#hot jobs in india

[crplindia]

Happy Holi to you! May your day be filled with vibrant colors, joyous celebrations, and wonderful moments with loved ones.

[the-brown-man]

15°C in Punjab hits differently lmao

[academicgangster]

got publicly annoyed at a WhatsApp forward in the alumni group again, lads

[jigarshukla]

❤️ Be your own BOSS ❤️

Online freelance work and FREE education opportunities worldwide 🥰

https://workforall.simdif.com

workersketch.blogspot.com/

[moodysoulishan]

Happy new year everyone 👇🏻

[okuhle23]

ASTROLOGY OBSERVATIONS- 019

Hi guys, I'm back with more astrology observations!!

If you'd like a paid reading, 👉click here 👈

If you would like to check out my other astrology observations, check me out at @okuhle23 .

☆People with Venus in Capricorn/ Venus conjunct Saturn age so beautifully. This placement may mean that you start putting more effort in how you look at a older age. It may also mean that you may experience a later glowup. This is because Saturn represents aging and delays while Venus rules beauty.

☆Leo rules hot and humid air, so countries ruled by Leo may experience very hot summers. Examples include:  Afghanistan, India, Zanzibar, Chad, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, and Pakistan.

☆People with Moon/Virgo in the 6th may really love animals, and may be really attached to their own pets if they have any.

☆People with Neptune in the 1st may constantly experience people making assumptions about them based on how they look or dress. Neptune rules assumptions and the 1st house shows your appearance. This placement can also indicate being idealized by people who don't even know you well, these people are like a fantasy to others.

☆Neptune conjunct Mars/Pluto can make you appear rather sexual and promiscuous, you may also have many secret admirers. This is because Neptune represents illusions and Pluto/ Mars represents sex and things related to sex

☆Venus in the 3rd may date people in their neighbourhood, or their partners live very close to them. This is because Venus represents love/romantic relationships, while the 3rd house represents your local community.

☆Pluto or Scorpio in the 5th/7th house can mean that you prefer to keep your love life private. You probably don't like to show off your partner. You may also get extremely jealous if other people flirt with your partner. This is because Pluto/Scorpio represents secrets and jealousy while the 5th and 7th house shows ones relationships (5th house=casual relationships and 7th house=long-term relationships)

☆People with Neptune in the 1st/ 10th are be goofy as hell, some people may even view you as weird😂. This is because Neptune rules abnormal behavior, while the 1st and 10th house show how others see you.

☆People with Mars in the 6th/10th house may have dangerous jobs, or you may risk getting hurt on the job quite often(either burning yourself, or constantlyclimbing up high things). If you have an office job you may find that your colleagues see you as competition, and therefore treat you with hostility. This is because Mars rules danger, abrasions and hostility while the 6th and 10th houses represent your job.

☆Where Uranus is placed in you chart can show your aura, this is because Uranus rules auras:

▪︎ Uranus in the 1st: your aura colour is red❣️. You come off as strong, fierce and confident. Perhaps you've been told that you're intimidating at times, and you're also really competitive.

▪︎ Uranus in 2nd: your aura colour is green💚. You come off as beautiful, wealthy and at times, stubborn😭. You have a calming aura to you, you can reconnect with your true self by going into nature.

▪︎ Uranus in the 3rd: your aura colour is yellow💛. You are energetic, like to travel and explore different places and you are intellectual. Your aura is sometimes quite scattered, and may change often because of your changeable energy.

▪︎ Uranus in the 4th: your aura colour is white🤍. You are caring, kinda introverted and loyal. You aura can change often based on your emotions.

▪︎ Uranus in the 5th: your aura colour is gold🪙. You are loyal, proud and you have royal energy. People may view you as luxury loving, you like being spoiled.

▪︎ Uranus in the 6th: your aura colour is emerald green🌲. You are grounded, kind but sometimes a bit too self-critical (you pretty asf babe). People may view your energy as really stable and 'neat'. It may be hard to read your energy because you're good at putting up a front. 

▪︎ Uranus in the 7th: your aura colour is pink 💗. You are loving, romantic and beautiful. You may be a very cooperative, non-confrontational person and may be viewed as submissive by others.

▪︎ Uranus in the 8th: your aura colour is black  🖤. You are mysterious, intimidating and you are very loyal. You radiate sensual, seductive energy.

▪︎ Uranus in the 9th: your aura colour is orange🧡. You are outgoing, energetic and social. You may be viewed as a very busy person, always travelling or doing something.

▪︎ Uranus in the 10th: your aura colour is brown🤎. You are hardworking, confident(girlboss💸 ), and you really enjoy money. People may view you as bring really serious and you don't play about your money.

▪︎ Uranus in the 11th: your aura colour is blue💙. You are innovative, unique and intelligent. Your energy doesn't just fit into one category, one second you could be energetic and the other, you're lazy asf.

▪︎ Uranus in the 12th: your aura colour is purple💜. You are artistic, empathic and ethereal. You may be overly compassionate, so be careful of people who want to manipulate your energy.

☆Venus-Pluto hard aspects (square, opposition) can mean that other women hate on you out of jealousy or envy. This is because Pluto can show malice/ jealousy while Venus represents females.

☆Venus in the 3rd can indicate that you'll meet your future lover in your neighborhood. Or your partners may live close to you. This is because Venus rules love and romantic relationships while the 3rd house can represent the neighborhood you grew up in.

☆Ruler of the 1st house in the 2nd house can mean that you just look rich, or people assume that you're wealthy because of how you look or the clothes and accessories you wear. This is because the 1st house rules your appearance and first impressions and 2nd house can represent luxury and wealth. You may spend a lot of money on your looks (skincare, clothing, makeup etc).

Thank you for getting to the end 😊.

If you'd like a paid reading, 👉click here 👈

If you would like to check out my other astrology observations, check me out at @okuhle23

x Okuhle ❤️

[tfmybody]

What We're Thankful For Pt.2

Pt.1 here

Adam looked around the group picking out his target. He locked eyes with Charlie and began typing into the Chronivac. After a minute he stopped typing into the device and looked back up. Adam began to speak, "I'm thankful that you're parents came from India to LA a few years before you were born. I'm thankful you grew up in LA before moving to New York City for college a decade ago where you discovered a love for the gym and showing off your body. I'm thankful that you found a job working in a bodega that lets you pay your portion of the rent for your shared apartment and leaves you with plenty of time to party and show off your body."

Once Adam was done talking he pressed a button on the Chronivac and we all watched as Charlie's body began to change. His skin slowly got darker from its current pale white until it had reached its new brown tone. Dark hairs began to sprout across his chest spreading across his growing pecs. The hairs began to spread down his stomach as his abs became less defined. At this point Charlie stood up in the hot tub to get a better view of what was happening to him.

We watched as he began to shrink, his height fell to 5'10" from his previous bodies 6'2". By now his body looked completely different from toned smooth body before. The changes to his body seemed to stop as his face began to reshape. His long blonde hair pulled back towards his head leaving a short thick tangle of black hair on his head. A short and well groomed beard began to grow out of his face as his eyes turned brown and the transformation ended. Charlie ran inside quickly to find a mirror and within a second he'd sent a picture of himself to our group chat.

After Charlie had examined enough of his new body he came back outside and grabbed the Chronivac from Adam. He turned to Ben and told him what he was thankful for. "I'm thankful my parents had identical twins. I'm thankful that my twin works as a club bar tender and makes enough to pay his half our rent. I'm thankful that my twin is not only physically identical to me, but has the same personality as me." Charlie then pressed a button on the Chronivac and we watched as Ben's body expanded and transformed until he was identical to Charlie. Ben didn't waste anytime running inside just like Charlie had done before to see all of him.

When he came back outside he sat next to Charlie in the same pose. It was weird seeing them move almost totally in sync, but I guess they'd been subjected to the same transformation so it made sense.

Ben picked up the Chronivac, looked at Adam, and then began to type.

[octuscle]

Sustainable changes

Nicolas had just been promoted to Senior Product Manager. But the condition was that he had to take a foreign assignment for two years. He had reckoned with Germany, the USA or maybe Japan. India would also have been okay. But he was supposed to go to Turkmenistan. His employer had just bought a large agricultural cooperative there, which was now to be converted in the direction of ecological and sustainable agriculture. On the one hand, this sounded like a completely unknown field of work. Nicolas had previously worked more in the consumer goods sector. On the other hand, anything that bore the label "sustainable" was naturally a career driver at the moment. So he took a cautiously optimistic approach.

Once Nicolas arrived at his new workplace, the optimism quickly evaporated. He had arrived somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There was no office building, there were only barracks. Mostly not air-conditioned. He had expected to be put up in some hotel. But he had been given a room with a farmer. Toilet in the yard. Bathroom was an outdoor shower served from the cistern. He felt infinitely silly in his outfit.

In the first service meeting, a colleague asked him if they could tweak Nicolas's resume a bit for the presentation to the workers. It might be good for his credibility if they could give him some local roots. Nicolas was tired. The trip had been exhausting. He remembered his parents' Russian gardener. A picture of a man. Former combat swimmer. And of the Turkish cook. So he answered, one may mix in there with pleasure something Russian and Turkish. The main thing was that he was allowed to retire now.

The night had been hell. It smelled like a pigsty in his room. And he could hear the pigs too, as if they were sleeping in bed with him. There was no hot water to shave with. And company policy forbids the use of shower gels containing microplastics without functioning wastewater treatment for environmental reasons. So all he can use is a bar of curd soap. When introduced to the staff, he looks appropriately a bit bedraggled. One of his colleagues asks Nicolas to say something in Russian. He has to think a bit. His grandmother sometimes spoke to him in Russian. But it's enough for a "I'm happy to be here and look forward to working with you. The employees cheer for their new boss.

Before Nicolas takes a shower the next morning, he drives the pigs out of the barn. If he's going to share the roof with them, he might as well make himself useful. His hosts invite him to breakfast. The conversation in Russian is still a bit bumpy. Nikolai hasn't spoken his father's language for years. And his host family, of course, actually speaks Turkmen. But with hands and feet it works. And so it goes on in the office. The team meeting was supposed to take place in English. But the interpreter dropped out. With every hour it gets better. The memory of his father's language comes back.

At breakfast, Nikolai realizes that he understands Turkmen better than he thought. It definitely works out that his hosts ask him in their native language. But he prefers to answer in Russian. Nikolai speaks it again as fluently as he did when he lived with his father in the Sevastopol army barracks. At work, they discuss the tasks for the next few days. Nikolai considers the projects for preventing soil erosion and unused surface water runoff to be urgent. Everyone passionately discusses the possibilities of transforming agriculture to get by without artificial irrigation. But Nikolai realizes that it will be difficult to irrigate only naturally in the desert.

The next morning, Nikolai surprises your host family with a few words of Turkmen. With his fluency in Russian and Turkish as his mother's language, it's not that hard for him to learn the language. On the job, they speak almost only Turkmen anyway. Today, his job is to drive the fields and inspect and document the environmental damage. Nikolai doesn't even need to shower for that. It will be hot anyway. And air conditioning is only for wimps. The point is to save energy wherever possible. In the afternoon, he gets a call from headquarters. They are very pleased with his work on site. It is clear that the project would not make an economic contribution. But the advertising impact is enormous. Whether he is interested in accepting a junior director position at the headquarters in Paris.

Nikolai turns his camera, bares his left breast and says in broken French that his heart beats for his new home. He won't leave until the desert blooms again.

[sitp-recs]

Recs H/D Career Fair

After an annoying fandom slump I am finally reading again 🎉 I thought this deserved to be celebrated somehow so here are my favorites from Career Fair so far. I’ll be adding fics to this list as I read more, so join me to spread the love for these while they fest is still running! :)

Fic:

🗺️ Connecting Lines, Connecting Crimes (M, 15k) - excellent geographer POC!Harry and a creative mystery full of politics and food porn

Magic is going haywire after ley lines all over the world are mysteriously failing. A cross-border Task Force is set up by the League of Wixen Nations with Expert Cartologist Draco Malfoy and Ley Line Specialist Pansy Parkinson being called in from Britain to work with Magi-Geographers Harry Potter and Parvati Patil in India. But can they get to the root of the issue before it's too late?

👻 if the bees know (T, 19k) - single dad!Draco and ghostbuster!Harry falling in love with Scorp and each other

Scorpius' playground is haunted, Harry specializes in helping ghosts pass on, and Draco just wants his son to be safe.

✍️ A Year In The Life (M, 19k) - 365 fifty-word microfics telling a love story in journal format, impressive and brilliant!

Draco Malfoy's life mightn't be the one he imagined growing up, but that doesn't matter, because Draco enjoys it nevertheless. He works at Flourish and Blotts, enjoys playing for the Islington Imps, his part-time Quidditch team, and spends his Sundays at St Neots, the home of his Mum, 'Dromeda, and Teddy. Best of all is Harry Potter, his beloved boyfriend, with whom Draco enjoys dancing, shagging, and watching Eastenders on Harry's big Muggle television. Life couldn't get any better. Life, however, has a tendency to change whenever you least expect it to.

Art:

👅 Holes (E) - tongues and piercings and hot tattoos coming together mmm

Harry gets up the nerve to get a piercing. And something else, too.

🎨 "H. J. Potter", (2019) oil on canvas, Draco Malfoy (G) - gorgeous intimate romance with artist!Draco

After building quite an illustrious career as a magical portrait artist, Draco Malfoy is commissioned to paint the official portrait for retired Head Auror and current pastry shop owner, Harry Potter, who must come to Draco's studio to sit for his portrait.

💌 Harry Potter Gets a Job (M) - hilarious and sweet with pining!Harry in denial and the Draco & Weasleys love we deserve

Harry returns home from Romania to find Arthur Weasley has a new apprentice, and there's an extra place set for dinner.

[effervescentdragon]

hee hee. piarles + 15 🤭❤️

15. Con Artist and the person who saw through their grift.

'This is the last leg, focus, so all you need to do is-'

"Shut the fuck up," Charles hisses at Lando through his teeth. "I can't be seen talking to myself, and I can't focus with you talking into my - hello, Pierre," he says with a wide smile. He can feel sweat gathering on his forehead, but he refuses to acknowledge it in any way. He's trained himself out of those ticks a long time ago, and the harsh lights and his three-piece ridiculous suit are enough to justify the sweat.

"Hello, cher," Pierre says. He looks lovely, handsome and hot in his tuxedo under the casino lights, like a movie star from those old movies his maman likes to watch. "You look dashing," Pierre continues, and Charles hates the fact that his blush is real and not a ruse. He thanks all the gods no one on his team can see him, because he's sure they'd all know.

"Thank you, Pierre," Charles replies. "Do you want a drink?" He leans back on the bar and gives Pierre his honest, shy smile just as Lando says 'He's so fucking gone on you, it's hillarious'.

Charles is going to punch Lando as soon as the job is done. He sips his martini so as not to grit his teeth. Pierre steps closer to him and Charles can feel the heat of his body as he leans half over Charles to signal the bartender for a drink.

"Of course, Renard," Pierre says. "Do you want a refil?"

Charles does his best not to flinch as he shakes his head. Every time Pierre uses Charles' fake name, Charles wants to scream. It wasn't supposed to be like this. None of this was supposed to be like this.

"Suit yourself," Pierre says. His knuckles brush over Charles' hand and Charles supresses - everything. He's a professional. He can get through this without getting attached.

Liar, he thinks. You stupid, pathetic liar. Get yourself together. Pierre isn't the first pretty mark you've worked with.

He is the first and only one that seems to genuinely care, though, a traitorous thought escapes him. He squashes it with a big sip of his martini.

'I think Ricciardo is on his way,' Lando says. 'Seb will be with you in some ten minutes, and then-'

"My boss is on his way," Pierre says. He's close enough to touch Charles and with the way Charles is leaning against the bar, he's forced to look up at Pierre. "So the contract should be signed very soon."

"Good." Charles makes himself smile. "My boss is on his way too." He raises his glass. "I'll just be glad when it's over."

Pierre taps on his glass. "Hmm," he hums. "Yes, I suppose you will." He clinks his glass to Charles'. "You will be going as soon as we're done?"

Charles swallows around the lump in his throat. "Yes," he says. "I need to oversee the development of the compounds we are building and prepare everything for when Mr. Ricciardo comes for the tour."

Pierre hums again. "Yes, indeed." He looks at Charles, and Charles doesn't know how to interpret that look. It's intense, and it feels like Pierre is searching for something in Charles' face.

Except, you're not Charles, he thinks. You're Renard Deveraux, head architect for the seemingly sustainable water filtering factories in India. You're honest, and outgoing, and you're about to seal the deal that will cost Daniel Ricciardo millions and set you up for the next year so you won't have to work. Seb won't call you last minute because he needs a grifter, and you won't have to work with Lando, and you'll never see Pierre again.

Fuck, Charles thinks just as Sebastian walks up to them with Daniel, both of them laughing. "Gentlemen," Seb says in an exaggerated German accent that isn't that far away from his own accent that comes out when he's roo tired to keep up his accent-less English. "Everything alright here?" His eyes flash in Charles' direction but Charles ignores him. He's fine. Everything's fine.

"Of course, Mr. Schmidt," Pierre says. His hand touches Charles' as he moves a bit. He doesn't move it away. It doesn't even occur to Charles to move at all.

"Please, Pierre, call me Johann," Sebastian says with a wide smile. Charles smiles at Daniel, because he's not Charles who is disgusted with the blatant, dark desire he sees in Ricciardo's eyes. He's Renard, who has been flirting with Daniel since they met. Renard, who allowed Daniel into his personal space and hooked him just enough to make the fake deal that Sebastian came up with for the con a certain success.

Pierre inclines his head. "Of course."

Daniel laughs that uncomfortably loud laugh of his. "Alright, alright, we're all friends here, yes? Now let's go sign the deal and then we can party. Right, Renard?"

Charles smiles and hopes it looks seductive enough. "Of course, Mr. Ricciardo," he chuckles. "But business first."

"Just the way I like it," Sebastian adds, and follows Ricciardo towards his office.

Charles is about to follow them, when Pierre grabs him by the arm. Charles tries to keep his breathing steady as Pierre speaks.

"Renard, I-"

Charles can't - he just can't. He steps closer, all the way into Pierre's space, and leans in.

"It's okay," he murmurs, forces himself to smile. "I'll see you in South Africa in a month, okay?"

Pierre looks at every inch of Charles's face, and Charles is in a full three-piece suit but he's never felt as naked as he does now.

"Yes," Pierre finally speaks slowly, meaningful in some way that evades Charles. "You will."

***

They sign the contract. Daniel transfers the millions into an offshore account Lando had set up. They drink a toast, and as soon as it's possible, Charles and Seb excuse themselves and reaffirm the plans of meeting Ricciardo and Pierre in a month. When they finally say goodbye, Charles forces himself not to look back, deapite being able to feel two pairs of eyes on him the whole time, only one of which didn't make him want to either throw up or take a long shower.

They take a cab to the airport together. When Sebastian opens his mouth in front of the terminal as they're smoking a cigarette, Charles shakes his head. "Don't," he asks. "Just... don't." He inhales deeply, the smoke burning his throat and making him dizzy. "Please, Seb. Just... not now."

Seb doesn't try to speak again. His eyes, when they look at Charles, are uncharacteristically sad. He throws away his cigarette, hugs Charles close for a moment, and leaves without another word.

There is nothing left to say. Charles knows who Seb is thinking of; which mark he's thinking of. Charles was there when they conned... well, no matter. It's history, just like this con will be history.

Just like Pierre will become history. Not the man who listened to Charles talk about architecture like it's the most interesting thing in the world when Charles let his guard down and forgot to be Renard. Not the man who told Charles about his own passion for clothes, and the man who shared Charles' interest in old cars and fast cars. Not the man who looked at Charles like he saw him, saw Charles under all the layers his character demanded. Pierre will not be that man; he'll be just another mark in a list of people that Charles conned out of their money and left behind.

Charles smokes three more cigarettes before he goes inside and buys a one way ticket to Panama under the name Peter Freeman. He vowes to punch Alex the next time he sees him for that little dig, then boards the plane and gets just drunk enough to sleep most of the way to Panama.

***

Panama is beautiful, and warm, and colourful, and Charles hates it.

It's been three weeks of sun and sea and alcohol and beautiful people that wanted Charles. The only problem was that the sun burned Charles' skin, and the sea made him feel sad, and the alcohol didn't tase good, and Charles didn't want all those people.

He was pining, and he was annoyed, and he was bored, and he didn't know what to do or how to get over it.

He's sitting at the beach bar, deciding if another cocktail is worth it, when someone sits on the stool next to him.

"This seat taken?"

Charles turns so quickly, he's pretty sure he pulls a muscle in his neck.

"I - what are you doing here?" is all he can say, because he hasn't been this surprised since that job in Azerbaijan ended up with him and Sebastian having to improvise their way out of a drug kingpin's villa. Maybe not even then. Seb always makes risky plans.

"It took me a while to find you," Pierre says. His sunglasses are perched on his head, and his shirt is unbottoned just enough for Charles to see tha cross glinting in the middle of his chest.

Charles swallows. "How?"

Pierre's eyes twinkle. "You know, before I worked for Ricciardo, I had another employer. Nico Rosberg?" he says, and Charles' eyes widen. "Yes, I thought so." He chuckles. "Anyways, long story short is - I quit my job before Ricciardo realised he signed over fifty million for compounds that don't exist, I called Nico, and then I got out of Italy. The worst part was tracking down Schmidt - I mean, Vettel," he said, and Charles was finding it pretty hard to breathe. "Convincing him to talk to me was even harder, but in the end I managed to convince him to give me your location."

"Seb didn't know -" Charles starts to say, then bites his lip at Pierre's chuckle. "Well. You found me."

"I did."

They stare at each other for a moment, and Charles is pretty sure that it isn't the heat making him uncomfortable. He clears his throat.

"So. What now?" he asks, because he doesn't know what to think, or what to feel. Pierre is standing in front of him, after tracking him down to Panama, and he looks like sin and he doesn't look like he's mad at Charles.

Pierre slides off his chair and steps closer into Charles' space. "Now, well. Everything I have planned requires your explicit consent, actually."

The way his eyes roam over Charles' skin is enough to light a fire inside Charles unlike any he's ever felt. He clears his throat again, then remembers something.

"I - I think I will consent to anything you want," he says, cheeks burning under Pierre's gaze. "But I think you should know, well, you probably guessed, but my name isn't Renard."

Pierre makes a final step and Charles can't move. "Oh, I know. I guessed that a long time ago, and I know you probably want to know everything, how and why and all that, but for now," he raises his hand and trails a finger down Charles' arm, leaving goosebumps on Charles' skin, "I think I'd like to do something I've wanted to do ever since I met you." Pierre raises his gaze to look straight into his eyes. "Charles."

Charles doesn't wait a moment more; he can't. He pushes forward and kisses Pierre with everything he's got, and when Pierre's arms wind around his waist, holding him up, he allowsh himself to smile into the kiss and then deepen it, like he's wanted to ever since he first saw Pierre.

They'll figure it out. Pierre is capable, and Charles... Charles is a grifter. He can figure out anything, and right now, he needs to figure out how to make Pierre make that sound again.

[crplindia]

Office Fun

[yourunhingedgirlfriend]

Disclaimer: All info posted here comes from their respective creator itself so yes, its legit and not just part of my imagination 💯

Interview Rules:

The interviewer can only ask 10 questions.

The interviewer cannot force an answer out of anyone.

The participant has the right not to elaborate their answer.

CW: Long post ahead / Interviewer being a Ketamine simp / Gavin's surprise cameo

Interviewer: Hi Guys! I hope you're doing well today. Thank you for participating on this social experi- *coughs* interview. Btw, you can call me CC, I'm your interrogator today sent by your beloved MC, so please cooperate :) Are we ready? Lets start:

Question No 1: Aside for being a yandere, whats your dream job/profession?

❤️ Casanova: I wanted to be a chef for the longest time, but i’m happy with my job as an organ harvester!

🕊️ Krow: I-I actually like m-my job as a f-forensics cleaner but... I-I'd love to b-be a stay at home s-spouse a-and just do a-art.

🔪 Ezra: I actually really enjoy my current job. I've had it for going on... 7 years now? Almost 8. (Interviewer: Can we ask what your job is? No? Okay. *thumbs up* bish i value my life more)

🔥 Harper: Hmm, if I had to pick any kind of job, maybe a pyrotechnic?

💐 Keith: To become a plant biologist.

🎮 Tenebris: Be a musician.

🖥️ Virgil: My dream profession is to be Game Developer, I enjoy video games and I have always wanted to make a game for others to enjoy, and so that’s why I’m taking classes of game development.

🎤 Adam: I already have my dream job. Although, I did often think about becoming a vet as a kid. Sometimes I wonder how life would've turned out had I pursued that career instead of singing.

🐕 Henry: I’m not sure! I’ll probably do whatever Buttercup ends up doing!

Interviewer: Atleast some of you love their job *sigh* Me? I just want to be a cat, no work, just meow meow *defeated sigh* Back to the topic at hand:

Question No 2: If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? (Vacation or permanently)

❤️ Casanova: Barcelona, that’s where i was born and it’s really pretty there

🕊️ Krow: Ah! I-India! I-I'm Indian but... I-I actually don't know m-much about my heritage. I... w-wanna go s-see the land of m-my culture. W-with Dove too o-of course!

🔪 Ezra: Hmm... Anywhere with my Sugarsnap? If that's not too cheesy I suppose. But outside of that I'd like to visit Blaire's extended family in Vietnam.

🔥 Harper: I’m definitely more a big city kind of guy, so I’m pretty happy living where I am… To visit though? Hmm… Somewhere with some snowy mountains maybe, do some snowboarding, chill by a fire with some hot cocoa? Yeah, that sounds nice..

💐 Keith: It will be Kristenbosh National Botanical Garden.

🎮 Tenebris: My old home probably.

🖥️ Virgil: I’ve always wanted to go Iceland for vacation

🎤 Adam: As long as I'm by your (MC) side, it doesn't matter where I'm at~

🐕 Henry: Anywhere where Buttercup is good with me! But if we could both go somewhere, Disneyland might be fun!

Interviewer: So if MC just dissapear out of nowhere, thats the list of places where we can found them? Hmm ..

Question No 3: Song that you will sing to MC if given a chance.

❤️ Casanova: baby - eslabon armado

🕊️ Krow: Uhhh... uhhh... I-I guess... T-Together Forever would be c-cute...

🔪 Ezra: A few different songs, most notably... We'll never have sex by Leith Ross, Let you break my heart again by Laufey & Philharmonia or Habits by Genevieve Stokes. I just want sugar to know I want them for more than... anything. I love their heart and soul, it's not physical for me. Though I do find them incredibly attractive.

🔥 Harper: Actually sing myself?... Umm.. Maybe either Day 1 or No Song Without You, both by Honne?

💐 Keith: Can't Help Falling in Love

🎮 Tenebris: Trust by 7 Seconds

🖥️ Virgil: Rises the Moon, it’s a comfort song of mine, my mum sings this to me and my younger siblings when we were little, by then whenever my mother is busy, I sing the song to my siblings. And Hopefully, I can sing it to my beloved, as a way to help them if they need comfort.

🎤 Adam: *fidgeting because he's written one song in particular that he'd love for MC to hear but is worried that MC will wind up hating it*

🐕 Henry: The Promise by When in Rome! It’s our song!

Interviewer: *secretly adding all the songs to their playlist*

Question No 4: Name one food that you will never ever eat.

❤️ Casanova: Mac and cheese, i fucking hate mac and cheese.

🕊️ Krow: I-I'm never... eating b-bland... white people c-cooking EVER a-again.

🔪 Ezra: Beans on toast. I just don't particularly like beans. Or sweet potatoes.

🔥 Harper: Ugh… Raisins

💐 Keith: Rabbit meat.

🎮 Tenebris: Anything with bugs.

🖥️ Virgil: Anything fish related, I do not like fish, but if someone ever served me, I would just suck it up and eat.

🎤 Adam: *doing 5 stages of disgusted face known to humankind* Anything from Saffrons freezer. (Interviewer: Time to raid Saffron's freezer hehehe)

🐕 Henry: I can’t bring myself to eat cauliflower. It's so bland!

Interviewer: *proceed to eat Mac & Cheese to spite Nova* I dont trust people who hates Mac & Cheese.

Question No 5: This would be a little bit of personal, so you have a choice not to answer this okay? Whats your most treasured possession?

❤️ Casanova: Mi vida’s house key, of course! it’s a little mangled bc i keep chewing on it though.

🕊️ Krow: Oh... w-well... t-this pendant is... p-precious but... well... I-I actually don't have m-many possessions. S-so... everything I have has m-meaning. (Interviewer: I can be your possession Krow)

🔪 Ezra: Eliana gave me a tie she made back in elementary school. Neither of our dads are in the picture so she gave it to me instead. I still wear it to work sometimes. (Interviewer: *starts crying bc this answer is so precious*)

🔥 Harper: This lighter here, we have a bit of history together~

💐 Keith: A bonsai tree I got from my father and I had for 7 years.

🎮 Tenebris: My guitar.

🖥️ Virgil: My necklace, it’s a gift from my dad.

🎤 Adam: You (MC). But if we're talking about an item...*he tugs on his earring*

🐕 Henry: A picture / polaroid of me + Buttercup as kids! (though, I do have more updated ones too…)

Interviewer: I am suprised no one answered MC's nose hair or whatever. Hmm.. Im not fully convinced but I will trust you on this one.

Question No 6: Nosy ask, whats your phone wallpaper right now?

❤️ Casanova: a photo of mi vida in the middle of taking their meds!

🕊️ Krow: D-Dove let us t-take a selfie! I-it's so cute aaaa--

🔪 Ezra: I managed to snap a photo of Sugar and Ellie cuddled up on the couch after a movie night once. I've never before felt so much love swelling in my chest. It almost hurt.

🔥 Harper: *proudly present his phone* 1st is my lockscreen and 2nd is my Homescreen. I took it myself..

💐 Keith: A pair of white lilies (Why is this the most normal answer on this whole interview?)

🎮 Tenebris: We share the same phone, so a pair of white lillies also.

🖥️ Virgil: Pixel art of my beloved Galaxy and my puppy Scott, aren’t they so cute in pixel form? (Interviewer: Scotty baby *coos at the phone* )

🎤 Adam: My home screen is of YOU (MC). My lock screen is of a stray kitten I found on my way to the studio that Ethans younger brother ended up taking in. (Interviewer: Do you have any other pics of the kitten? *cat lady vibes intensifies*)

🐕 Henry: A picture of Buttercup sleeping! How’d I get it? (Note: Its in a modern Au bc mobile phone with camera is not yet invented on Henry's time)

Interviewer: MC supremacy yass! If only some surgeon named Ketamine Yetrovzski use my photo as his wallpaper *coughs* (Ketamine shouting "NO" can be heard in the background but still here supporting the interviewer, this fuckin tsundere)

Question No 7: If you could appear in any popular movie/anime/book, which one would you choose?

❤️ Casanova: hmm, i would say the hp lovecraft series! hate the guy but i’m a major monster fucker

🕊️ Krow: Umm... I... I-I wanna be in a Jane A-Austen book. As a p-protagonist. N-no matter what... t-they marry happily in t-the end.

🔪 Ezra: Well... I guess... I'm not sure. I've never really thought about it. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I can't imagine my life without Eliana and I don't want to be anywhere without my sugarcube.

🔥 Harper: Ah.. thats a hard one.. If I get powers n shit and I’m not just a normal person maybe Jujutsu Kaisen?... Tbh I play more games than I do watch or read anything haha..

💐 Keith: Sherlock Holmes, because solving murder cases looks like fun. So does creating the perfect murder. *a sudden smoke appear near Keith for dramatic effect*

🎮 Tenebris: Inuyasha. I really want a Kagome. (Interviewer putting their Kagome costume)

🖥️ Virgil: Hmmmm that’s a tough one… Haha I couldn’t think of anything right now.

🎤 Adam: Death note, the anime. I think I could do a lot better with that notebook than light Yagami did. (Hermit, the creator, rolls their eyes behind the scenes and Adam glaring daggers to Hermit)

🐕 Henry: The Princess Bride! That movie is practically about me + Buttercup.

Interviewer: Im with Harper on this one. JJK so I cant prevent Nanami and Nobara Shibuya Arc huhuhu.

Question No 8 : What are some habits you have? Any strange ones?

❤️ Casanova: I tend to scratch at my braces when i’m trying to focus, often i’d end up chewing on my fingers.

🕊️ Krow: Uhh.... I... bite my h-hands... a lot. It's... a comfort t-thing. S-sometimes my forearms too. I-I guess I also make the same expression a-as to what I'm d-drawing.

🔪 Ezra: When eating food like burgers or sandwiches I eat around the edge and then eat the center last. Um... I also tend to rub things with my fingertips when I don't know what to do with my hands. I'm almost always touching my nails absent-mindedly.

🔥 Harper: I have a habit of scratching my fingertips, especially when I’m nervous… Its kinda a bad habit, sometimes I scratch em a little raw.

💐 Keith: Buttoning and unbuttoning my shirt sleeve when Im bored or nervous.

🎮 Tenebris: Leaving my things all over the bed

🖥️ Virgil: Hmmmm, whenever I play a video game that has levels right? And I messed up one thing, I restart the level. Don’t know why, I just like to go through the levels smoothly. It’s pretty frustrating if you ask me ahaha

🎤 Adam: I don't have any strange habits. I'm just a normal guy. (Someone shouts LIAR and its not Hermit, i swear. Or maybe?)

🐕 Henry: Hmmm…I have really bad sleeping habits if I’m being honest! I’m lucky if I can get 3 hours of sleep at night. As for strange ones, nope, I’m perfectly normal! (now the interviewer is also shouting LIAR)

Interviewer: That was the biggest lie Ive ever heard in my entire life Henry. *headache incoming* No one is normal here. Im not even normal smh.

Question No 9: This question was submitted by Gavin Hyeon of Camp Willlow Peak. Its time to test your flirting skill, give me one pick up line that you will probably use when flirting with MC. Gavin said he is watching you right now.

❤️ Casanova: if you were a heart i’d eat you out!

🕊️ Krow: N-no wonder i-it's overcast t-today. All t-the colors are in y-your eyes.

🔪 Ezra: Sometimes I wonder what good deed I did to deserve such a perfect soul like you to enter my life.

🔥 Harper: Pickup lines really aren’t my thing… Gavin did write down this one for me once though… Lets see it’s here somewhere…” *digs through his pockets and pulls out a piece of scrap paper* “Here it is… ‘Hey baby… You got any Italian in you?.. No?... Do you want some?’ …… I don’t get it 😐 *Gavin cheering in the background*

💐 Keith: Im really not a fan of pickup lines, but okay, "You're sweet enough to give me diabetes".

🎮 Tenebris: Tie your shoelaces, I don't want you falling for someone else!" (Legend says that until now, Tenebris is still waiting for MC to wear shoelaces and for them to be untied.)

🖥️ Virgil: Hmmm let me go grab my telescope, so I can admire the beautiful star.

🎤 Adam: *combusts into one giant human blush* (Hermit doing a voice over: He can only flirt on the fly. If he has to think his actions through he'll get self conscious and overheat from overthinking it)

🐕 Henry: If I could rearrange the alphabet, I’d put ‘U’ and ‘I’ together!

Interviewer: *currently helping Gavin to write his will of testament before he becomes Gavin Flavored Toasted Marshmallow, recipe by Harper*

Question No 10: This would be the last question, and I want to thank you again for giving me a chance to interview you. Before we end this, do you have anything you want to say to the people reading this?

❤️ Casanova: if you ever need fresh organs without having to do it yourself contact valentine’s anatomy distribution! we have a wide selection available, and if you’re a fellow yandere homie you get a discount!

🕊️ Krow: Uhh, well? I-I guess... t-thank you for... f-finding me interesting.

🔪 Ezra: Not particularly. I'm not sure why Lilith arranged the interview but I don't mind answering questions. I should probably head back into work soon though... Oh, I will say this. Thank you for coming into my life Sugar, I didn't think I could love someone like I love you.

🔥 Harper: .. Unshrimp your fucking backs, love you~

💐 Keith: Um, hello. I hope my answers weren't too boring.

🎮 Tenebris: No? I don't know 'em.

🖥️ Virgil: Hello everyone, I hope all of you have a wonderful day, afternoon, or night, make sure to take care of yourselves or else I will if you don’t mind hehe~

🎤 Adam: Is...YOU (MC) reading this? Because if you are, I hope to see you again really soon~

🐕 Henry: You guys are kinda weird for wanting an interview! I’m not quite sure what else to say though!

Interviewer: And that would be all. Thank you to our lovely guests for joining us today. And here is the bribe. List of all 2d characters MC currently simping for. Do what you want with that info.

Interviewer: Hi Hi guys! Again, CC here. Thank you again for entertaining this interview. To end this, may we ask for a few advices you can give for those aspiring artist out there or those who want to create their own vn.

NOVA belongs to @cannibalsweetheart : if you’re starting a project don’t feel unmotivated if you don’t get a lot of traction in the first few weeks, building a platform takes time, but soon enough you’ll gain an audience! (Demo link here)

Krow belongs to @thekrows-nest : While I don't have immediate plans for a VN (despite folks begging for it), for artist stuff, keep experimenting and trying out things. Don't be afraid to go to friends for advice. (:

Ezra belongs to @restartheartvn : lshdfksdfhj okay for my answer! My advice? Don't make something for other people. Make what YOU want to see. Make something that YOU are interested in. If you like... make something that you don't love and enjoy making people can tell. It doesn't come off as genuine and you'll burn out that way. Don't think about numbers or anything like that. Make stuff because it makes you happy. I make Restart Heart because I love my little passion project. I love it so much I get my nails done to match my game and spend most of the day thinking about it. I would still be making Restart Heart if no one played. Make something that you would want to make even if no one saw. Even if you were the only person in the world who loves it, make it because it brings you happiness. Sorry if that's cheesy or like super standard but it's genuine. (Demo link here)

Harper belongs to @campwillowpeak : Hmmm, other than the good ol’ practice practice practice?…Try and remember to have fun yeah? Don’t focus on numbers, yeah everyone wants more eyes on their work, thats normal, but if you focus only on how big you are you’re gonna burn out and get discouraged, stuff like that takes time, consistency, and a little bit of luck. In the meantime just have fun and make friends! Besides, people can tell if you’re trying to force it, an audience’ll more often stay if they can tell you’re legitimately having fun! And never just look at where you are now… Look at how far you’ve come from too!~

Keith & Tenebris belongs to @dualityvn : Make sure you set realistic goals for yourself. Taking on too many tasks and planning a project that is bigger than what you can currently manage can be your downfall. Stay positive and always create the things you yourself love! (Demo link here)

Virgil belongs to @wouldyoustayvn : Take your time! There’s no need to rush to make the game quickly! Make sure to take breaks!))

Adam belongs to @unknownhermit : Please get a good chair. It'll help in the long run when you're often crouched over your desk for hours on end. Don't be like me who hovers over my desk like a hermit crab shell.😅 Second thing is to just have fun creating and don't worry about what others think! I used to obsessively worry if my work was good enough and wound up never releasing it because I got self conscious. It wasn't until YOU and HIM that I actually had fun with what I was doing and I think that translated into my work. Create to create for yourself. Don't worry about what anyone else thinks because it's important to create what you love and are passionate about. And I'm sure a lot of us would love to see what sorts of things you'll come up with. 💙 (Demo link here)

Henry belongs to @homecomingvn : Ahh, I’m a really bad person to ask for advice if I’m being honest! I guess all I can really say is that no matter how silly you think your idea is, there will be an audience for it! It can be scary to put yourself out there, but honestly, this community is so incredibly supportive + I’ve met some amazing people here! Also, I’d recommend keeping various docs about your project! It’s nice to have it all in one (or 3 + a google slides in my case) place so you can have a clear idea about your wip + its characters. And lastly, be prepared for people to be horny! ^^ (okay, you dont have to call me out >…< will still send horny ask bc someone needs to 😙)

Just a little self indulgent ramblings. I dont know if anyone already know about this game, but one of my moots recommended this, its DONT LOOK VN and I tell you, its so good. The story premise, the creepy atmosphere and the voice acting are all on point. They have on going Kickstarter and they only have 8 days left to reach the goal. This is my way of helping since im unable to pledge bc the banks here in the country im currently residing are shitty and they keep declining, so please if you have means to support, please do. Lets help them to reach their goals.

Here is the link of the demo also and their socials:

Kickstarter | Demo | Twitter | Tumblr

DO IT FOR CHESTER!!

[mariacallous]

Last December, Mahesh Odedara signed a contract to live and work for five years in a foreign country thousands of miles away from home and mired in a state of war. Odedara, a 30-year-old farmer from Porbandar, a city in western India, was aware of the risks of working on an Israeli farm. But Odedara’s contract promised him a steady, eight-hour workday, robust workers’ rights under Israeli law, and a 5,571 shekel ($1,500) monthly salary—many times more than what Odedara earned in Porbandar. It was too good to turn down.

Israeli farms are in dire need of agricultural workers like Odedara. Following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli government barred tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers, a critical component of Israel’s agricultural workforce, from entering the country. By early winter, farms were facing a “manpower crisis.” With no sign of government policy changing, farmers have since turned to importing thousands of foreign laborers from countries such as India, Malawi, and Sri Lanka to stay afloat.

At first, Odedara’s expectations were high. With his newfound salary, he would be able to send home hundreds of dollars each month to support his parents; the money could also go toward purchasing equipment for the family farm. One day, Odedara hoped, he might even be able to buy a home for himself in Porbandar.

But soon after arriving in Israel, Odedara realized that his employers had little intention of honoring his contract. In Ahituv, a farming community in northern Israel, Odedara worked grueling, 11- to 12-hour shifts picking produce; he was forced to work on weekends and was told he would be paid far below the legal hourly minimum wage. Then, at the end of the month, he was not paid at all—Odedara’s boss informed him that his wages had been sent, inexplicably, to his employment agency instead.

(When reached for comment, Odedara’s former employer denied that Odedara had ever worked for him; however, another migrant worker who independently mentioned working for the same employer corroborated Odedara’s claims about labor conditions and missing wages. The employment agency did not respond to a request for comment.)

Odedara’s housing, which farms provide for their workers, also bordered on the uninhabitable. In Khatsav, where Odedara worked for eight days, he slept in a makeshift room erected out of wooden planks and panes of sheet metal; his bathroom was a toilet in an outdoor shack with a dirt floor, and the shower had no hot water. In the first few months, Odedara lost nearly 25 pounds.

Odedara now “really regrets” coming to Israel, he said, even though he counts as one of the lucky ones: Odedara’s brother, Bharat, had already worked in Israel as a caregiver for four years and was eventually able to find him a job at a farm with far better labor conditions.

Yet Odedara’s experiences in Ahituv and Khatsav are far from unique. According to Bharat, abuse and illegal labor practices are widespread. “I used to meet all the new people coming in for agriculture. I was talking to them, and everyone has the same problem,” Bharat said. “They have to fight for their salary, for their rights, for their basic requirements. Nobody is helping them. They are helpless.”

Farming is fundamental to Israel’s national identity, yet the country’s agricultural sector has been reliant on non-Israeli labor for decades. In 1967, after Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza, the government decided to integrate the territories’ residents into the Israeli economy. Since then, “Palestinians have been integral to the Israeli labor force,” said Adriana Kemp, a sociologist at Tel Aviv University who studies Israeli labor. “You could not talk about whole sectors like agriculture or construction without talking about this large number of Palestinians.”

By the 1990s—following spates of violence from Palestinian militants—Israel began “talking about the possibility of opening the gate for overseas labor migrants,” Kemp said. “That’s when they started actually bringing [in workers] from different countries.” But even so, Palestinians stayed in large numbers; in 2021, tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers made up a quarter of Israel’s total agricultural workforce.

Then came Oct. 7. Claiming that agricultural workers from Gaza had provided intelligence to Hamas fighters, the Israeli government barred some 20,000 Palestinian agricultural laborers from reentering the country. (Israel’s internal security service has since partially disputed this finding.) Around the same time, some 7,800 Thai workers, previously the largest population of overseas workers in Israel due to a 2012 Israeli-Thai bilateral agreement, fled after at least 39 of them were killed in the Hamas attack.

Almost overnight, the agricultural sector lost over a third of its entire foreign workforce. In the early weeks of the war, even though Israeli volunteers stepped in to help struggling farmers, farms hemorrhaged profits. By November, to replenish the labor force, the Israeli government announced that it would allow up to 5,000 overseas workers into the country via a new immigration scheme.

When Orit Ronen heard about the scheme, her immediate thought was that it would lead to “one big balagan”—Hebrew for a “chaotic mess.” Ronen, who works at Kav LaOved, a Tel Aviv-based labor rights nonprofit, was acutely aware of how vulnerable the new arrivals would be, given existing exploitation. Ronen also knew that many farms lacked sufficient infrastructure to house workers, since the farms’ previous Palestinian laborers had simply commuted in from the West Bank or Gaza.

Ronen was right to worry. Since early December, when thousands of new laborers began arriving in Israel, Kav LaOved has received more than 300 requests for information and assistance from workers reporting a litany of abuse. The conditions Odedara and others have experienced are blatantly illegal under Israeli labor law. But ever since the Oct. 7 attack, labor law enforcement has been “less than before,” Ronen said. “And even before, it was low.”

The Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA), the Israeli government agency tasked with labor law enforcement, did not respond to requests for interview. “We have the call center for foreign workers, where they can explain exactly the problem, and they will be checked,” PIBA spokesperson Sabine Haddad wrote in an email.

Migrant workers also often hesitate to contact PIBA’s call center for fear of retaliation; employers “are telling [workers] that we will send you back to India if you will not work as we say,” Bharat said. Employers “can’t do that. I know that, but [the workers] don’t. They are new.” (Israeli law allows workers to stay in the country for 90 days to find a new employer if they have been fired.)

The threat of deportation is especially potent because most workers are effectively stranded in Israel for the duration of their five-year contracts, thanks to the outsized fees they paid before departing for Israel. In Odedara’s case, an agent in India asked him for $6,300 in an under-the-table payment, which he paid for with his family’s savings.

These fees are not a new phenomenon, but labor advocacy organizations scored a major victory in 2012, when Israel and Thailand established a bilateral agreement that eliminated predatory fees for Thai migrant workers. The post-Oct. 7 immigration scheme, which has no such provision, threatens to undo this progress. “The [workers] that come, especially from India, paid thousands of dollars” to brokers, Ronen said. “For them, that’s a very big deal, and that makes them very vulnerable.”

And then there is the war. Melbin Paul, a 29-year-old from the southern Indian state of Kerala, was assigned to work at a poultry farm close to the Israel-Lebanon border, which the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has fired rockets across nearly every day since Oct. 7.

On the morning of March 4, Paul looked up from trimming an almond tree and saw a missile heading straight toward him and his fellow workers. “There was no time to run,” he said. The projectile, a Hezbollah anti-tank missile, made impact “in the blink of an eye.” Paul’s friend, 31-year-old Kerala native Pat Nibin Maxwell, was instantly killed. Paul, who had stood a few yards away from Maxwell, was left with dime-sized shrapnel wounds scoring the right side of his body.

“Even before the war, it was very common for agricultural workers that work near the Gaza Strip to be injured or killed,” said Michal Tadjer, a lawyer who runs a workers’ rights clinic at Tel Aviv University. Maxwell is one of at least a half-dozen agricultural workers who have been killed by rocket fire in the past decade.

Following the April 13 Iranian strikes on Israel, the Indian foreign ministry urged its citizens in Israel to register themselves at the Indian Embassy and “restrict their movements to the minimum.” The warning belies the reality that the new workers have far less understanding of the security situation than longtime Palestinian laborers or Thai migrants, who have been in Israel for decades.

Paul and his friends had never even been told that their farm was located in a closed military zone that Margaliot residents had evacuated in mid-October. “This is my first time in Israel,” Paul said. “I [didn’t] know where the firing and war” was.

Yet the scale of migrant worker exploitation could soon grow even worse. Fewer than 3,000 new agricultural workers have arrived since November; an additional 8,000 to 12,000 workers are needed to bring farms back to full labor capacity, according to Ronen. A separate deal is already in place to bring 10,000 Sri Lankan laborers to Israel over the coming months. More balagan is likely to follow.

There will also be profound security consequences to shifting away from Palestinian labor. Before Oct. 7, the income of Palestinian laborers in Israel made up about 20 percent of the Palestinian Authority’s GDP. For months now, Israel’s internal security service has called for Palestinian workers from the West Bank to be let back into Israel, warning that increasingly dire economic conditions in the West Bank will lead to further destabilization and violence. But right-wing ministers in the Israeli government have refused to lift the ban, citing the need to move away from Palestinian labor at all costs.

For the workers, their salaries are far beyond the meager sums they could earn back home. For Odedara, there’s much left to do: His current job, while a significant improvement over his previous stints, still pays below what his contract stipulates, and then there is the matter of getting his missing wages back. Odedara is “going to find a solution,” Bharat said. “He wants to stay here but in a good condition—not like this.”

Regardless, the post-Oct. 7 wave of new arrivals will remain in Israel until 2029—meaning that, for at least the next five years, many Palestinian farm workers will not have a job to return to even if the ban on Palestinian labor is lifted.

The only certainty, it seems, is that Israel will have to continue to look beyond its own population for labor. “Israel has relied on noncitizen labor in agriculture for a long time, whether Palestinian or non-Palestinian,” Kemp said. “This structural dependence will not go away.”

[triviareads]

do you have diverse modern romance recs?

Yep! I've (mostly) organized it by author:

Naima Simone: I'm obsessed with literally everything this woman writes, both Harlequin and not Harlequin. Naima writes a lot of fabulous Black heroines (and she writes great body diversity as well) and a decent amount of POC heroes as well. My favorites include . Black Tie Billionaire (Black heroine, Asian hero), Secrets Of A One Night Stand (Black heroine, Pacific Islander hero), and Trust Fund Fiancé (both the hero and heroine are Black). The best thing about Naima's books is just the uniformity in how she writes every body type as attractive and desirable and the sex is very hot. Would absolutely recommend.

Katrina Jackson: I haven't talked about Katrina enough, when she's out here doing the most for mafia romances and spy romances with diverse characters. I could happily read her novella Beautiful & Dirty over and over, but it's a prequel to the mafia series which ends with my favorite, The Don, which has a Black heroine. Katrina also wrote a spy series (The Spies Who Loved Me!) and the first in that series, Pink Slip, has a Black heroine who's lusting over her married bosses (the wife, Monica, is Latina I believe) and surprise, they're both into her too.

Angelina M. Lopez: Angelina writes excellent Latino rep. Her fictional town Freedom, Kansas, which is the setting in multiple stories, has an amazing Mexican-American community she builds on. I'd recommend After Hours on Milagro Street, which has a Mexican-American heroine, as well as her upcoming Full Moon Over Freedom, which is next in the series. The way she melds culture, magic, and romance is gorgeous. Also! Lush Money, which is set within this universe, has a Latina heroine and is very fun and worth reading.

Tara Pammi: If you want to read about Indians in India or Bollywood-centric romances, Tara is the author. I liked Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella and The Secret She Kept in Bollywood (that man is suuuch a DILF he's great).

Jadesola James: I've talked about her before (see here) but Jadesola has written a couple Harlequin Presents stories set in Africa. I'd recommend The Royal Baby He Must Claim and The Princess He Must Marry, which are about sisters who are Nigerian princesses.

Talia Hibbert: The Brown Sisters books are bangers, sexy and emotionally comforting at the same time. I'd recommend all of them: Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I also love her novella Guarding Temptation, which has both a Black hero and heroine and Wanna Bet? which has a Black heroine and a British-Indian hero (thanks for reminding me @viscountessevie).

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai: The hero and heroine are in-laws (well, her husband, his brother, is dead) so the romance was very emotional and slow-burn, but the pay-off was absolutely worth it. The heroine Sadia is Pakistani-American, and the hero Jackson is of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestry. Alisha also delves pretty deep into South Asian family dynamics which hit a liiiittle too close to home, but I can't deny the accuracy.

Reel by Kennedy Ryan: This a romance between an actress and her director (both are Black) and I particularly appreciate the amount of research Kennedy Ryan put into the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists of that era (she created a fictional artist to base the movie off of), as well as their contributions to the Civil Rights movement which I think isn't discussed enough.

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: See here.

From what I recall, Katee Robert did a pretty good job of body diversity without super explicitly mentioning race in her Fairytale Villains Who Fuck Wicked Villains series.

[sirserpentine]

On Pentious' backstory.

//Hi lovelies! I've been thinking and developing Pentious for a short while now, and while I will likely accept whatever canon history we'll get for him in the future, I have a few current POSSIBLE ideas for what may have led him to Hell in life. This is one of such possibilities:

Short version: Pentious was a rich inventor in Victorian England. He served portions of time as an engineer in the army, working in the British Empire's colonies in Africa and Asia. (Hardcore colonialist. Very nasty, as they were.)

He had an amicable relationship with his wife who had been chosen by his parents. They wanted to have children very badly, but suffered from infertility for years with no improvement. Pentious grew bitter over his work overseas as well as depressed and hot-tempered from his repeated grief and disappointment when his family wouldn't grow.

Eventually, desperate Pentious decided to research dark magic and ask for the help from demons, as angels wouldn't answer his prayers. A deal was offered by a demon he managed to summon, a potion that would guarantee healthy children to its drinker. The catch? Pentious would automatically descend into Hell upon death. When promised his wife and future children would be safe from such a fate, Pentious took the leap and drank the potion at once.

But coming home that day, nobody answered his calls.

What followed was a grief-induced rampage, a desperate attempt to create an antidote, a bitter attempt to create poison, plans of calamity, plans to burn down the world that had forsaken him, toxic fumes spilling over his body by accident, red, red marks all over his skin, a study that burnt down in flames.

And a snake who entered Hell alone.

In detail:

He was born into a rich, aristocratic family in the late 1840s and had the privilege to study to his heart's content in London, his busy birth town. Being an engineer or an inventor was something he wanted to do since he was very young and his family accepted this, though a bit reluctantly. Following a degree in the university, he was engaged and married to a bride of his family's preference but didn't hate or outwardly disagree with the arrangement.

He and his gentle wife found common ground when it came to the enjoyment of music, art and the scoffed-upon, silly preference to usher house-intruding rats and mice outside without excessive violence. They also doted on all the children of their friends and relatives and eventually desired a big family of their own.

With no upcoming patent for an invention in sight, young Pentious instead found a job as an engineer for the army and travelled to the empire's faraway colonies in India and Africa to oversee and assist in the construction of windmills, vehicles and the maintenance of weaponry. Pentious received elementary level soldier training at this point and for the first time learned how to hold a firearm. He also got to enjoy the life in a true colonizer fashion; feel a false sense of superiority towards those their troops supervised and bossed around, eat exotic treats and send gifts back to his wife. Snakeskin purses, spices, jewellery, everything that could be ripped from their place of origin. He paid money for them, surely it couldn't count as stealing? They made his wife so happy, surely he wasn't greedy for hogging so much? He was a Britt, a civilised chap, certainly he was deserving of his share?

Though the reunion at home after his travels was a warm one, Pentious and his wife grew agitated when they weren't blessed with children after years of trying. They did their best, employing each home remedy, prayer and doctor's order they could afford, but the situation never improved. Pentious had to leave for more job contracts to fulfil and each time he returned to his grieving wife and empty nursery, the less he resembled the man he had been in the past. The idealistic, kind gentleman had become entitled and stressed, his smiles had turned into frowns, his passions into a hot temper.

And when he started shooting at the intruding rodents that disturbed his precious work in the study or tea in the parlour, his wife grew even more concerned. And when she mentioned this and all he could offer as consolation and apology was a concoction of rat poison to get rid of the problem instead, she wasn't sure if she even knew him anymore.

Pentious grew desperate enough to turn to dark magic to have his dreams come true. If Angels wouldn't listen to his wails, maybe demons would? Though doubting it would work until the very end, Pentious managed to summon a demon who offered him a deal; A potion that, once consumed, would guarantee him the conception and birth of healthy children. The catch? He would automatically descend into Hell at the moment of his death.

When promised his wife and future children would be spared from such a fate, Pentious wasted no time in swigging down the potion. Despite the prize he knew he would be paying, he felt more lighthearted than ever as he ran back home, desperate to tell his wife they could still try, they could fix things up, there was still time.

But once he was home, all that greeted him was silence.

The vial of rat poison was empty.

[lantur]

updates,

I was pretty stressed last Saturday because I was feeling mentally burned out and exhausted and had to work for part of the day, representing my organization at an event and making a presentation :/ It ended up going well, I met some nice people, and got an interesting idea for my next work project. The rest of the day was wonderful - Derek and I played board games and went out for dinner at our favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant. ❤️ We've been eating out a lot less over the last six months or so, just like once a month, so it was a special treat.

Sunday was a great day. I had a fun morning workout and went to a horror play at Theater Mu. I love them - they're the largest Asian American theater company in the Midwest and their shows are always so well written and acted. I'm really happy to have been able to attend more plays over the last six months or so. Living in a place with so many local theater companies is my favorite part of living in the Twin Cities.

I also made a new recipe for dinner that night that turned out super well - hot honey crispy baked salmon bowls with broccoli. :)

I have been limping and crawling through this work week. Work has been overwhelming for almost a month straight. I'm grateful to have a leadership role, but it's challenging and exhausting to not just work on my own solo projects and to-do list items, but to lead and support others every time they have a problem or need something, which is often.

This week also became challenging because my mom reached out to me on Tuesday night (a day after my last post on here where I said that I was sure I hadn't heard the last from her yet, ironically) and told me she was planning on moving to India later this year. I had to handle that conversation in a more polite way than "don't let the door hit you on your way out." Talking to her, as always, brought up a lot of negative feelings. She said she wants to see me before she leaves, but I held off on committing to that - partly because of the reason below.

On a more positive note, I had my long awaited appointment with my new OB-GYN yesterday :) I really like her. She's experienced, she's from the same culture as I am, and she left me feeling with a sense of knowledge and optimism about this whole pre-conception and conception process. I'm going to go off the pill when my current pill pack is over at the end of March and then start tracking my cycle to see what it is like, if/when I ovulate, etc. I have PCOS, so the question of whether I ovulate naturally is yet to be determined. I've been on the pill for my entire adult life and during my teenage years to treat PCOS, so I'm curious and a bit nervous to see what happens when I'm off it. I'm curious and excited to see if/when I could conceive this year.

I'm writing this while I wait at the airport for my flight to Tokyo. This trip snuck up on me after I booked it. As recently as last week, I thought that my trip was 3 weeks away - even though I theoretically knew it started on March 7. Then I realized March 7 was next Thursday and not 3 weeks away. 🤦🏾‍♀️

I'm really excited to have this time for myself. I push myself really hard at work, at home, and with personal development goals. I enjoy what I do. I like grocery shopping and cooking, I like working out, I like studying Spanish every day. I even like my job, most of the time. But sometimes it just feels exhausting to juggle it all, and it's so nice to take time where I'm not doing anything for anyone else but myself. :) It feels especially timely because I hope to start my master's in social work program in September, and I hope to possibly be growing the family by then too!