#apparently maybe i cannot taxes

[jnece-maharlika]

Danny accidentally becomes the Ghost king, The president and the BIGGEST threat to Bruce's social status.

Pt 1 Danny becomes the Ghost king

"Fenton's were never allowed to have a "normal" life, we are either extremely successful or extremely unsuccessful, there is no in between. Maybe a spirit cursed us back in the days, but who knows, but one things for sure, all Fenton's will definitely make the news."

-Grandma Fenton from whatever generation

Danny's starting to believe that now. He used to think that it wasn't true, but now? He used to wish to have a normal life, be a good normal son with good grades an be an astronaut one day.

But like they said, a Fenton is either EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL OR EXTREMELY UNSUCCESSFUL.

He was EXTREMELY UNSUCCESSFUL in that.

Instead of a normal life he turned a half ghost teen superhero. But oh well, the Fenton's were also known for their ability to go with the flow

But how in the world did the flow get him here???

In Danny's defense, he wasn't really expecting this. The only thing in his mind at the moment was keeping his town and his people safe from pariah. He just wanted to get rid of the rotten fruitloop. He was EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL, so successful in fact that he ended up becoming Ghost king.

The fudge????

But okay, sure, he didn't wanna become king but if he also didn't want to give up the crown for others to take, what if an evil person becomes king and attacks amity again?? Fine, he'll be king, he'll figure it out. Just go with the flow.

Surprisingly, not only did he get the crown, he also got THE MONEY. as in literal gold and silver bars, coins and jewelry. Appearantly, one the kings a long long time ago, before at least two generations before pariah had an obsession with MONEY. So the king made a Permanent Royal Degree (a law that cannot be changed by any future kings) that when someone dies and becomes a ghost, 20% of the MONEY that they've acquired in their entire life. (The money turns into an equivalent of ghost currency in the realms but is still physically in the living. Kind of like how the soul is in the realms but the body is the earth. Also, the only reason money exists in the realms is for convenience and a sense of normalcy, it doesn't really have that much value unless the ghosts brings it to the living) would belong to the ghost king.

Basically, it's ghost taxes that only have to be paid once for the entire afterlife. (Or is it more of an entrance fee???)

But anyways, hes got the MONEY.

He's rich now and he thinks, "I have so much money it's disgusting"

So first things first, getting rid of some of it.

By this point, his parents know he's phantom and have changed their opinions on ghosts, instead of attacking they are now looking at ghost like they're equals and try and help them as an apology for hurting them.

They are also looking for a new project to spend time on. A new purpose

So Danny thought, why not give them the money then? Danny proposed to his mom a project to make things that can benefit both ghosts and humans.

Next thing he knows is that he's appearantly funding, building and making:

A ghost job agency

A human job agency

Ghost proof buildings (ghost can't pass through walls, it won't hurt them, just keep em out.)

Ghost proof clothes (overshadowing proof!)

A practical fashion line for ghost and humans (Bullet proof, blast proof etch. Borderline vigilante clothes that look like a civilians day to day outfit)

Homes for ghost and humans

A ghost obsession help center where they can ask humans to help with their obsession.

A school for both ghost and humans.

Liminal 101 because apparently because of the whole, pariah dark and, living in the ghosts kings haunt situation, everyone is liminal now

An entire line of technology that can be used by both ghosts and humans.

A fight arena where ghost and humans can fight for fun.

And so many other things , he can't remember

HIS NAME IS EVERYWHERE . His parents didn't even bother hiding the fact that their son somehow has enough money to fund these projects, everyone knows him now.

He ends up basically owning most of amity park.

And here he thought he wouldn't be the kind of king that expands their territory.

He was extremely UNSUCCESSFUL in that.

[sunder-the-gold]

How halo-empathy re-contextualizes our Sankta Operators

I'll ignore Ezell (Enforcer) for this post, as we got to know him at the same time as we learned about halo-empathy.

Adnachiel

"In a show of humility, Adnachiel stands helpless in the face of loftier, theoretical topics, though everyone assumes he's just being modest. After all, as soften spoken and kind as he is, Adnachiel gives off the impression of being a clever and considerate young man."

Adnachiel didn't have to deal with that sort of misunderstanding in Laterano, where other Sankta would feel that he isn't being modest when a topic falls outside of his understanding of deterministic, mechanical principles.

On the other hand, he left Laterano before he was the requisite 12 years old for receiving his patron gun. We don't know how long he's lived in virtual exile before he became Infected (and thus exiled for real), but it seems like long enough for him to have adjusted to managing the expectations of non-Sankta.

Of course, that doesn't mean he can stop people from spreading exaggerated rumors about his intelligence and foresight, especially when he's got enough of both in reality.

Probably, his perceptiveness and analysis also helped him adjust to the necessity of watching and listening to other people to guess their state of mind. Philosophical theory is one thing, but facial expressions and vocal tones tend to have clearly observable meanings.

(Though I'm left wondering if his parents lied to him about the reason why they took him away from Laterano as a child. When a potential bully and a potential target both feel each other's emotions, would bullying still happen? Maybe this was an early-writing fluke?)

Arene

Where Adnachiel opened up to other people and studied them in return, Arene displays more introverted, self-focused tendencies.

Arene's troubling lack of sympathy for other people could owe to the several years he's spent exiled from Laterano following his infection with Oripathy, "from an early age". Younger than 12 years old, when Sankta normally receive their patron firearm.

Spending his formative years separated from his parents and surrounded by people from whom he could sense no emotions, with an underdeveloped ability to read emotions normally, and possibly with a unconscious sentiment of Sankta racial superiority, it's perhaps not surprising that Arene displays sadistic, solipsistic tendencies.

His third Archive File further mentions that he "tends to be a little sheepish around some of our other Laterano operators". One assumes this refers to other, unfallen Sankta who not only remind him that other people have internal lives of their own, but that there are some people who can still see right through him.

Ambriel

She's not just evading her taxes; she wanted to live where no one could empathically sense her desire to slack off. Possibly.

For that matter, her choice of weapon not only lets her avoid direct confrontations of a physical, mortal nature… the farther she could deploy from other members of the Lateran Guard or Notarial Hall, the less likely they could see or feel her slacking off.

When the Notarial Hall employed her to watch out for and locate students playing hookie from school, did they hope to inspire her to change by confronting "herself"?

Executor

He and Oren confirm that despite his apparently darkened halo and the unexplained device clamped onto it, he's not fallen. He's very much capable of sensing the feelings of other Sankta. He just doesn't care. Possibly, he thinks that feelings do not change facts, and he bases his decisions on facts.

This does not contradict what he says in his third Trust line. Rather it must mean that when he says, "I cannot understand other people", he cannot understand the reasoning of other Sankta despite knowing their emotional state. His actions could anger another Sankta close enough for him to feel their anger, but he doesn't understand WHY his actions provoked that response.

Exusiai

Texas: "Exusiai is my polar opposite. She seems to get along fine with anyone, but lets very few people close to her." Exusiai: "Texas is a handful. Even when she lets you close, she won't spare more than a few words. It took me a long time to figure out whether we were cool or not."

Exusiai grew up never needing someone to say more than a few words; she could know how they felt. She had to learn how to read someone as tactiturn as Texas because Sankta don't understand subtler body-language or unspoken words within words. Texas outright tells us that Exusiai finds it very hard to really TRUST other people; Texas had to prove herself through actions because Exusiai can't peek into her mind.

Which makes Exusiai's pledge of loyalty to the Doctor more impactful; even without halo-empathy, she's utterly convinced she understands and agrees with the Doctor. ("Leader… No, savior, I pledge this gun in my hand to protect you until the very end of this world.")

Mostima

This explains so much about Mostima, whom probably already wasn't the most social of Sankta. Before she fell, she had the Sankta empathy to assist her. Fiammetta didn't, but Fiammetta was raised by Sankta and knew how to bridge the gap, so Mostima still didn't have to learn anything. But after she fell, she lost almost all connection to other people that she'd taken for granted, and the effort to reconnect didn't seem worth the trouble.

Exusiai goes crazy not just because Mostima won't use her words to explain, but because words are all Mostima has any more and she was never good with them. Exusiai can't feel Mostima's feelings anymore.

This also brings a new dimension to how the Doctor managed to reach Mostima, and convince her that maybe making new human connections wasn't such a hassle (for her) after all. ("…I see now. When I thought of having a friend like you, the spark of joy I felt wasn't fake after all. Scrap what I said before, Doctor. Maybe I do need a bit of warmth in my life.")

[henswilsons]

lafd updates kissing booth scene 😙

hi hi hello !! i was fortunate enough to get featured on an episode of @dispatchpodcast with the simply wonderful @burnthatbridge and had a truly delightful time, cannot recommend enough. i mentioned i had a few deleted scenes from lafd updates 2 and said “hehe maybe i’ll upload them during christmas”, and then as soon as rachel and i hung up i immediately forgot i’d said that so did not in fact upload them on christmas. anyway so better late than never? hope u enjoy hehe

this is lafd updates 2.5: kissing booth. aka will mia ever stop milking this verse (probably not)

Eddie has served two terms in the army. He has fired guns; he has killed people. He left his wife and his newborn son to do a military tour in the Middle East; he has lost countless people on the job.

And yet, somehow, this is his lowest moment: standing behind a kissing booth, wearing an LAFD shirt two sizes too small and a $5 FOR A KISS! badge.

It makes sense, he thinks resignedly to himself as the next woman steps up the booth. This is probably just karmic retribution for all the terrible things he’s done in his life. He’d thought he’d paid it back, by moving himself and Christopher to a new state where they’ve both thrived, taking a job that focuses on saving people instead of milling them down, but apparently not. Just when he thinks the universe has finished taking its turn laughing at him, he falls through another new, impossibly worse trapdoor of shame.  

He just didn’t realise this one would mean potentially contracting Covid or beard burn.

“Hello,” he says, anyway, because he’s nothing if not a diligent protector of state. Also Buck has promised him the mother of all blowjobs if he cracks eight hundred dollars. “What’s your name?”

The latest woman blinks at him, a little owlishly. “Um, Alice,” she says with a blush. “Hi, sorry, I just can’t believe it’s really you. You’re so handsome in person.”

“Ha, really,” Eddie says, as though ninety percent of the tax-paying public willing to spend their daily latte budget on a smooch haven’t said the exact same thing to him. He’s honestly starting to get a little offended on behalf of his station portrait; he didn’t think it was that bad. At least not the point where people are insultingly surprised by his apparent good looks. Maybe it’s the hair? “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Alice. I’m Eddie.”

“I know,” she says. “I’m a big fan.”

Eddie reiterates: he posted about traffic and sandstorms. “Well, let’s give you your money’s worth.”

Behind manning a kissing booth, probably one of the more mortifying experiences of Eddie’s life had been discussing the parameters of what constituted a five-dollar kiss with his coworkers and captain. It’s good to know that at least two of his top five most humiliating moments have been solidified within a day; economical, probably, even if it means he needs to go into hiding for at least a week. Chimney had begun the team brief with, “Okay, but do you use tongue?” which was how Eddie knew he was in for a long afternoon. Or, the big banner outside the station with MR LAFD UPDATES MAN KISSING BOOTH INSIDE!! had been an inkling, but he’d been mostly optimistic.

“Like French kissing?” Bobby said.

“No one calls it French kissing anymore, old man,” Buck said. “It’s making out.”

“I,” Eddie said, “am not making out with people. I’m going to get the kissing equivalent of rug burn.”

Chimney had looked concerned. “A peck isn’t worth five dollars.”

“I didn’t tell you to charge five dollars per kiss.”

“Uh, if we want to beat out Station 19 for biggest donation, we’re gonna have to pull out the big guns.” Chimney then gestured at him, as though Eddie was in danger of forgetting that the culmination of the rivalry between the 118 and their biggest rivals rested on his shoulders. And tongue, apparently. He’d been having stress dreams for weeks.

“Yeah, you’re probably gonna have to use tongue,” Ravi said, not sounding apologetic at all. “Everyone in my mentions is talking about it.”

Maybe today would also encapsulate the third worst moment of Eddie’s life. If he played his cards right he might be able to hit all five. “About my tongue?” he said, tiredly. Three months ago, he would have been dismayed. He’s older and wiser to the whims of Twitter now; he’s resigned to his fate.

“#LAFDKissingBooth is trending,” Ravi said. “You better mint up.”

Eddie sighed anyway. “I liked it better when you were riding the coattails of my fame.”

“Oh, I still am,” Ravi said, and flashed his phone screen. “I run an LAFD Updates Man Updates account where I mostly just report on everything you’re doing.”

Hen was pretending not to find this deeply hilarious. It was fine; Eddie was used to being betrayed at this point. “Why?”

“Because I’m at, like, sixty thousand followers,” Ravi said. “By the way, everyone sends their best wishes about your defeat in Mario Kart yesterday.”

Buck said, “Ha!” like this was tremendously funny. “Update-caption.”

“Don’t you have anything to say about this?” Eddie said. “We’re dating.”

“And you’re about to make us hundreds of dollars,” Buck said kindly. “If you kiss them the way you kiss me we could probably charge eight or nine dollars for a kiss.”

“Oh, gag,” said Hen, at the same time as Chimney perked a finger up and broached, “Now, that’s not a bad idea.” There had also been a talk about Covid protocols and the implications of a kissing booth in the metropolis of California, as well as an agreed-upon number of seconds a kiss should last (six seconds, which Eddie had fought tooth and nail down from fifteen, what the fuck, Chim) and a loose script Eddie would follow, because apparently money in a box and then a smooch was “unromantic”, or whatever. “It’s the Mr LAFD Updates Experience,” Chimney said, emphasising the words in a way that they probably all started with capital letters, like a board game or bad dating simulator. God, it’s only a matter of time. “We need to generate good press for our charity auction in Christmas so hopefully we can sell off a date with you for over a grand.”

“We could start a farm in the mountains,” Eddie said to Buck. “Raise goats.”

Buck, who was an asshole for still sniggering at him, but also the love of Eddie’s life, said indulgently, “Goats are cool. Do you think we could make our own cheese?”

Their hideaway in the mountains where Eddie does nothing but spend time with his son and boyfriend making cheese and babying goats has kind of been the thing keeping him going through the afternoon. Even now as he leans in to kiss Alice, counting to six in his head (and keeping his tongue in his mouth, thank you), he lets his mind wander a little: pictures Buck in overalls and nothing else, milking cows and chewing on wheat. Mm.

It's not until she pulls away that he realises to his mortification he’s sprung to half-chub. Quickly he quickly slides the donations box in front of him.

Alice wipes her mouth on the back of her hand, looking a little dazed. “Damn,” she says. “If I pay another twenty what will that get me?”

Eddie tries for a smile. “Probably several rounds at Whack-A-Mole and maybe one of my captain’s smash burgers.”

Alice leans forward across the booth. “Just a smash burger?”

Eddie coughs. “Um, well. And Whack-A-Mole.”

“Lady,” someone loudly says in the queue behind her. “You got your turn. Stop holding up the line.”

Alice scowls, but drops twenty dollars in the donations box anyway before disdainfully swanning away. Eddie is sort of pleasantly surprised by this; he busies himself smoothing the bill down, does a rough estimate in his head with the amount of people he’s kissed across the afternoon and reckons he’s probably very near his eight hundred dollar goal, then looks up for his next customer.

And smiles.

“Well, hey there, cowboy,” Buck says, which is a poorly timed choice of words considering the trestle table they’ve got set up is only just covering Eddie’s boner at the thought of Buck murmuring yeehaw into his ear as they slow-fuck against a haybale. “I heard you’re giving out kisses?”

Eddie raises an eyebrow. Goat-rearing fantasies aside, he hasn’t forgotten it was Buck’s big mouth that landed him here. “It’s gonna cost you, you know. Five dollars.”

Buck pouts. “I don’t get a boyfriend deal?”

“You’re right. Ten dollars.”

Buck barks out a laugh, but pulls out a ten-dollar bill anyway. “Deal,” he says, tucks it into the box that only yesterday he and Christopher had spent an hour decorating at the kitchen table as Eddie fried gorditas at the stove. He leans forward, bracing his weight on the table with both hands. “So?”

“Well, let me give you your money’s worth,” Eddie recites dutifully, and it’s worth it for the way Buck laughs when he closes the distance, tasting his smile. Kissing Buck is familiar; grounding in a way, amidst the probably hundreds of strangers he’s kissed today. Buck tastes of the candy corn he’s definitely been sneaking behind Hen’s back, of the protein shake he and Eddie had shared on the car ride in; Eddie counts six seconds, but keeps a hand around the lovely curve of Buck’s face, where he can fit his thumb against the pulse in his neck. Buck bites a little at his lower lip; Eddie is on second twelve of fuck it and opens his mouth enough that he can lick his way in, chase out the bubbling laughter.

Behind them, someone wolf whistles.

Abruptly, he pulls away. Buck is still leaning forward, looking kinda dopey, mouth curved in that indulgent little smile of his whenever Eddie fucks up flipping pancakes or holds his hand in public. “Wow,” he says.

Eddie wipes his mouth. “Come again.”

“Oh, I will,” Buck says, who is predictable as the day is long. “Best ten dollars I’ve ever spent.”

He’s such a piece of shit. There’s no one Eddie wants to escape to the mountains to more. “Go help Bobby with his burgers, slacker.”

“And after I’ve made such a generous donation.” Buck leans away, and Eddie catches a glimpse of the people in line behind him, all gaping. Half of them have their phones out. Eddie altruistically lets this be tomorrow-Eddie’s problem. “How much have you raised?”

“With this?” Eddie flaps the latest ten-dollar addition. “I think this makes it eight hundred dollars.”

Buck grins. “Well, how about that, hey.”

“How about that.” Buck still doesn’t move away. Eddie sighs, but it’s mostly (read: all) for show. “What, Buck?”

Quick as whip, before Eddie can blink, Buck leans back in again over the table and pecks him, soft and slow. “Love you,” he says, and then darts off, leaving Eddie blinking after him.

The next person in line looks impressed. “Damn,” they say. “If I pay you ten dollars will you kiss me like that?”

“Sorry, boyfriend toll,” he says, and they good-naturedly snap their fingers. “But hey, nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

[mushroomnoodles]

this ask may sound fetishist but it ISNTT 💀💀💀 is just an ask about candy's body biology.

Can candy simon carry, idk sextuplets? and be alright? normal human body would struggle and have miscarriages or premature birth, also conditions like back pain or bad breathing in the mother. Would candy simon being just candy be able to experience the struggle of carrying or would he just do it normally?

do candy bodies have limits? like pregnancy it's taxing on the body –most when you pop baby after baby— judging by the fact that Betty and simon have like 7 children with apparently different ages, I'm gonna guess that is a maybe.

can candy simon experiment any miscarriage? maybe by a miscalculation of candy's witch beans idk.

this is a very good ask and i love these kinds of genuinely curious questions! makes me think. you're all good! tw/cw for non kink mpreg mentions and birth defect/miscarriage talk. also.. candy simon reproduction (since he's the only candy person even equipped to carry a child)

no, candy simon cannot carry sextuplets. that he would not survive. the way his body is now designed to work is to prioritize the growth of his unborn baby, which means his body uses its own sugars to grow the fetus. the most he could theoretically handle without some serious detriment to his health is triplets.

with, for example, quads, candy simon doesn't need to breathe, and he can't feel pain, but he would be extremely weak and low-energy, along with showing signs of malnourishment (and he would die, if candy witch didn't care for and monitor him closely. he would not be able to get up and feed himself.)

candy simon, as long as he is properly eating, can essentially go through pregnancy with minimal issues besides intense cravings (his body replacing the sugars) and mood swings. the weight of being pregnant is something he notices but it's a trivial issue that just makes it harder to manuever.

his organs are very simple (and don't entirely mirror a human's) and with each pregnancy candy witch keeps a close eye on his physical health. it helps that candy simon can just.. physically replace parts of himself with caramel. hell, it helps that candy simon is caramel- he's very sturdy and resilient, and easily mended. candy simon could get squashed and be fine.

like i said, his main (and pretty much only) danger is.. well.. giving too much of himself to his fetus. malnourishing himself.

candy simon's children are all at least a few years apart, and in between children candy simon is given enough time to physically recuperate (not that he needs much) he can keep going as long as he's healthy and in one piece.

and yes, candy simon can experience a miscarriage, but only by defect of candy witch's jelly beans. when eaten by a candy person, they're meant to sort of burrow through and "take root" in a place to grow. for candy simon, who is specifically now built for this, the bean will take root in his. er. candy womb, where it will begin taking sugars and other minerals needed to become a candy person.

if the jelly bean isn't produced properly or is "off," one of three things could happen:

the bean acts as a normal jelly bean and never "fruits"

the bean ceases growth shortly after implanting and is reabsorbed into his body

the bean continues development but creates a candy kid with defects/deformities

if, for some reason, his body did not absorb a partially grown, but failed, jelly bean, candy witch would remove it. she keeps tabs on his body once he eats a bean, so she knows if something's gone wrong with the pregnancy.

[baelorbreakbeds]

modern au lannisters:

cersei is trying to take over her dads evil megacorporation ala shiv roy.she would also have a tiktok where she posts weird #boymum tiktoks about sansa and marge and shed give extremely shitty advice on dating or whatever and people would like her because they think shes being ironic and theyd find her funny but uh shes deadly serious.also i think shed be popular with the girl interrupted lana del rey cherry emoji girls.she also runs for president.

tywin is ceo of an evil megacorporation.think waystar royco but he might also have a podcast??idk i think hed fit in ideologically with the manosphere and hed have a devoted fanbase but tywin has never seen a smartphone so.. idk his devoted fanbase composed of losers and incels all campaign for his release when he eventually gets arrested for tax evasion and whatever else hes been doing(money laundering maybe)

tyrion is a redditor.enough said. i also think hed be a scientist or maybe a lawyer hes smart af he could do anything really-in a modern au he can get therapy and deal with his issues and escape the cycle of abuse without patricide(hopefully anyway)

jaime...sorry lannation your man is a cop.or a tennis player-i feel like really talented tennis players are very famous and well known and i think that would be a good modern au equivalent of jaimes talent with swords.i dont think jaime would have much social media though.i just cannot imagine the man on any social media.cersei makes him post thirst traps with her and gets sooo mad when people are more into him then her

joffrey is a nepo baby "working" at his grandads company(he applied to work for his dad first but his emails kept getting lost apparently)he keeps getting moved around from department to department because he just sits around and vapes all day and is terrible for workplace morale and tywin doesnt want his workers to unionize.hes also guest starring on male podcasts every other day.he gives business and finance advice despite having never run or started a business.he also runs a reaction youtube channel where he rails against the woke mob.he can't say anything these days and they just hate him because hes a straight rich white male(nothing to do with his abuse allegations).he also gets into very public spats with his mother.he keeps trying to block her on instagram and tiktok but she keeps making new accounts to stalk him.

myrcella is a beauty/lifestyle influencer whose pretty popular until people start turning on her for claiming that being a nepo baby makes her work harder???or something idk she heard it from tyrion.she also gets alot of criticism online everytime joffrey or cersei do something crazy for clout.

[eaglesnick]

"Beware of a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing" -  Aesop

According to opinion polls and media pundits nearly the whole nation appears to be anti-Tory and determined to kick them out of office.  Amen to that!

But here's the thing, who will replace them? The media would have us believe it will be Keir Starmer, and maybe they are right, but I think his Labour mask is beginning to slip and beneath that mask is a traditional Tory.

 When members of the Tory party lend their support to Starmer, when self-proclaimed “competitive capitalists", who openly admit they have used tax avoidance schemes to accumulate their personal wealth, are welcomed into the fold by Starmer, then those of us looking for an alternative to 14 years of Tory rule, have a problem.

But so does Keir Starmer. The more he is questioned and interrogated the more obvious it becomes that he cannot be trusted. From his refusal to admit he supported Jeremy Corbyn during the last election, to his multiple breaking of previous pledges, Starmer’s character flaws are beginning to show through.

Many believe this is because he is hiding a secret left-wing agenda that will be implemented once he is safely in Downing Street. I believe the opposite.

His policies, the many defections from the Conservative Party to Starmer, and the funding of Labour by wealthy individuals and big corporations, all point to a massive move to the right, and the shaping of the Labour Party to reflect his own values.

”He has sidelined the left, taken over the machinery of the party and driven it on to the political ground he thinks can win an election. While some focus groups have described him as “boring”, “bland” and “weak”, he has been ruthless in his efforts to remould the party in his own image.”  (Financial Times: 07/06/23)

The shift of Labour to the right under Starmer is now becoming more and more apparent to the general public and may yet undermine his expected massive victory.  Why vote for the very same policies you despise the Tories for just because they are now relabelled as Labour policies? It makes no sense.

Whether enough people will come to this conclusion before polling day remains to be seen but like the emperor with no clothes, Starmer’s naked ambition and his right-wing leanings are becoming more apparent by the day.

If he does become P.M. the big danger is that people will be so disappointed and disillusioned by the Labour Party that more and more will turn to people like Nigel Farage and the far-right come the next election. 

[aeligsido]

🎵 Last song you listened to?

💛 Do you have any piercings?

🙃 What’s a weird fact that you know?

🦖 Favorite extinct animal?

🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?

Thanks for that ask darling 💕

-

🎵 Last song you listened to?

Wunderkind — Alanis Morissette (Chronic of Narnia Soundtrack)!

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💛 Do you have any piercing?

If you count the ear piercing for the earrings, yes. If not, then no! I don't really feel like getting some either, like maybe sometimes I wonder how it would look but that's all.

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🙃 What's a weird fact that I know?

I know that I have many of them but 1) I never realize it's weird and 2) when you ask me I always forget them RIP

OH WAIT I have this one — apparently they started using buckwheat (sarrasin) in Bretagne bc it's not considered a cereal so there wasn't any taxes on it lmao (one of my teachers told us that like uuuh seven years ago or so)

-

🦖 Favorite extinct animal?

I was going to go look for my favorite dinosaur and everything but you know what? The Dodo. I love this silly little thing.

-

🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to?

Honestly any of the openings of my childhood cartoons LMAO. Especially Goldorak & Les Mystérieuses Cités d'Or.

Also Comme Toi — Jean-Jacques Goldman, lot of other songs from him, and definitely also a lot of other random songs but I never realize I know all the lyrics until I'm singing it lmao

... Also a lot of Disney songs 😐

For some reason I'm apparently good at remembering lyrics??

OH AND OF COURSE THIS CLASSIC. I cannot not know it!!

-

ask game here!

[nonclassyparty]

how far are you with the writing of soot pt 2?! are we getting it as a Christmas present 😅🤣, just kidding!! take your time bree and I hope everything is well for you, stay warm in these cold winters!!!

happy new year first of all!!!!!1 second of all, i'm tryinggggg i swear but things are just so busy and even when i get the time to write i'm simply too tired to do it😭😭 january is usually very crazy but i'm counting on things to settle down a little after next week so i'll try to sit down and finish it but until then i offer u another tiny snippet;

"Get out of my kitchen and only return when you have more than two functional brain cells!" You yell out, throwing a dirty kitchen towel Wooyoung's way which he narrowly misses as he heads for the door.

Just as he's about the step out, he turns with traces of flour on his left cheek and a pointer finger raised because he can never let anyone else have the last word, he states; "Just for the record. The kitchen isn't yours, legally it's Hongjoong's but since this is under a mortgage and he pays taxes, technically it belongs to the state."

"Get out!" You yell in a high pitch, losing the last of your composure and can only hear his footsteps scurry off outside of the kitchen.

You heave a deep sigh as you tilt your head up towards the ceiling hoping the frustration bubbling under your skin won't make it blow up to bits and pieces as clips of the last hour in this very kitchen with Wooyoung, who persisted on helping you bake today because apparently he's a college student with enough free time on his hands, play on rewind.

("Spread them out more. We don't want to make one mega-cookie." Wooyoung pauses, glancing at you from the corner of his eye innocently and you roll your eyes. "Just because you want a mega-cookie doesn't mean we're making one.")

("Gentlier, Wooyoung. Gentlier!")

("This mixture is drier than your sex life, Y/N.") - That one got a loud belly laugh out of Hongjoong.

("How old is this food processor?")

("I said fold the mixture in. That is not folding!")

("Measuring is for losers. Just eyeball it.", "You cannot just eyeball this, dipshit!")

("Don't lick it." "...I licked it." "Wooyo-!")

Movement in the kitchen of the coffee shop where you thought you were alone brings your eyes from the ceiling, feeling calmer now, and you spot San shuffling about quietly, obviously careful not to disturb your inner musings.

When he catches your stare, he steps up to the big counter set up in the middle of the room where you stood as if he was waiting for it. It was covered in flour and batter spilled about and dirty dishes along with a tray of burnt cookies left to agonize over at the corner of it.

"I'll help you clean up." San states, not looking at you as he starts picking up the dirty dishes.

You stare at him. "Your shift ended."

"It's okay. I have an hour to kill." He shrugs, throwing a wet sponge and kitchen towel onto the counter from the sink as he steps up and continues collecting more dishes. You dirtied more of them than you should have because Wooyoung was curious to just about anything and you had  a hard time saying 'no' even while knowing it would be a pain to clean.

You didn't expect the little shit to piss you off so much and run away, leaving the mess he had made behind for you to take care of.

Somehow, that's completely on brand to Wooyoung so maybe it's your fault for not seeing it coming.

You think about his words, curiosity getting the better of you despite the constant reminder to keep San at a distance even if you suggested he worked here. You didn't want to butt into his business, you just wanted to know if he was doing alright.

"An hour to kill before what?" You ask, scrubbing the batter from the counter and using it as an excuse not to look at him.

You still sense San's head pick up to look at you, "Oh. I take night classes at a local organization nearby."

Your movements slow at that as you try to hide your surprise never pegging San to be someone to return to school after becoming free. Immediately, your head is filled with even more questions; Night classes for what? Was that why his schedule was so distinct when he first start appearing at the coffee shop? How does he juggle classes while working two jobs? Are they hard? Does he like them?

So many questions and you want to know the answers to all of them but you refrain yourself from asking, only settling for a small nod as you continue your work of cleaning up.

The faint look of disappointment at your dry response is hard to miss on San's face and it sends a pang straight through your chest.

Why was everything so hard? Why were you making everything so hard and painful?

You work in silence for a minute or two before San decides to speak again and the moment he does, you know this will go south quickly.

"That guy, Wooyoung," He starts, voice turning a little weird as he says Wooyoung's name so you have no choice but to look at him, "Are you in a relationship with him?"

His lips are pursued in determination like he's been contemplating on asking for awhile and now finally mustered up the bravery to do so and doesn't intend to back out even if it angers you.

"Excuse me?"

"You smile a lot when he shows up every day, laugh a lot too. You even let him make a mess in the kitchen and then leave without cleaning up." Your cheeks flush at that, Jung Wooyoung will truly pay for this. "You look at him the way you used to-"

San stops himself, eyes on the counter as he scrubs it before clearing his throat, "Like you care for him. That's how you look at him."

"I do care for him." You state, ignoring his little slip up as you turn your back to him and head towards the sink. The idea of Wooyoung and you dating was so absurd that it was hard to take it seriously.

"So, you're together? You're dating him?" He doesn't even try to hide the annoyance in his tone and it makes something itch inside of you in the worst way possible. You want to shake San until he can't tell up from down and yell at him; how could you think I could be with anyone else after you?! Don't you know what you've done to me?! You've ruined everyone else for me!

But you don't. Even you, as pathetic as you are, have some pride left.

"I think that's none of your business." You decide to say.

"It is my business." San quickly retorts and you have to let out a humorless laugh at that.

"It really isn't."

"It is." He echoes back but softer this time, like only he is supposed to hear it and not you.

"What is it to you, really?" You spin around with a glare, cheeks now fully flushed in frustration and faint embarrassment.

San opens and closes his mouth, looking at you like the question is absurd.

 Then, to your utter surprise, San goes on a fully fledged rant on Jung Wooyoung; "He's....he is younger than you and immature and crude and so loud! And...he takes you to fucking frat houses on the weekends...? And he never cares if he embarrasses you with his comments and...and just look at this!"

He motions to the state of the kitchen with red cheeks and furrowed eyebrows, "He left you alone to clean up this mess despite him making it! How is that a good guy? How is that someone you like?"

You're stunned at the amount of details he managed to pick up from you and Wooyoung, never being aware that he was even paying attention to your shenanigans.

You stare at him with mouth partly agape as your annoyance and embarrassment quickly starts growing into anger as the memories start to resurface and all you can think about is 'how dare he? after everything, how dare he?'. "As opposed to who exactly? Someone who was fucking me while at the same time fucking his boss, claiming he likes me but clearly not enough because I could never offer him a fancy apartment and money that a fucking awful person was giving him for having sex with her?"

You regret the words as soon as they leave your mouth but when San recoils like you've just slapped him, the guilt doubles down on you like a two storey building.

Your eyes fall shut as you turn your back to him just so you don't start crying because holy fuck, you shouldn't have said that. You hurt him.

"Sorry." You say loud enough so it's clear as you look at him, heart clenching as he stares at you with obvious hurt written across his face. "I crossed the line. I'm sorry."

San doesn't say a word, just drops the sponge he was using to scrub the counter back to the surface and turns around, heading for the door.

"San." You weakly call after him, eyes already burning from the guilt turning into tears that threaten to fall. 

But he doesn't come back and you're left alone, once again, to clean up your mess.

[chaos-and-recover]

I dunno if I am venting, asking aita, or asking advice or am I overreacting but you're probably the only person I follow who is old (I am 17 and most people I follow are around that age) so here goes. so I have this cousin who my whole family hates and has spent my whole life saying horrible things about. This cousin literally moved across the country (we are in the USA) and everyone says that she moved away because she was tired of our family calling her out on her abusive behavior. (Cont)

Okay, wow. This is a doozy. I'm gonna answer all the messages in this series probably in chunks (but in this one post) 'cause there's a lot to say here and I think it makes sense so I can interject thoughts as I go and address all the various things going on here. First off, based on this first message, I'm kind of on your cousin's side. I'd probably also move across the country if my entire family talked shit about me all the time.

I grew up hearing how she's awful, a bitch, unhygienic, house is a hoarding disaster of filth, etc, like she's not a good person. Anyway despite living so far away she's managed to come to important events like weddings and funerals. Now I notice that any time someone calls her out, like asks how smelly her house is, if she's keeping it clean, or if her friend(s?) still put up with her, she has a really nasty insult ready and it's been like that my whole life so I believe it. (Cont)

Okay so, obviously I don't know her so she might be all of those things, but does your family have examples of her shitty behaviour beyond being unhygienic and possibly a hoarder? Because those things, to me, don't match up with "she's a bitch" and "she's awful," but being a bitch might be an understandable reaction to people giving you crap about the way you live. And hoarding in particular is very often a symptom of a larger mental health issue. Asking if her friends "still put up with her" is rude as fuck too, like so far your family kind of sound like bullies.

Anyway so last year a relative got married and my cousin showed up. My cousin is in her late 30s idk exactly. So my aunt (also her aunt) points out that maybe if she hadn't been a bitch and took better care of herself she would be married. She said she was happy in her relationship life but we all immediately pointed out she wasn't in a relationship so she should stop lying. (Cont)

As someone at the tail end of their 30s who is unmarried this is a WILDLY inappropriate thing to say. There are a million reasons why someone might not be married in their 30s, not least of which is "they don't want to be." I also think it's either a generational or a cultural thing that people just don't get married in their 20s as much anymore -- generational because my parents were 20 and 24 got married but both of my siblings were in their early 30s, two of my best friends didn't get married until they were 34 and 35, respectively, and for a variety of reasons I have a ton of other friends in their 30s who are not married at all. Some people just don't get married! Some people don't get married until it makes financial sense (either actually paying for the wedding or something more practical like joint tax filing. It actually doesn't always make sense to file as a couple). But I also wonder if that's just a cultural thing because it certainly seems that getting married in your 20s is still something a lot of people do in some regions of the US and in some other cultures, so I don't know. But I do think it's no one else's fucking business why someone else isn't married (for me it's because I straight up cannot be bothered dating and do not want to alter my life and my routine to make room for another person lmao so that makes getting married a bit of a challenge). Also even if she was not in a relationship (later messages make it clear that's apparently not the case) you CAN be perfectly happy being single. Like, I am absolutely happy with my non-existent dating life and relationship status. So accusing her of lying about being happy because you think she's single is bonkers, frankly. Being in a relationship doesn't automatically make you happy, and you don't need a romantic relationship in order to be happy.

She said we clearly knew nothing about her, that she isn't messy, is happy with how she looks, and we need to stop lying about her hygiene and other things. Now I personally have never thought she smelled bad but I only see her at big events so ofc she wouldn't. Anyway the wedding had alcohol so we all got really drunk (including me, but including her also so she can't judge) and things got heated between her and my mom (Cont)

So okay. I want you to think about this. Your family says she's smelly and unhygienic but you've never observed that yourself, so why do you believe them? Maybe she does only clean up for family events, but if that's the only time you see her, do you know that's true? Do you have any reason, beyond what your family has said, to actually think she does have hygiene issues? This might also be a mental health issue, fyi. There are a ton of reasons someone might not be "clean." There are also a lot of physical conditions that might cause someone to smell "bad." And it is, frankly, not anybody's business.

As for the drinking, yeah getting sloppy drunk isn't a good look but it also happens at weddings. I'm neutral on that point, tbh.

(my mom cheated on my dad and my cousin told everybody and that's how my dad found out I'm not kid but that's a long story) anyway so she got kicked out of the wedding and took an uber to the hotel. The next day I went to the hotel and we were both hungover so maybe not in the best mood. when I talked to her she told me that our family was abusive and toxic and I pointed out it's unrealistic that everyone in the whole family except her is abusive (cont) so maybe she needs to logically look at herself and realize it's more believable that only she is lying instead of everyone except her. And she just said I should research family scapegoats. I told her that it was her fault my parents divorced and my dad doesn't pay child support and she told me to leave. Well I felt kinda bad and so a few days later when she was back home I messaged her about what she'd like for a wedding because that's what ppl talk about after a wedding. (Cont)

She's right about the family scapegoat. It's not uncommon for abusive people to target one person and not another. Like, a parent may be abusive toward one kid, but not another, and they may turn others against that one kid, cause resentment, and ruin one kid's life while their sibling(s) may think they have a great childhood. It sucks! But it's absolutely a real abuse tactic. In your family's case I think it's pretty likely everyone didn't get together and decide to be shitheads to your cousin, but it started SOMEWHERE, it sounds like SOMEONE turned everyone against her.

I will say she shouldn't have told everyone your mom had an affair, but it's straight up not her fault your parents divorced. Your parents divorced because your mom cheated. It sucks! I'm sorry you had to go through that. She should keep her mouth shut about things that aren't her business (if she knew and no one else did, telling your dad might have been acceptable depending on the circumstances/relationship, but not spreading gossip to everyone else. That's not cool).

She said a bunch of stuff and then mentioned that her wedding would be a dry wedding. I pointed out that she was being hypocritical and a bridezilla because nobody wants to go to a dry wedding AND I know she drinks PLUS she got wasted like everybody else at our most recent wedding. And she said that since it was allowed then it's not hypocritical but that as I wasn't old enough to drink then it wouldn't matter anyway. (Cont)

Getting sloppy drunk at one wedding and then having a dry wedding yourself isn't really hypocritical. There are a lot of reasons someone might have a dry wedding, from money (open bars are expensive and cash bars are kinda tacky imo) to someone involved with/at the wedding in recovery for alcohol addiction to just not wanting people to get sloppy. I do think a dry wedding is probably gonna reduce the number of people who want to go but that might also be the goal.

Now granted I did lose my temper and tell her that it wasn't like she ever had to worry about getting married anyway because nobody loved her and since it hadn't happened for her yet then she should accept it wouldn't ever. I will admit that I reacted badly to that. She then told me to go and then blocked me. Well I have two accounts (one I made before I was 13 but I said i was 21 so I could have a fb and she followed me on both)well lo and behold six months ago she announces shes engaged (cont)

Yeah that wasn't cool, honestly. But also if I had a younger cousin who said something like that I'd probably be like "yeah ok kid sure" so like she could've probably reacted better.

I message her asking for an invite and she reminds me that it's a dry wedding and I said that's ok. She says she's not sure she wants me to come based on my behavior but she'll think about it. Well I notice that nowhere on any of her social media does she talk about her fiance or boyfriend at all, except to say who she is marrying and it's her best friend, who lives where she moved. I message him (we don't follow each other) cont I'm like how long have you been dating and why haven't you said anything on social media. He says they've been together for years but they're both private people. I don't know anything about him beyond that they've been friends (dating?) for like almost 15 or more years or smth. She only ever talked about him like a friend. Which I thought was weird. But I keep that to myself. Well because she always made it to all weddings and funerals I say yes I'd like to go. (Cont)

This might also be a bit of a generational disconnect. She's roughly my age and while our generation definitely had some early forms of social media by high school, we didn't grow up on it the same way younger generations did and the concept of sharing EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME is still a little foreign to us. Either that or we did the oversharing every aspect of our lives in our teens/early 20s and are now pulling back from that. It seems like every day more and more people I know are leaving FB and other social media platforms. Years ago when I was seeing someone he went to change his relationship status to 'in a relationship' with me after like 2 dates and I had to be like "whoa hold on there bro." I hadn't even mentioned to my family that I was seeing someone (because TWO DATES). Some people just don't put all their business on social media.

So I get an invite and so i invite the whole family. We show up but she has no room for us and said she only sent out a few invites but since I got invited I told everyone where the wedding was. Her fiance was there and kinda stepped in but it never got heated or anything but he showed us cheap hotels because they just didn't have room for everyone and they weren't expecting that many people. But when I was in the house I noticed it looked clean and smelled normal. (Cont)

Okay you're young so I'll chalk this up to not knowing what goes in to planning a wedding but DON'T DO THIS. Weddings are expensive and they are also planned down to the very last detail, INCLUDING having EXACT numbers for catering. You're basically buying dinner for all your guests, and it can be expensive. If you're having a buffet-style or more casual wedding you might have extra food but in a lot of cases the caterers are preparing the meals for the people who have RSVP'd and there won't be a ton of extra food just in case. You can't just add a bunch of extra people at the last minute because there won't be enough food, and in this case, not enough space. Most wedding invites have you choose your meal when you RSVP so they make sure they have enough of each option for everyone. If your invite says +1 you can bring a guest, otherwise you don't. You DO NOT invite a bunch of random people, especially family who don't even like this person and weren't invited for a reason (why would they even want to go if they all hate her so much?)

Also, you were in her house and it was clean and didn't smell, consider why you still believe your family who say she's unhygienic.

My family is clearly angry but they're not psycho so they keep it to themselves when he drives us there. So her and fiance ask to talk with me alone at a diner and give me a talk about how I wasn't supposed to invite everyone which offended me because they're family but I have never met him so I don't want to be rude. They both say they've managed to work it out and had extra food so it was okay this time but that in case other people get married or future events I should be aware that this behavior isn't acceptable. Which yes got my hackles raised but i'm trying to be nice. Well anyway at some point she had to leave for a hair appointment and needs to go but I am not done eating so she takes an Uber and he eats until I'm done eating before taking me back to the hotel. I take the alone time to bring up like hey do you know the woman you're about to marry is abusive and toxic and that he deserves better than someone he has to remind to shower and clean up after and someone who is kind and I just blurt out that she's a hypocrite who got sloppy drunk and I'm like I don't know how often she's lied to you about what kind of person she is and that he should know how toxic she is and to his credit he listened but then he asks why do you think her family wasn't invited, because they're abusive, and then asks what my goal was in talking shit about his future wife to him as soon as she's out of earshot and asks if I talk this way about everybody who isn't in the room with me. And I point out it's more logical that she is the abusive liar, not literally everyone else except her. And then he says she's always been loving and kind, cleans a normal amount, and as far as he's been around her taken care of her hygiene and that even when he visited the home she grew up in it was clean and that he will not listen to me talk about her like that anymore. When I get back to the hotel I tell my family everything and they came uncorked and kept calling her and texting her and so they rescinded all our invitations. We all pointed out that we spent a lot of money to get there and she said that wasn't her problem and then blocked all of us. I tried to show up to the wedding but was told to either leave on my own or be escorted by the police so I left. I didn't know this but my family showed up after me and stuff went down but i dont know what because nobody will tell me. Anyway so after the wedding I tried to contact her through multiple means but i was blocked on all of them as we all were. She did post a few videos publicly for everyone to see, so I had a mutual friend who wasn't blocked but didn't attend the wedding show me the videos and the wedding was very cheap and small. But that is what she told me she wanted last year. I tried talking to her siblings but her siblings also blocked me. I tried talking to some relatives of her now husband but they didn't respond to me, and i may have lost my temper and said cruel things so they all blocked me without responding. I made a few accounts and emails contacting them again asking for evidence of her claims but nobody ever responded but I was able to send emails. (Cont)

Yeah I'm on the cousin and her fiance's side still. He sounds like a decent guy standing up for his future wife. And if he has in fact known her for 15 years, he DOES know what kind of person she is. I think it's clear you meant well in warning him about what you've heard about her your whole life, but I think you should consider that your family aren't always the good guys in every situation. Even people you love can be wrong and cruel. I think if you can go through the trouble of making additional accounts to ask her siblings for evidence of her claims (you should stop, btw. They blocked you because they don't want to discuss it, leave them be) you should also maybe ask the family you do speak to for actual evidence of her being an awful person and being filthy and smelly (which, again... nobody's business, and not a reason to be nasty to someone???).

I think, based on what I've read here, it comes down to this: your family does not like this cousin and they make no secret of it. Why on earth would she tell them anything, invite them to major events like her wedding, or be anything other than nasty to them in return???

[sunsoakedhighhopes]

Amazing Spider-Man 01

Okay, so after his introduction in Amazing Fantasy, there was enough of a response, so he got his own comic run. The first issue contained two stories. They call the second story a "bonus" story, but really it's just a continuation of the story, but maybe they meant it was a double issue or something.

I was kind of surprised they moved right into the Spider-Man being a menace storyline, but that's pretty much the plotline of this first half -- the introduction of J Jonah Jameson, and him turning public opinion against Spider-Man.

We begin with a short recap of Peter's introduction in Amazing Fantasy. Then we find out that with Uncle Ben now dead, the Parkers are having money troubles. The landlord comes knocking on the door and Aunt May begs him to give them another week to pay the rent. Peter offers to get a job, but May won't let him because she wants him to focus on his studies. Peter briefly considers using his powers to resort to a life of crime, but quickly decides against it, noting that it would break May's heart if he ever got arrested.

Instead of robbing banks, Peter decides to go back to performing his powers on TV (and in front of a live audience). Then we get the following amazing interaction.

The producer goes to pay Peter, but he has to pay him with a check so there's a tax record (I don't think this is true - I think the bigger issue is Peter's lack of a social security number but alright...) So, he asks Peter for his name. Peter obviously can't give his real name if he's going to maintain his secret identity as Spider-Man, so he instructs the man to fill the check out to "Spider-Man". The producer agrees, for some reason, though he does note that Peter will likely have a hard time cashing the check. Peter, in his infinite teenaged wisdom is like, "Nah, I'm good."

And then he gets to the bank....

I love how the bank teller is willing to accept an ID that says "Spiderman" like this is a totally normal thing.

To make matters even worse, Jameson is busy at that very moment typing up an article about Spiderman, with the express purpose of trying to run him out of town.

Which.... Why?? Like, he literally hasn't done anything yet, except for crawling around on ceilings and swinging from webs on TV. Why is Jameson so pressed?

Peter shows up at the TV station again -- even though he still hasn't figured out the check issue -- only to find out he's been cancelled, both professionally and culturally.

I'm with Peter on this one. Does J. Jonah Jameson just hate fun??

Next we get a clip of Jameson on TV, where, okay, so his issue is the robber/murderer (the one who killed Ben) that Peter caught and turned over to the police in his origin story. "We cannot allow that masked menace to take the law into his own hands," which is kind of a gross exaggeration of what happened, but okay. I mean, the cops were already after the guy, and technically he only did the exact thing the cop asked him to do the first time. He also, apparently, has a "Think of the Children!" complaint that kids might try to imitate his "fantastic feats" that they watch him do on TV, which.... Jameson, you are going to struggle with the future cause there's gonna be a lot of this kind of stuff on TV and in movies.

Oh, but then he says the children should be looking up to real heroes, like his son, John Jameson, the test pilot/astronaut who's about to go into orbit around the earth, and now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure this character was in the first Sam Raimi movie? As MJ's boyfriend?? I keep trying to picture it, but all my mind will conjure up is Paul Rudd dressed in his astronaut costume from the ball scene in Romeo + Juliet. So, that's what I'm picturing when I read this comic. Anyway, Jameson is just one of those overbearing helicopter parents that thinks their child is the most specialist special that ever specialed, is what I'm trying to say here.

Peter wonders why The Fantastic Four and Ant-Man aren't having these kinds of troubles, and hey, today I learned, Ant-Man predates Spider-Man.

Peter tries to get a job, presumably behind Aunt May's back, but no one wants to hire a high school kid. While he's out, he sees May going into a pawn shop where she pawns her jewelry in order to make rent, so he has a mild temper tantrum, where it seems like he's considering that life of crime idea again.

He doesn't get the chance though, because John Jameson launches into orbit, and unfortunately for him, the forward guidance package breaks loose from the capsule that he's in, and the capsule begins erratically falling back to Earth. NASA maybe, and idk, the military -- a bunch of important men standing around in suits are all like "Oooh... yeah, no this is really not good. Too bad there's nothing we can do about it." They have a replacement unit, but no way to give it to him as he hurtles back to earth.

That's okay, because Peter, as Spider-Man, is here to save the day. Jameson is charming as ever in his gratitude that someone is trying to save his son's life. Oh, wait, no he's not.

Spider-Man heads for an airfield, where he commandeers and airplane. Then he leaps from the flying airplane onto the falling capsule and replaces the guidance unit, allowing the capsule to land safely.

Oh, Peter, that is... that is adorably naive of you.

Jameson is successful in getting everyone to hate Spider-Man (including Aunt May!) and eventually the FBI caves to public pressure and puts out a wanted poster.

I actually love that they think the average person would know where to find the "nearest FBI Office".

I feel like there's a social statement being made here....

[phoenixyfriend]

Ko-Fi Prompt from adam:

macroeconomics, how stuff affects LRAS + SRAS? doesn't necessarily need to be ELI5 if it's easier for you to reference other econ terms

I actually had to check what "ELI5" means and apparently it's "Explain Like I'm Five." Never seen that before but it does make sense.

Here's (significantly more than) five hundred words on macro econ.

I cannot promise that this is how your teachers want you to view things. A lot of this is being processed through "cynical business major that came out the other side of college with a grudge against other business majors."

LRAS: Long run aggregate supply. This is a theoretical model that allows for multiple elements of the economy to be variable in the larger context. We are looking at long-term effects to shifts in the economy. LRAS assumes that aggregate supply is functionally unchanging in the long run, and only ever shifts temporarily. If one element shifts, the others will compensate (e.g. a rise in prices will result in lower quantities, but the total sold in dollar amount will be the same). This is in part because the model assumes that production is working optimally.

SRAS: Short run aggregate supply. This is a theoretical model that fixes most variables and looks at only the effects of individual aspects. Think of it as viewing only the immediate effects of a change to one element, with the assumption that nothing else will change.

What is aggregate supply?

Aggregate supply is, functionally, 'the total price of everything we can sell in a country during a given time.' All the money that is spent, on basically anything, combined. Your rent, your groceries, your tuition, your phone, and anything else (that is not imported), only for everyone in the country. All the money that changes hands is included except imports... and maybe wages.

People seem very keen to not include wages unless it's for direct-to-consumer services. I wasn't sure and tried to look it up for you, and people are very concerned with how wages affect AS, and not very concerned with explaining if "the $20k I paid my employee" is something that gets counted in this whole process.

"Wow that sounds like the GDP." It is. You can mince words about things like imports and exports, taxes, and so on, but GDP is one form of measuring aggregate supply (not including unreported income or illegal sales of drugs, etc).

What is Aggregate Demand?

The reverse! It is the amount of money people are willing to spend. Does that sound confusing? It is.

Aggregate Supply is the collective sales of goods produced, so it includes everything we make, including exports, like integrated circuits, petroleum, and cars.

Aggregate Demand is the collective sales of goods demanded, so it includes everything we buy, including imports, like Korean skincare, pharmaceuticals, and cars.

What affects Aggregate Supply?

AS is affected by numerous factors, but primarily labor, wage rates, general prices, and available financial capital.

(Assume everything is adjusted for inflation.)

Labor

If labor sharply decreases (e.g. COVID hits and unemployment skyrockets), then the Aggregate Supply nosedives, even if Aggregate Demand doesn't dip as sharply.

For our COVID example: People still need food and toilet paper, so the Demand for physical goods isn't affected as severely, but Supply goes down, and Services outside the medical industry take a nosedive; people are much less likely to get a non-necessity service (like massages, live entertainment, or housecleaning) when the people doing that work are often unable to work legally at all, due to legal restrictions.

LRAS assumes that either product costs will rise, or that labor will return to normal after a period of time, and that Aggregate Supply will return to equilibrium after a period of time. On a small scale, things that can affect labor are certification (e.g. if the government suddenly requires a certain license to practice a trade, labor will dip until people have that certification), wages (lower wages mean fewer employees), and worker safety (the revelation that a common element of production is highly carcinogenic and requires greater safety precautions means fewer people are willing to work for a minimum wage... in theory).

Of course, those last two are a lot less influential when the minimum wage is so low that people have to take any job they can find just to afford groceries, but that's another rant.

Price

This is most noticeable with luxury goods. In a traditional supply and demand curve, an increase in cost will lower demand for a product. However, many products do not respond to prices in that manner, due to being necessities. People cannot go without insulin, gas for their commute, or food (even shitty food), and so an increase in general costs can lead to a short bump in Aggregate Supply on the basis of people paying more across the board for things they can't go without, even if they have to take out loans to do it. In the long run, though, AS eventually shifts back to equilibrium, either through market costs being forced down by public outcry or government intervention, or through the people who couldn't afford these things just... dying off.

Fun fact: the lipstick effect is used to describe people in economic downturns ceasing to buy large luxuries (like a new car), but still buying small luxuries (like lipstick) to keep up morale, since it's a much smaller hit to the bank account, but provides a similar dopamine boost in a bad situation.

Wage Rates

If you're like me, your first instinct is that a depressed wage means fewer purchases across the board. Surprisingly, this is not what the usual use of wages in SRAS is.

AS theories assume that a rise in demand will lead to companies seeing a rise in sales, and thus hiring more workers at slightly higher wages in order to meet that demand.

In AS theory, higher wages mean greater labor, mean greater production, and thus higher AS.

(Same result, different reasoning. I view wages as being an element of how much people are able to purchase, and thus how AD affects AS.)

Available Financial Capital

This is an easy one: the more money a company has available, to spend on wages, supplies, and equipment, the more they can produce. If all companies are given more capital (see: stimulus bills, loosened restrictions on banks giving out small business loans, a miracle in which all of Jeff Bezos's money is seized and redistributed to the many small businesses he was cannibalizing), then Aggregate Supply rises.

----

Anyway, that ended up much longer than the 500 words I promised. If you enjoyed this "Economics for Dummies" segment, please toss me a donation on Ko-fi, or sign up for my patreon! I promise I'll appreciate it. (Prompts not necessary, but open.)

[cynnvein]

Fauns

When creating races, I wanted to make sure they were distinct. Physically, socially, magickally, and sexually. Otherwise, they might as well just be another tribe/kingdom of a race I already have.

Fauns live to about 20 years, and have Elven-upper bodies and deer lower bodies. The females are extremely busty, (because they have to feed their babies twice as much), and they despise clothes. Clothes are something the Holy Gothic Empire forces upon it's slaves. They instead paint their bodies. Their body paints use colours and patterns that have deep meaning to other Fauns. If Fauns spend enough time with a Mannish family, they might, (reluctantly), begin to wear shirts. These shirts will typically be painted in patterns to tell other Fauns that they are not slaves.

They are considered adolescents at 2, and adults at 3, at which point they will leave their birth herd in search other another. Fauns are born 12:1 female, with only one male per herd. The male is the Warleader, in charge of the herd's defence, while the primary movements are controlled by the herd's Princess. A princess is typically the daughter of another princess who found a free buck to form her own herd.

When they see a group of Men, they consider it to be a herd, despite it's actual social structure. In a herd, the primary male is the warleader, whom has the responsibility of covering the females. They assume this is how all herds work, and so can lead to misunderstandings if a doe joins a Mannish herd. But, because they live such short lives, a doe of 10 is considered middle age, passed her prime, and therefore maybe beyond child rearing. As such, non-princess does will often simply wander by themselves if they feel it safe, maybe even engender themselves to a Mannish family.

Their magic is the verdancy of the forest, which can apparently meld the physical damage done to wooden Artifact Creatures.

They typically carry a quiver of javelins on their back as their primary weapons, and for hunting.

The Sin of Cynn and the Faun Saviour

For a millennia, there have been no Fauns in Cynn. Many thought this was strange, others thought it was natural, and others simply thought it Was.

As it turns out, the Men of Cynn had killed them off in ages passed. This is what triggered the Elves to get directly involved with Men, and gift them their divinity as a religion. The religion was then corrupted by the Holy Gothic Empire into Mannish supremacy, to the point that all non-Men, of the Greater Races, were considered to be defacto slaves. Other than Dwarves, as they are difficult to remove once they've dug into an area, and their economic benefits cannot be replaced.

Many Fauns disliked their, and openly attacked any representatives of the Holy Gothic Empire they encountered. They would normally lose, but take many of the soldiers down with them.

This was when they encountered the nascent Summer King. He had a colleague open a portal to send a herd back to Cynn, and every year on the same day since, until a treaty was forged with the Empire to end slavery.

One of the points made was that holding Fauns as slaves was not just unproductive, but counter-productive. They could patrol the forests FOR the Empire. Or flee to Cynn, where they had no obligations whatsoever. Taxes in Cynn are paid by landowners, and rent is payed by tenants. Vagrants, and those from undeveloped lands pay no taxes or rent.

Because of this, the Fauns hail him as the Faun Saviour, and to this day will do anything he asks of them. Many of the 10 year does came to his call, to patrol his new Kingdom of the Summerlands, far to the south, below the Orclands and Europa.

[teaveetamer]

Leave it to Ladelstans to act like a bunch of jerktims (acting obnoxiously towards others and think you're the victim when getting called out). I'm not going to say anything more other than this is just fucking exhausting and all its doing is staining the reputation of their waifu and the by extension the game.

I’m not even sure what the point is anymore. Most of us have moved onto other games and other pursuits and only discuss 3H vaguely or when prompted. They’re the ones who just cannot let it go for whatever reason.

Like they accuse us of “hating that people like Edelgard” but that’s a boulder throw in a glass house when you’re willing to spread lies and slander over this type of shit? And oh, people are mean to them. What, exactly, do you expect to happen when you do shit like accuse people of being rapists and stalk people and dig up old posts just say shit like this?

Like ??? Cool? What are you trying to accomplish, exactly, by coming to my blog where I say I like Dimitri and casually throwing out that you like other characters better and believe he’s a mass murderer? Surely you don’t expect anyone to actually have a conversation with you when this is your opener?

And I know this example is tame but that’s just because they only sent me like two things before apparently deciding I wasn’t an easy enough target. Other people have been getting shit about Dimitri being a domestic abuser, worse than a literal serial killer, homophobic, etc.

Like man imagine if I went to r/Edelgard and opened with “By the way I think Edelgard is a straight Nazi who rapes puppies!” I would have to be high to think that would get me anything other than a “fuck off, maybe?” In response. Christ. Anyone who even tried engaging with this person in good faith should be able to write it off as a charitable contribution on their taxes.

[eternallyanxiousandstressed]

So, I got to see Luke yesterday for the first time in almost 2 months. It went pretty good, I think? At least on the visiting with Luke part.

He didn't recognize me at first. I mean like, he was super shy and it almost seemed like he didn't want to see me. But he warmed up to me pretty quickly. I got to give him lots of loves and kisses and whatnot. I got to walk around just holding him for like 30 minutes because he didn't want to be in his stroller anymore.

He apparently likes slapping you in the face and also he loves putting his hand it your mouth and like grabbing your teeth. It's hard to explain. But if he does that he won't let go unless you "nibble" on his hand. It was really cute. He also really liked when I jerked my head away from his hand so he didn't grab my glasses. He giggled so much for that.

Anyways, now for the Ratboy part. Below the cut in case people don't want to read about him.

So, Ratboy made a comment when I asked about something Luke wasn't doing. I had simply asked if he was talkative yet, because when I had last seen him he wasn't talkative at all. This asshole... He fucking was like "He's usually pretty talkative. He's being shy because he hasn't seen you in two months. He was talking all the way here!" as if it was my fault. Trying to organize a ride last fucking minute isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. I have a car but not only was I letting some family use it (while I was with Ratboy we just used his car, it was simple), he wasn't giving me enough money to have gas! $40 a week for food, necessities and gas? Like, what did he expect me to do? Go without food so I could fill up my gas tank? Yeah, that's gonna work out great. (Luke did eventually start being talkative with me. His babbling is so cute)

Anyways, so that was at the very beginning of the visit. Then, I bring up my portion of the tax refund. I was talking about how I was going to use it to try and fix up my car a bit and for gas so I can see Luke easier. He then tried to tell me how to use my own part of the goddamn tax refund. Like, this asshole really fucking tried to control how I spent my money. He did send me my part of the refund though after our visit. So I'm going to get my car's tabs renewed because that needs to happen. And I renewed my auto insurance (I got a great fucking deal at progressive by the way, like damn). And I am paying off part of my credit card debt. But I'm keeping it in my account for my own bills and you know what? To buy a few things to treat me. I think I deserve that. I'm also going to be buying a new carseat and stroller to keep in my car for Luke and that will be kinda spendy.

Anyways, after we parted ways I texted him about pictures he took and to send me my part of the refund. But my dad talked to me and basically told me not to make the same mistakes he did with us. He told me to enforce my legal right to see my child whenever I want as his mother who has legal custody of the kid. So, I pretty much texted him and told him that I'm going to start picking up Luke more. I told him I'll try and tell him the day before because I want to at least be courteous, but if I want to see Luke, I'm going to. I also told him that I want to know where he is when he is being babysat as I don't like not knowing where my child is (and according to my dad, that is illegal, keeping my child's location from me). And I also made sure to rub in that I can also babysit considering he's my goddamn child. He asked me why I was being so aggressive all of a sudden... Sorry asserting my rights as his mother is aggressive but it's gonna happen.

I need to tell him that he needs to start communicating better, because this answering texts maybe once a day thing cannot be happening, especially with me seeing Luke more. I made plans to pick Luke up on the 30th so I can go take him to visit my aunt.

OH! Okay and this part. I am Luke's mother. I should be part of planning his first birthday, should I not? I got a Facebook invite to a get together for his party. I haven't been on Facebook, so I had to ask Ratboy what was happening and he said "Oh, my mom sent a Facebook invite." Like... wow. Just wow. Anyways, so I want to plan a party for Luke that my family can come to. But also, I'm going to be picking Luke up earlier in the day on his birthday because I want time with my son on his first birthday where a bunch of other people aren't going to get pissed if I hold him the hold time. I will be bringing him around to my family up here though so they can see him for the first time in months. He still hasn't answered my text about what time would be best to pick him up. So...

I am pissed and trying to deal with this manchild is the fucking worst. I don't know how we're going to coparent when I divorce him, but he's gonna have to figure out communication because yeah... This is ridiculous.

More to come, I'm sure.

[hasufin]

On pizzerias and packages

I have this aunt.

Now, I've never exactly liked her, and I'm not alone. She's not exactly rude, but she's annoying. And I'm never clear if she's just a complete flake or refuses to consider others. But, for example, one time she absolutely insisted on hosting dinner and, having been informed I don't eat beef (and don't care for mushrooms but that's just a preference), made a main course of beef with mushrooms. And kept pestering me to "Just try it!" which, given my feelings about Severe Gastrointestinal Distress with a side of Forceful Evacuation, I consistently declined.

And honestly, when it comes to that, I just don't know. That entire side of the family has a terminal inability to understand or respect boundaries, and every single time you actually enforce a boundary they are Shocked, Shocked that you would be So Rude as to refuse their Perfectly Reasonable request! So, there's there.

But that side of the family is also, in part, Unpleasantly Catholic. And very insistent that everyone is Actually Christian and simply being contrary for claiming anything else. Cannot imagine someone being not-Christian or even not-religious.

But for me the last straw with this aunt was when she decided to spout QAnon nonsense. There are certain flavors of awful that you simply write off. I'm not interested in debating or discussing the matter, I want nothing to do with it.

Fortunately enough, we have basically no avenue of contact. I'm not on Facebook, I don't answer unknown phone numbers, and if she knows my email address I've never received anything. She tried to send me a card once - it was, I shit you not, written in crayon. I did not respond.

But apparently she has decided to send me a package. It has not yet arrived, but my mother has informed me of it. This is kind of bothersome inasmuch as I moved since the last card, and had specifically asked no one to tell her my new address. So either some member of my family violated that trust, or she did some rather creepy sleuthing - legal, but when you're looking up property tax records because the person won't give you their address, it's maybe a very subtle sign they don't want anything from you, you know?

But my mother is telling me to "just keep the peace" and "respond politely". I have countered that her approach has zero potential to yield what I want, which is no contact at all; that I do not know of a polite way to say "I received your package and threw it away unopened. Do not send anything else"; and from a legal perspective any reply is considered an invitation for further contact, being very specifically what I do not want.

The thing is, I've never explained to this aunt that I don't want to talk to her. And I don't want to, because again that's just an invitation for more drama. All I want is for her to never contact me. One would think that changing addresses without offering any further information would be enough, but apparently not.

[jamiekb]

Listening to TMA for the first time (Part V)

Part I II III IV

47-67

#47 The New Door: ok so at the beginning I though it might just be a statement that John could sympathize with, not That. I’ll be honest I had forgotten Sasha’s statement and about that strange man, but of course weird jagged creature. But then this gets very interesting, so Michael can follow you around just cause and trap you in his domain(??). He let Helen go for a while, I’m guessing so that John could have the info and feel weird, but eventually claimed her. And then this guy-thing just shows up at the office. (also how can no one hear John scream at this guy and be attacked?). Anyways he left us quite a lot to think about. This is very big (already understood). There is a war coming (omninous). He specifically doesn’t want the Institute to disappear because it would be unbalanced, but how?? Is it John? Is it something they have or can do? Also are Not-Sasha and Michael similar? I think I have even more questions now, yay.

#48 Lost in The Crowd: weird but vague. Indeed the description of the mystery guy reminds me of Gerard. It is interesting that John did catch the warning for Sasha but I don’t think he will really catch on quickly about Not-Sasha. In any case if there is distrust growing it’s just gonna be bad for everyone at the Institute

#49 The Butcher's Window: we’ll good to know you can rely on Jared for weird bone and meat imagery, I had kinda written him off as irrelevant but apparently not. And I didn’t think we would be that interested in Elias but now I’m wondering what’s next for him. He does seem like someone difficult to track down.

#50 Foundations: on one hand more of weird buildings, small spaces and weird creatures. On the other hands more names to look out for and I barely remember some anyway. Also could John sound more horrified of being thought to be sleeping with the cop?

#51 High Pressure: love the ocean, but of course I can’t forget that even under normal circumstances you can’t trust it. More holes and weird spaces. And yes the name Simon Fairchild did ring a bell but couldn’t remember the details, again I’m sure it’ll pop up again. And I don’t know what Not-Sasha's deal with the wax museum but I don’t like it.

#52 Exceptional Risk: finally we’re back with this guy from A Fathers Love, I can still recall the episode quite well, I liked it. And the name is of the guy that had called him if I recall correctly so that’s kinda interesting, now we know what he looks like. And love the little fumble between John and the cop (I’ll learn her name eventually). I also don’t trust that remark about the boyfriend but nothing to do about it know.

#53 Crusader: I mean the very fact that every statement is from The Magnus Institute LONDON I thought it was obvious there’s more out there. But I guess he means other institutions that document the unusual. Still pretty interesting and as I recall Gertrude’s body was very decomposed at the very least. Poor Martin he just worries about John since he knows there's more to that injury, still maybe he is hiding something.

#54 Still Life: Creepy not a fan of glassy eyes but interesting. I loved how the tax man is just like sure that’s weird but let me tell you about tax evasion. In any case apparently those two guys are just in charge of dropping off mysterious packages or something I guess. And I cannot trust Not-Sasha so who know if the basement is actually empty.

#55 Pest Control: I do like that the whole paranormal things really is a whole ecosystem of its own. You have the ghost hunters and Unit 31 and EC-what’s its name and of course the Institute. And even though many blow them off they still know and many will still go to make a statement. Other than that I’m not shocked that we haven’t seen the last of the infestation.

#56 Children of the Night: ok didn’t even remember this one, is the woman the same from the ghost hunters episode? Cause the other option that I like is Jane Prentiss but her condition was a bit more obvious at first glance.

#57 Personal Space: the cooperation of different companies with names that are relevant to the plot does intrigue me. And his dreams sound like those weird spaces that pop up around the Lukas family, the graveyard and sea. So Not-Sasha might be cooperating with someone or just making up something, I doubt John is that discreet in his investigations.

#58 Trail Rations: love me some corrupted religious imagery. I have the same question as John, how did that letter make its way to the Archive? Did someone think of Joan Magnus back them?

#59 Recluse: interesting episode, I also don’t want to know more about the spiders but it seems I don’t have a choice. And now we have another encounters from different stories. So we know the table should have a box that maybe has an apple? At the very least it does have something missing. The other apple I remember is the one from Anatomy class that had teeth in it but maybe this one is different.

#60 Observer Effect: interesting, I don’t think a mirror has ever been mentioned before. And it could be the creature related to the serial killer guy maybe. Also poor John, to be fair it’s nice that he can calm down a bit. On the other hand Not-Sasha is not trustworthy.

#61 Hard Shoulder: More pieces falling together, I thought the van might be something else but no apparently we see yet again this weird postal service and the two big guys. And the coffin!!! Didn’t really expect that since you usually hear moaning from it so the stairs are a bit weird, a lot weird. I shouldn’t be surprised that they suspected John, I’m sure he looks sketchy. And nice to know the vampires actually exist.

#62 First Edition: wow, not sure what to make of much of it but still pretty cool. It kinda looks like the same had been done to her in her death. And that indeed her connection to the Magnus Institute is much more important and close than I thought. And what is in the sheet of skin that was given to Gertrude? Is that how she died? Unlikely but not impossible. What’s in the laptop? Is the key to the coffin or something else?

#63 The End of the Tunnel: I’ll be honest, I was kinda falling asleep so can’t really pick out interesting details. But hey at least we have Ghost Girl! What did she encounter? Why does she need access to the Archive? Also does no one knock or care about John’s privacy when at work? Sure he’s the main archivist but still, people just show up to this room.

#64 Burial Rites: not much of note in this one, other than we once again play emphasis on the eyes and death I guess.

#65 Binary: I hated that one, good shit. Indeed I sometimes am afraid of what is beyond our comprehension. What if we regret it? Even now a days with social media you sometimes wonder if we haven’t doomed ourselves somehow. As much as I love the internet it’s such a new and terrifying thing, we haven’t really learned to use yet we keep reaching out for more and more. Anyway there’s the answer as to why they can’t just quit even if they’re in danger. I’m guessing for some reason the institute is gonna keep them until they’ve fulfilled their purpose, whichever that may be.

#66 Held in Customs: claustrophobic indeed. Ok apparently this Salesa (that guy) and Lukas feel just ok playing with people and seeing what will happen I guess. Anyway I’ll have to remember that name then. And the purchases that Gertrude made are interesting. She knows that where she goes she need a lot of light that won’t fail and things to kill either insects or people(?? Maybe vampires or just other creatures??). And yeah maybe the disorganization is a way of protecting something or maybe a code, a little trail that you follow in a certain way?? Who knows

#67 Burning Desire: I’d say I’m glad that Agnes at least got a bit of a "normal" experience like dating someone, but I’m still not sure if I should be more weary of her given we have tons of questions surrounding her. And still what is up with that left hand, it’s still being mentioned so I’m guessing that’s still an important detail.

Not a ton of new revelations but I’m making faster progress than I thought possible. I’m usually quite slow or put off finishing shows or other podcasts if I get too overwhelmed. Hopefully I’ll finish this before the thrill of discovery wears off.