#economics is too boring and complicated for me to understand or care about

[sparklingchan]

Tipsy Turvy || Choi San(Ateez)

Pairing : Reader (fem.) x Choi San

Word count : 5k+

Warnings : Cuss words , alcohol , hangover , mentions of over drinking, not proof read.

Genre : Fluff , a tiny bit of angst , romance , friends to lovers au.

Description : You have a complicated relationship with San , and the alcohol in your system makes it worse ( or better).

Author's Note : So with all honesty , I have NO idea how people behave when drunk so I searched it up and wrote this 90%  based on that ( and 10% on  my friends’ advice). I hope at least one of y’all get the horrible pun in the title  -_-

Please do reblog , like and comment if you like this. My DMs are also open so if you want to gimme a review , feel free.

Enjoy!

The coffee in the cup must have gone cold by now, because the moment you touch it’s surface ,you don't feel the same sting as you did a few minutes ago.

Not that it tasted good anyway. You're almost glad you didn't have to drink it but maybe, right now, you could use a sip or two to spare yourself a few seconds of peace.

"The coffee is wonderful, isn't it? It's my favorite one." The man in front of you - Mike - needs to seriously give you a break, or else there will be blood on the streets. Literally, "I'm glad you like it."

Does he not see the clearly disgusted look on your face ? Or was he so sure you'd like this drink just because he ordered it without even asking you?

"Yeah ,its fine." You sigh , touching your lips to the mouth of the cup and then putting it back down. You're not drinking that already tasteless and now cold coffee. No way.

"So ,y/n, since we're expected to give our parents an answer after this date, I'd like to know about your opinions first . And please be honest. I would hate to upset you." He says , scratching his chin .

Your eyes widen at the unexpected string of words. This is the first time since this stupid date began that he actually asked your opinion on anything.

"Well," you begin, your mind filling up with tons of words that you'd waited patiently to let out , "Marriage is a big decision. At least for me. And this is all too fast. I just hope we have enough time to know each other before our parents set the date."

He nods his head , “ I agree, I agree. Its important . Right."

You furrow your brows. His reaction seems very forced. Like he really didn't agree with you , but for the sake of it , he's agreeing.

"And what kind of qualities do you look for in a man,y/n?" You want to roll your eyes at the question but you pull your lips up in a smile, not quiet touching your eyes but enough to convince him. You wonder why he was trying so hard to save a date that had been going downhill from the moment he sat down in front of you. You guys clearly didn't like each other, and the spark was missing.

A spark you'd only ever felt with one person.

"Its difficult to describe ideal types but yeah,I'd like someone who's compatible with me and loving and well.. obviously respectful." You say. Mike chuckles at your answer , as if amused by it, "I was expecting you to say you wanted someone who's rich and handsome like...me , honestly. But it's alright." You wonder if he actually hears himself because he really sounded like a self absorbed piece of shit right now. And you'd really do anything to escape from this date.

"Well , I guess not. " you reply with a chuckle. In all honesty, you yourself don't know what your ideal type is. It's not about the conditions or requirements that a person fulfills. It's not a job , it's a connection. You can't confine people to certain criterias. It defies the whole purpose of that connection. And even if you did have qualities you looked for in a man , everything would always end up pointing at only one damn person. You push his images away even before they can surface into your mind.

"So anyway, as I was saying before the coffee arrived , my dad bought this really pretty yacht for me last month and it's super amazing to - " and you shut him out completely while he continues blabbering and you quietly sip the disgusting coffee in front of you.

You really want to groan now. Like on his face. Putting emphasis on how draining and boring this whole conversation is for you.

But all you do is smile and nod.

You were going to reject him the moment your parents set you up on a date with a ' nice and charming bachelor '. What side of Mike did they find even remotely nice or charming? You would never know. But one thing is sure now ,you will at least not have to deal with your parents pestering you for marriage after you reject Mike.

The weather is extremely humid today , despite it having rained in the morning so without a doubt , you'd spent your day indoors , reading a book and drinking unhealthy amount of fruit punch.

"Are they still upset ? " your parents should have seen it coming ,really. The rejection was as inevitable as the rising of the sun every morning or the setting of the sun in the evening. Yet , your parents are pretty disappointed at the decision even after three days since that stupid date. You , on the other hand are happy to have gotten rid of Mike - even if it meant your parents being angry.

Your younger brother , Jongho ,sighs into the phone, " What do you think? They really thought you'd finally marry now."

You don't really blame them though. Not at all. That's what they were always taught ,weren't they? Graduate high school, finish college ,get a good job and get married. The full circle.That is all they've every known yet you find yourself upset at the fact that they didn't consider your unwillingness to this marriage ( or any other marriage) at all. You're just barely starting to work ,you cannot throw away all of that to be a good wife and daughter in law. Sure Mike is the son of some rich man who does business with your father, but economical relationships cannot be a basis for a marriage.

"Well, I can't help it . I'm not marrying that asshole at any cost. " you huff , " He is so creepy and weird. Let mom and dad stay pressed. I don't care."

"Is it just because you didn't find Mike interesting or something else?" Jongho asks.

"I guess? " you reply, scratching the back of your head.

"You know , y/n, I understand that you don't want to get married and whatever but we both know there's a solid reason behind it and I am sick of you denying it all the time." Jongho is too honest for your liking. Too brutal , no sugarcoated words. Just the truth.

And the truth stings.

"Shut up." You grumble, fiddling with the book in your hands , legs dangling from the edge of your bed, " I told you not to mention it ever again?"

"Y/n, you love him. Okay? You have loved him for seven years now . It is high time you shoot your shot or else you'll end up with some rich asshole who doesn't give two shits about you!"

He's right,of course he is. His words are not really an opinion or a vague prediction of the future. Those are facts. But hearing him say all that out loud makes your blood turn cold in your body. Fear creeping through every inch of your skin , making it hard to think clearly.

"I don't think it matters if I love him or not. I gave up on him. We haven't spoken much ever since college ended. " you say.

" You didn't give up. You just ran away instead of acknowledging it. There's a difference." Jongho replies , " And for your kind information it's only been six months since college got over. You need to stop talking like it was twenty years ago or something. "

You chuckle at his last phrase, grateful that he's trying to uplift the weirdly tense mood. "I don't think I can do it , Jongho. I want to. I really do but I don't think he likes me back." You admit.

"You're delusional if you think he doesn't like you back, y/n. All the late night car drives, movie dates , eating unhealthy food late into the nights - San loves you too. Obviously he does."

You sigh ,running your fingers over the rough page of the book in your lap. 'Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.' The words read out. The tightening of your chest increases.

"He was just being nice." You mutter.

Jongho sighs loudly from the other side , "Okay , believe what you want . I can't handle both you and mom-dad together, okay? Spare me your bullshit. Bye."

Wow, talk about being a rude, disrespectful child !

You are usually not the one to point fingers or put blame on other people , but you really despised your best friend right now. And you have every right to do so. Your best friend is the main reason why your parents are so desperately trying to get you married and see you settle down and have kids and whatever. Jisoo is the epitome of every good quality all parents desire in a daughter. She's perfect. Even more than that sometimes.

"How's your husband?" Your question doesn't sound very genuine - the words slipping out of your tongue like they were being forced out. But Jisoo seems to let it go.

"He's good , really good. " She replies ,taking a sip from the only can of cola you had left in your fridge. She passes it over to you.

"How lucky ." You mutter , taking a sip of the same drink.

"I know what you're thinking ,y/n. I know your ass is upset about everything that happened with Mike but things take time. Okay? I married early because I wanted to." she says, reading right through you like you were a book she'd read millions of times ,"If you don't want to marry , don't. Stop blaming yourself for not finding good guys." " I wonder if I'll ever find anyone even remotely nice, Jisoo. The only few guys I've been set up on dates with are not my type and well , Mike ... I don't know. We're just not compatible." You complain , " And besides I'm so terrified of marrying a guy I barely know."

Jisoo sighs , "Then marry a guy you've known for a long time."

"Who are you talking about?" You frown. You know exactly who she is talking about but you want to hear her say it. Say his name which you dare not even repeat to yourself when alone.

"Choi San ,of course. The love of your life ,your sun and stars , your sweetheart. " she says , her dreamy eyes widening to exaggerate her point.

You slap her arm hard , almost a little too hard. But you're convinced that she deserves it. "Ow !" She yells ,rubbing the sore area on her arm.

"That name is forbidden in my vicinity." You say.

Okay ,maybe now you are the one who deserves a slap. On the cheek. You couldn't believe that his name still fills your stomach with butterflies and causes your heart to beat so fast that you feel dizzy even though you claim that you're over him.

"No, it's not, y/n. Come on ,dude. You're still not over him. You will never be unless you confess and face the supposed rejection on your own. Only then you'll find it in yourself to seek other guys , unless that's not what you want." She jabs her finger on your shoulder softly , "That, or you can marry San himself. It's very simple ,really."

Now that she put it that way ,it sounds even more complicated and it sends your mind to a voyage into the sea of memories that you rarely even acknowledged anymore( or at least ,you tried to).

San's pretty eyes and alluring smile , the soft hold of his hand on your arm as you run to the movie halls just five minutes before it closes , the warmth of his hugs that you so dearly loved , his silky black hair that you've wanted to touch on so many occasions and the day you were sure he had leaned in to kiss you but your annoying brother decided to call just at that exact moment. You almost wish you could go back to your university graduation day , and wait a little longer for him after the event got over and tell him that he meant the world to you. More than he could ever imagine. You really wish you had waited that day.

"Jongho has this stupid theory that he likes me too. He's making me even more confused. " you say.

"At least Jongho has more brain cells than you. That kid deserves an award or something." Jisoo replies , chuckling.

"He's not a kid. He's just a year younger than me and you." You deadpan. Great, your best friend and brother are now on the same team.

She rolls her eyes , "Yeah , you are a kid too. Only a kid acts so naive and stupid when everything they've ever wanted is right there in front of them. Hell, even a kid would realise that San loves you !"

Jisoo talks a lot , but her words are never empty or vague. She says whatever she wants to and has to. And she is always able to make a point. But you're a dumb bitch who likes to pretend she's still not in love with her childhood sweetheart and is looking for love somewhere else.

"Anyway, can we go for a drink?"

"Glad you finally asked." Jisoo grabs your arm and drags you out of the house.

Your favorite bar in the entire world has to be the one you've been going to since you were in high school. From your first time drinking to vomiting in its toilet after having way too many vodka shots , from dancing with your friends to crying alone in a corner , that place has seen it all.

Coincidentally( not really), its Jisoo's favorite bar too.

"Okay, y/n. I think you should stop now. That's enough."

Coincidentally also ,you happen to not have a good alcohol tolerance yet an endearing desire to drown your sorrows in those glasses.

"No, I'm not even properly drunk." You whine ,your words only barely making sense to Jisoo. She grabs the glass away from you.

"Come on , let's take you home. " she tries to pull you from your seat , "Can't believe I thought it was a good idea to drink on a weekday."

"No, no, Jisoo. " you resist , pushing her away. " I want to..stay. here. I like it here. It's so warm and cozy . If I go home, I'll cry. I hate home. It's so ugly. Ew. This place is so pretty ."

Your vision is so blurry that your brain can't even form clear images anymore. You see Jisoo's form after squinting hard enough.

"You won't cry. I'll take care of you, y/n. Come on." Jisoo is so insistent you have to hold yourself back from punching her. Her lucky ass would never understand how much in pain your heart is in. And how much the alcohol helps in forgetting all that even just for a few minutes.

"You go home. I'll stay. I'll stay here for as long as I can. Away from all you blood suckers." You slur. And then giggle for no apparent reason.

Jisoo heaves a sigh ,sitting beside you. "Are you going to come with me or do I have to call San to pick you up?"

That was a threat. Jisoo always uses the same one and somehow, it always seems to work. Not today though.

"Hah! Joke's on you ! He doesn't care about me." You point at her face , giggling again.

San? Taking care of you? Funniest joke of the year.

"He does ,y/n. You know he does. What are you being like this?" She asks , rubbing your hand comfortingly. "I see the way he looks at you."

"He probably has a girlfriend already. He always posts romantic shit on Instagram. " you say ,resting your chin on your arm.

"He doesn't have one. I know he doesn't. He probably posts all that for you." She says.

You want to believe her but your brain feels fuzzy and foggy now. Like the sky on winter mornings.

"I want to see San, Jisoo. I miss him. I miss him so much. " you keep muttering under your breath , "Take me to him. I miss him."

Jisoo stares at you - wide eyed and slightly annoyed. Your low alcohol tolerance will get you into serious trouble one day.

"We can see him tomorrow. Let's go home now. Now." She pulls your arm again.

You push her off , "I said I want to see San ! Right now! Take me to him!"

You have never yelled at anyone while in a drunken state before so the sudden increased volume of your voice scares Jisoo. She let's go of your arm.

"Okay, will you come home after meeting San?" Jisoo asks ,taking her phone out to call a cab.

"Yes. No. Depends. I never want to be away from him." You say. "Take me to him , please. I haven't seen him in months. Years. I don't remember how long. Do you think he'll recognize me?"

Shaking her head , Jisoo makes a mental note to never take you out for drinking again.

San lives a few minutes away from your own apartment, but with traffic sometimes it takes almost an hour to reach his apartment.

Today must have been your lucky day because the traffic was almost negligible. Although you don't remember the journey to his house , you do remember his familiar voice greeting you and Jisoo like he had almost expected you both to arrive at his door this late at night.

"She was throwing a tantrum that she wanted to see you. So I brought her here. I hope it's not a problem. " Jisoo says in her sweet voice that she uses on everyone but you and her husband. You scowl.

"Hey, I wasn't throwing a tantrum! " You hit her arm again , but she puts on the fakest smile when San looks at the both of you with a confused face.

"And she's not very sober right now." Jisoo admits ,sighing. San presses his lips in line , observing you as play with the hem of your tshirt and your eyes are focused on his face. You never had so much confidence in a sober state. He knows this because he's seen you like this a million times before and hopefully, if all goes well tonight , he might see this state in the future too.

His stomach does a back flip when you stick out your bottom lip in a cute little pout.

"It's okay. She can stay the night here. I believe you have something important to tell me ,y /n?" San asks, titling his head.

You nod , beaming with happiness. Your eyes never leave his perfect face and his beautiful black hair which he decided to tie in a small ponytail tonight and his toned arms and his breathtakingly sweet dimples as he leads you inside, bidding goodbye to your bestfriend. Jisoo must be very relieved right now ,you think.

"Do you need a glass of water ,y/n?" San asks you , as he takes you gently by the arm to his bedroom. His alert eyes are always on your steps ,making sure you do not trip on anything.

"No. " you giggle. You're so happy to be with him alone at last that you can barely contain it . "I missed you ,San."

He laughs at your words ,shaking his head in disbelief as he makes you sit on his warm ,fluffy bed.

You've always wanted to sit there.

"Waoowww , this bed is so soft. " you swing your legs up and down with a big grin on your face , "I want to sleep on this bed. Oh my god ,awww."

San sees you lean down against the headboard and laugh at the ceiling, pointing out peculiar patterns . You look very content right now ,he notices. Your flushed cheeks , big , curious eyes , messy hair , yet he thinks you look beautiful like this - raw and natural and pretty.

"San! Sit with me, come here." You say , patting the empty space beside you.

San obliges without a question. He pushes you gently to the other side of the bed , himself settling beside you , careful not to do anything that makes you uncomfortable.

"What it is that you wanted to tell me ?" San questions, his fingers reaching upto your forehead to remove the strands of hair that cover your eyes.

"Promise me you won't be mad. " You hum into his touch ,wanting nothing more than to wrap your arms around his body and snuggle into his chest. But even with alcohol in your system ,you know better than to do that.

"I promise." He replies with a toothy grin. His head leans on the headboard beside yours , his beautiful brown eyes drilling into yours ,making your knees go weak and heart flutter. And if it were possible to replace all blood from your body with physical adoration for Choi San ,you would have done it already. "Pinky promise?" You ask again ,lifting your right pinky up in front of his face.

Sighing , he connects his pinky to yours then pressing your thumbs together, "Pinky promise."

You take a deep breath then as naturally as ever ,the words you've always wanted to say roll out of your mouth , "I like you. "

San's breathing gets stuck in his throat , his whole being as if swallowed into a black hole for a few seconds. He stares at you like you were suddenly someone he'd never seen , never heard of before. Like you were a stranger that caught his eye in the mall. Like a gemstone he'd found while digging the ground. Like a precious falling star on a cloudy night.

"I-I mean we have known each other for sometime now. It's normal that you like me. As a friend." He stammers.

You roll your eyes , " I did not mean as a friend ,you idiot. I meant I like you as a man. You're so stupid, gosh." You punch his arm.

His heart skips a beat. He'd always known deep down his heart that this confession would happen one day or the other - but he had always hoped it would be him to say it first ,not you. His ego is a teeny tiny bit hurt.

"I know you don't like me , " you whine , your excited tone now suddenly switching into a sad one , " I know you won't date me."

San frowns at this new melancholic side of yours.

"Why would you think that?" He asks.

"I just know ,okay?" You say ,tears filling your eyes , " And that's why I agreed to an arranged marriage."

"You must have met someone nice then?" He takes his hand in yours.

Jongho was right - you love him. So much that it hurts to look at him ,knowing that one day you'll have to marry a man who isn't him. It hurts like someone is pressing a hot metal rod onto your skin.

You start sobbing.

"No! Of course not ! I don't want anyone but you! " You yell , a little too loud , " But my parents are still insistent about it. How do I tell them that I can't marry anyone else because I'm so in love with you?"

That's another new piece of information for San. But this one makes his heart drop into the deepest pits of his stomach , making him go numb for a few seconds. You were almost taken away from him, just because he'd always put your relationship in a complicated situation. You had almost held someone else's hand on the alter. You had almost ended up in someone else's arms.

The image of you with another man nauseates him and he decides to stop being a coward . Right now ,right at this moment .

"I like you ,too, you idiot." He says , not quite meeting your teary eyes." Don't go find anyone else. I'm here. I really am ,y/n."

His sincere voice washes over you like the first showers of monsoon - refreshing and enchanting. You feel like melting into a puddle under his gaze.

"I wasn't planning on anyway. " You sniff and rub your tears away. He leans in closer to your face , rubbing your cheekbones with the pad of his thumb. And you , being the shameless person you are , stare at his kissable, pink lips. If you lean in a little more , they'd touch and you could finally kiss him. You really want to . Would he mind ?

He presses a soft kiss on your forehead , pulling you into his warm embrace.

"I want to go to sleep and wake up like this every morning." You mumble into his chest , your hand playing with the hem of his t-shirt. "We will. I promise." he replies. The thought itself makes him feel warm inside , "I'll talk to your parents about the arranged marriage thing. They love me more than they would any other guy out there."

Your parents in fact do love San. Whenever they met him , they'd be filled with praises for him. Although a little jealous , you could easily see why San was so easy to like.

"You smell so nice." You say abruptly , drowsiness slowly taking over you , your eye lids getting heavier by the minute.

San's chest vibrates as his laugh fills the room , "Thank you, y/n."

"Will you be here when I wake up? You aren't going to run off, right? " You are just spewing out random sentences at this point but he doesn't complain either way. He likes this honest and vulnerable side of you.

"I'll be right here. Don't worry. " he whispers ,running his fingers through your hair , "But I'm pretty sure you won't remember anything tomorrow ."

You laugh, a big hearty laugh as you finally find enough courage to lightly wrap your arm around his torso. "I'll remember, San . I never forget."

San rubs your head soothingly , smiling to himself, knowing that even if you forget about it in the morning , he'll really be there to remind you of it. He'll be there by your side, as he always has been.

Every hangover is like a cycle that includes pain , regret and a promise to never drink so much again yet you somehow always seem to be struggling with the last one.

And the inevitable headache that follows makes you feel like someone had thrusted millions of knives in your head.

It hurt. Badly.

You stir in your position ,groaning at your throbbing head.

"Woah , good morning , sleepy head." San purrs into your ears , his early morning voice sending chills down your spine.

Wait. San? Choi San? With you in his arms? On a bed?

You sit up at the speed of a lightning bolt , breaking away from his warm embrace and crawling to the farthest corner of the bed. You look around the room , your heartbeat in your throat , taking in the unfamiliar surroundings that reminded you of what you might have done while in a drunken state.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Your eyes scan San, his sleepy face pressed to the pillow and his lips curved in a smile. His white t-shirt hangs loose from his shoulder, exposing the skin near his collarbone and his black, messy hair covering half of his face.

And even in panic mode , your first thought is that he looks ethereal with that early morning glow. Is this what being whipped really means?

"Y/n, don't tell me you forgot what happened last night. " he says ,visibly annoyed. He forces himself up in a sitting position as he runs his fingers through his messy hair.

You look away from him , adrenaline rushing through your veins as you try to recall last night's episode. Surely ,you didn't sleep with him since both of you are fully clothed and you didn't feel sore anywhere. Thankfully.

"Y/n? " he calls you again but you don't reply because your brain is way too occupied at the moment.

You remember the sound of a very weird combination of words leaving your mouth last night and an even weirder combination of words leaving his. And that's when it hits you - you had confessed to him. Full on movie style. All those years of daydreaming and trying to keep everything a secret gone into vain , your heart placed naked in front of him.

"Oh fucking hell." You hold your head in between your hands ,closing your eyes.

Maybe this was all a dream and if you focused hard enough ,you'd wake up in your bed , alone and yearning for the man supposedly in front of you. But that would still be better than this.

"Y/n, it's alright. You don't have to be embarrassed. " San says, inching closer to you.

You sigh. It's not a dream and you have to face him now.

"I-I'm sorry for whatever I said last night. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable at all. I don't know what had gotten into me." You say, rubbing your forehead.

By now , San is kneeling right in front of you, his galaxy filled eyes never leaving yours.

"I should be sorry , you idiot." He says , gently tapping your forehead ," if I wasn't such a coward and had confessed to you earlier , everything would have been different now. But better late than never , right?"

You gulp hard.

Now is the time to wake up , y/n, I'm going to be super pissed if this turns out to be a dream, you wonder to yourself.

"So..what you're saying is - "

"I like you , yes. Not as a friend , not as a classmate. I like you as a woman and if you agree to this ," San leans in dangerously closer , "Then I'll like you as a girlfriend, too."

You didn't need time to agree to this. You didn't need a second thought. You only need a small tug at your heartstring , which happened everytime you see his eyes focused on you and only you.

"Yes." You say.

His face breaks into a massive grin as he wraps his arms around you , with yours around his torso. You can feel the fast beating of his heart against your cheek as you snuggle into his chest .

"Thank you. Thank you so much." He whispers into your hair. Your cheeks are burning red by now but it's alright. It's a good type of burning. You can come to like it in the near future.

You don't know how long it is before he finally decides to pull away , much to your dismay.

"I'm going to make breakfast . Are pancakes okay with you?" He says , his arms by his side but his body still close to yours.

"Yeah. Obviously. " You loved his pancakes, as a matter of fact. Once, Jongho had even forced you to confess to San during your college years just so he could eat those delicious pancakes whenever he wanted to.

"Okay. You can go freshen up in the bathroom by then." He then unexpectedly takes your face in his hands , inching closer to yours with every passing second, " Don't miss me too much though."

You pout, playing along , " I already do."

And just like that , he presses his soft , luscious lips to yours, enveloping them in a quick kiss.

"Bye." And just like that too , he runs away into the kitchen , avoiding confronting what had just happened while you are left frozen and shocked and petrified and all synonyms of those words in the English dictionary.

But you hear him hum his favourite song softly from the kitchen and your shoulders relax.

Relax , y/n , you tell yourself , it's just San and he is your boyfriend now.

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[wavesofinkdrops]

Extempore, Ch. II

Previous | Read on AO3

Summary: The art of debate is tedious.

Chapter II: Mise en Scene

The first day was easily summarised as utter and complete boredom.

It had started well. After the complicating realisation that Fenris couldn’t read Tevene — Hawke had taught him Trade, and he’d not bothered to learn Tevene when the Imperium was not a place he’d ever planned to return to — they’d ended up making the most of it. Going over the basic jargon in the bill, making sure he understood every inch of the words on the actual page. That was fine. They even had a safety net, if anyone handed him anything to read, Fenris could simply hand it to Dorian, as if he were distracted. If there was anything important on it, Dorian would let him know.

When Dorian had said Fenris basically knew the bill already, he’d meant it. They’d worked on it for quite a while, really, so it was relatively quickly that they went through the key points and terms.

Where it devolved was when they hit the ‘debate manners’ part. Oration was not any strong suit of Fenris', and neither was it one he’d ever cared to try developing. As a slave, his task was to be quiet. After that, he’d been keener to solve problems with his sword, fists or lyrium powers — all such sweet talking was better left to men more twisted and disingenuous, something Fenris had no interest in being.

But now he’d had to go through various arguments and counterarguments and counter-counterarguments he may be faced with. He’d had to go through a million ways to frame the bill as beneficial — to the Tevene economy, to Magisters, to businesses and households alike. To the Tevinter military and domestic life alike, namely, all of the things he didn’t care about that were impacted by the bill. That the simple fact it being the right and humane thing to do was not sufficient was already disturbing enough to Fenris, let alone the fact that in order to pass it he needed to pretend like it was all the same to him. People’s lives. Economic profit. These things were not equivalent, and yet everything hinged on him acting like they were.

The day had wound up with Fenris with his forehead pressed to the expensive wood of the table, papers and sheets and memos scattered in front of him. Dorian, on the other hand, was sprawled into another chair, rubbing at his temple.

“Can I not go and take some elfroot-”

“You already took some,” Fenris grumbled in response from where his head was pressed against the cool table. “Morning. And noon. And an hour ago.”

“Well can’t I-”

“You cannot have more elfroot, no. Live with it.”

“I can’t just-”

“Pavus, I do it every day.”

That shut him up, for a while. Fenris raised himself, mostly just to wind up leaning back in his chair, his fingers flicking the corner of a piece of paper in front of him.

NO SWEARING.

Ah, yes, Dorian’s greatest reminder, the use of foul language. Apparently, it was inappropriate for the Magisterium to curse their mothers and families.

“Venhedis-”

“You cannot swear in the Magisterium, you are not ruining everything I've toiled for just because of the foul mouth you have on you.”

“And that has now become an issue? You swear up and down at the most minor inconvenience.”

“It's different when it's formal circumstances!”

No sword, no swears, nothing. He already despised Magisters before, but he hated being one even more. And they hadn’t even started on his appearance and presentation, let alone how he should hold himself. They’d really barely covered how he should speak. Dorian had gone through the ways to make anything sound like a benefit, how to enunciate and add tone enough to convince and to sway — something Fenris didn't particularly employ with his particular brand of monotone vocals. Dorian had even managed to squeeze in Tevene lessons. Yes, Fenris, you know Tevene, but you don't know the way Altus speak Tevene. Most people spoke both Tevene and Trade here, but Magisters used Tevene as a brand of superiority. Of their inherent place in Tevinter. The language the lower classes spoke was not the same as how the Magisters used it as a mark of status. As it turned out, Fenris could mold his Tevene to relatively suit Altus standards — Danarius had preferred Fenris quiet, but if he had to answer he had been required to answer properly. It hadn't therefore been too much trouble, but Fenris found himself more and more annoyed by the arrogance and superiority the Magisters held.

Before he could sour his thoughts further, he steered his thoughts away from what exactly his solution to the Magisterium would have been.

“Have you sent a message out to the Inquisitor, then?”

Dorian roused himself from the bored glare he had fixed on a floor stone. “Ah, yes, well. Unfortunately, she has no direct way to fix this. The good news is that she’s at least heard of something similar to this. She’ll go through the information she has, hopefully to get back to help us as soon as possible.”

Fenris waited for a moment. “That’s all? So we must simply… find a way to make this work?”

“Yes, that’s the current plan, apparently.”

Fenris stared at him. There really weren’t that many options anymore, were there? He’d have to practice. And…

“You are aware,” Fenris started, the pace of his wording languid on purpose, making sure to keep any smugness at bay, “that you need to practice, too?”

Dorian waved his hand dismissively. “Yes, yes, be grumpy, grunt at people and threaten them with a sword if they so much as look at me. Am I close enough?”

Fenris resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “You could not be further from it. Everything about you — the way you walk, speak, hold eye contact — screams Altus. Which, for an elf in Tevinter, is a terrible idea if you want to keep your head attached to your shoulders and your blood inside you.”

At that, Dorian’s face dropped into a look of mild worry. “Yes, well, I do like them where they are.”

“ And, ” Fenris continued with an added emphasis, “if you want a body to return to, you’ll need to also learn to protect me. I’m defenseless, Pavus. I cannot use your mage powers.”

“I'm hardly defenseless if left to my own devices, thank you very much. And we’ll get to the basic spells!” he assured.

“And you need to know how to use a sword. And my markings, as displeasing as that might be.”

It had the completely opposite effect on Dorian. He immediately looked at his hands, the white rivers swirling across them.

“Can we do that tomorrow?”

It seemed like “ever-unsatisfied glorified librarian” — as the Inquisitor had affectionately called him — was very much an accurate observation on the Herald’s part. There was curiosity, worry, excitement glinting in his eyes. Fenris knew Dorian was aware of the pain using the markings brought — and for someone who wasn’t as used to them across years of use as Fenris was, it was likely to be psychologically taxing on the mage. But it was true that Dorian needed to know to use them enough at least to escape, or even to kill. It had been more than once Fenris had already used his lyrium powers to foil a plot against the Magister’s life.

The Magister he now temporarily was, meaning he was at constant threat of some poisoned wine or an unfortunate dagger. And it was up to Dorian to keep his body alive long enough to return to it. Fenris didn’t particularly want to contemplate what the possibility of one of them dying would mean; it seemed far too complex to try and begin untangling in the evening.

“If you’re certain that’s where you want to start. I can assure you, the sword would be better.”

Dorian scoffed. “I’m not letting this opportunity pass. While I know you despise them — and rightfully so, I understand, their source is horrid — they are a terrifying miracle of magic.”

Fenris remained silent. He knew what Dorian meant — there was a reason he’d been an experiment, and that this wasn’t common practice. Lyrium infusion was no easy feat by any stretch of the imagination, so he understood Dorian’s point. And in a way, this was the most harmless way for Dorian to investigate them—only Dorian would feel the pain caused by the markings, and if he was so sure…

“Fine,” he grunted before standing and stretching, his back protesting from having sat all day. “We’ll work on the markings tomorrow.”

Dorian gave an irritating smirk. “Shall we create a schedule for the time we have until the vote? It seems we both have things to learn.”

They did just that, bickering over their dinner as to who got which days and how much time to cover what. With the right willpower, they might just manage to pull off the worst performance between the two of them that had ever been seen.

#dorian pavus #fenris #fenris x dorian #fenrian #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dragon age ii #my writing #fanfic #bodyswap au #theres more commentary and notes in the AO3 version #including my perspective on tevinter and languages #bc i spend way too much time thinking about that hellhole of an imperium #wtf tevinter #extempore

[owlsbride]

Summary:

Kakashi makes the mistake of giving Sakura a well deserved holidays against her own will. Sakura doesn´t know what to do with her free time, and the Hokage is really interested in it. So an idea strikes him like lightning. They both decide to form a book club, One is going to read Icha Icha and the other one Pride and Prejudice. What will come of it?

Notes:

I don´t own Naruto, Pride and Prejudice, or nothing that I can refer to here; I´m just a sad loser

Chapter 1: A storm is coming

Kakashi was sitting at his office as he had been in the last few years. He was surrounded by scrolls, archives, books and papers, each with a little yellow post-it with three words repeated all over them like a mantra: 'Pending of revision.' Shikamaru was really trying himself to make the Hokage understand of the importance of reading all those documents. The hasty handwriting of the Nara Boy was all over the place trying to catch Kakashi's attention like a reminder that the day that he would sign something without reading it, declaring the Fifth Great War was around the corner. Still, even with his apparent laziness, attention deficit, oblivion and contrary to the opinion of many, Kakashi, truth to be told, was an excellent Hokage. Even against his own predictions and his reluctance to accept the job, Konoha was in one of its best moments: peace reigned in the village, they had a good and constant economic growth and political relations with the rest of the towns and nations flourished day by day after each Diplomatic missions that he attended. Although he hated them inside, he turned out to be quite charming and convincing in person with the rest of the neighbouring leaders, successfully carrying out every meeting, conversation, business deal or whatever.

Kakashi was proud of himself. Proud, but bored and tired. He hated all the office work that separated him from his precious, apparently non-existent free time. Kakashi wasn't able to train, go out on missions more interesting than politics or competing with his one-sided eternal rival, who even in his actual state, was always up to a good challenge, and Kakashi respected him for that. But above all, he had no time for his precious Icha Icha, he was forced to read them more and more sporadically, or secretly for that matter while pretending to read an official document. It was killing him. Not that Kakashi was obsessed with those books, no, at least not that much, he was not a perv, contrary to what people could think. The real thing for Kakashi was that after all these years, so much suffering, war and blood bath, those books, always remain the same. They had a story in them. There were more levels to discover besides the erotic parts, wich in Kakashi's opinion, though exciting, thrilling and tempting, weren't the highlights of Jirayia's best sellers. In those books, he was able to found the romance, the love, the fun and the relationships that he could not afford himself in his own personal life. Not because he didn't like the idea of having a partner, of course he did: a wonderful, strong woman. A woman who can accompany him in every mission but independent enough like to spend time making her own decisions, following her own path, challenging and defiance, but sweet and beautiful at the same time. He wasn't the type of man that wanted a wife to wait for him at home with dinner ready at 9, dressed for the occasion, and just willing to listen to whatever he had to say; a woman who over time only took care of their children (whom he was not even sure if he ever wanted to have), and who eventually abandons all her dreams just to be the wife of Mr Right. Unfortunately, there were not many women like that in Konoha. If they were not a Kunoichi, they were housewives or future housewives to be. And if they were Kunoichis, most of them were already married, very young or very ambitious, and ambition did not get along with Kakashi. More than one girl approached him in the past trying to turn him into a trophy or make it faster to the top on their shinobi path. Kakashi had been able to read them from the first moment, and although it was not what he wanted for his future, he was not a saint. He had learned to enjoy the advantages of being Kakashi Hatake, but sooner than later, he got bored, and for a while now he had left all those games sideways to take refuge in his precious books. Not that in Icha Icha women were presented as he preferred them, but fiction was one thing he could indulge himself with, and reality was another. There was no complication in those books, no real suffering, not disappointment, and definitely not pink-haired former students to adore and admire in secret and for sure not a Lady Tsunade yelling at him 'go for her, you fool.'

Kakashi knew that Sakura was single and that her life was dedicated to her work. For a time he and the Godaime had the habit of meeting a couple of times a week to talk about important matters in the village. But the truth was that between glass and glass of sake, they both ended up talking about more trivial topics and even about their lives. In those talks, Kakashi learned from Tsunade's own words, that Sakura had developed a kind of adoration and infatuation towards him. At the same time, he had confessed that he felt the same for the girl, but he would not do anything about it since it seems entirely out of place. For God's sake, they had been working together for longer than he could remember, and any advance in the wrong direction could break all boundaries. Tsunade always ended these conversations angrily telling him that he was a complete idiot for letting the only woman who could ever make him happy scape and that he, in turn, was an egotistic man who denied Sakura the same happiness. Kakashi wasn't so convinced. So like that, things were what they were, and the Six Hokage was quite content with them. Kakashi was no fool. He was pretty capable of noticing that something was going on with Sakura: the little flirtings, the innocent innuendos, a lingering touch longer than necessary. The signs were there, but that doesn't mean that they have to take another step and turn all that tension in something real.

Kakashi's and Sakura's relationship changed over the years smoothly, just like a river flow. For some time, the pink-haired girl was just that, a kid, a student, the sweet and temperamental little Sakura. Then she became the strong teenager full of determination under the wing of the Godaime, and that was something to respect. Finally, Sakura blossomed in one of the most wonderful women he ever knew. Beautiful, intelligent, strong, subtle, tender, but terrible irritating at times, and he love that. And he had the feeling that Sakura felt quite the same about him, but again, taking everything to another level was something he was not going to consent. What would people think? What would everyone say about Sakura? What would happen to their relationship if things went wrong? He very much preferred this kind of annoying silent game between them than nothing at all. At least they were close friends, they see each other every day, talk for hours, and it was ok. It was much more bearable to have Sakura in this way than not having her at all. So brave in battle and so coward in life.

Kakashi sighed, turning his attention back to all the paperwork over his desk. The sun was setting over Konoha, but it was a different kind of sunset. A storm was coming, a huge one and the sun was hidden behind the heavy clouds,

omens of a rain that would not stop for days, which was really unusual in the village but even regarding the weather the times were changing.

A rumble of thunder echoed across the sky, Kakashi couldn't tell if it was actually a natural phenomenon or the noise of his office door being slammed with all the fury against the wall. Yes, a storm was coming, and Kakashi had utterly forgotten about it.

"Thre weeks Kakashi? Three Weeks?" the Hokage didn't look up from his papers "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Oh, Sa Ku Ra" he started leaving his pen on the desk and crossing his arms "Please come in, the door is open" he wasn't mad, he was just beginning to have some fun after all "Why don't you take a seat".

"Kakashi, what were you thinking? Three weeks is too much" Sakura answered, still mad and with her voice a little bit too pitchy.

"No Sensei? No Hokage Sama today" he leaned over his desk eyeing Sakura from under the Hokage's hat "You must be really mad"

"Well..." Sakura recoiled "yes, but wouldn't you?" Finally, she took a seat at the desk in front of him.

"I would be delighted, but I can see that is not your case." Kakashi removed his hat, it was so annoying after all.

"Hokage Sama, three weeks are too much." There she was, calmer now.

"It's not what Shizune told me" he began lifting his hand to make Sakura stop talking, "your sempai told me that the last week you almost faint of tiredness. That you have been working nearly 24/7 for the last few months, and I can see for myself that you lost weight" he spoke eyeing her, Sakura blushed "So I think, as your Hokage, as you named me yourself that three weeks is a fair and necessary amount of time for taking a holiday." He finished knowingly.

"I don't need three weeks, Kakashi" Sakura tried to spoke in the most calmly way she knew "I'm fine, completely fine" Sakura leaned closer to the silver-haired man in front of her putting her hands over his. Kakashi relaxed in her touch, and for a moment he forgot what they were talking about. Sakura got him where she wanted "You know I'm well sensei" Kakashi looked her in the eyes, and he was about to fall in her charms, but the black bags under them brought him back to reality.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, not this time. The decision is already taken. From now on and during three weeks, you are free of your duties."

"You are insufferable." Sakura grunted.

"And you like me for that" Kakashi answered turning back to sign some papers, smirking under his mask.

"Yeah..." Sakura breath "but, what would I do? It's too much free time."

"I don't know Sa Ku Ra. What do you do in your free time?" The Hokage look at her again, interested in her free time.

"Work?" She said almost shy.

"Come on..." Sakura now has all his attention "don't tell me that you don't go out, that you don't have dates, that you don't travel, that you don't sunbathe or go to spring baths from time to time." Kakashi was amazed, but the part that interested him the most was the dating part, it was vital like breathing for him to know whether or not Sakura had dates with any of the men in the village.

"I don't..." Sakura was ashamed "I don't do anything like that, Sensei" and suddenly she looked fragile and pure and perfect.

"Well, a good time to start then" Kakashi concluded, and he suddenly noted his own stupidity, "but you don't have to do all at the same time, baby steps. For example, you may leave the dating thing for some other holidays."

"Look at you Sensei" Now she was being the teasing Sakura, there were so many levels in her "all so jealous."

"I'm not..." Kakashi tried to defend himself.

"It's ok, Kakashi. I don't date" she said, biting her lower lip in thoughts "Nobody likes a girlfriend who spends to much time with sick people". Kakashi only hum.

"Well, Sakura, you will have to think about what to do with this precious time given to you." The storm in his office was apparently fading away. Outside, not so much.

"With this weather, it will be hard to decide" Sakura sighed in defeat "what were you doing anyway? can I help you?" maybe she could trick Kakashi and do some work after all, even if it wasn't exactly her work.

"You're not going to win this time Sakura, not even if the idea of having you here reading all these documents is tempting as hell." God, he was smart.

Sakura remained seated at the desk in silence, observing the man who once was her sensei and now was like a boss and the village leader.

She observed his features, his movements, his concentration, and she lost herself in his hands that came and went around the desk most elegantly and slowly possible. Suddenly, she fixed her gaze on the little orange book calling her from under a folder. This piqued her interest. What was it that Kakashi liked so much about those perverted books that distorted true love and intrapersonal relationships?

"Anything you like, Sa Ku Ra?" Kakashi asked, raising his brow without looking at her.

"You are still reading those books." She said disapprovingly.

"As always, yes." He simply answered.

"I don't understand how a grown-up man enjoys reading those ridiculous and perverted books."

"You would be highly surprised if you give them a chance." Kakashi stated, leaning back on his chair.

"I hardly doubt it" Sakura responded imitating his posture.

After a moment of silence, Kakashi spoke again.

"You know what, Sakura?" Fun in his voice "It just came to me an excellent idea for your holidays." The smirk under his mask was enormous, he was so enjoying this.

"I'm listening." Sakura's voice was trembling.

"You are going to read Icha Icha, and I'm going to read your favourite book, and then we can exchange opinions." He was ecstatic.

"No way Sensei, I'm not going to read those terrible and misogynist books of yours." Sakura was angry, ashamed, surprised.

"Maa, Sakura, don't be so hard, you don't know if they are misogynist or not" Kakashi dismissed Sakura's disqualifications quickly "or is it that you are afraid of liking them too much? Because let me tell you, I'm not afraid of dying of boredom with your book if that helps you in having a more satisfying free time". He was teasing her in all his glory, and she was blushing like a tomato. She hated him.

"Are you telling me that we are forming a book club with only two members?" Against her own good judgment, Sakura was about to say yes.

"Two really VIP members Sakura." He assured.

"And I choose a book for you?" She asked again

"The one you want, yes." Kakashi waited for her answer patiently. This was going to be absolutely hilarious. After some minutes, she spoke again.

"Ok, but nobody needs to know about this. Is our secret" Sakura started pointing with a menacing finger to Kakashi's face.

"My mouth is sealed" He assured her.

"It's a deal then." She finished extended her hand to shake Kakashi's in agreement.

"It's a deal," He said also shaking her hand "You can take the book home with you now. It's getting late, and it's already raining." He finished de conversation.

"Tomorrow morning you will have the book here in your office Hokage Sama, and I hope you enjoyed," Sakura spoke walking to the door leaving Kakashi to his thoughts.

"I hope that too, Sa Ku Ra." He whispered with a smile.

#fandom #fanfiction #fan #love #review #share #follow 👑 share ❤️ enjoy 🍑 #naruto verse #kakashi hatake #kakashi sensei #kakashi fanart #kakashi fanfiction #kakashi hokage #haruno sakura #sakura hatake #sakura #read on ao3

[fimflamfilosophy]

“Is DnD Still Popular?”

To some of you giant nerds, the question, “Is DnD still popular,” is probably one of the stranger things you’ll read today, but within a specific context it makes a lot of sense. Speaking of, the show “Stranger Things” presented a popular, physical look at what DnD beasties might feel like, even if it didn’t present an honest view of what DnD games really play like. Along with more online media referencing the game and sites like Roll20 making it easier to join a group, it makes sense. Is this a temporary boom or has the roleplaying community seen a lot of permanent additions to its nerdy hobby?

I wouldn’t have numbers to say, myself, but for what it’s worth, roleplaying is always a very personal experience. And for a few of us, the question isn’t, “Are people still playing DnD?” Of course they are - it’s all anyone plays! The question is, “Can you get anyone to play anything else?”

What Is DnD?

For some people, Dungeons & Dragons has become so intertwined with the concept of roleplaying that people think DnD and roleplaying are synonymous. If you roleplay, you play DnD. Originally, this had a kernel of truth. There are articles about the history of the system, and during its inception the game had a hard time taking off. Fundamentally it was asking people to play make-believe, but with a system of mathematical rules and designs. We know now that this type of thing is like catnip to massive dork-faced neckbeards, but at the time it wasn’t expected to have much appeal.

Eventually it did get off the ground, and it became the standard for the entire concept of a roleplaying game. And as with all “firsts to the market”, there have been many competitors and copycats, but it’s difficult to pry the audience away when you need everyone to use the same system. In economics they call this “network utility value” - that is, a fax machine is useless if only one person owns one. You can only send faxes to other people with fax machines, so if another company tries to invent their own offshoot of the fax machine, they’ll never get anyone to adopt it because everyone is already using the existing fax machine network. Everybody knows DnD, which means that if you go to a convention or look for games online, you know you’re going to find more players for that system than any other.

Why Does DnD Continue to Work?

In early editions of DnD, there were a lot more rules, and as a result more freedom to design your characters. When I first started roleplaying, it was during the 3rd edition of the system, where you could still allocate skill points to become better or worse at specific skills like lying, climbing, forgery, or crafting. This meant that with good planning, you could play a sub-optimal wizard and make up for it somewhat by investing a lot in your “persuasion” skills to rely on talk more than magic.

But being the system that everyone has to learn isn’t enough to stay on top forever. Other systems like GURPS have taken hold by now, and some types of popular nerd media have introduced their own completely unique systems designed to simulate their specific media universes. The owners of DnD had two choices: either make the game more open and try to eat the lunch of other companies, or make all of DnD easier to play in general to capture a broader audience.

So they released 4th edition! We don’t talk about 4th edition. And then they quickly released 5th edition (and a few mumbled apologies), which streamlined a lot of things about the game to the extent I’m not sure why they even let you control your character stats at all now. Skills became baked in with your level, and most of the game is about choosing abilities when you level up. It’s become very similar to playing an MMO, and I believe that’s the point.

One of the big things you always see in a complicated roleplaying system is players spending hours putting together a character. For your experienced player, this is a labor of love. You really care about the small details and want to make sure you get it right, or you’re a Win-At-All-Costs type who wants to make sure you’re rolling the biggest numbers. Either way you’re familiar and know what you’re doing, but it presents a hurdle to new players, and that hurdle has been largely done away with in 5th edition.

No matter how old you are, how experienced you are, how creative you are (or aren’t), or how much you know about any aspect of the game, you can play 5e DnD. I think you could play as young as seven years old and have minimal problems, because all you have to do is choose a job and virtually everything else is filled in for you, as if by a program, as if a video game. An experienced player can help a new one whip up a character within fifteen minutes, and that new guy will be rolling dice at the dragon about as well as everyone else.

DnD is the Worst System

But DnD’s accessibility is also its greatest downfall. Because everything is sort of programmed out, you find a lot of players eventually growing bored with the same-old, and they try to find ways to inject new life into the system. They invent new races, new classes, new abilities, and so on - they call this “homebrew”. yet many people are bad at creating balance and fairness for something they personally intend to play, and DnD recognizes this problem. It has a lot of supplemental books telling you all you need to know about other races and classes you might want to play, and in theory they are as fair and powerful as anything in the base system.

Yet no amount of homebrew or supplementary material will solve DnD’s core problem: it’s rigid. If you want to play, you need a battle mat, because every spell, every action, can travel or act within a certain number of squares and you always need to know exactly where you’re standing. Players are expected to be able to take a certain number of actions per turn based on their level, and do an expected amount of damage. Monster encounters are built loosely around the concept of “Challenge Rating”, which is meant to imply a group of four players will find a CR of 5 suitably challenging if they are all level five. Basically it plays like “X-Com”.

And as you lock people in these mechanical, video game-styled designs, you find people champing at the bit. Not everyone wants to choose their abilities at level up or have their skill proficiencies dictated by what level they are. Some people want to express truly outlandish concepts, or play something that isn’t specifically designed around the idea of walking room to room blasting monsters. You’ll see people in roleplaying communities often asking, “Does anyone have any good ideas to homebrew [this idea] and make it work?”

Fans of DnD argue the homebrew approach works. Yes, it’s complicated and frustrating to invent entirely new classes and races for a single game where you don’t know how long you’ll play or what level you’ll reach, but DnD’s strict rules and design philosophy is a perk to those people, not a drawback.

Yet a fact of note is that a quote from a game I run got into a popular “Out of Context DnD” blog. The quote was, “ Mecha-Jesus unleashes a barrage of flames from his palms, but the train-snake martially dodges out of the way!”

It received 337 notes, and I was a little surprised by that. The game is a post-apocalyptic Road Warrior setting where the team boss decided to kill God as revenge for one of the gang members dying. Also featured in that day’s session was a battle between two men operating bucket cranes in a duel to the death above a giant grain silo, among eight other equally implausible events based loosely on Dante’s Inferno. For me, Mecha-Jesus is not a 300 notes event - it’s literally every other Friday.

What Do You Want to Play?

In my view, DnD often poses the question, “Are you even roleplaying?” I mean really. A lot of players feel like they are because they do an accent and come up with a backstory, but if you set yourself next to another player who has the same character stats and you’re playing together in the same game, has the system really given you the tools to solve problems all that differently? And the answer is is broadly, no.

I understand the counter-argument. Every player is unique. But in their way each Paladin in “World of Warcraft” is unique too. They have different gear, different competencies of player, and may take different abilities, but fundamentally they’re expected to crash dungeons and use what they’re given to kill monsters. The only advantage DnD has is that the GM can allow his players to interact with scenery items or talk to things, and you’ll see debate on exactly how much leniency a GM should give his players to act outside DnD’s base mechanics.

That’s a mentality. Some people like the safety of the system. They like to know what all the monsters are, what the risks are, what the rewards are, and have it all neatly lined up where you can see it. They want to join an Adventuring Guild that will bureaucratically assign a dungeon for them to attack so they always have something to do and a sure reward for doing it. The GM went through the trouble of drawing that dungeon out, after all. DnD is extremely safe.

And then there’s the alternative. I actually learned to roleplay among theater nerds who were already big into the concept of improv and narrative. One of them used to joke, “If you think DnD is the best system for the game, you know it’s not character-driven,” because any time you’re fine with trying to build an actual human around a set of level-up choices, you’re probably not designing the strongest possible personality.

Going back to media making DnD more popular, the first televised introduction to DnD I can personally recall is an episode of “Dexter’s Lab” where they address exactly this conflict. In it, Dexter runs a game where he forces his friends to play by his rules, where he wins. When Dexter rolls poorly, he turns the dice over to a better number and declares his evil wizard “fried” the team of adventurers. Then his sister, Dee Dee, takes over, and with no knowledge of the game’s rules at all, embarks on an improvised session of pure roleplaying where the guys tell her what they do and she tells them what happens. The sheets are just guidelines for them, and if they say they can do something Dee Dee accepts it.

Dee Dee’s roleplaying is open. It’s a void, and for some people, when you look into the void it looks back. How do you control everyone when they can do anything? It requires a certain level of trust that some players have a difficult time not abusing, yet weirdly everyone I’ve ever known who would lie and cheat during a roleplaying game actually preferred DnD, and I think I know why.

Rules Can Be Broken, but the Suspension of Disbelief is Immutable

The grognards that break the rules in DnD do so because the rules are so strict that they ironically can be easily broken. If the system says people take a certain amount of damage when they fall, and you find a way to throw to them that elevation consistently, by gum they’ll damn well take that damage. It’s in the rules! A friend I know combats this by saying if his players exploit the rules, then the monsters will start exploiting them too, to discourage arms races of bullshit.

What I’m describing is often called “rules lawyering”. So named because it involves finding a rules passage, interpreting the rule so the wording sounds like it favors an exploit, and then leveraging that into a powerful ability players were not meant to have. Because DnD requires you to know absolutely everything about your relative locations and words like “Attack” can have important diverging meanings depending on context, it’s a system extremely vulnerable to lawyering.

But with a more open system based on narrative and characters, it becomes harder to lawyer something you shouldn’t. In an open system, you build what the game calls for without consulting a bunch of charts and level guides. If you’re super heroes, you build super heroes. Cyborgs are cyborgs, Orcs are orcs - it’s whatever, and if you try to do anything outside the believability of the game, the GM tells you no. He has more authority in a more narrative game because the GM leads the narrative.

I’m personally fond of the Hero System, which ascribes massive ranges to all forms of weapons (a gun or eye laser can reach you down a long hallway) so the only general questions that need to be asked are, “Are you close enough to punch a guy?” and “Are you bunched up close enough to all be hit by this grenade?” You don’t need battle mats and the games play a lot more intuitively. There are two books of rules in Hero and they can be specific, but most of the rules revolve around character design rather than how to play, and fiddly things like physics or bursting through walls are meant to be decided depending on the type of game, at the GM’s discretion. There are guidelines, but they’re only that.

So if someone tells you they can punch through a wall in your noir investigator game, you tell them no, because the rules are just guidelines and in this game you can’t just drive your fist through a concrete brick even if you can find figures in the book that say maybe you can, because the book also says maybe you can’t - you’re expected to play the narrative, not the game. You can punch through walls in the super hero game where that’s typical, but not in this one.

From DnD to Anything Else

Of course, the open systems also present an opportunity for players to be very different in skill sets and abilities. You could imagine DnD is like “Power Rangers”, where everyone’s a different color and has different weapons but they’re basically all pretty much on the same level. An open system will wind up more like “Avatar the Last Airbender”, where one player is going to be Toph and someone else is going to be playing Sokka. 

It’s important in DnD that everyone be the same, because a lot of the game is spent in a 20ft x 20ft room full of skeletons (or Putties) - Toph would single-handedly dominate every challenge. Whereas in a narrative-driven game the ability to crush everything with a rock doesn’t actually solve half your problems and whoever’s playing Sokka probably winds up more active than the person playing Toph.

At the end of it all, that’s why the question for me is whether you can take the players out of DnD and take DnD out of the players. Everyone plays DnD, but can you get people to play Sokka and have a good time if Toph is in the party? Personally I think it helps to start people on systems other than DnD, and then they can go into DnD if they like being in small rooms full of skeletons.

Of course, trying to start people on anything but DnD is usually defeated by the network utility! Everyone knows DnD! It’s THE system synonymous with the hobby! A few too many times I’ve seen people play a DnD game and say roleplaying just isn’t for them because it’s boring. All you do is wait for your turn and then roll dice at goblins.

But all I can say to that is, you never roleplayed, man. You joined a pen-and-paper video game. I agree, throwing dice at goblins sucks. I used to have a friend who would compulsively roll dice when he got bored waiting for turns in games like that, and when asked what he was rolling for, he’d joke, “I’m killing the dragon! I’m killing the dragon!” Him, enjoying the experience of DnD combat in between other people’s turns.

In many groups that’s all DnD is, silly accents and go-nowhere backstories aside. Acting is hard. But if you’re very lucky, and you know just the right people, it’s possible to land in a game that is pure story and character, and those things are a rare treasure and a real blast.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #362

(this is actually from yesterday but i never posted it and now i don’t feel like updating the answers, so yeah)

Have you ever been cheated on? No. Who’s car were you last in? My mom's. Have you ever thought about getting your nose pierced? It's been pierced multiple times, but each time the hole closed after my piercings had to be taken out at the psych hospital. The final time though, it closed because the damn stud fell out in my sleep for the billionth time, I couldn't find it, and I let it close out of annoyance. Have your parents ever smoked pot? My dad has. Do you tend to make relationships complicated? I mean, I don't think so. I hope not. Are you good at giving directions? NO. Like, I can't. I would accidentally lead you to the middle of the ocean. Would your mom care if she found condoms in your room? She'd be confused as fuck because I live with her so she knows for sure I'm not seeing anyone. Did you speak to your father today? No. Did you kiss someone before you were sixteen? No, it was actually a month after turning 16. Could you go a day without eating? Nooo. I've said before and I'll say it again, I don't deal with abdominal pain well, so yeah. Are your nails always painted? They never are. Have you ever met any bands/band members before? No. What color is your hair? Boring 'ole brown. .-. Your best friend needed somewhere to stay, could they live with you? She absolutely could. I know Mom would welcome her without hesitation. Have you danced in the rain? No. When you said something naughty when you were little, did your parents wash out your tongue with soap? No, but it was threatened. What do you think of spanking little children when they do something wrong? Okay or not? No, it is absolutely not okay. You do not teach children through fear, ever, nor do you show children that it is ever okay to hit people when you're upset. Who was the last male you hung out with? Uhhh, I think Girt? I haven't truly hung out with a guy in a long time. Who is your favorite person to text? Sara. Who did you last take a picture with? My sister. What’s your favorite brand of jeans? I don't have one. Which show is better: Spongebob or The Fairly Odd Parents? The latter. Both can be funny, but Cosmo cracks me up. Has anyone ever told you that you looked like someone else? I actually think the only time I was ever compared to someone else (make-believe, at that) was when I dressed up for Halloween one year and a friend told me I looked like Eileen Galvin from Silent Hill 4: The Room. Do you enjoy the sound of crickets at night and birds in the morning? Yesssss. Who is the most overrated singer? Idk, I don't even know who's "in" right now. What is your favourite planet? Saturn. Do you have any pets that you had since you were born? No. Do you own anything that you had when you were a baby? Yes, stored away. Do you enjoy Mario games? Mario Kart is fun, but otherwise I'm not a massive fan. What’s your favorite online game? World of Warcraft. Have you ever been hit with a ball in gym class? I think so. I was always terrified of the days we got to play dodgeball or whatever, like that shit hurts. Do you ever turn your cell phone off? No. Who was last to cook for you? My ma. Do you check your texts right away when you receive them? Usually. Who is your most trusted person? My mom, probably. How late did you stay up last night? God, I don't even know. Last night was my sleep study, and I was so uncomfortable in that bed that I slept maybe only an hour or two. Hell, or less. I also couldn't sleep on my stomach, which really didn't help because that's always how I sleep. I'm exhausted now and have such a headache. When/where are you most likely to sing? In the car, I guess. I very rarely sing anywhere. Would you ever wish to explore a cave? FUCK YES. You see the person you fell hardest for. What do you do? Panic like a motherfucker internally, avoid eye contact, and try to evade him (not like he'd actually pursue me) without being too obvious. Have you been/are you depressed? Both. Are your pop-ups blocked on your computer? Yes. Have you ever ridden in a car with someone who was high? Yes, because I was afraid to tell her I didn't want. Thank fuck we got home safe. I was absolutely, positively terrified we'd be pulled over. Who is the best hugger you know? Ha, actually the person I just mentioned. Have you ever had to be put to sleep for an operation? Yes. Does anybody have any proof of stupid things you have done? Oh, Facebook comments... Why did you text the last person in your inbox? I was replying to my mom. Have you ever been able to do a split? No. Did you ever date the last person you kissed? Yes. Are you intimidated by the last person you know talked badly about you? She doesn't "intimidate" me, no. She just gets on my last goddamn nerve every time she opens her mouth. Have you ever cried in school? Yes. Last person of the opposite sex you screamed at? I've never screamed at a guy because I'm afraid of them. I've sobbed at Jason, so like my voice was raised, but it definitely wasn't screaming. Do you have any weird sleep habits? Well, speaking of screaming, my nightmares have me shrieking in the middle of most nights. I also talk in my sleep like, a lot. Do you consider yourself an emotional person? Very. When was the last time you had a headache? This morning, I'm sure because of how shitty I slept. When was the last time you encountered a puppy? Prepare for a rant... We have one right now, even though our landlord told us specifically no puppies because of all the housetraining they require. My mom has been wanting a dog, and Tobey finally agreed to it, and she's been looking for a while. So my sister Ashley randomly shows up with a stray puppy a friend was keeping, terrified and LOADED with ticks, and she's reminding Mom and I why we DON'T WANT A PUPPY. She's peeing everywhere BUT outside (specifically on a stupid fucking expensive carpet that Tobey will have a cow over just ONE stain), is terrorizing my cat, and has an overwhelming amount of energy. Ashley specifically told me that if Mom doesn't let Ash know, I needed to tell her if the puppy was stressing Mom out, "because this isn't supposed to be a stressful experience for her." Well, she's been sobbing again and again and I literally just came back mid-question from comforting her because she broke down so hard she could barely breathe because now she had diarrhea on the fucking carpet. Ashley's all bitchy now about it for no apparent or even remotely valid reason, and by God do I want to cuss her the fuck out over this bull she brought on. Safe to say we're not keeping the dog, but not quickly enough. When Mom hurts, I hurt, and I am so goddamn furious. Is there anything that happened a long time ago that you still laugh about? Yeah, a number of things. Do you ever try to interpret your dreams? No, given I don't believe most have any meaning. It's brain word vomit, lol. What was the last thing you bought impulsively? I don't have the income for impulse purchases. When I get money, what I'm after is well-planned. How do you feel about singing songs out loud in front of other people? I don't, usually. I'm very self-conscious about it. When was the last time you were feeling really, really nervous? That nervous, I'm unsure. I've been nervous, sure, but I haven't had a massive anxiety episode in a while. If you’re no longer in school, what is something you miss about it? If you’re still in school, what’s something you think you’re going to miss about it? I miss feeling productive and like I was going at least somewhere. Do you use your turn signals when you’re driving? Yes; I hate when people don't. How exactly are you feeling right now? Mad at my sister. Have you ever had to board up your windows because of a hurricane? No. Do you tell anyone to chew with their mouths closed? No, to avoid "confrontation" that is too negligible to even quality as conflict. I'm just a lil bitch when it comes to stuff like this. Have you ever ordered pizza and sent it to someone else’s house? No. What was the first thing you drank when you woke up this morning? My nurse or whatever her position is (I don't mean that dismissively, I genuinely don't know her title) brought me some orange juice. Do you think stretch marks from having a baby are ugly or badges of honor? Oh my god, fuck off. Anyone who can carry a child for nine months and then endure what I assume is the worst pain (usually) survivable has every ounce of my goddamn respect. The natural result of making room for a like 6+ lb. human being is not "ugly." It's a part of life and to me shows an incredible amount of bravery and love to be willing to go through something I could absolutely never. Ever done a keg stand? Haha, no. My dizzy ass will pass. Who is the last person you lent money to? My mom. Do you share clothing with anyone? Mom and I will share bras or pants sometimes. Have you ever visited anyone in a rehab? No. Was the last thing you drank a Coke or Pepsi product? No, I have lemonade right now. Honestly, do you think that you’re going to be an overprotective parent? IF I wanted to be a parent, I feel like I definitely would be. Not like... overbearing, but still extremely protective in cases I think it's called for. What was the last kind of chips you ate? Veggie chips yesterday, actually. They're honestly not that good, but it's a doable snack with salsa. What is one thing that you really wish you could understand, but don’t? Economics. I dread taking care of my own money because idk what the fuck to do with taxes and such. What is the last thing you charged? My phone. Have you ever held a snake? I've held plenty of snakes, I love them.

#survey #surveys #questions

[cherry-valentine]

Winter 2021 Anime Season:

What I’m watching:

Log Horizon season 3 is all about the politics. Of all the “trapped in a video game” anime I’ve seen, Log Horizon has always been unique in the way it focuses not on the drama and action (although there is some of that), but on the world building of the “game” the characters find themselves stuck in. It’s less a game and more an entirely new world, one that the players, called “Adventurers,” are keenly aware of their influence on. The show focuses much more on the politics, economics, history, etc. of this world than it does on battles or romance. This sets it apart from things like Sword Art Online and the .hack franchise. Season 3 so far seems to be focusing on how the hub town of Akiba will be governed, with an actual election taking place. The Adventurers have to form good business relationships with the “People of the Land” (NPC’s, who in this world have their own personalities and lives and are just as developed as the players). The series goes into things like power systems, food supply, the politics of arranged marriages, and so many other things that make this world so interesting. Because of this, I’ve seen people calling the show boring or slow. I can understand how it could be seen that way, but I honestly find it fascinating. When the show does focus on action, it really nails it. So far season 3 has had pretty much zero action, but I’m guessing we’ll get some in the later part of the season. The animation is nice, with tons of characters sporting various designs. The music is great too. While I do miss the “Database” opening theme from season 1 and 2, this new one is pretty good. Watch Log Horizon if you’re into fantasy world-building. Avoid if you think a few episodes without a fight makes a series boring.

Beastars season 2 is a delight. I didn’t watch the first season as it aired, so I quickly caught up on Netflix before season 2 started, and I’m so glad I did. The show is definitely something I didn’t think I would enjoy, but everyone seemed to agree it was fantastic, so I gave it a shot. I intended to watch the first episode one evening to see what it was like and ended up watching the first eight in practically one sitting. For those unaware, Beastars is about a society of vaguely human-like animals (almost all of them walk upright on two legs and wear clothes, for example) and the conflicts between the carnivores and the herbivores (many of whom live in constant fear of being eaten, even though eating meat is illegal). The core of the story is about a wolf, Legoshi, falling in love with a rabbit, Haru, and all the complications that arise from that. Apparently, inter-species relationships are allowed, but frowned upon (I guess? It’s never explicitly stated either way). What makes this relationship interesting is the fact that the wolf is shy and awkward (and just generally a sweet guy) while the rabbit is more experienced and worldly. Something that struck me as interesting is that the rabbit Haru is sexually active, and has been with several different male characters. While the other characters, naturally, have things to say about this (calling her a “slut” or a “bitch” - the main setting is a high school after all), the story itself doesn’t condemn her for it. In fact, the story presents her in a positive light, sexual history included. The fact that she sleeps around is never portrayed as a negative aspect of her character, and Legoshi is very much aware of her activities. It’s a surprisingly sex positive take. Of course, this positivity doesn’t extend to the audience. Avoid comments sections on episodes of this show unless you want to see some rampant slut shaming.

I ended up talking mostly about season 1, but I didn’t get to do a write-up about it so there’s that. Season 2 is so far very good, dealing with a plot thread that had been left dangling in season one: an herbivore student was murdered and eaten in the first episode, and the mystery of who the killer is was pretty much dropped in favor of character development and world building. But season 2 is addressing that mystery in earnest, and it’s been exciting to watch Legoshi pursue the case. Overall, it’s an engaging show that I regret sleeping on until now. The opening and ending themes are real bangers and the animation looks great.

Dr. Stone Season 2 was easily my most anticipated series this season. It was my favorite show during it’s first season and is my favorite overall this season as well. The show is just so fun. The very quick and basic plot setup is that humanity was turned to stone in the modern age and, thousands of years later, the earth has been retaken by nature. A teenaged scientific genius named Senku breaks free of his stone shell and decides to save everyone and bring science and technology back to the world. In conflict with him is Tsukasa, a physical powerhouse who wants to destroy all the stone adults and create a utopia for the youth. Season 2 leaps right into the war with Tsukasa’s army, with Senku and his allies actually building a primitive cell phone to communicate over wide distances. The charm of this series has always been in its mixture of science facts and methods (all based on real-world science and theoretically possible) and dramatic action between well developed characters, both presented in equally exciting lights. It’s just as much fun watching Senku and his friends gather materials to make a vehicle as it is watching the various skillful warriors battling it out. The art style is something often commented on, as the character designs take a little getting used to, but the animation itself is very nice. As per usual, it has amazing opening and ending themes, with my favorite opening of the season.

The Promised Neverland Season 2 is a bit of a mess. I don’t follow the manga, but I enjoyed the first season of the anime very much and, just by virtue of being on Tumblr and being aware of the series, I ended up hearing about some major plot points from the manga that had me excited. So season two started and the first few episodes were great. But then things started seeming rushed, or just not quite right. A glance at the comments on the episodes revealed that entire story arcs had been skipped, and it really shows even to someone like me who hasn’t read the manga. And one major event I had seen so many images of from the manga is clearly being done in a completely different way in the anime (one that lessens the scene’s impact quite a lot). So... I’m not sure how to feel about this series. It was one of my most anticipated shows this season, but now it’s dropped down toward the bottom, and that’s disappointing. I guess I’ll finish this out and then consider picking up the manga, since apparently this is so different it won’t be spoiling much.

World Trigger Season 2 was a bit of a surprise. I only found out about it a few days before it began airing, and I honestly hesitated when deciding whether or not to watch it. When the first season aired, I loved it. I was sure it would be a new favorite. But then the filler arcs started, and they were almost unbearably boring. I dropped the series and always wondered if the show went back to its former greatness. So when season 2 started, I wondered if this was more filler, or if the filler arcs had ended in season 1 and I’d missed out on some content that I’d need to watch to understand season 2. Plus, my memory of season 1 wasn’t so great. With these thoughts in mind, I decided to watch the first few episodes of season 2 and see if I could make sense of it. Luckily, all of my concerns flew out the window pretty quickly. By the end of the first episode, I was enjoy it so much that I didn’t care about any of the things I’d been worried about. Sure, I might not have remembered all the names or all the details, but the important stuff was coming back to me.

The thing World Trigger does best is juggling tons and tons of characters. I know a lot of anime have large casts, but few of them have so many characters active in a single story arc, and even fewer of them handle those characters so well. Even though it’s been a few years since I watched season 1, and there were dozens of characters popping up in the first few episodes alone, I remembered most of them as I saw them. This is because all of them are memorable, well-designed, and interesting. I think it says a lot about the cast that, in the first several episodes, the three main protagonists are completely left out of the action, and we only get a brief glimpse of them. And this did absolutely nothing to hinder my enjoyment of the show. The supporting characters are so strong (both in-series and in terms of the writing) that the protagonists were not even missed. And I’m not dunking on the protagonists here. They’re great, fun characters. Aside from all this, the show has simple yet attractive art with a ton of variety in the design work. The music is nice, with one of the better opening themes of the season. The action is well choreographed and it’s just a fun series overall.

Sk8 is one of only two totally new series I’m following this season, and it’s a blast. Following a handful of eccentric skate boarders who engage in one-on-one races, the show is equal parts funny and exciting. The main focus is on two skaters, the energetic Reki and the Canadian snow boarder Langa, whom Reki is introducing to the world of skate boarding. The first thing you’re likely to notice about this series is just how colorful it is. It’s like the show itself is in love with color. It makes the art very striking and pleasing to look at. Honestly, it’s worth watching for the eye candy alone. Luckily, the series has other things going for it as well. The budding friendship between Reki and Langa is humorous and sweet, with very little of the usual “rivals who act like they hate each other but are actually friends” shenanigans we see so often in anime. They’re just two nice boys who are nice to each other, and that’s refreshing. Another high point is the gloriously flamboyant villain, Adam. He’s a real treat whenever he’s on screen. The show has an overall light-hearted feel, with enough emotional moments to keep it from becoming too silly. I don’t know much about skate boarding, but this anime makes it look awesome.

Kemono Jihen is the only other new series I’m watching this season. It primarily focuses on a small group of mythical creatures (or half-human/half-mythical) living in Tokyo, operating a detective agency for cases involving creatures like them. The protagonist is Kabane, a young boy who is half human, half ghoul. He’s apparently immortal, to the point that severing his head doesn’t even seem to cause pain. Due to being neglected and mistreated by his adoptive human family, he lacks social skills, but his earnest attempts to make friends and help his companions make him an endearing character. While this type of “urban fantasy” story isn’t new, it’s executed rather well. The characters and their abilities are varied and interesting, the art is competent, and the music fits. There’s a bit of a gross-out factor, with at least two cases involving insects, so be aware. It’s not my favorite show this season, mainly because it doesn’t seem to bring any new ideas to the table, but it’s entertaining enough to keep a spot on my watch list despite me being absolutely brutal when trimming that list down this season. Worth watching, for sure.

Carry Over Shows From Previous Seasons:

Black Clover

Jujutsu Kaisen

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Sk8

Best Opening Theme: Dr. Stone Season 2

Best Ending Theme: Sk8

Best New Male Character: Langa (Sk8)

Best New Female Character: Kon (Kemono Jihen)

#anime #seasonal anime #winter 2021 anime #anime reviews #dr. stone #log horizon #beastars #world trigger #sk8 #text

[carolyncaves]

Hey op, I was wondering if you could give me some advice? High school senior here and I have no idea what to do with my life. Is accounting really as painfully boring as it's reputed to be? I'm a perfectionist and a good student and I feel like that might be helpful, but I've also nearly fallen asleep many times in math class. (I'm more a science and humanities person.) Is accounting actually as tedious and unfulfilling as people say? Do you like your job? Do you have any career advice??

Oh, no, advice ...

I've been sitting on this because I wanted to do your ask justice, and then it ended up extremely long - I'm apparently constitutionally incapable of giving advice without giving all the advice, just to be thorough. I started with my impressions of the accounting field and why I went into it (in case any of that resonates with you either way) and made it all the way to a probably-too-abstract meditation/ramble on careers, work, and purpose. Since I'm just a dumb 27 year old who is not entirely successful (yet) in any area of my life, you should maybe (definitely) take everything below with a grain of salt. But here are some things I think I've learned:

I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life either. I went to an engineering high school, but decided it wasn't for me because I didn't really care about it and wasn't spending my spare time tinkering with robots like some of my classmates. I almost majored in physics, but switched to accounting at the last second because I decided I probably didn't want to spend my whole life in a basement fine-tuning lasers.

I went into accounting because I thought math was boring but I was good at it, and I figured accounting might straddle the math-type-brain with the people-stories-humanities things that were more interesting to me. This is somewhat true - financial accounting is not math (thank goodness), but someone who is good at one will probably be good at the other and it is quite satisfying the way balance sheets always balance. (You can get into more math-and-statistics-intensive applications, but base accounting is just adding and Microsoft Excel, which is unironically one of the greatest tools humankind has ever created. How you feel about that opinion might tell you a lot about whether it's the right field for you lol.)

'Accounting' is really (at least) three entirely different types of job:

‘Industry accounting’ is the accountants who work for a business and keep track of its numbers. They record everything, analyze the data, and organize it into reports called financial statements, which are then given to the CEO, the board of directors, the shareholders, etc. to tell them how the company is doing.

‘Public accounting’ (as in Certified Public Accountant) has two main subclasses:

Audit, where you get hired by businesses to independently examine their financial statements and provide some verification that the managers who prepared them aren't lying or mistaken.

Tax, where you do taxes for people and businesses.

(+1: If you're a tech-savvy person, there's a huge amount of potential for crossover into technology work - data science, financial software, etc, etc. Though IT work has its own delights and frustrations.)

All three flavors of accounting require not only technical accounting knowledge but also at least some degree of business acumen to be truly good at (you'll develop this over time; I barely have any, the partners at my firm are very astute), and any of them can can put you literally anywhere, because everyone in every industry and lots of individuals need an accountant. (There are cross-state licensing issues that can affect how literal 'anywhere' is, so if you want to work somewhere specific that's a good thing to research in advance when planning out your degree, but even these are for the most part eminently surmountable). So particularly on the public side of things, it's a field that can expose you to a lot of different people and situations, and that's interesting. I like getting a glimpse of someone's life when I prepare their tax return. (I think I prefer individual returns to business returns for this reason, among others.) And if you're someone who likes business, it is a fantastic field from which to study it and could position you well for a more generally-businessy position down the road. (I have frankly found that I ... do not, so much. So keep that in mind when considering the rest of this opinion piece.)

All three types of accounting are, by their very nature, repetitive, in the sense that they're cyclical - you do the journal entries and close the books on one month, or you do a hundred tax returns and get through tax season, and then you do it all over again. Accounting isn't a field that really makes or does things - it measures what other people are doing, over and over and over again. It's a keeping-the-lights-on-and-wheels-running kind of field. It matters, because all three of those functions above are important in the context of our current economic arrangement. But some people are going to be happy doing that and some people are not.

Public accounting also has pretty punishing work schedules during crunch times. I can attest to that for tax (my current field), and have heard it's at least partially true for audit. This can be a good thing in some ways (I happen to like it), because it means there are some relaxed times as well - but again, some people are going to like the up-and-down rhythm and some people are going to want something more steady. (If you find this one isn't for you, you can always leave public accounting after a year or two and go into industry - that's what many people's planned trajectories are from the get go.)

In all three corners it's a field about developing expertise. You're doing something complicated for people which they don't know how to do for themselves, and you do sometimes get to come up with crucial information and/or creative solutions to help them. And in the broad societal scopes of public policy and the health of the economy, people having that expertise - in tax and its ramifications, in business, in financial accounting, in principled and accurate auditing - is important.

In a world where most of us regrettably have to do something for money, accounting is a pretty okay thing to do, and it pays money.

Being in the workforce for a few years has made me come to imagine a lot of things are tedious in some ways and important and interesting in others. Our incredibly complex global civilization goes because different people become experts in the minute, tedious details of their own different things, and then they all work in their own corners of the huge, infinitely complex machine. Tinkering with robots and living in laser-filled-basements are not that dissimilar to reading discourse over the minutia of the United States tax code. (These are all examples from relatively technical/'professional' career areas, because I don't really have first-hand experience with anything else (yet) - but maybe someone will chime in on that front in the notes.)

The extremely good news, which I can't emphasize enough, is that you're going to have a lot of opportunities to pivot, or change direction, or try different things, to eventually find the thing that at worst you don't mind becoming something of an expert in, and at best you absolutely love. I've already had three extremely different jobs, all of which have been very informative in terms of what I Do and Do Not like. It's surprising how often that doesn't line up with what I expected when I was younger. You might of course have a different experience - the point is you have plenty of time to experiment and find out.

But if I don't LOVE my career, isn't that terrible? Time for a confession, or something: I've always been an achiever-type, and in my youthier youth I would've answered the above question 'yes' - but in my first few of years out of school, whenever anyone would ask me what my future plans were, my answer was always '... I don't know? Try to get promoted, I guess?' I was really leaning on the external validation of what a 'good career' was without running that past whether it was what I wanted to achieve with my life. And over time that had a noticeable effect on my wellbeing. You're right that perfectionism will help, no matter what you go into - but you should be careful to keep an eye on whether it's really mostly helping your boss, and whether it's doing it at your expense. Don't get me wrong, this will make you a fantastic and therefore valued (read: employed) employee. Just be wary of it getting out of hand. (You might find you need to practice figuring out how and when to prioritize yourself even if it's inconvenient for others. I'm still practicing that now.)

Anyway, after a lot of reflection, I began to refine my idea of my capital-P Purpose, and it has little to do with working in a shiny fancy office or having a successful-sounding job title next to a well-known employer's name or really anything to do with accounting. Those things were only superficially rewarding. I'm working on rearranging my life to abandon some of the more costly ones to make room for my Purpose as I've come to understand it, and my license keeps me in overpriced coffees and, like, a house. It means even an occasionally disastrous person like me is doing reasonably okay (so far).

Some people love careers like that, though. Some people love living in basements full of lasers. It's really so individual. For me, it became clearer when I connected the dots between the things I kept coming back to time and time again, even in my most difficult moments, even years or decades apart. For other people, it might be very different.

But at the moment, you may not have all the information you need yet to make determinations about Purpose. Why would you, you're a baby; heck, so am I. It might evolve over the whole course your life. My main advice for you would be to just try something, or several things - whatever seems most interesting, or most practical, or ideally both! - and see how it goes. Like I said above, that will give you experiences instead of guesses, which will help you know. And you really do have so much time to work with. The most important thing, the thing I would tell my younger self, is to make sure that every so often you pause and honestly look. How do I feel about what I'm doing? Does it feel good because I like it, or because other people like it? Am I actually interested in building on and using the things I'm learning? Do I have a plan for the future? Is there anything about it I want to change, or add, or that doesn't actually matter to me? (And perhaps "What would I be doing right now/want to be doing in five years if I didn't have to make money?", because that might give you hints to what you want your money-career - if it isn't the same thing as your Purpose - to give you room for.)

Did I mention I think it's very individual? I think it's very individual. I invite anyone to add their own numerous-cents to this post - alternate takes on the accounting field (do you love it passionately? please tell this person why), additional career or life advice, etc. I'm just one person who's walking my one narrow path through the world with its particular terrain. Everyone's is going to look different.

P.S. Ask a Manager is imo an indispensable resource for getting a job - resumes, cover letters, interviews. Literally it has gotten me all my jobs.

It also gives a lot of great advice about what to consider in an employer and potential red flags - and I can attest that the culture of the company you work for and the management skills and style of your supervisor(s) matter more than almost anything when it comes to your day-to-day happiness in a job. This is part personal fit, part objective competence. It's not the end of the world if you take a misstep here either - it's something you figure out, just like everything else. You can do almost anything for a year - and you are NOT COMPELLED to even stay that long if it's really not working out.

P.P.P.S - and this is way out there ... I was exceptionally good at both reading/English and math as a young person - and it’s interesting that when that’s true, the careers people throw at you are all STEM-related. It’s almost as if people are predisposed to thinking STEM fields are more important, and that smart people belong in them. I have come to feel strongly that isn’t the case.

A lot of people (at least in my western/US culture) feel the humanities are an afterthought, but when I think about it, I think there are and have always been two main sources of human suffering in the world: nature and its limitations (hunger, health and disease, weather and environment, etc.) and other humans (war, murder, racism/sexism/all oppression and hatred, conquering and imperialism, poverty/socioeconomic inequality, and also elements of the way societies are organized that affect hunger, and health and disease, and weather and the environment, and so on).

STEM work is hugely important to making improvements in the first category, and helps with the second (it gives us the internet and weapons to defend ourselves from evil people who want to destroy us, for example). But a lot of the fundamental root issues in that second category are in the sphere of culture and the humanities - law and politics, sure, but those are derived from history, sociology and psychology, literature, cultural studies, philosophy, ethics, education, journalism, literature and the arts and pop culture (which informs and is informed by all of the above). The world needs smart people in those fields as well as STEM and business.

STEM fields often offer more money, or more certain money. Business fields offer sometimes significantly more. That’s a practical element to consider. And if you like a STEM thing, or a business thing, and want to go into it, please do and do fabulous things with it. All I mean is that if you find yourself considering a career in a humanities field, don’t be dissuaded only because people seem to think you’re too smart for it and would be better off doing something else.

#replies #accounting #careers #personal #p.p.s. if it somehow doesn't go without saying #my bullet-point AU is a highly cariacturized version of the accounting field #much the same way every TV show or movie set in a high school is a highly cariacturized version of high school #if any word of this has been helpful to you i'm glad #if not i apologize lol #you're going to have a great future! #there have been some very rough patches in my twenties and regardless i would never go back and redo high school if given the chance #it was fine it's just that even with all the tribulations #becoming a progressively adultier adult is better #if you have any follow up questions or like #ever need excel pointers lol #you know where to find me! #(seriously excel is legitimately delightful getting to do powerful things with it sometimes is literally my favorite part of my job) #(in another life I might've been a software developer) #(that life might be this life five or ten years from now who knows!) #(i'm going to stop and post this before I keep coming up with additional pieces of advice this is already so long) #(oh gosh i added another one it must end) #(also the read more got messed up and I can't fix it I do not know why) #(thereby validating that I am only a dumb 27 year old whose opinions you should not take very seriously)

[vroenis]

The Internet Is Not Remarkable | Which Is Why It’s Remarkable

Oddly I’ve not ever felt the need to unplug. I don’t have a sense of separation between life happening away from the Wire and life happening on the Wire or the Wire not being life. It was never a distinct thing I ever had to decide was or wasn’t life or became life, either. Being born in the early 80′s, I guess means the Wire wasn’t always there as a salient presence, integrated into the fabric of life. Heyo I had a Nokia 3210. That doesn’t mean anything, by the way, it just places me on a timeline. Nostalgia sucks and is literally valueless. Let’s make art you can steal.

Anecdotally it means I saw the internet happen as a Thing. It’s less important than it sounds. Also the internet going from not being a Thing to being in our pockets. OK. But honestly it’s not very important. As in the transition isn’t important. There were a lot of people there when it happened and I think a lot of us if and when we’re honest will tell you now, in retrospect, it’s not a big deal. People older than I am and some my age and younger who have an ignorant and uninformed understanding of life and experience will go on about life being better or significantly more meaningful before or without the Wire but honestly they’re wrong. I’ll come out and say it’s flat better. Sure it makes misinformation easier as much as it makes all the good things better but wow media control and information mass-dissemination before the Wire? Are you kidding me? 

On the topic of unplugging and digitally detoxing and I realise The 1975 just made a video all about it that was overly cute, yes, but still pretty fucken’ great. Let’s link it because honestly, it’s a wonderful snapshot of its time that they’re unquestionably aware will date immensely and that is a big part of the point. The 1975 hardly need any more promo but what can I say, I’ve no problem being part of an adoring fanbase and adore them we do. Let us adore.

That it’s so on-the-nose and that it’s a big part of the point is going to anger and frustrate people so much, moreso that exactly that reaction is a part of being caught-up in the inevitable participation in what the song and indeed, what Matty as an individual and what the band as a commercial and cultural entity are. The too cool thing to do is say you didn’t know anything about it, you didn’t watch it, you don’t care for it, you’re immune to it and continue to be ignorant of it - sure, I used to be cool like you. The thing is I both care less and more about being cool.

I love this song, I love what it’s doing and what it means. I love being a fan of and loving things. I love that other people love things I love. I still love loving things no-one knows about but I always love other people finding and loving my things, even if and when some of them behave badly because as an adult and an individual, I understand that participating in one cultural activity doesn’t mean I’m fully represented as a whole cultural entity.

Coming back to unplugging and that not being necessary for me, it connects to not being overwhelmed by it, which connects again, to the Wire not being separate and distinct from what I see as my experience of life. If the Wire is a mundane aspect of life then it’s unnecessary to disconnect from it. I engage with it as much as I engage with other things, that is to say I’m fascinated by, obsess over, and grow bored with things on it as much as all subjects, objects and activities in life equally. I don’t think this is unique to me at all, I suspect it’s quite common.

As it happens, I got into Instagram in a big way around the same time I got into contemporary board games. Both of these things I’ve almost wholly discarded. Almost, but not quite. I still maintain my Instagram account because I’ve made some valuable and enduring connections on it and as a platform I seem to have nurtured some semblance of an audience for a sprinkling of subjects and visual motifs. As for board games, I’m actually still quite interested in them but there’s so much about them as an industry and culture I actively dislike and have also grown bored of that I’ve consciously disengaged from them.

Facebook as a culture has always been weird to me, I can’t say I’ve ever understood it as a platform. Primarily it seemed to function as a space to connect with people you already know - OK. So then we’re encouraged to engage with one-another on... topics we may or may not already be engaging with either in our physical time together in which case, it’s redundant? Or we post articles we expect others to read which mostly they don’t unless aaaaaah - they’re short, reductive and in simple language and now the exercise is hazardous. The platform then actively co-opts strangers into discussions by facilitating cross-posting intra-sharing articles, which to be frank is about eyes on ads and ad-revenue, here we get to the ultimate objective of Facebook as a platform which I guess is why none of it makes any sense. Engagement at all costs. Of-course Facebook doesn’t care about racist groups and the real violence it precipitates, why on earth would that matter to them? The only thing that matters is capitalist gains. As long as it doesn’t directly cost them and as long as there are no economic consequences for them, they will proceed, and this is pervasive and transparent in the way all actions are facilitated and encouraged on the platform as a utility.

There’s more to discuss about Facebook but you’ve had those discussions before and they’re boring. Facebook is boring. The way people use Facebook is  boring. Many of my peers ported to Instagram because as many of them said “It’s like Facebook but just pictures” and something along the lines of “It’s just pure” and there’s a high degree of truth in that. The sense of purity comes from the feeling of positivity in that thumbs becomes hearts - the likes an image gets. Engagement is fairly low-level. People express their endorsement of an image or do nothing at all. Occasionally there’s discussion, predominantly positive and for the most part I’d agree it’s wholesome. You can find toxicity easily enough and all of it is bad, but there are whole spaces on Instagram where you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a platform free of it altogether.

I guess it’s worth mention when I was peak Instagram, I was producing a super lo-fi but passionate board games podcast I recorded with R and we were also running several public and private board games groups around Melbourne. There was a lot of good about that sense of community and some of those people are still in our lives now. Platforms like Instagram are great for celebrating many of those aspects, I’d still say better than Facebook. Instagram is more approachable and simpler for just showing a thing and liking it - the engagement is direct and the commitment level (sign-up, visual clutter, privacy concerns, settings digest etc.) is minimal.

There are some Instagram Stories (read: Snapchat clones) there listed under This Account that briefly go thru the effective mothballing of my account. To have a different discussion here, I know how much and what kind of work it takes to build and maintain and audience on Instagram and it’s not interesting to me any more. It’s boring. I don’t mean to disrespect the audience I have there, all audiences are made up of people. Their behaviour on the platform is indicative of the cultural space that Instagram is, not their respective characters and that’s fine. That I’m bored is indicative of my feelings towards the platform and the culture it fosters, not how I feel about the people themselves. I still really like most of the people I’ve made connections with on Instagram and ping them DMs about beer, Lego and art once in a while. Instagram is about keeping it light - or lite is perhaps more appropriate - and I’m happy to keep my engagement level likewise.

That makes it extremely strange that I chose tumblr as a cultural space for my long-format writing, then, hey. Sure does. I did write about tumblr as a cultural space and honestly I still feel the same way about it - I absolutely love it here. Even tho I don’t engage in tumblr at all in the way the culture here utilises it, oddly I still feel right at home, fitting that one of the titles of the entry is Hiding In Plain Sight.

I don’t effectively have an audience for my writing here, tho, and that certainly is different. There’s a certain buzz missing from seeing a post light up with hearts, but then I think - a post gets a tally of hearts, of likes, so the people around me - my audience - likes an image and/or the accompanying text I’ve written tho that’s unlikely as the ratio of viewers to readers is likely to be extremely low. So if I think about how meaningful the text is to me versus the image, sometimes it’s split down the middle, but often the writing is far more important or at least there’s massive intent for gravitas to the image. Without the text, the image would be pleasant at best, and I realise that’s what people are engaging with and throwing a heart at, and I’m not interesting in doing that. I’m interesting in writing and expressing because I’m doing that anyway. I’m talking to and for myself regardless which I’m very happy to do, so if I’m going to do that, I’m happy to do it on the assumption of no audience and just express freely without restraint on subjects that interest me the most.

I either will or won’t develop that audience, but it will have to be with people who are dedicated enough to read and that might be a thing just yet, but who knows, there may be coming a time when people realise it’s not the Wire they need to unplug from. I’m not spinning up theories because it’s less complicated than that. I still operate a Facebook account. There’s a lot to hate about Facebook but of itself it’s mostly banal. Sure its UI and UX both are horrors that precipitate actual nightmares (unrelated but recent: none worse that iTunes MY GOD WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY) but from a utility perspective it can be useful in the least. I have connections with a handful of people and communities which are useful to me for the moment so until they’re not, I’ll use the platform - but my weekly usage would be measured in minutes, I’m not sure I’d make cumulative hours in seven days.

When I moved away from Twitter and Instagram, I wanted a more considered approach to everything including images. I did once take long walks in Melbourne and photograph things that I found aesthetically interesting and under the circumstances that isn’t possible. I did stop doing that much earlier than Covid19 tho but that’s due to family circumstances alluded to in other posts. I still think if I ever take up photographing things with the same regularity, those images will end up here, simply because if I want to cut in with text, I can with better control. But also because it’s more meaningful if I don’t, and also as an artefact, a html page is something that invites a more static approach to the scrolling endless feeds of Instagram and Facebook. That design is absolutely intentional to promote short engagement and continued dismissal and that’s not something I want to encourage, with mine or anyone else’s art, thoughts, responses and engagement.

I don’t think I’ve addressed how The Internet Is Remarkable, but it’s pervasive in much of what I do on and with the Wire. I think accessibility is one of the most powerful things we do as humans. I’m sure there are folks who are sick of Margaret Mead’s healed femur anecdote or at least people quoting it. I fucking love that quote. I might not like people not fully comprehending it but I sure love what it truly represents. I think something people may be surprised to hear from me is that I will never say that I don’t like people. I really don’t like the quips and memes about hell being other people or I don’t mind going outside, it’s the other people ad infinitum. It’s easy to look at a large representation of behaviour and say “People are stupid” but it’s much more difficult to sit in a room of people you know and tell them they’re stupid. I might find it increasingly difficult to find other adults with which I can engage, on subjects I and they both can and enjoy engaging on, but I both have the willingness to and the optimism that it will and should happen. A part of that is the exercise - the practice of considered expression, of thinking, language and performance. Some of that for me is writing here, some of it is in the musical instruments I play, some of it is in the oral auditory words I speak.

Fucking around is good fun, we don’t always take life too seriously - sure, but we also don’t just fuck around. If that’s all you end up being able to do, there’s so much you end up not doing, not seeing and experiencing. Imagine the only form of expression you have is to tap a heart. That’s not to diminish the power of tapping that heart - mate, smash that shit - did you see that last picture of the beers we bought? DID YOU SEE MY BEERS? Those are some champion fucken’ beers, follow my Instagram.

Look you might need to unplug occasionally or partially or permanently or whatever. This isn’t a sermon, I’m not talking at you, I’m talking to you or rather I’m talking to myself. I’m telling you about myself because like everything I do and typically will always mention, it’s a provocation but also an invitation to talk about yourself. We share with one another to learn about other experiences and grow perspective on our own - you get all of that. That’s why the Wire is a good thing. Accessibility to broader experiences is a good thing.

This mass documentation we’re doing? Even if no-one reads it, even if only a tiny shred of it is shared... do you realise how immense that tiny shred is? Of a billion billion billion terabytes of unread, unseen, unknown data, the tiniest fraction that gets shared between humans is still huge were it to remain hidden and secret - all the wonderful art, the ugly horror, the juvenile silliness, the unending pain and sorrow, the saccharine sweetness, the lilting playfulness, the nonsensical vagary, the bare minimalism, the overbearing eloquence, everything subjective and argued and agreed and ignored.

The internet is an ordinary book of everything made of electricity and you carry a copy of it in your pocket.

I’ll echo similar sentiments to those in the feature on Jeremy Blake. You can be an arsehole, or you be awesome and kind and we can do amazing things together.

#internet #chrono #2020 #nostalgia #nostalgia is pointless #no really nostalgia has no value #steal this art #The 1975 #The 1975 The Birthday Party #NOACF #Facebook #Instagram

[truthbeetoldmedia]

Good Trouble 1x06 “Imposter” Review

If you’re not watching Good Trouble by now, you’re seriously missing out.

Episode 6, “Imposter,” starts off with Mariana at a costume party thrown by Speckulate. Coworker Raj apologizes for a series of events we’ve yet to learn about, and the dynamic between the two characters seems strangely different.

Through our usual flashbacks, we get the whole story. Mariana is feeling particularly left out by her all-male team lately, and even her female work friend Casey doesn’t entertain her frustrations. Mariana perhaps feels like she has no one, so when Raj asks her to help out with some coding issues he’s having on their latest program, she invites him to work on it at her place.

What’s an innocent and professional invitation translates in Raj’s mind to an opportunity to make a move on Mariana. Raj comes over that night and after Mariana helps him with his code, in what may be the most cringey scene of the show thus far, he leans in for a kiss. Mariana is rightfully taken aback, and though Raj leaves promptly after, it doesn’t exactly fix what he did.

Meanwhile, Callie decides she must tell Judge Wilson about her living situation, given that she’s positive Ben knows about Malika and will try to take her down. Callie imagines herself getting taken off the case and then fired, but her knowledge of Judge Wilson’s son seems to save her. When she tells Ben that she’s still on the case, the disappointment and vengeance are palpable.

Callie goes to Jamie for advice on how to move forward, given that the Judge is hiding something bigger than she perhaps originally thought. Jamie says he’ll snoop a little bit and find out exactly what the juicy secret is. Callie and Jamie also help out Gael’s sister, who is transgender and wants to change her name. However, she has a felony and can’t afford to hire a lawyer. Through flashbacks, we also see that she has been discriminated against while at work.

Though Jamie is happy to help, he leaves the loft with an important question for Callie: What is her relationship with Gael? Callie assures him they’re not exclusive, and the two share a kiss — which Gael sees. And let’s just say, he doesn’t look too pleased. Will Gael reconsider his promiscuous ways to pursue a relationship with Callie? Or is he too late? After all, Jamie has been giving Callie his undivided attention and offering to take her out to dinner, something that Gael has failed to do.

Things are also getting complicated in the loft for Davia and Dennis, who have a bit of a rift when he calls her out for sleeping with a married man. We later find out that Dennis cheated on his ex-wife and regrets it. Though Davia now understands why she shouldn’t be sleeping with a married man, despite how much she may dislike his wife, she still agrees to see him when he comes back to LA.

Meanwhile, at Speckulate, CEO Evan Speck stops by Mariana’s office to ask if she had fun at the party. Though awkward, Evan is warm to Mariana, something she isn’t used to, especially as of late. Evan leaves when their short conversation is interrupted by Raj, who attempts to apologize for trying to kiss Mariana, citing it as having misread the situation. Mariana tells him it’s okay, but changes her mind after a beat. In a powerful speech, she tells Raj that his actions were inappropriate, and that him kissing her after asking for help made it seem like he was lying about needing her at all. Thankfully, Raj says nothing in response and leaves. Mariana decides to create a female “fight club” for the women of Speckulate.

This episode does an amazing job at making intersectional voices heard. Jazmin, a trangender woman of color, and Mariana, a woman of color in a male-dominated field, both make it clear that they will not be victims. Jazmin, who has dealt with consistent discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere, shows the viewers (and her brother) why her inability to keep a job is about more than her being aggressive. She is standing up for herself, and Gael has the privilege as a cisgender man to not need to do that.

Similarly, Mariana emphasizes that if a man is nice to her, that doesn’t mean she will or should sleep with him. Furthermore, she has no interest in sucking face with her coworker, as this undermines her actual work.

Even Callie makes strides in this episode as a powerful woman who is able to keep her position at the law firm by being upfront and honest with the judge, and not cowering like Ben wants her to. Even though she is the newest clerk, she knows she has as much of a right to be there as Ben and Rebecca do. They’ve both had the privilege to attend ivy league schools, but Callie is just as smart as them.

The entire show and this episode in particular highlight privilege beautifully. Mariana and Callie are two young women who have been through the foster care system and didn’t have a lot of economic resources growing up. They had to work two times as hard in many areas of their lives to get just as far as everyone around them. It’s amazing to see these two ladies provide some amazing representation for young women everywhere, especially the ones who can relate to their upbringings.

So where is this episode lacking? For starters, I’m already bored by the love triangle between Callie, Jamie and Gael. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but it feels obvious that Callie should be with Jamie, given he’s emotionally available. Sure, Gael and Callie have a great physical connection and have even had a few deep conversations here and there, but there’s no denying the fact that he just isn’t ready for a relationship. And maybe Callie isn’t either, seeing as she’s so busy with work, but she seems to want just a little bit more than Gael is giving.

I’m also getting  a little bit confused by Evan’s character. It feels as if his relationship with Mariana has been slowly building, but into what I’m not sure. Will he put her in charge of a big project or take on one of her ideas? I’m becoming impatient, and I’m not sure how to translate these small awkward exchanges between them.

Overall, I think the episode was extremely entertaining and shed light on issues that women face everyday perfectly. I particularly loved the line from Casey to Mariana, “Women don’t get to make mistakes.” I feel like so many women can relate to this. This kind of dialogue is what makes me such a huge fan of this show, and so excited to keep watching. The strong female characters really make Good Trouble what it is, and provide a super refreshing take on feminism. It really shows that the writer’s room is full of badass women.

Good Trouble airs Tuesdays on Freeform at 8/7c.

Jessica's episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

#Good Trouble #Imposter

[elane-in-the-shadows]

Red Queen Fan Fiction - Growing Up

800 followers celebration! Thanks for joining <3

This is set in the same universe as the Fade Modern AU, to be found here:

A New Place

Growing Up

The Dinner

Roman Holiday

The Wedding

A/N: This is actually a prequel

Find this on wattpad and on AO3

Mare POV

I wake up with a gasp. I squint at the sunlight, quickly occupied with making sure that I’m home and that I’m alone. The relief about this is embarrassing, meaning I’ve believed I really could’ve done something very stupid last night, like going home with my date, or bringing him here. It would’ve been easy, since I’m the only one at home for the next nine days while my parents and Gisa are on vacation in Mexico, my brothers having already moved out. And here I am, staying behind in the void between graduation, college and all that’ll come after, to decide what I’ll do with my life. But instead of finding myself, I hug my pillow at 1 pm, confused over boy issues.

I still feel his warm hands on my waist, his lips on my neck and mouth. He tasted of the fruity cocktails we had. No point to deny it, a look in the mirror assures me he’s left his mark on me. Oh great, as if I don’t look wasted enough. My hair, with its ends recently dyed purple, is a shaggy mess and my make-up’s all-over the place. From the bathroom, I glance over my shoulder, as if Cal would magically appear after all. But no. Despite how it seems, despite the hangover lingering in my stomach, head, and muscles, I did say no to him. The memories are coming back. It came very close to it, because if I’m honest, I have considered spending the night of our fifth date with him, especially during the event. If only he’d never told me about that.

In the end, I decide for a run to chase off last night. Funny that I literally try to run away from my problems and decisions to make, but I guess physical activity is better than playing around with my phone. I don’t fool myself with pretending I’d look up colleges or jobs again, because I know I won’t. I mean, I’m sure I want to spend this year with work and travel, even if it’s another kind of procrastination. But I know I’m not ready, and this is the best chance to live on the road and see the world, as I’ve always dreamed of. Then I’ll have enough time and freedom to figure out if I want to study electric engineering (“that’ll mean a lot of extra learning, Ms. Barrow, do you have the stamina for that?”), politics (“not many career options there”), or something “reasonable” and wholly boring like economics.

I won’t feel bad for choosing freedom when the savings of my family, myself and my scholarship allow me to take a gap year – maybe I’ll even earn some extra money during the time. But that isn’t the reason, that is –

I curse. Just when I’m at the door, I realize I don’t have the key. Great, that’s the reason. I’m not even responsible enough to think of locking and unlocking the flat myself, as I’m still used to someone else being at home. It’s strange to be alone here, although loneliness hasn’t kicked in yet. I have my friends, even Cal, and for now, having the place to myself has been fun. But I gulp at imagining several months without my family. My lovely, chaotic family who always –

The bell rings, just when I’ve grabbed the key. I sigh, rushing to the door. Who I meet isn’t some post guy or neighbour, but my brother Shade, with his baby daughter in his arms. Their sight alone lifts my mood immediately.

“Hi,” he greets me. “Is everyone here?”

I grin. “You got the week wrong. They went on vacation three days ago.” I stand akimbo. “There’s only me.”

“Oh.” He flushes and curses silently. How controlled he is, since although the baby’s only a few months old, he doesn’t curse in front of her. “Well, I’d hug you, but I don’t have a hand free.” He winks at me.

“I’ve missed you too,” I say, a little sarcastically. “Wanna come in?”

“I see you’ve been almost out anyway, and what’s the point if there’s no one else? Let’s have a walk, Clara will like it too,” he says and even baby Clara smiles back at him.

He hugs me once we’re on the corridor and he’s put Clara back in her basket. It’s irksome, but I still have to go on my toes to reach his neck and he laughs at it, which quickly turns into a yawn. While I’m at it, I use the chance to rub his head. “Tired dad, hmm?” I tease.

“You’ve no idea,” he murmurs and sighs, then picks up Clara and walks ahead out of the building. “Could be worse,” he admits. “She only wakes like three times a night, and Diana’s already decided to adapt to her sleeping rhythm. Which means my girls sleep basically all day.”

His girls. There’s always this spark in his eyes when he talks about his girlfriend Diana, or now of their daughter, and I can’t not be envious of his easy and beautiful and perfect relationship. “Where’s Diana now?” I ask.

“Ill, down with a summer cold. I thought I give her some time to rest where she won’t fuss over Clara instead of herself, and go visit the family.” He tries to smile but actually, he looks regretful. Like he missed the chance to fuss and worry over a sick Diana. I assume he sees something in that, that Diana, who’s a very austere person at first glance, opens up to him the most. And because she makes the same eyes at Shade as he does at her.

Yet, despite the apparent stress and worries, he looks so happy, on top of it all. He has a cool girlfriend, lives with her in their own flat, has a job, attends college and now has a baby to take care of as well. All of him screams “responsible adult” at me and tells me how I lack, how I fall flat in comparison. I wish I could be like him, so determined, without doubts.

But I also miss the not-so-long-ago days of our childhood and our pranks and parties and fun together with Kilorn. Kilorn had the ideas, Shade planned, and I executed them. Now, I think we’re still the same people deep down, but Shade managed to move on and grow up while I’m stuck.

“Mare?” His face is a question mark, he must’ve talked to me before.

“Oops, I’m sorry,” I say, shaking my head to hide the flush. “What did you say?”

He squints at the sunlight as he looks down the road. “Would you like some ice-cream?” he asks.

“Sure.”

“Good. Is the shop still on Yew Street around the corner?”

“Yes – “

“Cool, will you hold Clara for a second?”

“Umm, what?!” I gasp. “And you didn’t ask what I’d like.”

He winks at me. “Trust me. I think I can still guess your favourites.” And thus, he shoves the basket into my arms and dashes off.

Trust me, huh? I move us to a bench close-by. A slightly bigger thing to trust me with his child. Fortunately, she’s asleep. Please God, let her stay that way. It’s difficult enough to wield the big basket in my short arms, I couldn’t deal with a wailing babe as well. A really cute babe though. So tiny – compared to anyone else at least. Shade said something about her being a big baby once, but looking at her small fingers and features makes me almost forget how terrible I am with children. Almost.

Her eyelids flutter. Damn –

“Already done, Mare!” I hear Shade call, extending his hand with the ice cone.

“Thank you so much!” I exclaim with relief. He’s bought me mango and cherry, truly what I would’ve ordered for myself. Although I’m hungrier than that, with a very empty stomach that two balls of ice cream will hardly fill. Suddenly I’m glad he didn’t notice that. I’d feel bad if he bought me something larger, and idiot me didn’t bring money with me either. Shit. I know he has to be frugal with money, yet I let him invite me. Better I offer him dinner later on, if I manage to prepare something halfway delicious.

Shade’s attention is back on the baby. She has woken up, but instead of crying, she smiles at her father rubbing her belly and grabs for his fingers. It’s lovely. But I also see the rings under his eyes, or how my skin has gotten much darker from time in the sun than his. Shade doesn’t have time to spare with hanging out in the sun, I remember. Maybe this is the first free time outside he’s had in weeks, and he chose to spend it with me. Let’s make it worth it.

I start to talk about my graduation, Kilorn, Gisa, and the stuff our parents were up to lately. He laughs frequently, but glances back at Clara every few seconds, his hand always close to her body.

“Now, what about last night?” he asks out of a sudden, almost jokingly.  Like he’s unaware what a delicate topic this is, not even guessing it when I stare at him with an open mouth because I don’t know how to begin.

“It was fun yesterday,” I say. “I went out, with Cal. We’ve been on dates for a few weeks now, and … and …” Shade nods in understanding, but he has no idea. Not about how good it felt to have this boy smiling at me like I was the most desirable person in the world, how a touch of his chased away all my insecurities – for a moment at least – and lit me up with confidence, only to let these feelings extinguish and crush with his off-hand revelation that then filled me with bitter guilt.

My cheeks heat, my eyes water. No. I don’t want to remember, but –

Suddenly, I’m in Shade’s arms, listening to his sorrys. He even has a hanky ready for me. “Shh,” he mutters, “shh, Clara, everything’s alright –”

I jerk away. “Did you just call me ‘Clara’?!”

He goes red as a cherry. “Umm … did I? Sorry Mare, I must be used to it already, hehe.”

I cackle, or try to, because it hurts with my tearstained face. The drops won’t stop rolling and I hold on to the new hanky Shade produces. He continues to hold my hand while Clara, in her basket, looks up to me from the ground.

“Cal is …” I begin, “I mean, yesterday, he told me about his own plans. He starts college soon, and now he’s found out his half-brother will study at the same one. They’ll have a family dinner soon, a premier for them. That all sounded odd, of course, but I didn’t prod openly. So I wondered whether he and his brother have the same age, and then he looked embarrassed and nodded. ‘It’s a long and complicated story, Mare,’ he said. ‘Nothing to be proud of.’ And I thought, ‘oh saucy details, cool that he trusts me with them’, ignorant fool that I was.” I sniff. “He explained that his mom was his father’s paramour, and when she got pregnant with Cal, his father divorced his first wife. Months later, the ex-wife sent a letter with a photo of their newborn son and called her ex out terribly, but then she wouldn’t let her child meet his father or brother.

“Over the years, the relationship improved little and they got actually very worried about … ‘Maven’, since his mother didn’t seem like the best of people. And that,” I stress, “was the moment I went from curious to shocked.”

“You mean,” Shade guesses, „Maven as in your ex-boyfriend?”

“Yes,” I hiss. “Exactly him. And Maven even told me about his horrible mother, the father he never sees, and the half-brother he doesn’t know!” I bury my face in my hands and hanky to mute my sobs.

Maven, my first crush and boyfriend, with who I shared our first kiss and first sex. During the last year of middle school and the whole of high school, he meant the world to me. He understood all of me, the doubt and the dreams, the dark days and the light, and I hoped to be the same to him. Yet, in the last months, there grew a distance between us. He became extremely ambitious, almost obsessed about getting into a certain college. He was much less open to me, even when I would’ve needed support to find my way, too, or to decide whether a gap year was the right choice. I knew he had problems with anxiety, more severe than the melancholy lingering in me, but never before did that separate us. I didn’t want to leave him because it was too hard to deal with him, but in the end, three months ago, I decided to make a clean cut before my travels and his studies put also a physical distance between us.

“I felt bad about it, about breaking his heart, immediately. And now, imagining he learns I dated and made out with his estranged half-brother?” My voice goes up with a wail, and Shade pulls me closer again.

“It’s okay, Mare, you’ll see,” he whispers. “Don’t ... feel guilty. You aren’t, well, indebted to care for him.”

“But – “

“Nor do you have to erase him from your life. Maybe offer him another goodbye, like invite to your farewell party?” he proposes.

I snort. “As long as Cal doesn’t show up there too.”

The corners of his mouth twitch. “Well, how they reunite and maybe become a family isn’t your problem to solve either. Look, you could also chat with, ah, both of them while you’re away? Perhaps it’ll work out with a little distance.”

I nod, knowing how reasonable his ideas are. And possibly he’s right, and all will work out. But knowledge won’t heal my heart, not Maven’s. Nor will it make an apology to Cal.

“I really like him, you know. Cal, I mean.” I sigh. “Of course, I’m aware it can’t last while I’m abroad. And that was okay, because he started as a mere distraction. But now …” I shrug. “Sometimes, I think it’d be nice if he came with me. Or if we met every now and then, if possible. He has the money for it.”

Shade snorts.

“Yes, you can get annoyed about that,” I admit.

“That’s not what I mean,” he objects.

“Oh?”

“No, I wondered if he’s aware what it’ll mean for you to travel alone.”

I straighten. “Don’t.”

“Mare – “

“No, Shade, I’m not a baby,” I insist. “I want this, and I always did. I might be irresponsible, reckless, and up in the clouds at times, but I’m not a naïve fool. I know what I’m getting into, that it may be dangerous, or that I’ll have to sleep under a bridge for a night, or wear my clothes for a whole week. But that’s the challenge of freedom, and I’m excited for it.” And despite my former tears and the hangover, I smile. “I’ll be on my own, and I’ll miss you, but the prospect fills me with confidence.”

He sighs and embraces me. “Sorry, I totally understand that,” he says. “It may sound a little odd, but Clara felt like a challenge too, before she was born. Diana wanted her so much, but she was insecure too. And we had to encourage each other all the time, assuring us we’d make it.” He sighs deeply.

“I think you’re doing great,” I say.

He smiles weakly. “Thanks. But once she was born? Everything changed. She was laid in my arms, Dee couldn’t stop crying, and I thought, ‘damn, you can’t fuck this up.’ Now we had all the responsibility for this little person, to raise her and make her happy, and it was just … too great.” He swallows and looks down at his child. “Great as in good, but also …” He hesitates.

“I know.” I nod. As in heavy, huge, incomprehensible.

He inclines his head. After a while, he adds, “so, besides all that, I need to keep her safe, and myself and Dee too. I can’t just do what I want, I have to think of her first. I can’t be on my own any longer.

“But that doesn’t mean what you’re doing is irresponsible in any way, Mare. You’ll look after yourself. You may f… make mistakes or not, but you’ll learn a lot anyway, and not before you’ve done it. You have to dare it first, as we had to dare to have Clara.”

I smile. “I knew you’d phrase it better than me.”

“I major in philosophy.” He grins and gives me a shove. “We have new priorities now, and live away from each other, but I’ll always be your brother.”

“My favourite one,” I say and hug him.

A/N: Sorry this rather alludes to Marecal than being about them. i hope I didn’t wake false expectations and enjoed anyway ^^°

Thanks to @clarafarleybarrow @moikorolrezni and @inopinion for advice!

@lilyharvord  @mareshmallow @redqueenfandom @selenbean-beany @wrenskonos @kihlorn @greenfeldbramlouis @head-full-of-books @eurydicel @morebooks-pls @scarletguardsource @choosemarecal @duqrte @hannaharies @proudsmiler16 @indiefangirlflash

#red queen fanfiction #red queen #marecal #mare x maven #shade x farley #shade barrow #mare barrow #clara farley-barrow #modern au #red queen modern au #fade modern au #red queen one-shots #scarletguardsource #jubilee #800 jubilee #growing up

[festiveboydanielhowells]

figuring things out (chapter 5)

Summary: Prince Daniel of Eithoia has been seeing Lord Philip in private for years, despite his marriage to Princess Isabella. Up until now, it was never an issue for the three to be together. No one anticipated for the Princess to have an urgent announcement, and now anticipated that it would impact Dan and Phil and their countries as much as it did. 

Warnings: pregnancy, smut, mentions of violence, swearing, vomiting

Tags: fluff, (horribly written) smut, royalty AU, polyamory, pregnancy

[read on a03] [previous chapter][next chapter][masterlist]

Thirteenth of January

Steeple Palace, Kings

Phil misses Julia.

It’s the first thing he thinks when he wakes up with Dan’s arms around his waist and Isabella’s face buried in his neck. He likes being in between them, they’re both so warm and comfortable, but he needs to use the bathroom. He moves Dan’s arms from around his waist with minimal protests and moves over Isabella and out of the bed.

Isabella makes a noise that sounds vaguely like, “What are you doing?” as Phil maneuvers around her and onto his feet.

“I’m using the bathroom,” He whispers, giving her a kiss by her hair.

“Don’t be long,” She says, her words slurring, before she moves closer to Dan and tucks her head into his chest. Within seconds, her breathing has evened out and her eyes are closed peacefully in sleep.

He gives her another kiss on her hair before heading into Dan’s bathroom.

Being in his bathroom is uncomfortable—his shower has odd knobs on it, his whole bathroom feels much too big for some reason. He supposes that he always gotten a smaller room because he had a “lower” status, but now he’s staying in a King’s room, which means he’s literally at the top of the food chain.

He struggles to get the shower going, but eventually, he discovers which knob is hot water and which knob is cold water. Thankfully, it’s not too complicated, and he gets in the shower within a couple of minutes. He really doesn’t want to get out of the bathroom to grab his bag, so instead, he uses Dan’s body wash.

(He hopes it’s Dan’s body wash—there’s two bottles of similar things, and Phil doesn’t want to smell like honey suckle and lavender despite how good Isabella smells.)

Thankfully, he grabs the correct bottle of wash as he begins lathering his body in soap. It smells like mint and eucalyptus—exactly like Dan. He shampoos his hair and thinks about home—his home. He distinctly wonders how Dan will react if he asks him to bring Julia to the palace. It’s not Dan’s stingy or anything, but Phil still worries.

What if he didn’t like Julia, and so he says no? What if he tells Phil that he can’t allow her to live in the palace because she’s Intoran?

He takes a breath and turns off the water before stepping out of the shower. He refuses to use Dan or Isabella’s toothbrush—that’s disgusting, regardless of how often they kiss—and wraps a towel around his waist to grab his bag.

Isabella and Dan are awake, but they’re not out of bed. Instead, Dan has retrieved his laptop from his desk and Isabella is looking over his shoulder, occasionally pointing at things and saying, “Is that right? I think those are off,” before grabbing her phone and opening the calculator app.

Phil grabs his duffle bag and rummages through it before reaching his bag of toiletries and heading back into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

He skips washing his face, rather choosing to splash his face with cold water and apply his deodorant.

He combs his hair back until he deems it relatively good-looking, and then exits the bathroom to change clothes. When he emerges from the bathroom, Dan has a distressed look, and Isabella’s comforting him about something. “It’ll be fine,” She tells him. “It’ll be fine. This is just a bump, okay?” and Dan nods, giving her a kiss.

“What’s happened?” Phil asks, hoping he doesn’t sound too nosy.

Dan shakes his head. “Boring stuff. Economic stuff.” He mutters, and Phil’s look must persuade him to keep talking, because he does. “It’s just so stupid.” He mutters, “Jobs need to be made but instead, companies are rapidly closing to reconcile with the money loss due to needing to supply their employees with a livable wage.” He puts his head in his hands. “I don’t know what to do. Unemployment is so high and so many companies are cutting down on jobs.”

“What’s minimum wage here?” Phil asks, because sue him, he doesn’t know anything about foreign countries.

“Five-forty,” Dan mutters. “It’s definitely not livable, but it’s close because of the new housing bill and medical care bill.”

Phil shivers, “It’s twelve dollars in Intora,” He says, and then feels like shit for saying it. Dan knows that, Dan knows that his people aren’t able to live, but the big corporations were using Etithoia as a way to get cheap labor for so long and he’ll need to gradually build up to a proper minimum wage.

“Trust me, Phil,” Isabella says, “We’re aware. Our country has been the shithole dumping site of everyone else for so long. Cheap labor is so common and illegal operations too because everyone here is poor and we’re the only ones who have food, at this point.” She says.

“We could put the one idea into operation,” Dan suggests, and Phil wants to know what the ‘one idea’ is but he holds his tongue. “The one with the donations of excess food.” He says.

Phil grabs an outfit from his bag and turns around and lets the towel drop before getting ready for the day. He hears Izzy hum in agreement before saying, “The bill or the operation?”

“Either one, really.” Dan says, turning towards Izzy. “I’ve been thinking about setting the bill into publicity for a while now, but I haven’t really had the guts.”

“You should do it,” Izzy says, giving him a soft kiss on his cheek. “I received an email from the housing units—they say that they don’t have any funding for buying food or clothing. Having companies donate whatever they don’t sell under they law would be pretty helpful for most of them. The biggest needs right now are food, furniture, and clothing.” She explains.

“I got the same email,” He says, “They want to have more reasons for the upper class to support them.”

“Tax write-offs,” Izzy suggests. “Menia has them. If you donate to a shelter you get a portion of your taxes taken off depending on how much you donated that year.” Dan nods, typing down additions to the notepad he has open. “Bring that up at the meeting, yeah?” She asks, and he nods.

“Will do, love.” He opens up a tab for his email and types out a new email to his advisors.

“Advisors” is their title, but their job is to convince Dan that he’s making bad decisions. Dan tends to not listen, and he takes it upon himself to prove them wrong at every opportunity. He begins typing his email.

To: Winston Davidson, Logan Brookes, Kate Ingrid, Taylor Nelson

Cc: Isabella Howell, Emily Howell

Subject: Monday’s Meeting

 To whom it may concern,

 There is to be a royal advisory meeting held on Monday the fifteenth of January in the grand common meeting hall.

The topics to be covered:

-Bill 1197; topics of minimum wage

-Living conditions of citizens below poverty limit

-Introduction and editing of Bill 1198; topics of food, clothing, and furniture donations

-Corporate interference with daily life

 Sincerely,

Prince Daniel James Howell

 He hates the flow of the email, hates the fact that he has to write “to whom it may concern”, and hates the way he has to be just vague enough but also specific enough.

He ignores his hatred of the sentences he wrote in favor of focusing on the fact that he now has a plan for what he’s going to actually say. Every meeting he’s gone to has either been information packed or completely void of any plans, and Dan hates both.

He supposes he just hates his job, really.

Phil crawls into the bed next to Dan, and Dan attempts to give him a kiss, but Phil pushes him away. “Your breath is disgusting. It’s nine a.m., brush your teeth.” He scolds, and Dan fakes offence.

“I will have you know I was doing important business.” He says, but gets up anyways to get ready for the day. He washes himself off in the shower, brushes his teeth, and gets dressed for the day. He ends up wearing a plain shirt and a plain pair of trousers; he doesn’t have to make a presentation, so he will be wearing lounge clothing thank you very much. Dan emerges from the bathroom with soaked hair, before motioning to Isabella to go after him.

“What are you doing today?” Phil asks.

“Writing a bill. And you’re going to go to the doctor’s with Izzy.” He says, completely monotone. Phil can’t gauge whether or not he’s being serious until he looks at his tired eyes and understands. Of course he’s being serious, he has an entire country to transform. If he doesn’t do it to the best ability, other countries look down at him even though they have to hardly do anything. He sighs and flops himself onto their bed. “It’s not like I want to, but ever day without this bill going public is another day of wasted material for the housing units.”

Phil nods in understanding, and falls on top of Dan dramatically, spreading his arms out so that he’s put his full weight on top of Dan’s. He grunts, “Thanks, Phil.”

“No probably. You stress yourself out.”

“So, you’re going to be my human blanket?” Dan asks into the duvet.

“Yep.”

Dan lets out a content hum, before rolling them over and leaning against Phil. “I really do have to write this, but there’s breakfast downstairs in the kitchens. If you want some, you and Izzy can go together. She always needs to eat before she goes to the doctor’s, but—”

“But eating this early always upsets your stomach,” Phil finishes, giving him a slow kiss on the lips. When he pulls back, Dan’s smile is a little more real, and his shine a little brighter than before. “Izzy and I will grab food and head off, you stay up here and work, okay?” Dan nods, and pulls him into another slow and happy kiss before crawling up the bed and putting his laptop on his thighs.

He opens the document he was working on earlier, and hesitantly begins to type as Isabella exits the bathroom and joins Philip at breakfast.

Bill 1198

To go into effect (n/a)

Under the Daniel Howell Advisory.

180 Steeple Drive, Kings, 33478, Etithoia

 The Bill 1198 is to be a solution for the lack of food, furnishings, and clothing available to housing units around the country.

He stares at the sentence, before deleting it off of the template.

House Bill 1198 is a solution to the country-wide issue that housing units have been experiencing since their opening and endorsements. The bill will encourage citizens above the poverty line to donate to said units with compensation in the form of tax write-offs. The bill also aims to provide corporate-donated materials by creating a system where companies can donate unused food, furnishings, clothing, and items to the units in return for government-given tax write-offs.

He looks at the paragraph, which seems much more put together than the simple sentence he’d written out before, and continues to work. He wants to make the bill seem as appealing as possible—the more appealing it is, the more the citizens will accept it.

The goal of the tax write-offs (which are to be provided by in receipts by the units) is to reduce the tax that one has to pay on job income and housing. Should a citizen need to limit their debt to the government of Etithoia—whether it be taxes, student loans, or any other debt—they can provide the receipt on their taxation logs in order to receive compensation for their good deed.

In order to receive a write-off, the citizen or business representative will deliver the products (through mail or personal visiting to the donation site) and receive a letter back with the items the unit received. The unit will keep a digitalized copy of all receipts in order to provide any lost receipts to donors. The amount that the donor donates to the unit will affect the amount taken off of taxes or debts.  

Is that good? Does it flow well? He hopes it does, because he sends the document in a follow-up email to the same group of people. He chooses not to write out a formal email, the subject and the document practically explain themselves, anyways. He signs it and presses send, hoping that they read it before Monday. They hardly ever do, and then end up confused when he brings up whatever document he’d emailed them over the weekend.

He stands up, stretches his arms, and checks the time: twelve-fifteen. He knows lunch will be served soon, but his stomach is heavy with the anxiety of Monday’s meeting, and he chooses to skip out. Instead, he texts Isabella a quick, “where are you? Done with bill xx,” and goes back to mindlessly typing notes into his laptop, feeling semi-productive.

From: Izzy

We’re outside. The snow was super pretty lol

She sends him a picture of her and Phil outside, both covered in snowflakes all over. Phil’s eyes are bright and shining and he’s jumping in the background of the photo.

From: Izzy

we want 2 go out for lunch B)

To: Izzy

Where tho like that’s whats important

From: Izzy

Obviously that 1 diner at the edge of kings

U kno the 1 with the fairy lights :)

To: Izzy

Sure yea id be down

Do u want to take a car or walk

From: Izzy

Can we walk my feet hurt

Will show u pics of the ultrasound at lunch. We’ve got neeeeeeeewssss

He puts his phone down and closes his laptop screen. He puts his shoes on and joins Izzy and Phil outside, “We’ll have to tell someone where we’re going.” He tells them. “And we should probably bring, like, a guard or two.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Izzy says happily. “Drake and Josh?” She says, and Dan laughs.

“Yeah, sure, if neither are working right now.” He says.

 Phil likes the restaurant. It’s pretty, simple, and their food is good. Fairy lights are strung up around the building and the lights are dimmed so that they stand out even more. He ordered a plate of fish and chips and some ice cream and is extremely grateful that he did.

Dan and Isabella split a vegetarian pizza with mozzarella sticks, and Phil turns his nose up to it. He likes cheese on pizza, but this pizza looks too cheesy, and it has at least four cheeses on it according to the menu. The waitress said hi to Dan and Isabella as if they were old friends in university, “Oh! How are you? It’s been a while; I was starting to worry that you didn’t like our food anymore.” But both Dan and Isabella assure her that they would never stop visiting the diner.

Phil learns that Drake and Josh did not mean the television show characters and instead a burly guard with strange resemblance to musician Drake and a tall curly-haired man literally named Josh. He’s sort of disappointed, but upon watching them interact with each other, becomes very happy.

“Drake” (apparently his name is Fergreck, Phil understands why everyone calls him Drake) keeps feeding Josh food and giving him compliments. Phil didn’t know that he would ever wish two bodyguards would date, but right now, he really wants them to just admit their undying love for each other. This must be how the internet feels about Dan and Phil, he thinks.

They eat in silence, occasionally making jokes or talking about their days, but it’s a comfortable silence. Dan’s holding his hand underneath the table and every time Izzy bumps her foot playfully against his he blushes deeply.

Towards the end of the meal, as everyone is taking their last bites of food, Izzy turns to Dan. “So, the doctor found something interesting.” She says, and Phil grows stiff. He completely forgot about it before, but now he’s anxious of Dan’s reaction. “Laurie’s going to have another sibling.”

Dan looks confused, his brain catching up with the words before he squeals and wraps her into a hug. “Twins? Oh my God,” He exclaims, and Phil knows they’re attracting attention, but Dan gives them both long kisses and then begins crying and he’s never been happier. “We’re going to have two of them, holy fuck. I totally called it.”

Izzy laughs, “Yea, yea, you were right all along,” She says lovingly and giving him a quick kiss. Dan drops a kiss onto Phil’s hand and wipes his happy tears away with the other.

“I’m just so excited,” He says. “I—I just—”

Phil cuts him off with a kiss, and he smiles into Dan’s mouth. “Let’s go home, come on.” Phil says, pulling away. “Head out before we get mobbed or some shit.”

They head out, Dan slams a twenty percent tip for the waitress onto the table, and the waitress gives all of them hugs and her congratulations as they leave. Dan’s so happy, he won’t stop talking about names for the babies.

“You can keep ‘Laurie’ but I want to name the other one!” He says, and Isabella gives him a look.

“I’m going to push a screaming watermelon out of my vagina, you have no right to name either of them.” She accuses playfully, and Dan pouts.

“Laurie Anne and Jordan Isabella.” He says.

“Jordan Isabella is ugly,” Phil argues. “Isabella Jordan.”

“No, that’s too close to my name,” Isabella complains.

“What if one of them is a boy and one is a girl?” Dan asks, “Then can we name a baby Jordan?”

She rolls her eyes at his eagerness, “You’ll get your Jordan, I promise.”

He pecks her cheek and gives them both a goofy smile before leaning against Izzy’s shoulder and snuggling into the backseat of the car.

#phanfic #phan #phandom #phanfiction

[misformarvel]

Aristocrat! Tom AU P.2

Summary: To keep the favour of his father, Tom has to spend his vacations in the country palace of Lord Marlborough, his future “father in law”. Y/N and her fiancee discovered that they could get along, even when their relationship responds only to economic and power interests of their families. 

A/N: Would you like to cast someone as the Duke of Marlborough and Nana Dawson? Because I’d love you guys to do that. Also, remember I’m taking suggestions about the future of the series, and I’d love to include some of you as characters of this story. Tell me what d’ya think about it here.

Warnings: maybe some cursing. Tom being a tease. 

Part 1

Masterlist

Born into wealth. Privileged children of the money. Young people that someday would run the world. That was too much responsibility, a heavy weight to carry on your shoulders. Being seventeen is feeling like you own the world, but being in your twenties and indeed own a big portion of the wealth of your country? Believe me, it isn’t as good as it sounds.

At least not to me. I’ve been raised to take my father’s place someday in front of the family business. Four generations of bankers, gambling with the hopes and dreams of England. When you’re a rotten spoiled child you don’t understand the fact you’re in control of the future of thousands of people. I did things I’m ashamed of, I failed to my parents, to my brothers, to people who loved me and to myself. But last year I understood I still got time to change what I am. I’m not going to become the insensible wealthy man I’m meant to become. I’ll care about others, I’m not going to be the selfish twat I’ve been until now.  

-“Mr Thomas, Lady Y/N is waiting for you to join her for having tea together in the garden”. The older woman spits her words in a harsh, distant tone, noticeably annoyed by Tom’s presence. 

- “You’re not comfortable with this, aren’t you Harriet?” Tom cheekily asked. “None of us are, to be completely honest”.

- “Then what are you doing here Mr Thomas? If you’re not interested in your engagement with Lady Y/N” -Harriet replied impatiently. She raised up that girl, she shouldn’t let her marry such an insolent man. 

- “C’mon woman, is not that bad. You barely notice I’m here, I spent my vacay locked at the library with the Duke pretending I care about the classics, just to content him and my father. I’m leaving soon and probably won´t come back until you’re retired”. The chuckle hasn’t left his face, teasingly added “Besides, that would be very soon. You complain so much, don’t you know it makes you older?”.

Harriet left the guests room disgusted. She ran into me in the hallway. They were taking so long to join me I guessed they were arguing. For the last three months, it was my main amusement. 

-”It’s ok Nana, calm, please. I’ll have a conversation with Thomas about his manners”.

-”The complete lack of them, M’Lady”. Nana couldn’t put her annoyance aside, not even for a second. 

-”Why do you have to be so rude with my poor old Nana?” He pouted as soon as I finished my sentence. 

- “It isn’t my fault she doesn’t like me”. Thomas closed the book he had in his hands and left the sit he occupied behind the desk, moving forward to where I was standing. He placed both his hands on my shoulders turning me around and pushed me out of the bedroom. He followed me anyways, guiding me outside where the tea service was still waiting for us. 

-”Wife,” he said with chivalry, indicating me to sit before he did the same beside me. 

- “Husband” I joke back pointing the teapot, asking him if he fancied a cup. We both giggled. Perhaps we were getting used to this, perhaps we would make a decent married couple. 

- “It’s a real shame all this is coming to an end, I can tell I’m getting used to the country life”. 

-”Well, I’m not, is tediously boring and there’s nothing I enjoy less than get up early and go hunting with papá”.

- “Your father is such an extraordinary man Y/N, I’ve learnt so much from him these last months. Except of course, how to deal with Harriet”. His eyes were smiley, as he knew how would I react to his comment. A grin grew on my face, we were reaching a level of complicity I haven’t reached before with other people. Maybe just his brothers. 

- “And that smirking face of yours, I’m definitely gonna miss that”. His last words took me by surprise. An uncomfortable silence took place between us, his eyes glued to mine. I can even picture myself the stupid face I may have put on, the one I can’t help making when I’m falling for someone. Quickly he breaks that moment “So, are you excited about uni?” Oxford is a big deal. Just try to don’t get expelled”.

I haven’t thought about it. After finish my A Levels I got into Trinity College, one of the most prestigious colleges in Oxford -and the world -. But even though I know it is a privilege thousands of people would kill for, it didn’t make me happy. My best friend Laura got into Columbia and moved all the way across the Atlantic to be near her mum, the new First Lady of New York. Laura and I have been friends since our first year in the boarding school. We were six years old. Our friendship was the closest to have siblings we’ve ever had. Sometimes we even joke about having a twin-connection, especially around the sceptic  Holland twins that state there’s no such thing as a twin-connection -I’m convinced they’re wrong and they totally have one-. So, no. I wasn’t excited about uni because it was here, 30 minutes away from the Marlborough’s state. I wasn’t going to have the normal uni experience either because I wasn’t going to live on Campus as everyone else did. 

-“Yes, of course. I’m impatient”. Tom knew me well by the time and noticed I was lying. 

- “Ok sweetheart, if you want to survive in that pit of snakes you shall learn how to lie, ok?” he laughed and took my hand. “And stay away from them” whispered before biting my earlobe and leaving with a smug grin o his face. Once I get out of the trance his actions put me on, I noticed he left something on the table. A list of names written in Tom’s absurdly pretty handwriting. A list of male names.

- “So, will you explain to me what is that note you left with me the other day?”

-”When? When I did this”. He did it again, and judging by her shocked expression I’m sure Nana saw Thomas biting my earlobe. She froze me with her eyes but eventually left us walking alone.

-”Don’t even try to do that ag... Honestly, I don’t know what I’m expecting from such a man-child” I rolled my eyes at him and Tom giggled. 

-”Can’t I? I mean we’re practically man and wife Y/N”.

-”No! We’re not, we’re not even girlfriend and boyfriend, we have a commercial trade kind of relationship, and I’m being polite and nice because you’re a guest and that’s how I am supposed to treat my guest. That I learnt from your mother”. 

- “Well, I don’t think my mother sneak into the guest room in the middle of the night for a talk because she can’t sleep. Not to mention the guest we are talking about was quite scantily-clad”. 

My eyes were wide open and my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe it. He’s unbelievable. His eyes scanned me, the cheeky smirk on his face disappear when he licked his lips, coming dangerously close to mine. 

-”Look at you. The all confident and self-aware Lady Y/N Marchioness of Blandford, heiress of this magnificent palace in the middle of the fairy countryside, getting flustered by the touch of a simple, commoner nobody. Well, a quite rich nobody, but still. Your Nana would be so disappointed”. 

My heart was about to pop up out of my chest. His hands placed on my hips with a tight grip, holding me close to him, his heavy breath hitting me. 

-“Don’t ever said that again Y/N”.

-”W-what? What did I say?” I couldn’t remember a word of the previous conversation we were having.

-”We’re not a commercial trade”. Tom kissed me desperately as if his life depended on it. “I don’t know what are we, but this isn’t fake. Fuck our dads, this is for ourselves” he mumbled before carrying me to his bedroom.

Ok, I’m getting worst and worst with the endings 😂

Part two especially dedicated to @clairesrainbow  😘😍

#aristocrat! tom #aristocrat au #tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagines #tom holland smut #tom holland fluff #tom holland fanfic #tom holland x y/n

[douchebagbrainwaves]

EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HACKERS

You enjoy it more if you eat it occasionally than if you eat nothing but chocolate cake for every meal. As long as things are going smoothly, boards don't interfere much. Working at something as a day job as a waiter, that's a sure sign that something is wrong. There's nothing wrong with the system; it's just inevitable that kids will be miserable at that age revolves far more around popularity than before or after.1 My relationship with my cofounder went from just being friends to seeing each other all the time. The path it has discovered is the most economical route to the sea. From a VC firm, go to their web site and send them an email. Surely all smart people would be interested in it, if one could only figure out what we're getting wrong is to look at the ever-increasing number of startups and think this can't continue. I sat down to write them.

It is, in a mild form, an example of reason gone wrong.2 I would give about writing essays, it would be misleading to say the field is still at the first step.3 In some fields it might be worth a hundred times the size. Why don't more people apply?4 Teenagers now are useless, except as cheap labor in industries like fast food, which evolved to exploit precisely this fact. Who thinks they're not open-minded? So they're going to do with your life.

Meanwhile, sensing a vacuum in the metaphysical speculation department, the people who know this best are the very ones trying to get tenure in any field you must not arrive at conclusions that members of tenure committees can disagree with. That's the key. Wall Street learns new languages fast when money is involved, raising seed capital is comparatively easy—at least in computational bottlenecks. David Filo's title was Chief Yahoo, but he was proud that his unofficial title was Cheap Yahoo. So who should start a startup, your money situation will probably change too. I care about startups. You could conceivably lose half your brain and live.

If you increase your filter's vocabulary, which makes it seem like work. The ideal would be to consider not just 15 tokens, but all the tokens over a certain age or graduate from some institution. Most people in the business of marking up paper.5 In a real essay doesn't take a position and defend it.6 Rebellion is almost as stupid as obedience.7 Always be questioning. What began as combing his hair a little carefully over a thin patch has gradually, over 20 years, grown into a monstrosity. And while they probably have bigger ambitions now, this alone brings them a billion dollars a year. Enterprise software companies aren't technology companies, they're sales companies, and facing similar obstacles at similar times. And that's also a sign that one is solving mostly a single type of problem instead of many different types. Now the group is nervous.

This was also one reason we didn't go public.8 No wonder you become cynical. Talent probably matters more in types of work have aspects one doesn't like, because most types of work consist of doing things in software on a single device are so great that everything that can get turned into software will. This is a complicated topic. We want to make your life difficult.9 I think, is the lows. If you do this, but others would probably welcome it.10 Blasphemy, sacrilege, and heresy were such labels for a good part of the deal.

Hell if they know. This is not just a way to keep tabs on industry trends than as a source of cheap labor. Ok, it may seem cool to get paid for doing easy stuff, after paying to do hard stuff in college. I know a number of startups founded by business people who then went looking for hackers to create their product for them. When someone buys shares in a company they discovered. If they saw that, they'd want you to be a lot of good publicity for the VCs. In general, people outside some very demanding field don't realize the extent to which success depends on constant though often unconscious effort. Put in time how and on what?

Notes

Unfortunately, making physically nice books will only be willing to provide this service, and we did not become romantically involved till afterward. You should always absolutely refuse to give each customer the impression that math is merely boring, whereas bad philosophy is nonsense.

To work for startups that get killed by overspending might have to track down. When I was there when it converts. He was off by only about 2% of the words out of Viaweb, Java applets were supposed to be. A has an operator for removing spaces from strings and language B doesn't, that's not art because it doesn't commit you to acknowledge it.

And in any case. Related: Reprinted in Gray, Donald J. Doing a rolling close usually prevents this. 99,—9.

And no, you waited too long to launch a new database will probably frighten you more by what you've done than where you go to a can of soup. But if you're a loser they're done, she doesn't like getting attention in the Greek classics. I'm thinking of Oresme c.

Confucius and Plato saw themselves as teachers of administrators, and b I'm satisfied if I can establish that good art fifteenth century European art.

The most important things VCs fail to understand about startups in Germany told me that if you were expected to do this all the difference between being judged as a predictor.

The company is like starting out in the sense of getting rich from a VC means they'll look bad if the value of their works are lost. SpamCop—. To help clarify the matter.

And though they have because they need to play the game according to certain somewhat depressing rules many of the lies we tell kids are probably the last thing they'd want; it is because those are the first phase of the 23 patterns in Design Patterns were invisible or simpler in Lisp, though.

For example, probably did more drugs in his twenties than any design decision, but suburbs are so much attention. Internally most companies are up-front capital intensive to founders would actually increase the size of the movie Dawn of the Fabian Society, it would do it now. The original edition contained a few people who lost were us.

Compromising a server could cause such damage that ASPs that want to know exactly how a lot, or a complete bust. Cost, again.

#automatically generated text #Markov chains #Paul Graham #Python #Patrick Mooney #sup #business #philosophy #position #speculation #money #VC #operator #others #company #Donald #Talent #Unfortunately #brain #type #li #startups #example #form #everything #Notes #seed #meal

[drunkoctopusinc]

Saw this on Instagram and not gonna lie- it kinda bugged me. Some of these points are accurate, some I disagree with but I see the argument for, others are out and out wrong. Usually the inaccuracies are due to purpously inflammatory phrasing, which is understandable since its a meme but the issues are to important for the language to stand fully uncriticed. Basically, I know it’s just a meme but I wanna pick it apart since this stuff is important and quite frankly I’m a little bored.

“Total support for Isreal”

This is true of the official platforms for each party. That being said I think it’s important to note you will find Democratic candidates and office holders with more moderated views on Isreal and (increasingly so) candidates who strongly support Palestine. There is no such moderation or diversity of opinion on the Republican side. If you want to cast your vote for someone who doesn’t support Isreal you might find that in a Democrat especially in the House of Reps, so be sure to look up your local candidates because they might surprise you on this one.

“Do Wall Streets bidding”

Wall Street is basically begging for Dodd-Frank to be repealed, and no Democrat is gonna do that. A Democratic administration created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and since 2010 there have been 3 separate bills introduced by Democrats to improve/reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. (The most recent was a bi-patrician bill sponsored by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), John McCain (R-AZ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Angus King (I-ME)) I understand how a lack of success can make it feel like Democrats are just doing Wall Street’s bidding, but that’s not the case. There are certainly differences in the level of regulation Democrats are asking for, but the broad strokes is Democrats want regulations put on Wall Street, while Republicans believe Wall Street can be trusted to do whatever they want.

“Unlimited Military Spending”

Much to my chagrin, this is true. Regardless of party affiliation it’s good for any elected official to say they brought jobs to the district, and more fighter jets mean more jobs building fighter jets. No one wants to rock that boat.

“Hostility to Russia, Iran, & China”

This one has multiple parts with varing degrees of debatablity. For Russia the Obama Administration tried to soften relations but Putin basically responded “No thanks Toots” and proceeded to violated Ukraine’s sovrienty, back a dictator using chemical weapons on his own people, and meddle in our elections. Basically the Dems tried but it’s a two way street and Russia’s gotta be on board too. Meanwhile Trump and the Republicans seem to be fine with Russia paying militants to kill Americans and undermining democratic norms in the 2016 US elections as well as a bunch of other European elections so seems like they want to get along with Russia whatever it fucking takes. So I’d say there’s a pretty big difference on that one.

Regarding Iran, there’s not much difference between Democrats and Republicans. Both are skeptical about Iran and don’t want to risk the alliances we have with other middle eastern nations in order to tighten bonds with Iran. HOWEVER, the Iran Nuclear Treaty was a huge step forward in calming tensions which damn near every democrat supported. And the Republicans basically yeeted it into the sun for no good reason. So at least democrats don’t want to make shit worse with Iran. As for China 100% hositlites would have remained the same with a Dem and probably most Republicans. But at the moment Republicans support an active trade war with China which is only making our relations with them worse. So for both Iran and China the Dems gotta get at least some points for not wanting to make shit worse.

“Full Spectrum Dominance.”

Yes. Both parties want the US to a strong political and economic force on the world stage without any major foreign threats. (TBH I struggle to see the problem with this because that dominance could be used to give every nation wi-fi and tasty cookies just easily as to perpetuate rampant injustice especially when its so vauge as to what they mean by Full Spectrum Dominance. But I don’t have nothing against you if you don’t want the US to persue dominance as goal.)

“Let Money Rule politics”

Campaign finance reform is a complicated issue because there isn’t 1 clear answer for how to do it. Campaigning costs a lot of money and candidates have to get that money somehow, unfortunately there isn’t really an answer for how it needs to be done that can’t in some way be attacked for not going far enough or not solving the real problem. So while Democrats generally try to find solutions and create reform, it is perfectly understandable and reasonable to feel they aren’t actually solving anything. However I think it’s important note (given how important this years election is) that Joe Biden has been very consistent on voting for campaign finance reform for the past 40 years, even going so far as to create a system of public funding for congressional elections in the early 90s. So if this is a high priority issue for you Joe Biden has a strong record on it.

“Neoliberalism Rocks!”

I’ve found online the term “neoliberalism” is used to describe such a wide range of policies it’s becoming less and less clear exactly what a person means by saying “neoliberalism.” So how accurate this claim is really depends on how you define “neoliberal.” That caveats aside, traditionally both parties have their neoliberal cohorts, and they do wield a far bit of power since they usually are the “deal makers” who talk more with the other side and create the compromises which get broad enough support to pass. However, the Republican Party has been drifting away from neoliberal policies for some time and has been completely sprinting away from them since trump was elected. For example here are some policies self described neoliberals love which recent republicans have taken a massive shit on; Free Trade, easier immigration, and a carbon tax. Neoliberals are inherently in the middle so yes both parties have neoliberal segments (Bill Clinton, Bush Senior for example) but Republicans are rapidly running further and further right, so if not already accurate to say “Neoliberals universally identify as democrats” it will be soon.

“Spy on Everyone!”

This is a bit hyperbolic but yeah mostly. While there are officals on both sides who want to stop or at least curb the survalince state when talking about the respective parties as a whole there aren’t big differences on changing this, at least not public ones.

“Screw the Old and the Poor!”

This one is just so wildly overstated as to be impossible to really discuss/debate effectively. I could say this is false because both parties agree we should strive to eleminate poverty but they differ on how. I could also say this is true because neither party has proposed a solution which would actually help end poverty, or I could say this is false because the Democratic platform includes issues like raising the minimum wage and expanding the social safety net which will help the poorest Americans. There’s no way to really analyze for accuracy because its so broad and emotional that it’s really more of an opinion statement than anything. (To be clear, there’s nothing inherently wrong with such a statement. In many ways they are critical to the nations broader political discussion. it just doesn’t lend itself to what I’m looking to do with this post and I felt it would have been dismissive to just say “it’s an emotional argument so I don’t care”) The only substantive thing I can say here which still fits into my general structure is no candidate wants to do anything against old people because old people vote in big numbers. It’s the reason despite talk of cutting medicare and social security Republicans haven’t actually tried anything substantial on those issues.

“Oligarchy not democracy”

This is another one that gets caught up in definition. If you use the strictest definition of democracy and a broad definiton of Oligarchy then yes this is right but otherwise it really depends on how you define oligarchy. The majority of Americans have the right to vote, thus they have a say in what our government does. This would generally meet the most common definition of democracy and neither party wants to change that (at least not officially.) there is no bi partisan call for the wealthiest 1% or even the wealthiest 10% of Americans to have exclusive control over our governance. Of course that’s the most inflammatory version of this statement, and I doubt that’s what the person who wrote it was saying. The more likely definition of oligarchy this person was using is a government where an elite class hold a disproportionate share of political power rather all political power. In which case it’s very very hard to agrue the US isn’t an oligarchy. I mean even if we put aside the more heavily debated question of how strongly political power and money are, I think everyone would agree my senator has more political power than I do. Plus, the founders didn’t want “mob rule” they were terrified of a populist leader rising up, so they didn’t create a pure democracy. Instead they made republic, which one could argue is simultaneously an oligarchy and a democracy. This means when anyone looks to maintain the current american system even in the broadest strokes it could be agrued they’re supporting oligarchy over democracy. However you could just as easily argue they’re supporting democracy. The line between oligarchy and democracy aren’t as clear as we’d like them to be. (And of course when you bring the “how strongly are political power and money connected” debate back into the picture it only gets more obscured). Now, to finally get to my point, the degree to which the US is an oligarchy is unclear and so is the degree to which each party supports maintaining the oligarchical elements. However I think saying that either party doesn’t support democracy is inaccurate. BUT I also think it is vital that we recognize under Trump the Republican Party has tolerated repeated undermining of our democratic system risking serious and dangerous backsliding into totalitarianism. The Democratic Party has not engaged in this backsliding at all and has fought against it as much as they can, and you absolutely must understand that as you vote this fall.

“Vive US imperialism!”

Yeah this is pretty much spot on. I mean I don’t think either political party is looking to conquer Cuba or to steal Baja California from Mexico but yeah the bulk of people in each party are at the very least not invested in reducing what has been called “Neo-imperialism” which is almost certainly what this statement is referring to, so while I could get this on the technically but that would be disingenuous.

“outlaw third parties”

Third parties are legal. No one wants to make them illegal, the constitution also wouldnt let them. The problem is our voting system makes third parties mathematically unstrategic. You could argue they are functionally unallowed and there’s no insensitive for either party to change that so the idea here isn’t to far off, but outlawing third parties is such a bold claim, and that mathy disadvantage is drastically reduced in local races. So if you support a third party or want to create a third party, go for it. Just know that your efforts will be best spent starting local.

“Crush the left”

Pretty sure “the left” here means self described socialists and further left in which case yes. the establishment of both parties are still scared by the s-word and even worse the c-word because no one wants to be the USSR. But there are loads of people who would define the left as the democrats and the Democratic Party doesn’t want to crush Democratic Party. (It doesn’t mean to be a self destructive idiot but sometimes it just can’t help itself) so again I know what they’re going for here but little astrisk for other people might not.

“Regime change is cool.”

If regime change was something both parties liked there would be US troops in Venezuela right now. The oldest Democrats might not be out and out against all regime change but no democrat (and plenty of Republicans quiet frankly) want to repeat the Iraq War. When it comes to regime change worse case something democrats and republicans disagree on and best case something they both agree is bad.

TL;DR- there are key differences between the political parties, regardless of what a meme might say. It’s not the 90s anymore so those differences are pretty big and only getting bigger. To each there own on who and what they support, so do your research and learn which party and which candidates best represents your values.

PS- if it’s Donald Trump go jump of a bridge.

#2020 election #joe biden #donald trump #democrats #republicans #discourse #im kinda just venting here about the sloppy Rhetoric the internet praises #like i know theres no reason to expect nuanced debate #but it bums me out we dont actually understand the other side of any agrument because we only see there self-congratulatory memes #nothing wrong with memes #just they arent a subsitute for actual discussion #anyway this is just me over thinking stuff