#Luxury Indulgence

[mollysunder]

If it's revealed that Mel really is a magic user next season in Arcane, it would add a whole new layer of complexity to Mel and Ambessa's relationship. Powerful magic users are coveted by high profile factions within Noxus and are a source of social advancement and prestige.

By sending Mel away to Piltover, Ambessa potentially gave up creating new allies and pools of resources for her already incredibly powerful family. And we should all remember Ambessa is a woman that would decapitate a teenager to avoid the possibility of turmoil to her assets. And yet she sent Mel away.

If Ambessa kept Mel in Noxus, she could have pushed Mel into a coveted magical society to gain further sway over the empire. It'd seem like a win-win between Ambessa and Mel. Ambessa accumulates more power and resources, and Mel gets to play court intrigue. But if you dig a little further, you'd see that calling these groups a "bucket of crabs" would be a compliment for all the plots within plots within plots within cults within family annihilations within immortal puppet masters that make up these magical factions.

I wonder if when Ambessa truly contemplated a place for Mel in these factions and that was the last straw for her. Where she came to a moment and thought, "This can't work. You won't survive this place. We can't survive this place together, "and sent Mel off. It was still Ambessa making it about herself, but seeing how Noxus operates vs Mel's own optimism, I'd imagine Ambessa saw it as almost a kindness to let her go.

[blvk-orbit]

I want to disappear into chiffon and silk. Sip cool, crisp champagne. Indulge in decadent desserts.

[tartagliatum]

mmm older childe carrying a lil extra weight on his waistline bc he finally settles down with zhongli, who loves nothing more than taking care of him. always a dragon at heart, gift giving is a major love language of his, and doting on childe feels like a behaviour intrinsically written into his DNA.

childe who's a little insecure when his clothes become a bit snug - not necessarily about his body, but because it means he's gone soft - and zhongli who shows him why soft is good. shows him just how much there is to love, how much more of him there is to grab and sink his teeth into. zhongli who kisses and praises his little stretch marks and worships every change in his body, any small difference that may have planted seeds of doubt in childe's mind.

worrying he and his insecurities are burdensome, zhongli assures childe that there's nothing more he loves to do than bring him to his favorite bakeries and restaurants and ply him with all of his favorite foods. watching his eyes light up, his tongue lick the crumbs from his fingers, his lips stain red from wine as he relishes every delicious bite, savors every rich taste.

zhongli is even happier seeing him enjoy his food; seeing him enjoy and settle into life, now that he has the time for it. the proof of this joy, manifesting in a soft, gently curving arc of a wider middle, in plumped thighs and rounded cheeks and a heavier frame when he sits in zhongli's lap, is only something to treasure. the archon more often that not finds himself touching childe with such affection; in public, in private, wherever they are, he cherishes the life they have together. he slides his hands over the gentle slope of his middle, pressing his fingers into the pillowy softness. he cups his face when he kisses him and brushes his thumbs across the apples of his cheeks, admiring the new gilded freckles. glides his hands over his thicker arms, widened hips, the tender flesh of his thighs, soaking in how beautiful he looks and how utterly divine he feels.

his stomach, in particular, zhongli admires. somewhere a little healthier to rest his head when sleepiness washes over the two and they snuggle close in bed, childe's fingers absently twirling his dark hair around his fingers. somewhere a little more nourished to settle his hands when he wakes up and the redhead is already making two coffees through a haze of sleep, smiling crookedly with hooded eyes and a gruff good morning when zhongli hugs him from behind. he nuzzles his own cheek against childe's. slips his hands over his inviting middle, palms fitting perfectly over the gentle swell of his warm belly. pressing innocent kisses to his neck, he slips his hands up his shirt to appreciatively sink his fingertips into the yielding softness, calming the small growls of morning hunger.

childe with little bite marks on his tummy chub. with finger print bruises on his thighs and pliant hips. with stretch marks and a plush cushioning to his body, built from the delight zhongli takes in providing him the life of luxury he deserves. signs of comfort, of care, of love, instead of just wounds and scars from a life of violence. zhongli finds himself warmed by the changes in his body and how comfortable he's gotten. looking after him is something he once feared the battle-addicted harbinger would not be able to live long enough to let him do; and now, both in retirement, he doesn't waste a single minute passing up the privilege to do so.

[pagib1g]

none of my business whether yall self ship with hazbin hotel characters or whatever, but since im seeing an influx of it (likely because of the new show) i'd like to remind yall to please boycott it (and pirate it if you must). it is being hosted on amazon, one of the BDS's pressure targets in the strike for palestine's cause– while it is acknowledged that you realistically cannot fully boycott targets like amazon (because of their monopoly over shipping), it will still be helpful to drop things sponsored by it that you ultimately do not need.

the self ship community has presented itself as an open and diverse community for years– prove it by being willing to stop giving profit to media that has a stake in hurting others.

support palestinian self shippers.

[suffering-is-cute]

it is guilt to need more than just who i already have by my side. i'm still wasting away waiting for a december with you in my arms. you could make the most dilapidated places seem brilliant with just your presence. i'm curiously wasting away under the filthy light bulbs and cheap fairy lights, imagining a day out with you.

you were always my candle.

you were the best kind of luxury i could indulge in, and you know it too. i'm still waiting to enjoy a world with you.

[fredoesque]

hickeygibson mercy (?) kill vs fitzier homoerotic assisted suicide parallel. sure we've all seen it. undeniable. but what about dundy agitating for leaving the sick when his boybestfriend jfj is still very much one of the people that would be left behind

[andillwriteyouatragedy]

[chirpchangeling]

For the ask game: favorite comfort food?

Depends on the day, really! Any food can be a perfect and indulgent comfort food when youve had a rough day and you're really fiending for something specific. But id say my most common go-to easy 'i wanna feel good' type meal is a good breakfast sandwich.

I like toasting a kaiser roll and topping it up with pork roll, (or taylor ham if you're a north jersey dork that insists on disrespecting the legal definition of what ham is and enjoy false advertising /silly) avocado and some eggs fried with lemon pepper garlic and chicken bouillon until the yolks are, ideally, jammy (but usually fully runny, because i prefer that to fully cooked for these, bc the yolk functions as a sort of sauce for the rest of the whole ordeal)

[lavenoon]

Robin: Are you..:flirting…? With me????

Spy Animatronic, deadpan: I have been for two years but thanks for noticing

Spy Animatronic, frantic: Hey hey wait blue screening and the windows shut down noise are our thing stop that!

And this my friends is why we're all grateful I'm not writing a longfic, because that'd be their timeline <3

[occknow]

An essay on labor market frictions, international trade, and uncertainty Economics and Finance.

The labor market is a central institution in any modern economy. If the market does not function satisfactorily, willing workers will remain unemployed for too long, and many workers will occupy positions that are unsuited for them. Moreover, firms will not appear, grow, or close at the optimal rate. At the same time, the labor market is characterized by pervasive regulation. Across nations, the labor market is subject to minimum wages, hiring and bring restrictions, compulsory collective bargaining and arbitrage, limitations on the number of hours, anti discrimination clauses, curtailments on work by age and by gender, etc. Moreover, substantial differences in labor market flexibility persist even within groups of countries with similar income levels.

The purpose of this paper is to studying the role of labor market frictions and its interaction with international trade and uncertainty, the relationship between uncertainty and the business cycle.

When uncertainty increases, the value of a job match declines as the option value of waiting increases. Unemployment goes up, making it harder for unemployed workers to find jobs. The decline in employment drives the marginal product of capital downward, which triggers fall in capital investment. Uncertainty also makes economic agents cautious about decisions like employment, which adjustment costs can make expensive to reverse. Thus, it gives rise to a contractionary real option-value effect. In this, real options apply to key decisions: hirings, firing and firrm entry.

How Can Taxes Help Ensure a Fair Globalization?

As productivity can quickly revert, firms become more reluctant to separate from their workforce, all the more so as they pay firing costs. The decline in total employment drives the marginal product of capital downwards, which triggers a fall in capital investment. Firm dynamics have an impact on job creation and separation decisions, and vice versa. We find that increased uncertainty generates real exchange rate depreciation, current account surplus and reduces the stock offirms in the economy.

Over the past decades, trade liberalization has led to a significant trade expansion. In developing countries, job creation resulting from trade liberalization has mainly taken place in the informal economy. The novelty of this paper is to focus on the interactions between the choices to participate at the international trade and the induced labor reallocations between formal and informal activities.

However, trade expansion and higher levels of economic activity do not necessarily imply higher employment quality and better working conditions. The essay show that trade liberalization boosts economic activity and employment in both the formal and informal sector. In the emerging economy, in the medium run, trade liberalization ultimately induces more firms to export, thereby increasing labor demand and real wages. As in the developed economy, this leads to high share of exporters and informality in emerging economy.

In the long run, when the developed country has reached its long-run level of iceberg costs, in the emerging country trade expansion is still ongoing. In the emerging country, revenue growth is now driven by iceberg cost reduction which takes place only in the emerging country and still generates growth gains.

An easy way to promote formal employment is to reduce the payroll tax paid by firms. An alternative solution might be implementing a "budget-neutral" tax reform, consisting in increasing the consumption tax to fund the cut in payroll taxes. An advantage of this strategy is that the consumption tax has a larger base, it is easier to collect and more difficult to evade. The tax reform is country-specifc. The most important point is certainly the fact that the tax reform allows the welfare of the unemployed workers to increase, despite the large initial loses induced by the jump in the consumption tax.

This essay show that trade liberalization boosts economic activity in both developed and emerging countries. However, the paper find that trade liberalization is associated to higher informality, which ultimately implies less job security and lower employment quality. Policy makers should consider placing a high priority on promoting job quality and income equality. Policy interventions should follow a comprehensive approach that rests on three pillars: increasing the benefitts of formality, decreasing the costs of formalization and improving enforcement methods.

Tax policy interventions should go hand in hand with more effective social protection systems and labor laws. Extending unemployment benefits to all workers in the formal sector including those working part-time and/or on temporary contracts, could prevent unemployed from looking for an informal job. Another step to enhance the quality of existing jobs is intensifying labor inspections in those sector where the incidence of informal work is higher.

The effects of uncertainty shocks can vary across countries, depending on their structuralcharacteristics, policy reactions, etc. This paper tries to focus on the role of LMIs in the transmission of uncertainty shocks. Under irreversibility and uncertainty, rms become more reluctant to lay workers off. The role of other country characteristics is ambiguous.

@occknow

[fallowhearth]

I don't care about fandom drama, so all I can say about the ascendant popularity of Astarion Baldursgate is that it's been a great couple of weeks for people who are into bloodplay.

[mutatiio]

someone please tell maul that suffering isn't divine. people aren't weak for wanting life to be easier, for needing a break. forcing himself through hardship after hardship and taking it all without complaint does make him strong but it also makes him tired and resentful and burnt out.

[itgirlastrology]

[doyouknowhowtowaltz]

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Decadant because it's original meaning means decaying, but recently there's been this drift in usage because it's being used to convey "so indulgent it's bad for you" where it's beginning to take on just a general meaning of luxurious and indulgent. I'm frothing at the bit for a plot where I can explore this drifting definition in the context of Pottsfield.

[yourfloatingterra]

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