#because my manager has overcomplicated everything’

[fingertipsmp3]

Looking at the rota app thinking well. Tomorrow is going to be fascinating

[erinwantstowrite]

Let me just quickly say, cross-overs can sometimes get REALLY difficult to map out and write in a cohesive way but you have absolutely NAILED IT!! I absolutely ADORE LoF!!! I usually don’t even bother reading fics with the ‘Richard Grayson is Richard Parker’ premise cause I felt like they were super confusing and overcomplicated but this fic?? SUPERB. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. OH MY GOD I ADORE IT. Everyone’s characterizations are so nice and wonderful aaaaaaah!!!! <33333

Ok ok I did actually have a question as well: would you be willing to share what your writing process looks like in terms of a chapter you’ve already posted? I was just wondering since I’m also currently working on my own fic (it’s been a few years but I managed to get fixated on an idea and it grew legs lol) and I’m currently fighting the organization of it haha.

How do you keep track of the plot points and/or foreshadowing you want to get a ‘lightbulb!’ moment for later? Do you have any tips?

Thank you so much! I absolutely adore your writing AND your art is so gorgeous omg it adds so much to the incredible story :DDD I hope you have a good day!!

I have a secret: I actually didn't like "Richard Grayson is Richard Parker' tag for a while for the same reason. Sometimes they felt like they missed the mark or it's just. A thing that's there? I almost didn't include it for LoF, but I'm glad I did because it changed the direction in such a big way.

Another secret: this made me incredibly happy because I have read so many wikis and scoured the internet to make sure that I had enough info on both fandoms so LoF could make sense to anyone who's reading it, whether they know Spider-Man, Batfam, or neither at all. Sometimes I worry a lot before I post that I'll miss a mark and will confuse people.

As for the question: I definitely am willing to share what my writing process looks like!

Be prepared for under the cut, I love to yap. It's in my blood to yap. And that's why it took a minute to get to this ask haha

(Spoilers for Leap of Faith!! Everything mentioned has already been published ((Chapters 1-11))

I had to go and find out which chapter I wanted to use as an example and I think we're gonna go with Chapter 5 for the most part :)

My writing process is, as described by alighterwood:

I think the description fits because while I'm all over the place, I have to be very detail oriented and I store everything in one spot.

Starting with the overall process, what I find is most helpful for me, when organizing, is having a notebook rather than doing it all digitally. I've been using a 70 sheet notebook that I had lying around waiting to be used, and as of yesterday, I officially filled the entire thing front to back. It's been an incredible help, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it's a lot easier to remember something I physically wrote down than it is to remember something I typed. I'm now on to my second notebook for LoF, and I might even have to get a third.

In another ask, startupkat asked me this:

And I shared a little about my outline process there, but I'll try to go into a little more depth here. Emphasis on little because this is so long.

I write a truly insane amount of outlines in this notebook.

This is just what I can show you, but a good chunk of the notebook is just outlines. Over and over and over again. That's because they're always changing/adapting based on so many different factors. Sometimes I get to a chapter I thought I had fully planned out and then realize it just doesn't work anymore. Other times, I get to the chapter and realize I don't want to write that anymore/isn't as interesting as I thought it would be. A few times I got halfway through a POV of a scene I was struggling on and decided to switch POV's, which will change up the outline for a chapter every now and then.

Which is why I don't write incredibly detailed outlines and try to keep it vague until I actually get to that chapter. It's a lot less daunting to rewrite a chapter outline than it is to rewrite the entire outline.

Fic outlines and Chapter outlines look a lot alike.

This is what I said in the other ask, but I didn't elaborate on it all the way.

I make a list just like that, and then I try to put it in chronological order/in an order that makes sense. I keep the Fic outline vague by writing down "Goals" for a chapter rather than scenes. But I also keep notes to myself if I really think something is important. The more important I think a scene needs to be, the more details I write down to make sure my future self recalls what I had in mind when I thought it up.

Really simple example:

Chap 1 Goal: Peter gets to Gotham and meets Babs while running around. Meet Nightwing too? Get shelter.

Chapter 2 Goal: Bats are like "???" about Peter. Batfam dynamic important... Peter stalking Batfam back? Peter meet Batman >:)

When I get to a chapter, that's when I make a far more detailed list of wants/needs/goals. It's the Step 2 from the Step 1. Here are some examples from Chapter 5:

Needed to have:

More POV's from universe 1299 (Peter's home universe)

Tony's POV more specifically, how he's doing/feeling, what he's figured out

What they've figured out on 1299 side vs what's going on in 1300 (Gotham)

Explaining more about Peter's trauma/his past

Dick learning more about Peter, and vise versa

Wanted to have:

Ned being a more central character

Natasha :)

Loki being a little shit

Tony and Cap bickering

Peter talking to Nightwing again

The last name Grayson

Gymnastics!!

(This is the shortened list, because the chapters are so long)

When I looked at this list before writing my outline, I had to figure out how I could incorporate everything. If I needed more 1299 POV's, and I wanted Ned, Natasha, and Loki, there's one scene accounted for. I had to get their side of things and wanted that trio together. I needed a Tony POV, and I wanted Tony and Cap bickering, so those went together, plus I got 1299's POV of Ohnn and his plans explained.

I needed to have Peter explaining more about his trauma, and Dick and Peter to talk/get closer. I wanted a Nightwing POV, to have Peter say his last name, and them doing gymnastics. I knew Peter wouldn't willingly talk about that, so I had him have a nightmare. Not only did it give readers perspective but it made Peter more susceptible to talking to Nightwing because he was more emotionally vulnerable/lonely, and that's how that scene came together.

That's when I would write down the chronological order of these events by writing out "Scene Blocks." (This is what I wrote down but my handwriting was so bad I can't subject y'all to it):

scene 1- Ned talking to Loki. Natasha should be nearby and observing Loki's behavior. They are not on friendly terms. Ned is more worried about Peter than he is as to what Loki could be up to, so Natasha takes on that role.

scene 2- Tony is freaking out about Peter being in an alt dimension. He should attack Ohnn when he's not prepared for it. Beat his ass? Beat his ass. Cap there too.

scene 3- Peter's nightmare. "Ben, where do you go when you die?" "Where do you think?" "With you. Where you went."

scene 4- Nightwing and Peter.

Of course, things come to attention when writing. Like originally, Tony and Cap were arguing in the Tower. But it was a little too much like his and Natasha's argument, and I kept in mind that Tony is smart. Sometimes I forget that the characters are smarter than I am, so I have to account for what they would figure out. So Tony would have picked up the puzzle pieces and come to more conclusions than I originally thought about, and I figured he'd be way more proactive about it than just. Being in the Tower and waiting.

Which means that that scene ended up being as listed above: having a squabble with Cap, learning more about Peter's dynamic with the Avengers in this universe, and seeing how Tony is reacting to it by throwing himself head first into trying to capture Ohnn.

I'll realize I need something else to be mentioned or put in and I'll have to shimmy things around, but that's basically how it goes.

As for other forms of organization:

Keeping a timeline is so important because it tells you a lot about the environment your characters are in. It's also important to remember what a character has on them, what money they've spent, who they've met/who you have mentioned, every alias that is being used, to read your work and write down edits you want to make before you make them, to write down ideas beforehand of situations you can use, and, most importantly: MAKE A MAP!! This has saved me so many times. Sometimes your brain WILL trick you or make it harder on you to envision a scene. Make a map of where your characters are physically!! It will save you too!!

As for foreshadowing and plot points, I'll let you in on yet another secret:

Your subconscious is doing a lot more than you think it is.

Sometimes when I foreshadow something, I didn't even know I was until I got to it. I very often go back to read chapters that came before this to see what I've mentioned and what I haven't, and when I do, I'll see something and go "I have to bring this back" or "I almost forgot about that!"

Other times, I am very aware of what I'm foreshadowing, and that's because I follow a mystery plot formula. You have to keep in mind everyone's intentions, all the time. How are they feeling? What are their motivations? And: what are they doing right now, while this character is doing this?

Like Beck and Ohnn. From the very beginning, I knew I had to make sure that it was obvious Ohnn wasn't working alone. From there, I had to weave through the story and slowly build him up as someone who's working behind the scenes. Even from Ned's first POV, I made sure to mention that this person knows Tony and is tech savvy.

My biggest tip is to make sure you reread your work or at least skip through it, because sometimes you don't even know that you placed something there.

And sometimes, it's very purposeful. :)

I hope this helped! I really tried to keep it short but I am insane and the process is sooooo long. It sounds complicated but it really is simple when you're actually doing it I swear

[krowlovesinazuma]

What would it be like taking Kuki Shinobu out for a date?

Read this prologue for context!

Scenario: Date

Characters: Kuki Shinobu

It very heavily depends whether the two of you manage to slip out together alone, and find a nice, secluded place to enjoy a peaceful date; or the Arataki gang spots the two of you, and decide to be, for lack of a better term, hype men for the two of you.

Kuki is careful when it comes to showing emotions, so when planning dates, she would prefer places that are somewhat far away from large crowds. She takes the chance to relax from being a caretaker and handler for the others...

This usually means that if you two want to visit a popular tourist spot, it has to be at night, which Kuki doesn't mind herself, but hopes that you don't either. She personally enjoys the ambience of Inazuma at night!

This includes certain hot springs, restaurants, or just going on walks alongside the beach... It doesn't matter how little actually happens on these dates to Kuki, as long as you two relax and chat, she really enjoys it, and would love to do it again!

Even if it's walking in the middle of the deserted Yashiori island, or Seirai island, she'd probably enjoy herself, while she rants about the frustrations she faces from time to time, yet also describes how nice it is to live with the gang in a time of peace...

She has plenty of stories to tell, so even if you're not the talkative type, she'd gladly just speak her mind about... Anything, really, so long as you directly ask for it. If not, she's alright with staying in silence too, as it's a comforting silence for her.

She doesn't mind hanging out at her home either! Not the fanciest of dates, but she'd take relaxation over extravagance any day. Even if there might not be much to do, something as simple as resting would help her get energized and happy.

However, when she's spotted by the gang... Everything's different. Her more stoic face is on, as she tries to divert their attention to no avail, and now the two of you have a small group of hype men that don't realize the importance of aloneness...

It can be funny at first, but unless Kuki manages to get through their head, it may get annoying sooner than later. Thankfully Itto, even if he's the loudest, does listen to her regularly, and she knows how to distract him.

And while that may seem like a small distraction, as soon as they do it once, they'll start doing more and more often, which can be a little more than frustrating, especially for the poor handler. If you can handle them instead for her, that would be of great help.

Yes, they do it out of good intentions, but sometimes there's no need to scream what can be understood through silence. Just stick to less public, quieter dates, and spare the girl the extra work...

"I see it in your eyes, you're ready to ask why I still stick around them, and don't do something more relaxing. I've been tempted, but to be frank, it's just because I want to. Sure it's a headache, but it's one that impulses me to bring out the best in me, and have people appreciate my efforts instead of being a boring small thing, or part of an overcomplicated scheme."

[kitthepurplepotato]

DEAR DEAR LOVE.

OKAY.

I HAD to send this comment as a massage and not in the comments section because I have so much to fucking say.

I think I want to marry you?

First of all the new chapter got me into the six dimension and I can't believe I actually got the courage to read this in the car with my dad so I had to pause and actually get home so I could react to this in peace, and OMG the d-rule.

Perfection.

You have no fucking idea how I fucking love the idea of the mha series happening in this universe and Deku meeting horikoshi and there are no words that can describe my feelings rn but I'll try anyway

You, you bring me happiness and this has become much more than just a fanfic, and I might be exaggerating but who can blame me when I read perfection.

But love, dear, darling, sweetie, I adore you, okay? But please please PLEASE take a break if you need to, your health means much more than us and stupid adorable deku alright? I'm begging you, do not overwork yourself, please

Alright. So have an absolutely amazing wonderful and happy birthday ever, I wish you all the goods and hugs, and everything you could ever wish for, and as always, don't forget to drink, eat, and rest my love! ❤️❤️❤️

I love you so fucking much, I swear your comments are my favorite things on Tumblr! ;D

Not going to lie I kinda thought you’re gonna send me hundreds of questions when I saw your name pop up and I was kinda excited 😂 it’s still exciting though, you made my heart go all TOKIDOKI!!! 💜💜💜

Funnily enough the D-rule thing and the KiriBaku story wasn’t even planned that just happened while I was writing 😂 it was supposed to be a basic confession scene, no My hero academia story or anything but then… Deku decided to overcomplicate the whole chapter but I really like how it turned out and the confession wasn’t as harsh thanks to it so I’m glad!

About your marriage proposal, well, it’s not impossible to be fair, might need to talk to me boyfriend of 10 years about it but he doesn’t look like he wants to marry anyway so you can totally marry me? 😂😂😂😂😂💜

Thank you for all your worries, I swear I’m completely fine! (well, kinda, but it has nothing to do with me overworking myself I’m afraid 😂)

Writing these silly fanfictions make me happy and reading your comments is my favorite thing in life, honestly! I also play the two MHA games on my phone all the time so I swear I’m not just writing and editing every single moment of my free time. The only reason I get overwhelmed is because sometimes i enjoy the chapter I’m writing so much I over-concentrate on it and I give myself anxiety because I have so much to say but everything wants to come out quicker than my fingers can move and then I burn out for a few days. I’m silly like that. (yes, I have undiagnosed ADHD 😂)

(this bit a tiny bit more personal, mostly for Ronimacaroni, but feel free to read it if you are nosy like me haha)

I don’t really know how to do anything without stressing to be honest, even those two games makes me feel like I NEED TO play a certain amount of time with it daily even if I’m not in the mood, otherwise I feel like I’m “neglecting it”. So silly.

I do the same at work by the way, I used to be in management so I always had all the responsibility on my shoulders and I changed my job due to my mental health and went down to operations (so basically just putting stock on the shelves) yet I still manage to freak the shit out and try to sort stuff out that’s not my responsibility. It’s just who I am, trying to everything all at once then making myself sick with it. I’ll try to think about your words the next time I start being an idiot though!

But I swear I don’t only post because I need to and I do take a break when I have to it’s just that I had a random spur of inspiration after my birthday and I managed to write both the Izuku and the Bakugou chapter, all in one go so I was like “why wait if I can post them sooner and read the cute comments that will make me happy” so after I came home from work because I got a flu and had a Power Nap I posted the Izuku one quickly, knowing it will cheer me up 😂

Omg why can’t I shut up I’m so sorry I love you much btw be my friend thank you 😂💜

Tell your dad I said hi! 😂💜 (that sounds so weird omg just shut me up please omg this is as long as half of a shenanigan chapter send help)

Kit

This is me now and Inko is you, listening to my rambling thank you.

[onlyswan]

hii hi art!! i just finished reading the newest drabble bc i tried really hard to save it until i’m back in my own bedroom after yoongi’s singapore concert!! 🥰

and yes, of course it’s everything and more than i hoped for it to be :( it was so sad but also so beautiful at the same time. i loved that you showcased how real the emotions from the event that transpired was & that old wounds that havent been tended properly tends to resurface. a couple of things that really stuck with me:

1. both in this and the prev drabble (of the breakup), oc has a lot of inner monologue about how she didnt feel like she is enough and jk’s ability to throw her & their relationship away so easily. but i really liked how in this new story, even though she still thinks about it, she doesnt bring it up anymore bc they’ve talked about it. oftentimes in relationships we tend to overcomplicate and keep bringing up past mistakes that hinders us from moving forward. i love that this is a whole new concern that she has & jk beautifully manages to calm and reassure her.

2. oc is an angel truly bc when i read this all i want is to scream at jk’s face: “PUT YOURSELF IN MY SHOES!!!” i really dont think he can handle: 1. being broken up with after he went home from a TOUR 2. oc giving up on him 3. oc going on a date with someone else 4. everyone else basically being happy that oc is finally not with him

homeboy wouldve lost his mind truly!! oc is a gem i aspire to be her

3. it is so interesting to look at prev drabbles where oc is so careful about not asking anything from jk and never letting him over spoil her (and we’ve seen more cases where she is the one spoiling him!) and to see where it actually stems from. i predicted that the power imbalance of jk’s black card can be intimidating but i didnt think that it’s this deep 🥺🥺 poor oc…. i hope in future drabbles we can see her getting more comfortable in taking what is hers (jk!! so jealous💀) but also, his money. bc that boy has too much of it and i bet he would’ve LOVED to spend it all on her….. jk spoiling oc rotten drabble!!!! 🛍️🛍️🛍️

thank u for ur constant supply of the in which couple, you manage to always make me so happy with them, including the angsty ones! (especially the angsty ones🥰🤭)

hellohello my love 💗🥹 omggg so happy for you i hope you had lots of fun at the show !!! i’m another person closer to yoongi LOL

ihhh you are so kind thank you so much !!! i’m so relieved i was able to execute what i was trying to convey 😭🫶🏼

omg yes yes i love this this is such a good observation !! 🥺 oc wants to move forward but also deals with a lot of internal battle because despite understanding the reasoning behind his actions, he still hurt them deeply >:(

OH PLEASEHDJDHFHF the poor guy literally threw up when oc returned his things he will definitely lose his mind !!! but we won’t even be able to move past #1 😭 his stubborn ass is going to put up a fight

“4. everyone else basically being happy that oc is finally not with him” oh. this really stings though 🥲 oc must be loved and protected at all times :( they went through so much :(

it’s really heartbreaking when you put the pieces together 💔🥲 the thing is oc wasn’t even conscious about that at the beginning at all but then became concerned about other people thinking bad about him :( in the valentine’s drabble though oc offered to pay also as a form of valentine’s gift but i promise they’re definitely plenty comfortable now hehe they’re basically married and oc is living their best life :P AND PLS I HAVE TO WRITE THAT DRABBLE!!! jk fucking loves spoiling oc in every way possible 😭😭😭 oh i feel emotionally unstable already i’m so jealous 🚶

and yayyy thank you for always reading !! 💜 i’m happy to be of service i have too many jungkook thoughts to keep them to myself 🫣

[n0resistance]

June 

   The first of June I got engaged.  I actually didn’t think he would do it this soon because of life and everything that gets in the way of this moment. I hated the fact that women have to wait for the guy to ask us, even if we know we’re ready. 

    When Dom proposed it made me the happiest I ever been. Then during the month of June he worked nights because his rotation was the emergency room, which meant I got to spend mornings and days with him. And before this we always had opposite schedules.

    He even got to play volleyball with my group. We would have breakfast together and watch movies. I got to go to Jersey with him and hang with my family. His mom came to visit from Vegas. 

    I got this job near my house recently and living near your job if you don’t work remotely is pretty amazing. Especially if you live in Queens. I’ve gained peace of mind. I don’t dread my days, there’s no toxicity, no fighting, and all of this is the biggest relief. I don’t get out at 3 am anymore and that is a game changer. To your happiness and to your health. 

    So I got engaged to the love of my life, I have peaceful jobs, I got to go home, go to the beach, I play volleyball, the weather makes my mood better, and I really love my apartment. I don’t hang out in groups and hangout with friends one on one. 

    I don’t travel any chance I get anymore. Or go out partying after work. I also don’t get to do acting classes or am putting on any show at the moment either.  That’s always my m/o. Trying to save for a wedding now. 

   I compensated the pain I had with my old jobs with travel, drinking, and escaping with art (which is healthier than the other two). I audition, I write movies I want to make, and I write this blog still. And nobody really talks about this but laundry, cleaning, and cooking is a never ending job at home. 

    My life isn’t overly stimulating or exciting anymore. The excitement revolves around getting a job I actually enjoy. Finding and booking our venue for our wedding. Free time to go to the beach. A workout. I feel healthier. Clearer. 

    I think we overcomplicate our lives thinking we need stuff all the time we don’t really need. I think we put stress on ourselves to make other people happy. I don’t think people care about what I do with my life and I used to be so insecure always trying to figure out how to explain it. 

    The things that are hard to deal with in a corporate environment I’ve experienced is you never get paid enough, schedule is inflexible, management is always coming down on you for things that aren’t your fault. Your stuck there because it’s your only job. And I was just over it for a while. 

    I think what’s important is that we care about ourselves enough to step away from  toxic environments. Yes it’s a risk. Yes your pay isn’t exactly as it was. But I feel that with space comes opportunities of what you do want. There’s always this internal battle. Of compromising what we don’t want for money or stability. I saw this meme that said I don’t even waste an hour on something I don’t care about anymore. When most people waste 40 hours or more a week on what they don’t care about. 

   I’m turning 33 soon and the thing I figured out is I have to like my job. Or what I’m doing outside of my job. It’s a means to an end. I have to enjoy where I live and the people I surround myself with. That it’s okay to be boring. I guess I finally don’t want to live out of a backpack anymore, I want to really take my time with a project and I really have to enjoy and find purpose with work, and any free time I get I want to spend with my fiancé. People pleasing doesn’t interest me anymore. If they don’t like it, sucks to be them. 

    I’m glad I grew up. It was hard to find sustainability living a fast life. Feeling stuck. Being sad. I’m glad I found someone who can be there with me in good times and in bad. I have to say, June has been the best month of year. The month we’ve waited all winter for. & It just went by in a instant. 

[ivirginus]

How to Start a Business

How to Start a Business

Starting a business isn't nearly as complicated as most online guides make you think. Most websites talking about “how to start a business” just regurgitate old ideas. Starting a business used to involve a brick-and-mortar storefront, getting a bank loan, and taking on massive risk and debt. Times have changed. Now, starting a business is about getting started fast, often online. Making sales as soon as possible. Protecting yourself from liability. Protecting your privacy. We take you through the steps you need to get up and running and start doing business the right way. Below, we go over everything from making a plan to selecting the right business structure for your company—and your state. Creating a Business Plan Most websites and guides overcomplicate business plans. Down the road, sure, you’ll want a fancy, formal business plan to show to potential lenders or investors. But you won’t get lenders or investors without sales. And you won’t get sales until you get started. What you need right away is to answer a few basic questions. - What am I selling? - Who is buying? - How do I connect to buyers? - What are my costs? - How much do I charge? On our Small Business Ideas page, we’ve answered these questions for you for different types of businesses. Want to start a home-based graphic design business? How about a cleaning service? We’ve done the legwork for you in our ever-growing list of industry-specific guides. Learn which tools you’ll need, steps you should take and even how much to charge in our free guides. On this page, you can also find articles on popular business models, such as opening a franchise or selling products online. In addition, we tackle logistical questions you might encounter at every stage of your business, from choosing a business name to hiring employees.SMALL BUSINESS IDEAS Choosing a Business Structure After figuring out what your business is going to do and how it will make money, it’s time to decide what kind of business structure is best for your business. Do you want to start an LLC? A sole proprietorship? A corporation? The structure you choose will play a major role in how your business is taxed, managed, and owned. It will also determine how much personal liability you have. Each business structure has different benefits and drawbacks. They also require difference processes to get started. Below, we go over the most popular choices for business structures. Ready to explore a particular option? Check out our free “how to start a business” guides for LLCs, corporations and nonprofits. FREE LLC Guide FREE Nonprofit Guide FREE Corporation Guide Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships Have you made your first sale? Congratulations, you have a sole proprietorship or partnership. Unless you form an entity like an LLC or corporation, your default business is a sole proprietorship (one owner) or a partnership (multiple owners). And your business? It’s an extension of yourself. It’s not a separate legal entity. So all your company’s liabilities are yours personally. On one hand, sole proprietorships and partnerships are simple. They don’t require state paperwork to formally open or close. They’re cheap (unless you get sued or go bankrupt). There are no state filing fees or annual report fees. On the other hand, there are major downsides. No liability protection for yourself or your investors. No tax flexibility. No stocks. No prestige. No cool name without a DBA. Because of these downsides, once you’ve proven your concept and made some sales, it’s time to protect yourself and your investors with an actual business entity, such as an LLC or corporation. Why Form an LLC or Corporation? With an LLC or corporation, you take on considerably less risk and have better control over how taxes affect your earnings. LLCs and corporations are business entities formed by filing articles with a state agency, typically the Secretary of State. Because these entities are subject to state filing fees and reporting requirements, they cost more to start and maintain. However, in exchange for extra fees and paperwork, you receive some significant advantages and protections—namely limited liability and tax flexibility. - Limited liability: Both LLCs and corporations are legally separate entities from their owners. In other words, owners and investors are not personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business. Not only does this help protect your personal finances, but it also provides a much safer and more attractive scenario for investors. - Tax flexibility: Unlike default business structures, LLCs and corporations have multiple tax election options. For instance, both can be taxed as C-corps or S-corps. Even if tax talk bores you to tears, it’s easy to understand that having more options is more advantageous. You can pick the option that will save your business the most money or allow for the greatest opportunities. What about Privacy? Many owners have concerns about maintaining their personal privacy when starting a business—and rightly so. Sole proprietors and general partners literally share their personal names with their businesses. LLCs and corporations require public state filings. But, with an LLC or corporation, there is an easy step you can take to better protect your privacy: hiring the right registered agent service. When you form an LLC or corporation, any personal information you include on your formation paperwork becomes part of the permanent public record of your business. So, if you list your private address for your principal or registered office (or for your member, manager, director or officer addresses), that information is typically available to anyone. Scammers, spammers, solicitors, competitors, data miners, marketers, weird neighbors—anyone. However, as your registered agent, we can list OUR business address instead of your personal address when we file your formation paperwork. It’s an extra layer of privacy protection that you cant’ get filing yourself—or hiring a standard filing service. Maintaining privacy is a powerful reason professionals choose Northwest Registered Agent to form their businesses. We practice Privacy by Default® to help protect our clients’ personal information. LLC vs Corporation So how are LLCs and corporations different? Mostly in ownership, management and taxation. LLCs are owned by members and can be run by the members themselves (like a partnership) or by managers (like a corporation). LLCs also have the greatest number of tax election options. LLCs are initially taxed as disregarded entities or partnerships but can apply to be taxed as a C-corps or S-corps. In a standard corporation, shareholders own pieces of the corporation, represented by shares of stock. Stock is easily transferable, making investing in a corporation fairly simple. Shareholders elect a board of directors to make business decisions, including appointing officers. Corporations are automatically taxed as C-corps but can apply to be taxed as S-corps. Many nonprofit corporations can qualify for tax-exempt status as well. Not sure which entity is right for you? Our LLC vs Corporation page takes a deep dive into the pros and cons of each business structure. Granted, starting an LLC or corporation takes a little know-how. That’s why we’re here. Northwest Registered Agent is at your beck and call to help fill knowledge gaps and bolster your ideas. We also have a whole team of local experts, our Corporate Guides®, who can answer your toughest questions by phone or email. And of course, we can form your LLC or corporation for you, so you can get started fast with the support and privacy protection you deserve. >>>Starting a Business in Your State Read the full article

[bestintheparsec]

As Does the Snow

Frankie Morales x Reader

Summary: You and your neighbor, Frankie, get snowed in together. 

A/N: I wrote this down when the power was out while I was—you guessed it—snowed in. Nothing too deep/angsty in this (for once), just softness. Thank you for reading and I hope you like it!

Words: 3.5k

Warnings: none, some obvious tropes (snowed in, there was only one bed)

*Masterlist pinned to my page

~

Your phone buzzes in your pocket, prompting you to drop the pile of clothes you’re holding to answer it.

“Hey, Santi,” you answer the familiar friendly voice on the other end.

“You lose power yet?” he asks, slight concern in his tone.

“Just about an hour ago,” you reply, peering out the window. The sun’s still out, so you’ll be okay for a few more hours until it sets.

You’d all been expecting the power to go out, of course. The news has been tracking a seemingly out-of-nowhere snow storm that’s been headed your way, starting its impact a few hours earlier. You hadn’t expected to lose power so soon, though—it usually takes a lot more ice or wind to damage the lines. You’ve been preparing as best as you can for the cold nights ahead. With the lack of heat and power, it was bound to be a long night or two.

“You have everything you need, right?” he asks after a short silence. Santi and the other guys, most of them, live closer to the city and away from the countryside that you'd chosen to live in. With the way the roads are, everyone's been warned not to drive if possible. Not that there’s anywhere to go.

“Yeah, I always do—”

“Listen, I was wondering if you could go stay with Frankie during this whole thing,” he chimes in.

Frankie lives across the street from you—you’ve been good friends with him ever since you moved in years ago, even becoming a part of his group of ex-military friends when he introduced you to them, and you'd fit in like you’d always belonged there. It’s perfectly reasonable that Santi would ask you to go stay with your friend to hunker down during a storm. You would all stay with each other if you could, but seeing as that’s impossible and you and Frankie only have each other right now…yes, completely reasonable.

Fuck, who are you kidding?

What seems like a long time ago, you realized you had feelings for Frankie. And, by some luck—or not—you found out they were reciprocated.

But things don’t always work out the way you want them to; hell, it seems like things never do. At the end of the day, you both had wanted to pursue something more with each other, but life got in the way, just as it often does. You both had a lot going on in your lives back then, things you had to deal with and sort out alone. Ultimately—awkward conversations and deep talks and all—you’d both decided it was best if you simply stayed friends, lest things become overcomplicated.

And so you did. Despite this small history, things haven't really been awkward since then. He’s still a good friend to you, one of your best friends, really, and the subject hasn’t been mentioned again ever since.

Only, you haven’t really moved on. You haven’t been much good at leaving the feelings behind you, either. At first you just kept shoving them away, trying to convince yourself that you felt nothing at all whenever you were with him, nothing except friendly love for one of your best friends. But despite your best attempts not to, you found yourself slowly falling more for him. Being close to him for this long has made it even harder for you to move past it.

Not that you've addressed any of this again.

Had you sorted out the things you were dealing with back then? Maybe. But you’d both decided on what was best, years ago, and given that Frankie hasn’t brought it up again since, it’s likely he wants to keep things that way. Time tends to help some people to move on, where it drives the knife in deeper for others. Frankie’s been on plenty of dates since then, even a relationship or two. So you know you were probably just a momentary interlude in his love life, someone he stopped thinking about in that way long before you could ever even think about moving on. You're nothing more than a good friend to him now. And so you've kept your continued feelings for him to yourself, allowing them to thinly layer your friendship like a light dusting of sugar that’s never quite sweet enough to stand on its own.

But the thought of sheltering with him for a few days? You're not sure if you can keep your feelings contained if you're with him for that long and with that much free time to get lost in your thoughts. But given the seriousness of the storm, you were both bound to end up at one or the other's place, anyways.

You must have been silent for a little too long, because Santi speaks again, breaking your thoughts. “You can watch over each other, that sort of thing. Besides, you know how he can be…” he trails off, waiting for you to answer.

“I—yeah, I’ll go over there,” you finally agree, nodding to yourself. “I was going to check up on him eventually, anyways. I’ll go over as soon as I finish up what I’m doing.”

“Sounds good—let us know if you run into any trouble. We’ll find a way over there if we need to.”

You mutter a quick thanks and remind them to stay safe before hanging up, tossing your phone onto the couch with a resigned sigh. Moments later you pick it up again, quickly sending a text to Frankie to ask him if it’s alright for you both to bunker together for the night. Which he quickly agrees to, of course—you’ve spent many evenings over at his place, or his at yours.

Really, you don’t know why your brain’s suddenly trying to make this weird for you. You’ll bring some snacks and blankets, and it’ll be just like any other Friday night you’ve spent with him. Not weird. There’s nothing there (at least on his end) for you to feel awkward about.

You shake your head and finish your emergency preparations, trying to be done with it before it gets dark so you can head over to Frankie’s.

~

Exhaling deeply first, you ring Frankie’s doorbell.

“Coming!” His deep voice calls from inside.

You shove your hands into your pockets then change your mind, moving them to grip anxiously onto the straps of your backpack. Another few moments pass before you hear Frankie trod to the door. He answers it with a soft smile plastered on his face, the same one he uses every time he greets you. Immediately taking the bag you’re carrying off your arm, he beckons you inside and you follow, shrugging off your backpack.

"Did you need help with anything?" You ask, dropping your bag onto the ground and looking around the darkened place. The windows are covered, there's flashlights and candles out on the table, and a couple cases of water are stacked in the kitchen.

He’s layered up in clothing just like you are—a familiar flannel button-up peeking out from under his jacket. His hair is messy like he’s been running around all day, which he probably has been from the looks of it. If you had to describe it, he looks like...home.

Stop it, you mentally chastise yourself.

“Nah, I’m just making some final tweaks,” he remarks, walking over to pull the living room curtains shut. “The house is warm enough for now, but it won’t be long before it starts feeling like the inside of a fridge in here.”

He turns back to face you with a different sort of smile on his lips, a gentle expression you can’t quite make out.

Unbeknownst to you, Frankie’s been in deep for you, too. He knows you'd both agreed not to date, but over time he's come to greatly regret that decision. It was the right one at the time, but he can't help but wish things had gone a little differently. There’s no one he’d rather be around, and any and all dates he’s been on over the years have failed for the same reason—they’re not you. They could never be you.

Chances come and go, and his has gone. In more ways than one you’re a light in his life, someone he couldn’t ever deserve, and somehow he’s lucky enough to have you in his life at all—even if it’s just as friends. If he’s a better person now, a lot of it’s because you’ve been there to pick up the pieces, the same way he does and will always do for you without a second thought.

But something you can’t help him with is the fact that he’s fallen for you, hard, long after you’d both agreed to just be friends. And he keeps on falling.

He knows people change their mind all the time, but he’s been unwilling and unable to bring it up again with you. For all he knows, that agreement had just been your gentle way of telling him “it’s never going to happen.” He doesn't want to risk scaring you off and losing one of the best people in his life.

Frankie comes back to reality, watching you smooth out the front of your shirt.

“Okay, well, I brought some of my blankets in case we need to pile them up…” you say, pointing to the large bag you brought. “And since your stove is electric, it looks like we’ll be eating snacks for dinner.”

“That’s bold of you to assume,” he retorts, walking over to the kitchen. With a silly gesture, he proudly uncovers a large dish full of one of your favorites.

Frankie is certainly no chef, but he can put together a dish or two, even going out of his way to learn how to make the things that you both love. He puts a hand on his hip, amused by the surprised look on your face. “I made it before the power went out. They did teach us some things about preparation in the military, you know,” he teases, dimple on full display.

“And here I was packing junk food and sandwiches, like a loser,” you jest, grinning back at him. Frankie somehow always manages to make your life a little better. He beams and your chest constricts at the sight.

"Oh, we'll definitely need those for later," he reassures you with a grin. "If the guys were here that'd all be gone before the worst of the storm even hits," he adds, making you laugh.

Some of your favorite nights with Frankie are the ones that are completely uneventful, ones where you relax after a long day of work and binge your favorite snacks while watching some crappy movie on the couch. Then again, it's always the little things that make you happy when it comes to him.

~

Once you've had your dinner you both get comfortable next to each other on the couch, chatting about life and nothing in particular, the way you often do—minus the lack of electricity and a mostly dark room that’s barely lit up by a couple of small camping lights Frankie has. No doubt the other guys would make things a lot more chaotically entertaining if they were all here, but you’re happy it’s just the two of you now—even if it does make it harder for you to think straight at the moment.

Frankie says something that makes you chuckle and you look up at him, noting the delicate smile on his lips and the way it almost balances out the tired lines under his eyes.  He meets your eyes, and if he looks like he wants to say something else, it's probably only in your mind because he doesn't.

The wind outside makes itself known, rattling the windows in its wake. You're suddenly grateful you'd agreed to come and stay with Frankie. Although you’re lucky to have a shelter, these kinds of storms are best when you don't have to ride them out alone.

You also become hyper-aware of how intimate the moments you share with Frankie are. At the end of the day, you're glad he's in your life, even if it's not the way the younger version of you wanted. You still have him and he has you, and that's really more than you could ever ask for.

A chill suddenly makes its way through you.

"Are you shivering?" Frankie stops talking mid-thought to ask you.

"What? No, I—" He cuts you off with a chuckle and shakes his head, reaching down into your bag. With a quick movement he pulls a beanie on over your head, purposely tugging it past your eyes as you laugh and playfully smack his hand away.

"Watch yourself, Morales," you attempt to glare at him as you smooth down your hair, but fail to contain your smile when you see that goofy twinkle in his eyes.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry,” he concedes and raises his hands in mock surrender. The grin is still on his face as he moves to fix the beanie on your forehead. Another quiet chuckle escapes his lips until his fingers move away from your forehead, accidentally grazing along your cheek.

It’s not the chill that makes you both fall abruptly silent.

It’s almost as if the wind wiped the grins off your faces as Frankie looks into your eyes with an intense gaze. His hand still hovers along your cheek, neither of you seeming able to move. You’re suddenly grateful that it’s impossible for him to hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears right now. Your imagination must be getting the better of you again, because you almost believe that there’s something wistful about the look on his face.

But just like that, he drops his hand and you both avert your eyes.

“It’s, um...getting late,” you break the silence. “We better get settled before it really starts getting cold in here.”

Frankie clears his throat, nodding in agreement and standing to pile some blankets onto the couch.

“What are you doing?” you ask him.

“Um...you know I don’t have the guest room set up. There’s just the bed in my room. You go get cozy, I’ll take the couch.”

"What? I'm not gonna steal your bed, Fr—"

“And I'm not going to have you uncomfortable in my house,” he brushes you off with a wave of the hand. “It's fine, querida, really. You know I've knocked out on this couch more times than I can count." Your chest warms at the sound of his pet name for you. It's harmless, just something he's always called you. But for some reason it makes your face warm to hear it this time.

“No, I mean...isn’t it better if we share? I think the whole point is to keep our bodies warm. It’s easier to do that if we’re in one room.”

He finally meets your eyes again, holding your gaze as though there's more than one thing on his mind, then runs a hand through his disheveled hair.

“I...Are you sure? I really don’t have any problem with—”

You smile softly at him, trying to hide any indication of awkwardness in your tone. “Yes, Frankie, it’s fine. Really. Besides, we can stack all our blankets together this way.”

He smiles back. “I have a big, fluffy one we can use, too.”

~

All the remaining heat in the house has definitely dissipated now, leaving behind a frigid chill. It's bearable for the time being, but leaves your skin covered in goosebumps anytime you expose so much as a sliver of skin to the air. The last time you checked, the snow had already made a significant cushion to the ground outside, and was still going strong.

You've been in bed for an hour or two, huddled into a ball underneath several layers of blankets and refusing to move because it only makes you colder to shift the air around.

Frankie's asleep next to you—you assume he's asleep, anyways. Neither of you have said a word in a while, and with the pattering sounds of snow falling outside, you're getting drowsy yourself. Still, you haven't been able to fall asleep, not even when you jam your eyes shut. It's too cold, for one thing, and for another, it's difficult to ignore the fact that he is right next to you. It's a big bed and there's a decent space between you, but still.

You shift positions yet again, trying to wrap yourself tighter in your section of the blankets. You move to readjust one of the blankets that's gotten pushed away, accidentally bumping Frankie's arm in the process. You grimace, hoping you didn't wake him.

"Your hand is like ice," Frankie's quiet voice suddenly fills the room.

"Oh—Sorry. I thought you were asleep," you mutter back, your voice muffled by the blankets.

"No. It's hard enough for me to sleep even when there's not a historic snowstorm going on." He jokes, though you know it goes deeper than that for him.

Not really knowing how to respond, you remain silent. Rolling onto your side facing away from him, you tuck yourself further into the blankets before resolving to pull them up and over your head entirely.

Frankie's soft laugh rumbles next to you. "Seriously, your skin is frozen," he tells you. “You’re like the opposite of a space heater right now,” he chuckles and you can hear the grin on his face.

You push the blanket off your face, feigning a groan. “Freezing weather and a lack of heat lends to poor circulation, Francisco.”

"I know, I just…maybe it would…it might be warmer if we slept closer together." His voice is so soft that you can’t help but think how nice it would be to fall asleep to the sound of it every night.

When you don’t answer right away he quickly adds, “Or not—I wasn’t trying to...I didn’t mean—Sorry.” Frankie shuffles uncomfortably under the covers.

“No, you’re right,” you murmur hesitantly, barely louder than a whisper. “It...would probably help.”

A beat of silence.

Then you hear Frankie gently move his pillow over towards you, scooting himself in until you can feel his warmth against you. He doesn’t move again at first, you only feel his chest rising and falling against your back. But ever so slowly, he wraps an arm over you, the weight of him sturdy and comforting. You can tell he’s tense—hesitant—until you place your own hand on his, holding him closer to you. Feeling you make yourself comfortable must put him at ease, and he relaxes around you. Neither of you say a word, just lay there sharing each other’s warmth.

You’ve fallen asleep on his shoulder on some late nights on the couch before—things two normal, friendly people do, right? But you’ve never let yourself think too much about it. You can hardly help it now, reveling in the way you feel safe in his arms, fitting perfectly along the curve of his body. You are warmer, although some of it may be because of the way your pulse is just a little bit quickened. You wouldn't mind if you had to stay like this forever.

Frankie quietly exhales, his breath warm against the back of your hair. “Better?” he finally speaks, his voice gravelly and hushed, not much louder than the sound of snow hitting the window.

A pause. “Yeah.”

You feel him relax even more, burying his cheek a little more into the space above your shoulders. “Let’s try to sleep, then, querida.”

And just like that, Frankie Morales manages to make you fall a little bit more in love with him.

It’s then that you realize—it’s always been simple with him. Everything is always...easy with him. Nothing’s overcomplicated or messy; it’s just you and Frankie. It’s what drew you to him first, long ago. It wasn’t the outspoken openness that that others had, nor the confident resolve, but the quiet way he cares for you. The way he manages to always make you laugh, even at the times when it’s almost impossible to. The way he makes you feel so whole that you forget there was ever anything missing in the first place. That’s how he found his way, permanently, into your heart.

For Frankie, it’s always been you. You’re a grounding presence to him, someone who’s made him familiar with peace again over the years.

He lies there listening to the sounds of your breathing, sure that you’re finally fast asleep. He feels sleep coming over himself, too. He knows he’ll sleep a little easier tonight with you. He’ll weather anything when it comes to you. That’s how he knows, and convinces himself that once this storm business is over, he’ll tell you. For now, he lets himself follow you into slumber. His last conscious thoughts are of how he wouldn't mind having you in his arms like this every night, and if it weren't for your warmth lulling him to sleep, he might've confessed to you right then and there.

 ~

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[sirensplayhouse]

ok ok so i just need some clarification.

the people i see everyday, from the outside world including the bloggers i follow are real right?. BECAUSE I WAS THINKING TOO MUCH ABOUT MANIFESTING AND I SOME HOW MANAGED TO ASK MYSELF “are people..real.” dawg i am not happy with the way i am thinking rn let me tell u that LMFAOO I’M GONNA CRY DID I OVERCOMPLICATE IT.

I’m trying to tell myself that “yes, everyone else is real and exist, you’re just not able to access the world/reality through their eyes but doesn’t mean they aren’t real.” THEN THIS THOUGHT GOES LIKE “No they are not real you are all alone in this world” I FELT LIKE SOBBING. I’M HAVING ARGUMENTS WITH MYSELF BRO 😭 then another thought chimes in like “you’re manifesting a sp, if u can manifest them then they’re not real” then ANOTHER is like “girl u fucking idiot everybody including your sp can manifest only difference is u know how to do it but regardless everyone else has the ability to.” now i’m just gonna stop this and just ask for some clarification.... everyone is real and has their own life, like everything is the same as life before and how i viewed it except the only diff is i know about manifesting,,, right? 🙂

i’m overthinking this so much because of something someone said oh my god.

I didn’t mean to laugh but😂yes love everyone is real. I love what you said earlier in your message

“everyone is real and exist, you’re just not able to access the world/reality through their eyes”

that is golden because it’s exactly true. we see the world differently and have different perspectives and imagine differently.

say I wanted to manifest getting an Arby’s shake (because they’re vanilla shakes ommmiggoosshhhh *chefs kiss*) and after I say “I want an Arby’s shake” I get the shake in my hand. I’m able to feel and drink it and it’s as real as can be.

(yea idek if that example or reference was necessary but I threw it in anyway😵‍💫🫠)

I hope this was able to soothe your mind, and remember whenever those thoughts come in just flip them 💗

[itsclydebitches]

It's almost like turning Penny human has done nothing but needlessly overcomplicate everything that came after. If she were still a robot, you could easily have Jaune realize that, no matter how much of her aura he restores, aura only heals flesh, not metal and wires and nobody there knows anything about repairing a robot who can harbour a soul. Or, you know, use Watts's hack as the reason she has to die before she's taken over.

The problem seems to be that the writers were working around ensuring that this death was Penny's final death. They clearly wanted to create a situation where the viewer would no longer expect/hope that she would someday return again. Almost any "death" while in her robot body automatically includes that, for the simple reason that we saw it happen before: Penny was super-duper dead in Volume 3, presumably stayed there on the Vytal stage during most of the battle, someone eventually collected her, got her all the way back to Atlas, and Pietro still managed to fix her despite all that time passing. So if she dies from Watts' hack, the viewers will wonder when someone will find her body (even under a flooded Atlas, perhaps) and fix her again. If Jaune can't heal her with a semblance, viewers wonder why no one dragged her body through the Vacuo portal to fix her later If she falls through the void—something I've seen others suggest as opposed to Jaune using his sword—then the viewer knows she's wound up on the island just like our heroes. Bring her back to Remnant when they leave too and fix her.

So they gave her a flesh body, ruining her "I've always been a real girl" arc in the process, so that when Penny died it would be a final thing. She's like Pyrrha now. The group can manage a lot, but they can't manage a non-android resurrection.

For me, if they wanted to kill Penny off while still an android, the change needed to happen with Pietro. The less satisfying option for me would be to kill Pietro off too and claim that he was the only one capable of restoring her. I think it's less satisfying because 1. Pietro was clearly a part of a team and I find it hard to believe that out of all these refugees, not a single one has his brains/is capable of figuring Penny out for themselves, even if it takes awhile. And 2. That involves, you know, killing him off. The black disabled character dies so that the neurodivergent/trans coded character can stay dead. Obviously a writer can do that, nothing is stopping anyone from making their own writing choices... but it would likely leave a sour taste in the viewer's mouth. Just as having Jaune kill Penny already has.

Better imo to eliminate Pietro's claim that he can only resurrect Penny with his aura once more. That doesn't need to be there (especially when it created the expectation that something would come of that statement... and then it didn't). Just tell the group—and the audience—that this resurrection was a one time thing. Make up whatever fantasy/sci-fi nonsense is necessary to justify the hard rule of androids not coming back a second time. So when Penny dies again, we already know Pietro, or anyone else, can't repeat what we saw between Volumes 3 and 7. That reprieve was a one time thing.

RT doesn't seem to be planning this story very far in advance. Or, if they are, they frankly aren't doing a good job of it. It's very easy to kill off Penny without turning her into a "real" girl and erasing eight seasons of work. It's very easy to have Penny die without making Jaune look so eager to throw away his healer identity. It's very easy to get Jaune to fall into the void without keeping him around specifically for a mercy kill. None of this is well thought out and the fact that viewers can so quickly go, "If you just changed X this would work so much better" is a testament to the lack of editing done. Or, evidence of a too casual approach to how all this fits together if RWBY actually got that second, third, etc. draft. It's one of the reasons why I was so pleased to hear that Volume 9 was pushed to next year. The creator's health comes first, obviously, but beyond that I hope the extra time will allow the show to catch more of these moments with simple fixes, but huge consequences. No more Jaune killing Penny when her wound looks minor and Cinder isn't paying any attention to them. (Seriously, I keep seeing the fight as justification for the kill needing to happen fast, but... Cinder didn't care. She straight up ignored them after hitting Penny, focusing entirely on Weiss. It's another example of the animation not aligning with the declaration. Show us Cinder gunning for Penny still, ignoring Weiss every chance she gets, distracting Jaune from healing by necessitating that he blocks new attacks, etc). No more Yang fighting with Ruby only for Blake to act like they had the fight instead. No more high stakes where the answer is a completely random, "Oh yeah, I have a kinetic bomb in my cane that miraculously only touches grimm." RWBY has deeper, structural problems at this point, but a lot would be vastly improved with just a few tweaks made from observations like, "We can definitely make this moment more persuasive" or even just, "That doesn't make sense yet."

[kob131]

So, I found something.

My god that other anon is so fucking pissed for no goddamn reason lol

And it is so fucking frustrating for them to, in one sentence, PRETEND that "save two Relics, a Maiden, every Atlesian citizen, a majority of Mantle's citizens, AND THE FUCKING WORLD is "not a plan" and is "cowardly" and "running away"

And then in the NEXT sentence, pretend that INTENTIONALLY AND DELIBERATELY PREVENTING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FROM BEING EVACUATED AND THEREFORE CAUSING THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS OF HUNTSMEN AND HUNTRESSES (since it's been canon since V2 that in Atlas the Hunters and Soldiers are the same) SO THAT RUBY COULD SIT ON HER ASS IN A GODDAMN PALACE AND POUT OVER HER TEA AND TSK HER TONGUE AND CRY ON STAIRCASES ABOUT HOW SHE DOES NOT HAVE A PLAN ONLY FOR A DEUS EX MACHINA TO FALL IN HER LAP AFTER BOTH THREATS HAVE ALREADY BEEN MOSTLY DEALT WITH BY OTHER PEOPLE, JUST SO THAT SHE COULD USE HER NEW SHINY MAGIC WAND TO FINISH SALEM'S JOB FOR HER AND INTENTIONALLY DESTROY BOTH CITIES, MILLIONS OF HOMES, ALL THE FOOD, ALL THE DUST, ALL THE TECHNOLOGY, ALL THE DEFENSES, AND EVERY SINGLE THING OWNED BY EVERY SINGLE CIVILIAN EXCEPT FOR THE CLOTHES ON THEIR BACKS, AND THEN FUNNEL PEOPLE THROUGH A NEEDLESSLY OVERCOMPLICATED DEATH TRAP THAT ANY PERSON WITH MORE THAN ONE BRAIN CELL COULD HAVE SEEN WAS A FUCKING DEATH TRAP, CONVENIENTLY FORGETTING ABOUT THE VILLAIN SHE MET IN EPISODE FUCKING ONE THAT SHE KNEW WAS LOOSE AND HUNTING HER DOWN BECAUSE HER NEWEST TEAMMATE WAS HELPING HER DO IT LIKE TWELVE HOURS AGO, WHO PREDICTABLY HALTED THE EVACUATION ABOUT AN HOUR AFTER IT BEGAN, THUS IF A SINGLE FUCKING OUNCE OF LOGIC RE: TIME AND CROWD-MANAGEMENT WERE APPLIED TO THE SITUATION WOULD MEAN THAT ONLY A FEW THOUSAND CITIZENS MADE IT OUT OF ATLAS WHILE THE OTHER SEVEN MILLION WERE LEFT TO DIE, AND THOSE THAT DID MANAGE TO GET TO VACUO HAVE NOW BEEN LAUNCHED INTO EXTREME MASS POVERTY AND HOMELESSNESS, THROWN UNEXPECTEDLY INTO THE COMPLETE DEPENDENCY ON A KINGDOM THAT CANONICALLY CANNOT POSSIBLY SUPPORT OR PROTECT THEM, THAT RUBY KNOWS IS SALEM'S FOURTH AND FINAL TARGET, ALL WITHOUT MORE THAN A HANDFUL OF THE "RIGHT" HUNTERS (i.e. the ones that lick Ruby's boots and just follow her orders) TO DEFEND THEM FROM THE MASS AMOUNTS OF GRIMM THAT WOULD OBVIOUSLY TARGET A GROUP OF TERRIFIED AND CONFUSED CIVILIANS WHO WERE JUST THROWN INTO MASS POVERTY WHILE THEIR HOMES WERE BEING DESTROYED BY A TEENAGER WITH A GOD COMPLEX, WHO JUST HOURS PRIOR DECIDED IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO RECREATE CINDER'S V3 BROADCAST AND SEND IT OUT INTO THE WORLD LIKE THAT WOULDN'T FUCKING TRIGGER EVERYONE, and they call this a "good plan."

Wow this anon has no concept of spacing.

Okay so first off-

A. Ruby isn't preventing anything directly. She's not stopping Ironwood from evacuating all the Mantle citizens into Atlas. Hell, it's not like she's directly stopping Penny from helping either. Penny is not helping by her own decision. Ironwood could evac everyone in Mantle while trying to catch Ruby and co. Given that part of the reason they oppose him is his decision to leave Mantle to die, he would have a better time convincing them.

And B. Uh, literally everything you just stated as a problem in Ruby evacuating Mantle and Atlas applies to Ironwood. No really.

Leaving everything that the people own behind, including valuable resources? - Check.

Dumping people into a new area with no plan to deal with them, creating extreme poverty and thus suffering? - Check.

Funnel people into an area with an obvious villain on the loose? - Check.

Mass panic within the crowd of displaced people attracting Grimm? - Check.

In fact, this is WORSE with Ironwood.

The first one would leave everything in Mantle AS WELL AS THE WHOLE WORLD behind for the VERY small Atlas now supporting twice its population while also losing it's working class.

The second funnels them all into the unsuspecting Atlas, which is basically HALF a kingdom and no known resources to draw on.

The third one sounds ... a tiny bit rational until you remember that Salem was like an HOUR away and thus Atlas would have likely been raised WITH Salem AS WELL AS Cinder who is still at large at this time. All ignoring that he can only go so far up until Dust stops working

And the fourth...fuck, Mantle citizens already hate Atlas and especially Ironwood, he just left all their homes behind AS WELL AS FRIENDS AND FAMILY and they're now stuck in Atlas-

He's repeating the King of Mantle's mistake all over again.

And all of this ignores that it's not just by Ruby or Ozpin's principles that James is a failure here.

Ironwood: You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon. You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond. You faced down terrors people can't even fathom. That's not the behavior of students. It's the behavior… of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

It's by James' own ideals. He instilled in them the idea that they served the people and that sacrificing themselves for the world is a good thing to do. It's his own words condemning him.

So yes, what he did was not planned and running away. It's also hypocritical.

The simple, easy-to-grasp, BLATANTLY OBVIOUS fact of the matter is that the writers wrote Ironwood to have a plan and they didn't bother to write Ruby to have one of her own, but the writers wanted Ironwood to be 100% wrong and Ruby to be 100% right, so the writers threw every scrap of logic out the window along with the timeline and series-bible they famously admit to having never had, and bent the universe so fucking backwards it literally broke in their efforts to maintain the status quo of "Ruby = Perfect Infallible Righteous Hero, Everyone Who Doubts Her = Pure Evil," and the bulk of the fndm accepted this as Truth and took it a step further, so now the situation is "CRWBY/RWBY/Ruby = Perfect Infallible Righteous Geniuses, Everyone Who Criticizes Them = Pure Evil Idiocy Who Deserve To Be Attacked."

... Right, the creators are the ones who threw logic out.

Not the guys saying that Ironwood had a plan...for an action he took out of nowhere...within the same night as making it.

Also, remind me...where was the scene demonizing Yang and Oscar for questioning Ruby? Because I distinctly remember them as being portrayed as having a point and being morally consistent. And weren't the scenes of Ironwood talking with Team RWBY after their lie and getting their licenses specifically shot and animated to make them look guilty? And by that same logic of 'Anyone who doubted Ruby is EVIL!!!"- wouldn't that also include Ruby HERSELF as she openly doubts her own actions?

Your self righteous speech would actually mean a thing if you didn't say THIS later.

But hey, with Team RWBY and Rooster Teeth serving as their idols, I can't say I'm surprised lol

Yeah, kind of shows that your issue is less with the action and more that it's applied to you. And we have a term for that. Hypocrite.

It's a real shame that a show that PRETENDS to support creativity, freedom of expression, diversity, and respecting varied opinions, ended up turning into such a fucking black-and-white, wrong-vs-right, conservative-puritan, pro-blood-supremacy, divine-unquestionable-leader, hive-mind echo chamber story of "Ruby Is Always Perfect And Right And Everything She Does Is Pure Good, And Everybody Who So Much As Questions Her Authority Is Always Awful And Wrong And Everything They Do Is Pure Evil, And They Will Either Be Written Into Terrorism Or They Will Grovel At Her Feet To Be Graciously Forgiven And Allowed Back Into Her Hive Mind Now That They Have Learned To Submit To Her"

Wow, I could literally reduce this down to 'Buzzwords' and lose nothing.

And again, your own stated standards would include RUBY HERSELF. So...What's the excuse there?

And it's even more pathetic to see so many people in the fandom decide "yeah that sounds reasonable" and seem to think it's some kind of Noble Duty to seek out "malcontents" and "ungratefuls" and "haters" and "liars," (coincidentally ignoring the fact that a vast majority of rwby critics are women, or disabled, or neurodivergent, or queer, or not-white, or any mix of the above, who are openly discussing the deep-seated and firmly established bigotry that is EASY TO GOOGLE in Rooster Teeth and the RWBY writers in particular, that they absolutely wove into the show) and ATTACK THEM for DARING to have the AUDACITY to *checks notes* express a dissenting opinion

You know, because one of the tags OP is using (RWDE) has NEVER done that, let alone be DEFINED by it.

Again, you're just pissy that your shit is getting flung back at you.

P.S. Got any proof on that 'vast majority' shit? ... No? Just a strawman? Cool then.

For a Fandom that just looooves to recite pretty flowery speeches full of Big Words like unity and freedom and love, they sure do every single fucking thing they can to prove they don't actually believe it.

And for guys who say they're all about justice and truth, you sure did love underhanded tactics and lies huh?

So OP, are ya gonna be morally consistent and call this anon out?

They uh really lost their shit their huh? I blocked someone else that was a mega RWBY fan and coincidentally the hate stopped. But it’s definitely not linked. Nope not at all.

Course not.

By the way, blocked people can still send anons so it'd do nothing.

Ruby, the girl pleading with her adversaries as they try and literally kill her for them to see reason is also somehow willing to turn her back on her ally who she knew was emotionally struggling and desperately needed help and couldn’t even be bothered to even try and talk to him. And no one wants to talk about how beyond fucked that is because that would mean admitting Ruby isn’t perfect and that she can in fact make mistakes and we can’t have that apparently.

... You are aware that her speech to Cordovon was an ULTINATIUM right? As in, 'Stop or else'?

Also Ruby tends to, you know, argue that you should fight for the common people and be a hero? That thing James praised before that he's now turning his back on? That thing that stayed consistent with Ozpin? ... No? Nothing?

And also-

Ruby: (lets go of the stone pole and looks at Yang) We shouldn’t lie to ourselves. I’ve wasted our time getting Amity up, thinking help would come, but it didn’t, and Amity fell.

Yang approaches Ruby while rubbing her eyes.

Ruby: (looks away) I was being childish.

Do you just...destroy the parts of your brain that remember RWBY?

Ruby has been put on this pedestal and she’s not allowed to get off that pedestal now even if she wants to because letting her off the pedestal would force them to admit she never should have been put their in the first place because no one should ever be put up their in the first place. People are well people. They make mistakes and screw up but that doesn’t suddenly make them bad people. It means they messed up and its okay. But so many people have bought into this idea of goodness = perfection that no one they deem good is allowed to make a mistake so they have to pretend Ruby does everything perfectly and does no wrong and is a pure perfect angel who is going to save the world even if she helps destroy kingdoms in her quest to do so.

Qrow: Which part? The finally getting to Atlas part, getting your license part, or the not quite disclosing everything to Ironwood part? Or… all of the above?

Ruby: (soft laugh) All of the above. I'm trying to do what I think is best, but I really can't tell if what's best is what's right, or if I'm no different from Oz.

Qrow: Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You're trusting others, but you're making sure they prove themselves first. I think that's a pretty big difference.

Ruby: I hope so.

You're just ripping off the show at this point. And no matter what, Atlas was done for. Y

So then obviously they then have to demonize and claim anyone who disagrees with her is pure evil because obviously since Ruby is perfect and pure she can never make mistakes and to question her is to imply she might be making a mistake and we can’t have that so they have to demonize characters like James when he dares step out of line and imply Ruby royally screwed up even though if any other character pulled the shit Ruby pulled people would hate them. But because it’s pure wonderful perfect Ruby doing it, it’s fine.

"So then obviously they then have to demonize and claim anyone who disagrees with her him is pure evil because obviously since Ruby James is perfect and pure just she he can never make mistakes and to question her him is to imply she h might be making a mistake and we can’t have that so they have to demonize characters like James Ruby when he she dares step out of line and imply Ruby James royally screwed up even though if any other character pulled the shit Ruby James pulled people would hate them. But because it’s pure wonderful perfect Ruby perfectly imperfect noble James doing it, it’s fine.

I have heard this shit word for word listening to the other side. All you're doing is reinforcing my belief that neither side pays attention.

Even if it’s destroying two cities and pushing thousands into mass poverty and homelessness. Even if in her “Saving” of the civilians means the slaughter of thousands of soldiers. Even if it means dumping those civilians whose lives came at the cost of blood right back into Salem’s warpath to repeat the whole damn cycle all over again. Even if it means calling the plan that saved only a fraction of the people James’s plan would have saved the morally superior one.

You keep saying Ruby's plan saved less people than Ironwood's but we never see anyone die during Ruby's plan while Ironwood's is BASED on said deaths.

And again, all of this but worse can apply to James' plan.

Ruby. Screwed. Up. Big time. It’s okay to say that. She can screw up and still be a good person. But this insistence on denying that she screwed up big time is creating an extremely toxic environment and has caused the fandom to sit around and tolerate or even worse encourage people to attack and harass people who care to not worship the ground Ruby walks on.

But admitting that the paranoid, hypocritical, authoritarian leaning Ironwood who has shown he hasn't learned from HIS mistakes is basically asking for you to commit seppuku right?

It’s just so damn frustrating that saying “James wasn’t running away but retreating and their is a difference” is such a controversial statement. Not fucking opinion STATEMENT. James was just trying to do what he thought was best and would ensure the most lives where saved. It was not the pretty or nice answer but it was the best he had given that he was just dropped the “Salem is immortal” bomb hours earlier in the middle of a disaster.

...

Ironwood: We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas.

He crushes the chess piece in his hand, and Ruby jumps to her feet.

Ruby: What?!

Ironwood drops the shattered glass from his hand.

Ironwood: It was Oz's plan in a former life. But he didn't take it far enough.

Yang stands up.

Ironwood: If we harness the power of the Staff, and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed. Always out of reach of whatever Salem may try to send our way.

Plan in question being-

Ironwood: Eh, that's the public story. (walking forward) But with the Staff, we have a constant, seemingly limitless energy source. Oz once speculated it could take us as high as we wanted. To tell you the truth, that served as the inspiration for the Amity Project. Get a communication tower up in the sky, higher than the Grimm can survive so we never lose contact with each other again.

"JAMES WAS JUST RETREATING!" is so controversial because it's irrefutably FALSE. Your supposed basis is built on info that is WRONG.

And again, Ruby is responsible for that. SHE is the one who spearheaded the decision to not tell James about Salem. SHE was the one who sat on her ass on the information and did nothing to even try and come up with a way to deal with Salem. SHE was then the one who refused to let James execute the only plan he could come up with to try and just survive the night. SHE then refused to go onto the battlefield to help the people she trapped their and then she and her friends gleefully harassed the soldiers likely going to die fighting the battle they refused to help in for a forced laugh in a season that really should not have any of those. And SHE was the one to leave thousands of civilians to in essence fend for themselves against the Grimm in an extremely hostile territory because she all but ensured the entire Atlesian Military was slaughtered leaving the civilians she claims to love and care for so much to die just in the desert instead of the ice.

I'd like to take this moment to point out that Ruby's plan was to drop them in the Vault at Vacuo, which has never been shown to have Grimm in them.

She also did have a plan: Ironwood's original plan before he ditched it.

This is just bullshit meant to make Ruby look as bad as possible. Like calling James a tyrant.

RUBY lied, RUBY kept secrets, YANG went behind his back and leaked classified information to an unknown person, RUBY despite KNOWING James didn’t have all of the information despite KNOWING James was fighting to get Amity completed on all fronts continued to badger and berate him for somehow not getting it done despite Robyn stealing his supplies and convincing everyone to stop selling him anything. They where angry that he couldn’t magically make Amity completed and then got angry when he considered a solution that would force people to cooperate for the greater good and then got mad again when Amity still wasn’t magically completed.

And the narrative portrayed her as wrong for it all. Except for Yang who was being morally CONSISTENT.

This also doesn't excuse the fact that James ignored the growing tensions in Mantle which gave rise to Robyn as well as not updating their security allowing Watts to so easily wreck havoc. He also lied too about Amity without telling anyone either, meaning he has no high ground. As well as betraying Ozpin and even HIS morals.

For people saying it's okay for Ruby to fuck up, you sure do love making excuse for James.

I’m near my wits end here.-

Cries the person making the issues.

Ruby can pull all of this crap and then sit around crying until a deus ex machina is dropped in her lap to literally solve the problem James had the solution to last season! Yet somehow James is a coward who is running away and Ruby is the brave hero here to save the day after graciously forgiving the people SHE wronged who had to crawl back to her and beg for forgiveness from her despite them not having any reason to have to apologize for the things they did apologize for, or worse, apologizing for things THAT SHE HAD DONE WITHOUT ANY IRONY WHAT SO EVER AND PEOPLE INSIST SOMEHOW SHE WAS RIGHT FOR IT. That is ALL Ruby can be is RIGHT and NEVER anything else and it is fucking ridiculous.

... Okay you keep calling the Staff of Creation, an established plot element, a Deus Ex Machina which by definition cannot be established beforehand.

Ruby also never 'forgave' Ironwood or the Ace Ops. She came to an understanding with Ozpin, that's it.

This is just completely wrong.

People see and know Ruby pulled all of this crap and yet they still somehow convince themselves that Ruby is still the good guy and innocent and pure and did nothing wrong and demonize and harass people who are upset with what was done to James to try and force the audience to love and forgive Ruby and loathe James. Their is nothing wrong with taking a step back and going “Yea that was kind of fucked but I still like the show and want to keep watching it” like their is nothing say8ing you can’t do that. All we want is for people to recognize why we are angry and frustrated even if you aren’t by it. But no the toxic fans have to act like toddlers and throw temper tantrums and call people names and worse for daring to imply Ruby is less then perfect and I am sick of it.

All while putting all the blame on Ruby despite the narrative beating you with a sign saying "BOTH ARE WRONG" while screaming at the top of it's lungs.

You also did the exact same thing you accuse toxic fans of. Fuck, your own term is calling your own critics a name.

You could also say "Yeah, they're both wrong and that's the point" but no. You choose to ignore facts to sell incorrect info because it gives people what they want.

Kind of shows why nothing you've said here matters: it's too inconsistent to mean anything but 'stop badmouthing my husbando.'

[ezrasarm]

Only You

Pairing: Frankie Morales x demi fem!reader

Word Count: 1.8K

Summary: Frankie stands up for you when Tom acts out of line.

Warnings: Conflict, Tom being a dick, swearing, ✨protective✨ Frankie, fluff

A/N: There seemed to be some interest in a continuation of More Than Friends and a thought popped into my head so here it is! This is set an undefined period of time after More Than Friends. If you would like to learn more about demisexuality there are some wonderful resources here at demisexuality.org and my inbox is always open if you’re curious …or you have HC ideas ...or just want to scream.  AH! I almost forgot to thank @dishonouringmycow for beta reading, helping me with ideas and the ‘plot a murder’ line!

[Masterlist]

“You’re a woman, right?” Tom says abruptly from across the table a few moments after the conversation seemed to have lulled itself to a pause. Taking a few moments to notice you were in fact the only apparent woman at the table for him to be addressing, you nodded.

“Last I checked, yeah.” You laugh, as Tom hunches over a little more to look down at his drink. 

“Can I get an opinion on something?” He asks, glancing up at you as he resettled his grip on the bottle between his hands. You give Frankie, who was sat next to you in the booth with an arm looped around your shoulders a subtly confused glance to see if he knew what this was about only to get a shrug in return.

“I’ll try my best,” you say as he reaches for his phone and places it in front of you to swipe between two photos. You didn’t exactly know who they were of, but you recognized what was happening immediately. Tom had talked your ears off about his wife’s affair at this point. He was obsessed and while you, Frankie and the rest of the guys had tried to be supportive at first, it was becoming more and more of a concern to you all. You had thought you would bring it up with him tonight when you saw him but when you got to the bar and he seemed fine- cheerful even, you thought maybe he had made some progress. Maybe you didn’t need to intervene. That was until you looked down at the phone.

“Tom,” You sigh, looking between the pictures of two men you had never seen before. The ones you assumed he suspected his wife was cheating on him with. “I’m not Molly.” You say with a sympathetic look in your eye when you look up at him again.

“Yeah, yeah, but if you had to choose.“ He said, waving away your comment to swipe between the two photos for you again. To choose? Choose what? Which one seemed most likely to wear flip flops instead of sneakers? Which one you would lend a quarter for a shopping cart at the grocery store? Which one you’d choose to help you plot a murder? You knew what he meant but you didn’t see how your answer would help, or if you even had an answer to give.

“I don’t know, they’re both good-looking I guess.” You shrug. 

“Just pick one.” He insists a little more forcefully than before. You knew he wasn’t always the happiest drunk but you had never seen him this way before and you weren’t a fan.

“I think there’s a lot more that goes into your wife’s decision to sleep with another man than appearances.” You interjected. You didn’t know Molly particularly well and you weren’t defending her but you knew Tom hadn’t been acting like much of a husband in recent years and who were you to blame if she went looking for affection elsewhere.

“You’re overcomplicating the question.” He groans in frustration. “Don’t worry about Frankie, he’s got thick skin. He knows you’re looking.” Looking? Looking at what exactly? The ceiling? The ground? The bottom of your glass in hopes that if you couldn’t see him, he wouldn’t see you and you might be able to drop the subject? You’d hardly noticed the way your hand squeezed Frankie’s a little tighter under the table much less if it was reassurance for him or yourself but you could feel your patience running thinner as what had started out as mild irritation morphed into sheer discomfort with the situation. 

“Tom, I know nothing about these people!” You scoff far more defensive than you had been before. You didn’t want to have to make up an answer but you were getting pretty darn close. You could understand aesthetically. Guy number one’s hair was nice to look at, guy number two had kind eyes, guy number one had a little bit of scruff that reminded you of Frankie, guy number two wore a Black Keys shirt that you liked. None of these things made you feel anything though. Not like Frankie did. But Frankie wasn’t the answer to the question Tom was pressing you with.

“No- Just at a glance, gut reaction, which one would you rather fuck?” He says and you’re not sure if your mouth drops from the shock of him asking you that point-blank or at the gall he would need to have had to ask you such a thing in front of your boyfriend but before you can even think to come up with an answer, Frankie steps in.

“Tom!” He snaps. “She doesn’t want to answer the question! Now back off.” He says quite firmly. Something you knew wasn’t easy for him given that he was a close friend and someone he looked up to. He thinks that should be the end of it but Tom is quick to try and wave it off as though Frankie was the one acting out of line.

“C’mon man! Let her speak for herself!“ He says, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his seat a little more. 

“Tom, you’re drunk, you’re pissed off and you’re hurting but that does not give you the right to harass my girlfriend!” 

“Harass your girlfriend? All I did was ask her a question-”

“Her answer is not going to change what happened!” Frankie just shy of shouts, managing to turn a couple of heads from nearby tables. You realize now that the frustration that had been building up over Tom’s pity party for the past three months had been affecting Frankie as bad if not worse than it had you. “It’s not!” He reiterates a little quieter now as though trying to recover from his sudden outburst. “Your wife screwed another man. That fucking sucks but it’s not going to undo itself anytime soon. So I don’t know what you need to do to process that but you’ve gotta get this out of your system and figure out a game plan for what you’re gonna do next because you are making it harder and harder for us to feel sorry for you right now.” Frankie lets out a heavy sigh and a slight shake to his head when he brings the bottle that his grip had tightened on so much throughout the conversation that his knuckles had gone white, up to his lips.

You watch as Tom’s jaw ticks to the side and he smooths a hand over his face, a minuscule nod as his gaze drops to the table. The silence hangs thick in the air for what feels like an eon until Benny shoulders into the booth on the other side of you just about squishing you against Frankie who has since adopted a similar posture to Tom. 

“Who died?” He asks, tossing you a goofy look that makes a smile tempt your lips as you shake your head and Will slides in across the table from you. 

“No one.” You assure him as you graciously accept the fresh drink Will places in front of you. “Speaking of not dead... Anyone heard from Santiago recently? It’s been a while, he’s got me worried.” You say in an attempt to change the topic despite you and Frankie both knowing you had spoken to him hardly 24 hours ago. Your attention seems to slip away from the response though when Frankie’s hand squeezes your knee in a silent thank you and you let your face tug into a soft smile when you look up at him, content that you’ve successfully changed the topic and made it stick.

***

“I’m sorry,” You hear Frankie say from next to you as you make your way out the door armed with the excuse of having to work in the morning when in reality you could sense that you and Frankie both were getting a little tired of being social tonight. 

“For what?” You ask, brows furrowed in confusion as the cool air hits you and you plunge your hands into the pockets of your jacket.

“I’m sorry he was being such a jerk to you in there.” Frankie clarifies and you find yourself stopping halfway across the slowly emptying paring lot to turn and face him.

“He’s going through a lot right now.” You reply carefully, your exasperation from earlier having worn off by now only to leave the pity you had felt when he let his gaze drop after Frankie had told him off. 

“That’s not an excuse for his behaviour though.” Frankie insists and you nod. 

“Maybe not.” You muse. “But I know how much he means to you and I don’t want to get between that.” You shrug. “He needs you.” You say. “He needed to hear that from you.” You clarify, reaching your hand out to lock your fingers in his. Knowing Frankie he’s likely beating himself up over snapping at him like that already when you’re sure his conscience should be clear. He did everything right. “Thank you for standing up for me.” You smile on a lighter note and watch as a similar expression brightens up his features.

“You know I’ve always got your back, right?” He asks and you nod in return, hardly realizing the way your feet have managed to shuffle you closer to him as he dips his head down to kiss you. You can just about feel his breath fanning your upper lip when-

Bonk

The bill of his cap collides with your eyebrow and you both break out laughing, your hand bracing you on his arm as you hunch over in hysterics and you wind up stumbling slightly with the few drinks in you before you bump into his chest which still shakes as he holds you to him in an attempt to keep you both from toppling over. You’ve hardly recovered before he musters a “Is this better?” and you glance up to see the salt-stained cap placed backwards on his head instead which only makes you burst out laughing again as you flip it around to place it backwards on your own head. 

“I far prefer being able to do this anyway.” You hum through your persisting smile when you slide your hands up to tangle your fingers in his messy hair. 

“This is a good look for you.” He teases, eyelids lazy with contentment as his hands grip your hips and tug you just a little closer to him. 

“You’re a dork.” You beam with an amiable shake of your head “Let me kiss you.” You plea and he obliges. 

You pick Frankie.

[Masterlist]

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[everygame]

Batman: Arkham Knight (PlayStation 4)

Developed/Published by: Rocksteady Studios / WB Games Released: 23/05/2015 Completed: 28/11/2021 Completion: 100% everything… apart from 200 of the Riddler’s riddles, because fuck that? Trophies / Achievements: 70%

Big lols over here as I think “ah you know, I should play something recent for a change” and I decide to play a game that came out in [checks notes] 2015. I had to dig way back into the archives to find my review of Arkham City, and I played that in 2014! I played Batman VR in 2017 and I even say “oh, I should play Arkham Knight soon.”

Anyway, Batman: Arkham Knight is a weird one, in that I think it probably commits all the sins that Arkham City did, and commits several more, but I didn’t come away disliking it as much. I still think it’s a tragedy that they didn’t keep up the third-person Metroidvania style, but this manages to mostly work as an overstuffed AAA superhero-me-do.

I think it’s probably the writing, actually? This game pairs Batman with a hallucination of the Joker who keeps appearing to mock “Batsy” and just generally goof around, and it’s extremely entertaining. You can tell Mark Hamill is having fun with it, and I genuinely laughed at moments, which really makes up for Batman’s stern total lack of personality (he looks like a wax dummy in some sequences.) There’s even a decent attempt at having character arcs and themes and stuff--they reveal something, characters behave the way that you’d expect them to now you’ve learned something about them, and so on. It’s a big improvement from Arkham City.

That said… the ending is pish. There’s some big reveals earlier that (honestly) couldn’t really be done satisfyingly because they’re given so much build-up, but the actual ending I was like “that’s it?”

The worst thing is that the game doesn’t even give you the credits unless you do basically everything in the game outside of the Riddler’s ridiculous treasure hunt (only 200-odd items this time!) and even if you do that (I didn’t--like everyone sensible I looked it up on Youtube) you’ll be like “what?”

It’s a big let down, to be honest, and it should have been a final nail in a coffin for this but I keep wrestling with the fact that I just… still… enjoyed… playing this. Have I lost my edge???

I mean, this starts (again) with Batman having too many abilities that are too poorly explained. It’s simply got too many things to do (stealth segments, brawler, tank battles, races…) and so you tend to forget how to do any of them efficiently and so you end up just muddling through. The difficulty level is all over the place and because there’s just so much you’ll only face, say, certain enemies at some points, then the next time you see them hours later you’ll have no idea how to face them (love to have to google what it is I do to fight electrified enemies… or is it enemies with stun rods? Oh this guy has electric hands. Is that dealt with like an electrified enemy, or stun rod enemy? etc.) Oh and for some reason the game doesn’t like to tag open-world tasks unless you’re basically on top of them, so you’ll end up resorting to googling a map for that, too.

Oh and the bloody Batmobile loves to get stuck on geometry. And don’t get me started on the insane APC chase missions which were impossible (until I decided to do them after completing the main story and I beat them easily? idk.) And a tech tree to upgrade batman that I barely used because all it did was overcomplicate him and not really make anything easier!!!

Anyway. Batman: Arkham Knight is a game I felt like I never actually got comfortable playing, I never felt any mastery of Batman at all, because it’s all too much, but at the same time, the open world is actually manageable that even if you do have to look up a map you can end up hundred percenting the game without feeling like you’re wasting your entire life, so in that way it’s not too much. You can just enjoy ticking off a big list of things to do and get rewarded with some Joker riffs when you do. Real big “ehhh… I got my money’s worth” energy with this one but… ehhh.

Will I ever play it again? Literally can’t imagine how insulted I’d feel if I’d done all 200 riddler trophies to get that crappy epilogue and that’s all that’s really left to do. I guess I never played Arkham Origins, but I’m good.

Final Thought: I appreciate that they didn’t attempt to walk back the end of Arkham City (as dumb as it was) but the vibes of what has to be the end of this series unequivocally hasn’t sat with me as, well… unequivocal. I do wonder if they just ran out of time? Anyway, end things properly!!!

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[misha-moose-dean-burger-lover]

happy birthday, @theninthdutchessofhell! have some fluff, a birthday!Cas, and an amazing year ahead <3

"Birthdays." Cas declares, eyes flitting across the brothers as he dramatically tosses his head.

Dean ducks his head to hide his smile.

Drunk Cas being talkative, loud and unstoic — well, it was something he could get used to. It'd take way more of an effort to get a hang of Cas being able to get drunk in the first place, but he's sure he'll eventually get there.

"Yeah," Sam grins. "It's yours today."

"I know, Sam." Cas immediately throws back, tone bordering on annoyed. What a baby — Dean snickers, enjoying himself.

Sam shrugs noncommitally.

"Birthdays." Cas repeats, enunciating each consonant painstakingly. Then he turns to Dean, staring with enough purpose to weaken a stronger man — but Dean's Dean, and this, he's definitely used to.

He holds the angel's gaze, lips curving in a smirk.

"Such a weird word." Cas continues, completely straight-faced. There's a graveness in his voice, as if he might as well have just assigned Dean his next political assassination, or grievously informed him that they couldn't save his goldfish.

"Huh?"

"It's almost like —" Cas stops completely, squirming as he tries to remember the word. "Like," He begins, to no avail. Dean looks on with fascination, as Cas's face traverses almost the entire spectrum of human (or ex-angel, he isn't sure what Cas is anymore, but he avoids grouping him in with their unimpressive kind mostly) emotion.

"Bird day?" Sam offers, finishing off the last of his glass, and Cas whips around to stare at him with unbridled admiration.

"Sam Winchester, you're a treasure to mankind." He tells Sam proudly, earning a snort from Dean, and a bark of laughter from the 'treasure' himself, as he lugs himself to his feet with a relaxed 'that's my cue' look at Dean.

"So are you, buddy." Sam pats Cas, smiling toothy and pinkcheeked, as Cas pulls him in for a fierce hug. "So are you."

When they separate, Dean realizes he's almost done with his however-many-th bottle, and flings it at Sam who catches it in a rare stroke of luck. He proceeds to collect as many emptied bottles as he can in his ginormous arms, to drop off at the kitchen because he's a regular boy Scout like that — and then waves goodnight at the two of them before hobbling off to his room.

Cas reseats himself next to Dean, bright-eyed and satisfied.

"Bird day." He repeats, as if for validation, when Dean finds himself caught staring, though it's really not his fault — comfortable, content Cas has always been a weak spot, and he's too beautiful for him to help it.

"That's funny, I guess." Dean manages.

Cas's face scrunches, suddenly doleful. "Bee day would've been funnier."

"Hey, hey," Dean nudges him, as if that could get the sad glint out of his eyes. "Some people — not me, but you know, others — call it a happy b-day sometimes."

"They do?"

Dean nods.

"Oh." Cas sighs thankfully, the frown smoothening itself out. "I'm so glad to hear that."

And with that, he leans over to take a swig of Dean's beer, eyes crinkling at the hunter — back to normal, or as normal as happy-drunk Castiel was ever going to get — leaving Dean stunned in a sudden, overwhelming tornado of emotions.

It's like a switch had flipped.

A switch, stuck for longer than a decade in the middle, apparently the one holding Dean back from giving in all this time, and how badly he's wanted to give in, holy shit —

And now Cas has practically gummy-smiled it to where it should always have been; literally goddamn smiled, hazy-eyed and glorious, his way past the last, assumed-impenetrable wall of Dean's defenses, and his heart, because god-friggin'-dammit, he loves Cas, of course he loves Cas, and —

How had he ever imagined he could hold it in forever?

Blissfully unaware of Dean's revelation, Cas just frowns as he returns the hunter his bottle. "Dean, do you think anyone truly enjoys the taste of —"

Now or never, Winchester.

"— beer, or only tolerates it for the effects it has on their central nervous system, because —"

Dean draws a quick breath, tunes the voices in his head out, and leans in abruptly to press his lips to Cas's cheek.

Cas, obviously, stops speaking entirely.

Dean gulps.

Then slowly, Cas turns, lips parted, and starry eyes directed straight at Dean, and this time Dean doesn't even have to convince himself to go for it, and finds himself leaning closer to plant a kiss on Cas's temple.

Cas's smile grows wider, and Dean thinks he lets out a lightheaded chuckle.

"You humans," Cas ends up saying, shaking his head, tears glistening in his eyes. "And your needless tendencies to overcomplicate everything."

Dean blinks, pulled out of his reverie by Cas's unusual remark, but he doesn't get a chance to ponder — because Cas is cupping his face determinedly, leaning in, and finally, finally meeting his lips in a kiss.

It lasts all of a minute, really, but feels like twelve years worth of promises, and faith, and belonging — and an eternity of love.

"Happy Birthday, Cas."

Dean's voice trembles as he grabs the lapels of his age-old trenchcoat to hold him right there.

Cas doesn't seem like he intends to move either, for a very, very long time — though there's a smug lining to his voice when he speaks, and it's so exasperatingly the Cas Dean fell for, it's unreal.

"Such a weird phrase." Cas whispers back. "Almost sounds like 'I love you', wouldn't you say?"

"You're a little shit when you're drunk." Dean rolls his eyes, and kisses Cas again just because he can, now.

Cas kisses him back eagerly, and Dean wonders if he's accidentally acquired the remnants of Cas's grace when they pull apart, because he could swear this feels like wings.

"Of course. And I love you too."

[thedanceronthestreets]

PEDRO PASCAL GQ GERMANY - OCTOBER 2020

Original text by Esma Annemon Dil

Fotos by Doug Inglish

Styling by Simon Robins

Translated by @thedanceronthestreets

Intro: A broken tooth could almost have been the reason for our meeting with Pedro Pascal to be cancelled - and with that our conversation about roots, his new movie and times of change. 

Interview: It is almost eery how empty the streets of Los Angeles are under the gleaming sun. While Europe is finding its "new normal", people in L. A. are cutting their own hair even without being neurotics. Many of them have not seen their friends in half a year. The pandemic is out of control. So are the reactions to the situation. Inviting someone to a "distance drink" in the backyard can lead to the same consternation as proposing a relationship partner exchange. 

All the more of a surprise was Pedro Pascal's immediate confirmation. To the drink, not the partner exchange. He is one of the winners this year - and if Corona had not forced the movie industry to go on a holiday, he probably would not have had the time for this drink. After "Game of Thrones", the series in which his head was squished, followed 2015 the leading role in "Narcos" as a DEA agent on the hunt for Pablo Escobar, and now the leap onto the big Hollywood screen. As of 1. October the Chilean will appear in the blockbuster "Wonder Woman 1984". Furthermore, the second season of the "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian" will start in October with him as the main character - unfortunately underneath the helmet. But we all seem to be under the same helmet in 2020. It is this man we want to meet, who worked as a waiter in New York a couple of years ago. Whose parents are political refugees that settled in Texas, and one day their son decided to walk into a drama club in high school. 

And then the cancellation. While we were preparing the house and garden for Pedro's drink and fashion shoot, which isn't an easy task under L. A.'s restrictions, his management called in with terrible news: Pedro has - no, not Corona - had to receive emergency surgery due to a sore tooth and is now lying in bed with a swollen cheek, making talking or shooting impossible. The sun shines onto empty streets. And our empty garden. 

A few days later, he stands in front of the door anyway, no huge bulge in his face, but stitches in his gum. No limousine service that dropped him off, he arrived in his own car and picked up his makeup artist on the way. He helps her to carry in all the equipment and states first and foremost: "I've got time today!" What a star! It does not seem like we are about to ask him how he managed to become a Hollywood sensation, but rather him asking us that question. Pedro Pascal! So, what kind of star is he then? 

Pedro Pascal: Sorry for ruining your plans. The operation was a total emergency. 

GQ: Really? We were wondering whether the swelling was the result of a secret trip to the plastic surgeon. Apparently, because of the quarantine in Hollywood, their schedules are packed. 

Sorry to disappoint you. A few days before our appointment I raced to the hospital with a tooth fracture and the worst pain I've ever felt - a hospital where the severe Corona cases are treated. I was unable to contact any dentists! Right before I parked, a specialist called back. I'll spare you the details of the surgery, gruesome. The pain was excruciating despite the 10 anaesthetic shots. The doctor said I wasn't the only one going through this, a lot of people grind their teeth at night thanks to stress. 

What are you most afraid of at the moment? 

The way the government is handling the pandemic scares me more than the virus itself. The lack of intelligent crisis management is a moral disgrace. The leadership crisis makes orphans out of all of us - we're left to fend for ourselves. 

How have you spent the last few months? 

With frozen pizza in jogging trousers in Venice Beach. I live in a rear building that's in the garden belonging to a family. In reality there are enough good takeout restaurants around that area, but for some reason I like salami pizza from the supermarket. 

That doesn't exactly sound like the movie star lifestyle. What does it feel like to be forced from top speed to zero? 

Considering the things happening in this world, my own state really isn't the top priority. But I would have to lie, if I said I wasn't disappointed. The entire cast and crew of "Wonder Woman 1984" put so much heart and soul into the production. We had so much fun on set. I had hoped to carry this feeling of exuberance around the globe to the openings of this movie. 

You are part of a political, socialist family that fled the Pinochet regime in Chile. What do you remember from back then? 

My sister and I were born in Chile, but I was only nine months old when we claimed asylum in Denmark. From there, we moved to San Antonio in Texas, where my dad worked as a doctor in a hospital. 

Texas isn't exactly considered to be socialist utopia. How well did you settle in? 

San Antonio isn't a cowboy city but rather very diverse with large Asian, Afro-American and Latino communities. In my memory it's a romantic place, culturally inclusive. The cultural shock only hit when we moved to Orange County in California later. Suddenly, the environment was white, preppy and conservative. 

How were you welcomed in California? 

To this day I'm ashamed when I think about how I let my classmates call me Peter without correcting them. I'm Pedro. Even without growing up in Chile, the country and language are part of me. I was quite unhappy in that place. At least I was able to switch schools and visit one in Long Beach, where I felt more comfortable. With its theatre programme, I found my path. 

Could you visit your family's homeland as a child? 

Yes, after my parents ended up on a list of expats that were permitted to re-enter the country. First, there was a big family gathering, then me and my sister were parked at some relatives' place for a few months while my parents returned to Texas. They probably needed a break from us. They'd had us at a very young age, had a vibrant social life, and my mother was doing her doctorate in psychology. 

Was your mother a typical young psychologist that tested her knowledge at home? 

You mean whether I was her lab rat? Absolutely. I can remember weird sessions camouflaged as games, where someone would watch my reactions to different toys. Even though I couldn't have been older than 6, I knew what was happening. My favourite thing was to be asked about my dreams. That was always a great opportunity to make up fantastic stories. 

Was that your first performance? 

Definitely! My strong imagination alarmed my mother, because I'd rather live in my fantasy world than in real life. I didn't like school. I ended up in the "problematic kid" category. At some point the subjects got more interesting and my grades improved. So many children are unnecessarily diagnosed with learning disabilities without considering that school can be daunting. Why is it acceptable to be bored out of your mind in class, when there are more stimulating ways to convey knowledge?

With everything happening in the world this summer: Do you believe that social hierarchy structures are genuinely being reconsidered? 

Hopefully. After the lockdown my first contact with people was at the Black Lives Matter protest. The atmosphere was peaceful and hopeful until the police got involved and provoked violence. At least during these times we can't avoid problems or distract ourselves from them as easily as we usually do. It seems that the pandemic provided us with a new sense of clarity: we don't want to go on like this. 

The trailer of "Wonder Woman 1984" represents the optimism of the 80s. That almost makes one feel nostalgic nowadays. 

That holds true. It's two hours of happiness. Patty Jenkins, the director, managed to make a movie full of positive messages. We shot in Washington, D. C., then in London and Spain - which now sounds like a different time. 

Do you miss travelling? 

I've only now realised what a privilege it is to just pack up your things and fly anywhere. With an American passport you can travel freely. And that's why the small radius we live in now is kind of absurd. Over the last few years I often retreated in between takes, because I was always on the road and overstimulated. Friends complained about how comfortable I had become. We all took social interactions for granted and realise now how reliant we are on human connection. Now, I wistfully think about all the party and dinner invitations I declined in the past. 

In L. A., people spend more time indoors or in nature than in other metropolises. Could this city become your safe haven after New York City? 

My true home is my friends. Ever since I was young I've lived the life of a nomad and haven't set roots anywhere. Until recently, my physical home was a place for arriving and leaving and hence I didn't want to overcomplicate living by owning lots of things. The opposite actually: Without having read Marie Kondo's book, I got rid of all the stuff that was unnecessary and lived a very minimalistic lifestyle. 

Is there something you collect or could never say goodbye to? 

Books! I still own the literature I read during my teen and university years. Recently I found a box of old theatre scripts and materials back from my uni days at NYU. I can't separate from art either, same as lamps or old pictures. Furniture and clothes are no problem though, they can be chucked. 

Do you remember any roles that were defined by their costumes? 

Yes, "Game of Thrones" comes to mind immediately. During that time I first understood what it means, as an actor, to be supported by a look. I owe that to costume designer Michele Clapton. She developed these very feminine robes and brocade cloaks for my role that looked very masculine when I wore them. I felt sexy in them. And very important were of course Lindy Hemming's power suits and Jan Sewell's blond hair for the tycoon villain Maxwell Lord in "Wonder Woman 1984". Relating to the style, I couldn't really see myself in the role since the shapes and colours of the 80s don't really fit my body. My type is the 70s.

Do you adopt such inspirations into your private closet? 

At this point in time, I'll choose any comfortable outfit over a cool look. Sometimes I mourn the days when I defined myself with fashion. It's a bit mad when I think about how, in the 90s as a teenager, I would go to raves; a proper club kid with crazy outfits: overalls, chute trousers, soccer shirts and a top hat like in "The cat in the hat knows a lot about that!" by Dr Seuss. Later in NYC I was part of a group that placed immense value on wearing a certain style. The fact that I only walk around in joggers nowadays is actually unacceptable! 

Normally, actors who work on comic screen adaptations become bodybuilders and eat ten boiled chicken breasts per day. You don't? 

My body wouldn't be able to handle that. I find it difficult enough to maintain a minimum level of fitness. As of your mid 40s, you suddenly need a lot more discipline. Until the tooth incident happened, I worked out a couple of times a week with a trainer to keep the quarantine body in shape. 

What would annoy you the most, if you were your own roommate? 

I can be very bossy. I have to gather all my goodwill not to force my movie choice on to everyone else. When I want something, I'm not passive aggressive about it, I attack head on. Also, I can get caught up in tunnel vision: When i feel down, I can't imagine that I'm ever going to feel better again. I have difficulty with seeing the bigger picture when experiencing problems or emotions. Method acting really wouldn't be my thing. That's why I try to only work on projects that feel good and where people encourage and lift each other up. 

While you were trying on the outfits you pointed out a lack of self-esteem. How does that coincide with your career? 

Isn't it interesting how traits and circumstances go hand in hand? Self-esteem comes from the inside, but it's also influenced by what society believes. We use critical stares from the outside against ourselves. I lived in New York for 20 years, I studied there and worked as a waiter up until my mid 30s, because I couldn't live off acting. It was always so close. The disappointment of always just barely missing a perfect part or opportunity is exhausting. When is the right time to stop trying and what's plan b? That's not just a question actors ask themselves, but anybody who struggles to earn a livelihood - unrelated to how much potential they have or how close their dream may seem. We are beginning to see now how our narrow definition of success is destroying our communities. At the same time, it's becoming obvious that, until this day, your family background and skin colour determine your chances of living a dignified existence. 

What are the positives of becoming a leading man later in life? 

I have the feeling that I've got control over my life - without the pressure of having to accept projects or be a social media personality. That surely also has to do with the fact that I'm a man. Women are surely pressured to appear quirky at any age. 

Life is always a management of risks - especially at this time. For what would you risk losing something? 

Usually, if you don't play the game you're not going to win anything. That applies to friendship, love, work, creativity. Anything that really means something to me, is worth the risk. 

Wonder woman 1984 will appear in cinemas 01.10. The 800 million dollar earning DC comic franchise is moving into the New York 80s with its sequel. It looks spectacular - only Pedro Pascal with blond hair in a three piece Wall Street suit looks better.

[ivirginus]

How to Start a Business

How to Start a Business

Starting a business isn't nearly as complicated as most online guides make you think. Most websites talking about “how to start a business” just regurgitate old ideas. Starting a business used to involve a brick-and-mortar storefront, getting a bank loan, and taking on massive risk and debt. Times have changed. Now, starting a business is about getting started fast, often online. Making sales as soon as possible. Protecting yourself from liability. Protecting your privacy. We take you through the steps you need to get up and running and start doing business the right way. Below, we go over everything from making a plan to selecting the right business structure for your company—and your state. Creating a Business Plan Most websites and guides overcomplicate business plans. Down the road, sure, you’ll want a fancy, formal business plan to show to potential lenders or investors. But you won’t get lenders or investors without sales. And you won’t get sales until you get started. What you need right away is to answer a few basic questions. - What am I selling? - Who is buying? - How do I connect to buyers? - What are my costs? - How much do I charge? On our Small Business Ideas page, we’ve answered these questions for you for different types of businesses. Want to start a home-based graphic design business? How about a cleaning service? We’ve done the legwork for you in our ever-growing list of industry-specific guides. Learn which tools you’ll need, steps you should take and even how much to charge in our free guides. On this page, you can also find articles on popular business models, such as opening a franchise or selling products online. In addition, we tackle logistical questions you might encounter at every stage of your business, from choosing a business name to hiring employees.SMALL BUSINESS IDEAS Choosing a Business Structure After figuring out what your business is going to do and how it will make money, it’s time to decide what kind of business structure is best for your business. Do you want to start an LLC? A sole proprietorship? A corporation? The structure you choose will play a major role in how your business is taxed, managed, and owned. It will also determine how much personal liability you have. Each business structure has different benefits and drawbacks. They also require difference processes to get started. Below, we go over the most popular choices for business structures. Ready to explore a particular option? Check out our free “how to start a business” guides for LLCs, corporations and nonprofits. FREE LLC Guide FREE Nonprofit Guide FREE Corporation Guide Sole Proprietorships and Partnerships Have you made your first sale? Congratulations, you have a sole proprietorship or partnership. Unless you form an entity like an LLC or corporation, your default business is a sole proprietorship (one owner) or a partnership (multiple owners). And your business? It’s an extension of yourself. It’s not a separate legal entity. So all your company’s liabilities are yours personally. On one hand, sole proprietorships and partnerships are simple. They don’t require state paperwork to formally open or close. They’re cheap (unless you get sued or go bankrupt). There are no state filing fees or annual report fees. On the other hand, there are major downsides. No liability protection for yourself or your investors. No tax flexibility. No stocks. No prestige. No cool name without a DBA. Because of these downsides, once you’ve proven your concept and made some sales, it’s time to protect yourself and your investors with an actual business entity, such as an LLC or corporation. Why Form an LLC or Corporation? With an LLC or corporation, you take on considerably less risk and have better control over how taxes affect your earnings. LLCs and corporations are business entities formed by filing articles with a state agency, typically the Secretary of State. Because these entities are subject to state filing fees and reporting requirements, they cost more to start and maintain. However, in exchange for extra fees and paperwork, you receive some significant advantages and protections—namely limited liability and tax flexibility. - Limited liability: Both LLCs and corporations are legally separate entities from their owners. In other words, owners and investors are not personally liable for the debts and obligations of the business. Not only does this help protect your personal finances, but it also provides a much safer and more attractive scenario for investors. - Tax flexibility: Unlike default business structures, LLCs and corporations have multiple tax election options. For instance, both can be taxed as C-corps or S-corps. Even if tax talk bores you to tears, it’s easy to understand that having more options is more advantageous. You can pick the option that will save your business the most money or allow for the greatest opportunities. What about Privacy? Many owners have concerns about maintaining their personal privacy when starting a business—and rightly so. Sole proprietors and general partners literally share their personal names with their businesses. LLCs and corporations require public state filings. But, with an LLC or corporation, there is an easy step you can take to better protect your privacy: hiring the right registered agent service. When you form an LLC or corporation, any personal information you include on your formation paperwork becomes part of the permanent public record of your business. So, if you list your private address for your principal or registered office (or for your member, manager, director or officer addresses), that information is typically available to anyone. Scammers, spammers, solicitors, competitors, data miners, marketers, weird neighbors—anyone. However, as your registered agent, we can list OUR business address instead of your personal address when we file your formation paperwork. It’s an extra layer of privacy protection that you cant’ get filing yourself—or hiring a standard filing service. Maintaining privacy is a powerful reason professionals choose Northwest Registered Agent to form their businesses. We practice Privacy by Default® to help protect our clients’ personal information. LLC vs Corporation So how are LLCs and corporations different? Mostly in ownership, management and taxation. LLCs are owned by members and can be run by the members themselves (like a partnership) or by managers (like a corporation). LLCs also have the greatest number of tax election options. LLCs are initially taxed as disregarded entities or partnerships but can apply to be taxed as a C-corps or S-corps. In a standard corporation, shareholders own pieces of the corporation, represented by shares of stock. Stock is easily transferable, making investing in a corporation fairly simple. Shareholders elect a board of directors to make business decisions, including appointing officers. Corporations are automatically taxed as C-corps but can apply to be taxed as S-corps. Many nonprofit corporations can qualify for tax-exempt status as well. Not sure which entity is right for you? Our LLC vs Corporation page takes a deep dive into the pros and cons of each business structure. Granted, starting an LLC or corporation takes a little know-how. That’s why we’re here. Northwest Registered Agent is at your beck and call to help fill knowledge gaps and bolster your ideas. We also have a whole team of local experts, our Corporate Guides®, who can answer your toughest questions by phone or email. And of course, we can form your LLC or corporation for you, so you can get started fast with the support and privacy protection you deserve. >>>Starting a Business in Your State Read the full article