#Straddle Options Examples

[signode-blog]

Effective Trading Strategies Using Straddle Option Trading Strategy

Introduction to Straddle Option Trading Strategy The Straddle Option Trading Strategy is a versatile approach used by traders to capitalize on significant price movements in the market, regardless of the direction. This strategy involves purchasing both a call option and a put option on the same underlying asset, with the same strike price and expiration date. The primary goal of a straddle is…

[bloody-cupcakes]

Love Quinn x yandere/dark! reader; she lets you cut her as a sign of ownership

Tw: yandere/dark content, gender neutral reader, nsfw elements, dom/sub dynamics (dom reader/sub Love), some bdsm, knifeplay/cutting as a sign of ownership, slight gore maybe(??), implied unhealthy relationship dynamics (Love enjoys being cut/hurt by the reader and the reader enjoys cutting/hurting her for example), soft aftercare

A/N: I was really in the mood to write something a little bit darker and more intimate for some reason which is where the idea for this stemmed from

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Love was used to having scars, though most of them were invisible, and only cut her on the inside. Until she met you, and you gave her some brand new ones, ones that were visible and on the outside and yet felt more comfortable than anything else.

She loved it whenever you pulled out the knife when you were being intimate with one another, loving how it sliced into her pale skin like butter, how you cooed gently and told her she was a good girl while you cut her up. It shouldn't have made her feel good, but it did.

"Please... please, please do it... hurt me..." she'd always beg as she laid beneath you, this time with her top off and her stomach bared, giving you plenty of space to make a few more of your precious little marks. There was already a small cut right below her belly button from an earlier time, but that wasn't enough. She wanted more. She needed it.

"Alright, alright, shh, baby, I've got you." Your voice was soft and caring when you brought the knife out, slowly dragging the tip of the blade along her skin as you watched her. "Lie still like a good girl for me, okay? I don't want it to go too deep."

She nodded in understanding, even if she didn't really care. The twisted combination of pain and pleasure caused by you was enough to have her toes curling and her eyes rolling into the back of her head. You could cut off a limb, and she's probably thank you for it.

The way this all started was purely by accident. You'd wanted to introduce something a bit more risky into the bedroom, suggesting knife play to her as a possible option. She didn't see the harm in it and agreed, even going so far as to state how she wanted to be on the receiving end of the blade.

Everything was going fine until you accidentally cut her when moving the knife over her collarbone, leaving behind the tiniest of a scratch. Blood was barely drawn, but it was enough to awaken something in the both of you, something that couldn't easily be hidden away again once it had been discovered.

From then on, she'd practically plead with you to cut her up at any given moment, to leave behind marks so she'd always have a part of you with her, so she'd always have a visual reminder for your handiwork. If it was anyone else, they'd have called her crazy and left, but you weren't just anyone.

You were the sun to her moon, the yin to her yang, the peanut butter to her jelly. You knew exactly what she needed even before she knew it herself, so of course you had no problem with complying to her outrageous request.

Which is what led you to the current moment of straddling her while she laid underneath you, carefully dragging the knife in your hand across her stomach. Not enough to cause any permanent damage, but just enough pressure from the blade to leave behind a mark, her crimson blood making an appearance for the first (but not the last) time that night.

Her breathing was heavy as she watched you, her pupils blown wide from affection and adoration. She never fought back against you, even when it hurt a little. "Just- just a little more," she muttered more to herself than you. "Just a little bit more, please."

You naturally obliged, leaving two more cuts behind on her stomach and one across her collarbone. It was your own way of branding her as yours, even if it was done in secret where no one would ever know about it.

Aftercare was just as good, if not better in her opinion. You took the time to sanitize her cuts so there wouldn't be a possible chance of infection and murmured loving things to her about just how much she meant to you while letting her cuddle up close.

Maybe the practice was a bit unorthodox, but you were both consenting adults with not only a safe word but also a deep love for one another (no matter how disturbing or codependent it might be). And if that was really so wrong, then Love didn't want to be right.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

What do you think about Catherine's general approach to royal life? What are the things she's done well and can do better?

For the most part, Kate adapted well and she has a good strategy for royalling.

The only thing she can better (and the only thing she should have done differently) is work. There needs to be more. Point blank. Bar none.

But it’s a tough line to straddle. For instance, consider all these "buts" to Kate's workload:

She didn’t need to churn out Anne and Charles numbers, but she should’ve been within a football kick’s distance of Sophie’s numbers. But at the same time, she can’t really outwork her husband, the actual blood royal, who wasn’t really doing much royal work in the first place because he was a SAR pilot, first in Wales and then in East Anglia.

But also, that overlapped with being pregnant and having babies and toddlers. And, well, Kate’s only constitutional role (if we can even call it that) is to produce heir and spare for the monarchy’s future...so technically her job is to make those babies and ensure they grow up to adulthood.

But also, modern society has been trained to expect a certain level and standard of work for individuals in the royal family.

But also, modern society has developed this requirement that the only work that matters by individuals in the royal family is the work that they do in the public arena and nothing else counts.

So respecting that Kate wants to stay home and raise her children, and all these other "buts", how does she do more work?

Option 1 is to aim for quantity - pick up more public engagements. The kids are in school now. There's no reason why Kate can't have a public engagement three days a week in something like a 1:2 schedule - where one of her workdays aims for quality (e.g. an hours-long focused visit that she prefers or an away day) and the other two workdays are smaller, shorter more bread-and-butter type engagements.

Option 2, if she prefers to stay close to home, then she needs to peel the curtain back on her work and let us see all the behind-the-scenes stuff she's doing to prepare for, or in addition to, the public engagements. Because there's a lot of it that we do not see.

I’ll use my line of work as a fed for an example - when you think of “federal spending,” you probably think of things like FBI investigations, social security checks, taxes, TSA airport security, food inspectors. That’s the “front line” of federal spending. But behind all of those people are a crapton of other people and spending that make sure those front-line employees have what they need to do their jobs. For example - that FBI agent needs someone to process their timecards so they can get paid, pay the electric bill for their office so they have a place to work, maintain their company-owned vehicle so they can go where they need to during investigations, train them on gun safety, maintain their IT and fix problems with their computers, collect and process evidence, write and issue subpoenas, research case law, file their case paperwork, make sure the toilets work in their office buildings and they have drinkable water, collect their trash, ensure the locks work on their evidence storage so no one can tamper with it, make sure their gun and ammo storage is in secure access-restricted facilities, buy them new furniture when their chairs break, get them new badges and safety equipment, etc.

In other words, the average American citizen only sees Agent Seeley Booth driving around DC in his black SUV. They don't see, or comprehend, the entire machine that makes it so Agent Booth can even sit in that car in the first place.

And that's kinda what's going on with Kate and royalling. There’s a lot of boring, dry pieces going into Kate’s public engagements that we don’t see and if she just peeled the curtain back so we could see what she’s doing - the calls she has with her patronages, the reports she reads, the meetings she has, the letters she writes - then her workload increases significantly, all without leaving the comforts of Adelaide Cottage. The problem here though is that KP needs to show us that this is happening, instead of just telling us that it's happening. That's videos, press releases, photographs, Court Circular reports.

To use the US for another example - there's a reason why Trump is always having press conferences and photocalls in the Oval Office; it's to show that he's working. I'm not saying KP needs to schedule daily press conferences for Kate at Windsor Castle, but they do need to show her working more. Use the red box strategy (which KP was doing during early pandemic days) of releasing photos of Kate working from her home office.

Option 3 - if it's really a matter of Kate not wanting to be far from home because of the kids, then add virtual events back to her diary. I know, virtual events aren't the same as in-person events, but that's the point: virtual events eliminate long-distance travel and increase her flexibility. So for example, she can Zoom with Welsh Guards deployed abroad or military families who live overseas or meet with Commonwealth baby banks to learn about their mission and then follow up with in-person events when they're traveling again. Those kind of events can also build continuity and create opportunity for when she's traveling again because she'll have already made those connections.

Or restrict her public appearances to the local Berkshire area and pack her schedule with bread-and-butter work - local charities, local hospitals, local garden shops, local tourism sites, local nursing homes, local police, local museums, local art studios, local families, local military, local schools - but therein is the problem. KP's strategic plan involves mapping William and Kate's work exclusively to their signature charitable priorities; mental health, early years, and conservation. They want everything to connect to that work in the Royal Foundation that they exclude, and eschew, everything else. Detrimentally so, at times.

Option 4, if Kate doesn't really want to work, then fine. She doesn't have to work. Her constitutional role is to make sure those babies grow up. But then stop wearing new clothes when she does make public appearances and start recycling her wardrobe. Stop telling us she's working oh-so-hard from home. Stop telling us she's "keen" to do all these things.

But there's a lot more insofar as "work" that Kate can, and should, be doing now. There are ways to boost her workload without having to sacrifice, or compromise, the time with her family and it's kind of...mindnumbing, a little, how much KP refuses to adapt their workplans as the kids' needs evolve. The kids right now are 12, 9, and 7 but the way KP carries on about it, you'd think they're still 3, 2, and 1. And unfortunately, that's establishing an expectation that KP will still be planning William and Kate's work around the kids needing them when the kids are away at college.

[amphorographia]

Something interesting about Pathologic that I don't see people talk about very often is the fact that technically none of the protagonists are doctors and, of the three, it's actually Artemy that's the closest to a real physician.

The fact that Daniil is specifically referred to as a "Bachelor" of medicine is something that was always sort of confusing to me but is actually extremely telling when put together with all the other details we get about him.

There's an excellent video essay about Daniil's character by Horror Game Analysis which goes into more detail about this [x], but he points out two things about thanatology that I think are really significant:

It was first conceptualised as a field of study in 1903 by Ilya Mechnikov, a Russian-Ukranian immunologist and microbiologist, who felt that there was not enough known about the phenomenon of death itself; and

Thanatology straddles the line between the humanities and the sciences because it's investigations grapple with the physical, psychological, socio-cultural, philosophical, and spiritual elements of death

With all that in mind and Pathologic's ambiguous time period, Daniil could very much be read as the in-game world's equivalent of Mechnikov. Despite his (sort of) alignment with the philosophically-minded Kains, Daniil is consistently shown to be very much focused on the physical components of death. He came to the town hoping that "[Simon's] tissues will help [him] defeat death." Rubin, Artemy, Victor (and Lara, Yulia, Aspity, Anna, and Clara) all need him to collect and examine blood samples for evidence of the disease. Once the plague begins, his focus in on the creation of a vaccine - a tool for immunisation - instead of a cure.

All of the evidence points to Daniil, at his core, being a microbiologist and researcher. His medical knowledge, while far above average, is highly specialised and doesn't indicate that he has any practical experience as a physician. He's not a doctor, he's a bachelor of medicine using his theoretical and academic expertise to fight an impossible disease in the only way he knows.

Now, Artemy does have some practical knowledge. Isidor taught him about the traditional medicine of the town while he was growing up before sending him to "study modern medicine in the academy" when he was 16. However, in his opening description, all we are told is that Artemy is returning from several years of "travelling from town to town learning theoretical and pratical surgery." In Pathologic Classic, Artemy is canonically 26 years old so if he spent 6-7 years travelling, his formal medical education was likely either short or incomplete. Not to mention that the emphasis on Artemy as a surgeon and menkhu (much like Daniil as a bachelor and thanatologist) implies a very specialised area of expertise which, although closely related to practical medicine, is not the same thing.

This is reinforced in a number of ways. For example, while there are multiple dialogue options which let you dismiss the town's local medical practices, they appear mostly (or only) in conversations with outsiders - responding to Daniil's admission of underestimating the value of "steppe medical knowledge" with "there's nothing medical in their knowledge" and telling Block that he has "an education in the civilized world and ha[s] forgotten two thirds of the specific local practices." Ultimately, Artemy is more consistently aligned with the Kin's more bodily approach to medicine. That distinction between Kin and Town is important, since the traditional medicines Artemy makes are not valued or trusted by townspeople and the kin refuse almost all of the modern medicine (specifically antibiotics) sold in the town.

He also seems to be either unfamiliar or seriously out of practice with the more formal language of science and medicine a university-educated physician should know. At several points, Artemy is shown to be dependent on Daniil's medical knowledge, and various members of the town poke fun at him for asking clarifying questions - Boy: "You graduated from a university and this is your question…?" Rubin: "I thought you were [away] studying." Artemy's story is about trying to fill his father's role and, while he succeeds in becoming a menkhu, his position as the town's doctor is less clearly defined even after the plague. While he begins the game with the most practical experience of the three protagonists, the fact that he's not qualified to be a physician but has to act as one is what drives his story forward.

I won't go into Clara since it's obvious she's not a doctor. If anything, she's more like a personification of a cure for this one specific disease (just like her 'twin' is the plague). She couldn't reset a bone or diognose the flu any more than she could synthesise antibiotics or distinguish between bacteria in a blood sample. Still, she's an interesting comparison point and does serve to remind the player that the protagonists don't really represent different approaches to medicine, but different approaches to healing.

The Bachelor is the modern healer of formal scientific practices who sees healing as the result of understanding the body, disease, and their interactions.

The Haruspex is the traditional healer with the spiritual or ancestral right to protected knowledge and practices who sees healing as a reflection of cultural duty, customs, and community.

The Changeling is the divine healer chosen by a Deity (or Deities) to carry out their will on earth who sees healing as an act of religious faith and demonstration of the existence and power of God(s).

[howlingday]

Dark AU: An idea of how to transition into the Dock scene could be Jaune and Penny go into Vale proper to buy things, Penny gets distracted (pet shop with Betta fish on display perhaps?), notices Jaune isn't around and Sun runs into her while running away. As an apology of sorts Sun helps Penny search for Jaune. Meanwhile Jaune was taken by some faunus on orders if spotted for questioning. (He may not have been revealed as the sole survivor to the public but there are ways to find out for an info broker.) Questioning becomes violent when Jaune gives answers they don't like. Brought to the docks heist to be left behind as an example. Somewhat escapes (Roman/Neo taking pity?) as Penny shows up lasers blazing. Aftermath Jaune gains confidence by saving someone, Penny maybe tells Jaune the truth and Sun eats a banana.

Just an option; if taken change how you like.

Also thanks for listening and for the content!

I like your idea, but I think I know just how to tweak in the way I've been looking for...

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"Do you really have to see the betta fish again?"

"Yes, of course!" Penny replied, walking next to Jaune. She couldn't stop herself from shaking with excitement. Her favorite time of the week was to go to the pet store and look at all the beautiful betta fish on display. This had become routine since her arrival at Beacon a few months ago, and it was one that she and her partner had no intention of breaking. "Oh? It's closed?"

"Looks like it's being renovated." Jaune noted from the sign. Oddly enough, there were still pets in the window, including betta fish. "Kinda weird for these animals to be out here where it's so sunny."

Penny didn't respond. She was too engrossed in the elegant dance of the betta fish darting about in their tanks and bowls. Jaune smiled as her green eyes darted from one fish to another within seconds between them.

"Hey, kid." Jaune turned, seeing a man in a black apron. "You lookin' to buy?"

"Oh, no, just browsing." Jaune waved off, quickly dismissing his excited partner behind him. He swore he heard her neck snap.

"You sure?" The man tilted his head down, brow raised. "Maybe you want a pet? Something to keep you calm? Like a cat?"

"No, no, really, I'm sure, Mister..." Jaune narrowed his eyes on the nametag. "...Leon?"

"Well, if you're sure. But would you like to help feed them? Kinda got a lot and my back's been aching all morning."

At this, Jaune's face lit up. This was his chance to do some good for once, instead of just sitting around and wallowing in his own self-pity at Beacon. And huntsmen did help those in need, right? Jaune gave a nod.

"We'd be happy to help, right, Penny?" He turned to see his partner didn't respond, too engrossed by an especially red and blue fish. "Well, I'd be happy to help." He got closer to his partner. "Hey, Penny? I'm going to help feed some animals. I'll be inside, okay?"

"Mm..." Penny said, though it may not have been in reply to him.

Giving a shrug, Jaune followed the man inside. The inside was warm and dark, with no lights or any kind of air conditioning on. Were the animals really okay in this kind of environment? It didn't seem safe.

"So, uh, where are the animals?" Jaune asked as he entered the room in the back.

"It's faunus!" Everything went loud and dark. All of a sudden, Jaune couldn't feel anything. Not even the throbbing swelling lump on his head.

----------------------------------------------------

"Okay, I think I lost them- ACK!"

Penny fell to her side as a young man was straddled over her. His shirt was unbuttoned and wide open, showing off his toned abs while a golden tail swirled from his torn-up jeans. Penny gave a blink a couple of times before she realized what had happened.

"Oh, excuse me!" She said. "I'm sorry if I was in your way."

"Nah, nah, it's cool." The monkey faunus pulled himself to his feet before lending a hand. Penny took it and quickly rose to stand. "Sorry about that. I was just running away from some, uh..." She scratched his head. "Uh, nevermind. The name's Sun Wukong! What's your name?"

"I am Penny Polendina, and this is... Jaune?" Penny turned, looking around. "Jaune?"

"Is Jaune your pet?"

"He is my assigned partner at Beacon Academy."

"Oh, you're going to Beacon? Same! I'm from Haven Academy!"

"I see! Where is your team?"

"They'll get here eventually. I took the fastest way I knew!"

"You abandoned your team?"

"Ah, they'll understand." Sun waved her off. "So, uh, where'd this Jaune partner or yours go? He ditch ya?"

"He would not ditch me. He could not ditch me."

"Oh..." Sun clicked his cheek. "You guys are like that, huh?"

"He is my partner, and I am his. It is up to me to ensure his mental state does not diminish to critical levels."

"Uh... huh..." Sun walked around. "Well, if you guys are that close, then he probably didn't get far." He pointed to the pet store. "You think he's in here?"

"Unlikely." Penny answered. "The building is being renovated."

"With the door wide open and nobody inside?" Sun entered the building, followed by Penny. "Seems kinda weird, not gonna lie." He sniffed. "Wait." He sniffed again. "Oh no..."

Sun quickly rounded the empty cages to the counter, tossing the door aside. Looking down, he could see a clean floor, but his nose didn't lie. Following it to the closet in the back, he found a person laying inside, unconscious.

"The shopkeeper!" Penny shouted. She swiftly turned and ran for the back room. "Jaune?!"

"Ah, hell..." Sun groaned. "The last thing I'd want is to get the cops involved, but it looks like that's what's gonna happen." Sun picked the phone off the counter but set it down when there was no dial tone. "Lights out, hot as Vacuo, and no phone service? There's a lot wrong with this picture."

"Sun! I have found something!" Sun jumped the counter, running to the back room where Penny stood. The inside looked to be a garage with an open door to the back alley. There were skid marks on the ground and a white flag held aloft in the girl's hands. "I think I know who has Jaune."

On the flag was a familiar red symbol of a beast and claw marks.

----------------------------------------------------

"Where is Jaune now?!" Glynda screamed as she paced the floor of the headmaster's office. "You don't know is not an acceptable answer, Miss Polendina. Jaune Arc is your partner, which means he is your-"

"Glynda!" She flinched, looking to Professor Ozpin. The look on his face was a rare instance of anger. He seldom showed it, which meant it wasn't an emotion to be taken lightly from him. "Hand me the scroll. Focus on finding Jaune from here and ensuring all students are back at Beacon Academy."

"Yes, Headmaster." She gulped, handing over the scroll. "Excuse me, I didn't-"

"You're scared. It's understandable, Glynda." The way he used her first name to calm her down worked, though only a little. "But fear is not what we should be using to respond to this. Now do as you were instructed." With a nod, she left the office, tapping on her personal scroll. "Miss Polendina, this is your headmaster speaking. Remain calm and explain to me what has happened."

Ozpin sat and listened, simultaneously coordinating with police and huntsmen across Vale to find his missing student. This wasn't the first time a student went missing, nor could he hope it would happen be the last. But there was one thing he would do if his power allowed. Jaune Arc would not die. His first years for the current semester may have been single digit numbers, but they would not drop lower than they'd already had.

"Can you determine which direction the tires were going?" He asked, at the same time updating the mission board for the responding huntsmen to read. "Have you contacted the authorities? Are they with you now?" Thankfully, the woman and the animals in the store were alive, though blunt force trauma to the former and heat injuries to the latter hardly constituted as 'and well'. "And you say a student from Haven Academy is present with you?" This would be the most awkward task, since that meant he'd have to explain to Leonardo that one of his students had arrived in Vale months early for the Vytal tournament.

Unfortunately, with all these questions being answered, too many were still left unknown as they appeared. Why was the White Fang in Vale? Why would they kidnap Jaune? And most importantly, where had they taken him?

"Ozpin!" Professor Goodwitch slammed open the door to his office. "We've found him."

----------------------------------------------------

"Good evening, I'm Lisa Lavender. Tonight, for our top story, we have an interview with the student who survived the initiation of the mass student deaths at Beacon Academy, Jaune Arc." She smiled to him. "Thank you for coming to us, Jaune."

"N-No problem." Jaune gulped. When he woke up, men with bone-white masks pointed guns at him and told him to stay where he was. One of them had pointed ears on his head and the other had a tail curled over his belt.

"Now, Mr. Arc, I understand this is a very difficult topic to discuss, but the audience would appreciate if you could tell us what happened to you at Beacon Academy."

"Uh..." He glanced to the side, where the camera was looking right at him, but not as threateningly as the man next to it holding a gun. With a shaky breath, he made the choice to relive that horrible day. "I... I left for Beacon Academy and when I got there, I..." He gave a chuckle. "I threw up in the trash as soon as I got off the bullhead. A little while after, I met a girl who was in a crater. I... I think it was a dust explosion. She... She told me her name was Ruby."

Jaune's throat dried up, but he kept talking because if he stopped talking, what was going to happen? He'd get shot? He'd die? Telling this woman, the people in the room, and if the camera was any indication, the whole world, everyone was listening to him. However, the next part of the story was the worst part.

"I... I watched as Ruby, she..." He swallowed, feeling tears well in his eyes. "She wasn't as old as me, so seeing her like..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, do I have to keep going?" He looked to the woman with tears spilling from his eyes.

"Only if you want to." She placed a hand on his.

He flinched as the gun racked, reminding him of who was really in charge.

"I-I-I..." He shuddered. "One girl was tossed over the side of the cliff. I listened as she screamed until I couldn't hear her anymore."

"Do you remember who it was?"

"It... It was the girl with the white hair."

"Do you mean Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company?" He nodded. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "A tragedy felt just as tenderly as everyone else who'd perished that day."

He could hear one of the gunmen give a chuckle.

"My partner and the blond girl... I think one of them was Ruby's sister... They... They both died to the big scorpion one."

"The Deathstalker." She nodded. "And your partner was Pyrrha Nikos, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, she... She helped unlock my aura."

"You entered Beacon without your aura unlocked?" She sounded genuinely caught off guard. "What would possess you to do something so dangerous?"

"I..." He sniffed, glad to be away from the topic, if even for a little bit. "I wanted to prove myself. I was a nobody, and I just... I didn't want to be a nobody forever. A disappointment."

"Well, Jaune, I have to say that what you did was, in my personal opinion, the most selfish, stupid thing you could have done." Jaune's eyes widened. "People have dedicated their lives to training and honing their bodies, their skills, their mental fortitudes so that they can protect innocent people from the horrors of the Grimm, and you attended Beacon because you, 'wanted to prove yourself,' if I'm using your words right. People are dead, Jaune, and how exactly did you survive?"

"I... I went into the caves and..."

"And you hid." Lisa venomously spat. "Like a coward. Weiss Schnee is dead, Jaune. Pyrrha Nikos is dead. Ruby is dead. Every single one of those students is dead because you couldn't act. Because you didn't have the training to do what innocent people would be counting on you to do if you did make it as a huntsman." She threw her arms in the air before folding them. "What did you expect to happen, Jaune? That you and these girls would go to the academy, be best friends, and then just spend the rest of your life going on adventures as a huntsman?" She jabbed a finger at him. "The world isn't a fairy tale, Jaune. People fight and die because the Grimm are monsters who won't stop until we're all dead. But you wanted to prove yourself? Well, I think you've proven yourself well enough... as a coward."

Jaune... did nothing. What could he do? He'd just been slandered to people all over Remnant. His parents, his teachers, complete strangers just heard him get broken down by this woman and called a coward for all the tears he shed. And the worst part of it all was that she was right.

Jaune fled with that girl into the caves after the others died. He didn't have any power to stand against those giant monsters those girls died to, and he thought he could come into Beacon at the same level they did. He was a sham, a fraud. Every word said against him was the truth, and he just had to sit there and accept it.

"I'm Lisa Lavender. Thank you for watching."

"And cut!" The world became loud around Jaune as people moved this direction and that, leaving him seated in his chair. Lisa Lavender had already left the room, though not before shaking her head and scoffing in disgust.

"Come on, kid."

Jaune was grabbed by the shoulder and shoved. He looked up and saw the bone-white mask with red marks. Suddenly, the person in the mask didn't look or sound like a person, but like a monster, growling at Jaune as he fell over, kicking himself away across the floor and to the wall. It gave a bellow, roaring at him to no move. Breathing quickened, fingers twitching, Jaune wanted to let out a scream but couldn't figure out how. Fear attracted the Grimm and his body was in a panic, set to remain frozen so he wouldn't be bothered. The Grimm bellowed a chant.

"One! Two! Three!" Light flashed, and Jaune shut his eyes to not see the girl's face. When he opened his eyes, a different girl was looking right at him.

"P...Penny?"

"S-Sal-u-tations, Jaune!" She cheerily replied. "Do you... require assistance?"

"Surrender your weapons!" Another familiar voice called. "You're all under the custody of Vale Huntress Goodwitch!"

"Over here!" A blond boy waved over to the pair.

As they started moving towards him, a gunshot was heard, making Jaune flinch and fall to the floor. He could feel himself sliding before hands grabbed him by his cheeks and green eyes filled his vision. "Jaune, it is okay. I am here!"

"Penny?" He grunted, blinking before shaking his head. "I'm... I'm good. Thank you, Penny." The students met up through the doors, Jaune panting as he leaned against the wall. "Who... Who are you?"

"Name's Sun." He said. "You're Jaune, right? Penny's told me about you."

"Yeah. Did sh-" Jaune stopped as he looked at Penny, who had her back to him. She'd been shot, but where there should have been a wound, or maybe even nothing because of aura, there was an indent in her body. Like bent metal. Jaune's feet gave out under him and he fell into the black again.

----------------------------------------------------

"Heck of a performance you did, Miss Lavender."

"Thank you, Roman." The woman on his scroll said. "And really, thank you for providing me with that interview. I'm sure to get an award for that one."

"Anytime, sweetheart." He grinned. "Your news special was just thing we needed to get these schmucks to look somewhere else tonight."

"Will there be a story for me to report tomorrow?"

"Isn't there always?" He chuckled. "I'll deliver my appreciation with the flowers." With a tap, the call had ended, and Roman reveled at all the dust him and his boys had managed to haul from the docks. Walking out of the warehouse, he lit up his cigar, taking a few puffs. "And they say there's nothing original on the news."

[monstersfuckingeachother]

Kinktober 2024 Day 14: Ice Play / Magical Healing Dick / Safeword Use

Characters: OC Healer (she/her, trans woman, girldick/clit), OC Soldier (he/him, man, genitals not discussed)

Other kinks/warnings: strongly implied oral sex, roundabout discussion of transphobia

"You have to promise not to react badly," the healer says in her soft voice. "Because of the nature of this magical healing, you may prefer a more traditional route, but please do not make rude or denigrating comments. It's a rather sensitive matter."

He frowns. That's a rather worrying disclaimer. "Sure? I'm not exactly in the habit of insulting people who rescued me."

"Is that a promise?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Very well then." She breathes deeply, then lifts up the hem of her skirt from where it pools around her kneeling legs to reveal a small, curved dick, looking soft and supple as it lays there. "I inherited my family's gift of bodily fluids that can heal others if ingested. However, instead of tears, spit, or blood, like others in my family, my gift instead concentrates itself in my, uh..." She shifts, nervously, her blush intensifying. "E--ejaculate. It would have been an awkward position to be in had I grown up to be the man people expected me to be, but as the woman I am, such a secret has proven to be...dangerous at times. Or--well. More dangerous." She sighs. "I wouldn't even offer this option, usually, but given your circumstances time is of the essence."

Silence--and then he finds himself laughing. "Oh, dear, did you think I'd be mad about that? Don't even worry about it. I've gone down on plenty of women--and not to brag, but I'm very good at it." He winks at her, which makes her giggle just a little--the first laugh he's gotten out of her in the several hours they've known each other--but then he winces as he accidentally puts pressure on the arm with the stab wound. "Although I, uh, don't usually do it while injured."

(Seriously, a stab wound? Who brings a knife to a gun fight? Who brings a knife to a gun fight and actually manages to injure an enemy soldier?)

"Don't worry," she says, visibly gaining confidence. "There are plenty of ways to compensate for your injuries. For example--"

At her signal, he lays back down on the mat, and she carefully straddles his bruised ribs and leans forward until she's on her hands and knees, her clit hanging tantalizingly just above his mouth. "--we could do it like this."

"Like this is just fine," he says, and gives the clit an experimental lick. "Don't make too much noise. After all, we wouldn't want to disturb the other patients, would we?"

[faded-mage]

Avise

Avise was grateful for their return to Skyhold. Crestwood had warmed up towards the end but rainy and cold weather like that always made her feel miserable. While Skyhold was in the mountains, there was so much ambient magic that seeped into the foundations of the place it was temperate and almost warm when they arrived.

Of course she was pulled immediately into a meeting with her advisors, leaving Solas, Blackwall and Dorian behind to stable the horses. Leliana had already gotten their missive on Crestwood but the meeting was not about that. The Advisors saw multiple reports from the field about Avise learning new magic from Dorian and Solas, and they felt it was important that she directed her focus to a specialization. Solas was their specialist in rift magic and the Fade, for example and Dorian held skills in necromancy. Josephine informed her that there were three trainers in the courtyard ready to meet with her. Begrudgingly she left the meeting and went to speak to them. Her options were limited but all powerful in their own right. The rift mage was an odd one and Avise secretly felt that Solas would have been a better option. As much as she loved Dorian, necromancy was not something she felt connected to. It tapped into fear and pain. She had enough of that in her life, she did not need more. 

The last though called to her in a way she had not expected. She had heard of them before, Knight Enchanters. The Dalish told her stories of the warrior mages who fought for the elvhen people, that their techniques were then taken by the Chantry and used for their own mages. These became the Knight Enchanters. The woman speaking to her was direct, blunt but also elven. Something about the entire interaction called to her, like her heart had found its place. What was it that Solas had said to her weeks ago? You have chosen a path whose steps you do not dislike because it leads to a destination you enjoy. Could this be her destination?

Her first task was to obtain a book, Way of the Knight-Enchanter and to obtain some materials to make a spirit blade. That in of itself was no issue. Dorian was able to locate the book in question and Avise had a habit of picking up everything she could in their travels - it had become a running joke in her inner circle but this time it paid off. She felt smug in the knowledge that her picking up odd items was not useless as Varric liked to tell her.

She found a spot to sit on the bridge between Solas’ rotunda and Cullen’s office. Sitting on the very edge of the bridge railing, her legs dangled over the side as she flipped through the book. Cullen’s heavy footsteps from behind her did not pull her attention from the tome in her hands. She was enthralled. “I do hope that is not one of Varric’s romance novels,” the Commander joked behind her, she shook her head, using her thumb as a bookmark as she turned to look towards him. She moved one leg on the other side of the railing so she was straddling it while they spoke.

“No! I only read those in the privacy of my own room. Have you ever read the positions Varric writes of?” She couldn’t help it, the way he got so red when she teased. Though she showed him the cover of the book before he could start stammering. “One of the trainers suggested I read it. It is the only one of the three that has called to me.” Cullen tilted his head so he could read the title, “Knight-Enchanter? I know a little of them. They can be quite powerful from what I've heard.” Avise nodded, “I find that I have a tendency to run into the fray even though mages should generally stay in the back line.” Her smile turned sheepish, “It felt like a good calling then to be able to protect myself and my people when I could. Though I suppose this means I will need to train in close combat as well.” The thought made her nervous, her hand gliding over the cover of the book as she contemplated what she needed to do. What steps to take to get the most out of the abilities she wanted to learn.

Cullen’s voice broke through her thoughts, “I can train you.” She looked up to him, their eyes meeting and Avise smiled widely, “Really? You would do that for me?” They had a strained relationship. There had been bridges mended of course and after Haven he was increasingly warm towards her. She supposed she had proven herself to be in control of her magic. He gave her a lopsided grin, his lips curling up at the same edge as the scar. “Of course. I have time tomorrow if you’d like to begin, my second, Rylan, has other training exercises so my morning is free for once.”

- - -

Avise stood in the courtyard with Cullen the next morning. She was more nervous than she realized, hopping from one foot to the other to release some of her anxious energy. He was down to sparring clothes and she realized she had been staring. The elf was head over heels for Solas, of course. Solas connected with her on such a level that she could not explain. But she was still alive and breathing and there was something objectively attractive about the Commander. He wore breeches and no shirt. How were humans so large? How did his muscles look like that? Elves were not built like that. He towered over her and it felt like he was at least twice her size, how could she fight someone of that size without magic? How could she defend herself from someone that size? 

He had given her a sparring sword, as the book mentioned the use of a spirit blade and it seemed comparable for now. She did not have a blade of solid magic ready for her but it felt like tempting fate at that point anyway. Like giving a small child matches. Solas and Dorian seemed interested in her training and to her dismay Blackwall and Sera had also shown up to watch. She groaned internally. The elf stood there in leather leggings and her own tunic but she felt small in comparison, the sword felt foreign in her hand. She was uncomfortable. Cullen did not seem to care about her companions lining up to watch, his eyes dangerously focused on her. Shit, this is gonna be intense. Avise tensed.

He first walked over and began to adjust her stance. Cullen used the edge of his own practice blade to move her legs and arms but his hand reached out to move her hips. He was not like his usual, blushing and awkward self as he adjusted her. He took command. It ignited a fire in her stomach that she tried to push away, the tips of her ears turning pink. Creators, what is going on?

Next, he worked movements with her. How to lunge with the blade, sweeping attacks, how to add more power to them in close quarters. It felt good to be in her own body  as she moved through the motions. It felt natural and smooth like she was meant for it. The thought made her a little giddy and she could not help the smile that was plastered on her face.

- - -

Solas

Solas sat on the sidelines next to Dorian as he watched Cullen train Avise. The familiar jealous knot settled in his chest the moment the man put his hands on her hips to adjust her, watching as Avise flared pink in response. It was he own fault, he conceded, he had pushed her away and told her he needed time to think about it. And he had, almost constantly. Always torn between what his heart told him when he looked at her and the crushing guilt that settled in his chest when he imagined that they could be happy, maybe. That he did not need to cause her pain in the end.

He tried to focus on Avise herself, putting the thoughts of Cullen’s hands on her body out of his mind. She seemed to be enjoying herself and she was picking up the instructions quickly. The more comfortable with the blade she got, the smoother her movements. Like when she had begun to use fire magic again, it connected with her. Solas thought with amusement how the techniques of the Knight-Enchanter were like those of the Arcane Warriors. Ancient elven mages that used a combination of martial prowess and magic, channeling magic through their blades and bodies on the battlefield. They were a force to be reckoned with and Solas wondered if Avise knew the history of what she was learning. That she was maybe unknowingly, yet again, stepping towards reconnecting with her ancestors.

She continued to surprise him in such small ways.

A gasp from next to him brought his mind back from his memories and thoughts only to see Cullen on top of Avise and the elf laughing hysterically while the man blushed and looked down her body. Sera whistled loudly, only making Cullen go more red, “Shouldn’t you buy her dinner first, Cully?” He did not see what happened but watching the human stare down at Avise like that was too much for him to take. It only got worse as Cullen seemed frozen and unable to move from between Avise’s legs. Quickly, the elf left Dorian’s side to return to his rotunda to paint.

- - -

Just before lunch Avise strode into the rotunda and inspected Solas’ work. He knew he needed to fix areas he had painted that day, his nerves were too high to paint a straight line but she either did not notice or chose not to comment. She was still in her sparring leathers but she  pulled back her hair into a plait. The elf seemed very pleased but was moving stiffly, she was likely not used to that level of movement or at least moving those particular muscles. He could see it in the way she walked. Her thighs tensing with each step. His mind betrayed him as he wondered if she needed help with the sore muscles, like she had for his neck after Redcliffe.

Clearing his throat, he pushed those thoughts away, “The new power you wield… I heard from Cassandra that it is the magic of the Knight-Enchanters? If I am not mistaken, the techniques descend from those of ancient elven mages called arcane warriors. I wonder what they would think to see their magic used in defense of the Chantry.” His words came out harsher than he had meant them to and Avise looked at him and frowned. She moved towards his desk, sliding a few papers from the edge before perching herself there, one leg dangling as she watched him curiously while he focused on his frescoes.

“I do not like it either, if I am to be honest. The Chantry has done too much to my people for me to support them fully. Ever.” She looked away from him, picking at her nails as she continued, “I hope the ancient elven warriors would be pleased to see their techniques survive. Though I do not know how much they have changed since that time. I hope they would be proud to see another of my people using those skills.” She sounded sad and he noticed she continued to distance herself from him in a way. My people instead of our people. But again, he had done much of that to himself. He often corrected her when she used ‘our’. Solas hadn’t realized how much he began to see her as one of his people.

“I hope so, as well. So much knowledge has been lost…” He bowed his head slightly before turning back to paint. Despite the rough start, Avise still wanted to know more. Her questions bubbled up from behind him as he tried and failed to fix the mural. “What were they called back then, do you know? I doubt they were called ‘arcane warriors’ in elven.” Solas smiled, placing his brush down and moving to his desk to sit down. He much preferred her sitting there with him and he wanted to be able to look at her while they spoke.

“The formal name for the techniques you have learned was the dirth’ena enasalin, knowledge that led to victory. Mages who eschewed physical confrontation called it ghilan’him banal’vhen, the path that leads astray.” She seemed excited about his information, he assumed whatever the Knight-Enchanter trainer had taught, it did not contain much information on the specializations actual roots. She adjusted herself to turn towards him fully, placing her boot on the arm of his chair. He draped his hand over the toe. “What else do you know about them?”

“They were elite guardsmen, serving as bodyguards or champions for nobles, as I understand. Mages who focused on spirits or the Fade might sneer at their physicality but never doubted their honor. They were the living embodiment of will made manifest, mind shaping the body into the perfect weapon.” Avise looked at him with mixed emotions, “As someone who focuses on the Fade, someone who has all this knowledge of the elves from long ago. I know the Dalish have their faults, they’re trying but they only know so little about true elvhen history. What do you see when you look at me?” Her question was vulnerable and she could not meet his eyes after she asked. The question was also dangerous because there were countless things he thought of when he looked at her.

There it was again, he felt it in the center of his chest. Everything in his mind wanted to pour out and tell her everything. Wanted to hold her close, feel her body pressed against him, to whisper every good thing he saw in her, every desire he had of her. He held back, his muscles tensing. What he could do however was stand up quickly and press the palm of his hand against her cheek. He could feel the inside of her thigh pressing against his hip, her other leg between his legs as he stood close to her. Her eyes widened once he got close.

“I see one of the best examples of what our people have to offer. One who carries the torch for who we should have become. Through your strength, your magic. Your spirit. I believe the Dirth’ena Enasalin would see what you are doing and be gratified by your desire to connect with them. Perhaps having something they created carried forward, even in such a different form, would make them proud of their descendants. That is what I see when I look at you.”

[kingsdespair-if]

heads up, sorry for the long ask. If it's too much, feel free to ignore. I don't want to come off too strongly.😊

So, How big would you say the Orcs are on average in your IF? and about what height would we be- if we chose to be Tall during character creation?

Aren't they way bigger than humans? For example Veldon was considered Tall at 5'9, but wouldn't 5'9 be considered short for an Orc? ( Btw I think adding a Very Tall (6'4+) option for Orc choosers could make sense, if you'd be up for that. Depending on the story world average)

(potential spoiler) The thing that brought this question on; was how Veldon pulled us down towards him and we were able to straddle him, sitting on his lap. Lol But being from a big strong species that is usually portrayed as kinda huge, it caught me off guard that we'd even fit on his lap in the first place. Are these just human sized Orcs?

Btw this isn't a "that doesn't make sense and ruins the mood" type of ask lol. just more curiosity than anything.

Also, will we have the option to be in control of the intimate scenes or not? Basically choosing to lead or be led. Dom-Sub situation.

Heheh My MC wants to do the bending, not be bent. He's trying to cut an intimidating figure and wouldn't be caught dead with his face pushed into a pillow.😂 jkjk

It's alright, no need to apologize, my dear. Most Orcs are not much taller than the average human. For example, Mauthak, one of the largest and tallest Orcs alive, and he is "only" 6'5''. While Orcs are generally taller than humans, the difference in height is not significant. However, Orcs are much stronger than humans.

As for specifying the height choice, sure, I can do that!

Thank you for the feedback!

SPOILERS AHEAD Veldon is accustomed to being intimate with individuals of other races, so being taller or shorter than him will not be a hindrance. Additionally, he was already seated on his bed and he is quite strong himself, so you will not crush him beneath you. Rest assured, he is safe. Regarding the control in future intimate scenes...

Will you be able to choose your role in the future sex scenes? Yes, absolutely!

But keep in mind that some of the ROs have their own preferences, and the scene may become more exciting with a playful struggle for control.

[signode-blog]

Effective Trading Strategies Using Options

Options trading offers a variety of strategies that can be tailored to different market conditions, providing traders with flexibility and opportunities to manage risk. Here, we explore multiple options trading strategies, each designed to capitalize on specific market environments, including volatile markets, bull markets, bear markets, and consolidation phases. 1. Covered Call Overview A…

[beststockbroker1]

Predicting Nifty 50: Tomorrow's Opportunities

The Nifty 50 has long been considered a bellwether for the Indian stock market, representing the top-performing companies across vital industries. But accurate predictions regarding its performance are critical, especially for traders and investors aiming to make timely decisions. Whether you're an options trader or a long-term investor, understanding the nuances of the Nifty 50's fluctuations can help you stay ahead of the market curve.

Why Accurate Nifty Predictions Matter

Volatility breeds opportunity. The Nifty 50 is known for its dynamic movement, reflecting not just company performance but also macroeconomic shifts, global cues, and geopolitical changes. Accurate predictions can give traders a competitive edge in identifying trends, maximizing returns, and mitigating risks. For options traders, in particular, where strategies heavily depend on precision and foresight, Nifty 50 predictions are foundational.

But here’s the pressing question every investor faces daily: How do you make informed predictions about tomorrow’s market movement?

Tools and Trends to Watch for Nifty Predictions

1. Global Cues and Sectoral Performance

Market trends in key global economies, especially the U.S., often influence the Nifty 50's next move. For instance:

Positive performance in Dow Futures or NASDAQ usually triggers bullish sentiment.

Crude oil price fluctuations significantly impact Indian markets, influencing sectors like oil & gas and FMCG.

Pro tip for investors and options traders alike? Keep an eye on these global indicators before making predictions or setting up trades for tomorrow.

2. Technical Analysis Still Rules

Most successful traders use technical indicators to predict short-term movements within indexes like the Nifty 50. Popular tools include:

Moving Averages (MA): Determine the index's short-term and long-term trend direction.

Relative Strength Index (RSI): Helps gauge overbought or oversold conditions.

Support and Resistance Levels: Identifying these levels can massively impact strategies like Stop Loss or Take Profit for options trades.

By layering advanced charting tools, you'll gain a clearer picture of what tomorrow's trading sentiment might lean toward.

3. The Impact of F&O Data

For those in options trading, the derivatives market provides a treasure trove of predictive signals. Monitoring:

Open Interest (OI) levels.

Put-Call Ratio (PCR)

Implied Volatility in active contracts.

These are potent markers to assess the sensitivity of Nifty 50’s potential moves. For example:

A sudden surge in Put Open Interest at specific strike prices could signal a strong support zone.

Nifty 50 in Action: Seeing Patterns Early

No single strategy works for everyone. What separates skilled analysts and successful traders is enhanced adaptability. Looking at historical data reveals clear patterns:

A sustained bullish trend often comes after corporate earnings upgrades in banking or IT majors.

Conversely, during rising inflation, heavily leveraged sectors like real estate might underperform, dragging the index lower.

By pairing such insights with upcoming key dates like RBI policy announcements or corporate earning cycles, you’ll begin recognizing actionable patterns before they settle in the market.

How Options Traders Can Gain an Edge

For options traders, predicting the Nifty 50’s next movement can significantly define profitability. Here’s how you can stay a step ahead:

Build Neutral Strategies during highly volatile weeks (think Straddle or Iron Condor setups). 

Use technical dips to ride Bullish Spreads when new supports emerge above certain moving averages.

Avoid unsafe “all-ins” against over-volatile index expiry days.

A Personal Invitation to the Conversation

Every investor’s style is different, and the depth of actionable insights into Nifty predictions is constantly evolving. What indicators have given you the clearest signals for your options trades? Or do you swear by simple pattern-dependent setups over analytics-heavy approaches?

Comment below—we'd love to hear what works for you and learn from your experiences.

Drive Your Decisions with Better Data

No prediction can be 100% accurate, but equipping yourself with tools and a deeper understanding of indexes like the Nifty 50 empowers better decision-making. For those looking to integrate smarter analytics and charting tools, explore how our platform offers real-time predictive insights tailored for traders.

Start your edge today. Learn more about next-gen trading tools here.

[intradayscreener]

Master the Market with Smart Intraday and Options Picks

Understanding Intraday Trading in Today’s Market

In the fast-paced world of the stock market, timing is everything. Intraday trading, often referred to as day trading, involves buying and selling stocks within the same trading day. It is a strategy preferred by many traders who seek to capitalize on small price movements. Analyzing the intraday share today can help traders make calculated decisions that align with their short-term profit goals. This approach requires a deep understanding of market trends, price action, and technical indicators.

Intraday traders often rely on charts and data tools to predict market behavior. With so many stocks listed on the exchanges, finding the right stock to trade requires both research and tools designed for fast filtering and analysis. Having access to real-time screeners and alerts can drastically improve your trading success.

The Role of the Nifty Option Chain in Strategy

Options trading is another powerful tool in a trader’s arsenal, and the Nifty option chain plays a critical role in formulating options strategies. The option chain provides a snapshot of all available call and put options for the Nifty index, including strike prices, premiums, open interest, and implied volatility. By analyzing this data, traders can gauge market sentiment, identify support and resistance zones, and predict price movements.

The Nifty option chain is particularly useful for intraday traders looking to hedge their positions or bet on short-term market movements. For instance, a sudden spike in open interest at a particular strike price could indicate a potential price reversal or breakout, enabling traders to act swiftly.

Tools and Techniques for Smarter Intraday Decisions

Success in intraday trading is not based on luck—it’s rooted in strategy, discipline, and the use of reliable tools. Traders often use candlestick patterns, moving averages, volume analysis, RSI, and MACD indicators to identify entry and exit points. Pairing these with real-time data from screener platforms can be the difference between profit and loss.

Screeners help traders filter out noise and focus on stocks with potential. For example, they can track the intraday share today that show unusual volume spikes, price breakouts, or RSI divergence. The speed at which these insights are gathered and acted upon is crucial for profitability.

Risk Management: The Backbone of Intraday Trading

While intraday trading offers high reward potential, it also carries significant risk. Markets can be volatile, and without a solid risk management plan, losses can mount quickly. Experts advise using stop-loss orders, predefined profit targets, and maintaining discipline to avoid emotional decisions.

Additionally, understanding the Nifty option chain can be an effective way to manage risk. By analyzing the distribution of open interest, traders can identify levels where institutions may be active, giving them a sense of when to enter or exit trades. Straddle and strangle strategies based on option data can also provide protection in volatile conditions.

Staying Ahead with Continuous Learning and Practice

Markets evolve constantly. To stay competitive, traders need to keep learning—whether it’s mastering new technical patterns, using advanced screener platforms, or understanding the nuances of derivatives like options and futures. Paper trading and back-testing strategies are also essential for gaining confidence without financial exposure.

Joining communities, attending webinars, and following market experts can offer valuable perspectives. The combination of insight, preparation, and consistent review of the intraday share today helps traders refine their strategies and increase their odds of success.

Conclusion: Unlock Your Trading Potential

For traders aiming to harness the full potential of intraday strategies and options data, combining timely market analysis with smart tool usage is key. Whether you're tracking the intraday share today for momentum or decoding the Nifty option chain for signals, making informed decisions can give you the edge you need in today's competitive trading environment.

[ihaveasolutionbutyouwontlikeit]

Yes, this is terrifying.

And also a really great analogy about how recent fast paced technology upgrades in entire public systems, while marketed as the best for all, can actually be a detriment to a society, if not completely debilitating, to minorities and those of low socioeconomic status and unknowingly impact entire future generational growth outcomes.

This can be seen with smart phones, for example. Phones have been around for decades. But the current average technological expectations for an average citizen is to obtain and use a smart device of some variation (which is essentially just a small computer). A technology that has only really been around for about a decade. And yet entire public systems have been changed and modified because of them.

You need to buy a bus or train ticket? There's an app for that, or you recharge your card online.

You need to pay a bill or access your money to pay for your kids lunch? There's an app for that. It's online.

You need to update your legal name or address or medical information, or licences? There's an app or it's online.

You need to stay informed of your child's events and school notices? There's an app for that. It's online.

You need to microchip your pet, or find a way to keep track of them incase they go missing? There's an app for that. Or it's online.

Now these things, in and of themselves are not bad things, they do create a beneficial form of alternative accessibility for day to day life things. It's what they also do as a side effect of their PERCEIVED ease of access for "everyone" that is problematic, and makes them also paradoxically unbeneficial, by eliminating the ease of access to other alternative options for the above daily doings and services.

You need to buy a transport ticket or recharge your card? You don't have a smart phone. The transport till/coin based machine is closed/broken more often due to staffing shortages or increased taskloads. In fact, who even has the right change or money on them in the event of some small emergency anymore? Would an attendant on the train checking tickets even take it, or just call you stupid (either in their head or out loud -body language doesn't lie) for not being "better prepared"?

You need to pay a bill or access money for your kids lunch? The invoice or energy statement came two days before the due date and three days after your last pay, because the postal systems deliver mail every second day now, because email in an app *exists*, but you couldn't access it due to a disability or because the internet cut out (again). Paying for it once you can withdraw your money is dependent on visiting a postal office or other public service processing centre for payment, but the postal office is closed on the days and hours you can access it due to to your working the hours you do, to pay for everything. And it's the same problem with licences and updating information, some of which have deadlines of seven to fourteen days, otherwise there's a fine, and with accessing a pets information if they go missing, and so so so many other public things.

You're more likely to get fined. And while the charge is somewhat negligible (depending on which side of the poverty line you sit, though many will straddle it for their entire lives), the blame and focus is put on you, not the inaccessibility.

"But it's so easy, it's all online" people say, to starving families who are debating buying food or paying the internet bill for the month, to homeless people who just had to trade their phone at the pawn shop to afford some food and a sleeping bag because their stuff got stolen or their car, which has no fuel or rego, got broken into last night.

"Just ask for an extension on the bill via the app or online (which is always getting remodelled or redesigned to keep things fReSH)" they say to a dyslexic and English as a second language person, or autistic adhder with light or colour sensory issues (who has verbal/audio processing delays and a panic attack from being overwhelmed from the painful electrical signal frequencies when calling the service line), or an elder (who has shaky hands and is struggling to speak and think clearly due to tiredness from yet another recent bout of COVID or the flu). An extension they're unlikely to receive because they missed the due date on the last two bills due to similar issues.

Limiting peoples equitable access options makes them fall more and more into areas where they need more and more help and societal care, but not everyone can access a friend or family member to help them with day to day things like accessing a digitised public system to get around, stay on top of their finances, access education.

(how many academic and even foundational education systems use the internet as the main focus to facilitate better educational outcomes for their students? Most, if not all of them, in some way shape or form. Because it's easy, and often assumed that everyone can access it easily. And it's the ones with priveged access to devices, whether that's school sites, staff, or students, that have increased likelihoods of better education outcomes, even if the effort put into the work and learning is at minimal or average pace. This in turn produces an average pace for maintaining an average educational status quo, even though so many of the students who are doing well, could do several times better if it wasn't quite so "easy". Brains get lazy with "easy", what's the point in searching for more information and unintentionally learning more about the world if your education targets have been met? If you've learnt how to use copy and paste and change enough words to avoid plagiarism or ChatGPT (because we learnt about plagiarism before fact checking) - but don't have to take the time to write it down, (which helps brains process information), and think or grow to learn that this is how we meet the criteria for learning. By finding ways to use the tools at hand, which is not bad in and of itself, but does have increasing follow on consequences of students who grow up into adults with comprehension and critical thinking skill issues.

Those who work hard and are naturally happy to learn and try to "better" themselves sometimes do not have the ease of access and resources to do so, because it's all online. Yes they could access content at school, at libraries, etc, but then the element of time and space becomes a variable, one a privileged student doesn't even think about. Transport to these places takes time and/or money. Minors do not have the same rights or freedoms adults do, such as prolonged absences from adult supervision or creating library accounts independently, for their safety and well-being, but the adults in their lives don't have the time or resources to allow their child to be anywhere but home, or sometimes work, with them. Many kids who have naturally wandering minds turn to books and trades and hobbies they can access. But the knowledge gained in these ways can be filled with holes and get stuck in the transference and communication to online based testing and education, they're not always a perfect fit, because the modality they're accessing is less intuitive, not as known and understood in how to beneficially navigate. The more familiar you are with a tool (and smart devices are easily 60 tools in one), the more likely you are to use it to some advantage. There's a learning curve. This is also why many elders struggle with recent technologies. They haven't had as much time or energy put into becoming familiar with commonalities between devices, haven't had as much opportunity for their brains to turn pathways into highways.

Naturally, due to related facets, we see internet literacy rates drop, because why wouldn't you believe there's a purple faced octopus living in a tree in Guatemala if a lot of internet pages have similar formats and writing styles, and the term "fact check" has not been foundationally learnt. Notice I said " learnt". Not taught. Because yes it is taught. But no where near enough to establish it as having been set in stone learnt and continually relearnt by our populace. If you do not finish school or go to do a degree, it is very likely you will not learn it at all. It is not deemed a serious educational focus until late high school or further down the road, and by then, people have got *habits*, which are just associations and actions repeated by certain variables and stimuli. Brains create procedural data to navigate realities and then it has to be overwritten/pruned, but during an age when many things have already been built upon the foundation of the procedural data, so entire procedural frameworks in a brain area undergo renovation. This is exhausting for the brain and for us. But technology advances make this a reality every few months to a year now, instead of a few years or decades. Is it any wonder so many are mentally exhausted, just from change change change? So again, we see another example of how equitable or ideological education does not currently feasibly exist to meet the needs of our reality (but ideology is what it is built on), because how many educators, realistically, are going to hunt down and access the same materials and content that isn't online required for a term, and give that to their students? That amount would fill their classrooms within a month, let alone an entire term or year of curriculum, which is built upon the previous month's or term's knowledge, if they are the type to care enough about their educational outcomes. The alternative would be to educate on how to use books and other various reference material from foundational levels, handing out text books and encouraging paper written theory, with mistakes (!shock horror!) and visible pathways and clues to seeing holes in a students understanding of educational content, without continual testing and re-testing, WHICH IS STRESSFUL AND DOESN'T REALLY TEST KNOWLEDGE GAINED BUT HOW WELL THEY SIT A TEST AND HAVE MEMORIZED CONTENT instead of comprehended it.

Writing essays, writing sentences, writing words or maths equations and procedures and theoretical concepts and showcasing science or art or language or musical knowledge, via recording their understanding in different ways like voice recording or designed posters, even from foundational levels (imagine a little kid explaining everything they know about clouds and developmentally indicating their knowledge via storytelling and making up narratives, something many do at that age) in ways that transfer from the mental to the physical takes practice and is adopted more intuitively the more ways it is encouraged to do in a way that flows with the individuals needs and available resource access, the more likely they are to grow in their educational development. But when the public system and the private sectors demand digitising education on a whole system scale, they create limitations in this physicalisation, because it's a hundred times harder to access and replace a smart device or computer than it is a book, an art or notepad, and a pencil or markers and paint. Teachers and parents and students alike are affected. AND THEN we're told to limit screen time. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDI....Anyway, I digress).

"It's so easy" they say.

No. It's easy For You. Others still need the balance of alternatives to turn to, and the folly of public perception is that moving technology speedily through systems in this way and at this pace, in the name of "progress" (a colonizers word) is equitable when realistically it's creating a greater divide. If more and more of a service or company's funding is going toward supporting online based services, that means more and more is being taken away from other avenues of customer service access. This has ripple effects of longer call waiting times, shorter staffing shifts/office hours, increased fines and debt collection being required (of which SOMEONE has to do the paid admin for, which restricts the funding even more), and increasingly limited ways to access ANY service or system as companies, and by follow on effect public services, compete with each other to adapt in order to stay relevant, be seen as progressive and in line with the "times".

All while the figureheads of these companies retain never before seen and ever increasing profits that rival Mount Everest in terms of scraping the sky (just wait until they pierce the bubble with that sharply inclining line).

My point here is, technology is reflective of culture and society. It's made by us for us, naturally it will reflect us in our systems. And the reflection keeps shattering for those of us who are not able to maintain the lights progression because the mirror we're using already has so many cracks and smears on it, it's made our fingers bleed. For the teleportation example above, the cracks and smears are empathy and social awareness. For my example, the cracks and smears are equitable access to daily services and products within our system via the technology we implement and use.

What's worse, is that the other people with the clean and flawless shiny new mirrors (privileged with new phones on a repeating periodic basis), look at us with scorn, pity or severely misguided notions or comments, for doing the best we can to hold our dirty mirrors ("outdated" devices"). Sometimes we don't even know why our mirrors look like that (aren't consciously aware of why we can't access a service or widely used system product with the device we have because we see more people like us in our daily lives than people who have shiny new devices) and feel shame, we believe in the personal failure we are repeatedly told we have (trickle down economics has done really well with the psychological aspects here - bad management skills, poor communication, sub par average intelligence and/or "common sense", problematic behaviours), when the failing is not personal, but systemic.

One could even argue, that, with the commonality of assumed knowledge and inequitable societal care, every deemed personal failure IS a systemic one.

So yes boomers, when you said smart devices are the problem these days, you were right, but only because you pushed this technology onto an already cracking society and then gaslit it to believe that caring about ourselves and each other was less important than the concept of personal ambition and "progress".

The teleportation mentioned in the in the above is a great way to describe how people turn a blind eye, play the blame game or willingly retreat away from related cognitive dissonance, due to seeing themselves outside of having accessibility issues because they CAN easily access all the services they need in the moment they need, via the privileges they have, and fail to notice the limitation of the customer service avenues or think the trade of "barely used" access options is reasonable. Even so far as to not have an active landline in their residence, or even have witnessed or thought about the location of a working and maintained payphone in their district.

But all it takes is a statewide internet outage, a broken or hacked or stolen phone, a sudden illness or accident, to make them just as vulnerable as the ones who they would label as "personal failures, so full of potential if only they could get those fingers clean".

Tell us, who, really, has the personal failing?

Because it's not them either. It's the system, one that has taken on a life of its own, a grotesque possessive ghoul of human hive mindedness that challenges ChatGPT for the top spot in everyday human horrors.

So many of us want to believe we live in the beginnings of an exciting sci-fi novel, but there's only so much to go before the likes of the Brave New World slaps us all back onto our freshly teleported arses, on top of a pile of clones and with no way to phone or even smoke signal home.

had a nightmare that i lived in a futuristic scifi city where teleportation had become the norm and replaced all other forms of transportation and one day i suddenly became aware that teleportation kills people and just creates a clone of them that thinks it's the same person and that if i ever teleported again i would die, and that every time one of my friends or family teleports they die, that i'm not even the original me, that all newborn babies live a few hours at most, until their first teleportation. but no one would believe me and treated me like i was crazy and my life was almost impossible without teleportation because there were no more roads connecting cities and all stairs and elevators had been removed so i couldnt get to my job or the grocery store or do pretty much anything. in the end i had to gaslight myself into just pretending the people around me weren't dying and the copies were really them because after all it's stupid to mourn someone standing right next to you isn't it? if you only spend a few hours with each iteration what meaning does it have?

[nandini213]

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