you were saying before hearing you stop giggling as much before. “Okay! Byeeeeee! See you soon!” You then broke out into laughter. He turned on the lights in the apartment each time he entered the room before stopping at the door. He leaned up to the peep hole to see you waiting there patiently for him. He opened the door, being met with you coming inside immediately. You wreaked of booze. “Did you just rob a liquor store? It’s 4 am, they’re not even open now. What the fuck are-?” he asked before you shut the door behind the two of you. You laid on his wall, looking up at him suggestively, grabbing the end of his shirt, pulling him lightly close to you.

“You knoooow, I really wanted to fuck you the other night.” You confessed to him, stumbling on your words as you did, not only because of the alcohol, but you did do another line on your way here. You had stolen their little baggie before leaving Kendall. And the shot wasn’t entirely helping your nerves.

“Fucking haha, very funny joke. Get the fuck out y/n.” he rolled his eyes, turning his head away from you. But you ignored him, keeping your hands to fidget with his shirt.

“Noooo, I’m serious. Come on, you wanted to fuck me too.” You poked his stomach. He flinched, grabbing your hand to prevent you from touching his stomach like that again. He looked down at you as you gave him the goofiest smile unconsciously.

“It isn’t professional.” He mimicked your voice. He assumed you had been out and gotten a bit tipsy. You did smell, but it could’ve also been all the alcohol that accidentally spilled onto you the whole evening.

“Fuck professional. I want you right now.” You laughed, pulling him in before kissing him. You wrapped your arms around him, pulling him closer to you. Roman could help himself. His hands landed down to your hips, pulling you close to him as your lips moved together, craving one another. It seemed like nothing was gonna tear you both from one each other. He was still mad, but he craved your touch more than ever. He couldn’t ignore how good you had made him feel that night. He just wanted one more night to feel that way again. He knew this was just as big as a mistake as you did. But he knew this could end badly if he continued on. He pulled away from you. You looked up at him desperately, trying to get him to kiss you again, but he shook his head no. “Come on, let’s get you sobered up.” He sighed. He let his hand out, offering it to you. You took it as he helped you walk to the kitchen. He made sure you didn’t trip as you hopped up on the chair that he had at his island. He grabbed you a cup of water, handing it off to you. “There uh- another room on this floor. I’m going to bed since you woke me up with your late night booty call.” He tried to make you laugh, but right now you’d laugh at anything he said. He tried to make sure you got into his guest bedroom bed safe enough before leaving you alone. He laid you on your side, leaving a trash can from the bathroom on the side for you just in case. He went upstairs to his bedroom, laying back down in his bed. He wanted to hold you, but knew once you woke up, you’d freak out on him. There was no way you were gonna remember any of this. Fortunately for Roman, you had passed out once you laid down. You were in a deep sleep. And you had been for most of the morning. You had woken up at 11:40 with Roman in his common area, just close enough to make sure you were okay. He even had run down to the store to get you some milk that you’d actually drink in your coffee in the morning. He grabbed whatever he saw that wasn’t cow’s milk. He even grabbed a croissant that was in a wrapper. He assumed croissants didn’t need any animal products to be made.  

You got up with a massive headache and your whole body feeling extremely sore from the night before. You groaned, holding your body as close to yourself as possible. Roman heard the groveling, getting up to go to your room. “Good morning, how was your shift at the bar?” He tried to ease you into what had happened the night prior. “Uh-I have-uh fucking aspirin if you want.” He offered, seeing your glass from last night was still full. You looked up at him before covering your face in complete embarrassment of what you did last night. You remembered everything. You didn’t regret what you did, just how you did it. “Are we even now that you rejected me?” You asked, pulling your hands away from your face, looking at Roman with a pout on your lips. Your eyes were too tired to fully open either. The glass walls didn’t help either.

“Yeah-yeah, you’re forgiven. Uh- here, lets get you up, huh?” He passed the conversation back to you. You nodded, slowly getting up, sitting on the edge of the bed. He helped you up, your legs feeling as if they had been beaten with a bat. They wobbled before finally getting a grasp of it. “I’m fine. Uh- do you have a toothbrush I can use?” You asked him. Your breath smelt terrible. It was a mix of morning breathe and liquor residue.  He nodded before rushing back to where he left the bag of shit he got for you. He also made sure to get you a toothbrush. He brought it back as you had made your way to the bathroom already. Your makeup was a complete mess. You washed your face, hearing Roman come in. He set the brand new toothbrush down before sitting on the large counter. “So wanna talk about last night?” He wondered.

You looked up at him, your lips in a tight line. “Can we just have a nice moment again before it goes to shit again?” You begged. He nodded and left you alone. You brushed your teeth and left the bedroom to see Roman pouring himself coffee that he just made you. You went over and grabbed yourself a mug before pouring yourself a cup. “Wanna check the fridge?” He hinted to you. You gave him a questioning look before going to the fridge to see almond milk in the fridge. You weren’t the biggest fan, but the sentiment was kind. You turned to him with endearment. “Thank you, Rome.” You gave him a smile before pouring it into your coffee. “Yeah- shut up.” He pretended to be annoyed. You sat down at the counter, sipping on your coffee. “Uh- I got you a croissant too.” He slid it over to you. Your smile grew, but you suppressed it, trying not to entirely hurt his feelings before breaking the bad news to him.

“Uh- Rome, croissants have egg in them. And butter. And milk. But thank you.” You finally giggled. He quickly grabbed it, calling it bullshit before reading the back to see the allergy warning ‘Contains : Milk and Eggs’. He made an annoyed sound, putting it down.

“Is fucking everything made with that? Fuck- how do you live?” He took his annoyance on you. You put your hand over his and tried to give him a reassuring smile. He pulled away though.

“Rome, I meant what I said last night. I really do want you. I talked about it with someone, and they made me realize that I-uh- that I should stop myself for what a possible outcome could be.” You smiled, finally letting it off your chest. You waited for his reaction. He just stood there and tried to process it. “I’ve liked you for a while, I just didn’t realize until that day and I got scared.” You continued. You hated how silent he was. It made you anxious. You tried to cover the silence with your voice, but Roman finally came to a conclusion.

“Uh- well. I do think you were right. I think it could really hurt both your and my reputation. Fucking-y’know with all that shit about oh abuse of power or whatever the fuck.” He finally gave his answer. He looked over at you, trying to see how you’d respond. You were definitely disappointed and hurt. This is probably how Roman felt the other day. You felt such a large range of emotions. Embarrassed for even putting yourself out there and for kissing him last night. A lot of resentment for Kendall for talking you into it. But a lot of just- sadness I guess- because you wanted to yell at Roman but had no right to. It wasn’t on him.

“Alright- well… I’m uh- I’m sorry for uh- y’know. All that.” You tried to get over the rejection quickly. Roman let out a brief sigh watching as you shifted in your seat. You tried to make it seem as though it didn’t entirely effect you. But it did.

“I-I don’t wanna stop though. If you- only if- you really wanted to take advantage of your boss or whatever the fuck.” He eluded to keeping things private between the two of you. Little sessions and romantic gestures but kept privately. “We don’t need to have sex per say” He tried to dodge that awkward talk of his inability to even have sex hardly ever. “And how would that exactly work?” You asked him, you weren’t entirely sure of what he was even trying to say. “Well-“ He tried to think, walking over to you, laying his hands onto your thighs. He looked at your lips before finally speaking once again. “Maybe just-like this.” He said, laying a hand over your cheek before laying his lips onto yours again. You melted into the kiss, being so much softer yet passionate. You leaned in, moving him in between your legs. Shortly the kiss was cut, you biting down on your bottom lip and looking at Roman as you both shared a mutual understanding of whatever this was going to be. “Well- I guess I’m fine with taking advantage of my poor boss.” You joked before laying one last kiss onto his lips. But Roman couldn’t be in a serious. “Ugh- I can taste that fucking nut water.” You couldn’t help but laugh before drinking your coffee in front of him.

“You’re fucking gross.” You mumbled.

Chapter 11

[room-1280]

Short Fazbear Entertainment LLC rant

I've spoken about this briefly when I talked about midnight motorist, but I think it deserves it's own paragraph.

As the title suggests I despise modern Fazbear Entertainment, from Fnaf Ar (Come back, the kids miss you, Illumix please) all the way up to Help Wanted 2. Both Fazbear Entertainment inc and Fazbear Entertainment LLC have both had shady business practises, I mean was letting employees wear the springlock suits a good business decision? Despite that, my hatred for Fazbear Ent. LLC stems for the sheer callousness against Henry.

Now the modern Fazbear CEO probably doesn't know the full picture from Fnaf 6, nor the full picture of anything that occurred in the restaurants Will and Henry owned. They wouldn't have understood why letting the legacy of the Fazbear brand continue, is a horrible choice. Also, they're a money hungry corporation so I don't think they'd give any regards to the sacrifices made by their former founder. So, in short, this wouldn't theoretically be viable in canon, but it the thought of still stings. I've had a gripe with this for the past two years.

With that out the way, I don't think I can put into words the outrage I feel over this. Henry gave his life away, to put an end to everything. In his words "This ends for all of us, end communication". And that should have been it, no? The children could finally move on, Henry and Michael both passed in the fire. Hell, even William wouldn't have been able to do anything because of UCN. The sheer courage and selflessness you would need to have in order to do what Henry did is tremendous. Of course, one could see this as him redeeming himself for not taken action against what William did what they were working together but still. Essentially, self immolating is a painful way to die but he still took the risk in order to let Elizabeth, his daughter move on, Michael (Albeit unexpected) to move on, to stop William etc etc. And what did Fazbear entertainment do? Disrespect him in every way possible.

I sort of see this as a betrayal in a way, especially with Help wanted. Like, they phrased it as 'Ha ha funny, we're poking fun at our past' when in the Fnafverse, those were actual tragedies, families were broken, peoples lives were changed. Like, it's insanely disrespectful of them to write off the Charlottes murder, both bites, the Mci, even the DCI as jokes. Yeah, they're a shit company but I feel like this completely undermines Henry's intentions and is basically a slap in the face to him.

That's all... for now, I might edit this in the near future when I find the words to explain how aggravating this is. (Ps. I haven't proofread this so forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes)

While checking to see if Illumix made Fnaf AR, I stumbled upon a feature of the app called 'Haywire', I'm 99% this is where the name for the DBD perk came from, maybe? Because they did reference FNAF world, so it's always a possibility...

[beardedmrbean]

Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva has been jailed for six-and-a-half years by a court in the central city of Kazan on a charge of spreading false information about the Russian army.

An editor for US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) said the mother of two was arrested in Russia last October for failing to register as a foreign agent.

She was sentenced on Friday, court officials said, the same day that fellow US journalist Evan Gershkovich was jailed for 16 years for espionage.

Ms Kurmasheva denies any wrongdoing, and Stephen Capus, RFE/RL president and CEO, told the AP news agency that her conviction was "a mockery of justice".

"It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family," Mr Capus added.

In a statement to the BBC, her husband Pavel Butorin said: "The girls and I know Alsu has done nothing wrong. And the world knows it too. We need her home."

Speaking to journalists when her custody was extended in May, Ms Kurmasheva said she had not spoken to her two daughters since her arrest, adding that her health was deteriorating.

Ms Kurmasheva, who holds both US and Russian citizenship, works for RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir service. The two languages are closely related and spoken by indigenous peoples in two central Russian regions.

Ms Kurmasheva's work frequently focused on issues facing the ethnic minorities of central Russia.

According to RFE/RL, Ms Kurmasheva, who lives in the Czech Republic, travelled to Kazan in late May last year for a family emergency. She was detained while waiting for her return flight and her Russian and American passports were confiscated.

In Russia it is illegal to fail to declare a US passport.

She was fined, then arrested months later on the "foreign agent" charge. In December, while in custody, she was hit with the more serious charge of spreading false information.

It is believed her conviction may be linked to a book she edited in 2022 entitled Saying No to War, containing interviews with and stories from Russians opposed to the invasion.

Independent Russian media organisations and press freedom watchdogs say repressive laws are routinely used by Russian authorities to harass journalists and stifle independent reporting.

The situation has worsened since the invasion of Ukraine, with the "false information" charge commonly used to stamp out criticism of the war.

The charge was rushed through Russia's rubber-stamp parliament shortly after 24 February 2024 - the day Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time it was "urgently needed because of the absolutely unprecedented information war waged against our country".

Russia has been accused of hoarding US citizens to use as bartering chips to secure the release of Kremlin allies imprisoned abroad.

Mr Gershkovich's sentencing on Friday raised speculation of a possible swap with Russian prisoners held in foreign jails.

The speed of his conviction led some observers to believe that an exchange was imminent.

According to Russian judicial practice, an exchange generally requires a verdict to be in place already.

But while a possible swap for Mr Gershkovich was mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson in February, Ms Kurmasheva's fate is less clear.

[voxvaughn]

📝❤️🪐🙈 for vaughn !!

("imagine if your s/i was canon" ask game !!)

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

SMILES SO EVIL LIKE ANIMAL JAM EMOJI. so personally i Love to keep my s/i's (and most OCs i make) as canon compliant as possible bc working within restrictions is Fun 2 me. what i'm getting at is i've thought about this a LOT

so, Vaughn would be The Fourth™ V, and fills in the gap for the decade missing between Valentino & Velvette's deaths (the 80s-90s); , he's the most financially literate, verbally soft-spoken, and persuasive of the four, and would have represented the Vees at Carmilla's meeting if he was an Overlord- but unlike the other Vees, he's not in the soul business.

his initial influence to the plot intially woudn't be drastic; i imagine Season 1 playing out basically unchanged, but add a few lines of dialogue here and there between him, Vox, and Velvette. I do think he was in the room during the battle between Heaven and the Hotel; but outside of establishing him as a guy who Exists and associates with the Vees, it'd remain the same.

Season 2 (Vaughn Edition) would explore the relationship between Vox and Valentino more, alongside Vox and Vaughn- with Vox being a power hungry WEIRDO over VoxTek and Vaughn as a sort of retaliation/coping mechanism to the powerlessness he feels at Valentino's abuse. Vaughn is the only sinner to care to actually try to look deeper into Vox's obsessive behaviors towards Alastor in more than a "lol weird. stop obsessing over grandpa. anyways" way, and would give Vox WAY more chances to prove he's not actually garbage than he Ever deserves; and although they never directly say anything about romantic feelings, it'd be hard to read it as anything else. their relationship is really messy and volatile and justbad at first, but that's what makes it so beautiful when they do eventually get better.

TLDR it wouldn't be a different show at all at first... but then it would be >:3

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

HONESTLY, i feel like people wouldn't like us at all. the fandom likes putting Vox in ships where he's at his most toxic (RadioStatic & VoxVal, for example) and the whole point of his arc with Vaughn is that he's capable of being a better man underneath and despite it all. they'd be a canon pairing, but a rarepair simultaneously

🪐: What would be your most popular AU and why?

imo, given that Vaughn's appearance is a direct result of his soul being bound to Vox; i'd imagine AUs where his soul contract was instead signed to a different Overlord (most likely Alastor, if not the other Vees) would be the most popular! i can imagine the parts of the fandom that do ship VoxVaughn having a lot of fun making Warrior Cat styled "forbidden romance" angst, as well as general interpretations of how he'd look belonging to other Demons being a popular fanart topic!

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

VoxVaughn would be considered fluffy because it's a romance that flourished healthily after both parties suffered horrifically; their fluff is most often a "quiet after the storm" kind, because both parties had to fight through Hell and back (semi-literally) to get to a the point they are now. Vaughn teaches Vox how to empathize with others and truly breaks past his hard exterior, he's the only one that can take Vox's mask off. their fluff is a healing kind, like a soft blanket and a gentle kiss

on the other paw, they'd for sure be considered problematic due to multiple power imbalances; even if Vox didn't own Vaughn's soul, Vox's a very powerful CEO, salesman, and actor, while Vaughn works financials and has history of living life getting the short-end of the stick. some people may also have an issue with their status differences while alive/on Earth (with Vox having been a Rich Cis White Man in the 50's, and Vaughn having been a Poor and Disabled Queer in the 80's) but thog don't caare /ref those are extremely tone deaf readings of their dynamic, and not at all reflective of their meaning to me (theoretical fandom discourse that put the fear of god into the felix holy shit)

[runwayrunway]

No. 9 - IndiGo

A very different type of bonus review - I'm here to stop talking about history and start talking about current events. Nobody has requested IndiGo, but IndiGo has requested that Airbus sell them a record-breaking 500 A320-family aircraft as an absolutely wild opening to this year's Paris Air Show. That is, to put it in context, the largest bulk order of jets by an airline ever, in history. While aircraft orders by companies are generally negotiated behind closed doors and thus I can't say how much money is actually changing hands, the approximate value of this deal is hypothetically 55 billion US dollars.

This will more than double IndiGo's existing 308-strong fleet, consisting of A320-family jets and ATR-72 turboprops. They are already the largest operator of the A320neo in the world, and have a truly stunning 999 aircraft on order.

Well. Assuming nothing changes, we will have a thousand more of these in the world by 2035. How do I feel about that?

Those living in the West might not be familiar with IndiGo (full name InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., not to be confused with defunct United States carrier Indigo Airlines; callsign "IFLY", not to be confused with Russian charter airline I-Fly) but even without this truly prodigious order they're pretty massive. In fact, they're the largest carrier in the world's most populous country. Currently headed by the former CEO of KLM, they are also the largest low-cost carrier in all of Asia.

It's interesting, but somehow this livery doesn't feel like it has much gravitas to it. That's fine for a low-cost carrier, it just feels a bit surreal that this is the current record-holder for largest bulk order of aircraft. Not the Delta-American-United triad, who already have 1,000+ aircraft fleets. Not Emirates and its massive A380 and 777 fleets. Not even a huge flag carrier looking to expand. They're not even a full-blown ULCC, and I could have imagined Ryanair making an order of this magnitude to try and rapidly expand way before I would have bought it from IndiGo. My guess would be that they're feeling a bit threatened by the two massive threats of the Lions Air and Airs Asia, but that's just speculation and also not what I'm here to talk about. I just cannot stop being astounded by this. I don't feel like any airline needs 500 aircraft total, but what would I know?

One neat little touch I'd like to point out is that this plane feels like it had a lot of thought put into how it's seen from the bottom. In particular, the little stick figure/airplane dot thing(?) IndiGo logo is on the bottom, and the little blue swooping line is made an active part of the design under the nose, rather than just trim, the same way as it is on the tail. The logo in particular is super recognizable. I will say, though, the way that it's just dots could probably make people mistake it for some sort of safety lighting rather than iconography, because it does resemble the sort of markers you'd see on the ground at a runway.

Seriously, what is that logo? Is that an airplane? I think it's supposed to be an airplane but it is so simplified it's no longer instantly recognizable.

The font used for the wordmark is ITC Bauhaus, which, sure, that's nice and big and striking, and its branding has not changed since 2006. The color...sure is indigo, though the actual livery on the airplanes pretty heavily skews towards general blue. (We're done with jetBlue, but blue jets will haunt me forever, it seems.) I wish it was a bit bolder on the actual fuselage, because it's a bit hard to read at times with how thin the letters are.

That said, I have to point it out: Indian carrier operating primarily domestic flights in India, which will mostly be flown on by Indian people, the majority of whom will speak Hindi (the fourth most spoken language on the planet), and yet has the airline's name and website in English but not Devanagari. (EDIT: I have been told by somebody who actually lives in India that English is probably the more broadly accessible choice for a lot of the country, so this is actually not an issue.)

I kind of wonder if ATR operators are drawn to dark swooping curves on the bottom of their planes, because Azul had the same sort of basic shape around the belly fairing. I think it looks good on the type, don't get me wrong, I'm just curious now if that does factor into the thought process.

I think this livery is exactly as busy as it needs to be. It pinches in neatly under the nose, and I like how it travels up to cover the lower half of the tail. It feels uncommon to see that sort of tail-fuselage integration. It's nice how the light blue line alternately joins and diverges from the darker main body, creating a dynamic feeling, and I like how it's used as almost a rule for the placement of the logo on the tail. (I do wonder why the little plane logo couldn't go there instead, though. Or on the nacelles. Its absence everywhere except the belly seems weird. There actually is a small one on the nose under the windows, but if you can't see it from a distance I don't think it counts.)

The airline operates a total of two freighters, but I just want to point out the commitment to the Go bit, which I like. It's a lot less of a common branding thing than you'd expect, honestly. Surprised more airlines haven't jumped on that.

I really love seeing prop covers on planes. Those are her gloves.

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that the blue fully retreats in that little center-back fuselage section. From a few angles you get just a sliver of it visible in a way that feels awkward, but in theory I do like it. A bit of white breaking up that line isn't a bad thing.

Grade: C+

As in, we will c +500 of these in the next twenty years.

Well, this has been just a fun little extra. It's a good thing I don't totally hate this, because 500 more of these are about to be flying to an airport near you! (More airports near more people, because I think 1,200 planes for just their current 101 destinations would be serious overkill). What an exciting start to the Paris Air Show, and I live in fear that I'll be forced to rush to my keyboard again when [throws dart] Binter Canarias announces that they [spins wheel] are going to start operating a fleet of secondhand A380s.

[moophinz]

I really think Hoffman’s comments against mods on Reddit are only for users who want total control. So, the Reddit blackout has some er horrid responses on the other side of the protesters. On r/stupidfood, a boatload of heavily upvoted comments on a pinned post (that I don’t even know if it’s still there) are people praising the CEO under the very naive, misguided and unbelievably simplified idea that this will give them a huge win over mods. Forcing mods to do their jobs. Etc etc. Some of the responses I’ve seen:

Mods are a bunch of whiny babies! Did your temper tantrum feel good? Because nothing happened!

Thanks for going dark for two days. Now I just found a bunch of smaller subreddits that are similar to X :)

You’re so entitled! You can’t criticize a service you receive for FREE!!

With all due respect— which is none— fuck off if you’re A okay with that shit. This isn’t like fan fiction or 420 femboy Garfield fan art. This is a whole website with a team of people and a CEO and investors and advertisements. You have EVERY right to criticize a site. They aren’t your overlords. And throwing it in peoples faces that their protest didn’t immediately work as intended is some high tier bullshit of its own.

Not to mention, Spez is a walking shit show who praises Elon, was apparently a moderator on r/jailbait, edits people’s comments, talks lies, and more nonsense. That’s the guy who you think is fighting for the users? Really is just Elon 2.0.

A lot of people have already spoken about the fears of queer and non-white mods being attacked even more than usual as a result of all of this. I haven’t even really looked at the place in days now, and I don’t plan on it.

[bottledelysium]

Newt's first and most famous documentary, Me and Olympus, is a deeply personal reflection on how the Olympus Company hurts people. The majority of the footage was recorded with the cybernetic cameras in Newt's pupils, so it's literally through his eyes. It's edited with a LOT of discretion (Newt is a very private person and most of Violetta's crimes against him were of an equally private nature), but it's still clear what was going on between him and Violetta. Though there's footage of plenty of the other inhumane dealings at Olympus (including things like illegal human experimentation), the salacious nature of Newt and Violetta is what pop culture really latched onto.

Violetta was already, as the charismatic CEO of the biggest megacorporation in the world, wildly rich and famous. She was a pop culture icon (like Elon Musk but bigger). People dressed up as her for Halloween. Drag queens did impersonations of her. Her personal life was under huge scrutiny.

She had the power to keep Newt a secret--like many of the evil things going on there, he wasn't allowed to leave the Olympus Building. But Violetta wanted to treat Newt like they were actually dating (even though they both knew she could do whatever she wanted to him) and she was proud of him. She wanted the public to know. She dressed him up in an expensive suit and brought him to a gala with her to debut her new boyfriend.

Pop culture went crazy. Newt was not the image of what people expected a high-powered, beautiful woman like Violetta to date. She could have literally anyone in the world and she chose a bespectacled nerd with a big nose. Everyone was talking about it. It was the subject of SNL skits. Newt's very personal trauma was suddenly the only thing anyone knew about him.

When he eventually escaped with his future wife Camille, it was blasted across all media that Camille had kidnapped him. Camille was another beautiful woman with a big bust. The public could not get enough of this story. He had an image as a hapless womanizer, something out of an 80s sex comedy.

Newt had been recording footage to incriminate Olympus the whole time and decided to edit it together into a documentary about what had really happened. When he released it on the internet, it took the world by storm. It was in a serious, thoughtful documentary narrated by a soft-spoken British man, not usually everyone's thing, but the twists and turns of the real story and the shocking footage of violence and inhumane working conditions made millions of people tune in. Suddenly a lot of Olympus's dirty laundry was on display and the people wanted something done about it.

He continued to make documentaries, which are consistently well-received, but nothing he's done has ever reached the level of fame as his first (though the one about the cult did come close.) He doesn't mind that. He's kind of shy.

[markwatsonsbooks]

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[magic5ball]

A Letter to Mom (5)

Dear Mom,

Please forgive my previous outburst. I love you almost as much as I love PONGCORP, and it is this love that at times leads me to selfishness. If you were only like CEO Lucky Pong, whose benevolence can be found in even the lowliest paperclip, then I would not long to reach you through these missives!

That being said, I believe I understand what has irked you so: although I have spoken of my job before, I have yet to entail what it actually is, beyond that it is a function I perform. I looked it up, and apparently it is very rude to do this. As such, I apologize. However, you know I’ve never been the best with words, so today I will try to describe a single aspect of my job best I can. But to do this, I must start with DNA™.

DNA™ (Digital Nucleic company Asset) is the thing that makes up all company products. It consists of five chemicals: adenine, thiamine, cytosine, guanine, and PONGNINE*. Adenine always connects with thiamine and guanine to cytosine. PONGNINE is alpha and omega, and thus can stand by itself.

These are what I work with. The idea (as explained in my orientation video) is that by putting a thousand of us in an office space and having us type random combinations of these acids, even lowly desk-monkeys such as myself will eventually crack the genetic code for creating the ultimate superorganism. In this fashion I pass most of my time, though on occasion, like today, I’ll receive a missive from my boss requesting I edit an already existing genetic code. This is tricky, since all the As, Ts, Cs, Gs, and Ps tend to blur together after the thousandth line. But if you work as long as I have, you get eventually get good. Sort of sneaks up on you, really.

Anyway, today I just needed to add a few Ps to the end of the sequence for the new Model Employee Type 42K. I messaged my boss about why we had to change this, and he explained the alterations will grant a genetic upgrade to future employees so they will be terminated** via brain tumors at 35. Not only will this create more job openings by ensuring faster turnover rates, the newer generation will no longer have to endure dementia, arthritis, multi scoliosis, and other maladies whose cures were once only accessible to the upper echelons of PONGCORP. Truly, our CEO’s compassion is beyond compare!

Glory to Lucky Pong!

Kib Johnson

 *Did you know the twisting, weaving strands of DNA™ are what inspired our company’s blue puzzle piece logo? The more you know!

**painlessly! I know how you feel about these sorts of things!

[ailtrahq]

In what has been labeled one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is set to go on trial this week. Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and his top lieutenant is expected to be a star witness at the trial. Ellison has previously admitted that the decision to use customer funds was made by Bankman-Fried. She, along with FTX co-founder Gary Wang and engineering director Nishad Singh, will tell the exchange's behind-the-scenes story, reported The Wall Street Journal.Ellison and Bankman-Fried met at the trading firm Jane Street Capital and joined Alameda Research as a trader in 2018. Later, she became the co-CEO of Alameda in 2021, sharing her position with Sam Trabucco.Alameda, one part of Bankman-Fried’s empire, is alleged to have made risky bets using customer deposits from its sister crypto-exchange FTX, leading to a significant monetary loss.The prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried, Ellison, Singh, and Wang of misappropriating over $1 billion between 2020 and 2022. This money was reportedly used for buying luxury real estate, funding pet projects, and financing large loans and bonuses.While Ellison has pleaded guilty to seven criminal counts and agreed to cooperate with the government, Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers argue that the prosecutors haven't conclusively established that Ellison acted at his direction.The trial, set to begin on Tuesday, will be the first time Ellison has spoken publicly about FTX since its collapse. It is expected to reveal a detailed account of the financial drama that led to the downfall of the crypto empire. Engineered by Benzinga Neuro, Edited by Pooja Rajkumari The GPT-4 Benzinga Neuro content generation system exploits the extensive Benzinga Ecosystem, including native data, APIs, and more to create comprehensive and timely stories for you. Learn more.

[captainpikeachu]

I kept wondering why Booker and Copley’s “plan” seem like such a mess that don’t really make much coherent thought-out sense, and I think I figured out why. Because they had no thought out plan at all and just made shit up as it went along.

Now obviously before the film even started, Copley clearly reached out to Booker and they were in on it together to get the team to Sudan for the mission that ended in the killbox.

That original plan was likely get video of the team’s abilities as “proof” and then get samples from the killbox site. It was a naive idealistic plan.

The rest of the team wasn’t suppose to get involved really. Because right after they survive the killbox, when Andy is saying they have to go find Copley, this is Booker’s response.

He is trying to subtly dissuade Andy from going down the path of looking for Copley, probably because the idea is they all go back, maybe go separate ways and hide until this all blows over. This way it’s simple, and no one else needs to be involved anymore than necessary.

But as I said, it was a naive plan, because of course Andy doesn’t let it go. 

And then they get dreams about Nile and Andy plans to go find her, Booker is the first to speak against it, he’d rather they go after the Copley angle than drag Nile into it because again, the plan wasn’t to put everyone at risk. And his agitation in all of this scene shows a bit of his fear that the plan is unraveling because nothing is going according to his “plan”.

Now, you might ask, couldn’t Copley and Booker have anticipated that Merrick was an evil no good bastard? Well, no, not really. Because at this point, Merrick is still just another pharma CEO whose products are actually helping people. There’s nothing for Copley to assume he’s some sadistic evil jailer type of a person. His work, and Doctor Kozak’s work are actually helping people. We see Merrick talking about this at the presentation, we see Copley react to it. Someone could be a businessman and not be an evil sadistic cruel monster.

And there is really nothing illogical to what Merrick is asking either.

Of course if they want to do research, they are going to need those things. It would not raise any alarm bells for Copley. And as Merrick even stated, the video evidence is not hard proof, and it doesn’t tell Doctor Kozak the “how” all of this works and what is causing it.

And if anything, it seems that the plan wasn’t even necessarily to bring anyone in, but rather get samples from the killbox site. Obviously they did not anticipate the amount of unexpected carnage. They weren’t ready for how fast the team healed and how fast they took out everyone. The reality is that there was no thought-out mastermind plan, it was just really adapting and changing the plan to suit the moment. Make it up as you go along.

I mean, Copley literally scoffs when Merrick says he needs all of the team. And even then he’s like, maybe just one.

Copley isn’t even sure at this point that he can be guaranteed to get Booker. He THINKS he could but even he’s not sure. So clearly the plan was never for Booker to end up in a lab either. The plan wasn’t for any of them to end up in any labs. Copley’s even like, “they are extremely resistant to capture”, he’s not even got any heart in that plan working out after the killbox, but Merrick is insistent, and again, if the team is immortal, then they can’t die so I’m sure Copley’s reasoning is that nobody is dying from this, nobody is really getting hurt if they capture the team. 

Now when Andy calls Booker after picking up Nile, Booker says he’s got no leads on Copley. I’m not sure when between this scene and the attack on the safehouse that Booker and Copley may have spoken, and I’m also honestly not sure what the whole plan was for that attack. Because it seems like the soldiers sent in didn’t know about Booker to also take him, yet the dialogue also doesn’t make it seem like Copley had meant for Booker to be left behind either.

Copley doesn’t chide the soldiers or tell them to go pick up Booker too. I don’t know if Copley thought just get the other three and wait for Booker to piece himself back together before calling Booker to join the rest? Really, this whole attack is honestly not that well planned out. Because why didn’t Copley attack when everyone was inside the room? Why did they go in when Andy and Nile were outside and likely to escape? And why didn’t Booker have a signal for Copley if he was in on all this?

Wouldn’t a guarantee plan be attack while everyone is inside or everyone is asleep? I mean, was that the original plan, to attack when they were all asleep and Nile kinda ruined that by waking everyone up? But even if so, if they didn’t know everyone was going to be awake, shouldn’t Booker and Copley have some communication device where Booker can signal Copley and tell him when to attack so that Andy isn’t outside when it happens and thus giving her the chance to escape in the first place if they wanted her? This all seems to attest that none of this plan was really thought out. And the moment Andy got loose and they saw the carnage she was leaving behind, Copley just NOPES THE FUCK OUT.

So when Booker is telling Andy how he doesn’t know how many soldiers and what happened, honestly I don’t think he was even lying because this whole “plan” seems to lack any kind of decent communication between Booker and Copley at all????

It’s not until Merrick meets Nicky and Joe and he stabs Joe that Copley starts to have some alarm bells, and he says to Merrick that this is about science, not profits or sadism. But at this point, the plan is already in motion, and Copley probably could justify his actions that they’ll take a few samples, the immortals will heal and go free, and everyone benefits. It’s not entirely unreasonable when they’ve already spent so much effort getting them there. He could still make excuses.

EDIT: had to fix the sequence of events that I got incorrect in the original post

Now Copley’s next time talking to Merrick is either hours or days later, I’m not sure because Copley has a new coat but Merrick is still wearing the same one from the previous scene. This is where they have the conversation about proprietary data and we learn that Merrick plans to keep the team basically forever.

Copley even questions that idea but Merrick is like, okay if this takes decades, what does it matter to immortals who’ve been alive for thousands of years. It’s the blink of an eye. Again, Copley here likely justifies this by the benefit of the greater good. Nobody is permanently dying, a few decades locked up but it could still save a lot of lives. He’s busy digging into that “greater good and saving lives” idea.

Now I wasn’t sure when Copley had time to reach out to Booker to form the plan to lure Andy and Nile to Copley’s place. Everyone was together for most of that so it’s not like Booker could slip away to make a phone call, unless their discussions were through messages on the computer? But then we know that Nile and Andy were outside discussing things in the morning, so Booker could have waited until Nile left and he was alone and then contacted Copley about what’s going on and Copley could have given him the location at that time.

I’m not sure what Copley said to Booker, or how much time they even had to be able to talk about what’s going on, but we know that Copley now knows that Merrick wants to keep the team at least for a good chunk of time. However, I’m not sure what he actually told Booker. Maybe he didn’t say anything about being locked up forever because he didn’t want to risk Booker calling off the plan due to that change. I mean, Booker at this point also hasn’t told Copley about Nile at all so it’s entirely possible that both Copley and Booker held back things they didn’t tell the other. So Booker likely still thinks that this is gonna be okay, it’s just get some samples, it’s not a permanent thing.

When Booker finally admits what’s going on to Andy, he simply thinks Merrick could find a way to end their immortality. There is nothing here to indicate that he somehow planned for them to be locked up forever like lab rats. Even the way Booker talks, he just thinks when Merrick finds out a way, then he and Andy could just choose to take the drug and end it. He still thinks ending the immortality is a choice, not trying to force it on anyone to permanently end it.

This is shown through his panic when he realizes that Andy is not immortal anymore and that she could die, not by her choice but by him shooting her. It makes it rather clear that he didn’t intend for anyone to die, he just wanted to give them all a choice of death if they wanted it.

The moment it became a possibility that death not by choice could happen, Booker was ready to take Andy and run. Fuck the plans. 

And if Merrick’s people didn’t come in at that moment, they’d have gone. Hell, even Copley was gonna help Booker to get Andy out. He also, like Booker, is not planning for anyone to die. The whole point was that these are immortal people who can’t die, so they could take the risk of this procedure. But not to torment on people who can now actually die.

Booker truly realizes the mess he’s gotten them all involved in when Merrick clearly doesn’t care that Andy is injured and still plans to take her. He realizes then that all this time he thought they had somewhat of a choice, but they really didn’t, Merrick couldn’t care less about what they think. And I think he’s fighting so hard to get to Andy because he doesn’t want any of them to be stuck in a cage. This is not what he wanted. And Andy’s possible murder is not what Copley wanted either. Unfortunately Copley only realizes that before it is way too late and he gets knocked out because Merrick doesn’t really need him anymore.

So at the end of the day, Booker and Copley’s plans were a confusing mess because they never really masterminded some really thought-out manipulating plan. They were really just adapting and changing and making shit up as they went along. Booker was caught up with finding a way to die, and Copley was so caught up in finding a way to help everyone live, that neither of them even realize that they were the lambs being led to the slaughter. They both were way too naive and way too idealistic about the outcome.

Seriously, they made the Ned-Stark-mistake, they thought everyone else was playing by the same honorable ethical rules that they themselves followed. And in the end, they both got stabbed in the back by Merrick and played for fools. The road to hell is paved with good intentions indeed.