#this is not a vague post it's a blatant response post | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

apomaro-mellow · 2 years

Text

Inspired by this post where the older kids get walkie-talkies

“Hey Birdie, is the Master with you?”

Steve’s call got no response, even though he knew Robin never went far without her walkie-talkie.

“Birdie? Is the Master with you?”

Steve was about to get irate until he realize why she wasn’t responding and let out the biggest sigh and eye roll.

“Is the Master with you? Over.”

Finally a crackle came on. “He is indeed. Over.”

“Can you tell him to bring some chocolate chips when you guys come over? ....Over.”

“Can do! Over.”

“Excuse me”, Eddie’s voice came on the line. “Why doesn’t Birdie get the shopping list? Over.”

“Because she’ll either forget to go to the store, or go and get distracted and buy everything except what I asked for. Over.”

“You know me so well~ Over.”

“This is blatant favoritism. Over.”

“I’ll give you the first pick of cookies for your troubles. Over.”

“Complain rescinded.”

Steve smiled. “What was that?”

“Complaint rescinded. Over.”

---------

It had started with Nancy giving them the walkie-talkies, which seemed out of character for her until she gave the reason. They were only able to save Max because they had instant communication. And when they couldn’t reach the gang in California, it felt hopeless. So it had been a precaution. If anything happened, they’d have these. Spring Break came and went. As did the rest of spring. And their purpose quickly went from emergency communication to anything that came to their minds. The first time the kids found out about it, they decried copying.

Nancy was quick to say theirs was more serious. And it was true to an extent. They had codenames, they had protocols they followed. No one ever said Code Red without meaning it. The one time it had been used, Steve called on it after Robin got hit by a car trying to save a kid. If you asked anyone else, they would’ve said he was hysterical. If you asked Steve, he was appropriately concerned for his friend who was hanging by a thread. She walked away with a bruised rib and a couple of stitches.

“This is Wave Rider, asking for permission to land. Over”, Argyle said.

“This is the Master, you are granted. Over.”

Both boys gave each other goofy grins as they stood across from each other in front of Eddie’s trailer.

“Nancy would kill you two if she saw you using them in close proximity”, Jonathan said.

“What she won’t know won’t kill her, right?”, Eddie said.

“You don’t need to tell him twice”, Argyle grinned.

Jonathan gave him a good-natured nudge while the three of them went inside.

------

Steve and Robin had left Family Video and now worked at a nearby convenience store. The You Suck/Rule board had returned. Dustin vaguely remembered it. When he saw all the You Suck tallies, he figured Steve was repeatedly striking out with girls again.

“Maybe you should give up on chicks for a while”, he said one day, when he came for a slushie. “Doesn’t seem like it’s your forte nowadays.”

Steve slumping onto the counter made sense. But Robin’s raucous laughter, not so much.

“This is Birdie to Jonner-Than-You, come in. Over.”

“Jonner-Than-You here, Birdie. What’s your status? Over.”

“Apparently Loverboy here needs to give up on women. Dusty Buns says they’re not his forte.”

Dustin was about to argue that call sign when he heard Jonathan laugh the loudest he had ever heard.

Unbeknownst to him, the board wasn’t for whenever Steve struck out with girls. It was specifically when he struck out with Eddie whenever he came into their little corner of 7-11 heaven.

------------

“Big Wheel to the Master. Come in. Over.”

“The Master reporting. What’s up? Over.”

“Is Mini Wheels with you? Over?”

There was what could only be described as indignant squawking on the other end of the line. That confirmed her brother was indeed on the other end of the call.

“That’s a roger on that. Over.”

“Tell him that even if he’s in high school, he still has a curfew. And I’m not covering for him again. Over.”

“I’ll make sure he gets the message. Over.” Eddie looked over to Mike. “Hey Mini Wheels!”

“Stop calling me that!”

---------------

The six of them had gotten together for an afternoon hangout that slowly trickled down. Nancy had to get home, Jonathan left to meet up with a study group, and as day turned to night, Argyle drove Robin to her shift at the store. Which left Eddie and Steve alone at the Harrington Residence to finish off the movie they’d started.

Steve could do this. He could be smooth. He’d been striking out because the fact it was Eddie and not just some random girl made the stakes higher. Made him doubt himself. But the King Steve shit hadn’t been totally a lie. He could bring back just a bit. Enough to get Eddie to melt in his hands.

It started with playing with his hair and giving him meaningful looks. He’d made out with girls while a movie was on a bunch of times. Depending on how ready they were, it could be easy to pull them out of it.

When Eddie looked for too long at his lips, Steve knew he had him.

“Can I try something?”, Steve asked while curling a long lock around his finger.

Eddie nodded hesitantly before swallowing. “Y-yeah, go for it, dude.”

Steve leaned in slow, giving Eddie a chance to back out. He didn’t. The kiss was slow and warm and Steve’s hand went deeper into his hair. When he pulled away, Eddie came with him for a second kiss. This one went deeper and had Eddie pushing Steve back against the couch. When they parted this time, Steve felt like he was in a daze, when a realization came to him.

He jolted up, nearly knocking Eddie off the couch as he reached for the walkie-talkie. “This is Loverboy to Birdie. Put a point down for I rule cause Harrington’s still got it baby!”, he said, snapping excitedly.

“Bullshit”, Robin replied.

Eddie took the device from Steve. “This is the Master, confirming the Harrington does in fact, still have it. Over.” He then dropped the walkie-talkie onto the floor and went back to kissing Steve.

Argyle had made the astute observation that Robin had put down a tally right after he’d done a transaction with Steve, but Eddie hadn’t wanted to believe he had anything to do with that scoreboard.

-----------

“This is Jonner-Than-You, confirming the retrieval and delivery of five nuggets and a tall drink. Over.”

“Loverboy responding, it’s supposed to be six nuggets, a tall drink, and three sides. Over.”

“Mad Max went off to have dinner with Lucky Number and the sides are not cooperating. Over.”

“You tell the rest of that club that they better get their asses in that van. Nancy, Argyle, and I didn’t slave over a hot stove just for them to-”

Jonathan held up the walkie to the rest of the Hellfire club to hear all of Steve’s tirade. No one turned down an invitation to Sunday dinner. No one.

----------

The six of them laid out in the middle of a field, blissed out. For once, none of them had anywhere to be or anything to do. A perfect opportunity to waste time by passing a joint and watching the sky.

Jonathan picked up his walkie-talkie. “This is Jonner-Than-You reporting in. I love you guys.”

“Birdie to Jonner-Than-You, I love you too.”

“Um, Loverboy to Birdie. You’re supposed to love me best. Over.”

“Wave Rider responding. There’s enough love to go around. You should know that Loverboy.”

“You guys are high as fuck. Over”, Eddie said.

“Big Wheel to the group. Quit wasting your batteries. Over.”

“Birdie to Big Wheel. Not until you admit you love us. Over.”

That started a chant of “Love us. Love us.” through the walkie-talkies which made it reverberate even more until Nancy was covering her ears and everyone ditched the walkie-talkies to dog pile on top of her. Only then did she admit she loved these idiots.

3K notes · View notes

dresshistorynerd · 1 year

Text

How to see through the greenwashing propaganda of the fashion industry - 1

For some background info I made an overview about the impact of fashion industry.

In the light of the Shein brand trip nonsense, I was thinking about how literally every clothing company now engages in greenwashing, even when it's such obvious lie like with Shein. And while most people are not fooled in such blatant cases like that, most cases are not as blatant. To see through the less obvious propaganda often needs a lot of knowledge of the clothing industry, which the average person doesn't have, yet the average person still needs clothing. So instead of trying to expose every company for their bad practices, I thought it might be more helpful to make a post on how to detect greenwashing. I'm going to use four examples, all in the different levels of honesty and responsibility, Shein, H&M, Burberry and Tentree. First I will go into frankly unnecessary amount of detail on Shein, because I fell into a horrifyingly fascinating research rabbit hole and I think it's excellent example on how companies can get away with blatant crimes (allegedly of course). In this first part we will just look into Shien, it's propaganda and reality behind it.

But before I go deeper into this, I want to stress one thing: this is not to say that you can never buy from any brand engaging in dishonest greenwashing, because then you couldn't buy almost any clothing, and you do need clothing. Though I will say, please don't buy from Shein if you in any way can afford not to. There is levels of how bad business practices can be, and they can't be much worse than Shein's, and even beside that, even when super cheep, it's not worth your money. There are other cheep options too. Though I won't hold it against anyone if they buy individual pieces from Shein from time to time, but I would implore at least to considerate, if they really need it and if it might be possible to get something similar from somewhere else. But my point in this is not necessarily to help you make better consumer decisions, because consumption will not save us, but to see through the corporate propaganda and not become complaisant after hearing comforting lies. The corporations are doing everything they can to make you believe they are already fixing the problems within the industry and there's no need for government intervention pinky promise, just keep consuming. But that's all bullshit and government intervention is exactly what is needed.

Before taking a look at our cases, I'll outline the key things I think are good to look for, when presented with sustainability PR.

TRANSPARENCY - Companies are not required to publish much of the information about their practices, but as it has become clear to everyone that the whole fashion industry is a massive problem, opacity has become rightly seen as suspicious. It has become also a sort of marketing method to disclose any evidence of good practices, so when a company is not doing that, and missing out on well working marketing, it raises the question, what are they hiding. Companies may try to give the appearance of transparency, without actually disclosing information. They might write in an easily accessible page about all their lofty goals, promises and achievements in a very vague language, they might talk about being transparent and publishing their data, but that data might be buried somewhere, where it's not easily accessible. Good sign on the other hand would be for example providing supply chain information for a product in the product description.

RELIABLE INFORMATION - Usually it's safer for a company to be vague or silent than to lie, because that might lead to legal consequences, but by cherry-picking and subtly twisting data, it can be turned to be flattering for them. Small companies might provide raw evidence of their facilities and supply chain, like photos, locations, contractor names etc. to give proof for their word. For bigger companies this is not of course possible as their supply chains might be massive and they might have thousands of facilities. However, there are many different independent and governmental organizations that give different kinds of certifications. The certifications are meant to give some reassurance of quality and/or accurate information. However not all certifications are made equal. Most reliable certifications don't have ties to the industry (aka are actually independent, not just in name), have governmental oversight and are given access to the data, from which they do the research themselves.

SUPPLY CHAIN - Giving the origin country of the final product is nowadays standard information to give, as it's required by law for example in EU. It's a red flag, if it's produced in a country, that has lacking environmental or labour laws, poor oversight and/or little protections for people. However, this does not mean that all production in those countries is unethical or questionable, but the risk for that is higher and the need for evidence of the working conditions is also higher. This is however just one part of the production. Before clothing can be sewn, the raw material for fiber must be made/acquired, that material must be turned into fiber, which must be turned into yarn and then the yarn must be woven into fabric. All of these steps in the process need workers, who deserve good working conditions. And depending on what fabric is in question, there's potential for major environmental issues in the different processes. This is why it's important to know more than just the country where the clothing was sewn. There could be certification for ethical sourcing of the fabric for example. With supply chain it's also better if the materials are sourced as locally as possible, to avoid a lot of extra carbon emissions from transportation. Best case scenario would be if the company manages the supply chain themselves locally, so they can know for sure where their materials come from and also avoid middlemen.

BUSINESS MODEL - The reason why it's often so hard to get information on the supply chain is that many companies, especially the large ones, outsource as much as possible. This might seem unintuitive, as the middlemen make production less efficient and costly as everyone takes a cut. However, they do it to outsource risks and responsibility. They don't have to invest into factories or raw material production and they have plausible deniability, if and when there's issues in their supply chain. The complexity of the supply chain provides opacity that is impossible and unreasonable to monitor, which allows the company to buy materials that are unreasonably cheep, while feigning ignorance of worker exploitation. How much the clothing cost can also give some idea on their business model. If it's super cheep, the only way for it to be that cheep is if workers are not payed enough and everything is poorly made. Cheep is always a red flag, though, if it's fairly cheep and I mean basic clothing is not much more than 100 eur (little more in USDs) but not much less than 50 eur, it can be okay or even good quality and with proper pay for workers, if the company doesn't take massive margins and don't have a ton of middlemen in their supply chain. However, expensive is not insurance of quality or good pay for workers. Many expensive brands take massive margins while their production has little difference to fast fashion and their products are poor quality.

CASE STUDY 1: SHEIN

Let's start with the propaganda. In Shein's About Us page, they say:

"SHEIN is a global fashion and lifestyle e-retailer committed to making the beauty of fashion accessible to all."

You see, their goal is to make fashion accessible to everyone, not just privileged few. They back this up by informing how they work in 150 countries, have very wide variety of clothing, are one of the most popular shopping apps, connect with the customers on where they are - social media - and, of course, have ridiculously low prices. Their team of nearly 10,000 employees (of which 58% are women for your information) loves to serve their many many customers, who are most important for Shein. They use "cutting-edge technology" and digitized agile supply chain to track sales and demand and adjust their manufacturing in real time. When they notice a new trend, they immediately put something trendy on sale, make prototypes and order small batches from factories. This is how they keep their inventory waste low and get products quickly to their customers. In their own words:

"By developing proprietary logistics and ecommerce technology, we are disrupting the fashion space and improving outcomes for manufacturers, suppliers and consumers."

We will see, if the "outcomes" are really "improved".

Shein group's website has very extensive information about their sustainability goals and efforts, giving the impression of transparency. It's pretty clear this is in an effort to combat all the allegations towards them. To make their business sustainable in addition to their reduced inventory waste they are "accelerating their transition" to use recycled polyester, promoting their "peer-to-peer resale platform" for Shein products, "eshtablishing" a recycling program for end-of-life products, tracing the material supply chain through their own material tracking platform and conserving forests by replacing viscose with "next generation fibers".

Most of the information they provide is fully meaningless corporate speak and should be taken with the biggest bucket of salt, so let's ask some questions.

DO THEY PROVIDE SPECIFIC DATA ABOUT THEIR PRODUCTION? Surprisingly Shein is much more transparent than I expected. (Though of course the info is in different website than where the average consumer would go.) Shein hasn't taken the standard route, which is to provide as little information as possible, and keeping it vague too, se they could just keep feigning ignorance. As I said, I think it's pretty clear they are providing this much information because their reputation is so bad. Their lack of transparency has been taken as an admission of guilt, so it's not working anymore, and they have taken a new approach into maintaining their plausible deniability. In their website, they provide a sustainability report from years 2021 and 2022. I took a look at the latest one. In it there's a lot of fluff, but they show actual numbers of how many code of conduct violations have been found in audits to supplier facilities, the carbon emissions of their supply chain and the amounts of different fabrics they have used during 2022. That's not nothing, so we have a relatively good start here.

WHO DID THE RESEARCH? The research is not at all independent, but done in-house. They have all the financial incentives to cherry-pick and frame their research in a way that shows them in the best possible light, even if we assumed they would not tamper with their own evidence, which I don't think we can fully assume either. There's an attempt though to convince us to believe the data they are showing:

"We have reported with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 2021 standard for certain sections of this report. Selected information in this report was assured, to the limited assurance standard, by an external independent assurer as per ISAE 3000."

Emphasis by me. So even if they did the research themselves, they did get it independently audited to get an assurance that they did follow the GRI standards in their reporting and that it doesn't contain lies. However, the "certain sections" and "selected information" with "limited assurance" does not give me much assurance, in fact, my assurance is very limited. To understand what does this actually mean, I did a bit of googling and delved into the annex of the report.

ISAE 3000 is a standard for auditing financial information issued by International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, which an independent body that has governmental oversight. Financial information can get either reasonable assurance or limited assurance. Reasonable assurance is the most assurance this standard allows. Limited assurance is given, if the information provided to the assurer, time or extent of the procedure is lacking, but from those limited resources the assurer doesn't find anything that suggests "the subject matter information is materially misstated" aka that the company is lying. GRI is the most used reporting standard for sustainability for businesses and other organizations. I'm a bit suspicious of how effective their standards are, if they are most widely used, since most companies are absolutely terrible about sustainability yet they all claim they are great with it. So I decided to check who is in the board. Unsurprisingly it's mostly representatives of massive corporations, including Coca Cola and DuPond, a professor of accounting, national research director of Australia's Mining and Energy Union and one (1) environmental scientist.

The annex revealed quite interesting details. The only information that was AssuredTM (in a limited manner) for accurate information was the data on Shein's emissions and that of code of conduct violations. Only the report on emissions was AssuredTM (in a limited manner) to follow GRI standards. Shein got to select and prepare the relevant data for the audition, which was according to it, lacking. Crucially the audition report states that they didn't verify the results of supply audits or any potential violations of labor law found in them, rather they just checked that the math on the grading of the audits matched with Shein's stated criteria and that they actually did the audits. So if you really think about it, the (limited) assurance is that they graded themselves like they promised they would, not that their reporting of the amounts of violated labor laws or even just their own code of conduct was accurate. Additionally assurance of the accuracy of the emissions was only of Shein's own facilities, which do not produce any of their products, but not of their supply chain. 99,7% of their emissions come from their supply chain. So keep all this in mind when we look at the data itself.

WHAT ARE THEIR CARBON EMISSIONS AND HOW ARE THEY CALCULATED? Shein's emissions were 9,17 million tonnes of CO2, or 9,22 million tonnes if we don't count them purchasing Renewable Energy Credits. To put it into perspective that would be around 0,27-0,3% of the estimation of the annual emissions of the whole textile industry. Now that would be pretty low. In fact, suspiciously low. The fact that they got their own emissions auditioned, but not the emissions of their supply chain, suggests to me that perhaps, their numbers don't hold up to scrutiny. They also don't disclose their methodology for the numbers of the supply chain, like they do with their own facilities. Of course their response would be to say it's so much easier for them to calculate their own emissions than their suppliers. But I say that's not a bug, that's a feature.

Though looking at the methodology of the emissions from their own operating sites, which includes warehouses and offices, they don't take into account at all any emissions from building anything. They grew massively between 2021 and 2022 and I find it hard to believe they didn't built any of the new offices or warehouses they gained. Certainly they would have bought a lot of new equipment even if they moved to existing buildings. But none of this is taken into account in their calculations. And I must assume, it's not taken into account in their supply chain calculations either.

Even if we took them at their word, by their own admission, their carbon emissions have grown from 2021 to 2022 52%, which is alarming. (Interestingly they use the 2021 numbers in their actual website, which I think is so misleading that it's basically a lie.) They write it off as just side effect of their massive growth in production volume, which had 57% increase during the same time frame.

"We are at the beginning of our mitigation journey and began implementing decarbonization programs at the end of fiscal year 2022."

So they first scale their business as fast as they can, having absolutely no care of the environmental effect, so that when they have massive market share, and they reduce their massive emissions slightly, they can be like "oh look we did something!" They can then moan and wail how hard and time consuming it is to reduce the emissions of an existing supply chain, when they were the ones who decided to not take that into account from the start. Their "science based goal" (which they repeatedly stress in their website) is to reduce their emissions 25% by 2030. It's nothing. Less than nothing. They scaled without care their production in a time, when our ecology is collapsing, and then they claim that it's just science we possibly can't do anything about it. Apparently it's a natural law that they just have to make more and more money, like gravity.

WHAT MATERIALS DO THEY USE? Last year 64% of Shein's clothing (measured in weight) was polyester. Production of polyester is estimated to count for 40% of all carbon emissions of the textile industry. It's also a plastic made out of oil, so we have to take into account the fracking and refinement of oil and the eventual release of the CO2 from the oil that would have been secured in the ground otherwise. This most certainly is not counted into the supply chain emissions. Shein loves to pay lip service to the idea of circular economy, but they don't actually think about it. Because if they did, they would have taken into account the microplastics polyester fabric sheds when it's washed. When microplastics get into the soil and freshwater, they get into the organs of animals, including us, and they don't easily come off. Already it has been shown that they have led to the decrease of small soil fauna, which are very important for the fertility of the soil. Over time microplastics also break down further into nanoplastics. There's already evidence of nanoplastics being small enough to pass through veins into the brain, and that causing behavioral changes in fish. We don't know the long term consequences off this micro and nano plastic pollution yet, and we're just seeing the effects they have on small animals, but as they built up over years and decades inside our organs, we well likely see much larger effects.

Important for the lifecycle thinking is not just focusing on how much burden the production puts on the environment, but also how long it lasts and how can it be reused and eventually the impact of the end of it's lifecycle. If you remember from the beginning, Shein claims to take all this into account by having a resale program, somewhere in the future establishing a recycling program for unusable old clothes and increasing their share of recycled polyester. This is nothing. Again it's less than nothing. Polyester is not only bad fabric because of the things I've already said, but it's also just as a material for clothing very weak. It's not warm or breathable, which makes it at the same time sweaty and cold. It has no anti-bacterial qualities at all (which basically all natural fabrics have at least to small extent), so when you get easily sweaty in it, it starts also smelling very easily, and so needs washing very often. On top of washing releasing microplastics, it also weakens the fabric, because polyester doesn't get stronger when wet unlike plant fibers, like cotton and linen. Other synthetic fibers even get weaker when wet. Polyester is also very hard to dye effectively and has bad color retaining properties, so it needs chemical treatments and strong industrial dyes, all of which adds to it's carbon footprint and toxic pollution. Bad color retaining properties though also mean it looses it's color quite easily when washed. All of this makes it's life span significantly shorter than natural fabrics. I mean with some natural fabrics like wool and silk we are talking about multiple decades, with polyester it's easily in the low one digit years. These are inherent issues with polyester, but Shein clothes have repeatedly got complaints of their poor quality in general. This makes the resale program frankly meaningless.

On the surface the recycling program for polyester sounds good, right? You don't have to use more oil and use as much energy in making of it (according to Shein themselves, which again not a trustworthy source, it saves up to 70% emissions). Shein has promised to increase their share of recycled polyester to 31% of their polyester usage by 2030. Currently less than 1% of their production is recycled polyester. This is however a terrible solution. It still sheds microplastics and it's even worse as a fabric than virgin polyester. It is weaker and stiffer, making it impossible to use on it's own in fabric but when mixed with other fibers in a fabric significantly shortens it's life span. When we take into account the lifecycle of a clothing, the length of it and it's lifetime emissions become much more important than the production emissions. If you have to produce from scratch new clothing three times, in the time you could be using another clothing, it doesn't really matter if the emissions during the production were somewhat lower. (There's little reliable and comparable data available on production emissions of different fabrics, so I don't know how exactly recycled polyester compares to different natural fabrics.) Especially when we take into account the consumer use emissions, which in the case of polyester are 30% of it's lifetime emissions. And wast majority of it comes from washing, which you have to do more with polyester (how much more depends on what fabric you compere it to). Any responsible disposal of polyester at the end of it's lifecycle, especially any attempts at recycling it, cause additional emissions, unlike with natural fibers, which naturally degrade.

WHERE ARE THE SUPPLIERS? Shein boasts having fully integrated digital supply chain and with it they can track the whole supply chain of individual product. However they don't reveal any of that information publicly. Or rather only thing we know is that their factories making the end products are in China. But the question is, where does their fabrics come from? There's no countries listed in their report in any capacity and none of their products have any information of their origins nor the origins of the fabrics. This is very suspicious in my opinion. We can get no indication on how fibers might have been produced and made into fabric from the labor and environmental laws and practices of different countries. However, there is an interesting bit in the report about cotton:

"For cotton products, to further enhance our compliance with US laws, we request that our manufacturing suppliers only source cotton from Australia, Brazil, India, the United States and other approved regions."

This sentence is there pretty obviously because they have been caught selling clothing with cotton grown in Xinjiang in US markets, which US has banned. This is because Xinjiang, the Autonomous Uighur region, where 90% of China's raw cotton is grown, has been accused of genocidal oppression of the Uighur population, including having massive forced labour camps for Uighurs. Because of the police state nature of Xinjiang, there's no reliable numbers on how much of the cotton is produced with forced labour, but presumably most of it. Moreover, China limits the imports of cotton, which is why only 20% of cotton used by the textile industry in China is imported. Shein claims they know exactly where their fabrics come from, but the wording of the sentence above makes it clear they don't even plan on enforcing any policy to use imported cotton by their suppliers. Cotton is just 10% of fabric they used last year, but given their massive production volume, it's still a lot. This gets us to our next question.

IS THERE PROOF OF GOOD WORKING CONDITIONS? Shein reports doing in total 2 812 audits into 1 941 of their 5 400 contract manufacturers. According to them it accounted for 84% of their Shein branded products (so not their other 10 brands). This information, if you remember, was given limited assurance, by the audition into their numbers. However, we are to trust Shein alone that the reports of their auditions are accurate. I'm not really willing to trust them, but let's sustain our disbelief for a moment to look at their findings. From their report:

"A: 90 points and above: minor flaws. Continued improvement is advised. B: 75 to 90 points: some general risks. Continued improvement is advised. C: 60 to 75 points: 1-3 major risks. Corrective action is required. D: below 60 points: >3 major risks. Corrective action is required. ZTV: Zero Tolerance Violation detetected. Immediate corrective action is required."

Even without knowing what do these things mean in practice, I don't think this paints a pretty picture. Only 4% of their manufacturing facilities had minor flaws and 82% of their facilities have major risks or worse? Does that mean none of their manufacturers fully comply with their Code of Conduct? They try to make it sound like it looks this bad because they have tightened their criteria and still the numbers are better than last year, but even with all of that, this is imo unacceptable. But it gets worse.

The report shows the amount of each ZTV found in the audits. This was explicitly not assured in any way by an independent party, so considering this information is given despite the lack of oversight and the interests of Shein, it's grim. Most of the 11% of ZTVs were gross safety violations. For example 4,2% of the audits, which means 118 facilities, found lacking emergency exits. However, they also found child labour in 6 facilities and forced labour in 3 facilities. So according to their own reporting, their manufacturers have used child labour and forced labour. And just to remind you, this is covering just 36% of their contract manufacturers. What I found interesting (read disturbing), was that violence or sexual misconduct against workers were not among Zero Tolerance Violations. I know it's not a situation, where they don't consider it violation of Code of Conduct, but rather just calls the police and let them handle it, because the violations counted here are based on their CoC, in which there's an item 7 named "No harassment or abuse of employees", which explicitly forbids physical, sexual, mental and verbal abuse. They don't however breakdown the make up of the non-ZTV violations that have occured, nor do their reveal how are they graded the ratings, so there's really no way to know what the 71% of their manufacturers have done to warrant their low (C or D) grading.

Would you at this point be surprised, if I told you it gets worse? Yeah, their so called Zero Tolerance Violations are not very zero tolerance after all. You might think zero tolerance means, that if manufacturers are caught doing it, their contract is immediately terminated and they are reported to authorities? Well, let's look what is the "immediate corrective action" outlined in their Responsible Sourcing Policy. Among the ZTVs they define even more zero tolerance violations, let's say negative tolerance violations. These are 1. forging documents, bribery or refusing to get assessed 2. child labour and 3. forced labour. Surely these lead to immediate contract termination and reporting to authorities?

So if Shein encounters slavery or probable coverup of it in their facilities, they stop placing new orders until the enslaved people and children are taken somewhere else or otherwise their contracts are fixed (at least for now), so there's no more slavery in sight, when someone comes back to assess them again and decides it's all good to continue business as usual. They have 30 days to make everything look like there's no issues, which sounds pretty easy task, and after that they can grab the kids and the slaves back there like nothing happened. Also notice how they didn't say they demand stopping the work entirely in the facility, just that they'll stop placing orders? Yeah, they don't stop production even if they find literal children or enslaved people producing them. Gotta get those dresses to the customer.

If they find any other ZTV, they come back in 30 days, and if the violation continues, they give a warning, come back again in 30 days, and if still the issue is there, then they stop placing orders. After that it continues like with child or forced labour violations. If after another 30 days it's not fixed, the contract is terminated. If a supplier gets two ZTVs within two years, they go straight to the even less than zero tolerance model straight away. If they get three ZTVs in two years, then their contract is immediately terminated. Nothing different happens though, if you get caught doing child or forced labour two times in two years, so you can just get caught once a year as long as you always pretend to stop doing it. But even if you do get caught third time in two years, or fail to pretend you fixed it, it's fine, you'll just have to do other stuff for the next year, and then you can apply again to work with Shien. Also the policy does not at any point require reporting these alleged crimes to authorities. If they at some point stop placing orders for a supplier (for example because of child or forced labour), they have to just sent all the files and documents of the goods that are produced by that supplier during the time they aren't giving them new orders to the relevant tax and customs authorities.

To answer the question I started this section with, sounds like Shein provides more evidence of bad working conditions in their suppliers' facilities, than they provide evidence of good working conditions. They even give evidence that their monitoring of those conditions is just a joke, and they have no mechanisms to actually get rid of suppliers who have inhumane working conditions. Elsewhere they try to give very weak evidence of good working conditions. The influencer brand trip to their facility in China was a PR stunt like that. However, it's easily dismissable, as the facility was not at one of the factories, where their clothing is made, all of which are third parties, but Shien's own facility they call Innovation Center. There they innovate new technologies, train their suppliers to use their new technologies and consult their suppliers on how to make new factories, which I assume means they have factory templates to give to their suppliers.

However, independent sources give much more reliable evidence of terrible working conditions in their factories. Like when undercover operation into one of their factories found employees working 18 hours a day earning 2 cents per item. When asked for comment, they answered: "Any non-compliance with this code is dealt with swiftly, and we will terminate partnerships that do not meet our standards." This is not severe ZTV, so what they mean by "dealt with swiftly" is "told to stop breaking labour laws, given some time, given warning, given more time, stopped giving new orders, given even more time and if after three months they have not stop then they gotta go". Because yes, they do terminate those who don't meet their standards. Their standards are just in the gutter.

HOW IS THE COMPANY STRUCTURED? While falling down this rabbit hole I came to the realization that Shein is the Uber of fashion. It's just the gig economy all over again. Let me explain. Unlike traditional fashion companies, Shein has outsourced even the sewing of the clothing. Shein itself is an app company, like Uber, though they technically do design their own clothes. I say technically because they have been repeatedly accused of copyright infringement to the point where they are now sued for racketeering. Allegation from the lawsuit:

"Shein has grown rich by committing individual infringements over and over again, as part of a long and continuous pattern of racketeering, which shows no sign of abating."

It relates to the other reason why I say their only technically design too, because a huge amount of their designs are also outsourced. In their sustainability report, they boast about how their SHEIN X program is meant to "empower" young designers to get their business off the ground, by taking their designs and using them for their clothing productions. This sounds a lot like SHEIN X designers are gig workers. They are basically just designers for Shein, but oh no they are not workers, labour laws won't apply! Shein specifically targets young designers, even students, so it's clear that they really just want impressionable people desperate for money and work experience. Obviously they won't get much money for their designs, since there's such a massive flood of products and designers, Shein says they have 3 000 designers in SHEIN X, and the products are so, so cheep. It's the exact same thing as with Uber and the like, they put their "workers" into competition with each other. To tie it back to the lawsuit, they use these third party designers as fodder against accusations of copyright infringement. They did not steal the design from the independent artist, they are just the platform provider.

This is also exactly how they operate with their factories. When their massive production is spread across all the 5 400 small separate suppliers, they are forced to compete for scraps. They can't organize together to demand better pay or better working conditions, and Shein can act like they have no part in them. Moreover, due to their extremely low prices, Shein has to offer only really low rates for the production of their clothing. On top of that because of the contractor structure, the actual fanctory owners taken an extra cut from those low rates, leaving extremely little for the actual workers. The prices are so low, they demand inhumane working conditions. It's impossible to sell clothing in the prices Shein does and pay well for the workers, especially with their business structure. All the talk about technological innovation is also bullshit, because this gig economy competition model ensures that most of the gig workers (in this case factories) will stay poor, so they can hardly invest in the new technologies.

This model is also what Shein holds as their most significant sustainability claim, because it allows them to cut most inventory waste. Traditional fashion companies always have a significant overhead, because their supply must always be higher than demand, otherwise, they would loose customers to their competitors. Because Shein orders small batches from large amount of factories, they can change their production in real time, adjusting to the demand much quicker than any competitor. Yes, it means they have minimal inventory loss, but it's not actually efficient. Or rather not efficient in any other way than for maximizing profits. There is a massive amount of overlap of facilities, machinery, organization structures and bureaucracy, if we look at Shein's whole production, because the small factories are all producing same things, but because Shein drives them to compete with each other, they don't have to pay for that overlap. More than that, it's extremely inefficient way to maximize people getting clothed while minimizing materials. And I don't mean producing as much clothes as possible while minimizing materials, because that is what they are doing, but the goal shouldn't be as much clothes as possible, but maximizing everyone having enough clothing, which is much less that what we produce today. And if clothing was made to last instead of making as many of them as possible, even less could be made and still everyone would have enough clothes.

Shein's extremely quick rise to the top of fashion markets was due to how effectively they managed to use the pandemic for their advantage. During the lock-downs around the world, people spend increasingly more time on their phones and social media, which Shein managed turn into their profit. They utilize social media and influencers effectively for marketing. Their platform also uses many of the same psychological tricks social media uses to keep customers scrolling and consuming. This is on itself is not at all new, but because of their business model, they turned attention into sales and sales into more attention. All that combined with their ability to response in real time to new trends and scale production extremely quickly, turned any new trend in social media into hype and micro-fashion cycles, which they would burn through increasingly fast. Their competitors wouldn't even have the time to get into that trend before it would be replaced with a new trend. Then all they needed to do was to contract new small factories, they didn't even have to spend time and money to built them, and they could take over the fast fashion market.

Shein's effect won't stop there though. Their competitors will and are already starting to adapt their methods. It means quality of clothing will keep getting worse, the whole industry will keep increasing their carbon emissions and the working conditions from cotton farmers to designers will get worse as gig economy spreads in the industry. I'll talk more about this in the conclusions of the second part, but to fix this, there needs to be government intervention. It's good that there's a lawsuit over their wider practices, not just a singular act, but it won't be enough. If they don't face significant consequences, every other company will take note that they can profit off of (allegedly) systematic crimes.

IN CONCLUSION Shein as a company is a glorified optimization algorithm which only real function is to drive up consumption and in exchange take all the profits from everyone else's labour. They use the modern classic Uber model to take the neoliberal principle of outsourcing risks and responsibilities to it's logical conclusion. Their extremely exploitative business model only works if their designers and factories and other gig workers break laws. They do the absolute bare minimum to comply with law and (allegedly) not even that when they believe they can get away with it by blaming others, which is fucking bad indictment of those laws, since my god they are terrible. Their greenwashing propaganda is honestly laughable, it's a joke and they must know it. It feels more like gaslighting than propaganda.

#this is not exactly what i usually write about but one of the reasons i care about historical fashion is because i care about sustainability #fashion #sustainable fashion #environment #climate crisis #shein #fashion industry #shein clothes #fast fashion #slavery mentioned #genocide mentioned

291 notes · View notes

bfpnola · 1 year

Note

I am not Palestinian nor am I Jewish. Be that as it may, I hate settler colonialism, even more so as a brown, bi, genderqueer ‘Afab’ person. I just wanted to say. 1) your post on the topic is more empathetic and insightful than I’ve seen a lot of people be about this over my entire life and I’ve asked questions of both sides, I tend to stay out of the fray cause I don’t feel it my place to speak over Palestinians and Jews (who are critical of Israel). But, do you have any advice for being a better ally to Palestinians and combating anti-semitism and anti Jewish racism in the everyday?

hey sweetheart! thank you for your commitment to the movement and your earnestness. i am not Palestinian or Jewish either, so i did what is always considered best: i asked those who are! that's exactly why our Advocacy Committee within BFP exists :)

from one of our Palestinian youth volunteers:

if you have the money to do so, donate to the cause! the unfortunate truth is that to gain access to various resources, things cost money. more specifically, donate to humanitarian aid funds you've done the research for and are sure are doing work on the ground. even better if you can donate directly to those being affected! this includes Palestinians on the ground but also within the diaspora who need self care items, especially for all the work they've been doing educating others. for example, this is an organization this member volunteers with and trusts:

and these are two amazon lists of Palestinian youth within the diaspora:

share posts by Palestinians! the big thing is really just getting the word out, sharing their perspective. Zionist propaganda is hard to penetrate so the least we can do is uplift their voices by sharing!

from one of our Jewish youth volunteers:

understand that not all Jewish people are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jewish. saying the two are equivalent is not only antisemitic but ignores the blatant statistics, like the growing number of anti-Zionist Jewish young adults in the united states for example, or the fact that the biggest supporters of israel are actually evangelicals.

to that same point, know that israel has been purposefully trying to conflate the two in order to then label anyone who does critique the state as automatically antisemitic. it is a tool.

additionally, be careful with the rhetoric you choose to spread & subscribe to (i.e., watch how they describe israel. do they refer to the people as Jews or Zionists? it can tell you a lot about how educated they are and their vague stance on the matter)

my own additions as a longstanding ally and friend of those involved:

learn your history! there is a clear attempt to distort the history of Palestine. learn what Palestine was like before israel's occupation. learn about the way pioneering Zionists openly called Zionism "colonialism" and didn't even try to hide it. learn about how discussions of the Zionist project were discussed roughly 80 years before the Holocaust ever happened. this does not mean that some Jews did not, in fact, move to Palestine in response to such a horrific event, but in the words of a Jewish mutual of mine, israel's rhetoric literally weaponizes Jewish trauma by conflating these two dates in history.

BDS movement! stands for boycott, divestment, and sanctions!

when possible, actually speak to people of Palestinian descent. like seriously. posts are great, but actually speaking to people who are knowledgeable in real time can be so helpful for getting your questions addressed, so long as you are respectful, of course. a great place to do this, not even to advertise, is actually our Discord server linked in our bio @bfpnola

know that language matters, as inconsequential as it may seem. in the words of my Palestinian, Kashmiri, and Artsakhi friends and/or mutuals, when speaking of occupations, we capitalize the occupied people's country (ex. Palestine) while not doing so for the occupier's (ex. israel) to delegitimize them.

learn about Hamas and its history/purpose. here are my notes on two podcast episodes let by Palestinians:

thank you for your ask! im sure i may think of other things later but these are my answers for now.

-- reaux (she/they)

#reaux answers #free palestine #palestine #israel #gaza #allyship #mutual aid #antisemitism #jewish #anti zionism #resources #donations #donate

148 notes · View notes

pretty-weird-ideas · 7 months

Text

Okay... so earlier I posted a few things without the proper tags because I felt like it wasn't necessary to say publicly, but right now antiblackness seems to keep escalating and people keep getting away with shit like this.

The next time you see antiblack posts especially vagues, check the comments and likes. I'm not being funny about this, I've been trying to be nice and quiet about antiblackness and blogs actively proposing alt-right talking points in this fandom by not saying things about it. But this is a pattern of larger blogs agreeing in secret with smaller racist ranters.

Whenever you see a virulently hateful response to a small black blog or what seems to be an antiblack rant, please I BEG of you all to check the comments and likes of said commentary. You will be surprised to see how many large blogs not only agree with the antiblack sentiment they're spreading but also are encouraging them to continue this sort of behavior.

We have blogs that are far larger than the blogs they're attacking, in the comments calling these black blogs "antiwhite" and "reverse racists", but nobody checks the comments. They know to hide their more controversial rhetoric in comments and likes. These smaller blogs who wanted approval from them then walk away from these large blogs and call these smaller blogs SLURS.

Post 499 of "The reason I don't follow black people, is because they block me" has blogs agreeing with them but never have been taken to task because they're hoping you genuinely don't check the comments or likes.

If you really truly care, I need you to start remembering names. It isn't even a difficult equation, no more than 1+1. It's blatant and clear once you start reading and using critical thought to find context and start questioning the motives behind vague posts against black blogs. These antiblack blogs aren't even smart enough to use alts, they're brazen with this sort of thing.

Antiblack users are begging and praying every night that you don't check for context or read comments when they drag smaller black blogs. They know better not to say this on their own blogs or reblog, they wait until they can comment and agree in silence, it's what they do.

They think you don't read, please prove them wrong.

These larger blogs that are creating hit lists of black blogs are literally testing your intelligence and ability to check their rhetoric, please.

#iwtv #black fandom #interview with the vampire #vampire chronicles

74 notes · View notes

farewellneverland2004 · 9 months

Text

Being a reincarnation sucks! and UWMA told us, but we were too happy for DeanPharm to listen!

Okay! This might be a little bit of a hot take, and also possibly a little theorizing. But I will stand my ground and die on this hill!

UWMA is my all-time favorite BL, and might I even say, one of my favorite web dramas ever!

It's a compelling, heartbreaking, beautiful story about a wonderfully healthy relationship between two very traumatized people. Finding each other, and in the process, reconnecting the tortured souls of two people who loved each other but weren't given the option to be happy together.

Now, though that scenario is not likely to happen to me or you, it's still an interesting story, using the soulmate trope to its ultimate advantage. I love the idea of a healthy, yet unconditional and unending love that prevails through all.

However, although I love the reincarnated love trope, there is a blatant fact that I, and many other UWMA fans have been oblivious to. and that is how much it would SUCK to be in our beloved Dean and Pharm's shoes!

What invoked me to make this post?

Well, it's plain and simple. I'm sick of all the complaining and making fun of My boy Pharm for being a cryer!

Am I biased because Pharm is my favorite character and I relate to the inability to stop myself from crying and it usually takes a while for me to stop, so I see a lot of myself in him? Maybe, but that's not important!

What's important is that I believe, people who complain or laugh at Pharm for this know that this is a response to PTSD, but don't take time to really acknowledge how bad this PTSD would be if you were faced with it in real life. This is why I want to shed light on how being the reincarnations of Korn and In have done little to nothing beneficial for Dean and Pharm, other than the fact it's what brought them together.

(But just an FYI, crying is a normal reaction to things, and maybe Pharm is just a very emotional and expressive softy and there is nothing wrong with that! MEN SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO CRY GODDAMNIT!)

Well, since I just ranted about the Pharm crying disrespect, might as well start with him and his respected past life counterpart, Intouch!

As we see all through UWMA, Pharm probably has the more blatant PTSD from his past life out of the couple, and it makes sense.

In was left to watch the man he loved take his own life in front of him. He was the one to witness his improvement, his confession, and his mutual decline until he had nothing left to say but "I love you" and "I'm Sorry", and in the end, he was still left alone. he is left cradling the body of not only the first man he probably ever openly loved but also the first person who he could actually relate to in a world that told him if he wanted to survive, he had to hide who he was.

This user makes an interesting point on how Korn dying isn't just a traumatizing event for In, but in his mind, also an act of betrayal. Because he promised him, yet he traumatized and left him alone in a world that would hate him for who he is.(in Intouch's mind ofc). Yet he also knows that though he is hurt, all he wants is to be with Korn, so he commits suicide to escape the life he'd have to live without him.

These very hard-hitting and intense feelings are already bad to live with for the one who actually experienced the trauma firsthand. But imagine, being a normal kid with a happy loving family, yet you are plagued by vague but traumatic memories that are not your own? you wake up crying every morning, you panic at any unsuspected loud noise, and you get seemingly random panic attacks that you can't even explain why they happen.

You seemingly have no valid reason to act this way. You want to stop, or at least to know why, but can't for the life of you understand. I think many people can understand the feeling of being depressed, angry, anxious, etc., and don't really know why. So they feel guilty and exhausted from these strong emotions they don't want or understand.

For Pharm, the more he learns about his situation, the more he's around Dean, and the more he learns about Korn and In, the more intense his episodes get. he has more nightmares, more flashbacks, and he's less able to discern In's emotions and pain from his own.

At one point, he even realizes that the more he finds out about In, the more power In's feelings of betrayal and anguish have on him. He ultimately decides he doesn't want to know how In died, believing what's done is done and it's best to leave it in the past, just for him to find out later and for all his efforts to stay himself to be diminished by In's immense grief.

He straight up almost DIES because In's soul can't distinguish Dean from Korn, and therefore Pharm from Intouch. And people still thinks he doesn't deserve to cry all he wants?

Moving onto the titular man that, for lack of a better phrase, "started it all", and his green-flag of a reincarnation! Dean and Korn.

(If you don't agree with the dean, green-flag statement, I respectfully disregard your opinion)

So... let's just get this out in the open. I believe Korn was always suicidal. Or at least, very depressed.

Now when I say that, I obviously can't know how his childhood went or when his mental health began to decline, but considering the family he was born into, and the time he was in when he realized he liked men, it's not too hard to suspect that these feelings have been festering for a while.

Korn was the eldest son of a mafia loan shark. We don't ever find out about his mother, whether she was around or not, but considering how his father treats him and his children, I can assume that even if she was in their life, his father would still be calling all the shots.

We know that Korn is expected to carry on the family business, and at the point of his life where we are introduced to him, we see his father is beginning to put even more pressure on him to start taking up jobs and practicing to take over when he's gone.

But we see that Korn doesn't want to take over. He doesn't want to hurt people and he just wants a normal life for his brothers and himself. However, due to familial obligation, and threats from his father, Korn is submitting himself to a life he hates for the sake of his brothers, so neither of them has to throw their lives away for their father's business.

At this point, the existence of Korn is miserable. He's being pressured to do something he desperately hates, to submit himself to a life he does not want. He's ostracized at university for his affiliation with loan sharks and his general anti-social demeanor(which is definitely a coping mechanism) He's being berated and called useless by his own dad, which would definitely hurt his view of himself. He cares about his brothers way too much to ever let them know how much he's hurting, isolating himself from their care. finally, his sexuality would make him a target for discrimination, so he's forced to hide more about himself until he's probably forced into a marriage with a person he does not love, producing an heir to take on the job he hates and officially restarting the generational trauma and cycle of abuse.

This person better explains what Korn was going through mentally and what In truly meant to him than I ever could. But basically, they say that before In, Korn had practically dug himself a hole he couldn't get out of, and he was living on autopilot. Just moving through the days, until the day would come when he couldn't take it anymore. I very much agree with this. and every flashback, when they get closer and closer to the day, you can see that he doesn't know how much longer he's gonna last. So now that he is at the point of hopelessness, all he can do is let him know he loves him, and apologize to him and their dads for making them witness what he was going to do, but also for leaving him.

Now, I see a lot of comments about how Korn was being selfish with taking his life, because not only did he do it in front of the person he loves, but also in the process, he left him alone in the world. I personally feel like these comments tend to push a little too much on Korn being selfish that it ends up almost coming off as victim blaming. And I want to make it perfectly clear, people who commit suicide do so (mainly) as a last resort. almost no one who is going through with committing the act is doing so out of spite or to hurt others. They do so because they believe there is no other way to escape or fix what's wrong in their life. Korn is no exception. He was in pain, and he needed help, but he believed there was nothing that could be done, and probably felt if he was out of the picture, he would no longer be a burden on In and he would finally put an end to all the war and suffering in his heart and in his life.

However, suicide is an act that at the end of the day hurts everyone the victim is close to. people who are affected by a loved one taking their own life can feel a piling number of emotions. Confusion, anger, guilt, etc. We see those emotions expressed in In, An(In's Sister), Korn's brothers, their dads, and even Pharm. These emotions are valid and it's a common response. So I won't blame the audience for empathizing with In more than Korn in this series. To be fair, even Dean holds resentment towards Korn once he finds out.

Which brings me to why it'd suck to be Dean. He's possessed by the soul of a very depressed and broken man with anti-social tendencies. He's having issues similar to Pharm where he has memories that are not his own, not to mention he's always preoccupied with looking for someone he has no idea may or may not exist. He also chooses to isolate himself from his parents and siblings for the sake of his paternal grandmother, making his relationship with them more strained once he has to be in their lives. (which may or may not be influenced by Korn due to his tendency in life to self-isolate.) He puts on a stern and responsible act for everyone to mask his social awkwardness, still looking for someone he does not know.

And when he finally feels happy and relieved because he's found the thing he's always felt was missing, it only gives him more questions of who those memories actually are, and what he and Pharm have to do with it. The more he finds out, the more his true anxieties begin to take over and he desperately tries to put on a brave face for his boyfriend because he knows Pharm is already going through a lot, and he wants to make sure he's not worried.

When he actually finds out who Korn and In were, and What Korn did, he immediately starts cursing Korn for what happened. But it's so much more than just him being hateful towards a man who took his own life. Because to him, whether he likes it or not, Korn is an aspect of him. Whatever Korn feels, he feels. Korn's actions are his actions. So whatever Korn did, Dean is responsible for.(at least in his mind)

So Dean is practically cursing himself, calling himself a bastard. to Dean, He's the reason Pharm is terrified whenever there is a loud unexpected noise, he's the reason Pharm has panic attacks, and he's the reason Pharm cries in his sleep. He thinks it's his fault that Pharm was so scared of being in a relationship with him, Not to mention he's probably dealing with Korn's soul feeling the same amount of self-loathing. To Korn, everything is his fault, and because of his actions, he abandoned, hurt, and killed the one person that made him keep going.

So now, Dean is left with double self-loathing, and blaming himself for things that were most definitely NOT his fault.

Now, onto my final point on what the worst part of being the reincarnations of two unresting souls. Which is the lack of being your own person. When your body is holding two separate souls constantly fluctuating on taking the wheel, don't be surprised if you feel just a tad bit unsure of who you are or what things in life are your own.

Now, there are some things that their past life events influence that are not bad and are in fact quite sweet. like how In always wanted to be good at cooking, and so Pharm is born with a mother who is great at cooking, and in the process learns to be a good cook. Or Korn going to the beach for the first time with In being one of his happiest memories, and so Dean grows to love the beach, and therefore swimming. But the main thing that this drama shows as its conflict through the series is both Dean and Pharm trying to stay themselves. To have their actions be their own. and also, when the whole reason they are reincarnations of these two men specifically is to reconnect them and fulfill a promise made long ago, there's also the conflict of how much of their love is genuinely theirs. That's probably the worst anxiety in the world! You finally find a person who can truly relate and understand what you're going through and you feel an intense unexplainable love for them, only for you to fear that the relationship you built together isn't based off of love that is yours. It makes you fear that you are hurting the other person because why would you stay with someone if you're not sure if you love them? This is something they both have to face in the final episode. They separate for a little bit to give themselves time to reflect on their own feelings and only after they know that the souls of In and Korn are content, do they know that the love they have is real and it's theirs.

So...Still think reincarnation is cute and fun?! There's a reason people work to finally escape Samsara! Thank you for coming to my rant lol!

#uwmaseries #until we meet again #deanpharm #thai bl #thai drama #reincarnation #trauma

30 notes · View notes

side-vermin93 · 7 months

Text

Well.

Long rant below this line if you're just scrolling by.

I normally don't do this sort of thing, I don't post my unfiltered dogshit opinions on any kind of social media, I don't toll the bells when I don't get my way and cry 'Foul Play' unless I truly believe that something is going wrong.

No doubt, everyone has seen the... colourful reaction to TADC's release date being set in May of 2024 (This May) and the Murder Drones tag on Tumblr is exploding for good reason.

Now, before I say my piece, I would like to immediately debunk a common train of thought often used by detractors to devalue the points that others have made when it comes to this controversy:

"Glitch is saying that they are taking their time to make the episodes and the finale as best as it can be." And that we as a fandom are "Overreacting."

To begin with, I personally hope that yes, Glitch is doing everything in their power to make MD as good as it can physically be, I hope that they are giving the finale to the season the sendoff it deserves.

But would it KILL THEM to tell us something? Post teasers, memes, references to Murder Drones or even something as simple as "Hey! You liked TADC, how about you check out Murder Drones while you wait?"

Instead, Glitch has spent months of complete and total radio silence, completely forgot the existence of the anniversary of Murder Drones' pilot, and as they did this, they continued to post teasers of TADC, including a personally vexing post that basically amounted to engagement farming, literally "If this gets 100k likes, we will open the door"

Stuff like this DOES NOT help assuage the fears of fans who believe that Glitch has begun to ignore MD simply because it isn't as popular or as profitable as TADC has become, it smacks of blatant favouritism and foul play when the fans of Murder Drones get nothing, meanwhile TADC is getting WEEKLY teasers, which is only serving to inflame the controversy between TADC and MD fans.

The thing that infuriates me the most is that Murder Drones is in its final stretch for (HOPEFULLY) its first season finale, and yet we have recieved nothing aside from the initial trailers and the release date of "sometime in early 2024" and we are now coming up on the end of the second month of the year, meanwhile TADC gets a concrete release date in MAY, which does NOT excuse the constant teasers and content for TADC that was produced before this point.

As for the overreaction? I think its personally an acceptable response considering the current controversy, but the biggest problem is what Glitch has said today.

"We're also working hard on Murder Drones & will be releasing final episodes soon!"

This, reader, is a very vague statement made by Glitch in their announcement today, and... well, notice how they said "Final Episodes"

Now, this could be Twitter and its word limit screwing them over, but Glitch (and most corporations) is very deliberate with their wording, and this could be no different, do they mean the finale of season one? Or is Murder Drones as a SHOW coming to an end after episode 8? We don't know because Glitch is being vague about this.

Now, because we don't know, we are (reasonably considering how companies often tend to focus on what is most profitable as opposed to any concept of "loyalty") reacting in a negative way towards this wording and believing that MD might very well come to an end before Liam is able to fully finish his story or for us to enjoy the show he has been working on for a long time now.

If it is the end of Murder Drones, then of course people are going to blame TADC for "Killing Murder Drones." Corporations have no loyalties and no qualms about being underhanded, only an appetite for more funding and appeasing their investors, and the most juicy of cash-cows practically fell into their lap.

Now, perhaps we are WRONG, maybe Glitch really did screw up because Twitter loves its word limits, then in which case, shouldn't Glitch try and clarify that in another post as soon as possible? Say that MD isn't going anywhere and that they meant the season finale?

Ultimately, we are in a very turbulent time and tensions are the highest they have ever been, and the next two months will either cool down into something to laugh about later, or there will a shitstorm. No inbetweens.

If it is a false alarm, then I will be there laughing with y'all about how I was doomposting like an idiot, but if it isn't? then I will continue working on my projects in the fandom until I believe I am satisfied, and I will be there when the shitstorm drops.

God, I hope it's the former.

Also sorry if the tags for this are crap, but I don't have the energy left over to fix them.

#murder drones #rant post

19 notes · View notes

ratscapism · 3 months

Text

three other hotd!rhaenyra <--> theon moods

1) the fantasy that if only theon hadn't betrayed robb then a lot of the bad wouldn't have happened / the big problem is theon's betrayal of robb / theon would have had a safe place if only he hadn't betrayed robb (when we all know and theon enjoyers have kept exploring in fic and such that theon was trapped and fucked any way) <--> the charge that if only rhaenyra hadn't birthed bastards a lot of the bad wouldn't have happened / the big problem is her birthing bastards / the realm could have been safe if only rhaenyra hadn't selfishly birthed bastards which is a betrayal of peace. when we all saw from ep1 onwards that the plan to get rid of rhaenyra - who had legally officially and publicly been made viserys' heir wovs and all - to put viserys's son on the throne was ongoing AND known if not acknowledged by all main characters. as rhaenyra didn't chose to be officiated as heir - even if she somewhat embraced it - and the plot to get rid of her started when she was a young teenager long before she birthed any children, clearly she would never have been safe and there always would have been war. but! it is also true that she made certain troublesome decisions that created a huge glaring vulnerability and trouble. which means... ? it's somewhat like the fault is made so big and flashy and to retroactively prove their unworth that is eclipses the pre-existing entrapment.

2) #negative but the way you cannot far and wide find a single post about her abuse narrative that isn't atrocious, victim-blaming, dismissive, or weirdly celebratory. well actually you can find these somewhat for theon. but i def. remember feeling similarly 👀☹️👎when i first tried to talk these about theon. well prove me wrong by sending me all the good hodt daemon rhaenyra conversations happening on tumblr if i missed out.

3) the charge that they didn't work or politick hard enough: theon coming back to the iron islands not seeking alliances / getting to know the men / carefully listening but with a 'well since i'm their heir and prince they naturally should know and follow me' as him being stupid / entitled / just a bad leader / etc <--> rhaenyra being 'well my father said i'm the heir so' without doing much politicking / backstabbing / securing of her position / court machinating / moves to publishly establish herself (etc) but just kind of let things roll plus makes herself even more vulnerable at court with her decisions. well in both case it's somewhat unfair anway because they Do a number of things to prove their worth and uphold their duties, but in both case you have this element of "but how didn't you see that coming and why weren't you more politically sneaky and smart?". and for one for both you could say that no matter how perfectly they'd play the game there would have been no avenue to win balon's full support and approval / the court's full support and approval, because the basic conflict that cannot be politicked away is: theon was stark's hostage; rhaenyra is a woman and there's a male heir available.

but something i find even more interesting about rhaenyra's situation is that the plan to get rid of her has been in place from the start and all know this while not acknowledging this. every so often the fact that they know bubbles up and they speak the truth out loud: viserys when drunk, otto of course whenever he feels the moment is right, viserys again when confronting otto about it (though he goes for a roundabout story about a potential prior betrayal and a vague 'because of the conflict of interest that shall not be named i cannot trust you any more' because admitting the bare truth would mean admitting his own responsibility), a still teenaged alicent when confronting otto about it (if only you hadn't been so extremely obviously blatant about the plan to put aegon in rhaenyra's place!), and rhaenyra herself, of course, knows this as a teen already and says as much. and i think this knowing-not-knowing family game leads to everyone behaving in ways that seem contradictory. rhaenyra's then is wanting-not-wanting to be heir and acting both as if acting both as if the throne was already hers and no questions would/should be asked or already lost anyway so fuck this all. like is is true that their politicking seems clumsy as compared to those that do it really well? yes. is the big problem and reason for this that they're entitled and stupid? you'll decide. 🤝no matter what you do🤝

#she's not a theon theon per se i wouldn't put her on the list of theon characters #but she's the one that pinged me the most well lucky me #lucky me also the state of hotd posting on this site is such that it makes me shameless #because this might be very oh shut up about theon already but is it worse than all of anything else on here didn't think so #rhaenyra #🦑🔥🩸

8 notes · View notes

milksockets · 1 year

Text

i had a meeting with my direct [male] supervisor and his [female] supervisor today because i’m almost at the 6-month mark and uh i still don’t know wtf you people want me to do on a daily basis. they act exasperated that i’m asking for clarity even though no one has ever been able to properly express my responsibilities beyond some vague buzzwords/terms like “continuity of care” blah blah. (i work for a state-developed homeless outreach program as an RN, and it’s my first job out of covid-restricted nursing school).

first of all, i’ve learned that these people will only ever answer the questions they *want* to answer rather than what was *actually* asked. then they [act like they] don’t get why i’m still trying to get a fucking relevant response.

and at one point, i said something about how i’m new to the field and i want to be careful not to do anything outside of the official scope of nursing because there can be serious repercussions by the board. and this lady was like “yeah well social work is like that too, we *all* worked very hard for our licenses.” ummm ho this isn’t about you…? i swear there’s this weird tension - maybe related to starting salary etc - because i’m a nurse (in name only) and they’re mainly social workers.

also, i was foolishly under the impression that she would possibly be more understanding re: the client situation i recently described in which he was giving me gifts, threatening to throw away his meds, calling frequently, etc. but a silvia federici quote i posted a while back speaks to the fact that a woman who has risen in the ranks is no less likely to treat her female underlings poorly than a man is.

thus, i will be going back to not bothering to give feedback or seek clarity because this is a blatant waste of my energy.

#words #working girl

40 notes · View notes

petrichorium · 11 months

Text

on plagiarism

when all of this began, i confess i never imagined i'd be involved this closely. i've been a bit on the fringe of it, with many mutuals involved and my own name dragged into the fray briefly but ultimately trying to keep my distance. but in a brief moment of curiosity (or weakness, perhaps) i let myself do some digging and discovered that i, too, was plagiarized by a former mutual whose work i admired greatly.

one of the most beautiful things about this community is how collaborative it is. we are a group of people with mutual interests who found each other on the vast sprawl of the internet, and our creativity is something which grows as a result of each of us working together. the kind of plagiarism i discuss today is hard to spot, easy to dismiss, and above all else painful for the victims. it is difficult to express how nauseating it feels to see someone take an idea and run with it without permission, consideration, or credit, all while it remains so subtle that you feel nobody will believe you.

Plagiarism, by definition, is "to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one's own; to use another's production without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source" (from merriam-webster, because wouldn't it be ironic if i didn't clarify?). Note, please, the use of "idea." Nobody is fool enough to think plagiarism must be exact 1:1 wording. If you're claiming that, you're very certainly being purposefully obtuse.

the evidence i present below is clear, in my opinion. i'm not going to leave names out of it—the accused has already outed herself and has claimed to have left her blog, so I have no reason to coddle her, and equally there is no sense in reporting or engaging with it in any way. it shouldn't have to be said, but don't harass her; whether or not her blog is truly abandoned, any asks could still make it to her. Obviously sending harassment at any time is childish, cruel, and reprehensible, and nobody is deserving of it.

The plagiarist is @/shiinleaf. there is another player in this game, @/seoafin, who also fell victim to the same scenario twice. seoafin made her own callout post (politely lacking in names) and shiinleaf made her own response, both of which I will link now.

[seoafin's post regarding plagiarism]

[shiinleaf’s response in defense]

I also want to say, to be honest, I wouldn't give much of a damn about this if not for the context. i wrote a one sentence textpost and shiinleaf made her own imitation a week later, then elaborated upon it. the single sentence (and a few tags) is all that i provided; while the lack of interaction and credit hurt, i wouldn't much care...

if not for seoafin's experiences. make no mistake, my evidence here is intended to support hers; to bolster her arguments and to provide further proof of shiinleaf's actions. While her claims might be subtle, my own are more blatant, and help to establish a clear pattern of behavior which is neither respectful nor considerate of fellow authors. This is further proven by the hate that seoafin received for speaking up—the very reason I’m choosing to come forward. While the initial crime might be something unworthy of speaking about publicly, I won’t stand by while a fellow victim is harassed and gaslit in her own askbox.

anyway. im done grandstanding. I have screenshots and links so let's get into this.

i preface this by saying that while i was vaguely aware of this situation—as i was up until recently mutuals with shiinleaf (xin) and only mutuals-in-law with seoafin (morgan) and, thus, friends with many people with full knowledge of and involved in the entire debacle—i largely made an effort to keep out of the situation, despite (in a situation which i really can't get into) my name being dragged into it in private, resulting in me soft blocking xin.

my interest was reignited last evening, however, after many vague posts by mutuals which made me check shiinleaf's blog out of curiosity. i saw that xin had gone through and reblogged nearly all of her old writing, and near the top a post caught my eye.

the post was a brief textpost about the honkai: star rail character Jing Yuan, later elaborated upon in a followup reblog. This had been posted in July, and something about the phrasing and the timestamp made me pause.

I have made a few posts in the past about characters who "like brats," specifically not "to tame." I remembered making one about Jing Yuan many months ago. So, I went digging in my blog's archive, and sure enough I found it.

Here are the two initial posts side-by-side. My post is dated July 19th at 11:37pm. Xin's is dated almost exactly a week later, July 27th at 5:13am. Additionally, I've provided a screenshot of the first sentence of the followup reblog; note the specific usage of "brats"/"bratty", "not taming," and "likes the chase."

[link to xin's initial post] [link to xin's follow-up reblog]

[link to my post]

As the final nail in the coffin, here is a video of my post with proof that Xin saw it: she gave it a like. Note that this post was reblogged once and had only six likes; it wasn't a popular post whatsoever.

Finally, an interesting thing to note (though not altogether suspicious) is that xin states in the tags of her followup reblog that she has written a "7k word fic" about the concept discussed. She later states in a reblog from the 23rd that this fic was her fic Filler, one which she also has stated that she began on the 19th of July—the same day as my initial post. These coincidences, unfortunately, only keep adding up.

[link to xin's recent reblog of the plagiarized post]

[link to xin's recent reblog of Filler]

(note: the precise timeline of Filler does not line up exactly with the premise that it was created solely due to my post; the screenshots provided of the fic's document predate my own post by many hours. However, I am not claiming that the entire fic is based upon my post. That would be absurd, it's literally one sentence and a few tags. By xin's own admission, however, the fic was based upon many things including the premise potentially provided by myself—it is entirely within the realm of plausibility for her to have begun Filler and allowed my post to impact her writing of it, especially seeing as she, without a doubt, saw my post within hours of beginning the fic)

Now, I'd like to make myself perfectly clear here. This incident, were it isolated, would not make me call someone out. I understand that this community is full of authors inspiring one another. My post was a brief, fleeting idea which I did not elaborate upon; what she potentially did with that idea, to be frank, was absolutely phenomenal, and I am by no means whatsoever taking credit for ANYTHING beyond my initial post. Xin has stated that Filler in particular was a deeply personal fic for her, based upon her cultural and familial experiences—I would never dream of taking away from that. I think it's a fic that she should be proud of, and frankly I’d feel honored if I played any part in its creation.

However, it is abundantly clear in my opinion (from the fact that my post was liked, from the evident timeline, and from my own wording being ripped almost exactly) that xin drew inspiration from me and made no effort to give me the proper credit. This was not collaboration but rather a purposeful choice to use my own idea as a jumping off point and pass it off as her own. We weren't mutuals at the time, but I had seen her in my notifs frequently; had she added to my post, I would have been delighted. And my dms are also open, if she had been concerned about my response she could have asked me for permission. Unfortunately, she did neither of those things, and so here we are.

More importantly, however, I come forward with this—as stated initially—with the intent to defend seoafin (morgan), who came forward with her own post regarding xin's plagiarism. [morgan's post linked here again] please note that morgan took care not to mention xin, her blog, or directly link any xin's relevant fics. However, my own experience only bolsters the credibility of morgan's accusations. Once again, i wouldn't be coming forward if i were the only victim, but morgan has been inundated with asks since she made the accusation and i found it vital to support her claims. From vitriolic harassment to gaslighting to death threats, the response to morgan's post has been troubling, and i (futilely, im sure) hope that my own post will put an end to this. a clearly established pattern has been shown—three instances among two different authors of xin taking inspiration without credit—and i think it's fair to say that my evidence is solid.

i'll leave with another soapbox paragraph to match the beginning. up until this incident... i had been mutuals with xin. i had seen her in my notifs for months before i followed back, including when she chose to steal my idea. i held great respect for her work; i considered her a very talented author, and to an extent I still do—I genuinely can’t emphasize enough that I’m sure hardly a fraction of my impact potentially made it into Filler, and it remains one of my favorite Jing Yuan fics out there. my heart aches at how this turned out, not simply for her plagiarism but for her actions since she was found out. I simply can’t wrap my head around everything that’s transpired these past few weeks.

thank you all reading. i hope i didn't drag on too long. im done now i promise 🫶🏻

#damn. cant believe I’m making my first callout post #we r reaching milestones at record place on this blog #but only the worst ones #n e way. written last night but scheduled for this morning 🫶🏻

22 notes · View notes

daemon-in-my-head · 3 months

Note

Off of your newest Durge ask post. 1, 5, and 6?

Thank u sm for the ask, I'm growing to regret making that game lmfao

1. What or who inspired your Durges design the most? A particular idea or vibe or perhaps another hottie or baddie?

Ok OK OK, promise me y'all won't judge me alright? At first I just wanted a super twisted durge, one who's rly struggling with the whole daddy's princess vs daddy ruined my life bit. And then I wanted some aro rep and cuz it rly fits in with his vibe of just being paranoid and scare of 'affection' atp (burned child, all that, basically I just wanted some good ol representation and I adore badass durges buuuuut, tragedy lover).

And now comes the not judging part. When it comes to his visuals... Fucking Piers from Pokemon Sword and Shield I'm so sorry have u seen the Fanart of him and him x Raihan (who's just as hrmgh)???? Or just him and his slutty waist???? So yeah anyway. The fucking goth gym leader who has absolutely stunning hair and is a very cute person actually and whom I adore. Also fucking Alucard from Castlevania cuz I'm a basic beach and that man is so fucking pretty I can not. I may have a type.

2. Are they a plot device or the driving force? Do they exist to enhance Gortash or has Gortash developed to become the accessory wife? Do they compliment or foil each other?

They're a different side on the same coin I'd say. Durge is very much the driving force as I exclusively (at least rn) write 3rd limited from his PoV or straight up his exact thoughts at that moment, but Gortash is still very much responsible for a lot of the things that happen. They're mutually to blame for what they need to endure.

They're also very non linear. Neither of them has that one click moment and they're healed or suddenly worse. It's a slow twisted road they're pushing each other down and laughing whenever the other one trips nd falls. They are horribly similar while being polar opposites.

3. Personality or looks, what came to you easier?

Personality. I did redesign his visuals a few times (blatant lie, very often) before I arrived at a design I'm happy with and honestly, rn I'm still struggling to settle on smth that works for the one time he was happy aka his childhood. Truth be told I can't quite decide if I want it to be post epilogue opposition or if I want some vague similarities. There's arguments for both and I am spending way too much time arguing with myself over semantics. But anyway, when I came up with him all I knew for sure was that he had blueish grey hair and still treasures 2 keepsakes from his old home.

The personality though rly came easy. His trauma is borrowed, as are his emotions and shit, and for the serial killer and unhinged part... I used my cat as reference. Love em both, but they can both me such a pain.

This is the moment where I mention that my cat does not know how to cat either tho. So truth be told, they're both a weird mix of a bunch of contradictory influences and as such everyone here is not quite right in their head.

#thank you for the ask!#dark urge #durgetash #enver gortash #oc: ellifain #once again sorry for the delay!#so ya'll will sadly have to suffer from my ramblings today #imma just indulge myself for once too lol

5 notes · View notes

melyzard · 7 months

Note

Hey just for the record, that post about temu is largely overblown, and the second screenshot (from usatoday) is talking about a different app altogether that is mentioned in the article. Temu is definitely dodgy in that it's a quality-unassured knockoff brand website, but as far as I can tell it's basically on par with Wish. I personally will never use it, and if I did it would be through the website not the app (and if that wasn't an option the app would have SO many permissions turned off) but I don't think it's a threat on the large scale.

I always appreciate some level headed reason in a convo, anon, but here's the thing: this shit is insidious and dangerous and getting worse all the time. Who cares if the violation of privacy, blatant theft, and disregard for personal rights and property isn't as bad as it could have been? Twenty years ago, half of what apps like Temu actually pull now would have had protest groups screaming in rage. Now, the response is...well, it's not that bad. No need to get worked up. At least it's vaguely convenient.

This is not a knock on you, anon, but this response is exactly the kind of response that app makers and ad agencies and corporations in general have spent years conditioning us to make. It's fine. It's all overblown. Look, that app over there is worse, and we're not them (yet).

This post is about considering the risks of certain apps on your phone, especially apps whose entire business design is based on knowing how, when, and what to sell you, always at all times,what they might be willing to do to get that information, and how willing you are to let them.

#you need to protect yourself #i am not calling for us all to throw away our phones #but be aware #any invasion of rights and privacy #is still bad #and you dont HAVE to put up with it #make an informed choice #and fight back when you can

9 notes · View notes

ladyvillainous · 2 years

Text

Eric Coulter – The Lesson

I’m writing a full length story that will be posted on Wattpad when further along that includes my own original character.

Izzy joined Dauntless with Four from Abnegation but knew Eric when they were children. In my AU she and Eric are from the fringe and were inserted into the city by the bureau, they are both divergent but like Four to a much lesser degree. The story serves as a prequel to the original Divergent films and then will pick back up towards the end of insurgent at which point it will diverge from the films story line, they’re a bit of a blend of the books and films but are closer linked to the films.

Each of these One shots/Imagines are either excepts from around the midway point of the story I’m working on, that I think stand up quite well by themselves, or are pieces I couldn’t fit into the overall narrative but liked too much to get rid of completely.

Description

Eric and Four overhear some of the initiates doubting Izzy’s skills in the ring, they suggest she gives them a personal demonstration

Warnings

Mild violence, briefest mention of NSFW Smut, Eric and Four almost getting along (So shocking I thought it needed a warning)

Word Count: 1903

The next two weeks went by in a blur for the trainers as well as the initiates, as predicted Eric lorded it over the initiates scaring many of them stupid within days. Izzy found it mostly vaguely amusing while Four disapproved for the most part, only holding his tongue for the sake of his friend.

However even Four approved of Eric’s response to the disrespectful attitude James displayed towards Izzy towards the end of the second week. In fact, Eric beat him to the punch by seconds leaving none of the initiates in any doubt that the male instructors were both fiercely protective of Izzy, not that they were under any illusion she required protection once she was finished.

Four and Izzy had agreed in advance that Four should handle most of the hand to hand combat demonstrations, primarily because she was a far more instinctual fighter and much less controlled than Four. They didn’t feel hospitalising initiates in their first few weeks would reflect well on their skills at trainers.

It was because of this that none of the initiates had seen her fight yet, though it was very unfortunate for James that Eric had overheard the whispered conversation he was having with his friends.

“I bet I could take her” Henry, a transfer from Candor, muttered, eyeing Izzy who was patrolling the edge of the mat watching the fight between two transfers from Abnegation, calling out pointers here and there.

“Probably” Lucian responded considering her stature, having transferred from Amity he was struggling the most with the concept of violence. He didn’t seem a likely candidate to be friends with the arrogant Henry and James, but he was twice the size of them and very strong, they’d tactically allied themselves with him to keep on his good side, something he hadn’t realised yet.

“I know what I’d like to do with her, and it wouldn’t be fighting” James smirked raking his eyes up and down her body with a leer.

“They say she’s with Eric you know” Lucian responded somewhat shocked by James’ blatant staring at their instructor.

James shrugged “And?”

“Don’t do anything stupid James” Henry pointed out, amused by his friends attitude but slightly concerned he’d be biting off more than he can chew by upsetting Eric.

“What? I don’t care who she’s with, when I see something I want I take it, women like that” James responded cockily “I’d show her a real good time”

“I guarantee she’d eat you alive, in or out of the ring” Eric drawled from behind them, startling all three of them as they hadn’t heard him or Four approaching.

Both men wore matching expressions of disgust and rage, no one spoke about Izzy that way in front of either of them, Four was less disposed to reacting with physical violence as a general rule, but even he was struggling to kerb the urge to beat them to death.

“You should show more respect for your instructors” Four intoned coolly “Izzy is highly trained and would be able to deal with the three of you all at the same time while barely breaking a sweat. The only reason she has not participated in the demonstrations so far is that there was a concern she might hurt one of you”

Eric smirked “But if you wanna try your luck, I’m sure she’d be more than happy to put you in your place” Eric challenged James directly, leaving James in no doubt that he wasn’t just referring to fighting.

James flushed angrily in response disliking being mocked by Eric, but conscious of not wanting to piss the leader off too much.

“Do I want to know what’s going on over here?” Izzy had approached them after spotting both Four and Eric looking less than pleased. Sensing this could mean trouble she moved to intervene, disbanding the fight she had been overseeing and leaving the rest of the initiates to practise techniques between them.

Eric grinned at her “Excellent timing as ever Babe” Izzy raised an eyebrow at him he never called her that in public and more to the point Four hadn’t immediate shuddered at the use of the pet name, there was obviously something going on she wasn’t aware of “These three were wanting a little fighting instruction from you personally”

Izzy nodded beginning to understand now what had been going on, she’d already overheard a few whispers from some of the male initiates who were wondering what qualified her to train them. She didn’t really blame them she was half the size of most of them and they’d never seen her fight, maybe now was the opportunity to put that right.

“Do we really think that’s wise” she drawled mimicking Eric’s detached voice in a way that had Lucian looking extremely concerned “You know how difficult it is to get blood out of the mats after all. Plus these three wouldn’t exactly present much of a challenge one on one” she finished eyeing them all up and down in turn with a bored expression on her face.

She was doing such a good job of mimicking Eric that Four was struggling to keep a straight face having to look away briefly.

James visibly bristled at the slight, he was a good fighter and picking it up quickly Izzy would concede but he was also excessive cocky and aggressive, which for an experienced fighter would provide more than enough opportunity to get the upper hand.

“We were thinking more like three on one” Four explained exchanging a wicked look with Eric, Izzy smiling slightly to see them getting along, it certainly made a change.

She shrugged in response “Ok seems fair, on the mat initiates”

They’d drawn the attention of the room now, the rest of the initiates gathering around the edge of the mat to watch Eric and Four making no attempt to shoo them away.

Removing her boots and jacket Izzy stepped onto the mat to a call of low wolf whistle from James.

Eric glowered at the back of his head, hands twitching as if he wanted to do nothing more than reach out and strangle him.

Izzy smirked crooking her finger and calling a grinning James over to her side “You’ve no idea what you’re getting yourself into little boy” she sneered, rearing back and punching him in the throat catching him unawares.

Dropping to his knees gasping for breath, Izzy towered over him calling out “Lesson one. Never underestimate your opponent” she motioned Henry and Lucian onto the mat both now looking decidedly unsure.

Eric folded his arms over his chest a wicked smile lingering over his face as he watched Izzy morph from the firm but fair instructor, into the vicious and lethal fighter he knew her to be. He knew from personal experience as he was the only one she trained with these days, he was generally the only one that could keep up with her and give as good as he got, especially after she’d taken the advanced combat classes after their initiation. It made for some interesting foreplay sometimes, there’d been several occasions late at night when they’d gone at it on the mats, so keyed up they’d been unable to wait until they reached their now shared apartment.

“Come on boys don’t be shy” Izzy called a predatory look twisting her features.

Lucian breathed deeply and launched himself at her closely followed by Henry, Izzy dodged Lucian’s attack easily, making him lumber off the mat behind her, spinning on the spot to floor henry with one well aimed kick to the face.

Lucian turned quicker than she’d expected sprinting back onto the mat and grabbing her from behind, his arms wrapped around her body as he attempted to wrestle her to the ground.

Izzy stomped on his foot, followed up with an elbow to the side of his stomach that made him exhale sharply, his grip loosening enough to allow her to spin and cold cock him with a strong punch to the face. Lucian’s eyes rolled back into his head as he fell onto the mat with a loud smack out cold.

By now Henry had clambered to his feet squaring up to Izzy and throwing a series of well-aimed punches, one of which hit her stomach, Izzy groaned slightly leaning forward. But Henry didn’t capitalise on his advantage backing off with a smug smile on his face which allowed Izzy to recover, lunging at him and wrapping an arm around his neck, bringing him down to the mat hard.

“Lesson two” she called out smugly as she got to her feet “Don’t hesitate”

The initiates around the edge of the mat were now alternating between impressed looks, cheers and screams as they egged them on or watching from between their fingers horrified expression’s on their faces.

Eric and Four grinned at each other, Izzy was performing just as expected, a rare moment of comradery passed between the two with Eric extending his fist to the side, Four bumping his own against it without looking, eyes still trained on Izzy.

They both winced as James ploughed into the side of her, taking her down to the mat and pining her down with a furious expression on his face, still breathing heavily from her earlier punch. Getting to his knees he straddled her waist and dropped his hands to her throat.

Four glanced sideways at Eric slightly concerned but he simply shook his head still grinning, Izzy had a unique way of getting out of that hold and it wasn’t going to be pretty for James. Looking back to the mat Four watched Izzy grab hold of James thighs yanking herself further down between his legs the memory of her performing this move on Eric a year ago finally resurfacing.

James flipped backwards onto the mat with a crunch that made several nearby initiates skitter backwards in shock, eyeing his crumpled form with expressions that ranged from awe, disgust and terror.

Rolling over he retched clutching at his throat, Izzy moved to tower over him once more her breathing heavily and her neck red where he’d squeezed her throat but otherwise completely composed “Lesson 3. Never take emotion into a fight”

Eric grabbed a towel and flung it to her, she caught it easily, wiping off her over heated face she nodded to Four who returned the gesture before turning to the initiates “Ok that’s enough for today. I need a few volunteers to help me get this lot to the infirmary” he motioned to the groaning forms of Henry and James and the as yet still unconscious Lucian.

Izzy padded off the mat towards Eric who looked simply ecstatic as he beamed at her, a rare and genuine smile crossing his face, something the initiates weren’t used to seeing as they edged away from him looking slightly unnerved.

“I don’t know what all that was about but…” She started only to be cut off by Eric’s lips on hers, he wrapped his arms around her crushing her to him and kissed her with far more enthusiasm than was appropriate given their public setting.

Breaking apart he smirked down at her breathless face “Making a point, are we?” she enquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh sweetheart it’s already been made” he chuckled watching James glaring at them mutinously from the corner of his eye.

#eric coulter #eric coulter fluff #eric coulter imagine #eric coulter fanfiction #eric coulter smut #divergent fanfiction #divergent imagine #divergent

122 notes · View notes