#Random-News-Digest

[clownsuu]

Whomst is Robert and why am I just hearing about him

LMAO don't blame ya, Robert is a oc of mine who is a big murder mans that has a shit ton of trauma (to make him extra spicy)

He rarely ever pops up since he kinda mostly exists in a au with some other chatter phones (that's what Robert's actual head is currently) and really fucking hates some twink named Charlie

[whynotcherries]

i am not even all the way through this coffee and i already feel like a squirrel who's been given a five hour energy and a monster energy drink. the paper i'm currently writing is going to be so incredibly interesting.

[adorkastock]

DeviantArt used to be the place I put new poses up three times a week. It was the best place to get consistent updates of new poses from me.

BUT NOW! I have a self-hosted gallery on AdorkaStock.com 🥰 It's a WIP (and there's a lot of work to do) but I like having my poses on my own site. 😌

You can sign up for my newsletter and get an email digest of new poses each week or once a month so you don't have to always remember to go check for what's new. My long term goal is to have this gallery completely replace my DA archive. Reasons for this move include: - DA's enthusiastic support for AI - DA removing categories making it nearly impossible to search for CC licensed images - not being beholden to DA's future random TOS and API changes

Your support helps with this goal. ♥ Ways to support: - Share my work with other artists! - Support me on Patreon for just $1/mo - Shop my Kofi store for pose ref packs and merch Get all my links at my Link Hub. 🥰 Thanks so much for your support and happy drawing!

[sttoru]

ෆ tags. dad!toji x female reader. toji letting baby megumi try all kinds of new food !

it was a typical monday morning: you were making breakfast for your little family, flipping pancakes and eggs as you left toji to handle the task of helping megumi go through his routine. once your husband had finished, he walked into the kitchen with your little child in his arms (this time holding the boy somewhat properly).

once you turn your head towards the two, you noticed how megumi was eagerly suckling on toji’s index finger—a habit of your son to signal you that he yearned for his daily nutrients.

“megumi’s biting my finger off,” toji exaggerates, yawning before moving towards the fridge and opening the door. the sudden breeze of cold air hitting his skin makes him shudder.

you laugh and flip a pancake, revealing its golden brown colour on the back, “i stored ‘gumi’s food on the second shelf. a little in the back.”

megumi’s tiny arms were already reaching out for the familiar bowl, making grabby hands at it as if encouraging his dad to feed him his meal. toji’s eyes, however, were scanning the entire content of the fridge for something new, “y’know, maybe it’s time to learn how to eat somethin’ else, kid. your taste buds need’ta get used to other foods.”

according to his ‘brilliant’ logic, it’s best to get kids used to new foods at a young age so they won’t become picky eaters later on. thus, toji grabs the most random combination of whatever looks edible. the gathered items consisted of pickles, strawberries, mini-carrots, tomatoes and a single lemon.

toji quickly glances over at you, but your attention was totally focused on the breakfast you were preparing. your husband takes his chance, puts megumi in his high-chair and cuts up all the food he grabbed to biteable pieces for the baby, “alright, i’ll give ya the freedom of choosin’ something on y’r own. go on.”

toji places the various items on megumi’s small tray. the boy stares at the food and picks a piece of strawberry first since the red colour was the most appealing. megumi munches on it, hands as well as his lips getting a bit messy. he didn’t seem to dislike it as his little pouty lips continued to move and digest the fruit.

“okay, so ya like the strawberries. noted.” toji makes a mental note of the new discovery, already planning on buying boxes of strawberries for his son.

once megumi swallowed the piece, the curious boy goes on and picks another type of food. this time it was a yellow coloured piece—one which megumi had no knowledge about. toji did, however, and was already grinning.

the man crossed his arms while he looked down at his kid who was about to go through an unpleasant experience. that’s what builds character according to toji, so why would he intervene and stop megumi from eating a lemon? finding out on his own will teach him a very valuable lesson.

the second megumi’s tongue picks up on the extreme sour taste, his nose scrunches up, eyebrows furrowing along with a disgusted noise escaping the back of his throat, “blegh!”

toji bursts out laughing and points at megumi whose tiny fingers were trying to wipe the taste off his tongue, spitting and almost crying from the unfamiliar taste that entered his mouth. most parents would help their child out and give them water to rinse their mouth, however the scene was apparently way too hilarious to your husband for him to even think about rushing to aid megumi.

you turn to see what the commotion was about and spot your son almost in tears from whatever he ate. you frown and walk up to the high-chair, inspecting the squished piece of lemon in megumi’s hand.

“mannnn, that was the funniest stuff i’ve seen in a while.” toji snickers once he calms down, finally grabbing a tissue to wipe megumi’s drool and spit off.

“poor baby.” you watch the small child stare at his dad with a pouty expression on his little face like he was awaiting on an apology of some kind.

even toji can’t deny it: he did somewhat feel bad now. those big and watery eyes looking up at him made him soften in a fraction of a second. the dark-haired man dumps the used tissues in the nearby garbage can and then walks back to the high chair;

“aww, okay, ‘m sorry.” toji coos and lifts megumi up in his embrace, smothering the child with kisses all over his exposed shoulders before softly poking the fat of his cheeks, “can you forgive your daddy, kiddo?”

“da-da!” megumi happily giggles without knowing the meaning of toji’s words. all the kid desired at that instant was more of his dad’s attention and affection. especially after what occurred a moment ago.

megumi was guaranteed to get what he needed since toji was already preparing to tickle and kiss his adorable son all over as an apology.

you chuckle and go back to making breakfast—your ears filled with high-pitched squeals from your son as toji’s voice called out for a ‘tickle attack’.

at least all was well in the end.

[carmelcoco]

mercury notes. 💅🏻

Disclaimer. these observations do not have to resonate with everyone and everything, all expressed in this post is based on personal experience and research.

LONG POST ahead in this post I have covered

Mercury Signs and their Characteristics

Mercury sign and how they text

Trauma through Mercury sign (coming soon)

mercury signs and their characteristics 🍭

🫧 aries mercury

You're blunt and direct because you deeply care about your loved ones and want what's best for them, even if it initially hurts. You're a reliable friend who values mental stimulation over constant chatter. You're quick-witted and passionate, often diving into new interests headfirst, even if you haven't mastered them yet. Challenges excite you, and you prefer things that make you think hard. You can get obsessed until you figure something out, and once you do, you stick with it. However, you might get competitive or jealous when others are better at something you're passionate about. Plus, all that thinking can give you headaches. But ultimately, your bluntness stems from a place of caring, and your loyalty and agility of mind make you a valuable friend.

🫧 taurus mercury

Your laidback nature stems from your focus on what truly matters to you. You're guarded because you've learned to prioritize your goals and rely only on yourself, leading to a preference for a small, trustworthy circle. While emotional, your rationality guides you to offer practical advice sought by many. When you love, you do so intensely, either fully invested or not at all, which can leave you drained in communication and occasionally introverted, causing concern among others. You're honest and direct, with an appreciation for the beauty of words, possibly drawn to poetry. In youth, you might have easily developed crushes and possess a melodious voice, possibly skilled in singing. With Taurus Mercury, your communication style is stable and methodical, marked by a reserved demeanor and a tendency to carefully analyze your thoughts and opinions. While you may appear stubborn, others view you as thoughtful and reliable due to your grounded approach to communication.

🫧 gemini mercury

With your mind always buzzing, you might need to work on organizing to avoid getting overwhelmed easily. You're a sponge for information, possibly even having some psychic intuition. Your ability to grasp concepts quickly lets you talk your way through things effortlessly, even if you haven't fully digested them. People trust whatever you say, even if it's random, thanks to your charm. Your hunger for knowledge keeps you everywhere, possibly juggling multiple social media accounts or interests, making you intriguing yet hard to pin down. From a young age, you displayed advanced intellect, impressing others with your wisdom beyond years. However, your thirst for new knowledge can lead to forgetting old ones, making exams a struggle unless you study hard. Despite this, you're generous and respectful, always open to communication, which earns you many acquaintances but perhaps few deep emotional bonds, leaving you somewhat detached. You're expressive, likely talking with your hands and body to drive your point home. With a Gemini Mercury, you're curious and talkative, overflowing with ideas and a penchant for witty, sarcastic communication. You enjoy delving into topics deeply and playfully, often expressing yourself through clever wordplay and puns.

🫧 cancer mercury

Cancer Mercuries are often misunderstood due to the crybaby stereotype, but they're much more than that. They have a knack for sensing emotions, especially in their loved ones, and their words carry a depth that reflects their own experiences and wounds. They have a remarkable memory for emotional moments, often recalling cringey or painful events vividly while forgetting trivial details easily. These folks lean towards introversion and need plenty of alone time to recharge, thriving best among their loved ones. Clear communication is crucial with them as they can sense insincerity. Despite their emotional nature, they keep their feelings guarded and may use self-deprecating humor to deflect. Once they trust you, though, they're fiercely loyal and offer comfort and support with their words. With a Cancer Mercury, communication is deeply compassionate and intuitive, rooted in empathy and a desire to nurture and support others. They express themselves poetically and creatively, understanding others' pain and offering unwavering support.

🫧 leo mercury

Individuals with Leo Mercury express their love and affection through communication, showing warmth and making others feel like instant best friends. They can get obsessive about their interests and crushes, giving them intense focus. In learning environments, they need joy and fun to stay engaged. They value actions over words, so if you claim to love them, you better show it. Their charming communication style attracts attention, but they must be mindful of what they say as people tend to magnify their words. They're prone to checking up on loved ones frequently, regardless of how much time has passed, as attention is their love language. However, a downside is their reluctance to consider others' viewpoints, often believing they're always right. With Leo Mercury, communication is energetic, confident, and direct, with a charismatic and engaging flair. They enjoy being the center of attention and aren't afraid to assert themselves, making them natural leaders in communication.

🫧 virgo mercury

Virgo Mercuries are like the champions of communication, always making sure their words are well put together and hard to argue against, reminiscent of those kids who constantly won spelling bees. They're high achievers from a young age, constantly seeking logic and truth in everything, which can lead them to get lost in details and feel overwhelmed. Even in chaos, they handle things maturely with logic, earning them the reputation of wise advisors. However, their attention to detail can lead to overthinking, as they scrutinize even the smallest actions and texts, making it hard to deceive them. Suspicious by nature, they'll do thorough research, even stalking if needed, to uncover the truth. They should trust themselves more and boost their self-confidence to overcome intrusive thoughts. With a Virgo Mercury, communication is analytical and critical, driven by a desire for perfection and precision. They analyze everything before speaking, taking a methodical and logical approach that can sometimes lead to overthinking. Patience and self-discipline are key for them to manage their overactive minds effectively.

🫧 libra mercury

Libra Mercuries thrive on peace and harmony in their daily lives, feeling unsettled when things are out of order. While they're adept at seeing both sides of a story, they can get lost in trying to maintain balance. However, they've learned it's okay to embrace chaos occasionally, especially since they easily get bored. Despite their indecisive nature, they possess objective intelligence, making them skilled at solving problems from different perspectives, which suits careers in law or similar fields. Yet, their desire for justice can lead to complicated situations due to their reluctance to choose sides. This indecision may strain friendships, although they can also be seen as loyal and reliable if positively manifested. They have a thirst for knowledge and are drawn to what stimulates their minds, enjoying romance books or shows and even finding amusement in chaotic situations, despite not being naturally chaotic themselves. A positively manifested Libra Mercury is a great friend to have, always supportive and having your back. In communication, they're charming and balanced, adept at friendly and diplomatic interactions. They enjoy engaging with others, keeping conversations light and positive, and prefer to avoid confrontation or conflict, prioritizing harmony and balance in their relationships.

🫧 scorpio mercury

Scorpio Mercuries are enigmatic and hard to decipher. They're private and move in silence, carefully displaying only what they want others to see to avoid suspicion. With high emotional intelligence and intense intuition, they can easily fall into destructive thought patterns, including intrusive or sexual thoughts, and fear being exposed. Despite their suspicion of others' intentions, they strive to maintain a high vibrational image. In love, they're fiercely loyal and keep secrets close, but they can be ruthless if wronged. They delve deeply into thoughts, even overanalyzing simple problems and pondering existential questions. Their intuition often reveals truths they'd rather not know, making hiding things from them futile. Obsessed with what stimulates them, they can become stubborn and refuse to let go of harmful things. They find meaning in everything, holding onto items or information they believe will be useful. While loyal, they keep themselves guarded, trusting only themselves. Others may find them intimidating or blunt, and they enjoy playing with power due to their ability to easily gain trust. A Scorpio Mercury communicates sensitively and perceptively, reading into hidden meanings and subtext. They tend to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves, balancing expression with restraint. They possess strong intuition and mental energy but may struggle with overthinking.

🫧 sagittarius mercury

Individuals with Sagittarius Mercury are warm and nonjudgmental, making others feel at home and giving them the best time of their lives. They're open-minded and objective, often surprising people with their vast knowledge and random facts, although they may feel insecure about their intelligence. They tend to see the best in everyone and can easily be taken advantage of due to their desire to do the right thing. They're great listeners and offer wise, unbiased advice, drawing people to them for venting sessions. Growing up, they were likely interested in solving larger problems, but they can get stressed easily and lost in knowledge and details. They're open to new experiences and friends but are put off by judgmental or arrogant people. They have a playful sense of humor and enjoy sharing random facts with friends, but they don't like being told what to do and can be unreliable if they're not truly interested in something. Their attention span is short, making it difficult to focus, and meditation may be challenging due to their constantly active minds. With Sagittarius Mercury, communication is playful and positive, marked by quick wit, humor, and a talent for uplifting conversations. They bring a bright and lively energy to any interaction, making people laugh and bringing joy to any situation.

🫧 capricorn mercury

Capricorn Mercuries are reserved and only share what's necessary, commanding respect with their directness, which can sometimes be mistaken for rudeness. They avoid drama and focus on their own pursuits, maintaining a private and reserved demeanor. Their knowledge comes from life experiences and karma, often shaped by past struggles and moments of loneliness. While typically kind, they have clear boundaries and won't hesitate to assert themselves when pushed too far. They're calculated and loyal, often taking on a protective role, especially with siblings. With a mature outlook on life, they exude old soul vibes and may seem like natural teachers. They excel at planning and methodical tasks, dedicating themselves fully to their responsibilities. Despite being social, they prioritize duty and future success over socializing, often retreating to recharge. They value trustworthiness and responsibility in others but have little tolerance for foolishness. Communication for Capricorn Mercuries is pragmatic and logical, characterized by a clear and ordered approach. They prefer speaking with precision and clarity, often overthinking decisions and striving for perfection.

🫧 aquarius mercury

Aquarius Mercuries possess vivid imaginations and creative minds, often thinking far ahead but struggling with simple concepts. They may excel in unconventional roles while finding day-to-day tasks boring and easily becoming distracted. Despite being social, they struggle to open up and may feel neglected or misunderstood for their ideas. Their innovative nature draws admiration, but they may attract copycats without calling them out due to their kind demeanor. They have a random but fun sense of humor, often sending memes or random comfort items. Their accepting nature and detachment make them intriguing to others, who are drawn to their unique perspective and lack of judgment. They may be interested in the occult or unconventional topics. Getting to know them is a hit or miss, as they either click with someone completely or don't connect at all. Communication for Aquarius Mercuries is unique and inventive, characterized by creative and original thinking, often outside the box. They may get lost in their thoughts and should strive for more grounded and effective communication.

🫧 pisces mercury

Pisces Mercuries possess vast knowledge and ideas but may struggle with insecurity and seek validation. They have an old, wise soul, often knowing things intuitively and feeling deeply. They are sacrificial and generous, prone to being taken advantage of due to their kindness. In love, they may overlook red flags and defend their passions fervently. Drawn to beauty and gentleness, they have a creative sense of humor and may struggle with mundane tasks. Their relationships with siblings can be complex, ranging from intuitive understanding to manipulation. When expressing their darker side, they can be manipulative or prone to self-deception. Words of affirmation are important to them, as they have a vivid imagination but are often misunderstood. Pisces Mercuries approach communication intuitively and emotionally, valuing creativity and empathy but sometimes struggling with logic and detail.

texting style of signs. 🤳🏻

water mercuries love crying/skull emojis as a cancer mercury i always find myself using crying emojis lol.

yall will find virgo mercuries communicating through email more than normal chats.

scorpio & pisces mercury = LOVE DEEP TALKS

fire mercuries and them wanting to communicate as fast as they get a thought that they would like to share with their friends.

sagittarius mercury would text you randomly and make plans with you that instant and the next thing you know is you are going out at 3am in the morning for a ride but where to you have no idea.

gemini mercury and them leaving comments under reels and getting thousand likes on it. Then they also will come and blab about it to their friends but would forget to show you the comment only and leave. LOL

aries mercuries are FAST TYPERS like while talking to them you'll have to figure your way through their typos.

Fire mercuries = using NO CAPS.

Capricorn mercury/venus will make sure to to set a time on their calendar to text you and would do it everyday without slacking and if they forget once in awhile to text you they will feel so bad about it. (applies when they are really close with someone)

taurus mercury either forgets to reply or they saw it ring. (specially if they are in their zone relaxing)

libra mercuries are very harmonious texter idk how to put it in better words lol...like i've seen libra mercuries engaging in text fights though they are the one to come and try sought it out with their rationality.

aquarius mercuries and getting to know them through chats is hella hard because either they text you one day and then you won't see them for couple business days or they'll text you litreally anything but talk about themselves.

also if your close to aquarius mercury then they'll prefer call over text.

this post was created by @carmelcoco on tumblr <3 if reposting my work please give credits.

pics by @vmstv

[soullessdianthus]

𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 | 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐨𝐧 "𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭" 𝐑𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐲

Summary: Your boyfriend returns from the latest deployment and you're ready to spend a nice evening together. But his past haunts him especially during the night while you lay in his arms.

A/N: I needed comfort, okay? HE NEEDED IT. That's it, just snuggling and stuff. Enjoy.

Warnings: generally comfort/fluff, mentions of miliatry and related PTSD, a hint of past intercourse

Word count: 1.3k

When he finally arrived at the apartament and locked the doors behind his hunched back, Simon let out a loud sigh. The tips of his coarse fingers brushed against the blonde hair on his occiput. He put down black hockey bag and made his way to the living room.

━ Simon! 

A voice so familiar and heartwarming made his tired body spark with a dash of joy. He turned around to face you just in time, as your legs wrapped around his hips in a cheerful hop.

He caught you by your thighs and hoisted even higher to secure your form. 

━ Missed you too, luv. ━ Simon stated happily, when you pressed a soft kiss onto the new scar on his jawline. Perhaps, it was one of the old ones, but you hadn’t noticed it earlier? You couldn’t remember, if the little detail was there before his deployment on the other side of the world.

Simon slowly put you down onto the floor, a subtle smile forming on his lips. You, on the other hand, were a breathing and living spark of joy. 

━ Go take a shower, I’ll be waiting with dinner. ━ You instructed him, as your eyes roamed over his toned body, searching for any serious injuries. 

━ I reek, eh? 

The blonde man placed his palms over the sides of your pretty face just as he leaned to kiss your forehead. Riley inhaled the lovely scent of your hair - it made him feel home.

━ Just a little ━ you said jokingly, looking up into your boyfriend’s dark eyes. His almost black gaze usually scared people, reminding them of nothingness. But you thought he had beautiful eyes. The most beautiful you’d ever seen. ━ Go on. 

You gently pulled his hand towards the cozy bathroom, encouraging him to take a warm shower. The room was still steamy as you ran a bath for yourself not so long ago. The ends of your hair still curled due to wetness. 

Simon took a look over the counter and saw already prepared clean clothes, folded impeccably and smelling of your favorite detergent. He looked in the mirror and reminded himself how lucky he was to have you. 

Around fifteen minutes passed and your lieutenant joined you in the kitchen. His strong arms sneaked from behind, entangling around your waist. Simon hummed, being curious about the delicious smell.

━ It’s just some pasta with pesto, something easily digestible for the night. ━ You explained, sprinkling the ingredients with some grated cheese. Simon never complained about your cooking, it was impeccable. The two of you enjoyed preparing meals together if his work allowed some time for that. 

 Both of you sat down to the dining table, close to each other. He ate and listened patiently as you flooded him with the latest gossip from your work, neighborhood or mutual friends. 

You never asked him about his missions if he hadn’t addressed the subject himself. You knew the toll the work had on him. And not only the military assignments. Simon went through a lot of tough things in his life, leaving him with a post traumatic stress disorder that resurfaced in the most random moments. 

But you were there for him, always.

━ You wanna pick out the movie? I’m going to change, okay? ━ You suggested your boyfriend, when you finished the meal and cleaned afterwards. Simon nodded, approving of such plans.

He was a man simple to please.

You returned to him - a blonde man sitting comfortably on the couch, his eyes lingering up and down your form - particularly your hips flirtatiously swaying to the sides. You changed into the pastel blue nightgown he bought you last year. It was silk, a material which poured between one’s fingers. 

Just like you, between Simon’s fingers on a stormy night, when he pressed his forehead to yours, taking in each short breath you gasped out in pleasure. He savored them, so the lieutenant could recall them when he was away on a mission.

You sat down on the couch next to him. But before you could make yourself comfortable, Simon pulled your bare legs over his lap. Your cheek rested upon his collarbone, a delicate palm spreaded across his chest.

Oh, how much you missed him. All of him.

His body was pleasantly radiating warmth. Simon’s slowed and steady breathing, which raised the ribcage of his, eventually lulled you to sleep. It was a tough week for both of you. 

You meant to spend that evening with him, talking about the things he missed while deployment. But it was hard to fight the sweet sleep, when Simon snuck one of his hands over your scalp and began to gently rub your head.

It wasn’t long before he noticed - your body stilled, muscles absolutely relaxed against him. Simon let you lay beside him until the movie ended. It was the right time to go to bed.

You woke up, feeling his arms scooping under your knees and head. The urge to shift and stand up on your own legs was suppressed by his calm approach.

━ I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to fall asleep. ━ You apologized to him, the tone of your voice dreamy, half-asleep, while he carried both of you to the bedroom. 

━ ‘s okay. I’ve got you. 

The night was calm. Beside the pouring rain, heavy droplets banging on the windows and its sill - a charm of the country you lived in. The tapping melody brought the both of you a deep sleep, your body clinging to Simon’s chest. 

It always felt safe - falling asleep next to him, when the person was the most vulnerable. At the beginning of your relationship, the soldier found it hard to sleep through the whole night peacefully. But as the time passed by, he grew to be more comfortable around his partner. Such thing as sleep was… quite intimate to lieutenant Riley.

But there were nights, more difficult and frightening than the others, when the horror of Ghost’s past resurfaced. 

He was sweating, each muscle flexing for a painful amount of time. But it was his heavy breathing, muffled whispers that woke you up. 

You slowly pulled away and sat on the bed beside him. Always next to him. At first, you wanted to rub his tattooed forearm, but deep down you knew, that sudden touch can startle him even more. 

━ Simon? ━ Your sweet, sleepy voice echoed somewhere in his consciousness, slowly pulling him out of the bloodshed. ━ Simon. You’re home.

Simon.

His dark eyes finally shot open as he inhaled sharply. Almost like he just had sleep apnea’s attack. Which you knew wasn’t the real cause. 

━ Fuck ━ the blonde groaned, wiping his eyes. ━ Sorry, luv. 

━ It’s okay. Do you need something? Water, pills? 

You offered him help, at least as much as you could actually help to ease his pain. Now, when he was awake, your gentle touch began to caress his arm. 

━ Just you. 

Simon waited until you laid back down. And when you did so, he pressed his head into your collarbones and cleavage. Both of his limbs wrapped around your upper body, pulling you closer. His nose was almost squashed with your ribcage, but it didn’t matter. As long as he could feel your sweet smell. 

Your palms wandered for a while over his occiput, massaging his aching head and brushing through his blonde hair. 

Only when you felt his breaths slow down and when his heartbeat droped, you managed to fall back asleep. Knowing he managed to push his nightmares aside for you. 

His home.

[hoony2k]

CUT THE CAMERAS!

The last thing you expected was to see your and your bf's names on the newest relationship reveal headline above a giant picture of you two hiding in a darkened alley sharing an ice cream..what now? (Part 3)

Part 2.

Part 1.

PAIRING: ot7

GENRE: fluff, crack, slight angst

WARNINGS: none

WORD COUNT: 600-700

NOTE: hii this was fun to write. Hope you enjoy

Requested masterlist

★ HEESEUNG:

actually fuming because there is no way a random reporter kept stalking him and exposed his relationship without your consent, it's less about him because he's worried about your reaction. Besides, he had created an entire plan to introduce the new status and the fact that someone spoilt is really gets to him. He wanted a special announcement, maybe even a letter of how much he adores you and loves his fans yada yada. The last thing he expected to see was for someone to take away his reaveal from him. When the anger dies down, he just knows that he wants to go public. There is nothing to be scared of, he never liked meeting in secret anyway. Doesn't deny the allegations, accepts them with his whole chest.

★ JAY:

he texts you saying "it's fine" and "to relax" but he's crying shaking panicking. He can't let his girl see all that because he needs to be rational about it, at least try to pretend he's not seconds away from sprinting to your dorm to check if you're fine. But in the end he'll be actually cool about it, after speaking to you about it, he'll end up listening to your decision. Whatever you say comes first for Jay, whatever your decision is will be his. After the shock settles, he'll actually be cool headed about it. There's nothing to hide and he is confident in himself and you, you handle yourself well and so does he. After he agrees with the rumours, he'll be private about the relationship but will slip small bits here and there.

★ JAKE:

he’s panicking because this was not on this New Year’s list. A part of him wants to pretend that nothing is wrong and the other wants to hide away until the hype dies down- but that’s not possible. So, with frazzled nerves, he picks up your call and asks you what you want to do, your decision will be his. Of course, it could be easy to deny it, pretend a couple of friends were hanging out yet a part of him wishes you want to agree with the rumours. He’s tired of hiding and pretending you don’t exist. He doesn’t care if the worlds collide or the sun burns everything, he wants to go public, even if it means being forced to say yes or no to fans who have been speculating ever since the news came out. Ultimately, he shares his opinion with you but will choose whatever you’re comfortable with because it’s not just his career that will be affected.

★ SUNGHOON:

at first, he’s over the moon to see people complimenting the pair and wishing the news to be true but when he sits down and lets the news digest, he feels sick. Someone snapping a picture of you when you were so vulnerable and unaware of what would happen the next day, it’s a horrible thought and although the picture includes him as well, he ignores how his privacy was overlooked and worries for you. he feels powerless because he should have known, he should have covered your face with his body but dwelling in regret won’t help anyone. So what he does is that yes! Park Sunghoon is dating one of the most spectacular idols but also someone is getting sued by him, his company and your company. Everyone sleeps happily.

★ SUNOO:

completely unfazed, checks the news, texts you good morning, and does his usual routine, moisturised, unbothered, relaxed. He has nothing to fear, he had prepared soft ground for the reveal, whether it was a reveal without his and his partner’s permission. He genuinely has nothing to fear because everyone has heard of friends to lovers and the number of times, he mentioned you and vice versa did not surprise anyone. Everyone was practically waiting for the announcement. News agencies can say whatever they want, and make up whatever narrative they can based on one picture, he knows that his and your response to the situation will matter more than some random news headline. So he waits for you to make your move and decide. In the end, going public doesn’t seem like a scary idea to you, especially when you know Sunoo had your back throughout.

★ JUNGWON:

one of the worst things that could ever happen because one, he was NOT mentally prepared for this and two, they did not ask for permission. Isn’t that illegal? Shouldn't this be illegal? Sure, he’s an idol but he’s also got a personal life. Immediately begins to wonder what went wrong, if he didn’t scan the environment well or whatever he can do to ensure nothing like this happens again. Does not text or check the time, he will call you and would prefer if you two can decide on the spot because he wants this to be dealt with now. Mulling it over and waiting to drag it out will only harm your career as nasty people will sprout random nonsense just for fun. After the decision has been made, he’ll consult his manager and no, he will not change it even if he gets pressurised to do so. It’s a mutual decision and he wants you two to be on the same page.

★ NIKI:

shocked for a minute, wants to be comical about it but instead chooses to think about it deeply. He has experienced first-hand how disgusting people on the internet are and it is no doubt that you have been a victim of them as well. He does like you and wants to be with you for a very very long time so accepting/rejecting the rumours is not his main priority, it’s his relationship. As much as he wishes he could spend time with you in public without masks, holding your hand without a worry in the world- he can’t. so unfortunately, he’s going to deny the allegations for your safety. Logically, neither you or him are ready nor established enough to face the heat. Whatever lies the companies can come up with, you two will agree and have to continue being secretive about it. Perhaps one day, Niki can sit next to you on camera, maybe even caress your hand and call you a nickname, but it’s not any time soon. He’ll have to make peace with playing subtle pranks on you.

Thank you so much for reading!

Please do not copy/translate/edit.

[selarina]

tw angst

I think if Satoru was capable of falling in love during his school days, he’d get married way too early than he should. He’d be 21, getting down on his knees in your block of a college apartment, asking you to spend eternity with him.

It’s a big ask, and your hands tremble, but you say yes. Of course, you do — he’s Gojo Satoru, he’d blink his lashes, his pretty blue eyes peering into your own and ask you to rob a bank and you’d be inclined to agree.

So you get married. It’s nothing too grand, as much as he insisted. You celebrate with a bunch of your friends with dinner at his apartment, which eventually ends with the two of you kissing at the corner of a dingy neon glazed club.

And it’s all sunshines and shots until university ends and then, you get a job you like and he’s taken over his family business as he always expected. You’re both coming home from work to get cooped under a fuzzy blanket. You have a glass in hand as you sip on some chilled wine, and he watches the blue of the sky from your new apartment. And you’re both so happy and in love.

And years pass and things seem the same.

Maybe too much the same and things get tiring, and maybe a bit too predictable.

Lying under the same blanket always ends with you passing out too early. Your head lolling against his sagging shoulder as the blue from your window seems a little too dull, a little less star filled for Satoru's liking.

And soon after, you feel your muscles growing tired too early into the day. You’re still young but you’re so tired, so you find solace in reaching for your bed than his arms.

And frankly, Satoru's tired too. He thinks it would take a special type of person — his wife — to suck the spark from his eyes.

He feels like he’s been trying this for far too long. With the company, with your heart, with your stupid cat — it’s all too much so he’s resigned from work for a bit and he’s designated most of his time to the couch.

He lives in the living room now, more or less — the thought of your bedroom makes him frown. It feels like time has stopped moving in there, with the picture frames — dustless and in tact, and your books sitting right alongside his eyes drops and shades.

He hates the rest of this house too. He does. It’s far too small for him, it always has been. He loved it at first, but then he longed for longer walks from the living room to the kitchen to the bedroom, but that’s just the way you preferred things. That's just how you are. You make him small so he can stand beside you. Maybe that’s a rude thing to say, or even think, but that’s just how he feels sometimes.

Divorce. His father has been suggesting it since the day he took over the company but lately, he's been thinking about it too. He’s thought about it a lot actually, but you're all he's known. It would end him, he thinks. But he’s sure of it... he’s sure he doesn’t love you anymore.

But then there are days. God, there are days. They’re not even special days, just ordinary days where you’re smeared with sweat after work. You barge into the living room, as you often do, loosening your tie as you open up the big window, letting the sharp cold air hit against his skin. You reach for the vinyl player, the one only you use, putting on a random record — usually some form of soft jazz. Then you merely resign to a chair by the window, munching on some Digestives. And he thinks, he’d be a fool to leave this house with you in it.

[cryptotheism]

Amber Skies characters ranked by most likely to eat an unidentified sludge or goop of sorts

LEAST TO MOST

Sorcerer - No mouth. Cannot eat sludge.

Teacher - Does not eat. No reason to consume sludge.

Nico - Obligate carnivore. Would not consume sludge.

Kali - Wise enough not to consume random sludge.

Kip - Wise enough to not consume random sludge. You could dare him into it though.

Silence-Between-Strikes - Generally carnivorous, but fungal rot gives her strange cravings. Also cannot taste most food, and would therefore be more likely to consume sludge.

Marin de Trozier - Thinks he remembers seeing that type of sludge in a book he read somewhere, and remembers it being edible.

6 - Not exactly pro-sludge, but definitely not anti-sludge. Would happily try in an emergency.

Student - Canonically described her digestive system as "The wrong neighborhood for endotoxins." Can, will, and does, eat sludge.

Lunine de Trozier - Will actively and intentionally go out of her way to sample new sludges, just to see what happens. If she is worried, she will simply make 6 try it first.

[heartfullofleeches]

ok but mono w stoner darling how would THAT go 😭

Funnily enough, I think these two could be quite happy together. How I imagine it is Mono first learns of Darling through the post they made while high out of their mind rambling about numerous topics from their life to whatever random shit their inebriated mind cooks up like how much it sucks food doesn't taste like it did when you bought it when you reheat it in the microwave. Mono finds their bizarre post cute, and it gives them some insight to the human world which is the excuse Mono uses to stalk their page.

Mono eventually reaches out to darling. They're on the fence about whether to reveal they are an alien royal or just pretending that they're a human liking Darling. Something tells them Darling wouldn't care too much either way, but they still aren't sure. It slips somewhere along the way, but as Mono first assumed Darling doesn't give a damn. Having an alien penpal is probably the coolest thing that ever happened to them. Mono keeps their distance for the most part, but one of Darling's post finally gives them the push to meet their starlight in person.

"The world feels so small sometimes... I look out at the stars some nights and I wonder if the universe is just as tiny. I'll probably never get to find out myself, but it's nice to dream that I could....."

"My ship is outside."

".....fr?"

Darling probably thinks they're joking around at first, but the second they step outside they see a big ass alien robot carrying a bouquet of their favorite flowers. Flowers they had told Mono about. Darling is glad to abandon their old life, but they don't think they have enough weed in their stash to last them for however long they're away. Mono's ten steps ahead of them on that front. Its always had a bit of a green thumb so adding a few herb plants to their horde was no sweat off their shoulders. Sectioned off an entire quarter of their garden/lab just to grown more for Darling. Dabbles around in edibles and oils as well - anything to make sure Darling is happy and feels like they never have to leave their ship beyond the trips they take to new worlds.

Mono would have Darling hooked up, but they'd also have Darling fucked up and high out of their mind playing around with different strains to ensure Darling gets the maximum high.

-

Mono: Starlight? You haven't given me an update on the last batch of edibles I brought to you. It has been roughly twelve hours since you digested them. Would you care for more?

Stoner Reader, cradling the ship ai's monitor they ripped out of a wall - staring at the ceiling as they whisper : I think.... I think I'm good for now

-

Mono is an amalgamation of flesh and metal so they probably could get stoned with Darling. They are a little hesitant about letting Darling update their blog due to still being in hiding from its family, but they cave everytime Darling asks them to join them for a picture flashing that adorable smile of theirs Mono can't help but fall more in love with whenever Darling blesses them with a glimpse of it.

[a-d-nox]

wyrd web: what to gift a person based these three numbers

this is just a theory of mine because these bubbles of the matrix should represent earthly desires. this is not to say that you can't enjoy things not listed in your category / under your energetic number. this is simply what i believe people with these numbers would enjoy receiving as a gift.

1 - the magician

flowers / garden seeds, gear for their passion project(s), business/self-help books, a tarot/astrology/mediumship reading, art supplies, things that are homemade/artisanal, careof for brain support, things for their computer or car, a diary or journal (moleskine), sunglasses or blue-light glasses, joke books (for the dads with 1 placements here), paid classes, rosetta stone subscription, genetic tests (ancestry.com or 23&me), manicure/pedicure voucher, merchandise from their favorite singer / group / tv show / movie, mittens / fingerless gloves, house plant, sewing/knitting/crocheting supplies, stationary, or tickets to a concert

2 - the high priestess

things that support their spiritual practices, things that support feminine health (hum women's probiotics bundle, honey pot oral vaginal care probiotic, etc), bake goods / baking gear, barbecue sauce sampler / grilling gear (for the dads pt 2), bar in a jar (for those of drinking age) or really any beverage tester kit, bath/spa kit, beach vacation, boat, cruise, careof for brain support, truly nice melons boob butter, candles (it doesn't have to be yankee candle either - bent candles, spiced votive candle, etc) or candle making kit, imported cheeses, clothing staples (blue jeans, black turtleneck, etc), juice cleanse or other things that support digestive health, cooking classes or meal kits (hellofresh, homechef, etc), a tarot/astrology/mediumship reading, or outdoor cameras or other home security tools

3 - the empress

pillows, stuffed animals, rose quartz, personal celebrity cameo, clothing, tickets for an art museum tour, ballet tickets or classes, art supplies, makeup pallets and/or brushes, flowers, jewelry, candy/sweets, money, bells / wind chimes, clothing, designer pieces, cosmetics, dolls, a trip to a fancy restaurant, fruit basket / dried fruits, gardening supplies, jewelry, concert/orchestra tickets, poetry book, tickets to a play, a purse, lingerie (if y'all are close like that), trip to a vineyard (for those of drinking age), couples' dancing classes, or a wallet

4 - the emperor

skincare, rock climbing voucher or some other physical activity they enjoy, an adrenaline rush activity (skydiving, bungee jumping, etc), careof for brain support, crafted wooden objects (cutting boards, tables, etc), coffee trials/samplers, sunglasses, blue light glasses, hair care products/supplies, scalp treatments/care, oral health care (thera breath, whitening products, etc), meditation app subscriptions / in person sessions for meditation, or a planner

5 - the hierophant

moss agate (don't question how random that sounds this is some intuitive stuff), artwork, an architectural tour, beauty products/supplies, historically significant objects, pastries or sweets/candies, earrings, sour dough starter kit, jewelry in general, piano/organ lessons, singing lessons, a wallet, or any classes where they can learn something fun and new to them

6 - the lovers

car stuff (seat covers, cup holder coasters, etc), bicycle or bicycle accessories/gear, books (the more educational the better), briefcase / work tote, bus tickets for a day trip, gym membership or soulcycle classes, crystals, a standing desk / cute office supplies (for the work girlies both those who work in office and from home), hand & foot message, manicure voucher, newspaper subscription (i am a fan of new york times, washington post, and the new yorker), language classes or rosetta stone subscription, magazines subscription, merchandise from their favorite singer / group / tv show / movie, train trip, or we're not really strangers card packs

7 - the chariot

gardening supplies, hermit crab, baked goods, bath products / beauty products, boat, cruise, car stuff (seat covers, cup holder coasters, etc), truly nice melons boob butter, juice cleanse, gut health thrive market kit, glassware / blown glass, stuff they need / need for their home (security system, chest freezer, etc), hotel or bed & breakfast stay, kitchenware, lake trip, pearls, real estate / land, restaurant voucher / gift card, silver jewelry, shopping gift cards, a trip, or intention journal

8 - strength

amusement park tickets, supplies for their passion projects, ballroom dancing classes, tea sampler, games (video games or board games), movie theater gift card, personal celebrity cameo, flower garden supplies/seeds, stuff for their pet, or a belt

9 - the hermit

pet related gifts (if they have a pet that is), bookshelves (they probably need one), juice cleanse, gut health thrive market kit, a cat, clothing, oral health products (thera breath, whitening products, etc), stationary, emergency preparedness (ready to eat meals, fire blanket, etc), cook books, dining ware (new plates/bowls, cups / glassware, silverware, etc), food subscriptions (home chef, hello fresh, pickle of the month club, bokksu japanese snack box, etc), careof subscription, gloves, herb garden kit, a one way ticket to anywhere, or a hiking trip

10 - wheel of fortune

incense, cleansing herbs, bow and arrow, sapling, land, dried berries, budget book, gym/exercise membership, religious/spiritual/philosophical books, poker set, cloth (if they like sowing), wool (if they like weaving, crocheting, and/or knitting), wool clothing, a coat, trip to a country or place they have never been, oral health products (thera breath, whitening products, etc), etiquette classes/books (this is great for the traveler because they are often interested in learning customs before going on their trip), figs, fruit basket (like edible arrangements), honey sampler / royal jelly, horseback riding lessons, lottery tickets, merchandise from their favorite singer / group/ tv show / movie, shoes, really any game, any subscription they have not tried, things that support their spiritual practices, or book on positive mindset

11 - justice

personal celebrity cameo, tickets to a ballet or to an art gallery, air purifier, portable heating pad, spa voucher, cosmetics, lingerie (if y'all are close), closet organizational items (space saving hangers, linen bins, accessory hanger, etc), pastries and sweets, diamonds (perhaps propose to your lover), a dress, tickets to a fashion show or exhibit, flowers, a luxury chair, jewelry, concert tickets, poetry books, any quartz pieces, chocolates dipped strawberries, hair extensions, logic puzzles, a voucher for an escape room, or a kitchen/baking scale

12 - the hanged man

bar in a jar (if they are of drinking age), a book on angel numbers, a book on natural medical remedies, ballet classes or tickets to see a ballet, bath bombs and other bath goodies (salt, bath table, candles, sugar scrub, bath teas, etc), beach vacation, tea or coffee sampler, butterfly farm kit with caterpillars, disposable camera or a camera they would like (polaroid, filming, etc), scientific kits (geode kit, grow your own crystals, etc), cigars (for the dads in your life), unsolved mysteries or crime kit, dance classes, smutty/romance/fantasy books, fairy garden, a tarot/astrology/mediumship reading, budget book, makeup palettes or other cosmetic they enjoy, concert tickets, paint, poetry books, clue the board game, a pass to an indoor pool, a book on poppet making, meditation membership or a voucher for in-person sessions, or something to support their curiosity for new spiritual insight

13 - death

hermit crab, a jumping spider, a reptile, homeopathic books for natural cures and remedies, operation the game, butcherbox subscription, a book on how to cook and trim meats, beginners chemistry kit, a colon cleanse, sea monkeys, unsolved mysteries or crime kit, philosophy of death books, books on magic, magic the gathering the card game, period products (portable heating pad, the diva cup, etc), poisonous plants (belladonna, foxglove, lily of the valley, etc), a frog pond, a scorpion, a snake, a burr/boo basket (these people love seasonal stuff), or marie kondo's life changing magic of tidying up

14 - temperance

a hunting trip, bow and arrows, books on religion or philosophy, book of devotions, book on dream meanings (hello, freud haha), a certification course or college class, horseback riding lessons (for the newbie or a younger sibling or your child/niece/nephew), horse drawn carriage ride (for the couples *smirk*), logic puzzles, things that support their goals, or a book of angel number meanings

15 - the devil

a fan or air conditioning unit, if you have the land for it a cow/horse/goat, kinetic tape, arnicare bruise cream (this is a joke... unless...), coal or a diamond (this is also a joke... unless...), a clock or a watch, cuticle trimmer (and other nail care things), room darkening curtains, a happy lamp, lotion/cream, hat/scarf/gloves, hair products (extensions, shampoo subscription, etc), leather fashion-ware, gardening supplies, ice maker, or a juice cleanse

16 - the tower

tiger balm or other pain relieving ointment, acrobatic/gymnastic classes, homeopathic books for natural cures and remedies, first-aid kit, baking kits, barbecue sauce sampler, barbecue sauce sampler / grilling gear (for the dads), gift card for haircut, dollar shave club (for the dads pt 2), metal works (spoon handle rings, metal roses, etc), boxing lessons, boxing match tickets or monster truck tickets, butcherbox subscription, a book on how to cook and trim meats, crafted wooden objects (cutting boards, tables, etc), cactus plant, beginners chemistry kit, cookbook, pocket knife or leatherman/multitool, tool kit, jenga, emergency kit, food, first aid kit, merchandise for their favorite superhero(es), electric lighter, liqour or bar in a jar (if they are of drinking age), rock music (a vinyl or concert tickets), pepper plant, pipe for smoking (if they like to smoke that is - my grandfather had a collection), lego kit, or lincoln logs

17 - the star

friendship bracelets, a fan / ac unit, model airplane, flight lessons, compression stockings/socks, architectural tour, astrology reading, car stuff (seat covers, cup holder coasters, etc), club memberships (golf, racket ball, sam's, etc), electronic devices (a new phone, amazon fire stick, solar portable charger, etc), movie on blue-ray or dvd, movie gift card, a camera (polaroid or another type they have been eyeing), disposable cameras, camera gear, shadow work journal, aesthetically pleasing bluetooth retro radio, streaming service subscription, a book on health or mental health, or a book on positivity

18 - the moon

abstract art, bar in a jar (if they are of legal age), a fish, a fish tank, tickets to an aquarium, cocktail book (if they are of legal age), a fishing trip (for the dads), book of conspiracy theories, the conspiracy theory map, a crystal ball, unsolved mysteries or crime kit, a jellyfish, a tarot/astrology/mediumship reading, a camera (polaroid or another type they have been eyeing), disposable cameras, camera gear, poetry book, hydroponic starter system, games that involve bluffing (clue, poker, herd mentality, etc), shoes, sleeping eye mask, silk pillow cases, new bed sheets, bonnet, socks, a computer keyboard, typewriter, a book on shadow work, a puppy, or a book on dream meanings

19 - the sun

maine coon, autobiographical books, ballroom dancing lessons, poker set, oral health products (thera breath, whitening products, etc), card games, personal celebrity cameo, circus fruit basket, chocolate gold coins, classes that encourage creativity (create it and break it sessions, pottery classes, etc), jewelry or an engagement ring (if it's been more than 2 years y'all should know what you are doing at this point), flowers, indoor herb garden, tickets to race of some sort (cars, horse, sporting events, etc), sporting equipment, ivy plant, a pottery painting voucher / gift certificate, or something for their passion project / hobby

20 - judgment

a reptile, ant farm, a guide on astral projection, operation the game, the chameleon game, clue game, unsolved case files game, grand theft auto video game, assassins creed video game, dungeons and dragons the game, yahtzee, emergency preparedness kit, magician kit, poisonous plants (belladonna, foxglove, lily of the valley, etc), the divine comedy, puzzles, a rodent of some sort, or lingerie (if y'all are close)

21 - the world

gardening supplies, acoustic guitar, air conditioning or fan, architectural tour, teddy bear, snow globe, boots, calendar or planner, supergoop (sun protectant) products, wooden objects (cutting board, chest, box, etc), carpet, clay (air drying or via kiln), a clock or watch, compression stockings/socks, collectible coins, pain patches or kinetic tape, crystals, budget book, lotions for dry skin, dried fruits, gloves/mittens, hair care products, ice machine or ice making trays, ice cream subscription, pottery classes, rain coat, real estate or land, zen sand garden, sculpture, or snake

22 - the fool

flight lessons, model airplane, a flight to anywhere, car stuff (seat covers, cup holder coasters, etc), an astrology reading, bath products, biking gear, movie theatre gift card, clock or watch, club memberships (golf, racket ball, sam's, etc), mood lighting or strip lights, a train ride, fun magnets, motorcycle accessories/training, microphone (maybe they are filming or recording something), patterns for cross stitch / knitting / crocheting, a camera (polaroid or another type they have been eyeing), disposable cameras, camera gear, stuff for the tv (surround sound, sound bar, streaming subscription, etc), or classes for one of their interests

like what you read? leave a tip and state what post it is for! please use my "suggest a post topic" button if you want to see a specific pac/pile next. if you'd like my input on how i read a specific card or what i like to ask my deck, feel free to use the ask button for that as well.

click here for the masterlist

click here for more web of wyrd related posts

want a personal reading? click here to check out my reading options and prices.

© a-d-nox 2023 all rights reserved

[adorkastock]

Where can you find free AdorkaStock poses? I SHALL TELL YOU! AdorkaStock.com has a free gallery that gets ~3 new poses every week. You can sign up to get weekly or monthly email digests of the new poses, too. Tumblr! You are here! I post poses from time to time. There's no regular schedule, I'm a disaster princess. Bsky - I post poses here! At random. Behold my chaos. Old DeviantArt Archive - while I would eventually like to get everything onto my own site and off DA, there's still thousands of images in this gallery for now. Patreon - there's a TON of free stuff on my Patreon! You can sort by the Free tag to find them and you can also browse my Archive Post. You can sign up to get free stuff there, too. ♥

[nwjws]

10 months (TEASER) - SJY

; SYNOPSIS - when you first meet your best friend’s brother, your first thought is, “holy shit, he’s gorgeous.” your second thought is, “holy shit, he’s a baby.” younger guys aren't exactly your thing, but jake insists that your age gap of 10 months really isn’t that big. 

; PAIRING - jake x fem!reader

; TAGS - one-shot, fluff, angst, younger!jake, older!reader, not by much though, high school au, inspired by their song, best friend’s brother trope ; WARNINGS - cursing, umm nothing else (for the teaser at least)

; WC - 1k (teaser) full fic est. idk probably more than 5k

; RELEASE - hopefully november 15 (on his birthday!) but may have to post pone a little bc i've got a terrible cough

holy shit, he's gorgeous.

jake sim, your best friend's brother, might just be one of the most attractive men you've ever seen in your almost-nineteen years of life. his flawless skin combined with his wild hair gave him that carefree teenage look; the poster boy of a cliché summer fling, coming-of-age movie.

jaena had asked you to join her family at the amusement park, to celebrate jake's birthday. and while you'd known that she had a brother, you'd never actually met him - until now. you suddenly found yourself wishing she had told you to prepare to be blown away by his looks.

you smile at him, giving him a half-hug. "happy birthday!"

jake, snapped out of whatever trance he'd been caught in ever since he first laid his eyes upon you, patting your back. "um, thank you."

your best friend catches him in a headlock, giving him a noogie. "aww, you're eighteen now! no more lying about being an adult online," she teases him.

your heart stops, ears catching on one word in particular. "wait, he just turned eighteen?"

"yeah, he's my younger brother," jaena says.

that has you sitting back against the backrest of your seat, blowing out air as you digested the new information. you glance back at jake, who's eyes are pinned curiously on you.

holy shit, he's a baby.

jaena snorts. jake's eyebrows raise up behind his bangs. did you say that out loud?

"i'm not a baby!" he protests.

"yeah, you are," jaena shoves him lightly.

"woah, my whole perception of you has just changed," you tell him.

jake's jaw drops impossibly further as jaena barks out more laughter.

"what?! what was your first perception of me, then?"

you shake your head, amusement pulling at your features. "doesn't matter now."

as expected, your day at the park was well spent. jaena and jake's parents had gone off somewhere and left you three (and heeseung, who was invited by jake) alone. you guys had ridden the rollercoaster twice, gone on some spinning ride, and a game of laser tag - which, by the way, jake and heeseung had severely lost ('jake! stop staring at y/n!' 'i wasn't!' 'then how did you miss your sister pointing her gun at you when she was right in front of you?!').

when the four of you lined up for bumper cars, jake walked over to your side.

"hey, you wanna share a car with me?"

"me? with you?" you asked in confusion, tilting your head to the side. "why?"

"stealing my best friend from me, jake?" jaena asked.

"precisely," he smiles at her, and takes your hand as you guys reach the front of the line. he pulls you into the passenger seat of a car.

buckling the seatbelt, you jokingly ask jake, "do you need me to hold your hand, you child?"

jake frowns, before his face swiftly contorts into a smirk. "if you feel like you need to hold onto me for support, then sure!"

you roll your eyes at his playfulness. if he'd been older than you, you would have definitely blushed at his reply. instead, he came across to you like a little boy trying to impress an adult. how cute.

it's a fun round, with you and jake bumping into jaena and heeseung's car several times, getting them caught against the edge. when a random pair of strangers you guys didn't know bumped your car, the four of you teamed up and went after the poor kids. you all left the bumper cars ride laughing to the point your stomachs hurt.

after that, jaena dragged you and two boys to the stall games. you and jaena had fun playing one of those shooting games, whilst the other two did something else.

when you met up again, jake handed you three big plushies, a smile as big as them on his face.

"for you!"

jaena scrunched her nose at her brother. "ewww jake are you trying to court my best friend or something?"

"i'm not courting her! what is this, the 18th century?" he maturely poked his tongue out at his sister. "i won these for y/n, you know. do you like them?"

you took one and hugged it. "aw, thanks jakey," you cooed at him, pinching his cheek. "but i think these would find a better place on your bed. you can hug them to sleep."

jake huffed out in annoyance. "why do you keep treating me like a child?"

"because you are a child."

"i'm literally eighteen? i'm a full-grown adult!"

"sorry to break it to you, but eighteen is barely an adult," jaena snorted at him, taking the plushie from your arms.

"how old are you then?" jake asked you, his head tilting to the side. you had to stop yourself from letting out another 'aww'. he looked like a cute puppy asking for attention.

"i'm almost nineteen."

"so you're also eighteen? we're the exact same age."

"no we're not! i'm ten months older," you protested.

"but we're still both eighteen right now! and for the next two months! you're acting like you're my grandma or something..." he muttered.

"well, our age gap was big enough that you were placed in the lower grade. so i do feel like your grandma."

"ten months isn't even that big!" he rolled his eyes.

"why does it even matter?" heeseung shrugs, slipping his hands into his pockets as you guys walk towards the rendezvous point you'd be meeting jake's parents at before going back home.

"because she's treating me like a baby!"

"keep whining like that and i'll start to think that you really are," you tease him, jaena laughing at your bickering.

you purse your lips, suppressing a smile as you watch the cute boy leave his sister's side and move over to yours. a whiff of his cologne attacks your nose, but you don't fight it. it's oddly attractive, until you remind yourself of who it belongs to.

no, no, no way. you gulp down your thoughts and feelings, trying to keep a light-hearted expression on your face. 'keep calm and carry on', or whatever it was that old meme said.

you couldn't let your conflicted feelings show. so you pushed away any and all thoughts that you might be falling for your best friend's brother.

; AUTHOR'S CORNER! HII this is scheduled but anyway i hope i can complete this fic within the next 5 days (pray for me) but if not please excuse me my immune system isn't fighting whatever pathogen i have fast enough

; TAGLIST (open!) perm . @lovelovelovebts @miyseung @babyy-bambii @haechansbbg @gweoriz networks . @kflixnet @k-films @/k-labels . send an ask or comment here to be added!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Big Tech’s “attention rents”

Tomorrow (Nov 4), I'm keynoting the Hackaday Supercon in Pasadena, CA.

The thing is, any feed or search result is "algorithmic." "Just show me the things posted by people I follow in reverse-chronological order" is an algorithm. "Just show me products that have this SKU" is an algorithm. "Alphabetical sort" is an algorithm. "Random sort" is an algorithm.

Any process that involves more information than you can take in at a glance or digest in a moment needs some kind of sense-making. It needs to be put in some kind of order. There's always gonna be an algorithm.

But that's not what we mean by "the algorithm" (TM). When we talk about "the algorithm," we mean a system for ordering information that uses complex criteria that are not precisely known to us, and than can't be easily divined through an examination of the ordering.

There's an idea that a "good" algorithm is one that does not seek to deceive or harm us. When you search for a specific part number, you want exact matches for that search at the top of the results. It's fine if those results include third-party parts that are compatible with the part you're searching for, so long as they're clearly labeled. There's room for argument about how to order those results – do highly rated third-party parts go above the OEM part? How should the algorithm trade off price and quality?

It's hard to come up with an objective standard to resolve these fine-grained differences, but search technologists have tried. Think of Google: they have a patent on "long clicks." A "long click" is when you search for something and then don't search for it again for quite some time, the implication being that you've found what you were looking for. Google Search ads operate a "pay per click" model, and there's an argument that this aligns Google's ad division's interests with search quality: if the ad division only gets paid when you click a link, they will militate for placing ads that users want to click on.

Platforms are inextricably bound up in this algorithmic information sorting business. Platforms have emerged as the endemic form of internet-based business, which is ironic, because a platform is just an intermediary – a company that connects different groups to each other. The internet's great promise was "disintermediation" – getting rid of intermediaries. We did that, and then we got a whole bunch of new intermediaries.

Usually, those groups can be sorted into two buckets: "business customers" (drivers, merchants, advertisers, publishers, creative workers, etc) and "end users" (riders, shoppers, consumers, audiences, etc). Platforms also sometimes connect end users to each other: think of dating sites, or interest-based forums on Reddit. Either way, a platform's job is to make these connections, and that means platforms are always in the algorithm business.

Whether that's matching a driver and a rider, or an advertiser and a consumer, or a reader and a mix of content from social feeds they're subscribed to and other sources of information on the service, the platform has to make a call as to what you're going to see or do.

These choices are enormously consequential. In the theory of Surveillance Capitalism, these choices take on an almost supernatural quality, where "Big Data" can be used to guess your response to all the different ways of pitching an idea or product to you, in order to select the optimal pitch that bypasses your critical faculties and actually controls your actions, robbing you of "the right to a future tense."

I don't think much of this hypothesis. Every claim to mind control – from Rasputin to MK Ultra to neurolinguistic programming to pick-up artists – has turned out to be bullshit. Besides, you don't need to believe in mind control to explain the ways that algorithms shape our beliefs and actions. When a single company dominates the information landscape – say, when Google controls 90% of your searches – then Google's sorting can deprive you of access to information without you knowing it.

If every "locksmith" listed on Google Maps is a fake referral business, you might conclude that there are no more reputable storefront locksmiths in existence. What's more, this belief is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy: if Google Maps never shows anyone a real locksmith, all the real locksmiths will eventually go bust.

If you never see a social media update from a news source you follow, you might forget that the source exists, or assume they've gone under. If you see a flood of viral videos of smash-and-grab shoplifter gangs and never see a news story about wage theft, you might assume that the former is common and the latter is rare (in reality, shoplifting hasn't risen appreciably, while wage-theft is off the charts).

In the theory of Surveillance Capitalism, the algorithm was invented to make advertisers richer, and then went on to pervert the news (by incentivizing "clickbait") and finally destroyed our politics when its persuasive powers were hijacked by Steve Bannon, Cambridge Analytica, and QAnon grifters to turn millions of vulnerable people into swivel-eyed loons, racists and conspiratorialists.

As I've written, I think this theory gives the ad-tech sector both too much and too little credit, and draws an artificial line between ad-tech and other platform businesses that obscures the connection between all forms of platform decay, from Uber to HBO to Google Search to Twitter to Apple and beyond:

https://pluralistic.net/HowToDestroySurveillanceCapitalism

As a counter to Surveillance Capitalism, I've proposed a theory of platform decay called enshittification, which identifies how the market power of monopoly platforms, combined with the flexibility of digital tools, combined with regulatory capture, allows platforms to abuse both business-customers and end-users, by depriving them of alternatives, then "twiddling" the knobs that determine the rules of the platform without fearing sanction under privacy, labor or consumer protection law, and finally, blocking digital self-help measures like ad-blockers, alternative clients, scrapers, reverse engineering, jailbreaking, and other tech guerrilla warfare tactics:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

One important distinction between Surveillance Capitalism and enshittification is that enshittification posits that the platform is bad for everyone. Surveillance Capitalism starts from the assumption that surveillance advertising is devastatingly effective (which explains how your racist Facebook uncles got turned into Jan 6 QAnons), and concludes that advertisers must be well-served by the surveillance system.

But advertisers – and other business customers – are very poorly served by platforms. Procter and Gamble reduced its annual surveillance advertising budget from $100m//year to $0/year and saw a 0% reduction in sales. The supposed laser-focused targeting and superhuman message refinement just don't work very well – first, because the tech companies are run by bullshitters whose marketing copy is nonsense, and second because these companies are monopolies who can abuse their customers without losing money.

The point of enshittification is to lock end-users to the platform, then use those locked-in users as bait for business customers, who will also become locked to the platform. Once everyone is holding everyone else hostage, the platform uses the flexibility of digital services to play a variety of algorithmic games to shift value from everyone to the business's shareholders. This flexibility is supercharged by the failure of regulators to enforce privacy, labor and consumer protection standards against the companies, and by these companies' ability to insist that regulators punish end-users, competitors, tinkerers and other third parties to mod, reverse, hack or jailbreak their products and services to block their abuse.

Enshittification needs The Algorithm. When Uber wants to steal from its drivers, it can just do an old-fashioned wage theft, but eventually it will face the music for that kind of scam:

https://apnews.com/article/uber-lyft-new-york-city-wage-theft-9ae3f629cf32d3f2fb6c39b8ffcc6cc6

The best way to steal from drivers is with algorithmic wage discrimination. That's when Uber offers occassional, selective drivers higher rates than it gives to drivers who are fully locked to its platform and take every ride the app offers. The less selective a driver becomes, the lower the premium the app offers goes, but if a driver starts refusing rides, the wage offer climbs again. This isn't the mind-control of Surveillance Capitalism, it's just fraud, shaving fractional pennies off your paycheck in the hopes that you won't notice. The goal is to get drivers to abandon the other side-hustles that allow them to be so choosy about when they drive Uber, and then, once the driver is fully committed, to crank the wage-dial down to the lowest possible setting:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men

This is the same game that Facebook played with publishers on the way to its enshittification: when Facebook began aggressively courting publishers, any short snippet republished from the publisher's website to a Facebook feed was likely to be recommended to large numbers of readers. Facebook offered publishers a vast traffic funnel that drove millions of readers to their sites.

But as publishers became more dependent on that traffic, Facebook's algorithm started downranking short excerpts in favor of medium-length ones, building slowly to fulltext Facebook posts that were fully substitutive for the publisher's own web offerings. Like Uber's wage algorithm, Facebook's recommendation engine played its targets like fish on a line.

When publishers responded to declining reach for short excerpts by stepping back from Facebook, Facebook goosed the traffic for their existing posts, sending fresh floods of readers to the publisher's site. When the publisher returned to Facebook, the algorithm once again set to coaxing the publishers into posting ever-larger fractions of their work to Facebook, until, finally, the publisher was totally locked into Facebook. Facebook then started charging publishers for "boosting" – not just to be included in algorithmic recommendations, but to reach their own subscribers.

Enshittification is modern, high-tech enabled, monopolistic form of rent seeking. Rent-seeking is a subtle and important idea from economics, one that is increasingly relevant to our modern economy. For economists, a "rent" is income you get from owning a "factor of production" – something that someone else needs to make or do something.

Rents are not "profits." Profit is income you get from making or doing something. Rent is income you get from owning something needed to make a profit. People who earn their income from rents are called rentiers. If you make your income from profits, you're a "capitalist."

Capitalists and rentiers are in irreconcilable combat with each other. A capitalist wants access to their factors of production at the lowest possible price, whereas rentiers want those prices to be as high as possible. A phone manufacturer wants to be able to make phones as cheaply as possible, while a patent-troll wants to own a patent that the phone manufacturer needs to license in order to make phones. The manufacturer is a capitalism, the troll is a rentier.

The troll might even decide that the best strategy for maximizing their rents is to exclusively license their patents to a single manufacturer and try to eliminate all other phones from the market. This will allow the chosen manufacturer to charge more and also allow the troll to get higher rents. Every capitalist except the chosen manufacturer loses. So do people who want to buy phones. Eventually, even the chosen manufacturer will lose, because the rentier can demand an ever-greater share of their profits in rent.

Digital technology enables all kinds of rent extraction. The more digitized an industry is, the more rent-seeking it becomes. Think of cars, which harvest your data, block third-party repair and parts, and force you to buy everything from acceleration to seat-heaters as a monthly subscription:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

The cloud is especially prone to rent-seeking, as Yanis Varoufakis writes in his new book, Technofeudalism, where he explains how "cloudalists" have found ways to lock all kinds of productive enterprise into using cloud-based resources from which ever-increasing rents can be extracted:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/28/cloudalists/#cloud-capital

The endless malleability of digitization makes for endless variety in rent-seeking, and cataloging all the different forms of digital rent-extraction is a major project in this Age of Enshittification. "Algorithmic Attention Rents: A theory of digital platform market power," a new UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose paper by Tim O'Reilly, Ilan Strauss and Mariana Mazzucato, pins down one of these forms:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2023/nov/algorithmic-attention-rents-theory-digital-platform-market-power

The "attention rents" referenced in the paper's title are bait-and-switch scams in which a platform deliberately enshittifies its recommendations, search results or feeds to show you things that are not the thing you asked to see, expect to see, or want to see. They don't do this out of sadism! The point is to extract rent – from you (wasted time, suboptimal outcomes) and from business customers (extracting rents for "boosting," jumbling good results in among scammy or low-quality results).

The authors cite several examples of these attention rents. Much of the paper is given over to Amazon's so-called "advertising" product, a $31b/year program that charges sellers to have their products placed above the items that Amazon's own search engine predicts you will want to buy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

This is a form of gladiatorial combat that pits sellers against each other, forcing them to surrender an ever-larger share of their profits in rent to Amazon for pride of place. Amazon uses a variety of deceptive labels ("Highly Rated – Sponsored") to get you to click on these products, but most of all, they rely two factors. First, Amazon has a long history of surfacing good results in response to queries, which makes buying whatever's at the top of a list a good bet. Second, there's just so many possible results that it takes a lot of work to sift through the probably-adequate stuff at the top of the listings and get to the actually-good stuff down below.

Amazon spent decades subsidizing its sellers' goods – an illegal practice known as "predatory pricing" that enforcers have increasingly turned a blind eye to since the Reagan administration. This has left it with few competitors:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/19/fake-it-till-you-make-it/#millennial-lifestyle-subsidy

The lack of competing retail outlets lets Amazon impose other rent-seeking conditions on its sellers. For example, Amazon has a "most favored nation" requirement that forces companies that raise their prices on Amazon to raise their prices everywhere else, which makes everything you buy more expensive, whether that's a Walmart, Target, a mom-and-pop store, or direct from the manufacturer:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/25/greedflation/#commissar-bezos

But everyone loses in this "two-sided market." Amazon used "junk ads" to juice its ad-revenue: these are ads that are objectively bad matches for your search, like showing you a Seattle Seahawks jersey in response to a search for LA Lakers merch:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-02/amazon-boosted-junk-ads-hid-messages-with-signal-ftc-says

The more of these junk ads Amazon showed, the more revenue it got from sellers – and the more the person selling a Lakers jersey had to pay to show up at the top of your search, and the more they had to charge you to cover those ad expenses, and the more they had to charge for it everywhere else, too.

The authors describe this process as a transformation between "attention rents" (misdirecting your attention) to "pecuniary rents" (making money). That's important: despite decades of rhetoric about the "attention economy," attention isn't money. As I wrote in my enshittification essay:

You can't use attention as a medium of exchange. You can't use it as a store of value. You can't use it as a unit of account. Attention is like cryptocurrency: a worthless token that is only valuable to the extent that you can trick or coerce someone into parting with "fiat" currency in exchange for it. You have to "monetize" it – that is, you have to exchange the fake money for real money.

The authors come up with some clever techniques for quantifying the ways that this scam harms users. For example, they count the number of places that an advertised product rises in search results, relative to where it would show up in an "organic" search. These quantifications are instructive, but they're also a kind of subtweet at the judiciary.

In 2018, SCOTUS's ruling in American Express v Ohio changed antitrust law for two-sided markets by insisting that so long as one side of a two-sided market was better off as the result of anticompetitive actions, there was no antitrust violation:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3346776

For platforms, that means that it's OK to screw over sellers, advertisers, performers and other business customers, so long as the end-users are better off: "Go ahead, cheat the Uber drivers, so long as you split the booty with Uber riders."

But in the absence of competition, regulation or self-help measures, platforms cheat everyone – that's the point of enshittification. The attention rents that Amazon's payola scheme extract from shoppers translate into higher prices, worse goods, and lower profits for platform sellers. In other words, Amazon's conduct is so sleazy that it even threads the infinitesimal needle that the Supremes created in American Express.

Here's another algorithmic pecuniary rent: Amazon figured out which of its major rivals used an automated price-matching algorithm, and then cataloged which products they had in common with those sellers. Then, under a program called Project Nessie, Amazon jacked up the prices of those products, knowing that as soon as they raised the prices on Amazon, the prices would go up everywhere else, so Amazon wouldn't lose customers to cheaper alternatives. That scam made Amazon at least a billion dollars:

https://gizmodo.com/ftc-alleges-amazon-used-price-gouging-algorithm-1850986303

This is a great example of how enshittification – rent-seeking on digital platforms – is different from analog rent-seeking. The speed and flexibility with which Amazon and its rivals altered their prices requires digitization. Digitization also let Amazon crank the price-gouging dial to zero whenever they worried that regulators were investigating the program.

So what do we do about it? After years of being made to look like fumblers and clowns by Big Tech, regulators and enforcers – and even lawmakers – have decided to get serious.

The neoliberal narrative of government helplessness and incompetence would have you believe that this will go nowhere. Governments aren't as powerful as giant corporations, and regulators aren't as smart as the supergeniuses of Big Tech. They don't stand a chance.

But that's a counsel of despair and a cheap trick. Weaker US governments have taken on stronger oligarchies and won – think of the defeat of JD Rockefeller and the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. The people who pulled that off weren't wizards. They were just determined public servants, with political will behind them. There is a growing, forceful public will to end the rein of Big Tech, and there are some determined public servants surfing that will.

In this paper, the authors try to give those enforcers ammo to bring to court and to the public. For example, Amazon claims that its algorithm surfaces the products that make the public happy, without the need for competitive pressure to keep it sharp. But as the paper points out, the only successful new rival ecommerce platform – Tiktok – has found an audience for an entirely new category of goods: dupes, "lower-cost products that have the same or better features than higher cost branded products."

The authors also identify "dark patterns" that platforms use to trick users into consuming feeds that have a higher volume of things that the company profits from, and a lower volume of things that users want to see. For example, platforms routinely switch users from a "following" feed – consisting of things posted by people the user asked to hear from – with an algorithmic "For You" feed, filled with the things the company's shareholders wish the users had asked to see.

Calling this a "dark pattern" reveals just how hollow and self-aggrandizing that term is. "Dark pattern" usually means "fraud." If I ask to see posts from people I like, and you show me posts from people who'll pay you for my attention instead, that's not a sophisticated sleight of hand – it's just a scam. It's the social media equivalent of the eBay seller who sends you an iPhone box with a bunch of gravel inside it instead of an iPhone. Tech bros came up with "dark pattern" as a way of flattering themselves by draping themselves in the mantle of dopamine-hacking wizards, rather than unimaginative con-artists who use a computer to rip people off.

These For You algorithmic feeds aren't just a way to increase the load of sponsored posts in a feed – they're also part of the multi-sided ripoff of enshittified platforms. A For You feed allows platforms to trick publishers and performers into thinking that they are "good at the platform," which both convinces to optimize their production for that platform, and also turns them into Judas Goats who conspicuously brag about how great the platform is for people like them, which brings their peers in, too.

In Veena Dubal's essential paper on algorithmic wage discrimination, she describes how Uber drivers whom the algorithm has favored with (temporary) high per-ride rates brag on driver forums about their skill with the app, bringing in other drivers who blame their lower wages on their failure to "use the app right":

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4331080

As I wrote in my enshittification essay:

If you go down to the midway at your county fair, you'll spot some poor sucker walking around all day with a giant teddy bear that they won by throwing three balls in a peach basket.

The peach-basket is a rigged game. The carny can use a hidden switch to force the balls to bounce out of the basket. No one wins a giant teddy bear unless the carny wants them to win it. Why did the carny let the sucker win the giant teddy bear? So that he'd carry it around all day, convincing other suckers to put down five bucks for their chance to win one:

https://boingboing.net/2006/08/27/rigged-carny-game.html

The carny allocated a giant teddy bear to that poor sucker the way that platforms allocate surpluses to key performers – as a convincer in a "Big Store" con, a way to rope in other suckers who'll make content for the platform, anchoring themselves and their audiences to it.

Platform can't run the giant teddy-bear con unless there's a For You feed. Some platforms – like Tiktok – tempt users into a For You feed by making it as useful as possible, then salting it with doses of enshittification:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/01/20/tiktoks-secret-heating-button-can-make-anyone-go-viral/

Other platforms use the (ugh) "dark pattern" of simply flipping your preference from a "following" feed to a "For You" feed. Either way, the platform can't let anyone keep the giant teddy-bear. Once you've tempted, say, sports bros into piling into the platform with the promise of millions of free eyeballs, you need to withdraw the algorithm's favor for their content so you can give it to, say, astrologers. Of course, the more locked-in the users are, the more shit you can pile into that feed without worrying about them going elsewhere, and the more giant teddy-bears you can give away to more business users so you can lock them in and start extracting rent.

For regulators, the possibility of a "good" algorithmic feed presents a serious challenge: when a feed is bad, how can a regulator tell if its low quality is due to the platform's incompetence at blocking spammers or guessing what users want, or whether it's because the platform is extracting rents?

The paper includes a suite of recommendations, including one that I really liked:

Regulators, working with cooperative industry players, would define reportable metrics based on those that are actually used by the platforms themselves to manage search, social media, e-commerce, and other algorithmic relevancy and recommendation engines.

In other words: find out how the companies themselves measure their performance. Find out what KPIs executives have to hit in order to earn their annual bonuses and use those to figure out what the company's performance is – ad load, ratio of organic clicks to ad clicks, average click-through on the first organic result, etc.

They also recommend some hard rules, like reserving a portion of the top of the screen for "organic" search results, and requiring exact matches to show up as the top result.

I've proposed something similar, applicable across multiple kinds of digital businesses: an end-to-end principle for online services. The end-to-end principle is as old as the internet, and it decrees that the role of an intermediary should be to deliver data from willing senders to willing receivers as quickly and reliably as possible. When we apply this principle to your ISP, we call it Net Neutrality. For services, E2E would mean that if I subscribed to your feed, the service would have a duty to deliver it to me. If I hoisted your email out of my spam folder, none of your future emails should land there. If I search for your product and there's an exact match, that should be the top result:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first

One interesting wrinkle to framing platform degradation as a failure to connect willing senders and receivers is that it places a whole host of conduct within the regulatory remit of the FTC. Section 5 of the FTC Act contains a broad prohibition against "unfair and deceptive" practices:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

That means that the FTC doesn't need any further authorization from Congress to enforce an end to end rule: they can simply propose and pass that rule, on the grounds that telling someone that you'll show them the feeds that they ask for and then not doing so is "unfair and deceptive."

Some of the other proposals in the paper also fit neatly into Section 5 powers, like a "sticky" feed preference. If I tell a service to show me a feed of the people I follow and they switch it to a For You feed, that's plainly unfair and deceptive.

All of this raises the question of what a post-Big-Tech feed would look like. In "How To Break Up Amazon" for The Sling, Peter Carstensen and Darren Bush sketch out some visions for this:

https://www.thesling.org/how-to-break-up-amazon/

They imagine a "condo" model for Amazon, where the sellers collectively own the Amazon storefront, a model similar to capacity rights on natural gas pipelines, or to patent pools. They see two different ways that search-result order could be determined in such a system:

"specific premium placement could go to those vendors that value the placement the most [with revenue] shared among the owners of the condo"

or

"leave it to owners themselves to create joint ventures to promote products"

Note that both of these proposals are compatible with an end-to-end rule and the other regulatory proposals in the paper. Indeed, all these policies are easier to enforce against weaker companies that can't afford to maintain the pretense that they are headquartered in some distant regulatory haven, or pay massive salaries to ex-regulators to work the refs on their behalf:

https://www.thesling.org/in-public-discourse-and-congress-revolvers-defend-amazons-monopoly/

The re-emergence of intermediaries on the internet after its initial rush of disintermediation tells us something important about how we relate to one another. Some authors might be up for directly selling books to their audiences, and some drivers might be up for creating their own taxi service, and some merchants might want to run their own storefronts, but there's plenty of people with something they want to offer us who don't have the will or skill to do it all. Not everyone wants to be a sysadmin, a security auditor, a payment processor, a software engineer, a CFO, a tax-preparer and everything else that goes into running a business. Some people just want to sell you a book. Or find a date. Or teach an online class.

Intermediation isn't intrinsically wicked. Intermediaries fall into pits of enshitffication and other forms of rent-seeking when they aren't disciplined by competitors, by regulators, or by their own users' ability to block their bad conduct (with ad-blockers, say, or other self-help measures). We need intermediaries, and intermediaries don't have to turn into rent-seeking feudal warlords. That only happens if we let it happen.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/03/subprime-attention-rent-crisis/#euthanize-rentiers

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[tshortik]

My random comic Recs #1

I've been reading more comics lately, so I wanted to share my love for them in the hopes that someone might give this medium a chance!

Note: I am not a fan of superhero comics, because I simply don't like that genre, so don't expect superheroes below. Gonna make these posts every now and then and they will always include 4 recs. 1.) The Many Deaths of Laila Starr

Death got demoted and sent to earth as a mortal! Some boy is going to figure out how to cheat death in the future, and our girl Death really doesn't appreciate that. The entire graphic novel is only 5 issues long, so it's VERY digestible and easy to get through.There is something so light and playful about the art style, and the vibrant colors really sell it.

For people that are completely new to comics as a medium, I imagine that this is actually an A+ book to start with for the reasons I just mentioned. The way paneling and the flow of time is done in here, is a great example as to why comics are so unique as a medium and why they should be looked at as its own art from, separate from movies or books.

2) Mécanique Céleste (Or "Mechanica Calaestium" in the German translation, or "Aster Of Pan" in the English translation)

An absolutely breathtaking French comic. Aster lives in Pan, a post-apocalyptic France where she scavenges for wreckage with her friend Wallis. After their people come under a threat by the Federation of Fortuna, they are given a choice —submit to Fortuna’s rule or beat them in a weird Hunger Games-esque version of Dodge, called “Celestial Mechanics”.

The detailed art pieces in each panel, the careful line work, the lively way the characters move and the stunning watercolors captivated me from the first page. This graphic novel (now 2 volumes) is one of a kind and truly unique!

3) Something Is Killing the Children

Note: Comic contains a lot of gore and violence!

Children are starting to disappear in Archer's Peak. The ones that come back tell impossible stories that no one seems to believe. Only one stranger trusts these tales - a mysterious girl named Erica Slaughter who seems to be able to see these creatures too. And she's here for business.

I loooove Something is Killing the Children. I haven't finished reading the ongoing volumes yet, but I am super fascinated at how well the pacing goes in this story. The rough art style with Erica's freaky large eyes is SO fun, and you start appreciating it even more the longer you read.

4) Mon Ami Pierrot ("Mein Freund Pierrot" in German, "My friend Pierrot" in English)

Another fabulous French comic! Cléa is to marry soon - a young man name of Berthier. Right before the wedding she meets the fascinating magician Pierrot though, who completely changes the course of her life. Entranced by his whimsical nature that makes her feel "free" for the first time in her life, she follows him and leaves her previous life behind. During her stay with Pierrot, questions arise, though. Who is he really? All the while her betrothed sets out to find her again.

The Ghibli influence both art- and storywise is easy to make out, and I personally really enjoyed that. I particularly love the colors and the facial expressions the characters are drawn with. Everything feels very whimsical and playful and I had a good time going through this chonker of a graphic novel!

No spoilers, but I expected toothrottingly-sweet wholesome stuff, and ended up surprised on several occasions. I think the colours and art style really help give those moments wham, because you don't expect it.

[ixiot-ghostrebel]

Ooh, interesting! Lemme see what I can do about this idea. Please remember to send requests via mailbox!

Headcanons: Jean, Lisa, Ninguang, and Ganyu Reacting to Reader Being a Veteran Military Soldier

You were calmly sipping tea and having snacks, relaxing with the character at your palace, talking about random conversations that come and go over the time.

This brought the conversation where you mention your experiences of being apart of the Military for a while before retiring due to the many scars you had over several many combat incidents.

This is how they'll react.

(Disclaimers: Mentions of Scars, Implied Violence/Battles, Might Be OOC!)

Jean

To hear that the Almighty Creator has been through so many battle experience and gaining so many scars, she wished she could've been there to assist you.

She is very much curious as what you've been through, but she doesn't push—she simply wants to make sure you are okay before diving into that topic.

"Your Grace, are you alright? Are your scars hurting you in any way?" She wants to make sure you aren't in any pain of sorts, and will fuss over you and get Barbara to check on you before you somehow find a way to reject this help.

Consider it her way of paying you back for letting her enjoy a cup of tea with you and a good conversation to know you better.

Lisa

Lisa, my oh my...This librarian will be ever so curious on your past battle experiences during this tea session, now that you mentioned it. Of course—she won't push you to explain. She doesn't want to make you upset, nor be struck down for giving the Almighty Creator trauma flashbacks of any sorts.

"Your Grace, if you allow me to indulge myself, may I ask of what kind of battle experiences you've been through? Feel free, of course, to continue to a different topic if I ever seem to be pushing any boundaries." Lisa is a good listener, she'll hear you out, word for word.

And, of course, she sticks to her word. If her questions ever seem to be too much, switch the subject and Lisa will hop onto the new one! After all, your tea is ever so lovely~

Ningguang

First of all, the fact that the Creator is inviting her to have tea and enjoy conversation with them in the first place? She already feels spoiled.

This is probably even better than becoming Tianquan or building her Jade Chamber/Palace.

Ningguang is rather surprised to hear that you've been to battle before. She'll be even more surprised once she digests the information that you've been to several battles. And gained battle scars through those experiences.

Of course, her face doesn't show any of this, but she's pretty impressed and awed. She's trying to imagine it: The Almighty Creator, fighting the front lines, destroying the enemies that dare to face them, etc.

"Your Grace, if I be bold to ask, but what kind of battles have you been in?" As she listens to you talk about some of your battle experience, Ningguang can now understand why people gawk at her and the Jade Chamber as/once they listen to the stories regarding it. Your stories, were very captivating and fed all sorts of scenarios in her imagination.

If you grant her the permission, Ningguang will personally start having storytellers tell the tales of the fierce and Almighty Creator facing threats in battle, for all of Liyue to gain a even deeper respect for you.

Ganyu

To be even in the presence of the Almighty Creator, she already feels super blessed. To hear that the creator has been through battles? Ganyu couldn't help but worry.

She knew that some scars, whether mental or physical, could case pain. So, naturally, she has to ask whether if you're okay or not.

"Uhm, Your Grace, forgive my intrusion, but are your scars harming you in any way?" As a veteran of the Archon War, she knows a thing or two about how people hide their scars, playing off their pain as if it were just an annoying pest. Ganyu wants to make sure you're okay and at top, peak condition!

Teyvat has already lost its Almighty Creator once, and she refuses to see you in pain after your re-descension!

Be prepared to take this task very seriously, because boy, if you are facing anything she finds unhealthy, you are being coaxed and voluntold into therapy.

And that's it! I hope you all liked these headcanons :) See you around next time!

Ghost Rebel Side Notes: Just a quick notice for those waiting for Part 3/finale of "Forever In My Hold" - It's going to take a long while since I'm having a little bit of writer's block on it. I doubt I'll be able to finish it this month. Sorry!

Check Out The Ghost Rebel's Blog Description to See if Their Mailbox is Open!