#You most definitely have more money and resources that L does

[xdolls-crownx]

I’ve held my tongue for a while now and I just- I just can’t anymore

WHAT IS THIS WOMANS OUTFIT!?

[crowfeatherquill]

Spider and Songbird Behind The Scenes: Currency! (Courtesy of Jackelope)

You may have noticed that in the most recent chapter of Spider and Songbird, money is exchanged for goods and services. Furthermore, you may have noticed that that money is Called Something Specific. That would be because Kel (@colormywords) has an economics degree and a passion for making sure all the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details get just as much polish as the rest of the fic.

The essay you’re about to read outlines the process by which they figured out not only what the money should be called, but roughly how much money is being exchanged. Personally? I could never. But they can and did and now it’s here in front of you. Enjoy! Or else :)

‘Tis I, the nerd! In trying to decide what to call the currency in our modern setting, I thought long and hard about how much I wanted to be like this meme and call our currency coin or gold like it really is in Baldur’s Gate and how much I wanted it to be more unique in name.  I knew that gold was called Dragons in Waterdeep because I ran a Waterdeep based campaign once and know far too much about the City of Splendor (there’s more than one reason I love Gale) so I just kind of casually googled if Baldur’s Gate had the same thing. I found this fellow nerd with a similar question and went from there. If you don’t want to look at the analysis the title is enough: there’s no definitive canon spot where it says what Baldur’s Gate currency was called, but they did trade in Trade Bars. Further research (don’t knock my academic writing) showed that Baldur’s Gate set the standard weight for silver trade bars in the Sword Coast and possibly beyond (there’s only so many books I can read). 

For a list of the full terms of coins as collected by a few people, you can check this link or this one. 

With that established, I thought about how the British currency got its name (the pound). After researching to make sure I wasn’t fully insane about how that came about, the pound was the monetary value of one pound of silver (a fortune at the time). It retained the name after the UK established the currency with gold backing, in other words keeping enough gold somewhere in a vault that amounted to the total minted currency in the country. More recently, most economies have entered fiat currency, basically the principle of saying “bro you know I’m good for it” when they print their money. 

So imagining that Baldur’s Gate had a similar economic history: they started with physical trade bars with a government set weight and monetary value. They changed to paper because of convenience but continued to hold that much physical money in a vault somewhere and the single paper bill was equivalent to a 2lb Trade Bar represented in that vault. As they moved into the modern era and realized printed money was infinite but resources like silver and gold were limited they began practicing fiat backed currency. The paper is called a trade bar or bar because that’s what it represented so that’s what it was always called. Because the physical bars were 5 inches long they could be easily cut into inches and separated that way for partial payments back in the day so the biggest coins are bar fifths (think if the US did .20c fifths instead of .25c quarters) 

So Dehlia gets 10gp roughly in tips for her 5 song set. Now in the time BG3 is set, a “poor” lifestyle is 73gp a year. So does Dehlia earn 1/7th (roughly) of scraping together a living in 15 minutes? Making the fractions fract (not the verb for that using it anyway) 73gp/yr for a poor lifestyle should equal 1800L/yr (the 2022 UK poverty line not including housing). So by that estimation it’s 0.0406~ gp per L. So, Dehlia’s 10gp equivalent trade bar equals roughly 0.41L. Hardly enough for a tea or coffee. So then we take into account inflation! With inflation at roughly 1.3% a year, that takes the .41 to 333L. Which… also doesn’t make any sense. So we went digging for more nerds! And it turns out the math for a gold piece doesn’t make too much sense. http://www.kenthedm.com/blog/2019/8/7/how-much-is-a-gold-piece-worth-5e https://medium.com/@Swizzler/what-is-a-dungeons-and-dragons-gold-piece-worth-in-modern-dollars-fcd7670b285b 

Some other people have put a lot of thought into how money maths. And they end up with a 1492 (ish) gold piece would be worth about 35$ or 100$ based on whether you consider it across the economy or tied in worth specifically to food. The more conservative of which put us much closer to what our above math works out to. But is a nonsense amount for Dehlia to just carry in her pocket. 

So how do we get from a trade bar being equal to 10 gp and therefore 333L to a reasonable number? Well I arbitrarily decided to move the decimal up another place, putting into canon a world in which the trade bar at some point stopped being worth 10gp but instead became a stand in for a single gp. A trade bar is now worth roughly 33L. More than enough for a coffee while also not being a ridiculous number. I also decided to never try and make fictional currency make sense again.  

[ratofthemedievalsewers]

Heart of Steel - Part I

DBH Connor x Male Reader

Word Count: 2.5K+

Content warning: Minor injury detail, PTSD, language

Original game dialogue I got from this video:

https://youtu.be/32Np9LKI1Vg

We were attacked in the night.

After returning from a mission back to an outpost several miles from the red zone, we removed our gear save for a few pouches on our belts we could bother with later. Our team leader set up a fire while the SQ800s, CyberLife commissioned combat androids, began loading up the trucks with extra artillery and resources. A job that could have waited until morning, but Alpha always gave the androids something to do. He said that they creeped him out when they would just stand there in a dormant state, waiting for their next mission to be given to them.

"You know what I'm going to do when I get home?"

"Here we go again."

"I'm going to get me a WR400," Foxtrot; not everyone's favourite but he certainly kept us entertained when there was nothing to do.

"Uh-huh and with what money are you going to be using to pay for this WR400? A military salary definitely ain't gonna cut it." Echo always called out Foxtrot's bullshit, he was the only one that had the patience to deal with him.

"Fine, my birthday is comin' up, if you put towards two-thirds of what it costs we can share. How does that sound?"

"I am not sharing anything with you, I don't know what diseases you carry." Their constant back forth sent chuckles through the group.

"Alright, that's enough you two. It's getting late and past everyone's bedtime, I want you all awake by O-five-hundred at the latest," Alpha would often stop them before Foxtrot would take it too far, but he could never hide the twitching smile on his face.

"Yes sir," Foxtrot mock saluted as he stood from his seat around the campfire. "Hey Echo, that offer is still-"

One moment Foxtrot had a wide grin on his face, the next there was a hole in his head between his eyes, the sound of gunshot ringing in everyone's ears.

"SHOTS FIRED! GET TO COVER NOW!"

"FOXTROT IS DOWN! I REPEAT, FOXTROT IS DOWN!"

It was dark, we couldn't see where they were firing from. The android was the only one still standing, firing off in random directions as they were gunned down. The next was Delta, shot in the left shoulder, then the throat. My gun was back in my tent and there was no chance of me getting it. Stupid.

"MEDIC! GET TO DELTA! NOW!"

"GRENADE!"

I heard the thump by my feet before I saw it. You would think it would be terrifying, to know you're staring death in the face, but for a second it was peaceful. My body was cold and I already felt like a corpse, the Rigour Mortis freezing me in place, just softly gazing at what would kill me.

Something grabbed me before the grenade exploded, saving my life but destroying the android.

The bedsheets were crumpled and soaked in sweat again when my eyes shot open. It was hard to breathe, the panic was still running through me and closing up my throat at the memory.

In; one, two, three, four. Hold; one, two, three, four. Out; one, two, three, four. Hold; one, two, three, four.

It took a few minutes for me to remember where I was. That I was home and that I was safe. Out of nervous habit, I gripped my dog tags, they were wet from the sweat that had soaked through my shirt in the night.

"Shit." It was four in the morning, there was no chance of getting any more sleep and the station wouldn't be open for another two more hours at the least. Saying that; Fowler wanted to speak to me first thing, which never meant anything good for anyone.

It was aching again at the joint. The biomechanical component always felt itchy where it joined at the elbow. Anytime I would have that dream I would scratch at it in my sleep, it was like my subconscious knew it didn't belong. It knew my rotting left arm was still in the desert somewhere being picked apart by vultures.

It's almost ironic; to be saved by an android and then to have part of one attached to me. I hated it.

*****

"Morning Cyborg, you look like shit." Gavin was forever pleasant to talk to.

"Fuck off, Reed." He constantly hovered around the coffee machine, hogging it like it was his newborn baby. "Is Fowler in yet?"

"Not yet, you in trouble?" He took his time making his coffee, exceeding in being the department's resident asshat. "Did he catch you looking at porn on your work terminal again?"

"I'm pretty sure that's only ever happened to you." Not wanting to be reminded of his previous escapades I got no response. Gavin let out a small huff before moving to the side with his fresh cup of coffee, freeing up the machine.

"Officer (L/N)." Oh for fuck's sake.

"Sir?" Captain Fowler stood outside his office, his coat half soaked from the rain.

"My office, I need to speak to you." He didn't give a second glance to me before turning and letting the glass door shut behind him.

"Ha, good luck cyborg." Shooting Gavin the middle finger, I followed Captian Fowler into his office.

"What was it you wished to talk about, sir?" Feet shoulder-width apart, back straight and hands behind my back; habits from the army were destined to die hard. Often I would find myself moving my hand up to salute before leaving the presence of a superior, something else for Gavin to make fun of.

"You're aware of the deviant cases I've assigned to Lieutenant Anderson, correct?" Fowler sat at his desk, wet coat now hung on its rack, but there was slight dampness to his suit blazer where his coat had been left open.

"Yes sir. I believe he's being accompanied by a prototype RK800 from Cyberlife."

"That's correct. I'm sure you're aware that these deviancy cases are on the more..."

"Dangerous?"

"...Unpredictable side. Now, I can't exactly issue a gun to a prototype android if it's going to be in the field and, while I value Hank as a police officer, his record is on the rougher side."

"Captain Fowler, with all due respect, I don't believe-"

"Office (L/N), with all due respect, you don't have an opinion in this matter. I want you to accompany Lieutenant Anderson in these assignments just in case a deviant becomes too much for him or this android to handle. You've certainly got the skillset for it and you're not unfamiliar with working alongside androids, unlike quite a few officers in this department."

"I understand that, but-"

"Whatever you're gonna say I don't want to hear it." Captain Fowler didn't give me a chance to argue as he stood and walked to his office door, the annoyed look on his face worsening. "Hank, in my office!"

I let out a sigh before Captain Fowler turned back to his desk. Through the office wall made of glass Hank reluctantly made his way towards us grumbling something under his breath at the request, the RK800 model obediently following behind him like a little, lost puppy. Hank sat in the chair opposite Fowler while the android stood next to me, giving a small smile as a greeting.

Captain Fowler was the first to talk, "I've got ten new cases involving androids on my desk every day. We've always had isolated incidents, old ladies losing their android maids and that kind of crap... But now, we're getting reports of assaults and even homicides, like that guy last night. This isn't just cyberlife's problem anymore, it's now a criminal investigation and we've gotta deal with it before the shit hits the fan. I want you to investigate these cases, alongside officer (L/N) and see if there's any link."

"Why me? And why do I need a god damned partner? A stupid android is already too much. Why do I gotta be the one to deal with this shit?" Props to Hank for trying, but arguing with Fowler was like talking to a brick wall. "I am the least qualified cop in the country to handle this case! I know jack shit about androids, Jeffery. I can barely change the settings on my own phone."

"Everybody's overloaded. I think you're perfectly qualified for this type of investigation," They were already starting to blow up at each other.

"Bullshit! The truth is nobody wants to investigate these fuckin' androids and you left me holdin' the bag!"

"CyberLife sent over this android to help with this investigation and I've given you (L/N) as well. You've got a state of the art prototype and a leading police officer to act as your partners."

"No fuckin' way! I don't need partners, and certainly not this plastic prick and some action hero fucker."

"Nice working with you too, Lieutenant Anderson," I said under my breath, not intending for the others to hear. Connor turned his head slightly in my direction, I could see his LED blink yellow for a moment before going back to its bright blue.

"Hank, you are seriously starting to piss me off! You are a police lieutenant, you are supposed to do what I say and shut your goddamn mouth!"

"You know what my goddamn mouth has to say to you, huh?"

"I'll pretend like I didn't hear that, so I don't have to add any more pages to your disciplinary folder 'cause it already looks like a fuckin' novel! This conversation is over."

"Jeffrey, Jesus Christ! Why are you doin' this to me? You know how much I hate these fuckin' things. Why are you doin' this to me?" Most of the department knew why he had such a distaste towards androids, no one could necessarily blame him. Ever since losing his son Hank had become completely different as both a person and an officer. Admittedly, Fowler was harsh on him, but if he wasn't then Hank would drift.

"I've had just enough of your bitching. Either you do your job or you hand in your badge. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got work to do." Hank left in a strop, letting out his frustration on Fowler's office door.

"Well then..." Connor was quick to break the tense silence. His voice caught me off guard, it was smoother, more human than any android's I had heard before. The SQ800's voices had always been more robotic than other models so it had been a shock when the androids back home had sounded so normal, it felt like that all over again. It was jarring. "I won't keep you any longer. Have a nice day captain."

Connor left and I followed behind, giving a small nod of dismissal to Fowler despite him still looking at his terminal screen.

The android went straight to Hank either oblivious or ignoring the lieutenant's current bad mood, granted there was never a time the bastard was in a good mood. Heaven itself could rain down on Detroit and he'd huff at it like a hair in his food.

"I got the impression my presence causes you some inconvenience, Lieutenant. I'd like you to know I'm very sorry about that. In any case, I'd like you to know I'm very to be working with you." Ever the enthusiast.

"I'd give in now. You're talking to a toddler in a fifty-year old's body and the toddler is having a hissy fit." I half sat and half leant against Hank's desk, using my arms to support my weight.

"Apologies, I don't believe I've introduced myself. My name is Connor, I am the android sent by CyberLife." He turned to me, a gentle and manufactured smile on his face. "It's a pleasure to be working with you too, officer (L/N). I'm sure we'll make a great team."

"Er... (Y/N) is just fine."

"Is there a desk anywhere I could use?"

"No one's using that one." Hank points to the desk opposite him, while still sulking like a child.

"Gasp, it speaks," I said in a sarcastic tone while turning to Hank.

"Fuck off. I've already got an android on my ass, I don't need you on it too."

I grabbed a terminal pad before perching myself back at the edge of Hank's desk while Connor got comfortable at the empty one. The light at the side of his head flashing yellow for a moment like he was hesitant to speak."You have a dog, right?"

"How do you know that?"

"The dog hairs on your chair. I like dogs. What's your dog's name?"

"What's it to you?" Hank shifted in his seat, "...Sumo... I call him Sumo."

"Under all those shitty shirts and questionable stains there's a warm, beating heart," I say more to myself than the other two, skimming over the recent case files sent in by Fowler.

"Officer (L/N)... (Y/N), knowing that we'd be working together I read your academy and field records. You have quite an interesting background."

"Oh yeah, then you understand that I may be a little driven to get these cases over with. I can't say I'm a fan of you terminators."

"I understand you have a... warped view of androids due to what you've experienced, but I hope you understand that I am your partner and not your enemy."

"Connor, you're not my partner, you're cyberlife's latest gizmo for us kick around." I sigh, turning to sit at my desk adjacent to hanks, taking the terminal pad with me. "Just look through the deviant case files. Terminals on your desk, knock yourself out."

They're nothing but machines. They are not your friends.

"Two-hundred and forty-three files, the first date back nine months. It all started in Detroit... And quickly spread across the country." Connor had only connected the terminal moments before.

"Don't work your CPU too hard," I mutter under my breath, catching a quick huff of amusement from Hank.

"An AX400 is reported to have murdered a man last night. That could be a good starting point for our investigation." Hank was doing his best to pretend Connor didn't exist, but the android was persistent. Connor stood from his chair and made his way into Hank's personal space.

"Uh, Jesus..." Hank turned his chair away.

"I understand you're facing personal issues, Lieutenant, but you need to move past them and-" For an android, Connor has some balls on him.

"Hey! Don't talk to me like you know me. I'm not your friend and I don't need your advice, okay?" Hank's mood had soured like milk, it wouldn't be long until Fowler was adding another page to Hank's disciplinary folder.

"I've been assigned this mission Lieutenant, I didn't come here to wait until you feel like working."

"Connor, you're just gonna-" I had wasted my breath, Hank had already stood and was grabbing onto Connor by the collar of his Cyberlife jacket and slamming against the screen next to his desk. "Hank!"

"Listen asshole. If it were up to me, I'd rather throw the lot of you in a dumpster and set a match to it. So, stop pissing me off... or things are gonna get nasty."

"Hank," I placed a hand on his shoulder to try and lightly pull him away from Connor but only earned a nasty side-eye. "Leave off him, you don't get paid enough to replace him."

"Lieutenant... Officer (L/N), uh... sorry to disturb you," Looks like the tin can was saved before Hank could knock the light out of him, "I have some information on the AX400 that killed that guy last night. It's been sighted in the Ravendale district."

"I'm on it." Hank didn't glance back when he dropped Connor's collar. The puppy dog look on his face almost made me feel bad for him... almost.

"Come on, WALL-E. Don't want to keep the old man waiting."

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Related to your earlier ask about LT2 and success, it’s very interesting to me that there seems to be a lot of fandom stress about Louis not getting the promo he deserves but I feel like it’s such a catch 22 because it seems like there would be an equal amount of stress if he reached anywhere near the current fame levels that Harry currently has, which are making access to shows significantly harder due to price and competition. I definitely tend to think that L has, for the most part, the career that he wants within his current limitations whatever they may be. He’s making the kind of music that resonates with him personally, touring successfully, and well positioned to do the same with another album.

On an unrelated note, and feel free to ignore any of this if it doesn’t interest you, what are your thoughts on fans buying pricey jumpers/jerseys or other gifts for Louis (or Harry-though that seems to happen less frequently)? Part of me thinks like people should do whatever they want with their money if it brings them joy but another part of me can’t help but think about the resources they (H or L) have to acquire whatever wardrobe they want and don’t need fans sending them expensive gifts. But that’s probably my own personal hang ups around money though, it’s just always seemed so strange to me.

Anyways, appreciate your thoughts but no bother if none of the above resonates with you enough for a response!

Thanks anon.

I think there are two elements of fan's desire for 'better' publicity for Louis. One is for a particular sort of content. Which I totally get - I would also love it if Louis did a live lounge or was on a relaxed chat show like Graham Norton or Jonathon Ross. I do think it's useful to own those desires, rather than project them onto Louis.

But I think probably more prevalent is people identifying with Louis and therefore wanting him to have certain sorts of validation. This makes sense emotionally, but the dynamic it creates is very messy. And it can feel like fans are demanding success from Louis, not for Louis. Plus, as you say, it does rather ignore the fan experience.

**********

As for your other question - it does seem very odd to me that people are giving Louis presents. There's a lot of weirdness in fandom though, and I do try and relax about the differences in how people fandom.

What is striking me at the moment is fan insistence that their love makes Harry or Louis' life better. Obviously that's what's going on in the As it Was project (which is particularly odd directly in the face of the artistic statement that is largely the opposite of that idea). But also I've seen it a lot in the comments about Louis' tour in South America and fan projects - or the banner today. As if the sort of love fans offer will make a difference to Harry or Louis' life.

Fans can offer a lot - most importantly a financial base to build a career from. And also an audience - which is a really important part of creating art. But we cannot offer anything emotionally, and any artist who tries to fulfill their emotional needs with fan appreciation, is ensuring that those emotional needs will never be fulfilled.

In a recent interview Darren Hayes put it pretty brutally: "I was another one of those entertainers with that had a God-shaped hole in them, and I thought that if I just became famous and people clapped for me, that it would fix me. And spoiler alert: it didn’t."

And I think fandom is much healthier for all invovled if fans and artists understand the limits of what fans can offer. And particular, for fans if we are clear that everything we're doing, we're doing for ourselves and not for them. And that includes buying shirts, or making banners, or going to shows, or writing ridiculously long tumblr posts about the nature of fandom.

[dnenvs3000w22]

We are borrowing from our children

Hello and welcome to my follow-up blog of the last week of blogging. In this blog I would like to touch on this week’s content that was covered on Courselink, which is how we can be responsible educators and protectors of children - our hope, our future generations.

A Native American saying that has stuck with me since I was a freshman was “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” (Gilbert, 2015). Unfortunately, not everyone lives by this saying, and often those with the biggest, heftiest invisible backpack of privilege tend to be the ones who “borrow” the most. We often see corporate giants of all sorts of industries in first world countries such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, H&M and Shell operate without much regard to the environment (Riley, 2017). The plastic waste, the oil spills and the gas emissions found in all habitats from soil, air to ocean is causing irreversible damage to ecosystems on Earth (Young, 2019). This happens because in the end, the ones that are most affected by the horrible consequences of climate change and natural disasters are the vulnerable developing countries. These are newly industrialized countries, where technology has yet to reach a point where it could combat extreme weather events, and people barely have any privileges.

While I can see how much our generation is trying to save the planet, voicing our opinions and protesting against the horrible things that are being done to our only home, those companies don’t seem to hear us, or if they do, they are not making changes fast enough. Therefore, I believe that means we need to expand our duty from fighting for our present, to protecting our future. The foundation lies in how we can educate and inspire young children because they are our hope.

Beck et al. outlined certain tips that would definitely come in handy when we need to effectively communicate with children. The most important one to me, is to focus on the process (Beck et al., 2018). The end result is just a bonus, it is extremely vital that us educators help children fall in love with the process of nature interpretation instead of trying to make them do whatever it takes to achieve the end result. Like Rachel Carson had said, “It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate”. The next important tip is to get down to a child’s level and interact with them personally whenever possible. Getting down to their level can both mean to bow down so you’re on their eye level, giving way for effective communication, but it can also mean you’re speaking to them in a language that appeal to them and that they can understand (Beck et al., 2018). Just like what we did in the first podcast assignment, this can be challenging at times, but in the end, the effort is all worth it because we are doing this for the sake of our planet’s future.

There are many other tips that are helpful for communicating with children, which one do you find most helpful? Do you also think like me, that we all have the responsibility to preserve current resources for the future, or it does not really matter in the end?

References

Gilbert, P. (2015). Inherit the Earth, or Borrow it from our children? National Recreation and Park Association. https://www.nrpa.org/blog/inherit-the-earth-or-borrow-it-from-our-children/

Young, A. (2019). Coca-Cola, Pepsi highlight the 20 corporations producing the most ocean pollution. 24/7 Wall Street. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/06/17/20-corporations-behind-the-most-ocean-pollution/39552009/

Riley, T. (2017). Just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, study says. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change

Beck, L., Cable, T.T., & Knudson, D.M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage for a Better World. Sagamore Publishing.

[princess-stabbity]

technically speaking, "getting the people to revolt" is one of the lower order of effects those sanctions are trying to implement

like i'm not saying they're definitely gonna work. this conflict is too volatile for me to feel comfortable making almost any predictions, to be quite blunt. and even if they do work, whether the ukrainian people saved are worth the russian people hurt is a subjective moral call. (though--and i don't want to minimize the suffering inherent in economic collapse--it's worth considering that sanctions can be lifted but people cannot be unshot.)

but if these sanctions lead to putin losing his grasp on power, it will likely be because of the effect on the oligarchs and high-ranking officials. they have much more leverage, here, and they've been personally sanctioned and had their assets targeted. which, to be petty for a minute, is one of the few enjoyable things about this whole horrible situation. imagine how funny it would be to see that happen to bezos and musk. and while i don't have too much hope of that, there have already been some cracks. that said, if pressure on the oligarchs does work, it will most likely result simply in putin finally agreeing to some sort of face-saving peace agreement, not regime change (i've been imagining something akin to the end of the winter war, which would mean letting them take crimea+donbas but leave ukrainian sovereignty intact--tho it sounds like the ukrainians are not willing to give up territory, so who knows). i've seen no indication they're holding out for regime change. just withdrawal.

another goal of these sanctions, tho, is to empty out the war chest. war takes money and resources, and if putin can't get those (eg, can't get new parts to repair planes, sources of munitions limited, ability to pay mercenaries restricted), that's another pressure on him to withdraw. from my perspective, this is simultaneously the most important and probably least understood goal of these sanctions. i haven't been sharing posts about developments on the ground because--between the unpredictability of the situation, the fog of war, and both rus & ukr propaganda--i think it difficult to tell what's truly happening and i don't want to contribute to disinfo. however, i'm inclined to believe that reports of poor russian supplies/logistics are probably correct (if perhaps exaggerated). i read a prewar article over a week ago about the wagner group (basically the kremlin's blackwater but with more othalas) that suggested even they struggle with this. point being, if this is not abnormal for russian military forces, having their entire economy flushed down the toilet will not make these problems better, and russian disorganization and low morale seem to be large parts of what have been keeping the ukrainians in the fight. plus, the worse the ground offensive goes, the more likely putin will finally receive some form of pushback from within the govt.

obviously these sanctions could backfire. putin will try to stir up national resentment, play the strong man as usual, "the west is trying to destroy us and i alone can stop them!" etc and it may work. but the whole situation is a lot more complicated than "sanctions are for hurting the common people so they revolt." i'm against the idea that academic bona fides are the be-all end-all of knowledge, but i do get frustrated seeing people present themselves as experts on a topic i've actually studied, just because twitter's algorithm favors the most vehement and radical takes, you know? wish i could go back to when the worst social media takes on things i studied were mostly about "death of the author."

and all this is without getting into any of the bigger picture concepts and questions at play, like: -"should outside states intervene in situations like invasion and genocide?" at this point in my life, my feeling is that human beings have a duty to one another to try to help. but the geopolitics of the last, oh, let's say 20 years at least, should make us extremely cautious about that. even if the intentions are truly just altruistic (hard to imagine, but for the sake of argument), that doesn't mean the attempted help will be effective, or that it won't solve the immediate problem but cause others down the road. -"if so, by what means?" if you take away military intervention and all economic sanctions, there aren't many mechanisms left to effect change (tho i think that some that remain should be used much more often, like refugee settlement within your own borders) -"if so, how do we avoid this international mechanism being used to cynical ends?" recent u.s. history speaks for itself. those concerned about the question of "who gets to decide what country is cut off from the world economy?" are right to worry, tho they're slightly off-base in thinking the u.s. alone holds this power (not wholly off-base, because the u.s. has a lot of both hard and soft power to throw around to influence votes in the un, but this is not something the u.s. could have done unilaterally and even states more in russia or china's "sphere" were willing to coordinate on this). that said...setting aside the likelihood of the u.s. getting punished for violating international law, i'm inclined to think things would be better if we were? weird to me, seeing people go "well, the u.s. didn't face consequences for [x]" like yeah maybe some sort of international precedent should be set. maybe we wouldn't be at this point globally if international orgs had some real teeth. this whole situation could have cascading negative effects in the future, but for now i think seeing a superpower get reined in is maybe a good thing. finally, it's worth remembering that inaction is, itself, an action, with potentially disastrous consequences. how many times have the permanent members of the unsc been effectively allowed to do whatever they want without consequence? where has that gotten us? -"if not, should a non-state entity be the one to intervene?" great concept, big fan, but many potential issues bubble from this one: who runs it, how is it funded, from what or whom does it derive authority and credibility, does it actually have the capacity to enact change, who watches this watchman, etc. these questions are not insurmountable, in my opinion, but they're not easy, either -"if non-state actors instead, how do we avoid having them run into the same pitfalls a state would?" i think humans have a history of saying "this thing is bad, let's make a new version" and then the new version has the same problems all over again. i think dan olson put it well, when describing the problems with treating crypto as a way of eliminating banks: "this is a really important point to stress: cryptocurrency does nothing to address 99% of the problems with the banking industry, because those problems are patterns of human behavior. they’re incentives, they’re social structures, they’re modalities. the problem is what people are doing to others, not that the building they’re doing it in has the word 'bank' on the outside." in other words, i think people often correctly identify problems with an organization, only to replace it with a new one with the same corrupting incentives and social structures that led to problems with the prior one. states are basically organizations of people. a non-state actor is presumably also an organization of people. how do you structure it to be better suited to this task?

my point (or my overarching one, anyway, i'm having a hard time structuring them all into coherency) is that life is actually very complicated. i'm tired of the twitterized approach to everything, where centuries of history and debate and scholarship are treated as tho they can be condensed down to 280 characters without losing a lot of important context and nuance. the stakes are too high. they've always been too high.

anyway now that i've finally got this rant out of my system i'm back to, once again, haranguing my elected officials to let in more refugees. it's infuriating to think about how much more likely it is to gain traction this time.

[ofxdiamonds]

[ zendaya & she/her / cisfemale ] watch out, [ diamond bellevue ] has crash-landed into roswell !! they look [ 22 years old ] and celebrate their birthday on [ december 15th ]. they are from [ new york city ], reside in [ moonbeam gardens ] and are currently working as a [ model / entrepreneur ]. one thing you should know about them is that [ she travels a lot for her work ].

trigger warnings: mention of drugs, drinking, eating disorder & mental illness

- B A S I C -

FULL NAME: Diamond Nathalia Bellevue NICKNAME(S): Dime, Di or Dia AGE: 22 OCCUPATION: Model / Entrepreneur. She is a businesswoman, through and through - starting at eighteen, she’s been buying and reselling high fashion and beauty products online, and as of recently she’s now the proud owner of SWAG Dance Studio, and is a well-known fashion-content influencer and creator on social media. BIRTHDAY: December 15th ZODIAC: Sagittarius HOGWARTS HOUSE: Slytherin

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good

- F A M I L Y -

FATHER:  (Adopted) Winston Bellevue MOTHER: (Adopted) Betty Bellevue SIBLINGS: (Adopted) Four older siblings (between the ages of 26 - 40) CHILDREN: 13-month old son, Andre

PETS:    - A Doberman puppy - Cicero

- A P P E A R A N C E -

HEIGHT: 5′10′’ WEIGHT: 120 lbs HAIR COLOR / TYPE:  Dark brown / Naturally curly. She sometimes straightens it EYE COLOR: Dark Hazel

- P E R S O N A L I T Y -

(+) Independent, Gregarious, Clever, Ambitious, Resourceful (-) Unrestrained, Wild, Impulsive, Reckless, Sarcastic

She is definitely ambitious and inarguably intelligent, and can find solutions to pretty much any problem she comes across. Yet at the same time, she can also be quite reckless and selfish, and is still very much a child in a lot of ways...which is kind of concerning for her family and loved ones, since she has a kid of her own to take care of.

She parties, drinks and does drugs often, yet still she somehow manages to be responsible enough in her day to day life, taking her work and the care of her son very seriously. Despite her reckless and unrestrained nature, Dime loves Dante dearly and wants only the best for him.

- L I K E S -

Spending time with her son, and their dog, Cicero

Dancing

Exploring different hobbies

Working Out / Going to the gym / Going on hikes and runs

Partying & Drinking

Doing Drugs

Engaging in Flings

Shopping

Photography

- B I O G R A P H Y -

Originally from New York City.

Was born to a teenaged drug addict, and was put up for adoption the second she was born, only to be adopted a few short months later by Winston and Betty Bellevue, an older English couple in their late forties from the Upper East Side of Manhattan who had lived in London with four older children, up until a few years ago when they decided to relocate to New York.

Her father was one of the top cosmetic surgeons in the state of New York, while her mother was a leading patent attorney.

She had a great relationship with her parents, and though her siblings were significantly older than she was, she was still quite close to each and every one of them as well...despite some strong and even sometimes clashing personalities and views. They tended to be overly judgmental at times, particularly with Diamond, given that she was the baby of the family and due to her impulsive life choices. It often annoyed the hell out of her.

She was born with NAS, thanks to her birth mother, and later on when she was just a few years old, she was diagnosed with Bipolar, ARFID and a mild case of OCD.

Dime has always had an aversion to food, starting from infancy and that worried her parents greatly, because she pretty much refused most forms of food. She was diagnosed with ARFID in her youth, but it’s since turned into a full on eating disorder. She hardly eats anything, even when she feels hungry, but when she does, it’s only ever the bare minimum. Her appetite is just non-existent, and she wholeheartedly blamed her medication for a lot of it (though that’s just the excuse she uses to dismiss any concerns).

Despite her weak mental and physical health, though, Diamond led a pretty normal and happy life in Manhattan, with her family.

She was a major hobbyist, even as a child, and so she was always bouncing from one activity to another, easily bored with thing once she’d mastered it and always wanting to try new and exciting things. Dancing, vocal lessons, piano and violin lessons, painting, scrapbooking, journaling, photography, needlework...you name it, she’s very likely dabbled in it.

Dancing, painting and an interest in photography were things she still maintained an interest in. At the age of five, her parents put her in her first dance class and she fell in love with it. She learned ballet first, but quickly grew to love contemporary hip-hop, and to this day, she still danced and could have potentially went professional if the love for modeling hadn’t taken over her life.

She was first introduced to modeling at the age of nine, when she was scouted while in the mall with her mother, and after getting her parents’ consent, Dime was allowed to be signed to the agency and soon she began work as a child model. She absolutely loved it.

Of course, being a child model couldn’t last forever and once she reached 18, she discovered that it was harder and harder to find modeling work, and that the industry was one tough son of a bitch.

More than a little discouraged but not ready to give up on her dream altogether, Diamond decided to attend NYU Stern’s Fashion & Luxury MBA program while also continuing to book whatever work she could get within the city. During this time, in between her classes and the drugs and parties she began to indulge in, she started her first ever business, which was buying and reselling fashion and beauty products online. She’s still doing that to this day.

While in her second year at school, she met an older gentleman by the name of Jared, who worked as a bartender at one of the local clubs that she often went to with her friends. Although never officially calling what they had a ‘relationship’, that didn’t stop them from sleeping with one another quite frequently. It was a casual thing, and it didn’t mean much to her - she just liked the sex and the free drugs and booze he’d often provided her with.

At the age of 19, Diamond discovered that she was pregnant. When she told Jared about the pregnancy, she completely rejected the idea that he was the father, which did not come as much of a shock to her. He’d always been a douchebag, and she kind of expected it. Even so, she was still hurt by it, but refused to show it.

Pretending that she hadn’t been hurt by the rejection and being called a liar, Dime simply shrugged and moved on - after all, it wasn’t like she loved Jared or wanted anything from him in the long run. In fact, she very likely wouldn’t have even bothered to tell him about the baby at all, if it weren’t for her family encouraging her that it was the right thing to do.

Throughout her pregnancy and even after the birth of her son, Andre, Diamond continued going to school, determined to get her degrees. Having a baby young - though not something she had expected - didn’t at all deter her ambitions; in fact, it only drove her to work harder and smarter, wanting to secure some sort of financial success and security in order to raise her son and give him a good life. Much like the one she’d had with her own parents.

She was proud of the fact that her online business was doing exceptionally well with how profitable it really was, and that she no longer had to rely on her parents to fund her; she was now financially independent and that felt beyond amazing.

She also became a successful online influencer, doing modeling, makeup and fashion-related content on Instagram, Youtube and TikTok. 

With no luck of getting the kind of modeling work she really wanted in the Big Apple, the dream to become a full time fashion model slowly died over time. Quite saddened upon coming to the realization that it just wasn’t in the cards for her, the young single mother turned her focus on her next big dream: becoming an entrepreneur. Already with one successful business under her belt, Diamond knew it was the right choice in the end.

Once she was finished with her schooling, where she earned degrees in Fashion Business and Marketing, Diamond decided to move from New York to Roswell, New Mexico, to stay with her oldest brother, who’d moved there a few years prior, until she and Andre were comfortably settled and she could find a place on her own.

With her own hard earned money, she was able to buy a building in downtown Roswell and spent a few months renovating it, before only just recently opening her own dance studio, called SWAG Dance Studio.

Despite only just getting her studio up and running, Diamond already had plans for several more future business endeavors that she would likely implement in the coming few years, ever the ambitious young woman that she was.

Still, Diamond never stopped modeling whenever the opportunity of a good job came her way. She traveled constantly - nationally and internationally - and so, had a nanny for Andre and when they weren’t available, her brother would watch him.

- W A N T E D   C O N N E C T I O N S -

Oldest Adopted Brother - Diamond and her son Andre are currently staying at his home in Moonbeam Gardens. Suggested FC: Tom Hiddleston | Age: 37-40

Other (Older) Siblings (who are also adopted) - There are three other siblings, all older than Diamond but younger than her eldest brother. All of them are adopted, so ethnicity isn’t an issue. Suggested FCs: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Zoe Kravitz, Gemma Chan, Emilia Clarke, Luke Pasqualino - but I’m more than open to other suggestions! (They’d all be between the ages of 26 - 36).

Best Friend(s)

Casual Friend(s)

People she can get high with (i.e., party friends, bad influences, etc.)

Drinking Buddies - people she can rely on to always be up for going out bar hopping or clubbing with. Kind of ties in with the bad influences and party friends.

Dancing or Workout Buddies - She loves to go dancing (she’s a trained dancer) and working out, either at the gym or going on hikes and long walks, so it would be fun to have someone she can go with.

Rivals / Enemies / Frenemies

Neighbors of Moonbeam Gardens

Babysitter / Nanny / Daycare - for Andre

Love Interests and / or Flings & One-Nighters - She’s got a thing for older men, so it would be fun to explore that a bit, in either a serious or casual fashion.

[homestuck-and-the-monomyth]

The FEH Arena glitch, explained

The FEH subreddit has recently brought to light an arena scoring glitch that has reportedly been around since the introduction of L!Tiki. Players at the highest tiers have reportedly been using this glitch to cheat the system and stay in Tier 21. I decided to test it out and see if I could replicate it. Turns out, it’s not too hard.

So how does the glitch work?

It’s definitely a bit finicky. Essentially, you need a +10 unit that scores 180 BST or higher, with a max-scoring build. Any duo unit, most armors since Surtr, some recent infantry units, or any unit with the new Tier 4 Duel skills equipped will work. My unit of choice was Duo!Alm.

You need this unit to be blessed with the season’s bonus, and you need two matching legendary units (reportedly you can do it with just one matching legendary unit, but most people have had more success with two). Here’s the pair I used.

You’ll notice that their kits are very incomplete. That’s the next part of this glitch: apart from your high-scoring unit, the rest of your units should have most of their skills removed.

Finally, you need a bonus unit, also with an incomplete kit. I used Anna.

Again, it’ll take some fiddling with the skills to get the glitch to activate. But when it does...

That’s a 760-scoring match with a team that has no business scoring that high. From there, it’s just a matter of picking your battles.

Why bring this to light? Because it’s unfair to everyone. It’s unfair to players that pay money into the game with the expectation that it will buy them an advantage. It’s unfair to F2P players who don’t abuse the glitch and thus have no chance of competing. It quite literally steals resources from players that don’t abuse the glitch, as the rewards given out to the very limited number of players that stay in T21 are substantially higher than the rewards given to the lower tiers.

It’s also worth bringing this to light because IS has an incentive to fix this. As long as the glitch remains in effect, the highest-spending players have no reason to summon for new legendary units. It’s in IS’s best interest to fix this, while (in a rare occurrence) simultaneously being good for the FEH player base.

[kendrixtermina]

Assorted House of Feanor Thoughts

I wrote this as a reply to someone, but then realized that this should be a post of its own. 

Line between extrapolation, interpretation & headcanon is going to be fluid here

Long post under cut

The seven sons in general:

all moody, fierce, intense and brilliant, each in various different ways

none of them can really stand to be cooped up in one place for long

F R E C K L E S you will not convince me otherwise

Apart from the ones explicitly described as pretty (ie, Maedhros and Celegorm) they’re actually relatively plain by elf standards, or at least sort of rugged-looking, especially compared to their part-Vanyar cousins - I mean, figures that some would turn out more like Miriel or Nerdanel both of which were supposedly more average.

all are very resourceful having spent most of their lives helping out with their parent’s projects, exploring the wilderness, or (save for Celegorm) hanging out in Aule’s halls. Most can probably whip up a steampunk or magitech solution to basic war-related problems

Because of this they’re a very tight-knit group

growing up, they did not know many children their age; Ironically the most contact they had was with their cousins because Feanor paid semi-regular visits to Finwe. Apart from Turgon (and Orodreth if you place him in the second rather than the third post-journey generation) the cousins really dug the adventure stories. (Galadriel pretended not to be interested and offered plenty of critiques, but listened anyways)

more survival skills and just a lot more casual than your average princes

They’d all been adults for a good while by the time of the rebellion; the twins are a tad older than Aredhel, Galadriel and Argon; Caranthir and Angrod are about the same age. Curufin is younger than Aegnor.

They all look back at that trip to the lightless shore of the outer sea as a cherished family memory

Also I don’t think Feanor disciplined his sons very much after all his own father let him get away with everything. In his eyes the brats can do no wrong especially not Curufin and to a lesser extent Amrod Nerdanel tried her best to counterbalance this and it kind of worked on some of them, but the three middle ones were a lost cause

I think a lot of the weight behind the oath comes from how Feanor made them promise him to see it through on his deathbed. It was his literal last wish.

Maedhros:

The Leader™, the most strong-willed and the deadliest fighter by a huge margin. What the orc under your bed has nightmares about.

Obviously a very competent diplomat, strategist, and the sort to put constructive results over personal glory; resilient, formidable, unpretentious and tough as leather

but not at all overconfident, and the type who is not blind to the flaws of the people he loves. He knows very well that Feanor wasn’t perfect and does many things that his father would not have agreed with - at the same time he has a strong sense of obligation, honor and loyalty which turns out to be his fatal flaw in the end when being loyal and keeping his word  increasingly requires him to do dishonorable things

if there was a definite breaking point it was the fiasco with Dior’s sons

Stoic but courteous and eloquent; From Finwe’s death onwards increasingly grim, grizzled and not very hopeful, though he’s the sort to give his all and try to be noble even when there’s no reward or even thanks or respect.

Despite this, he has as a dry sense of humor and at times uses it to defuse tense situations or disarm people he’s negotiating with (see the scene with Thingol’s message) - does have a streak of gallows humor to him especially after the Thangorodrim incident

As the heir Feanor actually let him in on trade secrets and scientific speculation; Their relationship is probably the most equal; I do think Feanor was capable of actually appreciating that Maedhros got a mind of his own and isn’t afraid to stand up for himself. Feanor values independent thought, even if he’s not always good at really living that value with his tendency to take things personally and see others as taking sides for or against him.  

Can’t really craft stuff to the same degree without his right hand. He then focussed on more abstract/mental pursuits which were perhaps his forte, to begin with but it still bothers him more than he lets on, especially since he still retains, or swiftly regained, his skill at making things dead. 

He may or may not qualify as a cinnamon roll but he definitely looks like could kill you

Maglor:

Maedhros might have been the token responsible sibling, but Maglor was the understanding, comforting one and always had a nurturing streak - hence why he was the one to take in the kids.

Sensitive Artistic Type™ - goes from quirky and passionate back in Valinor to melancholy & tormented as the war drags on

one of those people who despair over & get self-critical over their work even when it’s regarded as masterpieces

Like Feanor and Miriel before him, he tends to get super absorbed in his work/art and just plain disappears for days

Now some ppl hold that he didn’t start having second thoughts until near the end, but judging from how he comes along to Fingolfin’s party or to hang out with Finrod, I’d hold that he was always ‘the nice/gentle one’, but not solely in a positive way; Unlike Maedhros he did not stand up to Feanor about the thing with the ships and indeed lets Maedhros talk him out of turning himself in at the very end, so he’s probably somewhat lacking in assertiveness

Even so, he’s probably one of the better fighters, given the difficult territory he gets, that he’s the one to kill Ulfang, and how long he survives. He probably feels ambivalent about this. 

I imagine him having an agility-based fighting style

Probably codified the heroic epos as a specifically Noldorin art form

Celegorm:

A lot of ppl focus on the barbarian aspect, but I’d say he actually has some degree of ‘subverted prince charming’ going on, with how he sweet-talks Luthien at first before throwing her in the dungeon, and how he seems to have been one of the more accomplished ones, joining a respected order and all

He’s actually pretty elegant and perhaps playfully gallant, but it’s a facade; He’s an animal underneath; though his instincts are probably somewhat nobler than what ends up happening when he gets roped into Curufin’s schemes

usually, the first to react and leap into action when something happens.

Herculean strength, daunting presence

also a fairly efficient general, if a bit of a glory hound and pretty fearless in the pursuit of victory

very much has an ego and doesn’t like being humbled at all

Strikes me as the sort of person who would take badly to the realization that they can no longer return to the glory of the past or being judged unworthy, not that he’d respond with anything but defiance

Wrestles giant monsters barehanded

Always low-key wished to fight creatures of darkness before the rebellion to test his might against them; Orome and the Maiar members of the hunt would have told stories of them

though he gets his pretty face from Daddy, his strong build comes from Nerdanel, possibly somewhat accentuated by his being a dude

Caranthir:

grumpy, moody, no filter, likes his alone time, shows his feelings mostly through actions, also somewhat pragmatic

the quartermaster; Actually one of the smarter ones, if not outright the second smartest after Curufin, though he has more a logistic/administrative sort of intelligence

generally one of the more prosaic, practical family members, or maybe he’s just more subtle about his dramatic side or has a harder time expressing it. Definitely has Hidden Dephts™

I mean, putting your hideout on the slope of a mountain near a deep, dark lake circled by mountains? Goth AF. A+ aesthetic there.

Hosts the family get-togethers at his fortress. Has most certainly shoved Celegorm and Curufin in the lake at some point

has a certain respect for strength, valor and skill even in ppl he doesn’t necessarily like; Not at all diplomatic or polite, but also not finicky or fastidious, so actually forged a whole lot of alliances on a “everyone’s money/swords are equally good and we don’t have to set conditions” basis and seems to have been pretty successful at this

started out haughty but definitely learned to be more open-minded/ broaden his horizon over his time in Beleriand - but as no good deed goes unpunished, Ulfang happens

Whereas Curufin and Celegorm can put up a noble veneer but will totally stab you in the back if provoked, Caranthir’s sort of the opposite, in that he’s rude and quarrelsome on first contact but has a good heart deep down (see the Haladin incident) and doesn’t keep grudges long term once he’s done grumbling where Celegorm is sore loser and Curufin a spiteful twerp.

though personally, I don’t see Caranthir as trying to reign himself in. He wouldn’t really be known as “the harshest” in that case. Who was gonna teach him to behave himself, Feanor maybe? kek. 

Curufin:

We have a lot of actual dialogue & description for him - he has this characteristic little defiant smile, is often coldly contemptuous in tone, some level of ruthless pragmatism

has mild/vague foresight - nothing as impressive as what Finrod and Galadriel have, but he has it more or less to the degree that Feanor did.

actually pretty insightful, thought-through and political-minded in some ways, too bad he shares Feanor’s tendency for unwarranted suspicion and factionalism, as well as a tendency to just act on his own without checking with anyone

always either filthy from work or fully blinged-out and impeccably groomed, no in-between

more calculated and subtle than Feanor - not that Feanor ever needed calculation or subtlety since he could get by on sheer awe or intimidation. Celegorm and Maedhros have that same quality in spades and Curufin’s a little bit jealous

Not actually that much older than the twins, but always acted older than his age, especially once he heard that Feanor was the same

collects weapons, loves fancy horses, the most traditionally aristocratic of the seven

Got married relatively young; saw it as a matter of honor to further his family’s line

continued his scholarly pursuits in Beleriand; this is part of why he elected to share a territory with Celegorm

The last Celebrimbor ever heard of him was a magically sealed box filled with research notes he sent out in case he didn’t make it out alive

Did not take his parents’ estrangement well and is stubbornly salty toward Nerdanel (though deep down he misses her as much as his brothers if not more)

Frequently the Bad Influence/ Shoulder Devil to his brothers.

But when he gets excited about his research/craft he’s got this “exited cocky little boy” side to him that’s surprisingly pure. 

Only Nerdanel and possibly Celebrimbor’s mom are allowed to call him ‘Atarinke.’ His brothers might still use it when they’re teasing or scolding him. 

The Twins:

Every time a fic does something else with them than “generic prankster redheads” I cry with joy

We don’t have that many data points on them, but most of them suggest they’re every bit as fierce as their brothers

they’re somewhat aloof & mostly do their own thing;

As kids they’d mostly sit in a corner and play with each other. Possibly deliberately played up their identicalness as a kind of emo fashion statement / to fuck with people (”Should we do this Ambarussa?” - ”I don’t know, what do you think, Ambarussa?”)

never really gave up their semi-nomadic ways

Compared to Celegorm they probably more on stealth and precision than strength and bravado. They suddenly appear in front of you, and bam! You’ve got an arrow poking out of your face. Probably the ones scouting the perimeter of the camp.

Amras is a bit sassier, but it’s actually Amrod who’s a little bit braver.

Hardly ever argued until their parents’ estrangement; That led to quite a few quarrels between them.

For all his faults, Feanor made a point of doing things with each of them individually.

quietly nursing some level of pent-up despair and frustration until they push for the assault on Sirion

In the version where one of them dies, and then no one ever talks about it, - I imagine that the remaining one ended up cynical in a “let’s just get it ever with we’re already doomed after all’ kind of way

Bonus:

Celebrimbor

“Curiosity killed the cat but the second mouse gets the cheese” incarnate. He’s a sweet, excitable,  deeply good guy, but Curiosity is the strongest force within him, besides maybe “think of the potential”

very bold in his thinking, not held back by any conventional boundaries. This is partially why he ended up more independent than his father and uncles but ironically that might in a sense make him more similar to grandpa than any of them

Really looks like Feanor. Like, Arwen and Luthien level of resemblance. It takes ppl a bit to notice because of how different his general demeanor and surface-level personality is. 

Very scattered and absent-minded, prone to sudden flashes of inspiration, often shows up in some form of disarray

spent his adolescence at Formenos. Retained a certain affinity for wintery places ever since

He sensed something fishy about Sauron before long, but between wanting to avoid the family propensity for unwarranted suspicion and being tempted by all the possibilities of what he could do with that power/knowledge even if it did come from a fishy source, he didn’t act before it was too late - he can't have been fully clueless since he hid the three; There was definitely just a bit of actual seduction/forbidden fruit appeal in place there, whether to use the word “hubris” probably depends on your philosophy. 

He drops the ‘th’ once he renounces Curufin, but slips right back into the old habit when excited or exasperating. At some point during his rule of Eregion, he stops bothering to hide it - A similar thing happens when he’s talking Sindarin with his northeast Beleriand accent. 

I know this is a very popular old hat headcanon, but... His other name is also “Curufinwe”. Everyone called him Telperinquar from the start, lest all three come running and grumble about being distracted from work, but after the Nargothrond debacle, he had other reasons for not using it. But really, Telperinquar/Celebrimbor is just another more metaphorical way to say “this baby shall be good at working with his hands” so yeah

My HC for where he was between the Finrod incident and the second age is as follows: He departed for war with Gwindor’s troupe (this is someone who tried to engineer a way around entropy - not a “do nothing” sort of guy) and fled the battlefield with Turgon. (hence some of the passages that place him in Gondolin can still be made to work. He totally made Earendil’s baby-sized mail coat) He fled with Idril’s party. Had she not tipped him off somehow he would probably have died with the rest of the smith’s guild. Or perhaps he grabbed all the valuable records he could find and ran for it because someone needed to preserve them. As living surrounded by the survivors of Doriath would have been awkward to say the least, he went to the isle of Balar to offer his skills and service to Gil-Galad. This is where he befriended/ reconnected with Galadriel and Celeborn. 

Finrod once told him the “faithful stone” legend from Brethil. It would be an inspiration to him much later. Generally credits Finrod with being a good influence on him. 

Judging by the stars on the doors of Durin his stance on his family probably softened over the years. He essentially attained their original new dream of exploring distant lands and building unparalleled new realms, at least for a while - also definitely has a similar “screw destiny!”/ “I defy you stars!” attitude. Perhaps he wanted to see their vision done right. 

But on some level, I think he also wanted to associate himself with their fame eventually especially once his own accomplishments grew. His feelings were probably always very ambiguous because he must have admired and envied their great works but also lived getting weird looks whenever he did what he’s best at and loves doing most in the world because it associates him with these very ambiguous people whom many hated... at one point in the past he must have really admired his father and grandfather, I mean, he came with them across the sea. 

Nerdanel

She got Feanor the apprenticeship / gave him the idea after they met on their travels. 

Were seen as something of an eccentric hippie/ hipster couple in the early days

She’s tough, confident and definitely quipped/ yelled back at times. Definitely described as ‘strong-willed’ and individual. Like this was a ‘kindred spirits’ thing before everything went to hell

it counts for something that even during the ugly bitter parting scene the worst Feanor could say was “someone must’ve turned you against me because you definitely cared once” rather than “you’re a traitor” for all that everything else in that scene made him very punchable

Their relationship dynamic, as I see it, is that she’s the one person who just sees and treats him like a normal dude. No apprehension, no fawning. He’s not “the greatest” or a tainted aberration to her, he’s simply a like-minded friend. So she’s pretty chill about his idiosyncrasies and doesn’t see them as a big deal, but on the other hand, she’s not overawed and will not take bullshit

Since she is good at understanding people she probably usually gets where he’s coming from even when he’s not being reasonable

possibly invented abstract art; was most certainly influential. 

the elves who serve Aule probably have their own little traditions. She might’ve imparted some of those on her descendants

Also ppl tend to forget that she also does metalwork. Again, it’s quite possible that she got him into it and that if they’d never met, he might have landed in a completely different discipline

I think it says a lot about Feanor that he chose her for being smart, creative and independent-minded. It shows that he actually values these things and that it’s not just a rhetorical device;  he’s not a hypocrite, he failed at what he was genuinely trying to aim for. 

She had Finwe won over the moment she mentioned that she likes children. To Feanor’s chagrin, she proclaimed that his then-tiny half-siblings were the cutest thing ever but since he was trying to impress Nerdanel, he actually kept his composure there. 

She was totally buds with Earwen and Anaire. 

I really like those fics where she played some part in the reconstruction efforts. She’s already renowned for her wisdom and has some familiarity with the court, so why wouldn’t Finarfin make her an advisor? 

Miriel

She was described as having “silver” hair like what the teleri sometimes have, but that was for lack of a better world. It’s actually pretty close to pure white. It was an unprecedented anomaly. Celegorm got it. Though overall Maglor might be the one who most looks like her. Or maybe Caranthir. 

Well, her tendency to refuse to eat her words no matter what has certainly proven highly heritable

Canonically one of those ppl who talks very fast 

Feanor doesn’t look very much like her at all, but he talks like her and is similar in his body language etc. The shape of her hands, however, has made it all the way to Celebrimbor in an unbroken line. Maglor’s got em too. 

She was the only one of her family to make the great journey. That’s why “the names of her kin are not recorded”. You see, they tried to convince her not to go, and that only made her more determined. 

Miriel and Indis used to have this thing where Miriel would sing while Indis plays the instrument. First time Indis caught Maedhros and Fingon doing something similar she got very emotional about it. She told them how she and Miriel also used to have a sort of odd friendship despite their opposite looks and personalities. Maedhros had at this point never even heard that they used to be friends. She proceeded to tell him some fun stories from Miriel’s youth and encouraged the two to spend time together. 

We’re told that Miriel and Finwe only got together in Valinor; Since Indis had a thing for him since before the Vanyar moved out of Tirion it’s fully possible that Indis actually liked him first. Maybe she actually introduced them to each other, like she wasn't confident enough to ask him on a date so she brought her friend, only for the two to be immediately smitten with each other. Poor Indis decided that she had no chance and moved out of town when Ingwe did. 

Miriel definitely expresses her love/admiration in the way of “You! You’re perf! I must make art of you!”

Since his arrival in the halls of Mandos, Feanor has made several of Vaire’s Maiar cry with his critique of their tapestries, but he holds that his mom’s are best. 

Feanor himself

In general, I hold that while he said many things that were not right, there’s a lot of what he prophecied that was not quite wrong and does come true in a kind of way, even if not necessarily for himself and his family. They sort of pave the way as Promethean figures. The second mouse gets the cheese (it’s usually some Nolofinwean)

Though he’s also the ultimate example of “you are not immune to propaganda”. Literally the smartest man in the world; Still touchy enough to be an easy mark for emotional manipulation. 

I think a lot of ff undersells what a polymath he must’ve been and that part where he worked on many different topics and was “the most learned”. 

You know the type of author who has a bazillion unfinished wips going and jumps wildly from topic to topic? Feanor’s research notes are exactly like that, especially the tendency to disintegrate into cryptic jottings and notes right before the most interesting part.  Just like the unfinished texts from HoMe Just like Gauss or Euler, having invented everything a hundred years ahead and 40% more discoveries buried that he never felt ready to publish. (I can also definitely see the sons – especially Maedhros and Curufin – spending the better part of the siege of Angband compiling some of it into a presentable format. Celebrimbor would then be the one to stumble upon implications /corollaries that had somehow been missed for thousands of years. 

For all that I enjoy fics where they’re all smoll and adorable as much as the next person, canonically we’re given every indication that he was an adolescent or young adult by the time the remarriage occurred. The published silm has him “well-nigh full-grown” by the time Indis started having kids; In the HoME passage detailing the romantic meeting on the mountain it’s said that he was “wandering in the mountains” (ie, old enough to do so on his own) at the time. He moved out as soon as he could, so he and his half-siblings never actually spent any significant time in the same household

I mean, he reacted like a teenager would, and IMHO neither his character nor Finwe’s make any sense if this wasn’t a single parent situation early on. 

Personally, I really don’t like that headcanon that he was nicer to the sisters for no reason. I don’t think his relationship with Fingolfin was ever much better than the sort of “awkwardly tolerating” we saw at the reconciliation scene; At the same time, I don’t think things would ever have escalated to that degree if Melkor hadn’t gone mucking things up. 

In the same vein, I don’t think he always had beef with the Valar. He used to hang out in Aule’s halls and let Celegorm study with Orome after all and studied their language. - he certainly seems to have had some romanticism for the Hither Lands evident in his speeches, he traveled far past the well-lit areas, made crystals that shine in starlight etc. so he was probably always somewhat independent-minded and he certainly knew, better than anyone, that the Valar are imperfect and can’t fix everything (they couldn’t heal Miriel after all) - but it’s a long way from healthy skepticism and understandable disappointment to asserting bad intentions where there are none. 

There’s a long way between not wanting a relationship with someone, and pointing stabby objects at them. Feanor was always difficult and never the type of person to be easily satisfied but at the same time, he clearly had his “delight” in his work and life as it was pre-Melkor. He could’ve gone on as an inventor and author of strongly worded opinion pieces; perhaps the elves were even “meant” to go back & come into contact with the Edain for a brief while, just without all the murder. 

The thing about Melkor’s lies is that they made a complicated situation conveniently easy in a way that he (and Fingolfin!) would want to believe. It’s not really either of their fault that they both exist, but if your rival is actually out to get you then suddenly all your negative feelings are justified 

Personally, I don’t think it the remarriage made that much of a difference - Miriel would still be dead. What Feanor’s really mad at is the inherent unfairness of the world. But he can’t fix or fight that, so in a misfire of his engineer’s mindset that thinks in terms of simple cause and effect and wants the world to be logical and controllable, he blamed something tangible (Indis.)

I think Melkor hates him so much because he’s kinda what Melkor wishes he was or likes to think he is. They’re both the mightiest of their respective kinds and don’t really fit in, but Feanor’s actually extremely creative. He goes and does his own thing, and maybe errs in overlooking that no man is an island and that all works are built on those of others, but, look at Melkor who wants all the scale of a group project but none of the “cooperation” part and basically can’t make anything of his own. “You’re like me, yet you’re successful? I cannot allow it!” 

In a sense you have classic Satan and Miltonian satan in the same setting, and they can’t stand each other

[kerikaaria]

If I Never Met You: Chapter 9

(??? X Reader) Idol!AU, Manager!Reader

Genre: (PG13) Slight fluff

WC: 2.8k

Warnings: Someone’s a bit rude, but it’s not bad

Series Masterlist

Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 

Sejin oppa and I walked into the meeting room where we were meeting the team helping with pre-debut promotion ideas. Sejin gestured for me to introduce myself.

“Hello,” I greeted, bowing. “I’m (L/n) (Y/n), a manager-in-training. Nice to meet you.”

A few people greeted back with hellos, but I am pretty sure I heard someone whisper, “Yeah, we know who you are,” under their breath.

Sejin oppa placed a hand on my back, seeming to notice me tense up and we sat down while the meeting started. The team started discussing some ideas they had thought of, but none seemed to sound like they’d work, either to Sejin oppa or to the woman who seemed to be the head of their team, who I heard being called Ms. Lee.

I wanted to wait until everyone had said their piece, not wanting to just offer something they already came up with. But also because I was still feeling really nervous. When it seemed like there were no more ideas coming from others, Sejin oppa gently nudged me with his elbow.

I gathered all my courage before saying, “If I may, I have an idea.”

All their eyes focused on me, which definitely did not help my case of nerves. “Of course, go ahead,” Ms. Lee said with a smile.

“Well,” I started. “I feel like social media is really crucial. A large amount of people use it, especially teenagers and young adults. Primarily Twitter and YouTube seem to be very useful platforms that could potentially help.”

As I paused to take in a steadying breath, I heard one of the staff mutter, “Of course the college student would think of social media first.”

I watched Ms. Lee give a warning look to the staff, who wasn’t even looking at me. I was definitely shaken up by the comment. I didn’t know how many of these people thought poorly of me for my lack of experience, so my words may have been falling on deaf ears.

Sejin placed a hand on my shoulder for support while I gathered myself and continued. “So, what if the boys upload personal logs on YouTube, and start a Twitter account for the group so they can start posting things about themselves and interacting? I think fan interaction and personability are things very appealing to people, so if we give them whatever outlets we can to do that early that could help build a good base. Not just for early promotions to try to get their names out there, but also for starting a positive image and solid, supportive fanbase.”

As I finished my explanation, I looked over to Sejin oppa who gave me a smile. I glanced around the table, where most eyes were still on me.

Ms. Lee seemed to be contemplating my suggestion. “We’d have to work out the details to do that, but to be honest that’s the best idea I’ve heard today. Thank you for offering your suggestion, (Y/n)-shi.”

I bowed my head and thanked her for the compliment, not ignorant of the quiet scoff coming from, presumably, the staff who had the comment earlier.

“I’m not guaranteeing that it will pass,” she continued, “but we will try to work out the details on it and if we can work out a good plan, I’ll present it to the president. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to tell him whose idea it was.”

“Sounds good, Ms. Lee,” Sejin said. “Is there anything else we need to discuss?”

“Unless someone has any other ideas, I think we’re done here,” she responded. She waited to see if anyone spoke up but when there were no responses, she dismissed everyone.

I walked with Sejin back to his office, and he closed the door behind us. He immediately turned to me and smiled brightly. “(Y/n), you did great. It is kind of surprising none of them thought of using social media for promotion. They probably were thinking it wasn’t good enough compared to other outlets. But with limited money and resources, it’s probably one of the best things we have to work with. And you’re right, being relatable and interacting with fans are really crucial to creating a solid fanbase.”

I smiled shyly. “Thank you, oppa.”

“But not just that,” he continued. “Your idea aside, you did really well. Even though that one woman was being rude, you didn’t let it stop you and you kept going. That’s important, especially for you.” He walked over to his desk. “You’ve probably already learned that a lot of people judge based on appearance and qualifications you can put on a piece of paper.”

Yeah, I definitely have. Not just from hearing whispers around the company and that staff from the meeting today. But even at school, no one wanted to even attempt to approach me, scared that I couldn’t communicate well with them because I’m obviously different. And that would probably be the first thing people judged me on in general.

“I have no doubt in your abilities and know you can do well,” he continued. “But if you want to keep this job right now, you’re going to have to prove yourself to others as well. So ignore what others like that woman say. You just need to have confidence in yourself and push past them. Got it?”

I was taken aback by the sudden speech from him, but really touched that he cared that much. I nodded, letting him know I understood.

“Good.”

Two days later, Seokjin walked into the dance studio when he arrived at the company, where their group dance lesson was due to start in about 15 minutes. On Wednesdays, Jin and (Y/n) always came to the company together so when he walked into the room alone the rest of the group gave him curious looks.

“Hyung, where’s noona?” Namjoon asked. “She always comes in with you.”

“As soon as she got here, Sejin hyung told her to follow him to Bang PD-nim’s office,” Seokjin replied.

“Oh my god,” Hoseok gasped.

“Is it today?” Yoongi asked, his eyes wide.

“I don’t know, but maybe,” Jin replied.

They all shared looks among themselves, silently agreeing on something they needn’t say out loud before rushing out of the room together.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. This is probably it. The fateful day where I find out if I’m staying or not. Holy crap, I’m not ready for this. Not that I ever would be, but still. There’s no way the butterflies in my stomach are going to stop dancing.

Bang PD-nim’s secretary told us we were allowed to enter his office, holding the door open for us. I walked in, even more nervous than the first time I walked in here for my first interview. “Hello, Bang PD-nim,” I said, dipping into a deep bow and trying to conjure up a smile.

He smiled back at me. “Hello (Y/n). Always a pleasure to see you.”

“Likewise,” I responded nervously as I sat down. I was very thankful Sejin oppa was in the room with us.

“As we established when I hired you, we’d be meeting this month to discuss if we’ll continue your employment or not,” Bang PD-nim said.

Oh my gosh, it is. This is it. Okay, calm down (Y/n). It’s alright, we can do this. I nodded.

“Tell me your thoughts on the job. How are you liking it?” He paused for a second. “And I don’t mean, ‘how are you liking BTS.’ I’m talking about the job itself.”

I took in a deep breath. “I have been enjoying it so far. Of course, I haven’t been able to get much field work done yet, but Sejin oppa has taught me a lot and it’s definitely something I’m interested in continuing.”

“So, you’re saying you would like to continue your employment with us?”

“Yes, sir. If you would permit me to, of course.”

“Well, you are right that you haven’t gotten to really do work outside of company affairs. And while I was hoping you’d be able to get some field work under your belt while you were here, I can’t really fault you for that.” He paused, looking over a paper that sat on his desk. “One thing really caught my eye, though. Earlier today, I spoke with Ms. Lee who told me you were the only one to have a good idea during the meeting on Monday regarding pre-debut promotional activities.”

I nodded in acknowledgement.

“I have to admit, that is a very smart idea and I will be wanting to put this into action. I was already planning on having them use a website called SoundCloud to upload their own personal music, but utilizing Twitter and YouTube early as well will really add to the potential of exposure and add a personal touch into being able to interact with fans and show their personalities. So great job on that suggestion.”

“Thank you very much, sir.” I bowed my head.

“Granted, that’s not necessarily a part of your official job as a manager. But it does show that you put thought and effort into helping BTS. And Sejin has told me how hard you’ve been working with him and how promising he believes you to be. To be honest, I don’t see anything that would lead me to believe official employment isn’t an option for you.”

I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. Gosh, I wished these butterflies would really settle down already.

“Also, I’ve been watching you myself.”

My eyes widened at the statement. I legitimately had no idea that he personally kept tabs on me.

“I’ve watched how you manage the boys, and it seems that what I hoped from you has indeed happened.”

I blinked. “May I ask what that is?”

“That you can be both a responsible manager who is respected and listened to, but also a reliable friend and confidant to the boys.” He turned his attention to Sejin oppa. “Not that it’s not a similar case with Sejin for them, because it is. But I knew they needed another manager to always be with them, and I hoped I could find another person who would fit both of those roles.” His gaze turned back to me. “Which is why you were so appealing to me from your application and interview.

“You’re in their age group so I figured getting along wouldn’t be a difficult task. But also, the fact that you were able to learn Korean so fluently within just 3 years of independent study and not even an official class, on top of the grades you maintained while doing that showed hard work and dedication. Your leap to come to South Korea on your own at such a young age showed independence and a need for discovery. You seemed hungry for experience and knowledge. You also appeared to be a very open-minded girl who would be able to uphold the ideas and ways of thinking that, interestingly enough, are similar to BTS’ image and that I very much agree with. That’s what made you so interesting to me. And I’d be lying if I said you didn’t hold up to my expectations these last few months.”

I literally didn’t have words. I think the butterflies made their way to my throat.

“So long story short, if you want to continue this journey with us, I’d be delighted to hire you. Full time and not on a temporary contract.”

I couldn’t stop my lips parting in shock, and I thought I heard muffled voices coming from somewhere nearby, but I couldn’t focus on anything at that moment. My mind went black for a few seconds, until Sejin oppa lightly nudged my arm. “That’d be amazing! Thank you so much!” I bowed my head again. Then I realized something. “Although, one thing I do need to mention is that I think I may have to remain part time at school for the next semester. I haven’t signed up for my classes yet, but I’ll be honest, I don’t think there’s a way I can afford my own apartment yet. I’ve looked into it, but it’s just not possible for me right now. I was thinking I’d have to stay part time at school so I can still live at the dorm there until I accumulated enough to find a place to stay.”

“You know, I’ve actually thought about that,” Bang PD-nim said. “And if you’re to be a manager, we need you to be able to be close to the group anyway. That way if we need you, or the boys do, for any reason you’ll be right there. While it is true that sometimes managers will live with the group they manage, I can’t quite do that. Not only is there barely enough room for the seven of them in the dorm, but you’re also a girl and they’re a bunch of boys so that wouldn’t’ be appropriate either. But, there is another room right next door that you could move into.”

“That’d be wonderful. But I’m still not sure I could afford it.”

He shook his head. “It’s paid for by the company.”

My eyes widened in shock. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Consider it my investment into your employment,” he said. “A way for me to say that I expect a lot from you, and this is my way of helping that happen.”

I couldn’t help but feel like the gesture was a double-edged sword. That it actually meant, ‘I expect you to do well, so don’t mess it up.’ But nonetheless, it was a gesture I was extremely thankful for.

“That being said, I’m not saying you need to quit school. You can stay part-time if you want and we’ll continue to work around your schedule. Although it would be tricky for you since BTS is getting rather close to their debut.”

“Oh, I was only planning on staying so I’d have a place to stay,” I confirmed. “If I can continue to work, and have a place to stay as well then I have no desire to continue going to school.”

“Alright then,” Bang PD-nim smiled. “Here’s the contract. Feel free to read through it before signing.”

I didn’t take too long to skim it before signing a contract for the second time, this time as a real, full-time employee.

Bang PD-nim held his hand out for me to shake just like the first time. I took his hand, smiling at him.

“We’re delighted to have you stay.”

“Oh, but I do have a question,” I said. “Am I still going to have to take acting and singing lessons?”

Bang PD-nim chuckled. “That was a backup. If you had any interest and were any good, I was considering signing you on as a trainee if it didn’t work out with you being a manager. So you only need to continue them if you want.”

Oh, so that’s what that was about. I laughed a bit. “Well, I think I’ll just focus on doing the best I can for BTS for now,” I responded.

“I like that answer,” Bang PD-nim smiled.

Sejin and I made our way back to the dance studio where I knew the boys were currently practicing. I slowly opened the door as to not disturb the routine they were doing.

But my efforts were futile because as soon as he saw me, one excited Kim Taehyung yelled “NOONA!” and ran towards me at full force, almost knocking me to the ground when he wrapped his arms around me.

“Oh my… What the heck is that for, Tae?” was the only thing I could manage to say from the shock of the action.

“We’re just so happy!” he exclaimed, a little too close to my ear. “We’re so happy you’re going to be staying with us!”

I gently loosened his grip on me, surprised at his words. “Wait, how do you know?”

“We may have been listening at the door,” Namjoon said, rubbing his hand on the back of his head.

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop,” I said, jokingly serious.

“We just couldn’t wait to know, noona,” Jungkook added.

“Well, as much as I would have liked to tell you the news myself, I guess it’s all the same,” I smiled. “But you really shouldn’t be wasting your teacher’s time by stopping mid-routine. Get back to practice.”

Taehyung frowned at me. “Okay, noona.” He walked back to the rest of the group.

The teacher continued their practice, while I sat on the floor watching the seven members of who would (hopefully) soon be known as BTS work hard. I found myself smiling, happy that I was going to be staying by their side for a long time.

Series Masterlist

Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10

Tags: @calling-dips-on-j-hope

Send me a message or ask if you want tagged!

[adrian-victor]

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Property owner computer software plan for pro control corporations 1. AppFolioAppFolio is mostly a highly effective application technique for Specialist dwelling administrators, giving several forms of abilities and the aptitude to handle varied Resource sorts which includes solitary-residence and multifamily characteristics, condo Houses and pupil housings, house proprietor businesses (HOA), and also put together-use and commercial attributes.

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two. BuildiumBuildium offers Similarly residence property administration Laptop or computer application and homeowner relationship Handle software program and is most effective for landlords or executives with 50 or maybe more units. The business enterprise is an authority in a number of asset types which include household property, pupil property, and cheap assets household places.

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Yardi Breeze home owner software is made of alternatives for promoting and advertising and leasing, lease assortment, program routine maintenance calls for, residence management, bookkeeping, and profiles payable.

Wrapping UpRental house making an investment might be energetic, passive, or occasionally many different both. Lively real estate property buyers who can have sufficient time and thorough being familiar with needed to tackle each day specifics of every residence may well choose landlord program intended for skilled house supervisors.

Conversely, unaggressive traders may perhaps opt for a far more reasonably priced landlord computer software plan, even although they utilize the regional property supervisor to deal with the leasing house in Just about every current market spot they're buying.

Utilizing Laptop software package aids the smaller sized, unaggressive residence entrepreneur Merge info for every single household and path the performance of the complete hire home profile.

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, August 19, 2020

Welcome to my latest summary of recent ecommerce news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & Etsy! This covers articles, podcasts, videos and infographics I came across since the late July report, although some may be older than that.

Please note I am taking the next week off, starting tomorrow (Aug. 19), so I might be a little slow in replying to any comments. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

USPS has become the focus of investigations due to reported mail slowdowns. Some small businesses who rely on USPS to deliver are suffering. “The longer the policy has been in effect, the worse the backlog gets.” As of today (August 18), the postmaster says they will rollback the changes until after the election in November. This is a rapidly-moving story in part due to the push for voting by mail, and should concern anyone who ships to US customers using regular mail (as opposed to couriers). Meanwhile, they plan to temporarily raise commercial rates during the holiday shopping season, but retail rates will not change. 

Ecommerce sales are still up year over year. "Before Covid-19 hit the US in March, e-commerce made up roughly 12% of retail sales in the country. That figure grew as states issued shelter-in-place orders that shut stores and kept shoppers at home, creating tailwinds for a company like Amazon. But even as states have begun to reopen, e-commerce has remained elevated, according to Bank of America data."..."The Economist used Google search traffic for hints of how lifestyles are changing and found users are still searching terms related to cooking, crafts, and exercise above pre-pandemic rates. There has been a noticeable spike in interest around such products as gardening supplies, baking flour, and Crocs." The UK is still seeing a good increase despite the ease in reduction in lockdown restrictions. The growth is slowing a bit in the US, though. 

Half of US small businesses fail in the first year (and other stats on small business). 

It’s been second quarter report season, covering company performance from April to June 2020.  Here are results for major companies involved in ecommerce in some way (comparisons are year-over-year):

Amazon US: sales up 40%

eBay: sales up 26%

Etsy: sales up $146% [click the link to read my summary]

Facebook: revenue up 11%

Google: revenue down 2%

PayPal: revenue up 22%

Pinterest: revenue up 4%; active users up 39%

Shopify: revenue up 97%

Walmart [2nd quarter ran May to July]: ecommerce sales up 97%, same-store sales up 9.3%

ETSY NEWS 

Admin are now posting a monthly update thread, in case you fear you have missed anything. This is how they chose to announce that non-seller accounts can no longer post in the forum. Since those account owners can still read the forum, that doesn’t mean you can call out your customers now. 

Sadly, there wasn’t much media coverage of Etsy’s nearly-annual billing screw up, but this one did get some attention. 

Etsy continues to get good media coverage for masks, including masks for your dolls. They also apparently got a decent slice of Google ranking for various pandemic-related searches in May [scroll down to the “Protection and Prevention” section]. 

However, Etsy is getting some bad press (along with Amazon), for allowing QAnon merchandise, because “the FBI has warned of the movement's potential to incite domestic terrorism.” Etsy replied to a request for comment saying that “that product listings associated with certain movements are allowed as long as they don't violate the company's seller or prohibited items policies, which ban items that promote hate or that could incite violence. The company said it is continually reviewing items on the site and could remove items in the future if they're found to violate Etsy's policies.”

More search trends on Etsy, this time kids’ items. I love how they think tie-dye was a ‘90s thing and not a ‘60-70s thing LOL. “a 318% increase in searches for kids tie-dye items...71% increase in searches for dinosaur wall art or decor*, and a 37% increase in searches for school of fish items….we’ve seen kid-friendly crafts spike in popularity, with searches for DIY kits for kids up 336%.”

Also, the holiday trends guide is out. “With the holidays approaching, and most shopping happening online, more shoppers will be looking for your help to make the season feel special.” The report is lengthy, covering Halloween to New Year’s, and most listing categories, while pointing out the possible pandemic changes to the usual trends. There is also an accompanying podcast with transcript. 

Speaking of the holiday season, here are Etsy’s tips for shops. Note that it is a bit late, as businesses need to have their holiday items posted no later than July if they want to be eligible for most fall media coverage. Almost every point refers to an Etsy tool or feature, some of them costing you money, so use this as a very broad guideline & be careful to read between the lines. 

They are still rolling out Etsy Payments to more countries: Morocco & Israel are the most recent. Note that Etsy Payments is not yet compulsory in these new countries. 

Etsy Ads once again has graphs. Do you find them useful? (I haven’t run ads at all this year, so I can’t check.)

Sendle is the latest shipping company to have a label integration with Etsy shops. 

Etsy asked US sellers to lobby their reps for more support for small business and other initiatives in the pandemic aid package.

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES 

Google has stated that content on tabs is indexed and contributes to ranking as if it were on the page instead, but yet another test demonstrates that tabs may limit you. 

Due to the pandemic, Google has delayed finalizing mobile-first indexing until March 2021. (They originally announced it would be finished this September.) That means you have more time to update your website’s mobile version, ideally with responsive design. 

Site speed does matter to SEO, and Google is now asking some searchers how fast certain sites loaded for them. 

User comments on your products, blog posts and website can help you improve your SEO. The article suggests ways of getting that feedback, and ways to use it. [I’ve even had buyers give me new keywords to describe my items, in their messages and reviews.]

Getting links back to your site is important to SEO, but don’t annoy people while doing it. [sort of humour & sort of a rant, but does give some useful background on why backlinks matter.] Internal links also matter. 

There are some special tricks for food/recipe SEO, including structured data and even a WordPress plugin. 

Another WordPress plugin: submit any new or updated pages to Bing to be automatically re/indexed.

Do your keyword research before setting up your website’s sections and sub-sections, as they should serve the buyer experience, not your perception of it. Same with choosing which pages link to each other. 

SEOs are still trying to work out what happened with recent Google algorithm changes. Search Engine Journal claims that the May update was at least in part about demoting sites that had out-of-date or inaccurate information, so they suggest getting rid of the bad content on your site, or at least updating it. “Content pruning” has some advocates, but I wouldn’t worry about investing tons of time in this unless you have tons of time to spend. Just get rid of the blog posts that were wildly wrong, and the out-of-date filler. If you have a lot of sold out products, redirect those to relevant active pages. 

Meanwhile, a “glitch” on August 10 led people to think there was a massive Google algorithm update happening, but it all got fixed in less than a day. 

If you are behind on Google search news, here is a 7 minute video [with time stamped subtopics & resources links listed below], direct from Google. 

(CONTENT) MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails) 

It’s tough to get started in social media if you don’t know the terminology, so here’s a list of the basic definitions you can consult if you get lost when reading.  

Don’t know how to blog? There are formulas you can use; here are eight options, nicely laid out, with downloadable templates. Don’t forget to figure out what your audience wants to read. And make sure you avoid these common blogging mistakes. 

If you have an email list but do not know how to take advantage of all the bells & whistles the companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact etc.) offer you, here are 4 ways to segment your lists. You can then send different offers or newsletters to different segments. 

You can optimize your social posts for people with visual impairments; excellent tips here. 

By the time you read this, the TikTok mess will likely have changed again, but here is an article on Trump’s order to prohibit US companies from doing business with TikTok owner ByteDance if the platform is not sold by September 15. 

Instagram has released its TikTok challenger, Reels, in more countries. 

Instagram is now offering a fundraising option, although it is a slow launch with some beta testing in the US, UK & Ireland to start. 

Here are step-by-step instructions on setting up your “Shop on Instagram.”

Pinterest says that searches around self-care & wellness have spiked during the pandemic lockdowns. “Pinterest has recently seen the highest searches ever around mental wellness ideas including meditation (+44%), gratitude (+60%) and positivity (+42%) that jumped from February to May….Pinterest says that searches for ‘starting a new business’ are up 35% on average, as are searches for ‘future life goals’ (2x), ‘life bucket list’ (+65%), ‘family goals future’ (+30%) and ‘future house goals’ (+78%).” There were also some searches clearly about spending more time at home: “Productive morning routine (up 6x), Exercise routine at home (up 12x), Self care night routine (up 7x)”

LinkedIn has a new algorithm; here’s how to make it work for you. [Many of these tips also apply to social media in general.]

Spotify is now doing “video podcasts”. Apparently a lot of their podcasters already did a video version of the Spotify podcasts, but had to publish it elsewhere up until now. 

Twitter now admits it is considering offering subscriptions to shore up its revenue numbers. “Shares of Twitter rose 4% in early trading Thursday following the earnings results....Twitter's growth plans are under close scrutiny as many advertisers pull back due to the pandemic. On Thursday, Twitter reported second-quarter ad revenues of $562 million, a 23% decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has also been hit by advertisers participating in an ad boycott of social media, linked to the nationwide racial justice protests.” Also, the recent hack is not helping them. 

That said, it is still possible to market using Twitter, and here are some of the basics. 

YouTube is no longer sending email updates when a channel you follow posts new content. 

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS) 

Ad spend has increased again as lockdowns end, in some cases beating last year by a decent margin. 

The Buy on Google program is ending its commission fees. Participants will also be able to integrate their PayPal and/or Shopify payment options. As often is the case, they are starting with the US first, but plan on rolling it out to more countries in the future. There are more details here, and a review here (with some of the drawbacks). 

Google Product Ads are now showing the item’s “material” on the listing card (before you click). If you are doing your own feed for your website, you may have the ability to add the attributes needed for the details to show up.  

If you find Google Ads too expensive, consider buying search ads on Bing. 

eBay is experimenting with showing ads mixed in with unpaid listings; placement would depend on the same algorithm. 

Here’s a new guide to Facebook Ads [videos & text]

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING 

Bing has launched a new version of Webmaster Tools. 

There are ways to reduce the amount of traffic that Google Analytics designates as “direct traffic”; here are 15 of them. 

Currently in closed beta testing, the Google Search Console now has an “Insights” function, just like Google Analytics. I’ve found the GA one useful for telling me things I don’t always look at, so crossing my fingers that they release this to everyone soon. 

 ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS 

Shopify helped many businesses stay open during pandemic lockdowns, giving it the boost to start competing with the likes of Amazon in ecommerce. “Shopify merchants that had previously or entirely relied on brick-and-mortar sales would later report they were able revive nearly 95% of that revenue online.”

eBay started rolling out its Managed Payments system to more sellers worldwide on July 20th. Things seem to be going slowly, with some confusion. 

But eBay is also having a 25th anniversary party for sellers on September 25th; don’t forget to register. 

Walmart is still delaying its new subscription model to challenge Amazon Prime, Walmart+. 

Amazon in the UK has launched a “Face mask store” part of the website. I haven’t seen this on other versions of Amazon. They’ve also increased some fees for some UK sellers, based on the new UK digital tax. And they are launching a site & presence in Sweden. 

The Competition Bureau of Canada has launched an investigation of Amazon’s treatment of third-party sellers. “The bureau is asking any person or business that has conducted sales via Amazon.ca to contact them if they have any insights into the issues it is investigating.“

Amazon Prime Day has been postponed to later dates this year, starting with India on August 6-7. The remaining countries will apparently be announced soon. 

If you use WooCommerce, here are a bunch of free plugins, with brief descriptions. 

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Buyers do not all make purchase decisions the same way; Google uses its massive collection of data and some new studies to provide some examples. “Worldwide, search interest for “best” has far outpaced search interest for “cheap.”

It’s cheaper to keep repeat buyers than it is to find new ones; here are 16 ways to do that. One of my favourites is ““proactively providing information on how to avoid problems or get more out of your product” creates a 32% average lift to repurchase or recommend.”

It seems that researchers can never produce enough marketing guides on Gen Z and millennials. 

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour) 

I see a lot of new sellers, and some older sellers, confused about the idea of a business plan. HubSpot not only explains them, but also provides a downloadable template. 

If you are thinking of changing careers, or just want to add skills to better run your current business, Google has many different courses, some of which they offer for free. 

There are ways you can increase your productivity without (usually) working more hours. “A study published by John Pencavel of Standford University found that how much employees get done takes a sharp drop after 50 hours of work in a week, and even more drastically after 55 hours. The study found that employees working 70 hours per week actually produce nothing more in those extra 15 hours...taking a power nap in the middle of the day can help you process new information and even learn new skills.”

[respect-tony-stark]

 tl;dr I Made A Bad Decision At 2am And Read A Post About How Tony’s Relationship With Peter Is Creepy And Have Been Pissed Off At The Inaccuracy Ever Since

According to op, Tony stans have a problem with long posts, and while this post proves them wrong I’m not 100% sure they didn’t get it backwards so Tony antis, this may be too long for you. I’m not responding to their post directly because it was made last year and while I’m up for a good argument I honestly don’t think they’re capable of it based on my limited interaction with their feed.

It starts off like a bad wedding speech with the (incorrect) legal definition of kidnapping. According to their post, “the legal definition of kidnapping is taking a minor somewhere without their parent or guardian’s consent.” A five second google search shows that the actual legal definition of kidnapping is unlawful restraint of a person’s liberty by force or show of force where the victim is taken to another location or concealed. Tony did not bodily carry Peter from his home and onto a plane. He did not threaten to shoot him to get him on the plane. He even told Peter to tell his aunt that he would be with Tony so he got semi-informed consent from Peter’s legal guardian.

After their cliche “the dictionary definition of x” intro, they start talking about Peter’s lack of passport and how there’s no way that Peter could’ve left the country legally because he doesn’t have a passport so they would have to lie to May about the location of said field trip and give a few options, one of which being one of Tony’s weapons facilities. They of course are ignoring the fact that Tony shut down his weapon manufacturing years before the start of ca:cw and therefore could not be bringing Peter to one of them, but I digress. Therefore, according to them, Tony is breaking the law by either taking Peter to another country without a passport or with a falsified passport. Except, again after a single google search, there is a company (actually many companies) that will expedite the process of getting a passport to as little as 24 hours. I am certain that Tony, with his wealth of resources and connections, was able to procure a passport for Peter legally and speedily. They just wouldn’t put that in the movie for the same reason you never sit through a whole class in a movie about high school/college kids: you trust the audience to fill in the gaps and assume that it got done.

Next, we have the accusation that Tony is breaking the accords. Keep in mind, it’s been several paragraphs at this point and op hasn’t actually mentioned Peter and Tony’s relationship in favor of trying to bury Tony under allegations of illegal activity, which is ironic because their post is supposed to be about why half of the fandom finds Tony’s relationship with Peter to be creepy. Their first point is that Tony brought an unregistered enhanced individual into a combat situation, which completely ignores the fact that Steve was the one who made it a combat situation and it was the people on Steve’s side that escalated it to a combat situation where serious harm could be done. Tony was simply going to apprehend Steve, who Tony was still mostly on good terms with at good point and who Tony assumed would rather talk to the government than run from and and therefore would not escalate their interaction from talking to fighting, especially when Tony explains they either need to turn themselves in or open themselves up to lethal force by the UN. So that leaves their second point, that Tony took an unregistered, enhanced individual over country borders without prior UN approval. Fortunately, enhanced individuals are not barred from crossing country borders full stop according to the information we have, so Tony still has not run afoul of the Accords.

Op finally moves on from criminalizing Tony to talk about his relationship with Peter, opening this facet of the conversation by claiming that Tony stalked Peter. It’s important to note that in this section, they misconstrue Peter’s age as 14 instead of the cannon 15 for the second time. They claim that Tony has been stalking and tracking him down, which is the only way he could have ever possibly found Peter, unless he has, I don’t know, a powerful AI who can keep tabs on possible new enhanced individuals? If we’re using legal definition to prove points here, here’s the legal definition of stalking, which Tony’s actions do not fall under. They say Tony could only talk to May casually about Peter and dig the Spider Man suit out of hiding because Tony had been collecting intel on Peter. It’s not like he’s been a public figure since he was born and a genius for the same length of time and knows how to bullshit his way through a conversation and use process of elimination to find his hidden suit. They also point out Tony having video recordings of Spider Man as creepy, ignoring that Tony got the one that he showed Peter from YouTube, which Peter himself confirmed, because of course a person stopping cars in a bright red and blue onesie would be videoed and put online.

Now we get to the list of things Tony used to persuade Peter to join him, namely Peter’s poorness, pathetic gear, want to make a difference, and secret identity. As someone who has watched the clip of their meeting numerous times, I can confirm that Tony does not offer Peter money to get him to do anything, he simply uses a scholarship to give May a good reason for him to be in their home so he can talk to Peter. He offers Peter better gear even before he asks him to come to Germany with him, which shows a desire to make Peter safer doing what he’s doing by not using substandard tech. He asks Peter why he’s doing vigilante work and summarizes Peter’s response back to him, he doesn’t introduce the idea of making a difference in conjunction to helping Tony apprehend Steve. He’s showing interest in Peter as a person, trying to make sure his motives aren’t selfish or negative before recruiting him. He asks Peter if May knows about his secret identity to see how careful he needs to be. When Peter webs Tony’s hand to the door after Tony tells him to tell May he’s taking Peter on a field trip and asks Tony not to tell May, Tony says okay without any hesitation. He’s not there to out Peter, he’s there to get Peter’s help. My favorite part of this section is when they say that Peter idolizes the Avengers, and Tony knows this and uses this information to manipulate Peter into doing what he wants when the Avengers are never mentioned individually or as a group at all in the clip where Tony is trying to recruit Peter. They say Tony is dangling all of the things Peter wants most right in front of his face (insinuating that one of the things Pete wants the most is money, but that’s fine) and saying he can have it all if he only says yes to Tony, ignoring the fact that Tony offers the things he offers before he recruits Peter and also that that’s how negotiations work? Tony not giving Peter anything in return for his help would be like getting a job and not getting paid or getting any benefits for that job, it would be shitty and you would not take that job. He’s not bribing Peter like a Disney villain offering his heart’s desire, he’s giving Peter incentive to accept his proposal.

Op then goes through all of the times Peter tries to turn Tony down and Tony blocks his attempts. The first one being that Peter doesn’t have a passport, or even a driver’s license. Without context, which Peter doesn’t have at that point, it could sound like Tony is just asking a question, and Peter’s reply isn’t defensive, it’s casual. When Peter says he can’t go to Germany, that’s a more explicit turning down of Tony’s offer. Tony asks why, trying to determine if Peter has an actual reason for why he can’t go to Germany outside of what could’ve been just Peter trying to get a better deal out of Tony by pretending to be resistant to Tony’s plan. Peter’s homework response is halted, and the poster compares this excuse to a woman saying no to sex because she has a headache. The introduction of sex in any form to their argument is a bastardized version of the logical fallacy reductio ad Hitlerum, where instead of invoking Hitler to make their opponent go on the offensive, they compare Tony and Peter’s relationship to a sexual relationship which makes their opponent angry that it’s being insinuated that they are into/condone pedophilia. Instead, Tony is purposefully baiting Peter with his dismissal of his homework excuse and ignoring his comment about not being able to drop out of school because he knows that what he’s doing is what Steve does to get what he wants. He’s trying to test how Peter reacts to being talked over and ignored to see if it’s actually a good idea to take him to Germany.

We move on to op claiming that most people find this scene squicky because Peter is powerless in this situation, which is blatantly untrue. Peter is not a normal teenager with no skills or ways to protect himself. He has enhanced senses, reflexes, and healing, as well as webbing with tensile strength that impressed Tony Stark, if he needed or wanted to get out of that situation he would have. Tony’s age, wealth, and influence have almost nothing to do with this situation because he in no way insinuates that he will use any of it to Peter’s detriment. Tony is not claiming that he knows better than Peter what Peter needs to do in that instance because he’s older and therefore automatically an authority figure. Tony is not trying to bribe him or threatening to buy his apartment complex and kick Pete and May out of their home, so his wealth is not a determining factor here. Tony’s influence is really the only one that applies because as a public figure he’s got some level of star power that could be a latent influence on Peter’s decision. Peter doesn’t appear to be very star-struck at all while they’re talking, so I’m inclined to disregard this as well. They are not locked in Peter’s room, as the poster claims, they are just in his definitely not sound-proof room with the door closed where, if necessary, Peter could call for May’s help and she would come. “Tony reveals he’s been keeping his eye on Peter for months” is supposed to sound stalker-y to tie into their Tony Is A Stalker argument, completely disregarding the fact that Peter has only had his Spider Man powers for six months and of course someone who’s working on a legal document meant to put limitations on enhanced individuals would be keeping tabs on a newly introduced enhanced individual. Op says that Tony is being very physical with Peter because at the very end of their conversation he sits next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. They’re that close four about seventeen seconds, and when Peter starts to rebuff him with “I can’t go to Germany” Tony immediately stands up and gives him space. If he was trying to use his closeness as an intimidation tactic or in a creepy way, he would’ve just moved in closer. 

"Tony locks the two of them in Peter’s room, starts poking around through all of his personal things, spends the whole conversation mocking him and demanding answers - showing Peter he has no power in this situation - and reveals that he knows way more about Peter’s personal life than he should.” When does Tony do any of these things? Peter closes, not locks the door. The only poking Tony does is into the ceiling hatch to find Peter’s suit and to call him out on his lie. The only thing he mocks it Peter’s suit, and it’s only twice and it’s only to get Peter to open up. He demands answers exactly once—when Peter says he can’t go to Germany. At no point does he claim knowledge of any part of Peter’s personal life except for Peter being Spider Man. At this point they’re just repeating themselves by claiming Tony is trying to bribe and blackmail Peter into getting his way, neither of which are true as I explained above.

This next part is exceptionally frustrating, because op claims that “if Peter had been a little girl instead of a little boy, there would be dozens of people screaming about harassment and overstepping boundaries and how “no means no” because this entire scene SCREAMS coercion and grooming” and then puts up a series of gifs following the scene as if Peter had been a girl. This is the second time they’ve introduced pedophilia with their grooming comment to throw opponents on the offensive. While it is true that historically people have been less likely to notice the creepy aspect of an interaction when it’s not between the stereotypical adult male and young girl, this is their second logical fallacy of the evening. Welcome, straw man! They’re claiming that people who don’t agree with them are wrong because they can’t see the creepiness in the encounter because it’s not between an adult male and a young girl therefore their opinions on the scene are invalid. The dozens portion of that comment is also fun because it suggests that only a few dozen people care about sexual harassment in the marvel fandom. They follow this up with, you guessed it, yet another logical fallacy (ad hominem) with the line that makes me the angriest in the whole post: “And I do find myself wondering if the crowd that think this is 100% okay when Tony does it to Peter are of the “men can’t be raped” variety...” Someone not agreeing with your interpretation of a scene doesn’t mean you get to get to make attacks to their character about something that serious.

Their next comment is that Tony encouraging Peter to lie to his friends and family about their relationship being a red flag. If it was a sexual relationship, which op keeps leaning towards in a way that I don’t really want to unpack, that would definitely be a red flag. Because it is a superhero mentor relationship where Peter has a secret identity, it reads like Tony is looking out for Peter’s continued safety. Tony is trying to keep Peter out of the spotlight that comes from being a known associate. Tony is encouraging Peter to keep his superhero identity a secret. Peter is a teenager, and by lying to his friends and family about the superhero part of his life (like he was already doing before Tony showed up and took him to Germany) he’s protecting his personal life and the lives of the people he’s close to.

Op then goes on a whole tangent about how Tony drops Peter as soon as he stops being useful, which is part of the reason why their relationship in Homecoming. This is after they complained about Tony breaking the Accords in Civil War by bringing Peter across country borders. There’s clearly nothing very big going on while Civil War is taking place, nothing that would justify putting a 15 year old kid in danger, so Tony doesn’t call on him. “He even goes so far as to put a third person in between them to take over the “answer dumb phone calls from the kid” roll so he doesn’t have to” except the third person is Happy, a man he trusts to relay the important information to him, and he’s clearly getting the messages Peter has been sending his direction because when he talks to Peter he references the content like the lady buying him a churro, and when Peter tells him something important is going on Tony listens and sends the FBI after the threat assuming Peter trusts him to take care of it. Tony does not drop him cold, he does what so many Cap stans try to accuse him of not doing in the first place: he keeps Peter out of danger to the best of his ability.

[candy-diick]

i wanna hear your age regression hcs for the legends !!

Since apparently some people aren’t chill with this, I’ll drop it under a readmore, and make sure none of the legends names are mentioned fully.

Remember, this is my blog and I’m allowed to post what I want.

🅱angalxre

She’s not really sure what the whole thing is, but when you explain how de-stressing it is, how it helps you cope, and give her the resources, she’s down to help. Not super parental, more of a big sister as she gets you whatever you need, and makes sure you aren’t getting into too much trouble.

🅱lxxdhxund

They understand well. There are similar people in their community, and the community bands together to care for them as needed. They’re very parental, making sure you eat healthy, have all the comforts you need, and treat you well. However, they aren’t lenient on a misbehaving little, and make sure a time-out is used well.

🇨aust!c

He knows everything and more. It was always something he was interested in, to care for someone and make sure they’re happy and free of any stress. He’s never gotten the chance to have a little until you. And he takes the title of Dad with pride. He gives you the world and more, spending countless amounts of money on plushies and anything else you want. You get away with anything; he’s too soft on you, really, resulting in a spoiled little.

🇬!braltar

He is both a little and a caregiver. As a little, he’s incredibly clingy, wanting all kinds of affection and love. He’s happy if you pay attention to him, even when he’s doing something alone like cuddling or watching TV. Leave the room, and he’s gonna get sad and lonely. As a caregiver, he’s even softer than 🇨aust!c, and you’re gonna get away with waaaaaaaaaaaaay more. He is very active in his caregiver role, always finding activities for you both to enjoy together.

🇱!fel!ne

She’s a caregiver. Mama L!fel!ne is here to be the best caregiver in the world, making sure her baby’s days are filled with fun and education. She is strict with rules, but it’s only for the best; like keeping you out of the rain, or from coloring the walls with sharpies. She’s gonna feed you healthy foods, but make a game out of it. And cuddle you at night to keep the nightmares away. 

Ⓜ!rage

He is definitely a little. He tries his darndest to be some form of caregiver, but really, seeing other littles encourages him to drop. He’s super young as a little, often unable to really play without intense supervision. He gets trouble on accident, from knocking things over to breaking items. He doesn’t really understand when he does something bad, so it’s best to just clean up the mess and keep a good eye on your cuddly baby. He also cries, a lot when he’s little.

🅾ctane

He is a middle. He insists he’s a big kid, loves to do everything by himself. But sometimes, he just needs a bit of extra coddling and love. He gets frustrated easy, throws a lot of tempter tantrums, and hates time outs. It’s best to calm him before he gets worked up, correct him before he does anything too bad.

🅿athf!nder

He is a little, most definitely. Clingy, definitely not at all independent, and follows you around like a lost kitten. Or a cute little. He loves showing you any drawings or colorings he’s made, and you can expect him bring all his toys out for a cuddle pile.

🇼ra!th

She is a little and caregiver. Regressing is the only time she gets the voices to really quiet down, and being little is so soothing and harmless in the privacy of her home. She’s very quiet, mostly colors and naps a lot, watches cartoons. She’s not independent, but not needy. As a caregiver, she’s initially awkward, but gets pretty good at it. Distracting herself with you is the best thing she could ask for, and caring for someone is just so natural.

[temptsfate]

CHRISTOPHER LOMBARDI.

RELATION:    SON OF IKE LOMBARDI / BLOOD FAMILY TO DON LOMBARDI

essentially, this is war, and christopher  wants to become more actively involved.

from a young age, christopher was hand-picked and groomed to assist his father as his right-hand. despite his esteemed position in the ranks as JDM’s eldest son/ his job title has been considerably “unofficial”.  this was mainly due to the early age he began to learn the game. As he continued to age, it was clear that no one showed loyalty to THE KING like Christopher, and his father knew it. In the passing years, it’s without question that his father trusts his son more than anyone else in the organization. He’s known as an exclusive "soldier”, especially because of all the “sensitive” jobs JDM has entrusted to him only. The Father and Son have built a long, established agreement that Christopher would work towards the end goal as JDM’s future successor .

Still in his “glorified soldier” rank, thinks he’s ready to officially move up but there are certain recognitions that he hasn’t been given by his Father yet.

AGE, 28 yrs old

What does this character represent to you, if anything?

COMING OF AGE. - proving himself, taking on the world of business and demonstrating he is ready to move forward to an even bigger playpen despite his father’s hesitation. it’s about proving to not only the parent, but also yourself that you can produce results when jumping into the game.

What goals do you have for this character?: 

Exploring how: Chris handles extra workload beyond the usual ( especially in a high pressure time for his Father, and all his inner circle) , and taking some initiative to go the extra mile in his line of work. the nature of rps/progress of character expansion are about as far as the eye can see for my goals and outcomes of this character. Looking for RP interactions that challenge Christopher with a hands-on taste in high roller’s shoes — and how he handles the new found excitement.

                                       —【   R  O  L  E    】—   

 From a young age, Christopher Lombardi has been hand-picked and groomed by his Father so he could grow into the role as his father’s “right hand” — and one day, the future successor who takes over the Royale Hotel, himself. Christopher is/has been significantly active with the Lombardi-Italians alliance.  Though this is a recognized position within the ranks of Miami Beach’s crime scene, Christopher’s prominence is mainly known within the circle, and by some occasional “wannabe-associates”. Christopher is considered an untouchable because of his well-connected status and reputation for fierce loyalty to the Don and JDM. Christopher is also the youngest soldier, but exclusively handles sensitive assignments that are ONLY entrusted to him. 

Christopher handles the grimier side of Miami Beach nightlife: the guy who pays off the cops, arranges escorts for well-heeled guests, catering to players in the high-stakes cabana poker game. running the hotel’s ground game, and other miscellaneous tasks that require the finesse of doing business, and obtaining information that JDM can rely on staying off the record.

Fulfillment. How well do they serve that role? 

Christopher quickly adapted to this life, and continues to remain levelheaded in this fast-paced atmosphere. He has proved to be easy, and natural in the dark waters of this life. He currently struggles with taking a step back from the much more important situations that require one to strategically thinking ahead with precision. Christopher is slowly learning, and in certain cases, these learning experiences may even come at the price of some mistakes.

Personal quote and(or) motto:  Exceptional performers are masterful opportunists, keenly alert to opportunity Reasons behind this motto/quote:

Sex.. Cisgender Male Ethnicity..  Italian

Occupation: Soldier for the Italian Mob in Miami Beach  / GM at the Royale Hotel Lounge (Offically)

Orientation/Sexual preference: Bisexual

Any history behind their sexual orientation?:  doesn’t openly reveal that he’s bisexual - family does not know, as it’s not something widely accepted amongst the family business or values. he first experienced this in a 3-some between another man and a woman (a couple) - when he was 21. Why this sexual choice?: experimental - christopher is a very sexual being at times, and likes to experiment here and there.  Do they believe it's right?: he doesn’t exactly advertise his open-minded sexuality, but doesn’t believe it’s wrong. christopher just knows how to play the game, and knows what not to advocate behind. it’s risky in his family’s line of business. Are they opposed for their sexual choice?: preference for women, and has a specific type when it comes to men.

                           —【  P E R S O N A L I T Y  】—  

Personality:  dynamic, people-person, influential, smooth-talker, do-er/action taker, resourceful, adaptive, impulsive, easily bored, self-serving, sensual, fun-loving, perceptive, impatient, risk-taker, thick-skinned,sense of humor, great at improvising, bad at long term planning, not good at saving money, loyal, energized by fast results/bored by unforeseen challenges, womanizer, experimental, secretive, flirtatious, well-liked by peers and outsiders, takes criticism well, irresponsible at times, inconsiderate, oblivious to the bigger game of the mob life, hedonistic

Most prominent personality trait: Dynamic Best traits of their personality: Influential, Loyal, resourceful and great at improvising, people-person. Worst traits of their personality: Prone to impulsive behavior, and at times - still too distracted by lofty pursuit to keep a firm grip on his agenda. Jung personality test result:  ESTP

Morals(and what they are): Family loyalty - not above dealing drugs, swindling others out of their money, enforcing repayment even if this means carrying out at the expense of others. The few things that count as ‘out of line’ are: sex trafficking, child labor, physical abuse towards defenseless victims

What defines right and wrong for them?: Business is business - no exceptions. He lacks a sense of morality, but upholds family loyalty as the true defining value/basis of his actions. Christopher is smooth in the dark waters of his family business, and ultimately sees their survival as the prime dictator of what is right and wrong.  Do they hold their definitions of right and wrong above other people’s: Only when it comes to repayment of what is owed to him or his family. Nothing personal.

      ………   MENTAL, SPIRITUAL, EMOTIONAL  ………  

Are they logical thinkers(if they have a mentally crippling disease, this is null)?: definitely acts based on logic, than emotions. he can be a little sloppy at times - especially when it comes to spontaneous whims, but knows when NOT to fuck up.

Right brain/left brained?: Left Brained

Good habits: Always extends great hospitality and manners in business deals, unshakable loyalty, never fucks up with ground games/cards and brings his A game when the time calls for it. Never panics under pressure, nor outlashes in ill-tasting behavior/doesn’t burn bridges

Bad habits: He is notorious for being frequently being late to meetings with his Father/other higher ups, occasionally irresponsible in his business dealings (working on it now that he’s going to be more independent), and generally less "together" in his affairs than the rest of his Father and Uncle’s crew.

Zodiac: Leo Alignment(Good/evil/bystander/etc.): True Neutral

What caused their kind of personality to form?(based upon upbringing/social whatnot): Would you say their personality was influenced by their caretakers/guardians?: Yes, mainly his Father, somewhat his Uncle, and the nature of their family business. Do they like their personality?: He gets results. Christopher has always been well-liked in many aspects with business, customers and pursuits. His flirtatious nature has made it easy in the department of sexual endeavors. His influential abilities of persuasion and gregarious energy has made it easy to establish business deals, and connections. He’s used to getting what he wants if he puts his mind to it, on top of maintaining a certain dominance without having to obtain by force or aggression. Christopher can talk his way out of things, even when he messes up a bit. He’s a smooth operator, and certainly can’t complain. He knows he needs to work on being less careless with his impulses, but for him, it’s nothing he can’t fix. Christopher is an ultimate believer of himself, without the narcissism.