#and as you can imagine... if we can't afford to turn on the ac because the electricity bill is already impossible to pay...

[sherlock-is-ace]

.

[mister-eames]

that post which goes “love is giving them the last apple slice, no matter how much you want it” and all I could think was arthur and eames (big surprise!). They both have this protectiveness of each other but there’s not much work focused on them being down on luck (mostly cause dreamshare business is lucrative?) but what’s your idea on it?

I hope very much that I haven't misinterpreted your ask because I don't know the post, but it really raised an interesting thought!!! It sort of made me think of the actors/writers strike earlier this year - y'know? You hear 'actor' and you think Hollywood, they all must be raking it in, even if they've had a handful of side roles, maybe one major one. But thats not the case.

Like, maybe it's the same with dreamshare. Sure dreamshare sounds lucrative, you can drop some big names as employers, work on some big projects, but what people don't see is that it takes a lot of work to get those projects. Only a handful of dreamers at the very top who get the good, well paying jobs, or the ones with rare skills, i.e. forging.

It's interesting to think of Arthur and Eames and them being down on their luck, of working job-to-job just to pay the bills. Taking jobs in remote places just to get on top of their mortgage/medical bills/loan repayments. How they live in Inception makes me think they're at the 'lucrative' stage in canon timeline, they're financially very comfortable - but in the years beforehand? Skint. Broke. Going over their budgets with a fine-toothed comb. Some months they're down to a meal a day, or less. They don't turn their heating on in the winter time. They can't afford to fix their car so they walk/bus/train it everywhere. They dream of affording a place that has AC and getting to explore the places they travel to and affording nicer clothes and hitting it big. Job after job after job until, 'I can afford to buy you a new watch for your birthday', until 'we can pay two months rent in advance' until 'we're buying a new car', until 'I'm taking you to Bali for our anniversary' etc.

I actually really like this idea as much as I like the idea of them living it very financially cosy and comfortable. I like the idea Arthur and Eames living it large because I can imagine the days when they were living off a loaf of bread and water for the month and that's definitely something worth exploring!

[insomniac-jay]

Sneak peek for The Heroes

"Last night, yet another gang war erupted; this time in the residential district of downtown Kobe. The cause? The drug known as Ace-" The screen went black.

Sol turned towards Yukito with a look on his face that could only say "What the actual fuck?" He was sure they were thinking the same thing, that is couldn't be real.

"No..." Yukito ran his fingers through his hair. It couldn't be true. He could hardly believe it-- even his cigarette hung off his lips from such disbelief. "This cannot be real. I know there's not gang wars over this shit."

"But there is!" Sol flailed his arms in exasperation. Yukito couldn't have been so nonchalant about this when the situation is escalating. "Can you imagine my horror when I heard that on the news this morning?! And then I got an email from Sir Nighteye saying that we need to declare a public emergency!"

Yukito extinguished his cigarette then stood up. "Okay, okay. This shit is starting to go too far, but we can fix this before shit absolutely hits the fan."

For the past few days, gang wars have been erupting all around Japan for one thing: Ace. Plus his investigation into Typhon had hit a bump due to not having a mole.

"Well tick tock then, Yukito, because things are about to spiral out of our control even more. And we don't have a mole-"

"If you needed a mole, why didn't you just say so, Frosty?"

Both men turned to see a familiar face standing in the doorway. She was a tall, slender woman with warm brown skin and big dark brown eyes. Atop her head was a pair of white rabbit ears. In her palm was a yoyo.

Quick Escape Hero - White Rabbit (Kaguya Usakan)

Quirk: Rabbit Hole - Kaguya can create and link portals or use doorways, holes, and other openings as portals that she and others can travel through

"Kaguya!"

Kaguya smiled and walked towards the pair. "I can't believe you come to me for information and still don't come to me for a job like that."

"Being a mole is dangerous, Kaguya, especially with Typhon." Yukito warned. "If they find out who you are, they'll kill you or worse."

"Yukito Toshiba, I am both an escape artist and a spy." Kaguya put her hands on her hips. It's not like spying on big criminal organizations was something new to her. "I think I deserve some more action after all the favors I've done for you, old friend."

Yukito spoke up to protest, but stopped when Sol placed his hand on his shoulder.  Then he sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but be careful."

Sol handed her a small spy camera and other tools she'd need. "We're counting on you, Kaguya. This could save many lives."

"You can count on me, boys." Kaguya smiled then went on her way. That left two men to their own devices.

"What do we do now? Sir Nighteye is expecting results and action." Sol asked. "We cannot afford to not uphold our end."

"At most, we can help Sir Nighteye. At least, we can take a small break." Yukito replied, pulling out a box of cigarettes. It was quickly snatched away before it could even be opened.

"You have a smoking problem."

"It relieves stress."

@floof-ghostie @calciumcryptid @s0ursop @opalofoctober @elflynns-horde-of-stuff @pizzolisnacks @peachyblkdemonslayer @supermansbisexualson

[lunarsilkscreen]

Luxury vs Comfort

I'm going to delineate between "Luxury" and "Comfort here. Luxury items in this day and age aren't real. Having the latest and greatest digital device is *not* luxury. Having access to current events is *not* luxury.

Luxury has a few accommodations to it:

One: you don't need to make a decision which balances survival and profit; there is no decision you can make that threatens your own survival.

Two: you can afford to buy *extra* and that *extra* can be used to store wealth. As in: precious metals, or commodities that maintain their value outside of currency.

Three: if a rainy day comes, you can afford to weather the storm.

There's always this weird commercial value of termed "luxury items". A deluxe vehicle, for example, costs the same to make as a non-deluxe model, but it comes with more features. And those innovations and.featues can be priced as "Luxury items".

To me; that's a lie. Tesla has thrown around ideas to "turn off" features that come built-in to their vehicles, just because you don't pay a subscription fee.

Imagine having a car that lowers your gas mileage because you can't afford to subscribe to your own vehicle?

Phones have started charging for features that Linux developers created decades ago that have been open-source for ages.

They get away with this because of digital illiteracy, and the fact that they think these suggestions are real.

If I have to fix my car because it's broke, isn't the same as the car having features turned off until I pay an extra fee. I'd better be getting a higher quality part to replace something. Like rims. I'll pay for customization and rims, but if I buy that digital car skin LED paint, I better be allowed to program it myself, and not be forced to join a call of duty skin lottery.

For the old folks; imagine after living for so long, and you have to buy a car without AC at all because AC is luxury? AC was a luxury when you were young, but if it didn't come standard, you'd go to another dealership wouldn't you?

Or a radio, or hands-free Bluetooth now that it's illegal to use your car phone.

Comfort is those little things that allow people to count their blessings. Those things that we, as a people, have come to find we cannot live without. Sure we could live without somethings,

but imagine if the liberals decided that using the radio in your car should be illegal.

What are you telling other people they shouldn't be able to do because it's a "luxury", that's similar to outlawing am/fm radio? Or what are you asking people to pay luxury prices for that you wouldn't pay for am/fm radio?

[mamamittens]

Got into my feels again, so here's a small diatribe about

Character deaths

Okay, so we can just acknowledge and throw Marvel and their perpetual "this character makes us too much money to stay dead" problem. Right off the bat. Good? Good.

So, to start with, I want to make something very clear.

You. Do. Not. Have. To. Kill. A character to make a scene break hearts.

There are, in fact, a lot of ways to kill a character without them dying. For a more in depth look at this whole trope, feel free to check out Overly Sarcastic Productions on YouTube they're trope talk series is really good.

One of the more common ways is some form of memory loss. The character we know and love has died in some way that ideally can't be recovered from or at least not anytime soon.

There's also the old fashioned "they were never the person you thought they were" which has extra betrayal points. Along with a slim possibility that this character has grown fond of their pretend role.

And then there's the death of an ideal/moral/code. Which will fundamentally change this character from here on out. It's also a part of character growth but there's usually an element of tragedy here. Especially if their old way of thinking was optimistic or so pessimistic it devastates them to realize they could have been happier a long time ago.

Naturally actual death is pretty common as well, but it's the one most undermined by a return to status quo. We can be happy a character's memory returns. We can accept a character is too stubborn to quite let go of their old paradigm. But to just come back from death?

It tends to cheapen their original fall, especially if we had an involved mourning scene that dragged out. And yeah, kid shows tend to not have permanent character deaths but they usually dip into way darker replacement territory to make up for the lack of other easy options.

Death is also very often used in redemption arcs or self sacrifice. These are the ones that really can't afford to go back on their natural end. It cheapens so much more than the original act when they do.

And because I literally can't move on, here's a sort of mental excercise.

With One Piece, specifically Marineford. We all know how it ends originally, but go with me. Let's change the "death" just a little. That's not to say there isn't merit in how the story progresses in canon(I do recognize the poetry in Ace taking up Sabo's protector role only for Sabo to take it back with the fruit after his death).

Imagine if you will, a slightly different series of events.

Instead, when Ace takes the hit for Luffy, he doesn't stop running. Imagine Ace grabs his brother and turns his back in a fight. Ace. The man/boy who literally refused to turn away even when it was against common sense.

Ace takes that kernel of "maybe it's a good thing I was born" and wants to see it through. He wants to see Luffy grow up. He doesn't want to leave his family like Thatch and Sabo did before him.

Later, in safety, he breaks down. That iron core of his pride is broken and he has to rebuild his whole identity now in a world that knows exactly who he is. Ace, as a character, is now forced to fundamentally change or die. And he might die anyway.

Maybe he decides he's not strong enough to really protect Luffy in the face of his failure.

And Luffy steps up to grow strong enough Ace will never have to.

With this small change, we've started a chain reaction of character development with multiple characters. Ace can still be benched for however long the story needs him to not be there, but still show up if Luffy needs it. His character can challenge the different narratives the show has about inherited sin, honor, pride, and familial love.

Killing off a character is hard. Doing it right and effectively even more so.

But fundamentally altering a character's entire arc is arguably much more difficult because there's no reasonable way to back off without insulting the audience. It requires to you break what made the character to begin with and subvert their own creation.

Maybe I related to the sad boi hours Ace has going on a little too hard, but I firmly believe it would have been an incredibly emotional moment to see him grow like that.

[eliasfoster1-blog]

“All In.”

It felt so good to say it. I imagine it’s the same rush you get from bidding. Looking calm and collected, pretending like you don’t care you just blew $100.00 for those Star Trek limited edition collector plates you couldn’t afford as a kid. [Insert buyers remorse]. I wanted to say it. I needed to say it.

I push all the chips into the pot. Maybe I put too much in. Yeah, I did.

All I wanted was to hear the clacking sound of chips colliding with each other.

Then the pregnant pause. “Let's see 'em.” said the dealer.

I was positive my cards were a path to victory. After all, I had a straight. I was unstoppable. The odds of a straight were 254:1. What would you have done?

With confidence, I turn over the royal family. Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten. “Straight!” I basked in the glory of winning the largest pot of the night. My glory was short lived. 0.50 seconds lived.

He reveals his cards. A diamond flush. The odds 508:1. His confused look said “Is that good?”, but his eyes said something sinister “Money,money, money”.

I had lost everything, my winnings, my glory.

To a flush.

Flush sounds about right. I can hear the money swirling in the toilet bowl. He grabs his chips like cookie monster– yum, yum,yum.

Only one game can have such suspense. Poker.

The day before, I binge-watched on YouTube videos. Memorizing hands, studying rules, mimicking player styles, visualizing tells, all of it. That night, my swagger had style, my walk had a skip. My confidence was high, but my ego was higher.

Your first experience with poker was probably a lot like mine. Like an abstract painting. I was either, a work of genius or just garbage everyone believed was good.

I was going to be the next Daniel Negreanu. Once reality checked in, I was the Gomer Pyle of poker. Turns out, I was “purty” terrible at the game. I had forgotten all those YouTube videos, and now, I was playing terrible. We think we have everything planned until we forget it all.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t all bad. An ignorant player breaks the pattern. He plays dangerous, and wins a few random hands. Remains cool with a great hand, excited for a bad one. It’s all a shot in the dark; if you have enough bullets, your bound to hit something.

Good thing we weren't playing with real money or I’d be homeless. The money wasn’t real, but the adrenaline rush was. It was so exhilarating. Poker had surpassed my Fortnite building days. Forget about the scar assault rifles or dance-offs. I was chasing the ace of spades like Motorhead.

One of the best features of Poker is—it’s a social game.

Half the fun is in the company you choose. A few close friends and one frenemy is the right formula for an exciting night. That way, you don’t feel bad losing to your friends. And taking money from your frenemy feels so good.

You can learn a lot about your poker friends from the drinks they bring to the table. Each person's personality is reflected from their drink of choice.

Micah drinks patron tequila, a squeeze lime with a salted rim. James is classic American beer guy. Alex likes to sip dark amber ales that have enough barley to make liquid Ezekiel bread. Kevin’s glass is full of pretzel M&Ms. He eats his M&Ms like ice stuck at the bottom of the glass. His nature is quiet and very unpredictable.

For me, a whiskey neat and Haas apéritif in separate glasses. Much like my personality, I can't chose one over the other, so I opt for both. Not really a good poker trait.

With my losses, at least, I could glean lessons from the games. Since I knew this wouldn’t be our only game. I might as well gather as much intel as I could from this experience. My strategy was to observe the other players. If I could pick apart the other players; maybe I would have something for next time.

Which of your friends are like mine?

The loose-passive player.

Micah sweats bullets when the pot gets big. He’ll play dangerously until his chip collection looks like Chuck E. Cheese tokens. Then he’ll hog his chips, hoping the others will eliminate themselves before he runs out. With enough chips, maybe he’ll climb into third place. Most of the time, the blinds cause him to bleeds chips like a ruptured kidney. He’s always last.

The tight-passive player.

James only plays the best hands he has. Mr. Flush —AKA Cookie Monster— took my “all in”. He takes no chances. He plays his cards and not the players. During my “all in”, I knew he had good cards; but not that good, I thought. I thought wrong. He’s very dangerous.

The loose-aggressive player

Kevin is all wild. He’s a quiet fire that only gets loud after it consumes the surrounding brush. His introvert demeanor is a mask that hides a calculating, yet irrational man, who’s pursuit of chips can only be described as a scorched earth policy. His aim is to be the best and only the best. But he is only second best.

We have a couple of good players but the best of us is the man with bread in his cup. Alex.

The tight-aggressive player.

Alex plays poker like samurai. He strives for the show down. Until only two samurai are left with their katanas still unsheathed, bleeding. He bets high only for you to back down. This gives him stimulation. He manipulates you by increasing the rush you get from knowing you can lose everything, and yet gain everything for nothing. And he plays it very well.

Consistently winning, he collects chips like taxes, and builds chip skyscrapers.

He’s style of aggressiveness backed up by his charisma and cockiness—which I hate to admit—works. He's the best and with good reason.

“What’s the secret? Any tips? Any tips you got?” I asked.

“Study, watch, play, play and play.” He added “But that doesn't make you unbeatable, just good.”

One night of binging YouTube may help but no matter how much you study, forums you read, hands you memorize, theories you remember, cards you count, witness the tells that tell, or odds you calculate.

Poker is a game of chance. No amount of knowledge will give you a non-losing streak, but it helps.

Poker is a very fascinating game. Unlike most games, poker is played by rich, poor, artists, mathematicians, and all collections of people. Your experience helps you develop skills that are useful on the table and real world. After playing, I guarantee you won’t look at a job interview the same again.

In the end, poker is a fun game that comes with warnings. Like a Habanero pepper, over consume and the burn can overpower you. My addictive personality needs to be tame. I can’t take poker lightly. We’ve decided never to play for money. It can and has ruined lives, broken up families, and killed friendships. Before playing for money, consider the warning. But definitely play.

You may stink the first time you play, but that's good; you can only go up from there. Take time to observe and have an introspective look at yourself. Enjoy your drinks, gather intel, recognize your weakness. Learn patience because you’ll have your revenge. The people you play will come back for more chips. But this time, you’ll be cookie monster.

If you lose to a flush, at least, you get a good story out of it.

[insomniac-jay]

The Heroes Ch.9 Full Sneak Peek

The Heroes [Chapter 9: New Developments]

"Last night, yet another gang war erupted; this time in the residential district of downtown Kobe. The cause? The drug known as Ace-"

The screen went black. Sol turned towards Yukito with a look on his face that could only say "What the actual fuck?" He was sure that they were thinking the same thing, that is couldn't be real.

"No..." Yukito huffed out his nose and ran his fingers through his hair.

It was true. He could hardly believe it. Even his cigarette hung off his lips from such disbelief. "This cannot be real. I know there's not gang wars over this shit."

"But there is!" Sol flung his arms open. "Can you imagine my horror when I heard that on the news this morning?! And then I got an email from Sir Nighteye saying that we need to declare a public emergency!"

Yukito extinguished his cigarette then stood up. "Okay, okay. This shit is going too far, but we can fix this."

Things were getting out of hand. For the past few days, gang wars have been erupting all around Japan for one thing: Ace. Plus his investigation into Typhon had hit a bump due to not having a mole.

"Well tick tock then, Yukito, because things are about to spiral out of our control even more. And we don't have a mole-"

"If you needed a mole, why didn't you just say so, Frosty?"

Both men turned to see a familiar face standing in the doorway.

She was a tall, slender woman with tan skin and big brown eyes. Atop her head was a pair of white rabbit ears. In her palm was a yoyo.

Quick Escape Hero - White Rabbit (Kaguya Usakan)

Quirk: Rabbit Hole - Kaguya can create and link portals or use doorways, holes, and other openings as portals that she and others can travel through

"Kaguya!"

Kaguya smiled and walked towards the pair. "I can't believe you come to me for information and still don't come to me for a job like that."

"Being a mole is dangerous, Kaguya, especially with Typhon." Yukito warned. "If they find out who you are, they'll kill you or worse."

"Yukito Toshiba, I am both an escape artist and a spy." Kaguya put her hands on her hips. It's not like spying on big criminal organizations was something new to her. "I think I deserve some more action after all the favors I've done for you, old friend."

Yukito spoke up to protest, but stopped when Sol placed his hand on his shoulder.  Then he sighed in defeat.

"Fine, but be careful."

Sol handed her a small spy camera and other tools she'll need. "We're counting on you, Kaguya. This could save many lives."

Kaguya smiled and went on her way. The two men were left to their own devices.

"What do we do now? Sir Nighteye is expecting results and action." Sol asked. "We cannot afford to not uphold our end."

"At most, we can help Sir Nighteye. At least, we can take a small break." Yukito replied, pulling out a box of cigarettes. It was quickly snatched away before it could even be opened.

"You have a smoking problem."

"It relieves stress."

Chikara grunted as she jabbed the punching bag. For the past few days, she'd been working out intensely which she only did for two reasons: either the Olympics were coming up or to take her mind off things.

"You seem tense."

Chikara turned to see Iris standing behind them. That was odd. Iris never went to the gym, at least not to work out. "Iris, I never expected to see you here."

"Don't get it twisted. I'm here to give something to you," Iris said.

Chikara raised an eyebrow and watched as the shorter heroine pulled something out of her pocket. While waiting, they noticed the necklace hanging around Iris's neck. There was only a single white feather.

Actually, now that she saw Iris up close, she was very beautiful.

She had black skin blemished with dark freckles and dark brown eyes. Over her eyes were a pair of circular, gold rimmed glasses. Iris's body was thin and lithe, like a cheerleader or a ballerina. She was also on the tall side much like Chikara herself, probably 6'1" compared to the former's 6'3".

"What's with the necklace?"

Iris looked up at her. "Huh?"

"I just now noticed your necklace." Chikara replied. "How'd you get it?"

Iris clutched the necklace and shifted her eyes. "It's a gift...from my girlfriend." She replied. "The feather is from her wings. She...I don't wanna talk about it anymore."

Chikara hummed. "So what you got for me?"

Iris handed her a sealed envelope. "It's an invite for something, but that's all I know. Either way, it's for you."

Chikara nodded and watched as Iris began to walk away. It made her a little sad. The rainbow heroine always seemed to be a recluse. She never really interacted with the others outside of a work setting and Chikara doubted she had friends.

"Hey Iris."

Iris looked back at the energy powered heroine. "What?"

"Me and some of the gals were plannin' on going to the bar tonight. You wanna come? If ya ain't too busy that is..."

Iris's eyes widened. This was new. It was no secret to herself that she tended to be reclusive and didn't talk much, just watching and listening in the background. "Um...sure. I guess I can put my plans on pause."

Chikara smiled and gave her a thumbs up. "Great! I'll see you at 9 then!"

In that moment when the latter smiled, Iris swore she saw Krista. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, maybe it was still the lingering feelings she had for her dead love. Either way, she could feel her heart warm when Chikara smiled.

"You have a really pretty smile." Iris praised.

Chikara flushed red at the compliment. They sheepishly rubbed the back of their neck. "Thanks. Don't get that a lot."

Midtown Yamaguchi

If there's one thing Demoman hated, it was being embarrassed by his cousins.

The three-- Akio, Russell, and Alex-- were out on patrol together at the insistence of Akio's mother. From the very minute they set foot in the city, curious civilians had rushed to see the two new heroes that were with him. Naturally, Russell embraced the attention and charmed them while Alex followed his brother.

Then there were Akio's own fangirls. Alex kept telling them about what kind of shampoo Akio uses to keep his hair fluffy and curly while Russell bragged about how he taught Akio everything he knows about being a hero.

"You never told us you were a hit here. Look at all those fangirls you got." Hypercharge said, tapping his cousin's hard hat with his knuckles. He clearly couldn't tell that Demoman was practically shaking with both rage and embarrassment.

"I told you he'd be a lady killer like us, Alex." Turbocharge added. He was proud of how many ladies his young cousin had gushing and squealing whenever he walked by. "It's simply meant to be."

"Will the two of you please SHUT UP and STOP embarrassing me?!" Demoman's fists balled. At this point, he just wanted both of them to go back to America and leave him be. "I'm the leader here! You listen to me, okay?!"

Turbocharge began to frown. "Akio, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong! I just want you two to stop embarrassing-" A loud boom shifted their attention and the three took off running to where it happened.

A tall, burly man stood over some defeated heroes. His hair was a mix of yellow and neon green and it glowed brightly. He wore a black hazmat suit underneath orange armor. In the middle of the chestplate was a hazard symbol.

Villain Hazard

Quirk: Nuclear Reaction - He can shape and manipulate the nuclear reactive energies within his own body. He can also harness the forces behind these reactions.

"To think that I could've been one of you is laughable."

@floof-ghostie @calciumcryptid @s0ursop @opalofoctober @elflynns-horde-of-stuff @pizzolisnacks @peachyblkdemonslayer @blondephobicpercy @rogues-rps-and-such