#at what cost. at what fucking cost

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

[weed-hotel]

staying in a hostel is the worst thing ever invented. actually

[basiltonpitch]

ever since 911 moved to abc i feel like i've been having a nonstop cardiac event

[jeremyjohnirons]

i had strings, but now i'm free– there are no strings on me 🎵

[z-tomaz]

it also caught me so off guard in episode 1 in particular that the crew clearly knew how much izzy was doing to protect them from ed?? no one's saying it out loud because it won't help but the hug, and the whole scene surrounding it, says they've all quietly been paying attention and worrying about him behind his back and it was a culmination of weeks and months of living like they were while knowing that izzy was bending over backwards to absorb as much of ed's rage and heartbreak and anger as possible in order to shield the rest of them??? help??

[giganonyx]

MY HEART FUCKING DROPPED TO MY ASS WHEN CROSSHAIRS SHOT. DIDNT. MAKE. IT.

GOD AND POOR WRECKER UGHHHH NOOO. HE TRIED TO SAVE GONKY. HIS PANICKED YELL. IM. CRYING. THE MARAUDER?? MY HOUSE?? BLEW UP?? TECHS GLASSES AND LULA SIGHTING. DOMICILE VOCABULARY DROP(NERD DETECTED?).WE GOT WET HUNTER AND IT WAS SO FUCKING HOT AND HIS HAIR WAS A LITTLE MOIST BUT THEY SHOULD’VE GONE THE EXTRA MILE AND MADE IT ABSOLUTELY DRENCHED, STICKING ON TO HIS SKIN, BANDANA GONE. THEY REALLY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM US THIS EPISODE.

These eps were so SICK and TWISTED I’m. It’s so. It’s so maraudover. Pabover. ALSO EITHER A) THATS TECH, OR B) TECH IS THE ONE THAT HEMLOCK HAS IN HIS SECRET HOUSE OF HORRORS IN THE BACK OF WALMART THAT WE BRIEFLY SAW.

IM SO ILL BYE IM GOING TO REWATCH HUNTER DOING THAT SEXY SPINNY KICK TAKE DOWN THING WHEN HE WAS IN THE GUNSHIP AND HIM EMERGING FROM THE OCEAN AFTER SWIMMING A MILLION MILES (SO HOT BRO).

[bakudekublogblog]

y'all i know kacchan dying like that must have been traumatizing for the bkdk shippers, but like.... he also died in the gayest way humanly possible.... like i can't even imagine going through that bc on one hand it's like my special boy is dead, but on the other he was so love interest coded, shiggy killed him specifically bc of izuku's intense feelings about him, the fucking yearning for izuku as he died, and then the reveal he carries the little all might card he got with izuku around with him like. i cannot stress enough just how gay his death was. like i just know the shippers had to be a little conflicted

[3liza]

you have $100. due to a squid games type escapade, you are currently trapped in Whole Foods and can't leave or someone will take you out with a bullet to the brain. you have to buy all the food you eat. you can't shoplift it or steal it from the other competitors. a carton of 12 organic eggs costs $10.

your friend Greg has $100. due to a competing squid games franchise, he is trapped in a Costco. he can't leave, or they'll set the dogs on him. he still has to buy all the food he eats. he can buy 36 eggs for $7

which one of you will starve first? are you or Greg functionally "wealthier" within your respective squid game?

[uselessimpulses]

this dog does in fact bite ((cropped the full sketch page bc i didnt like the other pieces on it oops))

[lgbtiwtv]

pov you just watched iwtv episode 11 “i want you more than anything in the world”

[ihavesomejays]

bootlicker

keebs i did it i fixed what yours was missing bro !!! anyways good evening wriolette nation i hope you're eating well because i forgot to eat my birthday cake because i was drawing this !! wriothesley was my genuine reaction when i discovered neuvillette's thigh highs im ngl ANYWAYS everyone go check out my good bro @k33bsi (artist of the original art this one is based on) who will provide you... mostly with mdzs ngl but hey fandoms intersect in the most unexpected of ways maybe you guys will be into that

closeups under keep reading

[inkskinned]

no, but really, we need to talk about the casual objectification that has become the fallback discourse of the internet: if you're pretty and dressed nicely, you're a slut. and if you're even vaguely outside of their body standard, you're fucking disgusting.

too-frequently, people position sex workers as being "the problem". they sneer you're addicted to pornography, you don't know what a real woman looks like. but real women are in pornography. the real bodies on display are not the issue here: the issue is that other people feel extremely confident when commenting on someone's physique.

2000's super-thin is slowly worming its way back into the public ideal. recently i saw someone get told to "go for a run", despite the fact she was on the thinner side of average. not that it would ever be appropriate to say that: but it's kind of like sticker shock when you see it. people think that is fat? holy shit. do they just have no idea about things?

but what are you going to do about it? that's the problem, right. because chances are - you're a normal person. we can say normalize carrying fat on your body, but we are not the billion-dollar diet industry. we are not the billion-dollar fashion industry. we are just, like. people. who are trying to make content on the internet, without being treated shittily.

as someone who has been on both sides of things: you are treated better when you are thin and pretty. this is statistically correct. i am not saying that you cannot be bullied for being thin; i'm saying there are objective institutional biases against certain bodytypes. there are videos of men and women who lost weight all saying: i now know for a fact exactly how much worse you're treated. in the comments, some asshole inevitably says something akin to you deserved to be dehumanized when you were fat.

which means that ... the easiest thing to do is be pretty and thin. it is the path of least resistance, because of course it is, because any time you post a picture of yourself without a thigh gap, someone immediately comments something like you need to try a diet.

the other half is also dehumanizing though, huh, just in a different way. when i put on makeup and nice clothes, i am told i slept my way to the top as a professional. do you know how many women in STEM have told me they purposefully dress to "unimpress" because they already struggle to be taken seriously and if they're ever considered pretty - it for some reason takes away from their authority.

so they make it seem like it's your fault. you, existing in a body - it's your fault! if you didn't want shitty comments, don't have a body. they position us against each other like chess pieces; vying for male attention we don't even need.

and i can be an authority on this unless you think i'm fat and unattractive. when i am pretty and thin, i'm an activist. when i am just a normal person who makes a good point: i am immediately dismissed. nobody fucking believes you if you're not seen as attractive. you literally lose value. you cease to exist.

but the whole time, it feels like - is anyone actually grounded the fuck in reality? the line of "pretty and thin" keeps shifting. nobody seems to understand what "a normal weight" even looks like, because it's not something that exists - you cannot tell a person's health by looking at their body. even if you think you could tell that, even if you're sure a person is dangerously overweight - people are not your dolls. they do not need to be dressed up or displayed properly to soothe your aesthetics. you aren't concerned for them, you're stealing their agency. you don't get to say if they're "allowed" to take pictures and post them on the internet - you don't get to tell them how to exist.

people hide behind "the obesity epidemic" without any actual qualifications. they crow things about "normalizing unhealthiness".

but it's bullshit. i have visible abs. there is a pair of parallel lines on my body, even when i'm relaxed; where my obliques meet my abdominal wall. i am proud of this because it means i'm strong, because i overcame an eating disorder only to be ripped as fuck. it is genetic and physical luck that i even get any definition, i'm pleased as punch.

but it does mean that my abdominal wall sticks out a little bit. the other day i posted a video of myself dancing, and, for a moment, my shirt slipped. you could see a little bit of my stomach. i was cartwheeling to the floor. moments before this, i'd had my foot over my head.

a guy slid into my DMs. a row of vomiting emojis prefaced: you should really lose some weight before you think about dancing.

i stared at it for a long time. there was a time when i would have been triggered by this, where it would have encouraged me to starve myself. i would have ignored the fact i'm flexible, agile, good at jumping: i would have lost the weight for a stranger's passing comment. i would have found myself and my body fucking disgusting.

and for what? to please what? because why? so that he can exist in this world without an unchallenged eyeball? what would my self-hatred even accomplish? usually i write paragraphs. obviously. on this particular occasion, in this body i've been at war with for ages: i just felt exhausted.

it shouldn't be even worth saying. it shouldn't be hard to explain. all of this emotional turmoil when he cannot even comprehend the most basic truth: i am not an object on display for him.

[ihateyouvulpesinculta]

ummmm idk he looks so young here i hate it but arcade complaining about smth

this was me trying to study his face and like draw him accurately because i care about portraying him how he actually looks? but then again he looks rlly young and his nose is so tiny so looks like i need some more practice

[glow-worms-are-believers]

Break a leg (dp x dc)

"So, the food here is pretty sweet," the girl sitting next to him starts.

Damian hums before remembering he's supposed to be gathering intel and that means he has to talk to people.

"There aren't a lot of vegetarian options," he manages with a tight smile, making sure to look like he is stressed over the audition.

"Oh yeah, that's true," the girl says and falls quiet for a moment.

Damian looks back down at the script he's reading, though he knows the lines by heart. And then the girl speaks up again.

"So how'd you get here?" she says as she swings her legs. "My name's Dani by the way, what's yours?"

Damian folds up the papers carefully. "I'm Stephan," he says. "My agent suggested I try out for a movie role." He offers the girl a convincing shy smile. "How about you?"

"Some guy came up to me and wanted me to audition for this. I thought he was a child trafficker so I followed him. Turns out he wasn't and now I'm here," the girl said before shrugging.

"Why did you follow a man who you thought was a child trafficker?"

"To beat him up," the girl answered.

"Oh." Damian is going to assume that's a joke, if only to preserve his last bit of faith in human intelligence. He's pretty sure every child knows to go away from criminals, not towards.

"Who are you auditioning for?" Dani asks.

"I'm trying for Lennox," Damian answers, shuffling his papers as if nervous.

"A lead," the girl exclaims before extending a fist. "Nice, dude. I believe in you." Damian internally sneers at the gesture but outwardly, he smiles sheepishly and knocks his knuckles against hers. "I'm going for Abigail," the girl continues. "If this goes well, we might end up working together soon, huh?"

"Hopefully," Damian answers with a smile.

Dani smiles back widely and is about to answer when a lady steps out into the room.

"Danielle Nightingale?"

The girl gets to her feet with a chirped "present!" The lady gestures to follow before walking back out. Dani looks over to Damian. "Wish me luck!" she says before twirling away without giving Damian the chance to actually answer.

Damian sits in silence as he looks back down at the script when his earpiece crackles to life.

"Wow, baby bat, that was downright sweet," Brown's whistle comes over the coms. "When's the wedding?"

"I will hurt you," Damian hisses back, hiding his mouth behind the papers.

"Just saying," she sing-songs. "You were awfully chummy out there."

"I was trying to follow your instructions," he bites out quietly. "Or would you have preferred I didn't?"

"No, no, I prefer my civilians un-stabbed," Spoiler answers lightly. "I just didn't know you had it in you."

"I was trained for infiltration," Damian points out. "I know how to lie."

"That is good news because we need you to get on that crew," Brown says. "Ready to blow their minds?"

Damian lets himself have a little smirk, hidden behind the script. "They won't know what hit them."

[chiangyorange]

This place is a message…and part of a system of messages…pay attention to it!

isles echoes so much of s1 that it felt like a show play. theres something harrowing as an unknown entity. nothing primordial like the light and dark, or maybe it is. isles wasnt a True universe in the way that mianite seasons 1 and 2 were. it was called mianitian isles. something close, something similar, but not quite the same as the others

it wants to be adored by silly little mortals who will devote themselves to its cause. it wants to be human, but only the shape of one. it wants to be greater than mere mortal beings. it wants to be indescribable.

sounds kind of like it wants to be a god

[dnbrainrot]

Companies should make more Death Note merch. Like right now. Yes I know the anime came out 16 years ago and the manga came out ever longer ago than that I don’t care give me good merch to buy please