#american heist rp

[findroleplay]

Hey it’s Spencer (he/they, 30, CST) looking for people I forgot in my first post:

Tate Langdon (AHS: Murder House)

Kit Walker (AHS: Asylum)

Michael Langdon (AHS: Apocalypse)

Xavier Plympton (AHS: 1984)

Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Sky (Fate: the Winx Saga)

Montgomery Scott (Star Trek)

Benji Dunn (Mission: Impossible)

Will Beeman (First Kill)

James Kelly (American Heist)

Shoto Todoroki (BNHA)

Dabi Todoroki (BNHA)

Julian Devorak (The Arcana mobile game)

Damien Jones (Lovelink mobile game)

_

[thejameskelly]

what’s your body count james? you strike me as a man whore

that’s not very nice. and why would you like to know? jealous you’re not on that list, doll?

[james-klly]

Oh… hi

Hello.

[firetfly]

˙   ៹    ♡  𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐍 gif pack ,

𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧! 450 gifs ( 268 x 151 ) of hayden christensen in american heist have been delivered for private use. every single one of these gifs was made from scratch by me and for roleplaying purposes. if you’re interested in my work, click on the source link to my commissions information.

important note: please do not use my gifs if you were blocked by me, for sm*t situations, celebrity rp as themselves or ‘t*boo’ rps.

[misscammiedawn]

Hypno Asks Answered 1/5

Hi everyone.

I've been laid up recovering from a dental surgery and decided to type a bunch of words replying to an old Tumblr hypno ask meme which can be found here: https://at.tumblr.com/kallie-den/hypnosis-kink-asks/jzca6c5z6ke7 Post split into 5 for formatting reasons. I encourage asks, anon or otherwise. Feel free to probe if any answers intrigue.

With that said... let's go!

1. How long have you been into hypnosis?

Since I was a teenager at least. I used to fantasize about hypnotherapists taking me deep and asking me the truth to questions which were too emotionally complex for me to untangle myself. I used to stare out of windows and think of pendulums and grandfather clocks. I got into the hypnosis community when I was about 19 via Yahoo Groups and kinda followed the growth and pilgramage from platform to platform.

I guess I did kind of get the therapist honesty thing happen to me one time, but that's another story and you'll have to ask for it specifically.

2. Describe your first experience with hypnosis

I remember when I was young I couldn't really move my computer or stretch audio cables, so I needed to make a little cot for myself in the corner of the room. I was awful in my early days. Just listened to files without care for my safety. I just wanted an escape. I bought 45 minute files. I recall one framed like a bank heist with pink mist seeping into the vault of my brain to change things. Predated Inception, even. I was always scared neighbors would hear so I put the speakers on the ground and pulled headphones in and just slept away. I had tons of rituals in the early days, scented candles, boiling baths, anything to try and make it work better. I was AMAZING at visualizing back in those days. I would just get absorbed in the fantasy.

My first interactive partner was an RP buddy on Yahoo Groups who became my first Master. He kept me for about 5 years. I adored him. Did everything he wanted. Even to my own detriment. He was an awful human. I am ashamed I followed him.

My first IRL session was with the woman I married. There was the golden glow of an American sunset pouring through her window as the heaviness of a 12 hour journey across the planet to see her was catching up with me. Her parents were going to drop me off at the hotel to sleep. She thought she could keep me there with her if I fell asleep. She stroked my brow. Cooed for me to just relax. I sank into her lap. It was pure peace and serenity. She tells me she snuck in our first kiss while I was under.

3. Are there any TV shows/movies/books you liked when you were younger that you think got you into hypnosis?

There was like a Magic Block on TV when I was growing up. Masked Magician SECRETS UNVEALED, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna. I watched every week and was fascinated. I loved magic as a child. But it was all the mystic allure and not real. At least until one of my mum's friends was telling her about being on the McKenna show, a show where they hypnotize people in the audience and do skits. British Broadcast Standards do not allow the airing of any hypnosis so they always made it seem secret and taboo, hidden behind a blurry screen and mum's friend had THE SECRETS. So I listened (she had a Pepsi that night so couldn't go on stage) and was just fascinated. It was not just real magic, it was something that could work on anyone. That real person who was in my life had witnessed it and could have "gone under". I remember my obsession was born in the childish awe of that story.

4. Are you primarily a hypnotist or a subject?

My mood dictates. Some days I am the subbiest little kitten the world has ever seen, capable of flopping and eye rolling and swooning into deep hypnosis at the drop of a hat--- some days I am the most seductive creature alive and will tease and tantalize until my partner is a whimpering wreck pleading for my words.

I can be your angle or yuor devil.

5. Are you primarily a dom/me or a sub?

I am a collared sub and that does not change, no matter what mood I am in. @ladyruetha owns me. At present I do not own anyone and doubt that will change. But heavens when I make them mine, even for a brief moment, I'm sure they'd refer to me as a stunning domme.

6. What do you love about being hypnotised?

Oh so very much. The sweet tantalizing seductive allure, the way your senses are played with until you succumb to a wave of bliss, relaxation and sometimes euphoria. I love losing myself and finding a safety and disconnect from my own mind, I like finding a powerful connection in my trance partner, I love feeling cared for and controlled and kept. The way that the words stir things within my heart, change me, alter me, guide me. The way I can forget on command or rise on command or have my heart plucked and pulled. It's the extremes with none of the extreme. No danger. Just enticement. Pure and utter enticement.

7. What do you love about hypnotising people?

Yet more still… Ah, I can see each of my words or gestures being absorbed by them. I command their attention, control their perceptions, the push and pull is intoxicating. I love making a partner rigidly stiffen at my signal or collapse into a puddle at a whisper. I like my words causing trembling shudders and longing whimpers. I love feeling the dance and play between two people, building on a scene together and finding brilliant new inspirations and see just how they are received… especially when they decide how it could be improved. Hypnotizing people is so fun.

8. How do you feel when hypnotised?

It's a pleasant dissociation. When I dissociate because of environmental factors there's stress, there's a thin skinned feeling of every sense in my environment threatening my composure, there's a dangerous sense of being adrift and lost and what I would describe as a panic but with no emotion or urgency, to pull myself back and feeling incapable of doing so. It's like being knocked away from the spaceship of my mind and drifting out into the void with no tether, no aid and no way back. Somatically it feels like my brain is being pushed outside of my eyeballs, like my perception is a like charged magnet pressed against my eyeballs and pushing it outside of me. Hypnosis is--- surprisingly--- a lot like that. But it's calm and controlled. The external stressors fade away. There's a tether. There's a rope to my brain. There's a guide with me the entire way whether pre-recorded or live. It feels controlled, peaceful, serene. I ADORE that feeling. More than any feeling in the world.

9. How do you feel when you hypnotise someone else?

Electric. I simply cannot think of a better way to put it. My words are electric, my movements are electric, my energy is electric. I enter a flow state. A mini-trance of my own as I just allow my training and skill to take over and slide into the role of Miss Dawn like it was who I was the whole time and my life outside of these moments was just a playful act of pretend. I just feel in tune with the moment and let it propel me. I adore it.

[audaciiaearchive]

sorry for the kit spam i really am just trying to get their muse going again lmAO but more thots and facts

kit is from quebec. their father is quebecois and their mother is russian. so one: cursed natural accent and two: quebecois and russian are their first languages.

kit is a polyglot and can pick up languages like stupid easy. theyre fluent in like 20+ languages its actually really obnoxious 🥴

in that same vein, kit can mimic any accent to perfection. you wouldn’t even know they’re from quebec to begin with. however, their default accent is usually RP english or some kind of stock neutral american accent 

kits alias in the underground is the chameleon. this is because they can become anyone and anything at any time. they choose a personality, an alias, a look that works best for what they need, and once they have what they want, that alias is tossed and never used again. so while kits own fashion sense is nu goth, dark and edgy shit, they have a closet dedicated to wigs and a closet dedicated to clothes just for the sake of cons. its impressive but also kind of scary lmaooo

“the chameleon” is also uhhhh an extremely feared figure known for their ruthlessness and quick temper. kits killed people for fucking with them or even just disrespecting them so 🥴😛

kit is mainly in the game as a graverobber/manuscript thief/hacker. most people come to them when they need information on someone. kit can get info on 99.9% of people. usually all they need is a name and maybe a birthday. they also know how to turn off camera systems, edit camera footage, knock out alarms, pretty much anything technologically needed for a heist. but their prices are priceeeyyy and thats bc they know theyre one of the best at what they do lmao

[ritunn]

Free RPG Day: Exploring 9th Level Games Level 1 Anthology 2024

This weekend was Free RPG Day! Although a big TTRPG aficionado, my city sadly doesn't do it very due to it being an American thing primarily, but this year we did have a shop participating!

My family and I picked some stuff up and I went through all of it as of today. The new Starfinder and Pathfinder stuff is as great as always, I especially love the Squox animal companion, a perfect pal for any character interested in a Dex Animal Companion that can Disarm (using Acrobatics) and make enemies Off-Guard. While the Story Engine deck is a tried and true handy tool for any GM (and I am quite in love with my mini one).

What I'm interested in talking about is some of the TTRPGs in 9th Level's Level 1 Anthology for 2024 though. I wasn't super familiar with this company outside of Kobolds Ate My Baby (but I did buy Business Wizards from them during Free RPG Day as well to support my LGS), so I wasn't aware of this anthology. Reading through all the tech inspired games this year was a treat though. So, here's some of my faves!

• Metavault Heist (By Null Set Tabletop): a TTRPG about a group of people getting together and raiding a metavault in VR. The main gimmick being that you can make up your own set up of user permissions your character has access to that give you abilities you define.

I primarily enjoy the fun narrative elements one can use in a VR setting, but also it's super easy to start running. These combined with the aforementioned power system create a really neat little game overall!

• New God (By Carlos Hernandez): a journaling TTRPG where you play as a new deity in an age of your choice. You start out small, such as the god of fishhooks, but the goal is to expand your domains and gain influence. You do this via the monolith, a stack of 10 d6 which you can add to or take away each day to gain worshippers and add more points to domains. Knock it down and your followers falter, however, and you may even die.

I'm a sucker for any TTRPG about faith involving strange and esoteric deities and this one puts you into the role of one! The monolith mechanic is something incredibly inspired that makes me wonder what style of game I could make with a similar idea. The game also makes me want to go to the game store and buy two dozen d6 immediately.

• Your Dungeon, Room By Room (By Calvin Johns): a solo TTRPG where you take the role of a wizard building their dungeon. It's actually just a really good dungeon building tool for other games too that let's you make a dungeon with history and a random, although controlled, layout.

As mentioned above, this is primarily a dungeon building tool with TTRPG elements. If you're a GM like me, designing interesting dungeons isn't exactly easy and the random tables in the back of books aren't always satisfying. This scratches my itch for Dungeon Keeper style games on a simpler level and gives me a good excuse to open up Dungeon Draft and have a good time. All I could ask for really.

• Offline-41 (By Michael Cremisus Gibson): a strange solo TTRPG where you're the admin of a dead Discord server. It has you create a Discord server and RP its history through messages to other people (who aren't really there) and voice chatting with yourself in it. Exploring how bonds fail and the ephemeral nature of the online forum service.

I've been a Discord admin in a large server since 2019 and have been using the service for nearly a decade now. I've seen servers die in real time, and have lost contact with people on the service I used to talk with everyday simply due to life. It's sad and this game really explores well how sad it can be. I appreciate the themes and how it executes them, and I imagine it's a game that will speak to a lot of people my age because of it.

Conclusion

Overall, a great anthology with other quality experiences and TTRPGs beyond the 4/14 listed here. If you want to check them all out yourself, they'll be on 9th Level's Itch page later this year with the rest of their anthologies. In the meantime, check those out and the other stuff the writers presented here have put together! I know I will.

[synergyliferp]

⚡️SynergyLifeRP⚡️Welcomes you to join us this Tuesday April 30th for “Drag Race Night” the event will begin at 7pm UK time! We have some amazing prizes on the line and we look forward to seeing you guys there!

If you are looking for a new home ⚡️SynergyLifeRP⚡️is home away from home! Where you’re treated like family and not just another player. Our team of friendly staff takes the time to listen to our community, offering 24/7 support, adding new and exciting features to give everyone the best experience possible. We’ve listed a few things below of what we have to offer in our city. We hope you’ll fly in and check out the city and the amazing people that make this city a home!

⚡️Join the discord here: https://discord.gg/kPwEEey7kW

⚡️There’s so much to do in the city, here just a little bit about the city and all it has to offer. ⚡️

- 🗺️ Realistic Map

- 💎 QBcore

- 🇺🇸 American Based

- 💞 Friendly Staff & Community

- 🎮 Controller Friendly

- 📝 Whitelisted

- 💰 Starting Cash

- 🧐 Semi Serious RP

- 💵 Realistic Economy

- 🎙️ Speech Recognition

- 🚗 Cars,Bikes,Trucks,Boats,Planes

- 🏡 Custom MLO’s

- 🏢 Apartments

- 🌋 Custom Islands

- 💈 Custom Clothing & Accessories

- 💪 Body Modifications

- 🖋️ Tattoos

- 🐕 Pets

- 🦜 Shoulder Pets

- 🪩 Dance Emotes

- 🎼 DJ Decks Music

- 📱 Working TV’s, Phones, Radio, Video Streaming

- 🍔 Custom Foods and Drinks

- ✨ Custom Hub System

- 🎒 Custom Inventory

- 🚦 Custom RGB Lights

🌆 and more!

⚡️The city offers a wide range of fun activities and weekly events!⚡️

- 🏆 Custom Racing

- 💌 Weekly Events

- 🧩 Game Night

- 🎥 Movie Night

- 🍸 Nightclubs - Vanilla Unicorn & Bahama Mamas

- 💥 Demolition Derby

- 🔫 Battle Royale

- 🏎️ Go Karting

- 🚦 Several Custom Race Tracks

- 🤼‍♀️ Fight Club

- 🎰 Casino

- 🃏 Lucky Wheel, Roulette, Blackjack, Slots, Horse Race

- 🎯 Pool table, Darts, Golf, Tennis

- ⛳️Bumper Cars, Mini Golf

- 🎬 Movie Theater

- 🏎️ RC Motor Cars

- 🎡 Amusement Park

🌇 and more!

⚡️Criminal activities to do around the city!⚡️

- 🚗 Car Boosting

- 🛠️ Chop Shop

- 💎 Several Heists

- ⚱️ Custom Heists

- 💣 Illegal Missions

- 💰 Robberies for Shops & Banks

- ⚔️ Gangs Territories

- 💵 Blackmarket

- 🔫 Customized Weapons

- 🚬 Custom drugs

- ⚒️ Crafting

- 🏠 Gang Houses

- 🏚️ Trap Houses

- 💳 ATM Robbery

- 💥 Smash & Grab

🌇 and more!

⚡️Our city has rewards system like!⚡️

- 🎁 Monthly Giveaways

- 🎁 Battle Pass

- 🎁 Player Rewards

- 🎁 Daily rewards

⚡️We are a wide range of job opportunities listed below.⚡️

- 🚑 Medic - (Whitelisted) Training, Vehicles & Equipment and more Provided.

- 🚔 Police - (Whitelisted) Training, Vehicles & Equipment and more Provided.

- 🔧 Mechanic’s - Redline, Bennys, Tri-City Autos, Mirror Park Autos

- ⚖️ Judge/Lawyer

- 🚛 Several Trucking Jobs

- 🪚 Lumberjack

- 🛵 Delivery

- 🪓 Hunting

- ⚒️ Mining

- 🚚 Fueler Driver

- 🚜 Farmer

- 🔋 Department of Water and Power

- 🦺 Garbage

- 🤿 Salvage

- 🎣 Fishing

- 🚂 Train

- 🛢️ Oil Rig

- 🏦 Imported Businesses

🌆 and more!

⚡️Our city has player ran shops & businesses along various establishments for food, drinks and more.⚡️

- 🐱 Cat Cafe

- 🍟 BurgerShot

- 🍕 Pizza Place

- 🥪 Custom Subs

- 💎 IceBox

- 🍁 White Widow

- 🚂 Train Diner

- 🍁 Cookies

- ☕️ Bean Machine

- 🍻 Quinn’s Irish Pub

- 🍱 Koi Restaurant

- 📦 Post Op

- 🌮 Horny’s

- 🚗 MK Used Cars

🌇 and more!

[fake-colors]

less abridged list of interests

last update: 2024-03-27

top/current favs are bolded.

tv: (items in progress are followed by a tilde~)

Abbott Elementary ~ Age of Youth/Hello, My Twenties Arrested Development Avengers Social Club Better Call Saul Breaking Bad Community Couple of Mirrors Dear Missy ~ Death Note Death Parade Derry Girls Elementary The Guest (ocn) Haikyuu!! Hannibal Hikaru no Go (Qi Hun) How To Get Away With Murder Hunter x Hunter (1999 and 2011 and all 1999 OVA and movies and 1998 pilot episode) The I.T. Crowd Los Espookys ~ Money Heist Naruto Parasyte Psych Psycho-pass Psychopath Diary Snowfall ~ Succession Taskmaster (uk, nz, mn) ~ Terror in Resonance The Bear The Good Place The Terror The Untamed/MDZS (live action and animated) - mydramalist profile - trakt profile (open to alternatives to trakt)- animeplanet profile

internet personalities/groups:

Angella Dravid Brick Immortar Dropout (Game Changer, Um Actually, Dirty Laundry) Extraction&Ire/Explosions&Fire Gianmarco Soresi Julian Clary Kat Blaque LBCRphotography NHRL NileRed Practical Engineering Ray O'Leary Shanspeare Technology Connections Vsauce Watcher William Haynes various gta rp streamers (nopixel and onx) various comedians found through taskmaster assorted vessayists (video essayists)

movie/film:

Carrie Dumplings (2004, short version) Ex Machina Raw Sorry To Bother You The Truman Show Thirst Tonde Saitama Videodrome What We Do in the Shadows Your Name Engraved Herein - letterboxd profile

music:

Ali Project Anamanaguchi Babymetal Beastie Boys ceo@business.net Chumbawamba Corrine Bailey Rae C418 Evanescence Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Honne Kalafina Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe Kloud Kylie Minogue Leikeli47 Leslie Cheung Maxwell My Chemical Romance Placebo Rose Zhang Sade Second Hand Rose (cn) System of a Down Toby Fox 3OH!3 various edm and dnb some nopixel songs - lastfm profile

games:

5D Chess with Multiverse Time Travel Bloons 6 Cities: Skylines Hexceed Minecraft Osu! Pokemon (tcg + video games) Portal (1+2+portal stories: mel+reloaded) Tomb Raider series Toontown Rewritten Wolfenstein series Zoo Tycoon 2: Ultimate (with every mod) - backlogged profile (empty)

books/graphic novels: (soon tm)

Concerning the Spiritual In Art by Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky Und Ich by Nina Kandinsky ~

Hunter x Hunter (I have read everything past where the anime stops)

No. 6 (book or manga idk)

The Souls of White Folk: African American Writers Theorize Whiteness from Veronica T. Watson

Stories of the Sahara by Sanmao

(tbd) various horror/sci-fi short stories - looking for a book tracker that's not goodreads/amazon - manga section of anime planet

[unnmasqued]

PINNED . independent rp blog for lucian underwood ; International criminal specialising in theft and transportation of art, jewels and weapons for high value clients and organised crime groups - written by ellie, 25+ - sideblog to and canoncically tied to @accustiv . rules can be found there .

information under the cut

PERSONAL INFORMATION .

FULL NAME : Lucian Kristof Underwood

AGE : 59

DATE OF BIRTH : April 25th

ETHNICITY : White

NATIONALITY : Dual American - Swiss Citizenship

ACCENT : Clipped, east coast american, almost transatlantic.

LANGUAGES : English, German, French, Italian, Russian

GENDER : Male

PRONOUNS : He/him

SEXUALITY : Homosexual (previously closeted)

MARITAL STATUS : Divorced

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION .

HAIR : Grey

EYES : Pale blue

HEIGHT : 6ft 3in / 192cm

BUILD : Slender

TATTOOS : None

SCARS : TBA

FAMILY : Dominic Underwood, father, deceased, Clara Lehmann, mother, deceased. Johannes Underwood, brother, Amelia Underwood, ex-wife.

HISTORY .

underwood is not a name automatically associated with crime, but once you encounter it, you never forget.

born in the united states as the second child of an american shipping mogul and a swiss manufacturing heiress, he had a privileged start to his life. lucian discovered the truth his father’s business as he approached his teens, the shipping company was a front for an illegal smuggling ring, and it was valuable to certain groups. lucian’s sharp mind and knack for ruthless business became something that marked him out as the perfect protege to take over his father’s position, usurping his older brother’s claim. however, as lucian grew older, it became obvious that his interest in the legal side of business was far smaller than the opportunities investing all his time in the criminal aspect gave him.

his connections with several crime families made sliding into a life of crime very easy - he started as a liaison, connecting mobs with independent contractors and organising handovers, but it didn’t last long, as he grew bored with being little more than a middle man. lucian craved control, in everything he did, and very quickly he was creating his own network, and planning his own heists.

although he rarely bothers to attempt to claim any credit for his work, using differing methods depending on what job he is taking, he became prolific after several decades of forging close relationships with organised crime groups in the united states and western europe. art, jewels, weapons, cash, he has stolen them all, and his vicious attitude towards those that cross him earned him a dangerous reputation among the underworld - few pick a fight with him and win.

tall, pale and incredibly well-spoken, he his striking, and memorable, although it’s often the smarter move to pretend you never laid eyes on him.

[findroleplay]

Hey I’m Spencer (he/him, 30, CST) looking for people to write against my OC:

_

[thejameskelly]

can someone tell me how this fucking app works?

[the-lil-saint]

Moira Emery 🎀

Short Introduction 💭

Moira Emery, you can call me Moi for short. I'm okay with another nickname as well, you can refer to another alias too! I'm a proud INFJ, was born under the sun sign Capricorn. I do active in GEN RP, portraying Jini.

All Time Favorite . . 💥

Music: ABBA, Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Scorpions, Tame Impala, Taylor Swift, The 1975, The Beatles, The Smiths, TWICE.

Series: American Horror Story, Friends, Game of Thrones, Loki, Money Heist, Shadow and Bone, Stranger Things, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, The Witcher, You, Wanda & Vision.

Movies: Atonement, Divergent, Doctor Sleep*, Insidious*, Maze Runner, Narnia, Lord of The Rings, Starwars, Top Gun: Maverick, The Conjuring*, The Hunger Games, The Notebook.

Books: Grishaverse, The Chronicles of Narnia.

Things: Sanrio, Kebaya, Flowers, Tea.

Things to do: Cooking, Reading.

*Notes: I've been watching a lot of horror movies and rom-com movies. Please ask some if you need recommendations!

A Note to Remember. . 🐈‍💥

Please just reach me out right after if I did something wrong.

Kindly reach me out on DM if you need someone to talk, I'm all ears!

If you want to befriend me in RP, you can tell me so I'll follow you right away or just shoot me a follow there.

[laiqualaurelote]

I loved the heist AU! I’m sure someone has already asked for Crimminal Intent, but if not, I’d love to read it!

Thank you for choosing from the DVD extras menu of Such Great Heists! Surprisingly, you're the first to ask for this one! I'm really glad you did because it was the only snippet I'd actually finished at the start of this exercise.

Crimminal Intent

“We need you on a job,” says Rebecca.

“For fuck’s sake, Rebecca!” yells Trent, tripping over a chair in his shock. “Stop breaking into people’s houses and sitting in the bloody dark till they come home and have a heart attack!”

“Sorry,” says Rebecca. She unrepentantly takes a sip of a cup of tea. Did she make that in the dark? Trent doesn’t even want to think about it. “It is something of an emergency, you see.”

“You could have called.”

“Oh, I don’t actually have your number,” says Rebecca. “Forgot to save it, I think. I know where you live though. We all do.”

“That,” says Trent, “is an incredibly creepy thing to say, and will in no way compel me to acquiesce to your request. I don’t do jobs. You know that.”

“You know I wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t serious,” says Rebecca. “It’s Ted.”

Trent goes cold. “What happened?”

Rebecca sets her teacup down. “He got himself kidnapped.”

Trent walks past her in silence and opens his liquor cabinet. He pours himself a generous shot of whiskey and throws half of it back. Then he whirls on her.

“Should have fucking led with that, shouldn’t you?”

“Oh, I’m going about this all the wrong way,” huffs Rebecca. “Beard ought to be the one telling you, really, he was actually there - ”

“Where is Beard?”

“Well,” says Rebecca, “he got shot.”

It is a miracle Trent is still keeping hold of the glass. “Beard got shot?”

“Mildly,” Rebecca hastens to add. “Mildly shot.”

“I’m not a journalist or anything,” says Trent, “but if I were, then that is what I would call burying the fucking lede.”

Rebecca throws her hands up. “You know what? You should really hear it from him. He’ll explain it far better than I can.”

~~~

“I was mildly shot,” says Beard.

Trent gapes at him. Beard is lying in a hospital bed, peaceably reading Life: A User’s Manual. He does not appear visibly wounded. The patient’s tag above the bed identifies him as George Bartlebooth. Whenever a nurse or doctor is in the room, he speaks in a plummy RP accent, then reverts to American Midwestern when it’s just the three of them. It’s all giving Trent phonetic whiplash.

“But are you going to tell me where?”

“Nope,” says Beard, turning a page. “It’s delicate.”

Rebecca rolls her eyes. “Just go back to the part where Ted got kidnapped.”

“It was Earl,” says Beard. “You know Earl the Churl?”

“I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure,” says Trent. “He sounds delightful.”

“Well, turns out he knew us. We got made, mid-job. It all went kinda pear-shaped. I got shot, your boyfriend got himself kidnapped - ”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” says Trent automatically.

“Yes, yes, you’re just two people who are forever hanging out in museums platonically, whatever.” Rebecca rolls her eyes. “Anyway, Ted got kidnapped, and now Earl’s people won’t give him back unless we steal their rival’s Fabergé egg. They know the whole crew. We’d need a fresh face, someone who’s never been in the field.”

“So you want me to help you steal the egg,” hazards Trent.

“Oh, no, we’ll steal the egg,” says Rebecca. “That’s all sorted. You needn’t worry about that.”

“But we also don’t want to give the egg to Earl,” puts in Beard. “Ted wants it for other things.”

“Okay,” says Trent. “But then what do you need me for?”

Beard gives Trent a patient look, like he’s explaining the alphabet to a very stupid child. “You’re going to steal Ted.”

Trent takes a deep breath. “Fine. But you’re paying for my babysitter.”

[ehliena]

FilAms referring to the Philippines as the acronym PI while they are calling homelanders for the use of Filipinx and Pinxy is peak irony. That is without adding these two facts: the letter F is a loaned letter in Tagalog from the oppressors (and its corresponding phoneme too) and that the demonym is an appellation to Felipe II of Spain. And for someone like me who reads and writes in Baybayin since age 15, to write a Baybayin X seems like a dark humor scene in a Taika Waititi comedy. (Yes, I do Baybayin shiz for fun, but not as serious as Kristian Kabuay and NordenX.)

I first encountered PI among FilAms during Christmas vacation 2002 in LA; and Pilipinx when I joined the theatrical production of a FilAm musical at CalState East Bay in 2016. I understand that it is their culture and I respect it, and I assimilate. I easily assimilate with what I call my Nickelodeon voice, which I have acquired from when jailbroken cable services became a thing in Mega Manila and through my theatre background. But when in Rome, we live the Roman way, so as the Santa Mesa-born foreigner, I have to hide that dark laughter every single time someone uses PI.

But of course, 2020 had to make us see PI-using FilAms pressuring homelander to use Filipinx, citing political correctness and gender neutrality (while white American Pemberton, the killer of Filipino transwoman Jennifer Laude, was given an absolute pardon by Duterte).

So, let us start my TEDtalk.

P.I. is a colloquial acronym for Putanginamo (the equivalent of Fuck You) used by conservative Filipinos who probably are only retelling a story.

Tsismosa 1: “Minura ni Aling Biring si Ka Boying.” (Aling Biring cursed Ka Boying)

Tsismosa 2: “Oh? Ano ika?” (Really? What did she say?)

Tsismosa 1: “Malutong at umaatikabong PI.” (A hard and surging PI.)

Then I imagine PI as the curse when FilAms say some sentences:

“Are you flying back to Putangina?”

“I miss Putangina. We went to Boracay.”

“Duterte is President of Putangina.”

But it’s fine with me. I understand they mean well and I know that Americans, as first world as they are, have poor grasp of history. It’s a little sad though that FilAms have not always been reminded of this special footnote in the history of the United States:

P.I. stands for Philippine Islands. That’s the colonial name of the Philippines as a commonwealth republic under the United States, which the republic stopped using when the 1935 Constitution was enacted in 1946. Yes, in case people are forgetting, the Philippines has long been a state with full sovereignty recognized by the United Nations (of which we are a founding member of and wherein Carlos Romulo served as President) and recognized by Shaider Pulis Pangkalawakan.

Also, RP is used to refer to the Republic of the Philippines before the use of the standard two-letter country code PH.

I’m not saying FilAms should stop using PI to refer to the Philippines but I’m saying that the roots of that practice is from American oppression that homelanders have already cancelledttt.

Our oldest bank in the Philippines is BPI. It stands for Bank of the Philippine Islands, originally named El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II because it was founded during Queen Isabella II’s reign. It was a public bank by then; perhaps comparable to the Federal Reserve. Upon its privatization during the American occupation, the bank started using BPI for the sake of branding because it was the Americans who christened us with P.I. (I have a theory that Manila was a character in Money Heist because the Royal Mint of Spain used to have a branch in the Philippines and operated very closely with BPI. And my other supernatural theory is that our translation of peso which is ‘piso’ affects our economy. ‘Piso’ means ‘floor’ or ‘flat’ in Spanish.)

Now, going back. To me, P.I. is more appropriate an acronym for the ethnic group of Pacific Islanders. I don't think I need to explain further why. These would be the natives of Hawai’i, Guam, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and other islands in the Oceania continent, and maybe even New Zealand. If a curious FilAm raises a question of whether Filipinos are Pacific Islanders or Asians or Hispanics, the answer is long but easy to understand.

The Filipinos live in a group of islands within the Pacific Plate. The Philippines is an Asian country, following conventions of geopolitical continental borders from the other. We are Hispanics by virtue of being under Spain for three fucking centuries. And Teresita Marquez is Reina Hispanoamericana because why not? (We could’ve been a part of America still if not for the efforts of Quezon.) So, the quick answer is that the Filipino is all of it.

Yes, the Filipinos have an affinity with the Pacific through nature and geography. Think of the earthquakes, volcanoes, flora and fauna, and the coconuts. And they even look like us. The earlier inhabitants of the archipelago were Pacific Islanders who were introduced to Hinduism and Buddhism as being closer to the cradles of civilization India and China. Then, the Islamic faith has grown along with the rise of the kingdoms and polities in Southeast Asia. The Spaniards arrived in the archipelago, to an already civilized Islamic polity - too civilized that they understood how diplomacy is necessary in war. We knew that it resulted to the defeat and death of Magellan who was fighting for Rajah ‘Don Carlos’ Humabon. Then came the 333 years of being under Spain AND (sic) the Catholic Church which made us more Hispanic. Our Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages (Tagalog, Bisaya, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Bikol, Waray, Cuyonon, etc.) have kept our Asian identity intact - unlike Latin American countries where the official language of each is one of the Romance languages; thus "Latin".

(It is only towards the end of that 333-year Spanish rule that the 'Filipino' emerged to be something the oppressed could claim, and for that we thank the poet in Jose Rizal. I see a parallel in how Christians claimed the cross, the former symbol of criminals in Jewish tradition, to become the symbol of God’s love and salvation through Jesus. Wow. That’s so UST of me. Lol.)

You add into the mix that our diaspora is so large and identifiable, the data gatherers decided to mark the tables with “Filipino” - too Asian to be Hispanic and Pacific, too Pacific to be Hispanic and Asian, and too Hispanic to be Asian and Pacific.

What many FilAms do not realize everyday is that unlike the words Blacks, Latinx, Asians, or Pacific Islanders, or Hispanics, the word Filipino is not just a word denoting an ethnic group. At its highest technical form, the word Filipino is a word for the citizenship of a sovereign nation, enshrined in the constitution of a free people whose history hinges on the first constitutional republic in Asia.

By state, we mean a sovereign nation and not a federal state. (Well, even with Chinese intervention, at the very least we try.)

By state, we mean we are a people with a national territory, a government, and a legal system inspired by the traditions of our ancestors and oppressors. It may be ugly, but it is ours, and we have the power to change it.

This one may be as confusing as Greek-Grecian-Greco-Hellenic-Hellene, but let’s examine the word 'Filipino' further when placed side by side with related words.

*Pilipinas is the country; official name: Republika ng Pilipinas. It is translated into English as “Philippines”; official name: Republic of the Philippines. Spanish translates it into “Filipinas”, the Germans “Philippinen”, the French “Les Philippines”, the Italians “Filippine”.

*Pilipino refers to the people. It is translated into English as Filipino. The plural forms are ‘mga Pilipino’ and ‘Filipinos’.

*Philippine is an English adjective relating to the Philippines, commonly used for official functions. It may be used as an alternative to the other western adjective ‘Filipino’ but the interchangeability is very, very nuanced. Filipino people not Philippine people. Filipino government and Philippine government. Philippine Embassy, Filipino embassy, not Filipino Embassy. Tricky, eh?

*Filipino also refers to the official language of the state (which is basically Tagalog).

*Filipiniana refers to Philippine-related books and non-book materials (cultural items, games, fashion, etc.) which could be produced by Filipinos or non-Filipinos, inside or outside the Philippines.

*Pinoy is a colloquial gender-neutral demonym; comparable to how New Zealanders use the word Kiwi.

The demonym Filipino has evolved from that of referring only to Spaniards in the Philippines into becoming the term for the native people who choose to embrace the identity of a national.

It started from when Jose Rizal wrote his poem “A la juventud filipina” and he emerged as an inspiration to the Philippine Revolution through Andres Bonifacio’s leadership. (But take note of ‘filipina’ because ‘juventud’ is a feminine word in Spanish.)

Today, no less than the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which was neither written by Hamilton nor a group of straight white men but by people of different faiths, genders, disabilities, and skin colors, in its first five words in both Filipino and English versions read: "Kami, ang nakapangyayaring sambayanang Pilipino", translated as "We, the sovereign Filipino people” validates the legitimacy of the word as gender-neutral, alive, aware and awake with our history of struggles.

Article 14 Section 7 of the current Constitution says Filipino is the national language. And while I agree that it is not really a real language but an alias for Tagalog, it is a conscientious codification of a social norm during the time of Manuel Quezon as he is aiming for the world to recognize the unified Filipinos as a sovereign people. People. Not men. Not heterosexual men. People.

It is a non-issue for the homeland Filipino that the word Filipino refers to the people and the language. But FilAms are concerned of political correctness due to an understandable cultural insecurity also felt by other non-whites in the US. And there is added confusion when FilAms pattern the word Filipino after the patriarchal Spanish language, without learning that the core of the grammars of Philippine languages are gender-neutral. The Tagalog pronoun "siya" has no gender. "Aba Ginoong Maria" is proof that the Tagalog word 'ginoo' originally has no gender. Our language is so high-context that we have a fundamental preposition: “sa”.

It is difficult to be a person of color in the United States especially in these times of the white supremacy’s galling resurgence. Well, it’s not like they have been gone, but this time, with Trump, especially, it’s like the movement took steroids and was given an advertising budget. But for FilAms to force Filipinx into the Philippines, among homeland Filipinos, is a rather uneducated move, insensitive of the legacies of our national heroes and magnificent leaders.

The FilAm culture and the Filipino homeland culture are super different, nuanced. It’s a different dynamic for a Latinx who speak Spanish or Portuguese or whatever their native language is - it reminds entitled white English-speaking America of their place in the continent. It should remind a racist white man whose roots hail from Denmark that his house in Los Angeles stands on what used to be the Mexican Empire.

Let’s use a specific cultural experience by a Black person for example: the black person not only has Smith or Johnson for their last name, but there is no single easy way for them to retrieve their family tree denoting which African country they were from, unless the Slave Trade has data as meticulous as the SALN forms. Let’s use a specific cultural experience by a Mexican-American with Native American heritage: the person is discriminated by a white US Border Patrol officer in the border of Texas. Texas used to be part of Mexico. Filipinos have a traceable lineage and a homeland.

Filipinos and FilAms may be enjoying the same food recipes, dancing the same cultural dance for purposes of presentations every once in a while, but the living conditions, the geography, the languages, social experiences, the human conditions are different, making the psychology, the politics, the social implications more disparate than Latinxs like Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

I don’t know if it is too much advertising from state instruments or from whatever but FilAms don’t realize how insensitive they have become in trying to shove a cultural tone down the throats of the citizens of the republic or of those who have closer affinity to it. And some Filipino homelanders who are very used to accommodating new global social trends without much sifting fall into the trap of misplaced passions.

To each his own, I guess. But FilAms should read Jose Rizal’s two novels, Carlos Romulo’s “I am a Filipino”, materials by Miriam Defensor Santiago (not just the humor books), speeches of Claro Recto, books by historians Gregorio Zaide, Teodoro Agoncillo, Renato Constantino, Nick Joaquin, Regalado Trota Jose, Fidel Villaroel, Zeus Salazar, Xiao Chua, and Ambeth Ocampo, and really immerse themselves in the struggle of the Filipino for an unidentifiable identity which the FilAms confuse for the FilAm culture. That’s a little weird because unlike Blacks and the Latinx movement, the Philippines is a real sovereign state which FilAms could hinge their history from.

I have to be honest. The homelanders don’t really care much about FilAm civil rights heroes Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong, or even Alice Peña Bulos, because it was a different fight. But the media can play a role sharing it, shaping consensus and inadvertently setting standards. (But it’s slightly different for Peña Bulos, as people are realizing she was already a somebody in the Philippines before becoming a who’s who in the US, which is somehow similar to the case of Lea Salonga who was not only from the illustrious Salonga clan, but was also already a child star.) How much do Filipino millennials know about Marcoses, Aquinos? Maybe too serious? Lol. Then, let’s try using my favorite examples as a couch potato of newer cultural materials accessible to FilAms - cultural materials on television and internet.

FilAms who only watched TFC wondered who Regine Velasquez was when ABSCBN welcomed her like a beauty queen. Those with the GMA Pinoy TV have a little idea. But they did not initially get why the most successful Filipino artist in the US, Lea Salonga, does not get that level of adulation at home that Velasquez enjoys. Was it just Regine’s voice? No. Well, kinda, maybe, because there is no question that she is a damn good singer with God knows how many octaves, but it is the culture she represents as a probinsyana who made it that far and chose to go back home and stay - and that’s already a cultural nuance Filipinos understand and resonate with, without having to verbalize because the Philippines is a high-context culture in general, versus the US which is low-context culture in general. I mean, how many Filipinos know the difference of West End and Broadway, and a Tony and an Olivier? What does a Famas or a Palanca mean to a FilAm, to a Filipino scholar, and to an ordinary Filipino? Parallel those ideas with "Bulacan", "Asia", "Birit", "Songbird".

You think Coach Apl.de.Ap is that big in the Philippines? He was there for the global branding of the franchise because he is an American figure but really, Francis Magalona (+) and Gloc9 hold more influence. And speaking of influence, do FilAms know Macoy Dubs, Lloyd Cadena (+) and the cultures they represent? Do FilAms know Aling Marie and how a sari-sari store operates within a community? Do FilAms see the symbolic functions of a makeshift basketball (half)courts where fights happen regularly? How much premium do FilAms put on queer icons Boy Abunda, Vice Ganda? Do FilAms realize that Kris Aquino's role in Crazy Rich Asians was not just to have a Filipino in the cast (given that Nico Santos is already there) but was also Kris Aquino's version of a PR stunt to showcase that Filipinos are of equal footing with Asian counterparts if only in the game of 'pabonggahan'? Will the FilAms get it if someone says ‘kamukha ni Arn-arn’? Do FilAms see the humor in a Jaclyn Jose impersonation? Do FilAms even give premiums to the gems Ricky Lee, Peque Gallaga, Joel Lamangan, Joyce Bernal, Cathy Garcia Molina, and Jose Javier Reyes wrote and directed? (And these are not even National Artists.) How about AlDub or the experience of cringing to edgy and sometimes downright disgusting remarks of Joey De Leon while also admiring his creative genius? Do FilAms understand the process of how Vic Sotto became ‘Bossing’ and how Michael V could transform into Armi Millare? Do FilAms get that Sexbomb doesn’t remind people of Tom Jones but of Rochelle? Do FilAms get that dark humor when Jay Sonza’s name is placed beside Mel Tiangco’s? What do FilAms associate with the names ‘Tulfo’, ‘Isko’, ‘Erap’, ‘Charo’, ‘Matet’, ‘Janice’, ‘Miriam’, ‘Aga’, ‘Imelda’ and ‘Papin’? Do FilAms get that majority of Filipinos cannot jive into Rex Navarette’s and Jo Koy’s humor but find the comic antics of JoWaPao, Eugene Domingo, Mr Fu, Ryan Rems, and Donna Cariaga very easy to click with? Do FilAms know Jimmy Alapag, Jayjay Helterbrand, Josh Urbiztondo? Oh wait, these guys are FilAms. Lol. Both cultures find bridge in NBA, but have these FilAms been to a UAAP, NCAA, or a PBA basketball game where the longstanding rival groups face each other? Do FilAms know the legacy of Ely Buendia and the Eraserheads? Do FilAms know about Brenan Espartinez wearing this green costume on Sineskwela? Do FilAms know how Kiko Matsing, Ate Sienna, Kuya Bodjie helped shape a generation of a neoliberal workforce?

That list goes on and on, when it comes to this type of Filipiniana materials on pop culture, and I am sure as Shirley Puruntong that while the homeland Filipino culture is not as widespread, it has depth in its humble and high-context character.

Now, look at the practical traffic experiences of the homelanders. People riding the jeepneys, the tricycles, the MRT/LRT, the buses, and the kolorum - the daily Via Crucis of Mega Manila only Filipinos understand the gravity of, even without yet considering the germs passed as the payments pass through five million other passengers before reaching the front. Add the probinsyas, people from periphery islands who cross the sea to get good internet connections or do a checkup in the closest first-class town or component city. Do FilAms realize that the largest indoor arena in the world is built and owned by Iglesia ni Cristo, a homegrown Christian church with a headquarters that could equal the Disney castle?

Do FilAms know the experience as a tourist's experience or as an experience a homelander want to get away from or at least improved?

Do FilAms understand how much an SM, a Puregold, or a Jollibee, Greenwich, Chowking branch superbly change a town and its psychology and how it affects the Pamilihang Bayan? Do FilAms realize that while they find amusement over the use of tabo, the homelanders are not amused with something so routinary? Do FilAms realize how Filipinos shriek at the thought that regular US households do not wash their butts with soap and water after defecating?

Do FilAms understand the whole concept of "ayuda" or SAP Form in the context of pandemic and politics? The US has food banks, EDDs, and stubs - but the ayuda is nowhere near the first world entitlements Filipinos in the homeland could consider luxury. But, that in itself is part of the cultural nuance.

Do FilAms know that Oxford recognizes Philippine English as a diction of the English language? While we’ve slowly grown out of the fondness for pridyider and kolgeyt, do FilAms know how xerox is still used in the local parlance? Do FilAms know how excruciating it is to read Panitikan school books Ibong Adarna, Florante at Laura under the curriculum, and how light it is to read Bob Ong? Do FilAms realize that Jessica Zafra, with all her genius, is not the ordinary homelander’s cup-of-tea?

Do FilAms know that Filipinos do not sound as bad in English as stereotypes made them believe? Do FilAms really think that Philippines will be a call center capital if our accents sound like the idiolects of Rodrigo Duterte’s or Ninoy Aquino’s Philippine English accent? Do FilAms realize how Ninoy and Cory speak English with different accents? Lea Salonga's accent is a thespian's accent so she could do a long range like that of Meryl Streep if she wants to so she wouldn't be a good example. Pacquiao's accent shows the idiolect unique to his region in southern Philippines. But for purposes of showing an ethnolinguistic detail, I am using President Cory Aquino’s accent when she delivered her historic speech in the US Congress as a more current model of the Philippine English accent.

Do FilAms bother themselves with the monsoons, the humidity, and the viscosity of sweat the same way they get bothered with snowstorms, and heat waves measured in Fahrenheit?

Do FilAms know that not only heterosexual men are accepted in the Katipunan? Do FilAms even know what the Katipunan is? Do FilAms realize that the Philippines had two female presidents and a transwoman lawmaker? Do FilAms take “mamatay nang dahil sa’yo” the same way Filipinos do? Do FilAms know the ground and the grassroots? Do FilAms know the Filipino culture of the homeland?

These are cultural nuances FilAms will never understand without exposure of Philippine society reflected from barrio to lalawigan, from Tondo to Forbes Park. It goes the same way with Filipinos not understanding the cultural weight of Robert Lopez and the EGOT, or Seafood City, or Lucky Chances Casino, or what Jollibee symbolizes in New York, unless they are exposed.

The thing though is that while it is harder for FilAms to immerse to the homeland culture, it is easier for homeland culture to immerse into the FilAm’s because America’s excess extends to the propagation of its own subcultures, of which the FilAm’s is one.

We’re the same yet we’re different. But it should not be an issue if we are serious with embracing diversity. There should not be an issue with difference when we could find a common ground in a sense of history and shared destiny. But it is the burden of the Filipinos with and in power to understand the situation of those who have not.

Nuances. Nuances. Nuances.

And while I believe that changing a vowel into X to promote gender-neutrality has a noble intention, there is no need to fix things that are not broken. Do not be like politicians whose acts of service is to destroy streets and roads and then call for its renovation instead of fixing broken bridges or creating roads where there are none.

The word ‘Filipino’ is not broken. Since Rizal’s use of the term to refer to his Malayan folks, the formal process of repair started. And it is not merely codified, but validated by our prevailing Constitution, which I don’t think a FilAm would care to read, and I cannot blame them. What's in it for a regular FilAm? They wouldn’t read the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers; what more the 1987 Saligang Batas?

The bottomline of my thoughts on this particular X issue is that FilAms cannot impose a standard for Filipinos without going through a deeper, well-thought-out, more arduous process, most especially when the card of gender neutrality and political correctness are raised with no prior and deeper understanding of what it is to be a commoner in the homeland, of what it is to be an ordinary citizen in a barangay, from Bayan ng Itbayat, Lalawigan ng Batanes to Bayan ng Sitangkai, Lalawigan ng Sulu. It is very dangerous because FilAms yield more influence and power through their better access to resources, and yet these do not equate to cultural awareness.

Before Rizal’s political philosophy of Filipino, the ‘Filipino’ refers to a full-blooded Spaniard born in the Philippines, and since Spain follows jus sanguinis principle of citizenship, back then, ‘Filipino’ is as Spaniard as a ‘Madrileño’ (people in Madrid). The case in point is Marcelo Azcárraga Palmero - the Filipino Prime Minister of Spain.

But the word ‘Filipino’ was claimed by Rizal and the ilustrados to refer to whom the Spaniards call ‘indio’. The term was then applied retroactively to those who helped in the struggle. It was only later that Lapu-Lapu, Francisco Dagohoy, Gabriela and Diego Silang, Sultan Kudarat, Lorenzo Ruiz, and GOMBURZA were called Filipinos.

The word 'Filipino' was long fixed by the tears and sweat of martyrs through years of bloody history in the hands of traitors within and oppressors not just of the white race. The word Filipino is now used by men, women, and those who do not choose to be referred to as such who still bears a passport or any state document from the Republic of the Philippines. Whether a homelader is a Kapuso, Kapamilya, Kapatid, DDS, Dilawan, Noranian, Vilmanian, Sharonian, Team Magnolia, Barangay Ginebra, Catholic, Muslim, Aglipayan, Iglesia, Victory, Mormon, IP, OP, SJ, RVM, SVD, OSB, OSA, LGBTQQIP2SAA, etc., the word 'Filipino' is a constant variable in the formula of national consciousness.

Merriam-Webster defines Filipina as a Filipino girl or woman. Still a Filipino. Remember, dictionaries do not dictate rules. Dictionaries provide us with the meaning. To me, the word Filipina solidified as a subtle emphasis to the Philippines as a matriarchal country faking a macho look. But that’s not saying the word Filipino in the language is macho with six-pack.

The word Filipino is not resting its official status on the letter O but in its quiddity as a word and as an idea of a sovereign nation. The words Pilipino, Filipino, and Pinoy are not broken. What is broken is the notion that a Filipino subculture dictates the standard for political correctness without reaching the depth of our own history.

If the Filipinx-Pinxy-Pilipinx movement truly suits the Filipino-American struggle, my heart goes out for it. But my republic, the Philippines, home of the Filipino people, cradle of noble heroes, has no need for it (not just yet, maybe) - not because we don't want change, but because it will turn an already resolved theme utterly problematic. The Filipinos have no need for it, not because we cannot afford to consider political correctness when people are hungry, abused, and robbed off taxes. We could afford to legalize a formal way of Filipino greeting for purposes of national identity. But as far as the Filipinx, it should not be the homeland’s priority.

We may be poor, but we have culture.

From Julius Payàwal Fernandez's post

[lvckpicks-blog]

( jung yoonoh, cismale, he/him, 24. ) — alexander "lex” khang, better known to the media as eros has been working for the yōkai for around six years. rumor has it, he can be ebullient & versatile but also cocky & licentious which is why he makes the perfect safe cracker.

you can find a picture of the mask he wears during heists HERE & HERE!! though he’s customized it so that the led lights change frequently.

hi wow hello!! i’m caitlyn, 24, she/her, cst timezone. and honestly?? i am in fucking AWE of every single one of you ?!!!!!! from the bottom of my heart, thank you for taking interest in this rp & for being as encouraging and positive as you have been. words cannot express how grateful i am for each and every single one of you ?!!! whenever this idea came to me, i didn’t think it would ever take off like it has & the out pour of love and support i’ve gotten is absolutely incredible. i could go on and on for hours about how much i seriously do appreciate it, but i’d turn into an emotional lil bitch and ain’t nobody got time for that so moving on !!

this is lex, he’s a mess and a half but honestly.... i can’t ever play characters that aren’t a trashy mess with an even worse backstory so here we GO!!! there’s some basic stats, bio, personality and basic af plot ideas under the cut so if you’d like to plot like this or hmu!!!

TW: mentions of alcohol & death. ( car crashes / house fires )

general information.

full name: alexander khang. nickname(s): alex, lex. date of birth: october 31st, 1994. age: twenty-four. nationality: korean. spoken languages: english, korean, chinese, japanese, french, spanish, german & russian. gender: cismale. pronouns: he / him / his. sexuality: bisexual. faceclaim: jung yoonoh ( jaehyun ) of nct.

background.

hometown: ulsan, south korea. current residence: tokyo, japan. financial status: upper class. occupation: safe cracker. family connections: tba.

extra information.

myers briggs: entp-a. ( the debater. ) enneagram: eight. ( the challenger. ) temperament: choleric. moral aligment: neutral evil. hogwarts house: slytherin. sin: wrath. virtue: pride. zodiac: scorpio. element: fire.

biography.

born and raised in korea.

parents spoiled him and his sister to death and made sure both of them had everything they needed to be happy.

however, whenever him & his sister were young, they lost their parents to a house fire and they were forced to go into the foster care system.

he wouldn't allow him & his sister to be separated, so they ended up being in the system for a long time until an american family took interest in both of them.

and before they even realized what was going on, lex & his sister were being shipped off to the states to meet their new family.

things were... different there, their new parents still spoiling them to death but everything around them was completely new and strange.

n bc of that, and because of the fact that lex couldn't communicate with his new parents, he began to rebel.

he started sneaking out of the house, breaking into places he shouldn't have been in.. going to parties even when he was underage and all sorts of things like that.

but he took an affinity to anything that had to do with picking locks, noticing that it kept his mind focused all while continuing to be able to 'rebel' in various sorts of ways.

after that, he focused on that, buying locks of all sorts until there wasn't a thing he couldn't break into.

however, the standard locks started to become boring, technology starting to be more and more prominent in the world so he started to teach himself how to hack as well.

not just into things, but how to 'pick' technologically advanced locks and everything like that.

he started to become so interested in that lifestyle, that he went to trade school for it.

but what he didn't expect was to meet someone there in the process, lex falling head over heels the second he laid eyes on them.

and god, he was smitten. ready to marry them within six months of meeting them. after proposing on a date and them saying yes, things were starting to kick into gear.

soon after, the wedding was planned and a date was set, but the wedding would never happen and lex wouldn't be able to spend the rest of his life with them.

his fiance was taken from him in a car accident, one he blames himself for to this day because they were headed to meet him to talk about the possibility of adopting a baby bc they couldn't have one & bc lex knew what it was like to be in the foster care system and wanted to be able to pull someone else out of that situation.

after that, alexander began to let his grief consume him, finding his home to be a bar stool at the nearest bar, drinking his sorrows away until someone practically had to carry him home.

that's when he met the mastermind of the crew, the other being nice enough to drive lex home from the bar one evening due to how intoxicated he was.

the mastermind happened to catch onto the fact that lex was very much into picking locks, into breaking into things that 'couldn't' be broken into and so he offered lex a job. quick money, no one would know it was lex at the end of the day and a reputation that'd soar for years to come.

it was then that lex's life started to turn around ever-so-slightly, becoming the best ( and only ) safe cracker that the yōkai had ever seen.

he started to grow happier, or so it seemed.

lex started to hide his grief, started to pretend he was just a happy-go-lucky goof ball on the outside while continuing to drink himself to sleep at night just to be able to get some sleep at all.

but he tried to control it as much as he could, tried to keep it inwards and not let it effect him or his job, and he never did.

alexander was/is a completely different person when he's on a heist & when the crew is all at HQ together.

the only person that knows about lex’s sister and fiance is the mastermind, though he does often send big chunks of his cuts to his sister so that his niece and nephew can remain happy, healthy and equally as spoiled as he and his sister were.

he doesn’t talk about his past life, nor does he really like opening up so very few people can see that there’s a grieving person behind the goofy exterior he tends to have.

personality.

hides behind a wall of sarcasm, cockiness, and lust.

doesn’t really care to get to know people and had a tendency to push people away before they get too close to him. because he really… doesn’t want to get hurt again & doesn’t want to put them @ risk.

but will also tease and mess with literally everyone.

wears glasses to read and mess w computers, but hates them a lot and probably won’t wear them if people are around.

is …. stubborn as hell and refuses to ask for help with anything.

his motorcyle and cars are literally his babies ??? like he ?? has a problem ??

a hotmess

loves halloween so much?? he gets so hype for that holiday it’s unreal.. even if it is his bday.

fluent in a lot of languages, picked them up so that he didn’t need translators for heists n such.

lowkey worried that people will figure out that he’s actually v hurt inside because that’ll cause him to start having to deal with his feelings again, and he doesn’t wanna do that.

is the biggest flirt you will ever meet?? like if he’s speaking 2 u… its usually flirty as hell unless it has 2 do w business or he’s just known u for centuries ?

will try to get everyone to go to bars n parties with him because that’s his life in a nutshell ??

hella nerd on the inside though like owns so many comic books, loves to play video games, read books, plays piano / violin & all that jazz.

super, super intelligent. could probably work @ nasa but instead he decided to do what he does & he honestly… ain’t complaining.

drinks..heavily..  like every night?? it’s a problem tbh.

he cares… god he cares so much about people and the world but he pretends to hate everything because it’s easier than letting people in.

full of horrible and cheesy pick up lines and jokes and frequently texts people said pick up lines and jokes.

owns a book that is full of nothing but blank pages and keeps it on his coffee table because he ‘relates’ to it.

is a highkey hoe but he keeps it on the dl

super into fitness as it’s a way to keep him away from drinking every evening. ( that doesn’t work lol )

loves boxing so much and can be seen at the gym quite a bit.. also has bruised knuckles 24/7 because of it as it’s a way to take out his aggression and feelings out on a punching bag?

speaking of… anger issues af. well... grief turned into anger.

actually super kind and caring once you’re able to see get past his wall?? which is really hard to do due to his job but if u do it he’ll cherish u.

has a bad habit of smoking whenever he’s stressed out, which is usually all of the time so he smokes…. more than he should.

highkey into cuddling and all the cute shit like that but would literally never tell a soul because then they’d see that he isn’t such a hardass.

is a burnt cupcake who has really good intentions but has extremely horrible execution skills. ( and no i don’t mean the violent kind bc he’s actually v good @ that )

plot ideas.

bad influence. ( on your muse. )

best friends.

childhood friend.

confidant.

current hook up(s).

drinking buddies.

drunken hook up.

enemies that used to be friends.

enemies.

exes who ended on bad terms.

flirtationship.

frenemies.

friends that used to be enemies.

friends with benefits.

good influence. ( on lex. )

hate sex.

one night stand(s). ( past & present. )

partner in crime.

party buddies.

past hook up(s).

ride or die.

trouble makers.

unlikely friends.