#and i can't afford a computer that can run it for at least another year or so

[cyrassol]

the avery fic is FINALLY posted on AO3 (anonymously bc i couldn't be bothered to make another acc for dol), man i forgot how much of a pain the tagging system is if you don't use tags already in the system

[neowinestainedress]

𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐔𝐒 — 𝐂𝐇.𝟏

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 — 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 — 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: lee haechan x oc ; lee haechan x haechan's ex gf!oc 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄: fluff, childhood best friends to lovers, strangers to lovers, exes to lovers, lovers to exes | requested 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: after a year of drying tears, and three of dating, haechan’s ex-girlfriend comes back in their life and hyejin’s biggest fears start growing again. But everything is fine because hyejin and haechan fit right into each other palm. 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: none 𝐖𝐂: 4k 𝐀/𝐍: can't believe the first chapter is finally out, i know it took me SO LONG but i hope the anon that requested it is still around to enjoy this. i have many mixed emotions about this series but i hope you will love it. feedback means the world, whether it's a comment, a reblog (it helps to boost the fic so more people can see it), or an ask, please send your thoughts! enjoy ♡

Haechan’s place was quiet; the only sounds that could be heard were the clicking of his fingers on the keyboard and some curse spilling from his lips. The place wasn’t big, and the walls weren’t thick either, even a small drop of water could be heard from another room if the house was filled with silence. 

A smile curled Hyejin’s lips as she kept her focus on the food on the stoves and tried to don’t let herself get distracted by her boyfriend. 

It was a typical Friday night in October. After the end of university, they dumbly believed they would’ve been freer, but real life proved them wrong swiftly, and between work and other things, finding a moment for each other seemed even harder than when their afternoons were filled with essays, books to study and projects to turn in before midnight. So, they tried to make up for some time together the best they could, slowly building their everyday life with small habits. They didn’t live together, not yet, at least. No matter how much they wanted to, especially her, they couldn’t afford a house together, not one that was big enough for the future. 

While Haechan was more grounded and focused on the present — that alone was making him struggle to sleep at night — Hyejin dreamed a lot about the future. Even if in the last months her talks about it died down, too afraid she was scaring Haechan away with all her dreams of getting married and having kids, in her heart, those dreams didn’t die down. She could see it. The picture of their happy family was clear as the sky in her mind. After all, that was everything she ever dreamed of and with the person she loved since she was able to point out what feelings are. 

And surely those evenings together weren’t like living together, but it was close. She spent more nights there than in her small, rented place with her best friends, especially at night, when that was the only time they could be together without having to do other things. 

But none of this was different from their childhood. All the times they fell asleep in each other’s bedroom after running all day, or when they would hide because they refused to go back home. The only difference was the place; their houses in their small hometown now were a small apartment on the third floor of a building in Seoul. 

When the timer rang, bringing Hyejin out of her thoughts, she shook her head and turned off the fire, careful not to burn herself while she placed the food on the plates she already took out from the shelf beforehand.  

“Food’s ready,” she said, knocking on his door, opening it ajar, only seeing Haechan’s back at the desk, the light of the computer was almost blinding in the small dark room. 

“Yeah, I’ll — fuck, Mark, can you look what you’re doing?” He yelled to the screen, letting out an annoyed puff of air before he waved her off, without drifting his gaze and addressing her dismissively, “I’ll be there soon, start without me.” 

She chuckled, finding him endearing when he was so caught up. “Hi, Mark,” she greeted, raising her voice to make sure the boy would’ve heard from Haechan’s mic. A smile spread on her lips when their friend greeted her back, and then she talked to her boyfriend again, “Don’t worry, I’ll wait.” 

October that year seemed a bit colder than usual, or maybe it was that place that felt off when Haechan wasn’t with her. And now that time was passing by as slowly as a drop rhythmically coming out of a broken sink, she could swear she never felt colder.

Hyejin had stopped manically staring at the clock, checking every two seconds as if two minutes could pass instead. She simply stared at the hot food in front of her, following the path of the smoke dispersing in the air and creating a grey cloud. It was like puffing air on the outside. But she didn’t want the food to go cold, she cooked it with so much love for Haechan, and she knew he must’ve been starving, so she put it in the microwave, hoping it was enough to keep it warm.

And time started weighing down on her again now that she had nothing to obsess herself with. 

She sighed, slumping on the sofa and pulling out her phone. 

hye♡ pls injunnie tell me they’re almost done 

renjunnie bold of you to assume i understand anything about games 

hye♡ sigh😔

renjunnie i’m sure they lost track of time. i can scold jeno if you want to!

hye♡  no it’s alright!!! 

let them play they’ve been busy 

and work is stressing hyuckie so I don’t want to bother him

renjunnie k

i’m sure he’ll make it up to you somehow 😉 

hye♡  RENJUN! 

renjunnie bye! you two were loud af so i can tease you all i want 

hye♡ 🙄 

She chuckled before locking the phone again and stretching, deciding to turn on the TV and let time pass by in some other way. 

“You waited an hour?” When Haechan’s voice resonated in the living room she almost skipped a beat, not expecting him to come out of the room for at least another thirty minutes. 

“Yeah, I told you,” she smiled, turning around and chuckling softly while her eyes ran on his body. He looked good with anything on, but those casual clothes were so dear to her. It reminded her of the most honest and real Haechan, the one that didn’t care about what people had to say, the one she spent hours watching trash movies or tv shows with, the one she rushed to the supermarket with after only putting a jacket and shoes on, or the one that was standing in front of her right now. “You look sexy like this,” she winked and he shook his head, hiding the light embarrassment before he walked into the kitchen. 

“You cooked?” 

“Yeah, prepared teobokki, but I think we have to reheat it now, unless you want to eat gum,” she commented, pulling the two dishes out of the microwave. “I’ll use the pan in the sink.” 

“No, I’ll do it,” he said, grabbing the dishes from her hands, and coming face to face. 

Her eyes lit up before she leaned in and left a peck on his lips. “Will you blow up the kitchen, Ramsey?” 

Haechan playfully pushed her away with a swing of the hip before turning on the stove and flipping the teobokki in the pan. “I can reheat some food for five minutes. Go pick a movie or something you want to watch.” 

“No complains?” She asked, pointing a finger at his chest. 

Haechan nodded, “I owe it to you, I’m sorry I made you wait.” 

“Alright, so you won’t complain about Clueless.” 

“Damn, for the nth time?” 

“It’s my comfort movie and it’s my pick, think about the food instead,” she said, rushing out of the kitchen to reach the sofa and select the movie. 

When Haechan sat on the couch, placing the two plates on the table in front of it, he furrowed, not seeing the movie on the screen. 

“What’s that?” 

“Something we’ve never seen before,” she said. “I mean, we saw the first but not the sequel.” 

“Oh,” he whispered, passing a pair of chopsticks in her hands, “are you sure? I was kidding before, you know?” 

She hummed with her mouth already stuffed with teobboki, not even giving Haechan time to warn her about how hot they were. “I’m hungry,” she mumbled with her mouth closed and a sweet crease on her forehead. 

“My fault, sorry,” he said, picking up the ceramic and starting to blow on the food to cool it. “But again, we can watch Clueless, I don’t mind that I know every dialogue by heart.” 

“As you should, that’s a classic, it’s basic culture,” she joked, shifting closer to him until their legs brushed together and their shoulders touched. That was home to her, the physical contact, feeling him close even if they weren’t doing anything exciting, it was normal, it was calming, and it was what she always knew. Haechan was the only stable island of her life, the only land that wasn’t non-unexplored, and didn’t sink into the ocean. The only constant star that she could always look at to come home. She didn’t know how she would’ve survived without him, without this. 

“And what’s this?” 

“Knives out, remember? The detective and the spoiled rich people being put back in their place?” 

“Oh,” Haechan laughed, “I love it.” 

The weekend passed by too fast for Hyejin’s liking, two days and a half felt like two hours, and when the erratic mood of the week picked up again, the last thing she wanted to hear was about Haechan’s ex coming back to Korea. 

The grunt that escaped from her lips couldn’t masquerade the fake, sweet tone of her voice when she accepted tonight’s dinner through the phone, but Haechan couldn’t see her, and she was glad for that so they could avoid another countless fight over her. 

Hyejin couldn’t get it. She simply couldn’t see why after all the pain she put him through, Haechan still welcomed her with open arms. Did he forget about what he had been through, what they had been through? Because she surely didn’t delete the memories of their nights up, her being Haechan’s shoulder to cry on, constantly, before they dated, while they dated, and after. 

Zoya was perennial tears sewed into Haechan’s eyes and Hyejin had spent precious hours unstitching them to put a smile on his face. 

But what could she do now? If she knew about the tears, she also knew the reason why, and if she had to be honest, and leave the childish pettiness in the back of her heart, she had to admit that lots of those tears were caused by Haechan himself being too caught up in her, and being just a dumb, teenager boy that didn’t know how to balance his emotions. 

And after all, if they decided to meet again, it could only mean they made it up, patched up the shredded tapestry she ripped away when she left without a word, and they could start again, as friends. 

Because that was what they were. 

Friends. 

All of them. 

That was how it started; when Hyejin and Haechan approached the new shy girl from New Dehili who would always sit alone in a corner during lunch in elementary school. When they invited her home and helped her learn Korean as they slowly started to spend more and more time together. When Haechan’s eyes started shining with a different light in middle school every time he looked at her, and how her eyes never reciprocated the same glint. When Hyejin would stare in silence, feeling her heart sink in her chest, hearing her friend’s voice talk about her so full of love. When their trio stopped being one and Zoya found better friends, but somehow still kept in touch with Haechan, and all of a sudden there were no more tears left to dry on his cheeks. 

Friends. 

Until they weren’t. 

Until Zoya and Haechan started dating. And she was back at their bigger high school table with all their friends, happy. And Hyejin wasn’t so sure about her place anymore, it surely wasn’t the place she wanted, but it was still at Haechan’s side, and even at Zoya’s side, even if she couldn’t recognize her friend anymore. 

And now there was this awkward tension in the air as the car sprinted down Seoul’s streets, and Haechan sang carelessly as a Shinee song passed by the radio. She felt numb, unsure about what to feel. A tiny, invisible, part of her was happy to see her again. Surely, they had stopped talking like when they were kids, but she still considered Zoya her friend, and when she ripped a part of Haechan’s heart, she also ripped a part of hers. Another was terrified, because she knew her, and she envied her. Because during all the nights she spent awake, caressing Haechan’s cheeks, she slowly got why Haechan was so enchanted by her, and tonight was going to be yet another painful reminder. 

“Why are you pouting since we arrived?” Haechan asked as they silently walked to the restaurant, his hands tucked in the pockets of his jeans, far away from her lingering hands begging to be taken into his. 

Hyejin let out another bitter chuckle, rubbing her palms on her arms, trying to fight the cold and the nervousness. “I don’t get why she has to be here.” 

“That’s literally for her, she’s finally coming back to Seoul after years, I think it’s only right to celebrate.” 

Celebrate. What was to celebrate? Hyejin didn’t even know what she had come back for. “Yeah, whatever,” she whispered, so low under her breath that the cars passing by overshadowed her voice, not that Haechan would’ve given her an answer anyway. He was too caught up in what was about to happen, and even if he didn’t say it out loud, she knew he found her behaviour annoying and childish. 

When they pushed the door of the restaurant Haechan picked for the occasion — a cosy, traditional place downtown — it didn’t take them long to spot Zoya at a table in the far corner of the room. She was eye-catching no matter where she was or what she wore, all eyes were on her so effortlessly. 

“Hyuck!” She screamed, waving when they approached. Hyejin was standing right behind her boyfriend to shield herself from her because she knew that seeing her would’ve ruined her mood in a second. 

“Zoya!” He greeted her back, pulling her into a tight hug. For Hyejin it lasted way too long but she couldn’t complain, it made sense; when she didn’t let jealousy take over her, it made sense.

“Hi,” Hyejin whispered, moving her hand shyly and feeling her heart drop when she finally, and bravely, took a look at her. 

“Look at you, Hyejin,” Zoya cheered, perfect white teeth shining in a warm smile, unexpectedly bringing her close in a hug. “You got bangs? You look amazing.” 

She found it hard to believe, especially when she looked like that. “Thanks,” she breathed out, shily tugging a strand of hair behind her ear, suddenly feeling too conscious about her appearance. “The red strands? You always rock bold looks,” she commented, staring at Zoya’s hair and how unfairly gorgeous she looked. Zoya was a goddess, and it wasn’t surprising it took Haechan months to get over her. If she was him, she probably wouldn’t ever get over her. 

“Yeah. Wanted to try something new,” she said, sitting and watching them do the same, taking their place in front of her on the bench. “I even tried blonde, never again,” she joked, handing them the menu. 

“I bet you looked beautiful even like that,” Haechan commented, his eyes beaming while he stared at the girl facing him, and Hyejin forced a smile on her lips while she hid her face behind the menu. Maybe focusing on the food was better than this. 

“Hyejin.” Only at what might have been the 50th call of her name, Hyejin turned around and was brought back from blankly spacing into her plate. “Are you okay?” Zoya asked and she hummed, realizing she didn’t pay attention to a single word they had said, by now for half an hour. 

“Yeah, just, sorry, I zoned out,” she smiled, hoping it would’ve been enough to brush away the awkwardness, after looking at Haechan who was staring at her before bringing his attention back to his food. 

The red-haired showed her teeth in a reassuring smile and then spoke again, “We were talking about college; how did it go?” 

“Stressful,” Hyejin mumbled. Real life sucked in her opinion, while everyone around her seemed so hyped about new adventures and work and bills to pay, she just wanted to cry and go back in time, maybe even pick a different major because, who would’ve thought, art doesn’t pay the bills as much as being a doctor does. And now that Zoya was here, she wished even more that college didn’t end. Why was she even back? She flew back to India for who knows what reason, and now was back in Seoul. To work? Or to steal Haechan from her? 

“I felt the same but look at us now. There are so many roads we can take from now on!” She exclaimed and Hyejin faintly made out Haechan cheering in agreement before their conversation drifted somewhere else and she slumped in her thoughts again. 

She didn’t do it on purpose, it was a mechanism of defence since she was a child. She couldn’t bear staying at their side for long before her brain started to compare herself with her, and that would lead to a weird mix of self-hatred and Zoya-hatred thoughts she couldn’t bear. 

Zoya was perfect, actually. She had no reason to hate her, if only it wasn’t for what had been between her and Haechan before. Zoya hurt Haechan so much when she broke up with him with no warning and flew to another country, and the one that dried all his tears was her. She could still remember the nights spent up, talking him through it, trying to calm him down and uselessly trying to make him see that she never deserved him. And all those talks and cries led to this, to them, to Haechan finally realizing the feelings he had for Hyejin for so long and simply never wanted to admit. The same feelings she cherished in her heart secretly for years while she watched in the distance — or closeness — him being in love with someone else. 

And now that Zoya was back, just as casually as she left, Hyejin couldn’t believe how things were flowing between them, it was as if nothing happened, as if all those tears that scratched Haechan’s cheeks had never fallen from his eyes, as if all the bleeding didn’t happen. How could Haechan forgive so easily? How could they still fit so perfectly? 

When the dinner ended and they exchanged the last greetings, the walk to the car was silent but not tense and awkward like the walk there. Hyejin searched for Haechan’s hand and held it tight, locking their fingers and finally feeling at ease again. It was as if all the pieces went back into place when they were together and all her nonsense paranoids disappeared in the sky, drifting away in the wind. 

“Was it so terrible?” Haechan asked, pulling his hand away to wrap his arm around her shoulders and push her close to his body.  

Hyejin shook her head, hiding a dumb smile at his action, reclining her head to hide the warmth on her face. She couldn’t grade that night, not in an honest way at least, but she didn’t want to vent about it with him, she frankly didn’t want to talk about her for the rest of the night. 

“Can we grab ice cream before going back home?” She asked, hoping Haechan wouldn’t have changed the topic again. 

“Sure,” he said, opening the door of the passenger seat. “Hop inside, I’m taking you to our favourite place.” 

Sitting on a bench with the chill air of the night and eating ice cream wasn’t the smartest idea but something about it was soothing. The quiet of that part of town, the blue sky over them, and the shoes on the ground of the people passing by were a nice accompaniment. 

“Don’t lean into me,” Haechan said when she shifted closer, softly pushing her away and glaring at her.

“Why?” She pouted, creating a deep crease on her forehead. 

“We know how clumsy you are, you will make it all drop on me,” he said, pointing at the cone in her hand. 

She rolled her eyes, huffing loudly because, even if that made sense, she still wanted to be closer to him, and he pushed her away. 

“Can I sleep at your place, at least?” She stopped, licking the chocolate and squeezing her eyes when the cold got to her brain. “So we can cuddle.” 

“Cuddle?” Haechan teased, voice coming out lower while his lips curled in a smirk. 

“Yes, dumbass,” she screamed, slapping his arm away. “You took me out with your ex, you’re not getting laid for at least a month.” 

Haechan gasped dramatically, shaking his head. “One month? Why are you so cruel? I even paid for your ice cream.” 

She shrugged, waving him off with a move of the hand. “Don’t care, can’t care, won’t ever care about it.” 

The black-haired snorted, “Yeah, we know that you won’t last a month.” 

“Bet?” The challenging look she reserved for him was supposed to appear more threatening than it was, but it only made her boyfriend chuckle. 

Haechan scoffed, staring at her in disbelief. “Really?” 

“Yeah, if you’re so sure that I will be the first one to give up, what do you have to lose?” 

He snorted and then nodded. “Fine, fine, what do we bet?” He asked. “No,” he said, watching her smile turn into a devilish smirk. “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s a big no.” 

“I’ll think about it, maybe money, maybe edging you for hours, maybe something funnier,” she winked, after licking her lips sensually.  

“You are evil,” he huffed before going back to his ice scream that was almost finished. 

“You are worse.” 

Haechan scoffed. “By the way, of course, you can sleep at mine. Oh, wait, I hope my girlfriend isn’t home, maybe we should take this somewhere else.” 

Hyejin pushed him away with a harsh push and almost made him fall to the ground. 

“What has taken over you tonight?” He yelled, staring at her with wide eyes. 

“That’s what you get,” she smirked before standing up. “And let’s head to the car, I wanna go home.” 

Haechan hummed, throwing in the bin the paper in his hand, and then they started walking to his car, this time with their arms intertwined. 

The way back home was quieter, while they hummed some tunes on the radio, trying to fight off the sleep from their eyes until they made it home. Once inside, Haechan turned on the heater and Hyejin walked straight to the bathroom to get ready for the night. She walked the place as if it was hers, knowing where everything was, moving around so nonchalantly. 

And exactly the way she was walking in the living room, brown hair pinned back, big soft pajamas taking her clothes place, bare feet with socks on the wooden floor, and toothbrush in her mouth as she turned on the tv, trying to find something interesting, made something pop up in Haechan’s mind. 

“Oh, Hyejin,” he called, making her turn around, head tilted to the side and a small dimple on her cheek. “I forgot to tell you something. I’m sorry, I wanted to, but it slipped my mind.” 

She frowned and then ran to the bathroom to clean her mouth. 

“There will be quite a big change,” Haechan said, leaning against the bathroom frame, watching as she dried her face with a towel and applied moisturizer on her face. 

“A big change?” 

“Yeah, you know since Mark and Renjun moved out I can’t afford this place all alone, so a new friend of mine will move in.” 

“Oh, that’s great, so maybe you can start saving again,” she smiled, feeling happiness fill her heart.  

“Yeah, and also start breathing again. We can spend more time together if I can drop one of my two jobs.” 

“That’s amazing,” she cheered, cupping his cheeks before pulling him down to kiss his lips. “Do I know him?” 

“Nope, not yet. I’ll introduce you to him next Friday.” 

“I can’t wait to meet him.” 

© neowinestaindress; all rights reserved. do NOT repost, modify, or translate any work from this blog on any other platform and claim it as yours. you can find my works on ao3 (neowinestaindress) and wattpad (winestaintedress_; currently inactive).

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @smwhirnthehaze ; @liliansun ; @moonstar127 ; @novawon | comment under the masterlist to be added | general taglist: @froggyforyoongi , @wingsss45 ; @tddyhyck

[hkkingofshades]

Tumblr's new policy, and updates going forward

Yeah, I bet we all saw this coming, huh.

So, given tungl dot hell(tm)'s new deal with midjourney, I think pretty much all artists on tumblr are, well, not having a great time. Like deviantart, tumblr has provided a way to opt out from having your blog content scraped, but like deviantart, it's a little unclear what has already been shared before the opt-out went into place, and how much they'll actually work to stop machine trawlers from trawling opted-out blogs.

I'll put the tl;dr up front:

King of Shades will not be leaving Tumblr, but due to the new policy, I won't be posting full pages here anymore.

There's no point in taking down all the pages I've already posted. Deleting them from my page won't delete subsequent reblogs, and there's a pretty high chance that tumblr has already scraped them. (haveibeentrained.com seems to think I haven't been yet, at least. I don't think I really have a big enough following for that to happen, although I don't want to jinx it...) But I certainly won't be posting the full-size pages here anymore.

Instead, I think I'll go the Trying Human route and post a little preview of the update (possibly heavily watermarked; my computer can't run glaze/nightshade, unfortunately), so you guys will still get notifications, but you'll have to visit the ComicFury main website in order to read it. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience (although I will say that I think it's a much better reading experience over there)!

Speaking of which:

I have never and will never ask for any kind of compensation (other than your wonderful feedback, which I've just been absolutely blown away by) for doing this. Even putting legality aside, that's not why I'm here! However, if you've enjoyed this comic, ever thought that you might be willing to tip me on ko-fi if I had one, or even just want to continue having an internet that isn't entirely a corporate wasteland, I ask that you consider donating to ComicFury instead.

ComicFury is a relic of the old, good internet: it's been around for at least 15 years, and it's all hosted and managed by one guy (Kyo). Aside from his team of volunteer moderators, everything on this website is done by one person with a passion for supporting artists. I've chatted with him a little, and he's a great dude! Most of his operating costs are paid for out of pocket, and the site is currently hurting a little bit because it doesn't run ads, it doesn't have subscriptions or paywalled content, it doesn't have any corporate interference or monetization of any kind outside of his Patreon. And—perhaps most relevantly for this post:

I will cut right to the chase, we have decided not to allow AI-art based webcomics on the site. [...] As for our reasoning, there are obviously ethical concerns regarding the source images of most commonly used AI image generators (namely them just being scraped off the internet without anyones permission). But even beyond that, another concern is that due to the extremely low effort involved, webcomics of this nature could just over time completely drown out in numbers art by passionate people who put a lot of time into it , which would be a real shame. So we asked ourselves what would be better for the community, and we agreed that banning it would probably be the better thing overall.

—Kyo has been quite firm that he will not allow AI art to be posted to or scraped from any ComicFury domain. While this isn't a protection against huge web trawls or people putting someone's art in individually—there's not a lot anyone can do about that yet, even with tools like glaze and nightshade—it's a little peace of mind that the art posted there won't abruptly be sold en masse to the highest bidder.

The Patreon starts at $2/month, and Kyo has said that he doesn't mind people pledging for a short time and then dipping if they can't afford an ongoing subscription. If and only if this is something you can afford, and you want to continue seeing independent webcomics including King of Shades, please consider donating!

The Patreon is here. There's not much in the way of reward tiers, especially if you're not a member, but I posit that the real reward is being able to read free webcomics done by real humans as labors of love, without being advertised to or sold as the product. And also maybe the friends we made along the way. Or something.

Once again, there is no pressure, and no shame if you're not willing or able to give money. But if you've ever thought you might be willing to tip me for what I do, consider passing it along to the guy who makes it possible instead.

Thank you for your time!

P.S. Page 64 is coming, I promise! Recent developments kind of kneecapped my motivation for making online art 🙃

[cleverclovers]

I'm Parker, Shady, Clover, Teej, whatever you wish to call me. I'm a queer disabled artist on social security because stress makes my brain shut down like a computer trying to run windows 7 in this day and age--I have a seizure disorder previously thought to be epilepsy but currently under evaluation for another seizure disorder diagnosis, I'm autistic, I have hearing loss and mobility difficulties due to nerve connection issues relating to previously stated seizure disorder being untreated for most of my life.

I'm without a roommate, in an apartment I can barely afford, with no options to move to a cheaper place, and no way I can negotiate a lower rate. I previously had a roommate, this an easier time with life, only occasionally struggling, or wanting to reach beyond my means for a little comfort.

My entire check goes into rent and bills, it's not a big check by any means, the govt doesn't really want disabled people to live on their own, it seems like, and I wind up relying on what's left of my patreon after bills to try to make ends meet. Those ends include my three cats. One is elderly, the other two are comparatively very young. I cannot afford them right now, but rehoming or surrendering them is not an option. I know someone will come into my dm's or ask box and say that to me, so let me get this out of the way: the only way I can manage to get up every morning and find it in myself to work on art is those three cats.

As such, I'm willing to pick up as many commissions, over load myself with obligations, to make those boys lives as comfortable as possible. Right now I need to buy dry food, litter, and a new litterbox because one of the ones I have currently is difficult to clean and change. I also need help with people food, because I have medical dietary restrictions, and that's not cheap. I'm out of food stamps for the month and don't get more until the 8th. I can't just go to a food bank for that. I will continue to need assistance with their care until I can manage to get a housing voucher for section 8. That can take months.

My art rates are ridiculously low, my turn around rate without deadlines is less than stellar, I'm doing my best to keep my patreon up to date with my personal pieces, done to keep myself from hating my commission pieces and starting over on them all. However, if you have a specific deadline you need to meet, say Valentine's, or a special occasion, please let me know ahead of time. I do keep in touch throughout the process, sharing wips of the piece in the works so my clients can tell me if I need to make changes.

As for prices, right now:

10 usd for sketches (commission for LivingRadio used with permission)

20 USD for inks

50 usd for simple colors

90 for full color with a background (commission done for Ocarinaruler used with permission)

I take pa yp al (rosesinclover0914@gmail.com) , v3nmo or ca$happ (Rosesinclover) and have pa tr eon and ko-fi (also Rosesinclover) if you want to help long term and see the projects that almost never reach fruition, though I use ko-fi the least

These are the boys who help me live my life and cut down on my seizures. The orange one is Jerry (one and a half years old), the tuxedo is Loki (a nickname, his true name is very long. He's 7) and the brown tabby is Bean (17, a good sleepy boy in early renal failure--his kidneys are starting to go. There's nothing I can do about it that won't cost hundreds, so I'm just making sure he's comfortable until it's time)

This is my cat specific Amazon wishlist

Thank you for your time and consideration. I'd appreciate reblogs to increase the reach, and will consider price increases if enough people request it.

Sincerely, a very stressed out pet parent

Change log: put an updated full color image reference, noted which pieces were commissions and for whom they were done. Added kitty wishlist. Feb 16, 2024 Lowered simple color and colored pryces. Mar 10, 2024

[thedawningofthehour]

didn't you say you were making Draxum's house in the sims? Did you ever finish? :(

So I whined about this on my main blog, but I'm having issues with my computer. The power port, and I've noticed this for a while, gets extremely hot whenever I try to run anything more intensive than Powerwash Simulator, and the past few months it's become harder and harder to get it to charge. (I'm not overclocking or anything-I bought this computer for gaming and made sure it had the specs to run shit like my heavily modded Skyrim and Fallout, it should be able to run Sims) I contacted Acer about a repair and they quoted me over eight hundred dollars. The actual computer was about 1200-1300, for comparison. There's other issues with it as well-there's a chip on the screen that's really obvious on a white background, and they advertised that it would support a second hard drive, but it's never recognized the one I bought. The power port is the most grievous though, and power ports on laptops are notoriously hard to repair.

And this computer isn't old. I bought it last spring. Less than a year and a half-and I've barely been gaming on it because I've been writing this, so I spent over a thousand dollars on a turtles fanfiction machine essentially. (there's been other reasons, depression funk caused a complete disinterest in gaming and after so many mass shootings I've started feeling guilty whenever playing games with guns, but writing is mostly what I've been using this expensive gaming PC for) I only had the one-year warranty that came with the computer, but honestly I can't find it in myself to regret that too much because I have never once had a company actually honor a warranty. It's like safety deposits on apartments or insurance claims-they'll do everything they can to weasel out of doing what they're supposed to.

So back to your question-I currently don't trust my computer to run the Sims. Or anything else. And I can afford to buy another gaming PC right now, but it would be financially pretty irresponsible. I returned the tablet I bought to draw with, and I think I'm going to get one of those two-in-one laptop/tablets so I can use it for drawing and writing. Maybe I'll be able to run the Sims 4 on that-it doesn't have to run great, I use it mostly as a building simulator. Kind of sucks though, Crusader Kings 3 came out with another expansion pack and the new Cities Skylines is coming out this fall, plus I've been getting a hankering to play Skyrim again.

But enough about my computer woes, I do think I have some screenshots I could show...

First floor, I apparently took these during the first round of building because I made a lot of changes. The lab is way bigger now, and I have the rest of the house shell done. The blank space in the back right is where I was going to put in the multi-story room where the turtles find the weapons-which is probably the least completed part of the entire house because holy hell the building controls do not want to work with me.

But in the back left you can see Cass and Gale's rooms! :)

I do like how the main hallway turned out. I know it was mostly destroyed on Creation Day, but let's just say Draxum redid it in the same style. The middle picture, that's the little storage room that hides the door to the part of the house where Gale's room is. If you know the Sims you can tell where the secret door is.

And yes, I know the half-walls under the stairs look ridiculous, I've fixed it since then. I couldn't just extend the half-wall all the way back because it would delete the upper staircase, for some reason.

I'm pretty proud of how the living room is turning out. Could be a little bigger, but the symmetry of the bookshelves are just too perfect. (also the curved walls get fussy, FUCK CURVED WALLS) Needs some clutter on the mantle though.

The kitchen no longer looks like this, I moved around a lot of the pictures and added another layer of cabinets, because Draxum probably has like six sets of fine china he's received as gifts throughout the years and refuses to part with. I added more retro-looking décor, because the last time he remodeled this room was in the sixties and I wanted it to look a little old-fashioned. I also imagine he refuses to get an electric stove, saying his mystic wood-burning stove works just fine. I tried to work a pantry in, but it didn't really pan out. (lol) And the more I think about it, he probably has a legit larder somewhere in the basement, since Draxum is from a time before refrigeration and would have grown up storing food in underground cellars. (and he deffo has like several years worth of food stored away, he's pretty much a doomsday prepper)

This is also incidentally the layout of the kitchen at my old house, hence the weird octagon dining area. Except we had windows. With no curtains. In the woods. It was unsettling to cook at night.

Draxum's study is bigger now, and I think I added a fireplace? He absolutely has eight bazillion degrees and awards and he puts them ALL on his wall. He earned that shit, dammit.

His bedroom's nothing to write home about. It's comfortable, not luxurious. There's no electric lights because he prefers candlelight.

Just imagine that white bathroom counter stained with pink splotches from Draxum's hair dye.

I had BARELY done anything with the pool, but as you can see it is indeed a tank. Draxum was planning to keep a mutant or something in there.

I was actually in the process of redoing the entire greenery lol, but I think I did an okay job on 1.0. Not the mason jar lamps though, I'm not sure what I was thinking there.

Some pictures of Lab 1.0. The ooze-vine-thing looks terrible; I straight up haven't even started to recreate it in 2.0. I pushed back Draxum's alchemy area and gave him an actual medical bay in the back, which is where The Table would have been located.

That's mostly Gale's area on the left, I think it still broadly looks this way? I didn't put in stuff like the robotics table because it just looked silly-and besides, we're not actually playing this build. We know Galois only needs two hands and a welder to make a robot.

I will leave you off with a slightly more clutterfied Gale's room! Oh, but also, I GOT PURPLE CC CURTAINS FOR HIM. :D After I took this picture, but just know he has them now. He has no reason to have them because he does not have a window, but I'm happy for him.

[goldenfreddys]

september ‘04, cont.— american healthcare

Dr. David Miller’s office was situated in a dingy, hole-in-the-wall clinic downtown that practically oozed of quackery. The clinic was obviously created for the sole purpose of exploiting impoverished, desperate people who couldn't afford actual healthcare, Jeremy thought. Unfortunately, he was one of those people, and being scathingly self-aware could do very little to change it. He needed his terrible nightguard job, so he needed his brain halfway functional, and that meant getting his pills refilled before the withdrawal symptoms got too severe. At the very least, the clinic took drop-in appointments.

“Samuel Fitzgerald?”

He cringed as the man in the hallway beckoned him to another room. He figured by the white coat that this was the so-called medical professional that had been generously provided to him in the spirit of goodwill and philanthropy. He had large, rectangular glasses and a long face, which Jeremy figured would be enough discernable features to correctly identify him in the future.

Dr. Miller placed himself behind a cluttered desk with a dusty computer monitor in the classic, charming grayish beige that all technology seemed to come in before the year 2000. Facing the desk, there was a faux leather armchair with a visible slash in the upper corner of the upholstery. Besides that, some motivational posters were plastered on the walls.

Jeremy sat down and ambled through the motions of exchanging pleasantries, which the doctor kept graciously brief.

“Now let’s get right into the nitty gritty. Are you sexually active?”

“... No.”

Dr. Miller let out a quiet chuff, as if amused by his response.

“Do you smoke?”

“Sorta, but I’m- um, trying to quit.”

“Are you on any medications? If so, which ones?”

“Xanax, I guess. The uh, generic brand though. Can you- um, could you get my prescription renewed? That's actually- that's why I'm here. I've been taking it for, like, a long time now, and…”

“We can discuss that once we’re finished the screening process.” Miller took some sheets of paper from his folder and held one up, “Duck or rabbit?”

“Rabbit.”

“Great. How about this one?” he shuffled to the next paper, which was a printout of an Rorschach Inkblot. At this point, Jeremy had his answers for inkblot tests locked and loaded.

“Ghost.”

“And this?”

“Also a ghost.”

The doctor leaned in with an inquisitive smirk, “Do you believe in ghosts, Sam? Are you a superstitious guy?”

“I don’t know. I just think they're cool.”

“What's your relationship with your father like?”

“Not applicable.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Again, I-I need my meds refilled.”

“Why?”

“Because I can't stop taking them suddenly or I get jittery and spacey and I can't think, can't sleep, and my head hurts and I feel like throwing up all the time.”

“It says on your file that you have a family history of psychosis. Are you aware of this?”

“Being crazy has been running in our genetics since prehistoric times. Can I please—”

“Follow the yellow rabbit.”

“Get my… What?”

Dr. Miller held out what looked to be a pen topped with a small plastic bunny figurine. He slowly waved it from side to side.

“With your eyes. Trust the process.”

Jeremy obeyed, “You know, despite its- its clinical popularity, most members of the scientific community uh, they consider EMDR to be borderline pseudoscientific–”

“I can't help you if you don't let me, Sammy. At least try to keep an open mind.”

“I've had an open mind. I never skipped a session, I took my pills. I went on walks, I filled out worksheets, I read those short stories about kids who were quote-unquote just like me. All I got was this stupid benzo addiction.”

He took a shaky breath, still following the plastic bunny with his eyes.

“I’ve heard the buzzwords a million times: progress isn't linear. Grief doesn't always dull with time, it just gets easier to manage. It gets better, blah blah, etcetera. It's not like I chose to be like this! It's just- I’m- I’m not supposed to be here, it was supposed to be me- not Charlie, not Cass, it- it really, really should have been me.”

“And yet here you are.”

The doctor put down the pen then reached into his desk, shuffling around before pulling out a small, unlabeled bottle of pills.

Dr. Miller tossed the bottle to Jeremy with a grin, “They're not exactly your Xannies, but they're in the same family. Best I can do on short notice, but they should tide you over until I can getcha something better.”

Jeremy let out a heavy sigh of relief and crumpled over in the chair. Despite his deep embarrassment about crying in front of other people, a gross, wet sniffle escaped him.

Miller hummed approvingly, “Attaboy, have some damn catharsis. It’s good for the id.”

[luverofralts]

Arkhelios Adventures

"Luci, come hang out with me. I'm stuck in stupid Arkhelios and if I have to spend another minute listening to Grandma go on about planning for retirement, I just might snap."

Noelle looked pleadingly at her cousin, trying to look as sad as she possibly could. It had been effortless escaping the Helios lot that she would one day own, but escaping Arkhelios was another matter altogether. At least Luci lived in Arkhelios part time and had access to her computer, bedroom and makeup. While Noelle was stuck at her grandmother's house, she had access to none of those things and she was going stir crazy. Noelle was turning twelve soon and she begged her mother to let her stay home alone, but her mother wouldn't hear of it. Someone had to look after Mikel and Noelle wasn't responsible enough to watch him. Things would probably only worsen once her newest sibling was born. There was no way that Noelle was going to watch her half-demon siblings alone. As a human in a heavily demonic family, she had to look out for herself. 

"I can't, I have to practice," Luci replied. "The track meet is next month and the skating competition is two weeks away. If I don't practice now, I'll blow my chances for nationals this year."

Noelle scoffed. Luci was constantly on the move, running from sport to sport and competition to competition. There wasn't a weekend that she wasn't involved with at least one sport. It was a good thing that her father had money; Noelle knew from experience how expensive extracurriculars were and how hard it was to get a parent to pay for them.

"Get your dad to rig whatever event you're stressing over," Noelle suggested, earning a dirty look from her cousin. "Come hang out with me instead. We can flush Grandma's jewellery until the toilet breaks, she just got it fixed from last time. Or, even better, we could put sugar in the gas tank of her sports car! I'd love to see the look on that cow's face."

Luci laughed, rolling her eyes as she did.

"You're the worst, Nol. There's no way my dad could afford to fix the competition and there's no need. If I practice, first place is practically guaranteed, no money needed. It's what I like, just like senseless destruction seems to be your thing."

"There's nothing wrong with making things interesting," Noelle countered. "Things are interesting in Pleasantview and I manage just fine. It's just stupid Arkhelios and Grandma's dumb house. Why can't my mom leave us with someone in Pleasantview when she has to work? She's only married to the freaking devil, you'd think she would have money to pay someone else to look after her kids."

"I think things are interesting here," Luci protested. "I mean, my dad and Evren's house is nicer and on the beach, but there's still plenty to do in Arkhelios. There's the soccer team you could join if you want. Osbert is a really good coach and we usually win."

"Bleh, no thanks," Noelle scoffed, looking horrified at the idea. "I don't run unless I have to. My make up might get ruined."

"Well, we could see what Rien's up to," Luci suggested. "I'm sure she's helping Dad in the kitchen. You know how he gets this time of year."

Noelle's face immediately brightened at the thought.

"Is it maniacal baking day already? What do you think he's making? Cake? Cookies?"

Luci frowned.

"You shouldn't say things like that," she scolded. "It's not nice."

"It doesn't have to be nice if it's true. We all know why your dad freaks out and turns the house into a bakery this time of year."

Luciana frowned.

"If Ulyssa wasn't such a bitch, she would at least let him meet Georgiana. I mean we all know about her anyway. Why else would he be obsessively making birthday cakes on her birthday and dropping them off at the Durant house?"

"So there is cake?" Noelle asked. "Arkhelios isn't all that bad when it has gourmet cakes to eat."

"Oh my god, Nol. No wonder your mom abandons you here, you're feral. At least try to not upset my dad while you're here. You're too much like your mom sometimes. Maybe if you were nicer, your other mom or dad would have stuck around to raise you. Leave my dad alone and eat some cake before you scare off Aunt Lucy too."

With that, Luciana turned her back to her cousin and headed towards the rink in the yard to practice. Noelle stood stunned in silence. Luciana's words were harsh, but Theo was hardly the only Bellamy to say mean spirited things when provoked. Luciana was far more direct with her anger; it was something that Noelle respected her for. She could handle any anger directed at her and give it right back to her cousin. Luciana was just the kind of girl that Noelle could handle. The two could say horrible things to each other, spend ten minutes cooling down and then hang out happily together.

"This one's ready to go! Come box this up for me, Abe."

Roman admired his work. The Durants were going to love this year's offerings. Every year, Jorah donated Roman's baked goods to charitable causes. He did keep some items for his own family, but the vast majority went to fundraise for the orphans in Strangetown. On this day every year, Jorah would accept the baked goods, separate a cake or two for his family to share over dinner that night and send the rest off. It was sheer coincidence that this day also marked the occasion of Princess Georgiana's birthday and the annual gathering of the entire Durant family to celebrate. Whatever Jorah kept from the baked goods would grace the plate of Princess Georgiana herself and so Roman laboured to make his deserts high quality to satisfy her royal taste buds while also encouraging sales for the needy.

Roman frowned as he cracked another egg on the side of his new bowl.

"This could be the year you change things, Dad. There's an opportunity opening, one that could shift the family dynamics."

Roman jolted out of his focus on a bowl of flour to see his daughter watching him intently.

"Rien! You startled me. Hand me that hand towel, some vanilla spilled over here."

Out of all of his children, Adrienne was by far the quietest. No one saw her coming, or noticed her lurking in the shadows of the house, watching her family. She was quieter than even Too, an actual cat. Roman found the behaviour unsettling, but there was no correcting it. Adrienne was simply a quiet child, unlike most of her siblings. Nothing escaped her watchful eyes, and more often than not, Roman caught his daughter murmuring quietly to herself. She was his grandmother's spitting image behaviourally, though he never quite remembered Malika being quite as socially odd. Maybe his daughter would one day gain the social skills of his grandmother, but until then, Roman had resigned himself to being startled when Adrienne revealed herself.

"Rien, you really can't say things like that," he sighed. "It's a complicated situation, things aren't as easy as they seem to someone your age."

"The spirits wish you were more observant, Dad. There's so much that they want you to know. They want to get to know you, the same way they've gotten to know me."

"Honey, I don't understand all of that and I don't think I'd be any good at it," he replied with a small sigh. "My grandmother was the only one in our family with a connection to these spirits and sometimes I wonder if they really have your best interests at heart when they tell you things. Maybe you should talk with Aunt Wanda if she has the time. She might know more about the occult than I would. Or ask Adam's father the next time he comes to pick up Adam. Please? Just get a second opinion, that's all I ask."

Roman couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw his daughter give him the same horrifying look that Theo usually gave him on weekends home from school. The infamous "I know so much more than you and you don't even realize it" look. Adrienne didn't hold the glare for nearly as long as her brother did, but it felt just as patronizing.

"Sure," she agreed. "I'll do that, Dad. But if I do ask someone for their opinion, then it's only fair that you do the same. You ask someone you think would know about the spirit world and see what they say. Or better yet, why don't you try contacting the spirits themselves? You could borrow my tarot deck."

It was a fair idea, and one that Roman couldn't think of a way of refusing. It wouldn't hurt anything to take out his grandmother's tarot cards and see what happened. Probably nothing, knowing his luck, but if it was that important to his daughter, then Roman would give it a chance.

"Okay, we have a deal," he declared, stirring ingredients in his pot as he spoke. "Now why don't you come help me grease this pan so we can get these cookies in the oven?"

[saltiestcoconut]

aiyusa prompt: something involving ai wearing a maid dress <3 eg, link vrains cosplay event/working part time at a maid cafe/dressing up just for fun/etc

Thanks nonny for the prompt! It was super fun to write something I love maid outfits 😂

This was supposed to be edited and released a few days ago but bleh it be like that forgive me if some things seem a bit wonky I based everything off my memory of a video I watched a few weeks back and can't be bothered to rewatch

Everything aside I hope you enjoy~

"You should check your personal email," Ai suggested. While it wasn't unusual for Ai to backseat Yusaku's internet use, checking his email wasn't an activity Ai usually suggested. 

"Why? There's nothing there." 

"Just check it or I'll check for you." Ai threatened as he pointed at Yusaku’s computer screen.

Yusaku stared at Ai, a frown on his face as the two stared each other down. They both knew Ai wouldn't hesitate to take over the computer screen. 

"Fine, but I'm sending you to Kusanagi if I find out you've been messing around again."

Ai crossed his arms. "It all worked out in the end anyway. You were the hero you always wanted to be." 

Yusaku rolled his eyes but turned back to his computer as he ignored Ai. The sounds of typing and mouse clicking filled the room until Yusaku mused to himself, "Since when did I make reservations?" He glanced at Ai again, this time with a more baffled expression than a tense one. Ai whistled innocently as Yusaku opened the new mysterious email to read it in full. "Ai… I don't have time for a vacation." 

Ai placed his hands on his hips. "Yes, you do! Check the date, it's during summer vacation! You would officially be done with your first year of high school, you should celebrate with a nice vacation."

Yusaku looked sheepish. "Since I missed three months of school, I need to catch up…" 

"But the vacation is only three days long! It won't interfere with anything."

"But I don't have money…"

"Excuses! It's already paid for, just go!" 

"How?" 

Ai pushed his fingers together. "Don't worry about it. The money was obtained legally." And by legally, Ai meant that Akira Zaizen sent it willingly. After a few threats, a few Uno reverses, and a few promises, of course.

Yusaku's frown deepened, and his stare intensified, as if he was trying to see into Ai's past actions. Finally, his eyes slid back to the screen, and he relaxed. "I guess I'll take it. If anything happens in Link VRAINS— no, Duel Links, while I'm gone, we can just deal with it when I get back."

Ai waved a hand around. "Nothing's going to happen. The 'Action Duels!' event is still ongoing, Duel Links isn't going to change for at least another few days. Since you already finished the event, you have nothing to worry about."

"It's not about finishing the event, I need to figure out who— or what— runs Duel Links' events. If I can figure that out, then that would get me closer to figuring out Duel Links itself."

Ai leaned close to Yusaku, hands on his hips again. "You say all that, but I know you just wanted to have fun." 

"I—" 

"I'm your precious partner, you can't fool me! If you want to have fun, why don't you go on a vacation? Have you ever traveled outside of Den City?" 

Yusaku looked away and glared at the computer screen as if it could help him but refused to. "You're starting to sound like Zaizen or Kusanagi."

Ai jolted like a bolt of electricity ran through his head. "Don't compare me to those two…! Maybe you need an adult figure to constantly nag at you!" 

"Maybe," Yusaku said as he returned to the computer. 

Yusaku glanced at Ai as he deflated, head hung low and fingertips brushing the duel disk's surface. "Why are you so stubborn? Surely you can afford to relax a bit now?"

"I already said I would go."

Ai pumped his arms as he cheered. He would get Yusaku to have fun on their vacation, somehow.

#

Yusaku's arms were crossed the whole train ride. He had elected to sit at a window seat, duel disk pressing against the train’s wall that would make it difficult for Ai to pop out. However, even if Ai couldn't come out, he could still talk to him. 

"Are you still mad?" 

"Pissed." 

"But why? I don't see the big deal."

"You booked a love hotel! A love hotel! What the actual hell, Ai." 

Ai rolled his body as an attempt to roll his eyes. "I didn't take you to be such a macho man that you'd be embarrassed to be in a love hotel."

"It's not that! It's scandalous, Ai, only couples go there to… to you know…" Yusaku crossed his arms tighter around himself, too embarrassed to finish his thought.

"... Yusaku, are you a foreigner? Love hotels are cheaper, safer alternatives to regular hotels. I wasn't thinking of anything debaucherous when I booked the hotel." Admittedly, Ai did have something in mind, but Yusaku didn't have to know his plans until it was time to execute it. 

Yusaku still seemed upset, but he looked more pouty than angry, so Ai was confident he could still woo Yusaku. 

Once they arrived at the hotel, Yusaku was easily able to check in the hotel via the self-serve kiosk. Yusaku didn't know how draining travel would be until he finally stepped into his room. 

Yusaku half-heartedly inspected his room. A large window took up most of the right wall, a couch placed below the window. A long stand with several cabinets was pushed against the left wall, a large TV rested on its surface accompanied by a karaoke machine. The cabinets contained small vending machines that sold drinks and held the room's mini fridge and microwave. In front of the cabinets was a coffee table that was accessible from the couch pushed against the window. Next to the TV stand, a machine sat, one that Yusaku speculated to be a type of massage machine based on a wand with a ball embedded on the tip. 

On the opposite side of the room, the bed and two drawers occupied most of the room's space. One drawer had the room's phone and several catalogs on it while the other had a lamp. Another larger drawer occupied the space between the massage machine and the rest of the room. A massage chair occupied the space between the corner of the room and the window, which cycled back to the room entrance.

To the side of the entrance was a small hallway that led to the bathroom. One side was dedicated to sinks, with two sinks and a large mirror hung over both of them. Each sink was accompanied by toiletries appropriate for a man and a woman. The other side had separate rooms for the toilet and the bath, the bath taking up much more space due to its massive size. 

"Whoa! That bath might be big enough to comfortably accommodate my SOLtis form!" 

Yusaku jolted as if he had forgotten Ai was still around his wrist. "You don't have a SOLtis anymore," Yusaku said instead.

Yusaku eyed the bath in interest. He reached into the basin and plugged up the drain, then turned on the water to fill up the bath. 

"Oh! A bath! Good thinking, baths are so relaxing and so romantic, it's the perfect way to start off a vacation!" 

Unfortunately for Ai, Yusaku set him down at the television stand before gathering his pajamas and disappearing into the bathroom again. Ai couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment as he remembered a time where Yusaku would unabashedly change in front of him— even if at the time Yusaku didn’t believe Ai had sentience, and Ai wasn’t too serious about forming a relationship with his cold-hearted origin. Even if those days were long gone, Ai hoped one day Yusaku would bring him in the bath, and maybe if he asked nicely enough, that day would be some time during this vacation. 

For now, Ai activated the duel disk’s droid function, surprised Yusaku hadn’t removed that moderation yet. He successfully landed close enough to the room's phone, where several of the hotel's catalogs were also located. Ai casually flipped through the catalogs to decide what he should get Yusaku. 

Since Ai was small, ordering room service was a more difficult task than he anticipated, but he hoped it would be well worth the effort once he finally got all his requests in. Since Ai didn't have to satisfy any biological needs, all that was left for him to do was wait for Yusaku to finish his bath and hope he got out before the food got too cold. 

While both Yusaku and the hotel service took their precious time, Ai was able to remotely turn on the TV and entertain himself by watching a new soap opera he missed out on during his three month absence. Finally, after nearly half an hour of waiting, room service arrived, and he was able to execute his plan.

Ai picked this particular love hotel for a very specific reason— it was one of the first hotels to adopt a full SOLtis workforce for the sake of the anonymity love hotels are famous for. This allowed Ai to take over a SOLtis once the poor worker came close enough for Ai to transfer his data. With its own programming suppressed, Ai returned into the room while bringing in the things he ordered. 

Yusaku's katsu bowl dish went on the coffee table, and Ai swamped out the SOLtis' minimal uniform for the surprise he bought. By the time he finished his preparations, Yusaku had been in the bath long enough for Ai to think he fell asleep. 

Ai tapped two curled fingers against the bathroom door. "Yusaku? Are you dead?" 

The sound of water splashes after a short pause. "No." 

"Did Yusaku-chan fall asleep in the bath? How cute~"

"Be quiet." Water splashed around some more, then the faint sound of water draining. Ai moved away from the door but remained standing in the hallway.

Finally, Yusaku got out of the bathroom, towel casually slung over his shoulder and fully dressed in his pajamas. He quickly ran his eyes over Ai, Ai himself quickly jutting out his hips and lightly pressing one fingertip against his lips. 

On Ai's head was a headband with poofy white lace accompanied by two small black ribbons on either side of the headband. A detached collar rested on Ai's throat, held closed by an ascot that did nothing to hide the SOLtis diamond. The apron's frilly straps framed both sides of the detachable collar, the dress' puffy sleeves spilled from underneath the straps. Black bows were attached to the area where the apron's straps met the torso, a band made to resemble a small laced corset, giving way to the apron's protective covering. The dress had a sweetheart neckline, topped with white frills with a black ribbon along the center of the frilla. The dip of the neckline was adorned with a black bow. The dress was pulled tightly over Ai's body, as if the dress was a smaller size.

Ai's other hand lifted up the dress' skirt, showing off the ruffles hidden underneath. Underneath the skirt, Ai wore knee-high socks, the seams clamped tightly just above his knees adorned with white frills and black ribbons accompanied by a black bow. 

"Welcome back, master~" 

Yusaku stared at him. "Ai, no." 

"Why not?" Ai whined as Yusaku gently nudged Ai to the side so he could pass. 

Ai turned to face Yusaku's pointer finger standing tall and proud. "One, I'm not in the mood to play. I'm not used to traveling long distances, so I want to relax and try to get some sleep."

Ai deflated. He couldn't argue against Yusaku getting more sleep, and he knew it. 

A second finger went up. "Two, that SOLtis belongs to the hotel, please return it, I don't want you to get in trouble over something that can be avoided."

Ai crossed his arms, Yusaku was worried about him and he knew it. Still, he wanted to take advantage of at least some of the benefits of staying at a love hotel. 

Then Yusaku's ring finger. "Three, I don't want to be responsible for anything that might happen to that SOLtis, and that outfit."

Ai covered his mouth with a hand and giggled mischievously. "Oh? Am I imagining things, or is Yusaku-chan perverted now?" 

Yusaku's face turned from slightly annoyed to a cross between a pout and a frown. "I— no— you're the one who—"

Ai squealed and tugged Yusaku into a hug and peppered small kisses on his cheek. Ai now understood why humans were so obsessed over kisses, it was a gratifying way of expressing his love. "Don't worry about the dress, I bought it, but I wasn't planning on doing anything anyway. You have nothing to worry about." 

Yusaku waited until Ai was done rubbing their cheeks together and pulled away. "Then why the dress?" 

"Yusaku, you're perverted. Come, come," Ai said as he tugged on a baffled Yusaku and sat him on the room's couch. He dragged the room's table closer to Yusaku, the food ready to eat. 

"Oh, the food's cold," Ai pouted and opened the cabinets. "Where is the microwave…" 

"It's fine, I don't mind it cold." 

Ai turned his head. "Are you sure— NO! Stop!" 

Yusaku jolted and lowered the katsu piece he was about to eat. Ai launched himself to the couch with enough force to rattle it. "Ai! Calm down," Yusaku scolded, but Ai didn't listen as he plucked the chopsticks from Yusaku's hand. 

"Allow me to feed you, master. What kind of maid would I be if I couldn't even feed my master?" Ai asked as he pressed a curled finger against his lips and batted his eyelashes at Yusaku. His gesture was meant to be accompanied by shoujo sparkles and a rosy background with large iridescent bubbles, but the chopsticks still in his grasp might have ruined the image. 

Yusaku, however, in all his cold-hearted glory was immune. "This again? No, it's fine, I can feed myself."

"But I want to! Besides, you said you were tired, which means you're too tired to feed yourself." 

Yusaku's eyebrow furrowed as he stared at Ai. "That makes no sense. It's fine, Ai." A pause, then a sigh as he leaned back slightly. "Fine, you can feed me." 

Ai cheered and picked up the piece of katsu Yusaku abandoned earlier. "Say aa."

Yusaku did not say "aa," but he did eat the katsu when Ai brought it close to his mouth. He's pouting again, eyebrows locked in his signature frown. 

"Aww Yusaku-chan you look so cute when you're grumpy like that. How's the food?" 

"Alright. I've had better leftovers."

"I'll be sure to leave a one star review for you master." 

"You will not." 

"Yes master." 

Ai gradually fed Yusaku the bowl until Yusaku held up a hand. 

"Just one more bite, master, you're almost done." 

Yusaku ignored Ai's request and instead pulled at Ai's ascot, which easily came undone. He froze as Yusaku clenched the cloth strands together and tugged him to crush their lips together. 

Yusaku's fist was a heavy weight against Ai's throat, preventing an easy escape. Ai looped his arms around Yusaku so that his hands met at the base of his back. 

Even if they had kissed plenty of times, nothing could prepare him for the pleasure of being able to properly return those kisses. To feel Yusaku's lips pressed against his own, to cradle his head in his hand and entangle his fingers in his short hair. Ai slipped his tongue past Yusaku's lips and he let out a surprised hum. 

Yusaku placed his other hand on Ai's shoulder and pushed down his sleeve as he moved closer. Ai briefly thought about teasing Yusaku but decided against it as that would mean stopping the kiss to speak.

The kiss didn't last much longer as Yusaku pulled back and released his hold on Ai's clothes. "I'm going to sleep now. Return that SOLtis to the hotel already." 

Fans working on overdrive but still feeling heated, Ai stood with automatic stiff movements, embodying the robotic nature he was supposed to be. While Yusaku wandered off, Ai put away the leftovers and replaced his maid dress with the SOLtis' clothing, then relinquished control over the captured SOLtis, which returned to work without a fuss. 

#

On the journey back to Den City, Yusaku was in a much better mood as he leaned against the train wall, his duel disk arm slung over his abdomen.

This time, however, Ai was in a worse mood than he was at the start. "Well, that wasn't much of a vacation at all!"

Yusaku blinked down at him. "It was relaxing."

"We only went out for one day! And it wasn't even a full day either, I had to spend the first half of it begging!"

"But we went out." Yusaku frowned. "Didn't you have fun? I thought the local shrines were pretty." 

"You worked almost the entire time!" 

"At my own pace, with no outside interference." 

"No! You're supposed to go out and eat to your heart's content on vacations!"

"If that's your standard of a vacation, then it's not a very good one." 

Ai crossed his arms. "Your standard is even worse! You're not supposed to work on vacation!"

"It's a shame about that maid dress. What even happened to it?" 

Ai brightened immediately. "I put it with the rest of your clothes! I got it in your size so you can wear it whenever you want~" 

Yusaku made a slightly disturbed face. "I'm not wearing that." 

"Oh, which reminds me." Ai sunk into the duel disk and popped back out arms raised high, wearing a miniature version of the maid dress. "Tada! I made a small version of it for your viewing pleasure." 

Yusaku looked away with a bored expression. "Thanks."

"Hey! Pay more attention to me! I worked hard making this for you!" 

[sage-nebula]

I love technology so, so, so much, and I think it's so, so, so important.

I think that, in the age of the climate crisis and of Tech Bros™ being Like That, there can sometimes be this thought that technology is a bad thing. That our desire to keep innovating is destroying the planet, destroying humanity, destroying life. And to some degree I can understand that. Vehicles that run on oil add to the pollution in the air. Factories, too, add to pollution. As much as clean energy sources are readily available, governments and corporations all around the world refuse to use those energy sources because big oil lobbyists don't want to lose out on their revenue. It can be easy to think technology is the problem.

But I really don't see it that way. I can't see it that way, because I look at all we can accomplish with technology—and all that we have accomplished with it—and I think it's just amazing.

I've made lifelong friends thanks to the internet. Thanks to computers that allowed me to connect with people all around the world, I've made friends who have helped me through some truly dark periods in my life. I was able to use email to get in touch with my father so that he could help me escape my abusive biological mother.

Technological innovation has made it possible for so many lives to be saved through modern medicine. Pacemakers can keep people's hearts beating regularly. Ventilators can breathe for them. On a less drastic scale, other medical devices can greatly improve someone's quality of life, whether it's through prosthetics or other mobility aids, including electric scooters and wheelchairs.

Screen readers help vision-impaired people browse the internet. Cochlear implants and other hearing aids help hard of hearing or Deaf people interact with the speaking world around them, too.

Cars and airplanes can help people reach family members or friends so, so many miles away from them. If you have family in another country and you need to get to them quickly because of an emergency, you can do so.

Of course, nothing is perfect. Technology is expensive. We live in a capitalist hellscape, so even when there are medical innovations that could save someone's life, they can't always afford it. (At least in the States; other countries have the grace of standardized health care.) And again, there is a huge problem with vehicles and factories that continue to use energy sources that cause pollution. These are problems that we need to find a way to tackle head on, though it's extremely difficult when you're just one person facing an entire industry that lobbies the government.

But technology itself is not to blame here. Technology enriches and saves lives. And I imagine it will only continue to do so. Yeah, there are definitely things being developed that aren't so great. Robot dogs used by police are one of them. Facial recognition software and virtual assistants that record your every word to harvest your data and turn you into a product are another. But I think of a world where technology can make it even easier for us to be brought together—where life can be made easier for those who need it to be. If we could get to a stage where things were automated so that we could live our lives for the purpose of thriving rather than just surviving, if we could find a way to advance medical science so that those of us who have lungs that were ruined by parents smoking cigarettes around us in enclosed spaces for years and years could be given a way to breathe more easily . . .

I live my whole life surrounded by tech. I've worked in tech support for going on fourteen years, I'm constantly on my computer or phone or playing video games when at home. So obviously, I'm biased. But I just think that scientific and technological innovation has done so many insanely wonderful things, and will continue to do even more. The problem is not with machines or technology, but rather with the fuel sources used to run them—and, more to the point, the industries and governments that refuse to make the switch to clean energy even when the option is right there, ready to go whenever.

[thegodthief]

The hardest thing to do is to update the website theme for Noxporium, really. I am not a designer and it shows, and I am very concerned that design choices that makes sense to me will anger search engine algorithms or worse, make the site unusable for folks using visual aids.

A long time ago there was a musician who made his music available for free but only if downloaded directly from his website. His website was beautiful. Javascript and Shockwave Flash had just been unleashed upon the naïve masses and there wasn't a single static anything to be had once the site loaded.

But first, it had to load.

And then, it had to run.

And after that, you had to navigate through the digital forests and digital caves to the digital clearing where a disembodied voice told you to click on the flickering digital fire to download ONE of the twelve-track album. After that download finished, you would be sent along another path to reach the next track.

So beautiful.

It triggered the heat alarms on my struggling netbook every time and I couldn't finish the first track download before the system shut down.

I emailed him after watching my netbook shut down for the fifth time after five attempts, explained that the beautiful artistry of the website was causing a thermal issue, and asked if it was possible to step through a less intense version, text only version, or if it was possible to even purchase the entire album in one shot without having to go through the website experience.

I thought the music was worth paying for with cash as I had access to a few of the tracks already and liked them and so was glad to pay.

No, the artist responded. The website experience was integral to the enjoyment of the audio and by the way where did I get the unauthorized tracks from because if I don't tell he's gonna sue me for infringement and if I do tell, he won't sue me but he's gonna sue the person I got the music from.

Naïve as I was, I responded. I told him that I would not divulge my contacts, but, here's the point, I WANTED TO GIVE HIM MONEY FOR HIS MUSIC. But first, the music had to be accessible. Wouldn't he at least consider an accessible version of his website for those that can't see the pretty pictures?

I have forgotten his name. I have forgotten his music. I have forgotten almost everything about this encounter except his response: "People that can't perceive all of my art don't deserve to have any of my art. If you can't afford a better computer that can run my website, then you don't deserve my music because you don't have the culture to appreciate it. If you can't see my website, then you can't see how my music is supposed to be approached. I don't make music for cripples."

Needless to say, not only have I never given him money for his music, but I deleted the tracks and notified the person I got the tracks from. I don't know if he rose to relevance in his corner of the world, because he has been all but scrubbed from mine.

When I made Noxporium, his words came to mind. I wanted the site to be a rebuttal to him. Pleasing to look at, but not to the point where the decorations overwhelmed the text. Easy to navigate with color shifts to highlight, but that color would NOT be required to navigate. Content that would be flagged properly as content so screen readers would not suddenly announce HTML code in the middle of a paragraph. And crucially, the site had to be parsable in a plain-text window.

I found that with the current theme, but I had to tweak it a bit to get the right fonts but that tweak is now broken. The current theme was the Hot Shit™ nine years ago. Because reasons, I need to replace that theme soon.

But for all the whizbangs and doodads and blinken-sparkle-thingies that even the cheapest of current smartphones can successfully load, I still want the site to be accessible. And I want the site to be pleasant. And while I can do the former to a passing degree, I have no idea how to do the latter.

But I tell you what I certainly do: I read cards for everyone. If there is a feature on Noxporium (or on my main blog for that matter) that is not working for you, that you can't access, that is causing problems with your aids please let me know and I will fix it.

I want to make you as comfortable as possible before my cards rip your ego to shreds.

[17caratssi]

Wonwoo! Will you stay

Jeon Wonwoo! A short series pt one | two | three | four

Lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub! It was so close AHHH! That was a bold move! I can't believe he didn't throw me off!!

You're over the moon for the rest of the day. You have been under the weather for some days, and your parents are worried about it. Seeing you like this, they feel at ease.

You begin to anticipate tomorrow. Will your relationship with Wonwoo turn for the better? This is what makes school exciting!

However, Wonwoo feigns ignorance whenever you try to have a conversation with him. It goes on for another two days, and he still has nothing to say to you.

Not to mention, Somi and Umji also avoid talking about him during the break. They never answer your questions regarding Wonwoo, and it put you into a dispiriting mood again.

In the aftermath, you lose concentration during the computer class. In fact, your head is full of him. Your two best friends give you hints about Wonwoo's matter, but they're just superficial.

My mind is a mess.

After the class, you block Wonwoo's seatmate's path and begin questioning- more like interrogating.

"Tell me, is there any problem Wonwoo is having these days?"

Kihyun averts from your scrutiny. He refuses to talk.

"Come on, tell me," you persuade him into confessing. As a seatmate, he must know a tiny bit about Wonwoo. "I won't tell him that it's you who said to me. Sounds good?"

"He's not stupid,"

That's very true. Hmm...

"I will bear the responsibility. Just spill it," you convince him. This time, you're sure you'll get to the matter.

Kihyun sighs.

"A few third-year students have been picking up fights with him. I think Wonwoo was triggered by something they said. By the way, I remind you of a thing,"

"You shouldn't be near to him. You know that he's a scholarship boy, right? There's an unspoken rule here in Sejong High..."

That's your wake-up call. No wonder Wonwoo calls you 'stuck-up rich kid', and now you realize that you might've looked down on him, unintentionally.

He was right. I'm a stuck-up rich kid with no shame.

Although Kihyun tells you all that, you're still on the surface. What has possibly put him off at that time? You want to know more.

As you walk to the cafeteria, Somi and Umji are busy talking about the former's boyfriend.

"My boyfriend's birthday is coming but I don't know what to give him," Somi sounds helpless as she snakes her arms around yours and Umji's.

You don't put your focus on her, so you don't reply.

Umji thinks for a while before sharing her idea. "Your boyfriend is rich enough to buy everything so what if you bake him something? That'd be rather special- at least for me,"

They never stop afterwards. It amuses you that the two has yet to have their topics exhausted. They keep going on!

After getting the snack, the three of you is about to return to class but is stopped by the crowd. They run toward the field.

"The new kid is fighting with a senior!"

"Damn, he's got gut!"

Somi and Umji simultaneously peek at your expression. "Wonwoo? Hey Y/N! Oh my god, don't tell me-"

"Wait for us, Y/N!"

Half of the first-year students watch the fray. Some are cheering for the guy senior, and you panic.

Your imagination runs wild. As much as you hate seeing a fight erupts, you hope Wonwoo isn't the one receiving the senior's blow!

Your small frame slips easily through the throng, and the situation shocks you.

Umji manages to catch you while Somi's being pulled away by her boyfriend. "We better go now!" she gives you a quick pull but you're not moving an inch. She frantically observes the situation and heaves a sigh at the sight of the security.

"WHAT ALL OF YOU DOING HERE?" The security runs faster to the crowd and breaks off the fight. Wonwoo huffs and puffs; showing his dissatisfaction toward the guy he had punched.

The senior has a gang; they help him up. Wonwoo is the one left unattended since he's alone. You watch him from the side and is on the horns of a dilemma.

You know it's no good if you go help Wonwoo now with all the attention directed to him.

Out of the blue, one of the seniors speaks up. "Apologize to Juwon and we'll act nothing happened just now," It's obvious he's intended to embarrass Wonwoo in front of many students.

He smirks when his words hit the target. Mutterings are loud in the air as the audiences express their opinions.

"Wonwoo, don't apologize!" you yell. Your voice was loud enough for the circle to pay heed to you. You cower as a response and Umji slaps your arm.

The senior snickers and voices out again."Boy, you better give in to him. His father is a person you couldn't afford to offend,"

Juwon slouches against his friend and finally says something at his friends. "If he doesn't want to admit defeat, we can take this matter to the teachers. Let's see if this parasite can win against me," he sneers.

The involved parties are eventually called to the office. You insist to accompany Wonwoo and he has nothing to say about it.

"I'm on your side, Wonwoo! Don't be scared of them. If anything happens, I'll protect you!" your fingers clench and you look up to Wonwoo who's quiet since the row had ended. Little did you know, he takes a quick glance right after you turn your head.

'Just what this meek creature can do...'

-

The time in the office feels tedious. Wonwoo hates the rich kids that are only good at blabbering and settle everything with their parent's standings.

"I won't call my parents just for this trivial matter but I have one condition,"

The teachers think the senior makes a great deal with Wonwoo, and since they don't want to be visited by the superior parents they push him to seize the offer.

You and Wonwoo leave the place as soon as they agreed with the deal. Wonwoo remains silent.

"They're so childish! That's more like punishment," you huff with your arms crossed. You can't believe the senior wants Wonwoo to be the ball boy for the basketball club.

"Why do you like to intervene?"

"Huh?" you stutter. This is the first time you get to hear his voice today.

"To be honest, I don't know,' you shrug. Your body and mind seem to be unallied when it comes to him. Even the latter warns you to not get entangled with other's business, the former just ignores and go with it.

"By the way, don't you think the senior is more stuck-up than me?" You ask excitedly as you lean to him and wait for his response. You want to change the impression he has about you.

Wonwoo takes in the view in front of him as he faces your question. Surprisingly, he feels less irritated by it.

He slows down his walking pace as he takes notice of yours. Wonwoo holds his hands at his back and fakes a thought.

After enjoying the hopefulness in your eyes, he gives the answer. "It seems like it," he says.

Due to the revelation from Wonwoo himself, you cover your mouth in excitement. Wonwoo watches as you turn tomato from his word and walks ahead.

In a hurry, you ask. "So you'll naturally sign up with the basketball club?" He raises his shoulder slightly and then nods.

Your heart soars louder and unintentionally, it echoes across the hallway. "Got it! I'm coming too!"

Since then, your life has revolved around Wonwoo. Occasionally, he would ask for personal spaces, and even though his changes are almost negligible, you don't mind.

Being around him the whole day is fun. You get to know his habits, his favourite food and drink, or basically all about him. Not, you do seem like an ordinary girl chasing after a guy.

Wonwoo, on the other hand, feels like he has a friend. He ghosts you daily, but your presence fills a spot next to him.

The two of you get accepted into the basketball club. Every Tuesday, Wonwoo will stay at school for two hours to be the ball boy. Not that everyone tries to be silent about it, but there's this girl who keeps waiting for the guy.

She's pretty, and her hair compliments her exquisite, doll-like features.

She never pays attention to other guys as if her eyes are glued to the ball boy. The green-eyed seniors want to embarrass Wonwoo even more because of that.

"Hey ball boy, the bottles are empty. Refill them!" the senior who took Wonwo's punches shouts. You quickly get up and help Wonwoo. "Let me help!"

Wonwoo lets you take 2 bottles as he carries the other 6. "Go home after we go back,"

"Why? I want to stay with you,"

Wonwoo has no idea whether you intended to flirt with him or casually announced that, but surely, he is flustered.

He regains composure and gives a response.

"What a dimwit," the seniors are gawking at you, and you overlook that?

He wishes he could deliver that very sentence, but he may sound jealous. Well, I'm not.

"I'm here to protect you, didn't I say that before? So, stop pushing me away cuz I won't leave you."

You don't realize that your attendance by Wonwoo's side just creates another problem for him. His workload increases by tenfold due to the green-eyed seniors.

Once the game is over, Wonwoo fulfils his duty and cleans the court. In the meantime, you listen to songs on the bench.

Wonwoo has done a lot of work and this is one nothing to him. He finishes just when everyone exits the place. He thinks that you might have returned home. You aren't there when he checks out the place you've been sitting at.

Only when he walks out the hall that he accidentally eavesdrops on the conversation between you and the seniors.

He could guess the topic and he looks at the corner. If he steps just a bit forward, they will see him. And he does that.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he then presents himself.

"Just say no if you don't want to be his girlfriend. Don't waste your time,"

Enlightened, you turn the senior down and run to Wonwoo. You complain at how bad his proposal was and Wonwoo chuckles.

"What do you do at the weekend?" as you wait for your chauffeur, you build a conversation with him.

Wonwoo isn't a person to be so friendly with someone. He thinks for a while as he contemplates to answer the question.

"Study in the library,"

Wonwoo is a smart student, and his answer doesn't come off as a surprise to you. "I've never been to a library before. I meant in this area but which one do you frequent?"

There are only two libraries in the area, and Wonwoo has only been to the small one since it's closer.

"Ooh, OK then." swiftly, you take a note of it. Just right after that, you see your family car drifts into the parking lot. "Oh! My car's here. I have to go now." you wave at him in a distance and shout. "Don't stay too long under the sunlight! Bye-bye!" then you disappear into the car.

When you arrive at the library on Saturday, you quickly scan the area for him. Lucky you the place is just up to your energy to find him.

You stride from one isle to another. It's probably the physics section when you find a familiar back.

"Hey," you whisper from the back. Wonwoo is so immersed in his reading and you bet he wouldn't have noticed you if you hadn't appeared before him after that call.

With a cheeky smile, you say. "Let's go out,"

He examines the surroundings and realizes that you come alone. "What are you doing here?" his volume is practically below scolding to avoid making a fuss in the quiet place.

"You ask too much! Come on," You jog to his side and help him pack his stuff.

"I only ask once, and I did not agree to you,"

Not bringing too many necessities, you wind up less than a minute. "Shh... Just come with me, will you?"

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

If you like this story, you might as well check out the others here !

[darkacademicfrom2021]

The Dark Team (part 13)

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(Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87, @the-departed-potato, @jesuswasnotawhiteman, @idontknow296, @beksib, @spythoschei, @geekwritersworld, @whatafuckingdumbass, @mysticunicorn7 @shadowolf993 @toe-vind-ek-jou @joscelyn02, @t00-pi, @irwxnhugsx )

Warnings: creepy man, hungover (alcohol mentions), abduction mentions.

Chirping birds woke you up as the light hit your face. It was a slightly sunny morning, you could see. A cold one, too. Your head ached; yesterday’s wine was stronger than you’d think. You remembered very little, and the hangover weighed on your feet as you tried to stand up. Soon, that weight redistributed up to your head, dizziness almost throwing you back in bed.

With much more effort than before, you got up and walked slowly to the kitchen, glancing around. Last night, a sticky kid fell asleep on the doorframe. You chuckled and decided to not wake him up. Loki was nowhere to be found; must be sleeping in his own room, if he had one by then.

An ibuprofen and some cold water later, you checked the time. It was so early; six in the morning. You decided to get working already; maybe someone on the team was awake. If not, you could at least take things off your to-do list for the day and get time free at noon to play videogames with Peter, or help him with that Lego Stark Tower he has been trying to build for almost two weeks now. A nice walk in the park to get some fresh air until some coffee shop opened; that’s what you needed.

The streets were emptier than you’d imagine, and then you realized it was saturday. Peeping in, a coffee shop next block was already opening, and people were lining up to get in. You made sure to have brought money and a laptop with you, and as you reached your pockets you realized you had your suit on, under normal clothes. Well, at least I’m prepared for anything now. Even a sunday morning in a lovely coffee shop, you thought, laughing to yourself. If Tony saw you like this, he’d recall that word he says you inherited from him. Paranoid. But no, Stark, I’m just hungover. Good to know your first instinct once you get up off bed is to suit up. Tony'd be proud. And a little disappointed, too.

You got a table far from the window, wall behind your back making sure nobody could eye your laptop. Once you were settled in and your coffee was getting cold, you started working. You were so glad you were out of the public eye, so you could afford yourself all of these outside activities. Sounded stupid, but if you were to have dinner with Sam, or Steve, or Thor, you’d have to also deal with paparazzis all night long. Actually, in dining out with Thor, paparazzis would be the least of your problems.

“Hey”, greeted Bucky from the other line. “It’s so early, what are you doing up?”.

“Buck, it’s already ten”.

“Oh”, he said, and you heard a sliding curtain by his side. “Oh, there it is. Sunlight”.

“Why are your times all twisted?”.

“We stayed up until five”.

“Doing what?”.

“Let’s say the mini bar was not so mini”.

“Oh my God”, you laughed, and checked for your work on the laptop. “At this point, I think the only one who didn’t get drunk last night is Spidey. Ah. Listen, I’ve arranged today’s plan, and it has to go right or else you can get abducted again. And we don’t want that, okay?”.

“I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do now. Didn’t we already get the stick?”.

“That’s the point, there’s more… you know, bottles hanging around” you lowered your voice. The coffee shop was almost empty, but just in case, you kept it under your breath. “That’s why you gotta get into Hydra’s last base again. Do not go alone”.

You instructed Bucky and then he tried his best to put you on speaker to the rest of the team, but failed. None of them could actually figure out how to do it; Steve was even less familiar with cell phones, and Thor… well, not even elaborating on him. The only Asgardian who seemed familiar enough with Midgard’s technologies was sleeping soundly on the compound. You had to explain the plan thoroughly another two times individually, and then finally hung up and got to work, sending them coordinates and turning off Hydra’s hacked security cameras.

Once they were already in, you had not much more to do. At least for a few hours, they’d be completely submerged in there, and your help wasn’t needed anymore. You still planned for some outcomes and didn’t even notice the man standing in front of you.

“Excus…”.

“OH... my God”, you gasped, taking yourself off your hyper focused state. The man chuckled. His teeth, yellow, seemed like he didn’t know anything about dental hygiene. His clothes were perfectly cleaned, though, in a tidy office-type suit; but his hair was hidden by a peaked cap that barely let you see his eye expressions. Very weird looking. Hard to read. Just now unemployed? Dressed like that to get attention? You frowned and closed all tabs, opening a fake account of email and some cheap online magazine. “What do you need?”.

“Can I sit here?”.

“No”.

He smiled weirdly and manspreaded in the chair you told him not to sit in. You sighed and rolled your eyes.

“What are you doing?”, he asked.

You ignore him and keep pretending to read your mails, eyeing how many people were in there too. It was getting fuller than before. If he wanted to steal your laptop he’d have to do it in front of all of these people, and cross the whole coffee shop. He wasn’t planning on stealing. You made a security copy of all the files anyways.

“You have pretty eyes”.

You ignored him again, but now understood his intentions. God, people could be so shameless sometimes. You literally told him to go away. You’ll repeat it, just in case he would actually listen this time.

“Go away”.

He chuckled and stayed in place.

“I just want to talk, sweetie”.

“Sure. I’m not interested”.

“You have a boyfriend?”.

“I have a very strong fist”.

He got closer, leaning on the table, and lowering his voice said “You’re working on the supersoldiers mission, yes?”.

You froze. Suddenly, the creepy man was a bigger threat than you’d anticipated. Your hand hovered over the gun in your pocket, holding strong eye contact with him.

“Who are you?”.

“What do you have in your pocket?”, he teased.

“Wanna find out?”, you threatened.

Looking over his shoulder, an all-too-familiar fifteen year old hid behind a pile of coffee cups from the bar counter, holding his breath to not laugh. You sighed and broke the tension.

“Funny. Very funny. I almost shoot you, you know”.

“That’s not a very good instinct”.

“Not an instinct, I truly wanted to shoot you”.

“You sure were, pancake”, he said as he transformed back into himself, still in those ugly clothes covering half his face. As he looked down to himself, he frowned and changed his clothes to an Asgardian armor. “But your mortal bullets would be no more than a caress to my skin”.

“Let’s give it a try, shall we?”, you cocked your gun, joking. He laughed, and Peter got increasingly nervous as you played with your toys in a public and safe place, surrounded by civilians. “Don’t worry, Pete, it’s fake”.

Peter sighed in relief as you clarified and put it back in your pocket, and Loki smirked, knowing perfectly well you just lied.

“Why don’t we get something to drink, too, mr. Loki?”.

“Yeah, whatever you want, kid”.

“Not a kid”.

“Apologies. Actually, can you order it? I’m afraid Midgardians don’t usually take kindly to my presence”, he asked. Peter nodded.

“I do, mr. Loki”.

"What?".

"Take it kindky".

Loki smiled and raised his eyebrows, a bit confused. Muttered an “I’m glad” and instructed him to get an americano, while you packed your laptop in the backpack.

"How's the incognito working out for you in your shiny armor?"

"Better than before. At least now I'm comfortable while getting the same bad looks I always get anyways".

"Shapeshifter can't manage to hide, how ironic", you said, giving him one of the new earbuds, with an attachable mic. "Since you have good strategy plans and you sort of know what you're doing, work with me".

"I thought we were already working together. You know, in this stupid thing called The Dark...".

"Yeah", you interrupted him, rolling your eyes once again. "From behind the scenes, I mean. This is so you can listen to whatever my earbud hears. Don't bite your tongue if you have any inputs, I'm running out of solutions".

Your phone rang again as you were getting up.

“Yes?”.

“It’s all gone to trash, y/n. We need a new plan, I can’t find Buck anywhere. What’s your backup?”, rushed Steve’s voice. It sounded like it was from a public service phone, and the static didn’t let you hear Steve’s surroundings. Loki looked at the floor, concentrating. He didn't find anything either, and was too far away to read his mind.

“Wait. What do you mean you can’t find him? You were supposed to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t get kidnapped again”, you said, opening your laptop again and looking for Bucky’s location. He didn’t have it on him.

“Yeah, that’s what I meant with ‘it’s all gone to trash’”.

“Okay, don’t freak out. Where are you?”.

“Hydra’s last base, top of the buil…”.

“Hold up, I have another incoming call”. You put him on hold and see who’s calling. It was Bucky, this time. You sigh out of relief. Peter watched you two concerned while approaching you with two coffee cups. You gestured to him to not talk, and Loki had started to type things in your computer. “Buck, where are you? What happened?”.

On the other side of the line, you didn’t get a specific answer. You heard muffled noises that you still couldn’t quite figure out what they meant, and more than one person behind the phone.

“Buck, you there?”, you asked once again. Bucky’s voice filled the silence with a heartrending scream of agony. You almost dropped your phone, and your heart beated to the speed of light. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. They have him. “Buck!”.

“Three hours”, called someone, probably one of the Hydra butchers. “You have three hours”.

“Three hours for what?!”, you tried to hold them on the line while tracing the call. It was from a specific coordinate, nobody could get there unless they teleported. Luckily, you had the perfect person for the job. Loki looked at you quizzically.

"Do we not have better people on it? Can't Stark go?".

You returned to Steve’s call, while thinking about some other alternative than taking you three there (including Peter). “They have Bucky. Location’s very far away from where we all are, so you try to get out of there and go to Asgard with Thor; they’ll try to kidnap you too, and Hydra’s resources are global. No, don’t argue, you screw up, now you do exactly as I say”.

“Do you think they’re the same that hijacked the ship on the first part of the mission?”, asked Loki once you cut the call.

“They might. We have to go get him, there's no other way. The rest of the team comes back tomorrow and they can't leave”.

“No, I have to go”, said Loki. “But I’m supposed to stay with you two and make sure you’re not endangered, and I’m sure if I leave you here all alone, you’ll try to come by your own means”.

“Which means”, you added, “if you take us with you, you can make sure we don’t endanger ourselves”.

“This is a terrible idea”.

“But the only one so far”, you convinced him. “Pete, feeling like going on a dangerous mission?”.

“Hell yeah!”, he said eagerly. Loki was not very fond of his enthusiasm.

“I can do this”, you assured him. “Do you trust me?”.

“Yes”. He didn’t hesitate. “But I don’t trust them. You two will stay behind me facing the danger, alright? Nothing of wanting to play heroes”.

“Got it. Let’s suit up, fellas. Bucky’s waiting”.

[thoroughlyskeptic]

“We both went to the London premiere but not together. We weren’t engaged and there was no reason to sort of show off to the world." USA Today November 18, 2014.

I'd like the Nannies to express their opinion about this please. With the full understanding that no person or persons on this side of the computer can control, sway or change Ben's mind or heart. That's not the point. The point is to understand what you believe is the psychological reasoning behind the decision to use that phrasing with his pregnant, soon to be fiancé and soon to be wife and soon to be mother of his child. According to People magazine and the Daily Mail, and those, including nannies, who said they have seen a Birth Certificate, Christopher Carlton Cumberbatch was born on June 1st.  Dislike it all you want, having a birthday makes it possible, and given human nature, likely that people will speculate on the date of conception, especially considering the facts, including the timing with regards to the Oscars and the shotgun* nature of the wedding. If it was a full term no problem pregnancy, 40 weeks, not under or over due, she was 2 and a half months pregnant when the above statement was made.

This story you nannies have built up, that Ben and Sophie have a true perfect love forever, that they never fight, how do you reconcile that with the whole unvarnished truth? Unless Sophie was totally gormless, she must have known she was pregnant. If Ben was dating her and truly in love, he would have known she was pregnant. They married three months later. He was in true love with the women he married, the woman he proposed to, whom he didn't mention by her name in interviews, and didn't want to walk down the red carpet to his movie premiere with the woman making his dreams come true, his dreams of being a father.

Now you are going to yell about things like privacy. That what he said was meant to protect Sophie and hide the pregnancy. I think anyone who is at all skeptical could answer that one. No one eager for privacy about their personal life talks to reporters, USA Today, or People magazine at all, let alone does a wedding dress spread in Vogue. I'm surprised it was in the print edition, and not the digital only. After all, maternity bridal gowns aren't really "en vogue". The long and short of it is that photo spread was well positioned and they managed to photograph her to look like she wasn't 5 1/2 months pregnant, perhaps to make that style of gown more in demand. Shotgun weddings tend to favor empire waists and lots of flounce to disguise the bump.

Now, I know the next question from the peanut gallery will be, why bring this up? They have stayed together, have two more kids together and it has been x and whatever years.

Here are several responses. Pick one or more in any combination.

1. Our feelings don't have to be right to be valid.

2. You have the option to object to our perfectly valid emotional reaction.

3. We have a right to block you from our page. You also have this right.

4. If you object to our opinions, you do not have to read our blogs or interact with us in anyway. If you are constantly feeling harassed because you see content from skeptics, BLOCK THEM, don't blame them! If the worker at Sea World handed you a poncho to protect yourself and you didn't use it, you can't blame the Shamu if you get splashed.(Sorry for the outdated and insensitive analogy but I wanted something easy to understand. I disagree whole hearted with the captivity of intelligent creatures be they aquatic or terrestrial mammals.)

5. We are valid in our own right as people. If you attack us on a personal level, we will defend ourselves and we have the right to do so.

6. As long as we do not interact with anyone,(i.e. Ben, Sophie, Karon, his management, etc) we can say whatever we want on our own blogs. The majority of us have never met him and don't want to. As far as we are concerned, Ben is an imaginary person that we are writing as a character for a long running D&D campaign.

7. However, the same does not apply to you. Many of you have gone out of your way to meet him. You believe that by sending hate to skeptics or doxxing them you will earn validation from him. I worry that some of you are on the brink and if he doesn't acknowledge you one time, or does something that you can't justify with your world view, one of you will snap. You think this about us, I know. But the nannies on the whole have much more emotional investment in Ben's personal life. (As a for instance, The skeptics call him Ben because at least one nanny has said that, "we don't know that he prefers that nickname so we should use his full name" another said "nicknames are for close friends and family and we aren't those, so we should call him by his full name or Mr. Cumberbatch." If Ben even has two thoughts about any skeptic or nanny(especially how they address him in blog posts) for the entire year I'd be surprised. Unless, of course, it when he has to think about you lot bothering him, stalking him, and generally making a nuisance of yourselves.

******

I also know you complain that the skeptics don't "love" Ben in every thing he does and don't always watch all his work. The gatekeeping within the fandom, not include how you discount and loathe the skeptics, is extreme. Fans must be all or nothing.

1. Not everyone has the money to participate fully, whether that is buying movies, theater tickets, merchandise or going to conventions to hear him speak. Disregarding fans based on their ability to participate, especially due to financial inability, is gatekeeping and it is the worst kind of gatekeeping. You are saying the only good fans are rich ones.

2. Generally the nannies viewpoint is Eurocentric as well. Some people have jobs, have children to raise, have other things that take priority over "being a fan". Being a fan requires time that poorer countries, less developed countries generally lack. Some countries censor the movies that are shown. Doctor Strange was not shown in the East the way it was in the west and unless you can afford to travel to another location,(Say the London Premiere that didn't quite happen and the nannies were upset because he didn't preform like a good little monkey in a suit for them?) you are made to feel left out by the uber fans.

3. Some people have emotional triggers. Ben's roles tend more towards the dramatic then comedic. Drama can deeply affect those who have experienced similar situations. He has been in movies dealing with Cancer, Childhood Abuse, Incest, Slavery, War, Pedophilia, have I missed any major triggers?

4. He is also in the MCU and the Hobbit movies which have flashing lights which makes them inaccessible to those who have seizures and migraines. Another oft used gatekeeping tactic in fandoms is the restriction of accessibility. In the US, there are compliancy laws for disabilities(although they aren't always obeyed) but smaller, poorer countries may not have accessible movie theaters. Fans with disabilities can not travel as easily as more abled fans. Smaller independent films Benedict made at the beginning of his career may not have captions or audio description or may be unafforable for those that have medical costs to consider.

5. There is also gender bias in the Cumberbatch fandom. One need only look at their chosen name, Cumberbitches. I can think of 15 more gender neutral terms off the top of my head but men and those who identify as male were inherently excluded from the fandom. I can think of ONE male fan. Maybe one that writes under his wife's account as to not get ridiculed. Because they would be ridiculed by the nannies, that is who they are, the "gatekeepers of the fandom", deciding who is worthy to be a Ben fan.

They have made fun of fans before. Not just skeptics. People they don't like or don't want in their little clique. So the majority of Ben's fans are middle aged rich white women. Not because that's who he's trying to reach as an audience but because that is who his uber fans allow to worship him.

If you are in need of examples of how out of control the uber fans are take the following for an example.

Someone did a nice tweet about other actors. It had nothing to do with Ben, although it did feature Tom Hiddleston and other Marvel actors. The ubers starting by saying Ben wasn't listed, then jumped into, well, a screenshot is worth a thousand words.

As they say, that escalated quickly...

*Shotgun Wedding is an American term for a marriage precipitated by the pregnancy. It comes from an American colloquialism, termed as such based on a stereotypical scenario in which the father of the pregnant bride-to-be threatens the reluctant groom with a shotgun in order to ensure that he follows through with the wedding.

[buddha-in-disguise]

I have so much to unpack from last night's Supergirl episode. Since it ends at 3am UK time, I often tweet a little before I finally fall asleep. But it is now midday, so here goes on further thoughts on it all. I know this is going to be pretty rambling but I hope it makes sense.

First. Up until this half of the season, not only did Supergirl consistently trend in the UK, so did other words associated with it, most notably Kara and Lena.

Since 5B began, the trending has failed to materialise in the UK. The hiatus of two those blocks almost immediately on top of each other hasn't helped, but it is still a salient point.

Now for the rest. I'm not even sure where to start, but I will try my best.

The opening scenes in the bar.

No Nia. No Kelly. Where were they? Nothing was even mentioned. It wouldn't have taken much to have Alex say if Kelly was working, or running late. Anything. Hell, they had Kelly/Dansen and Nia meet up in a bar scenario in 5A. Why suddenly are they not there? They wouldn't necessarily need dialogue (I mean, Kelly has barely had any since Crisis anyway, so what's new?)

Yet in walks William and suddenly Alex is teasing Kara about inviting him. Winn is also there saying, hey it's okay. You barely know the guy, you had a shitty relationship beforehand, but go ahead, date the dude.

We had a prime opportunity for the Danver sisters to do karaoke together. Instead it was with William. At the expense of sister time (so many would’ve loved the sisters singing together).

So much here is wrong for me as a viewer.

If you have a show about female empowerment, yet the lead of that show is having to be told by others that dating a guy she has barely shared any positive moments with, let alone any romantic feelings for beyond a really awkward moment the episode before; that is not empowering a woman.

All too often Supergirl (as the lead in the show) is looking at dating, but not being capable of making her own romantic choices without the interference from others around her.

The only one I can think of who didn't need that was S1 James and to some degree Adam. Kara showed interest, but ultimately made the decisions on her own. Kara also recognised that with Winn, they were better off as friends. Yet S2 began and inexplicably Kara and James had broken up, and the need for Kara to get told to go for it by others began.

Mon-El was extremely problematic. As is William. Both were allowed to lie, to treat women like garbage at times with immunity. Yet here is another double standard. Kara and the Superfriends lied to Lena for 3 years, yet Lena is a bad person for reacting. I will repeat what has been said I don't know how often about Lena's reaction. It isn't without issue in how she is dealing with it. She isn't evil, but she has handled it badly. Her own emotional trauma, that was partly unpacked in 5A helps though explain why she behaved as she has.Yet, Mon-El faced no consequences for his actions. William can be a complete nightmare in how he treated Kara in 5A, but all is suddenly forgotten about or forgiven because of the reset? That is a cop out if ever there was one.

This hypocrisy is what annoys me the most, and frankly it is misogynistic all too often.

I actually pity any woman who believes it is okay for a man to behave as many do towards Kara. The message it sends is awful. I know the men in my family would be horrified by the actions of these love interests. I know of some men watching the show who feel the same way.

As for Lena and Kara. The trauma both have faced has shaped them. Yet Kara appears unaffected by losing her world a second time when Earth 38 was destroyed. On losing Argo. Sure they got it back, but as a changed merged World. You expect us to believe having to watch an antimatter wave destroy those you love has no effect? That being trapped for months with only the other paragons and Lex didn't cause trauma, even with a positive outcome. That seeing Krypton destroyed the first time wasn’t traumatic enough. That’s not something that just goes away. Add in losing Jeremiah, losing Astra (again), the trauma Supergirl must face when she can’t rescue everyone, that has a lifelong impact.

Lena has shown her emotional trauma has also been lifelong, albeit in a different way. To dismiss the emotional abuse Lena has suffered to attack her actions now is pitiful. Winn even suggests to Kara, that in the future, Lena does come through this, and isn't evil personified some want to make her out to be.

Yet Mon-El gets excused, William gets excused. Ugh. I’m sick of the double standard.

So, let’s unpack this further. Kelly Olsen was in the military. She wasn't just trained, but had an active role in the army. She recounted an event at a checkpoint where she was serving in S4. So she had active service, and it was in that moment when Kelly decided she wanted to help others more.

Kelly also knows the stress of keeping an important part of your life secret. She then also fell in love with a woman, someone who was her Sergeant, who was then killed on patrol (another reason we know Kelly was on active duty). It devastated Kelly who hadn't even told James of her relationship.

Later, upon completing her service, Kelly became a psychologist specialising in trauma.

Nia is also someone facing problems. Not only did her becoming Dreamer lead to discord with her sister, as well as the tragic loss of her mother, she has problems with Brainy. Nia offered to be there for Kelly when she was upset over watching Alex get hurt, but we saw nothing to suggest they had a heart to heart. Azie posted something that suggested they filmed a scene that did this, but it never made it on the final edit. Instead, once again we had William taking screen time.

So anyway, the point of all this is: guess who is placed to actively help Lena and/or Kara with the problems?

Kelly. Who apparently doesn't know Kara is Supergirl yet. So while Kara wonders if she should tell William, she could have the exact same conversations with Alex, only substitute Kelly for William. Overall, the plot could easily be maintained, and the established cast get good solid and plausible screen time. She could even talk to Nia about it, yet doesn't.

Another thing I find hard to understand is why haven't they used the link of Kelly, working at Obsidian North, where they could establish the Leviathan link.

If Lex has made the connection to Leviathan, you are telling me, even without Brainy helping them, Alex, Nia, J'onn and Kara haven't made the same connection? C'mon. Two investigative journalists, one who has won the Pulitzer, two DEO trained agents, and if Kelly was brought in, someone military trained; aren't able to make the connections? J'onn has all those computer banks in the tower, and while none of them are Brainy or Winn, he can't use said computing power? Why bother having it, if they are only props in the background. They could even ask Lena to help, since she has shown willingness to work with them if the reasoning was good enough. Leviathan is someone she knows (after all, Lena could have her memories returned by J’onn too). She knows the danger Leviathan poses. She could use the leverage to still get the lens from Obsidian in a similar way to now, but through Kelly if needed.

Actually, if they are using the tower, how does J’onn afford to pay for all this? I can only assume being as old as he is, he made some great investments over time, allowing him to be independently wealthy? But again nothing really suggests this.

Oh as for Alex leaving the DEO, great. After all, she was the Director but hasn’t been able to lead the DEO in all that time. Let alone some of the morally grey areas the DEO skirted around all too often. Still, where will she get her income from? Does she get paid as part of J’onn’s PI firm? Kara barely makes rent and food costs (at least she says her apartment is rent controlled so wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise), so no way can she afford to help Alex out financially. Kelly might be able to support her, but again I cannot imagine it would be sustainable.

I feel like banging my head against a brick wall.

Onto Nia. I've said this a few times now, but here I go again. Back to William. I get the reason he came along in regards to Russell and so the Andrea connection. That story made sense. What hasn't made sense - William being used as a journalist, when Nia is right there! Nia has barely had any screen time, and virtually none as a journalist; you know - her actual job. I'm not sure what the minutes on screen ratio has been this season between the two, but it has felt completely slanted towards William as a viewer.

Instead of Kara and Nia investigating Leviathan after William was 'exposed' in 5A, now Nia is sidelined again, because they want Kara to team up with William to investigate Lex. Why do they need that journalistic pairing of William and Kara, when Nia - who as a Superhero, is better placed if danger from Lex occurs. But no, they're making it about Kara having to work with William because Lex threatened to kill him. Plus Nia was being mentored by Kara. Is she no longer being mentored by Kara? Are they a team? Even if the mentoring has ended, Nia is still not being utilised as a journalist. As the saying goes, make it make sense!

As for Lex. I love Jon Cryer. I’ve loved his version of Lex, but once again I feel Lena is just as well placed to take on his role in bringing down Leviathan. Why add another villain to this plot? We were told it was Leviathan who were the bad guys for this season, but once again we barely have a glimpse of them, but all the screen time on Lex, also to the detriment of Lena. We could be using this time to begin to mend Lena’s relationships with not only Kara, but the Superfriends. Instead we are getting bit and pieces, that seemingly bear little resemblance to the ‘fight for Lena’s soul’, or the ‘Stronger together, weaker apart’ tag lines the SG team used to market the series in 5A. (See attached photo). So again, this is frustrating for us to watch, as there is absolutely no cohesion to the storytelling. We know it is the ‘nothing is as it seems’ season, but to have no really coherent storylines so far this late on? It is baffling for me.

The sidelining of Nia and Kelly also brings to the fore the way the LGBTQ characters are being treated.

Dansen feels like a long lost legend from the mists of time. As I said earlier, there was a perfect opportunity for a Dansen scene in the opening part of the show, yet we might as well watch tumbleweeds fly past, for all the screen time Dansen or Nia have had. Well, rather haven’t had.

It seems we shouldn't ask for justification as to why William is on the show, but when we say the LGBTQ characters are being sidelined, that it doesn't matter one jot how diverse a cast can be; if said cast are not being given credible storylines or screentime, and if we say as much, we have to continually justify why that is the case. We get told to take what we are given. To insist on better, is oppressing white CIS men (in some cases CIS women have argued the same). This isn't oppressing anyone, but asking that if we get given relationships, given characters we want to invest in, they get the storylines to accomplish that. Supergirl is failing the LGBTQ audience so badly at the moment. So many have the same complaints it is ludicrous to suggest this is just one section of a fandom or trolls.

What I'm taking from all this at the moment is that 20% of the main viewing demographic as per GLAAD figures (and more besides, as I've seen straight viewers recognising the problems as well), have serious concerns with Supergirl.

But keep telling us we are overreacting. Or we should take what we are given. Or that we are delusional. After all, it is the kind of crap we have sprouted at us continually away from Supergirl, why shouldn't it be the case here.

I look at S4, heck even 5A, to what the show is doing now and it feels like an unmitigated disaster. Episodes are running out fast, so even if they increase Dansen, or Nia's screen time, it won't be enough to make up what has been lost. They're running out of time to give us a solid ending that ties up the mess they've created.

I really don’t know where this will end? CW Supergirl - do better. You have some phenomenal actors and actresses in your cast. Do them and your audience justice. Because right now you aren’t at all.

[cryptodailysun]

It's been more than 10 years since the inception of Bitcoin. Right now, there are almost 18k cryptocurrencies that offer a wide variety of services and technology based on blockchain and smart contracts. And one of the main supporters of this ecosystem has been the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency miners. What are Bitcoin and crypto mining? Unlike the traditional payment systems, Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies are protected by blockchain technology. Instead of centralized bank officials, the payments are automatically approved and dispatched by computers around the globe. Blockchain security is a rather technical topic, but in simple terms- mining crypto utilizes your PC power to protect the crypto network, while in return giving you a reward in Bitcoin or some other coin. In the beginning, mining crypto was rather hard, and it involved certain technical knowledge to set up the mining hardware and run the console programs. However, it's 2022 and nowadays there are much easier ways to mine various cryptocurrencies. Easy mining with GUI mining software GUI stands for graphical user interface, and it represents the environment similar to apps for everyday use- where everything is colorful, intuitive, and can be done with a few simple mouse clicks. It took several years for GUI mining software to develop and become well tested and useful. But here we are, presenting you the easiest Bitcoin and crypto mining software in 2022: Nicehash Nicehash has been around for quite some time and is absolutely dominating the GUI mining markets. In fact, Nicehash was the holy grail of GUI mining software until late 2017, when they lost around 70 million dollars in a hack. Still, they patched their security holes, paid their miners for all of the lost funds(although it took them a while), and are still the #1 choice for beginner crypto miners that prefer a graphical interface. Kryptex Kryptex is yet another strong GUI mining software. Although it's not as popular as Nicehash, it comes with notable features, such as payments over 10+ channels, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Visa/Master Card...(as a comparison, Nicehash supports only payments in Bitcoin). Furthermore, the Kryptex board has decreased the mining fee from 5% to 2%, so a further increase in the popularity of this mining software is rather expected. BetterHash BetterHash isn't as popular or as long in the game as the previous two, but was written by a team with vast experience in the computer hardware area, and is working rather well. They support payments in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Algorand, and a few more popular cryptocurrencies. Cudo Miner Cudo Miner is going strong since its inception. It may not be as easy to use or as intuitive as other mining apps above, but it does come with a pack of its own functions- most notably the ability to run it on Windows, Linux, and Mac(the other 3 apps from above can be used for Windows only). Can I make a profit while mining? The single most important motivation for crypto mining is indeed profit. However, as with any other market, the cryptocurrency market is volatile(and actually much more volatile than other markets). This is why you should be very careful and never invest money you can't afford to lose. But if you ask any crypto miner that has been in the game for at least a few years- they will confirm that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining can be very lucrative if done patiently. Another interesting way to earn by mining is to mine the coin that you think will be more expensive in the future. I recently wrote an article on how to mine Shiba Inu. The price of it has fallen dramatically over the last few months, but some see this as the opportunity to make money in the long term(buy low and sell high). Even if you don't want to mine Shiba Inu, it's a nice article that will show you how you can mine more than 50 coins through unMineable. Go to Source

[vael]

For the next X weeks, I'll be a meme. Behold Punished Vael, a play on the Punished Snake meme. In a conversation with my wife, I joked I was being punished for my past habits and decisions in many ways, and should take on the persona of Punished Vael. Well I'm all about shame and penance, so I've decided I will do that in the name of efficiency and personal growth.

y tho

What prompted this memery was mismanagement of my finances. I'm no high roller, but I put money where it matters most: food, the children, technology. I've been trying to "buy it once" and with another child planned, it's easy to justify big expenses for their betterment. The trouble was that my family could maintain this lifestyle on my income, but not after the recurring costs of a new SUV and my daughter's health insurance, in addition to all the big expenses since her birth. I simply ignored mint.com and went on living.

It was my job to relay our financial status to my wife, who handles the bulk of the shopping, and I failed to give an accurate representation of what we could afford. I'm ashamed to admit this was the first time in my life that I'd accrued interest on a credit card.

As punishment, I'm taking on some web dev work to make up for it. This hits me where it hurts the most: my free time, most of which I spend making games. A weaker man would say that slowing down my hobby work is forgivable when I have a baby, my 9-5 job, and now this upcoming contract, but that isn't going to be happening. At least not if I can help it. I'll talk about that at the end of this post.

But Wait, There's More

A few weeks ago I tried to make progress on my goal of 2021 to be "in the best shape I have ever been in." After a few days, I hurt my lower back from it, and my thoracic spine hasn't been in good shape since I injured it in 2018. This is from two decades of bad computer chair posture. I've always given my back problems some consideration, but never had a point in my life where I prioritized their recovery or at least improvement. The result is my body punishing me with less freedom of movement. I likely will be unable to achieve my fitness goals this year due to my lifestyle of being chained to a PC.

It isn't just my back: I've been lazy with my dry eye condition too. It hasn't been as inconvenient, but it's still something I should get ahead of. I've made (and have been following for two weeks now) a spreadsheet which I've taped to my wall to physically check off that I've done what I need to do to recover.

Then? Cognitive performance. I've tried and failed -- and will not fail again -- at being less distracted by websites and apps. My sleep habits are reprehensible: I need to get used to waking up at 6:15 for my son's school bus, but I'm consistently clocking out anywhere from 11:30 to midnight. I barely run Forest anymore.

So my short-term memory's shot. My long-term memory is suffering. I made a scary mistake driving (thankfully, solo). To think that games or social media usage could cause real harm to myself and those around me, all because I can't regulate myself, fills me with enough self-loathing to actually feel masochistic for Punished Vael.

Finally, I do want to briefly touch on my relationships. I've lost one friend this year and will likely lose another soon, and while the former was inevitable, the latter's had me really considering that I might have to dial back my natural candor. I am an "open book" (see: this post, my annual reviews) because I believe you should have nothing to fear about being yourself. I take ownership of my actions, even if I am not proud of them.

Something I had not considered was that my openness would encourage the other party to be open too, but then regret having done so. And, well, I'm intense. I want the best for people and my (sometimes unsolicited) advice can put them off, or make them feel pressured to perform or "keep up." I don't think that response is indicative of a weak relationship; I should probably learn to take it easier on others because not everyone operates how I do.

How Do?

I'm setting a very ambitious goal of simply not wasting any time in my day. Ultra efficiency for as long as I can meme. Every time I want to reach for my phone, or Facebook, or linger too long on some bullshit, I'll try to remember what's most important right now.

If I do a good job of it, it will be unsustainable, of course. I'm setting aside two hours of "solid" recreation for myself each night, and one hour of "fluid" recreation throughout the day: talking to friends, checking on my games, swinging by a pokéstop on the way home, etc. That's 3/16 hours of each day for myself, and I'll be doing this every day, including weekends. I'll be a little more forgiving with any "family time fun" like watching a movie, but the focus will still be on production and efficiency.

The other 13 hours will be spent on work, family, and repairing my body. I'll be trying to run Forest as often as I can. I expect to be blasting Meaningwave to help keep myself motivated with the likes of Jordan Peterson and Jocko Willink. I don't know for how long I'll do this, but I can't imagine it ending before August. Certainly the contract I'm taking on will not.

So... time to get started. Thanks for reading.

Vael