#i have just done the math and unfortunately. the amount i have been getting paid for a full weeks of work.

[dapper-nahrwhale]

hnnm

#i have just done the math and unfortunately. the amount i have been getting paid for a full weeks of work. #is actually the amount i should be getting paid daily. and it sucks that i cant ask for anything more #because it all depends on the anpunt everyone else has to pay me and that already is not a lot for them and then. #for me it is just. significantly less. and the fact that there is literally nothing i can do to change any of this. #because i am the cheaper option then say. hiring a real nurse or caregiver. #and i cant refuse doing it because then no one would do it. but you know id still like a livable wage. #seeing as the reason i cant get a real job is because I am so busy doing this. i am just. immensely frustrated and tired. #and theres so many other nuances to it all but this post just boils down to me being annoyed that this has been going on for months now. #when it was supposed to just be a few weeks until we could find a better solution. and now it seems there isnt one. #and im just sort of. stuck here. unable to do anything about it. ahhhhggggg #b.text

[vgckwb]

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 110: Justice on the Horizon

The next day, there was a knock at the door of the Minamoto residence. Tamako answered it to find Akechi. “Akechi-kun,” she said. “Come on in.”

“Thank you, Miss Minamoto,” Akechi said.

“I think we’re well past the point of ‘Miss Minamoto, now, aren’t we?” Tamako said.

“Forgive me,” Akechi said. “My presence here today is of an official capacity.”

“Oh?” Tamako said.

“If it’s all the same to you, I wish to discuss this inside,” Akechi said.

“Of course, come on in,” Tamako said. Akechi walked in. “LENA! YOUR BOYFRIEND IS HERE!” Akechi got caught off guard and a little embarrassed by that. Lena came down, also slightly embarrassed. The three of them sat at the table. “So, what is this about?”

Akechi got out his notebook. “Lena told me that The Phantom Thieves paid you a visit.”

Tamako was surprised. “Sorry,” Lena said. “I didn’t know how else to explain it.”

“It is quite a drastic change,” Akechi said. “I probably could have guessed it.” After a minute of silence, Tamako said “Well, I wasn’t actually going to deny it.” Lena sighed. Tamako continued “I take it you want answers.”

Akechi nodded. “If you don’t mind.”

Tamako nodded back. “Before continuing, I wish to explain that I do not harbor a grudge against the Phantom Thieves.”

“I was going to ask you about that, actually,” Akechi said. “The more publicly known targets, Kamoshida, Madarame, and Kaneshiro, were more consumed by their actions to comment on such ideas. However, a fair amount of the smaller targets are grateful towards the Thieves, even in cases where the target was arrested or otherwise punished.”

“I see,” Tamako said.

“Now, Lena told me her own point of view,” Akechi said, “but I want to hear it from you. Now, what can you tell me about what happened?”

Tamako looked dour. “Well, as you probably know, I haven’t been entirely myself for a little while now.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Akechi lamented.

“My point being that it is in the framework of not being all put together all of this is going to be in,” Tamako explained. “I know you have your reservations regarding the Phantom Thieves, but in my opinion, I was more lost before they intervened.”

“Of course,” Akechi said.

“So, after I interrupted your date,” Tamako began, “I took Lena home as fast as I could. However, that evening, I think I started feeling a strange sensation in my soul.”

“And you presume that to be The Phantom Thieves?” Akechi inquired.

“It’s just a hunch,” Tamako said. “I mean, I had no idea what it was at the time, but after I had read the calling card, it made sense for it to be them.”

“I see,” Akechi said. “Tell me, did you notice anything unusual beforehand?”

Tamako shook her head. “I would tell you if I had. I’m always on the search for something unusual, and even moreson before the Phantom Thieves intervened.”

“Sorry, you’re still looking out for things?” Akechi wondered.

Tamako nodded. “My husband was killed in broad daylight, and he was an influential politician. His killer has yet to be caught. You don’t need to be Japan’s Second Detective Prince to do the math on that one.”

“Hmmm,” Akechi said. “I see. Well, I wish I could help, but since I am Japan’s Second Detective Prince, I’ve done some additional calculus, and I assume any official means to mitigate that would not be appreciated.”

“Correct,” Tamako said.

“Huh?” Lena wondered, feeling lost.

Tamako turned to her. “Basically, I think the police are in on the murder of my husband, so while Akechi would love to provide me a bodyguard, I would rather not.”

“Oh…” Lena said, understanding.

“Getting back to the matter at hand,” Akechi said, “you noticed nothing unusual between taking Lena home and when you started feeling that sensation you mentioned?”

“Like I said, no,” Tamako explained. “It was just people coming and going, which usually happens since we’re so close to Central Street. And then when we got home, I was cooking dinner after sending Lena to her room. She put one of her cat videos on.”

“Eh?” Lena said, surprised.

“Did you not?” Tamako asked.

Lena was stunned. After a few seconds, she said  “I mean…I did…but…you heard that?”

“Yeah,” Tamako said. “Why?”

“Because you told me not to make a sound,” Lena said.

“I did?” Tamako said. “Ugh. I don’t remember. I was too worried about everything to focus on that, I guess.”

“I see,” Akechi said. “Let’s continue. How long did you feel this sensation?”

“Until the evening I had gotten the calling card,” Tamako answered. “There were varied levels of intensity between when I first dragged Lena back and receiving said card. But when I got the calling card, the sensation was amplified. Hours later, the sensation dissipated, and I could feel a change manifesting inside me. But it came on a little suddenly, and overwhelmed me.

I had to rest, and Lena did help me, and by the next morning, I felt better. I finally understood what I was doing, and what I was becoming. I’ve been taking strides to fix everything now that everything is clear in my mind.”

“I see,” Akechi reacted. He finished taking notes. “Is there anything else you can recall?”

“Not really,” Tamako said.

“Alright then. May I at least look at the calling card?” Akechi asked.

Tamako got up. “Just a second.” She came back with the card. “Here.” She set it in front of Akechi.

Akechi took a picture of each side of the calling card, and then read the contents. “Hmmm, interesting.”

“What is?” Tamako wondered.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a physical calling card without a reference to a third party,” Akechi stated. Tamako and Lena were a bit confused. “See, for Kamoshida, Madarame, and Kaneshiro, the calling cards mention someone else aside from the Phantom Thieves targeting the person the card was addressed to. This is the first card I’ve seen without something like that.”

“What about the non-major cases?” Lena wondered.

“Well, those didn’t have any mention of someone trying to target the person the Phantom Thieves targeted,” Akechi explained, “but they didn’t really have any physical cards either; Just declarations online. This is certainly an unusual case.”

“You’re determined to solve it, aren’t you?” Tamako said.

“By all means,” Akechi said. Tamako stared at him intently. “Is something the matter?”

“I know it’s been a bit since you lived at the orphanage,” Takamo said, “but I do know you pretty well. You’re very clever and self-determined.”

“Why thank you,” Akechi said.

“However, because of how precocious you are, you have a tendency to not notice whenever you’re in over your head,” Tamako continued. “I know you need to be true to yourself, and I know you’ve grown smarter as time has passed, but listen to what I have to say.

Firstly, I don’t wish to press charges against The Phantom Thieves. Second, The Phantom Thieves are currently embroiled in a war with Medjed, and something tells me that it’s going to spiral into something bigger. I know how capable you are, and how popular you are, but you are only one person. Whatever the Phantom Thieves get into might be too big for even you to handle. So if you feel things are a bit too much, there is no shame in retreating.”

“I see,” Akechi said. “Well, I hate to disagree with you, but like you said, I’ve grown. I’m not some child anymore. I think I can handle whatever this case throws at me.”

“Dammit, Goro!” Tamako said, slamming her fist, while Lena and Akechi were stunned. “I’m sorry, but who do you think you’re talking to? My husband felt like he could handle whatever his run for PM could throw at him, and you know what happened to him.” Tamako sighed. “I just don’t want to lose you too.”

Akechi was taken aback by this act. “You’re right. I apologize,” he said. “I will think about what you said.”

Tamako sighed again. “Sorry. I guess I’m not as refreshed as I thought I was.”

“I assure you, you have nothing to apologize for,” Akechi said.

“He’s right,” Lena added. Tamako looked at her. “I know you’re worried about slipping back into your previous self, but as someone who’s been on the brunt end of it for a while now, that felt different. You actually opened up to him this time. You showed him that you care. Previously, these conversations were a one-way street. Also, I should thank you. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but I don't want to lose Akechi either…”

Tamako smiled. She gave Lena a quick hug, and then turned to Akechi. “You know, Lena here is something special. She’s kind, diligent, and forgave me when she had every right not to. Whatever you’re planning on doing, please consider her as well.”

Akechi was again shocked. He then nodded and said “I will.” He stood up and bowed. “Thank you for everything.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Tamako said. They shook hands, and Akechi left. “I should get going too. Are you going to be OK?”

“I think so,” Lena said. “That was a little intense.” “Well, the Phantom Thieves are a big case right now,” Tamako said. “I understand why Akechi is so invested.”

“Yeah…” Lena said.

Tamako caressed Lena’s face. “Don’t worry sweetie. Akechi can be a bit headstrong, but I know he will make the right decision.”

Lena smiled. “Thanks.”

Tamako nodded. “Well, I’m off. Have a good day.”

“You too!” Lena called out. Tamako waved and left. Lena got out her phone.

Lena: Do you still want to meet?

Sumire: Of course!

Makoto: We probably should.

Makoto: We have a lot to discuss.

Yusuke: Agreed.

Lena: OK then. Where should we meet?

Ren: Why don’t we just meet at Leblanc for now, and we’ll go from there?

Ren: Do you remember how to get there?

Lena: I…think so.

Ryuji: Do you want someone to come get you?

Ann: Maybe not you, Ryuji.

Ann: No offense, but your sense of direction is a bit questionable at times.

Ryuji: It’ll be fine.

Lena: I can get there myself.

Ryuji: OK then.

Jose: See you there!

Lena: Seeya!

Lena put her phone away, and then headed out to Leblanc.

A little while later, everyone had arrived at Leblanc. “Um, hi…” Lena said. “Erm, sorry, this is all a bit new for me.”

Ren chuckled. “You’re fine.”

“Hey,” Sojiro called out. “Are you going to have your little discussion here?”

“Um, we’re not sure yet, Boss,” Makoto said.

“Well, whatever you do, make your decision quickly,” Sojiro said. “Once you make your decision, I’m gonna lock up.”

Ren had an idea. “You’re going to look after Futaba, right?” Sojiro nodded. “Well, why don’t we do it?” Sojiro was surprised. “We could just order some food, chill, discuss things, and you can keep the cafe open.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sojiro asked. Ren nodded. “What about all of you?”

“I’m good with that,” Ryuji said.

“It does sound nice,” Yusuke said.

“Besides, you’ve closed off the cafe for us a lot recently,” Ann said. “I think we should return the favor.”

Sojiro smirked. “Hm. You’ve done more than enough. But if you insist.”

“Thanks Boss,” Ryuji said.

“Um, who’s Futaba?” Lena wondered, surprising everyone else.

“Oh yeah,” Jose said, “you weren’t there for any of that.”

“This did happen fairly quickly,” Sumire said.

“You’re telling me,” Ren said.

“Futaba’s my daughter,” Sojiro said.

“Oh,” Lena said, surprised.

“Currently, she’s resting after some incredibly strenuous events,” Sojiro added.

“What events?” Lena asked.

Ren smiled. “We’ll fill you in.” She stood up. “Come on, let’s not hold up Sojiro more than we have.” The thieves got up, and guided Lena to Sojiro’s house.

“So, where should we order from?” Jose asked.

“Good question,” Makoto replied. “Does anyone have any preferences?”

“I’m good with anything,” Yusuke said.

“Of course you are,” Ryuji remarked.

“I’m fine with anything too,” Sumire said. “Just so long as it provides the calories on the menu.”

“I think most places do that nowadays,” Ann said. “Which is helpful.”

“Not when you ignore it on the dessert menu,” Ryuji mumbled.

“What was that?” Ann asked.

“N-Nuthin’,” Ryuji answered, terrified.

“Well, we’re here,” Ren said in front of Sojiro’s house. “Let’s make our decision inside.” They headed in, and went into Futaba’s room.

Lena saw Futaba sleeping on her bed. “I take it this is Futaba,” Lena said.

“Yeah,” Ren answered. She gazed at Futaba a little bit. “Well, let’s figure out what we’re getting.” Ren had pulled up her phone, and everyone sat down. They soon agreed on where to order from, and what they wanted. “And done. It should be here in about half an hour.”

“Sweet,” Ryuji said. “I can’t wait.”

“In the meantime, we should start discussing things,” Makoto reminded them.

“Of course,” Sumire said.

“However, we do need an answer on something,” Yusuke said. “Everything else would be pointless otherwise.”

“True,” Makoto said.

Ren nodded. She turned to Lena. “Lena,” she began.

“Eh?” Lena said, wondering what was about to happen.

“Do you wish to join The Phantom Thieves full time?” Ren asked. Lena was a little surprised by the question. “I know it’s a lot to ask, and you don’t even have the full story, but you can say no if you wish.”

Lena pondered it for a few seconds. Determined, she answered “Yes. I would like to be part of the Phantom Thieves.” This surprised everyone just a bit. “I know I don’t have the full picture yet, but after everything I’ve seen, I want to help.”

“Are you sure?” Ren asked.

Lena nodded. “Positive.”

Ren smiled. “Very well then.”

“So Lena,” Morgana said. “I’m assuming you have questions.”

“We have questions as well,” Yusuke said.

“Right…” Lena said.

“So, where should we start?” Ann asked.

“She knows a good bit about what we do as Phantom Thieves,” Jose said. “But not everything.”

Ren glanced over at Futaba again. “Let’s start with Futaba,” she said. “And then we’ll work from there. I’m sure Lena’s curious.” Lena nodded. “So, again, I think we should put the tiger on the table here: Futaba is The Original Medjed.”

Lena nodded along, but then asked “WHAT?! As in, the one that declared to eliminate Medjed and themselves?!”

“That’s right,” Ren said.

“But why?” Lena asked.

“Well, the answer is complicated,” Ren said. “For starters, she had a palace too.” Lena was stunned. “As far as palaces go, this one was like your mother’s in that it was brought to fruition by her own sadness and distrust, rather than a desire to harm others for their own benefit. However, it was much larger.”

“Futaba’s mom died two years ago,” Morgana explained. “She was shaken to her very core, and as a result, her palace formed.”

Lena was stunned silent. She looked at Futaba resting on her bed. “So, I take it you stole her treasure and that’s why she’s like this?”

“Yeah,” Ren said.

“You learn fast,” Jose said.

A new question popped in Lena’s head. “Wait, so who did Eris use to target her palace?”

“Well, that’s the usual thing…” Ann said.

“She used Futaba herself,” Morgana answered.

“WHAT?!” Lena said. Morgana nodded. Lena thought about that for a moment. “Wait, but why didn’t she do that with my mother?” she asked. “Eris said I was the only one, right?”

“I…hadn’t thought of that…” Morgana said.

“I think that has to do with Futaba’s circumstances specifically,” Ren said.

“Oh?” Makoto wondered

“So far, Eris has targeted someone who holds disdain for the palace ruler,” Ren said. “Futaba was led to believe that she caused her mother’s death, so it made sense why she would hate herself. Tamako didn’t hold such feelings, rather distrusting everyone else.”

“I see….” Lena responded. “Why did she believe that though?”

“Because some jerks forged a suicide note,” Ryuji answered in a fury.

“WHAT?!” Lena said, joining in Ryuji’s fury. “How cruel!”

“All of that was sorted out when we went to steal her treasure, and she ended up joining us,” Yusuke said. “But still…”

“Right now, we’re just waiting for her to rest up so she can defeat Medjed,” Ann said.

“Wait, wouldn’t that involve…you know…?” Lena asked.

Ren shook her head. “She contacted us before Eris corrupted her. I imagine she has other ways of dealing with them.”

“I see,” Lena said. There was a knock at the door. “What was that?”

Ren checked her phone. “Oh, that was the delivery person. I’ll be right back.” Ren got up. A minute or two later, she came back with everyone’s food. “Alright, let’s dig in.” Together they split up their order and began eating.

“So, what about you, Lena?” Makoto wondered.

“Huh?” Len said with food in her mouth.

“ Yeah, we know some things about you,” Ann said, “but we’d like to get to know you better.”

Lena swallowed her food. “Oh, well, um, I’m not sure where to start.”

“You’re an exchange student, right?” Makoto said. “Why not go from there?”

“Oh, yeah,” Lena said. “I mean, I was born and raised in America. I have two younger sisters. They’re with my parents back home.”

“Why did you come to Japan?” Ann asked.

“Well, there are a few reasons,” Lena said. “For one thing, I wish to be a professional singer, singing at venues all around the world. So I figured I could get some worldly experience by participating in an exchange program.” Lena got a little embarrassed. “As for why Japan specifically…well…I’m actually a bit of an otaku…I really like anime, and manga, and video games…”

“Hm,” Yusuke said. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of. You are simply just following your heart. I only decided to be an artist after witnessing the Sayuri for the first time. There’s no shame in chasing your dreams.”

“While that’s true,” Makoto said, “there’s a bit more nuance than that…”

“Yeah, livin’ in Japan ain’t like some anime,” Ryuji said. “Despite everything happenin’ to us…”

“I think she knows that,” Morgana said. “She’s been living here for a while.”

Lena chuckled. “Thanks Morgana.”

Sumire giggled. “I like that stuff too,” she said.

“Same,” Jose said. “I don’t think I’ve found someone at school who doesn’t like it, at least to some extent.”

“True,” Ren said. “But I think someone here might give us all a run for our money.” Everyone else was a little confused. “Guys, look around.” They looked, and saw Futaba’s room was coated wall-to-wall with all sorts of pop culturey things. The others realized what she meant.

“So, why did you come to Shujin?” Ann asked Lena.

“Well, that wasn’t necessarily my choice,” Lena said. “I was hoping for a more art-focused school, but this was the first school that would accept exchange students.”

“Interesting,” Yusuke said. “Kosei does have an exchange program, but I guess it just didn’t reach out enough.”

“Well, Shujin accepted me too,” Ren said. “I suspect that they might be more desperate for students.”

“I guess…” Makoto relented.

“Um, why would accepting you be an issue?” Lena asked.

“Oh, right,” Ren said. “I’ve been arrested.”

“Huh?!” Lena reacted.

Ren chuckled. “It’s a bit of a story. You see, one night, someone was forcing this woman into her car. I intervened, and he fell due to being drunk. He then told some cops I assaulted him, and I was arrested.”

Lena was stunned. “...Wow.”

“Psh,” Ryuji scoffed. “No matter how many times I hear it, it STILL pisses me off.”

“Is that why you started the Phantom Thieves?” Lena asked.

“Well…not really…” Ren said, stunned at the question. “But it is sometimes funny how life has ways of working out, isn’t it? I mean, if I wasn’t here, you might still be practically under house arrest yourself.”

“I guess…” Lena admitted. “But you didn’t need to go through all of that.”

Ren grinned. “It’s fine. I mean everyone I care about knows I didn’t do it. And honestly, I think living here definitely has its upsides. Of course, I wouldn’t choose for it to happen, but you gotta make the best of a bad situation.”

Lena was impressed by Ren’s answer. She smiled and nodded. “I understand. So, why did you start The Phantom Thieves?”

“Well, that’s a bit complicated,” Ren said. “For starters, it wasn’t technically my idea. I was given the powers of the Phantom Thieves by some beings who wish to see humanity prosper. I was given them to stop Eris.”

“Huh,” Lena said, taken aback.

“Are you understanding everything so far?” Morgana asked. Lena nodded.

“Well, she’s already gotten the crash course,” Ren reminded him.

“True,” Morgana said.

Ren turned back to Lena. “What had happened was Eris had taken over plans set in motion by this other being and bent them to her will. This original being wanted to impose strict order, while Eris wants to cause uncontrolled chaos. However, she is giving us a chance to stop her, but it’s still a tough war to fight.”

“While we do air on the side of chaos,” Makoto informed, “Eris’s brand revolves around wanton murder and destruction, as well as the loss of what make a person themselves.”

“But we aren’t going to let that happen!” Ann said.

“Besides, we don’t like people tellin’ us what to do,” Ryuji added. “Even if they claim to be on our side.”

“We forge our own path!” Morgana cheered.

Lena chuckled. The others were confused. “Oh, sorry,” Lena said. “I wasn’t laughing at you. It’s just…you reminded me of Goro just now.”

“Goro?” Ryuji wondered.

“Akechi,” Makoto informed him.

“Oh,” Ryuji said.

“You two are dating, right?” Ren asked.

“How did that happen?” Sumire wondered.

Lena was blushing. “Huh? Oh, um, well, Goro first arrived at my place to check on my mother…”

It flashes back to Lena, crying in her room. “I was having a particularly hard day,” present Lena explained. The sounds of knocking could be heard. Past Lena stopped crying and went to the door, confused.

When she opened the door, she was greeted with a surprised Akechi. “Huh? I’m sorry, I must have the wrong address.” He went to look at some notes.

“I was awestruck,” present Lena said. “I had seen him on TV a few times before. He talked about the importance of staying true to yourself and holding on to hope, even when it seemed bleak. That kind of resonated with me, you know? Anyway, I wanted to know what was up, as well as maybe talk to him more, so I asked…”

“Um, who are you looking for?”

Akechi looked up. “Hm? Oh, I’m looking for a woman named Tamako Minamoto. I guess she just moved or something.”

Past Lena shook her head. “You have the right address. She’s my mother.”

“I’m sorry?!” Akechi said, with a shocked look on his face.

Past Lena smiled. “Come on in.” Akechi was still shocked, but curious.

“I explained my situation to him,” present Lena explained.

“Ah, so you’re an exchange student, and Tamako agreed to host you,” Akechi surmised. “You had me confused for a second. Tamako is an old friend of mine, so to see she had a daughter around my age that I didn’t know about, well that would just be…”

Past Lena chucked. “Sorry.”

Akechi smiled. “My name is Goro Akechi.”

Past Lena nodded. “I’m…aware…”

Akechi chuckled. “RIght. So, what is your name?” he asked.

“Lena,” she answered.

“Lena…?” Akechi wondered. Lena was perplexed. “I assume since you’re an exchange student, your last name isn’t Minamoto.”

“Oh, that,” past Lena said. “Well, my last name is a bit difficult for Japanese people to pronounce, so I do just say my last name is Minamoto.”

“I see,” Akechi said.

“I was wondering about that,” Yusuke interrupted.

“Ooo, can I try?” Ann said. “I’m part American, so maybe I can say it!”

“Well…” Lena pondered. “Alright then.” She got up and whispered her last name to Ann.

Ann grew confused and frustrated. She eventually gave up. “Sorry… It’s just like she said.”

Lena giggled. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Ren said. “As you were saying…”

“Oh, right, “Lena said. She sat back down with her food. “Well…”

Back in the story, Akechi nodded. “Very well then. Lena Minamoto, it is.” Past Lena giggled. “So, do you know when she’ll get back?”

“No clue,” past Lena informed him. Akechi grew frustrated. “Why are you visiting her?”

Akechi looked at Lena. “Well, I just wanted to make sure everything was alright. She hasn’t been herself for quite some time, and I just want to see if she’s doing OK.” But since she’s taken you in, maybe she’s gotten better.”

“I don’t know…” past Lena said. “Unless by ‘better’ you mean ‘basically keeping me in here unless I’m at school and forcing me not to have any sustained friendships’.”

Akechi was shocked. “No. No, that's not better at all. Huh.” He smiled. “Well then, I guess I’ll have to take it upon myself to fix things.” Lena was curious. “For starters, why don’t we exchange numbers? That way, we can keep in contact. You can inform me on how she’s doing, and I can keep you company.”

Lena smiled and took out her phone. They exchanged numbers. “Alright then. Now then, I will see what I can do to try and alleviate this mess. Until next time.” He started getting up.

“I was panicking,” present Lena explained. “This was my first sustained interaction I had with someone my age since I got to Japan, and I didn’t want it to end. So, I just blurted out…”

“WAIT!” Akechi halted. “Um, she’s going to be out a bit longer. Do you think we can continue talking?”

Akechi was a little stunned, but smiled and said “I have time.” He sat back down.

Present Lena continued “We talked about all sorts of things. It ranged from serious stuff, like his cases, and his background at my mom’s orphanage, to more casual things, like our favorite foods, and of course some otaku things. However…”

In the story, Tamako opened the door to see Lena and Akechi talking, surprising all three of them. Akechi tried to remain civil. “Why, hello-”

“GET OUT!” Tamako yelled. “JUDAS! GET OUT!”

“Erm…” Akechi said, not knowing what to do.

“I’ll call the police to make you leave!” Tamako yelled.

Akechi realized what was happening. “Very well.” He got up and walked out.

Tamako glared at Lena. “Why did you let him in?!” she screamed.

“He said he was a friend of yours…” past Lena meekly answered.

“WAS!” Tamako said. “Now he’s TAINTED! Now go to your room!” Lena got a little sad, but did as she was told. As she was almost to her room, she got a message.

Goro: She didn’t make us delete our numbers from each other’s phones.

Goro: Rest assured, I will fix this.

Lena smiled and blushed.

Lena: Thanks.

She entered her room.

“And we just kept talking from that day on,” Lena said, wrapping up the story. “One of those days, I asked him to be my boyfriend, and to my surprise, he said ‘yes’.”

“How sweet,” Ann said.

“Huh. Even someone like Akechi has that side to him,” Jose mused.

Sumire chuckled. “I’ve known Akechi for a little while. He can be really kind. However, even I’m a little surprised to see him dating someone.”

“I think I get it,” Ren said.

“How do you know Goro?” Lena wondered.

“Oh, my father produces Good Morning Japan,” Sumire explained. “Sometimes when Akechi is invited to be on, he and I talk.”

“Oh, I see,” Lena said.

Sumire chuckled. “You don’t need to worry. I’m already dating someone. Besides, I don’t know if Akechi and I would be good for each other.”

Lena was a little embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“You’re good,” Sumire replied.

Lena giggled. “Well, whoever you’re going out with, I can’t wait to meet them.” The room was stunned silent. “What?”

“Well, um…” Sumire said.

Ren leaned forward. “She’s dating me.”

Lena was a little stunned at first, but smiled and said “Oh. Cool. I’m bisexual myself.” The room calmed down a little.

“Me too,” Sumire said.

“I’m not,” Ren said. “I’m just a lesbian.”

“Does Akechi know that you’re bisexual?” Jose wondered, surprising the room again. “It’s just, I learned that humans work best with each other if they are open and honest.”

Lena smiled. “He knows, and he’s fine with it.”

“Sorry,” Ann said. “Like we said, Jose is from the Metaverse, so he can be a bit blunt sometimes.”

“Human codes of conduct are odd,” Jose said. “But I’m learning.”

Lena chuckled. “I don’t mind.”

“I haveta apologize too,” Ryuji said. Lena was puzzled. “I kind of just ignored you, cause to me you were just ‘Akechi Fan #1’. And before that, I was kind of dealin’ with my own shit. I should have known something was up.”

Lena smiled. “It’s fine. After all, you came through in the end.”

“She’s right, you know,” Ren said. “You’re the one that managed to spot Lena in trouble in the first place.”

“Well, that was just right place, right time, ya know?” Ryuji countered.

“True, but that’s not so bad,” Ren retorted. “After all, as we discussed earlier, wrong place, wrong time led to all of us becoming friends eventually.”

Ryuji smiled. “Ha ha, yeah.”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” Makoto said. “We should tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Lena wondered.

“Well, we can’t say for certain,” Maoto said, “but remember how we told you something might have happened to your mom if we didn’t intervene?” Lena nodded. “Well, we aren’t certain of why, but Akechi said he was going to do something…”

Lena went pale. “You don’t think…?”

“I actually don’t,” Ren informed everyone.

“Are you talking about what happened last night?” Morgana wondered.

Ren shook her head. “Although, I should tell you all that as well. I had another visit from Eris.” The room was stunned. “I tried getting an answer out of her about this, but it was inconclusive. It’s a little complicated, but she said that since the future is infinite, any future she could see might be ours, but she doesn’t know until it happens.”

“That’s…what?” Ann said.

“Trust me, I’m having difficulty wrapping my mind around it too,” Ren said. “But my new theory actually came to me before then.” The room was intrigued again. “Remember when we were fighting her? We had her on the back foot, and then she believed she was going to die.”

“I think I get what you mean,” Makoto said. “You’re saying that if the orphanage was taken away, she would have gone into shock and died naturally?”

“Right…” Ren said.

“Well, it’s a good thing we stole her treasure, right?” Ann said, trying to lighten the mood.

“But speaking of stealing her treasure,” Lena said. “I did have to tell Goro that it was…us. Huh. That felt good. But yeah, he knows and he came by to ask some questions today.”

“How did that go?” Jose asked.

“Well, there were some things that stuck out to me,” Lena said. “For starters, mom actually thanks you for making her a target.”

“Well, the feeling is mutual,” Ryuji said.

“Um, let’s see…” Lena said. “My mother said she could feel the presence of the Phantom Thieves in the palace.”

“Huh?!” Makoto panicked.

“She didn’t know what it was,” Lena said. “She was just kind of guessing.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Morgana said.

“Oh, right,” Lena said. “She did hear you when you came into my room Morgana, but she thought it was a cat video I had put on.”

“WHAT?!” Morgana said, incensed.

“Don’t worry,” Jose said, petting Morgana. “It worked out in the end.”

“Indeed,” Yusuke said. “It’s like you distributing the calling cards to Madarame; only you could have done such a thing.”

“Thanks…?” Morgana said, unsure how to feel.

“Anything else?” Ann wondered.

“Well, Akechi noticed that this case was a bit unusual,” Lena said.

“It was unusual from our end too,” Ren agreed.

“The last thing that happened was that my mother became worried,” Lena said.

“About what?” Sumire wondered. 

“Well,” Lena began, “she feels like the Phantom Thieves might get into some more dangerous territory. She was worried that if Akechi keeps following you, he might end up in over his head too.”

The others looked at each other. They looked back at Lena. “Actually, she might not be wrong…” Ann said.

“Eh?” Lena said.

Ren grew serious. “Futaba’s mom was a scientist. She was studying the subject of cognitive psience. Cognitive psience is basically the metaverse, and how it can be affected. Through exploring Futaba’s palace, we believe that her research was stolen and she was killed.”

Lena was scared. “Who would do such a thing?”

“The same people who would blame a child for their mother’s death,” Ren answered, horrifying Lena more. “We think the people that did all of that are also behind the psychotic breakdowns. We believe our continued investigation of and opposition to Eris will eventually lead us to them.”

“We don’t know much about them,” Makoto infomed Lena. “However, if they can do all of that with impunity, we can only assume that we’re dealing with some real heavy hitters.”

“Knowing all of this, are you still interested in joining up?” Ren asked again.

Lena remembered what Tamako said about how she believed the police might be involved in her husband’s death. She looked over her new friends. Determined, she answered “Yes. I know Goro is your rival, and I’m dating him, and he wouldn't like this. But just as he has to stay true to his justice, I have to stay true to mine. And right now, my justice is telling me to side with the Phantom Thieves.”

Ren smirked. “Well then, pleasure to have you, Cupid.”

Fool-The Phantom Thieves: Rank 6

They continued talking for a bit and finished eating. Once evening struck, they decided to head home. These past few days had been wild, and they were concerned about what the future holds, but for now, they went home to rest.

Meanwhile, Akechi was in his apartment, looking over everything he had on the Phantom Thieves. Unbeknownst to him, as he was pondering, Eris was watching him from the shadows. Akechi sighed. “Perhaps tomorrow will yield better results.” As he got ready for bed, Eris disappeared.

#persona 5 #persona fanfiction #persona 5 royal #p5r rework #p5 femc #p5 rework #p5r #p5 #FeMC #female ren #ren amamiya #Lena Minamoto #akechi #morgana #ann takamaki #Ryuji Sakamoto #Sumire #jose #yusuke kitagawa #makoto niijima #Tamako #sojiro sakura

[sleepdeprivedsloth]

Wrong Answer

[MHA - Bakugou, Kirishima]

summary: Kirishima is struggling with math and asks Bakugou to help him study for an upcoming test. Unique tutoring methods are introduced, leading to some interesting discoveries between the two friends. (platonic KiriBaku tickle fic)

potential warnings: swearing, tickling

words: 1.7 k

a/n: here’s another mha fic because i’m obsessed :D if you couldn’t already tell i freaking love bakugou lmfao i promise my next fic will be for a different fandom but anyways please enjoy!

--

“How did I allow myself to be associated with an absolute idiot?” Bakugou asked aloud, fondly shaking his head.

Kirishima gave out an awkward laugh, embarrassedly rubbing his hand against the nape of his neck. “Sorry man, I seriously thought math was supposed to be about numbers. I genuinely don’t understand where all these letters are coming from.”

The two boys were seated on top of Kirishima’s bed, facing towards one another, with their notes and homework assignments scattered across the blankets. It had been the redhead’s idea to work on their homework together, knowing that he would be needing Bakugou’s help.

“This is just a review on the Pythagorean Theorem, Shitty Hair. You should’ve learned it three weeks ago instead of waiting until two days before the test!” Bakugou exasperatedly exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air to further emphasize his half-hearted frustration.

The blonde watched as Kirishima’s sheepish expression quickly turned into a look of distress, cringing slightly as he asked, “Wait… we’re having a test on the Python Theory?”

Bakugou facepalmed, dragging his hand slowly down the length of his face. “Oh fucking well. I’ve done all I could. At this point, you’re a lost cause.”

“C’mon Bakubro, I don’t need you to make me feel any more dumb than I already am! A little crash course is all I need, just please tutor me!” Kirishima pleaded, looking desperately into his friend’s eyes.

“You know what…” Bakugou started, an almost-evil smirk growing across his face. “I do have this one study method that I’ve been meaning to try out on someone.”

Kirishima beamed, oblivious to the suspiciously eager look on Bakugou’s face. “Oh that’s perfect, bro! You get to test out your new method and I can study for our math test, a manly win-win situation! So how does the method work?”

Repressing most of his excitement as to not reveal his true intentions, Bakugou explained, “It’s pretty simple really. I just have to ask you questions and then you gotta answer them. Here’s the twist though: instead of being praised or rewarded when you get the answers right, you get a little punishment if you answer them wrong.”

“Wait wait wait, hold on a second,” Kirishima butt in. “What do you mean ‘punishment?’ Are we talking like giving me a thumbs down, o-or like torture, or-”

“I wouldn’t hurt you, Shitty Hair, no matter how much of an idiot you are,” Bakugou quickly reassured.

Kirishima let out a sigh of relief. “Whew, thank god! You had me a little worried for a second there, man.”

“Don’t stress out over this, it’s just studying,” Bakugou said with a grin that implied that the pair were going to do more than just study. “All you have to do is answer correctly. Ready, dumbass?”

Kirishima gave the blonde two thumbs up, smiling warmly. “Ready as I’ll ever be! Hit me with it!”

“Good,” Bakugou smirked. “First question: what’s the formula of the Pythagorean Theorem? You’ve got five seconds, Shitty Hair.” 

“Five seconds?! Dude that’s not enough- WOAH!” Kirishima had started to object when suddenly Bakugou lunged at him, knocking the redhead down onto his back. Before he could fully process what was happening, Kirishima was being straddled just below the waist and his hands were pinned underneath Bakugou’s knees. The brief struggle made a complete mess of their papers and pencils, some even falling down to the floor. “Uhh.. Bakubro? I mean this in the friendliest way possible, but what the actual hell, man??"

Bakugou rested his hands on Kirishima’s sides, causing his friend to stiffen slightly. “What’s the formula of the Pythagorean Theorem? If your dumbass answers incorrectly, or doesn’t answer at all within the next five goddamn seconds, you’re gonna get punished,” he repeated, giving a small squeeze to emphasize his intentions.

Kirishima’s eyes widened in realization, a shaky smile coming across his face as he attempted to backtrack. “O-oh, I was actually just thinking that we should definitely try another method? Maybe we could- AAHahaha nohohoho!!”

“Wrong answer, Kiri,” Bakugou replied bluntly, starting to lightly wiggle his fingers along Kirishima’s sides, just enough to keep him squirming and giggling. “Why try another method when this one is working so well? Answer.”

Kirishima couldn’t help but tug on his hands, writhe from side to side, squeeze his eyes shut tight, anything that could possibly alleviate the soft, tickly sensations. Unfortunately, his attempts were only in vain. “Ihihihihi dohohon’t knohohohow! Thihihihis is wh-hihi-y Ihihihi need tuhuhutoring!”

“Alright dumbass, I’ll help you out a little. Just repeat after me…” Bakugou offered, showing a small bit of mercy towards his clueless friend. It wasn’t exactly a fair fight if Kirishima had no idea how to answer the questions; that’s why Bakugou was helping him in the first place after all. Without pausing his fluttering fingers, the blonde recited, “A squared plus B squared equals C squared.”

“Ihihi cahahan’t- EEHEHEHAHA” Bakugou dug his fingers into Kirishima’s sides in warning. “OKAHAHAhay okahay! A-hahahaha squahared pluhuhus B-hehe squahahared ehequals C-hihihi squahahared!”

“Nice job, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou momentarily ceased his tickling, giving Kirishima a chance to catch his breath. “Second question: can the Pythagorean Theorem be used on all types of triangles?”

Lucky for Kirishima, he had actually paid attention to that part of the lesson in class. With small, residue giggles getting mixed in with his words, he proudly answered, “Nohope, only rihight triahangles!”

“Correct. About time you started getting some of these shitty answers right,” Bakugou mocked playfully before a predatory glint filled his eyes. “Third question: where’s your worst spot?”

Kirishima’s head shot up and he immediately locked eyes with his friend, shaking his head pleadingly. “No noho no, I cahan’t!” Anxious titters slipped out of his mouth as he tried to bargain. “I-I’ll tell yohou my second wohorst spot, it’s rihight below my behehelly button!”

Bakugou wasted no time in slipping both hands underneath Kirishima’s shirt and moving them to his lower stomach. Forming miniature claws, he started vibrating his fingers deep into the sensitive flesh. Uncontrollable laughter spilled out between Kirishima’s pointed teeth, but Bakugou wasn’t satisfied yet. “I don’t want your second worst spot. Fucking answer the damn question, or I won’t ever stop~”

His head fell back to look up at the ceiling instead of Bakugou’s piercing gaze. Kirishima put as much strength as he could into trying to buck the hands off of his torso, but the redhead quickly came to the realization that there was no way out. If he didn’t answer, there was no doubt that Bakugou would keep tickling him until he died of laughter. Blushing at the thought, Kirishima surrendered, “RIHIHIHIHIHIHIBS! IHIHIHIT’S MY RIHIHIHIBS!!”

“Perfect.” Bakugou instantly slithered his hands further up until they reached the dreaded spot. He gently massaged his thumbs into Kirishima’s ribs, not hard enough to hurt, but with just the right amount of pressure that got his friend squirming hopelessly from left to right. “Damn, these guys are pretty sensitive, aren’t they?” Bakugou teased fondly.

“YEHEHEHEHES! IHIHIHIHIT TIHIHIHICKLEHES!!” Kirishima confessed, screams of laughters flowing out of him before he could even think about resisting them. But then again, he didn’t really want to resist. Kirishima had to admit that it did feel good to let loose from the stress of school and just laugh freely. Those thoughts were immediately pushed to the back of his mind the instant Bakugou’s fingers scribbled against his second lowest ribs, a particularly weak spot on his ribcage. “NO NO NOHOHOHOHAHAHAHA! BAHAHAKUG-AAHAHA! NAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHERE!”

Bakugou’s eyes practically gleamed with excitement as he honed in on the newfound spot. “Ohoho, what is this wonderful little spot I’ve found, Shitty Hair?” 

Kirishima was hysterically howling and shrieking, losing his mind to the sensations and barely able to form complete sentences. “PLEHEHEHEHEASE NOHOHO! IHIHI CAHAHAHAHAN’T!!”

The blonde slowed his fingers down, but drummed them against the second lowest rib to keep Kirishima wiggling and giggling. “Alright Kiri, final question: who’s the best tutor in all of UA? I’ll even give you a small hint: your dumbass better say that it’s me.”

Having more control over his mouth, Kirishima bravely teased, “Wohohow, suhuhuper suhubtle, Bahakubroho.” This earned his ribs a few ticklish pinches, causing the redhead to jolt and squeal before returning to his steady stream of chuckles.

“That loudass mouth of your’s is gonna get you into some serious trouble,” Bakugou lightly taunted. “Now spit out your fucking answer already!”

Through his giggle high, Kirishima quickly responded, “Yohohohou! Ihihihit’s youhuhuhu! Yohohou’re the behehest tuhutor to ehehever exihihihist!!”

Bakugou climbed off of Kirishima and helped him sit up before crawling back to his end of the bed. “Hell yeah I am, and don’t you ever forget it!”

Kirishima rubbed his hands along his ribs to get rid of the funny, tingling feeling that was left behind from the attack. “Geheez dude, I seriously dihidn’t take you ahahas the type to initiate a tihihickle fihight like that.”

Rolling his eyes as he started to pick back up their school work that was previously disregarded on the blankets, Bakugou retorted, “Oh please, this was just payback for what you and the other idiots did to me on my birthday. Karma’s a bitch like that.”

“Oh c’mon, man, there’s no need to lie. You and I both know that you loved it!”

Bakugou’s head quickly whipped around to look at Kirishima incredulously, eyes widened slightly. “No I didn’t, you ass! It was absolute torture and you’re honoestly lucky that I don’t hate you dumbasses for doing it.”

Keeping eye contact with his friend, Kirishima effortlessly came back with, “Dude, if you seriously thought it was torture, there is no doubt that you would have found a way to make us stop. Or, at the very least, you would’ve asked us to stop.”

Realization flashed across Bakugou’s face for a brief moment, accompanied by a light blush that Kirishima easily noticed. But in the blink of an eye, Bakugou’s defenses were put back up, as if they had never gone down in the first place. “Oh yeah? Then how come you didn’t ask me to stop the whole time I was tickling you just now? Explain that, Shitty Hair.”

A challenging smile spread across Kirishima’s lips. “I never said that I didn’t like it.”

--

a/n: ngl i had some troubles starting this fic, but let me tell you that when i finally got into it, everything just started coming together and now i love it! thanks for reading everyone <3

#bnha #bnha tickle #mha #mha tickle #bakugou #katsuki bakugou #kirishima #eijiro kirishima #ler!bakugou #lee!kirishima #ticklish!kirishima #kiribaku #platonic #tickling #tickle fic

[soyeahitsmiddleearth]

Multi-Dimensional Pt. 5

 In which you have a genius idea to take these suckers out, you accidentally do something you’re not supposed to, and you take the taller bit of your friends out. 

----

And then, you realize, that it's getting deeper into October.

As it got deeper into October, the dwarves and hobbit remain in your house. It's been a total of 2 1/2 weeks, now, and you can tell they're getting antsy from staying in one place for so long.

Like, around halloween time.

An idea strikes you in the head like a bag of bricks, and right away you realize that you're a genius.

You're sitting on the couch with Bilbo, Oin, and Bofur when the lightbulb goes off in your head suddenly, and once it does you hop to your feet and run upstairs at top speed, successfully baffling everyone idly watching the nature documentary you put on.

You pass Dwalin and Balin while you zoom to your bedroom, and when they see you run past them like freaking Speedy Gonzales they're both super confused.

Right away you grab your laptop off your bed and pull up a window.

The keys of your compute clack softly while you type in your town as well as 'Halloween Festival' and the first few results as well as images on the Google engine prove your theory.

Every year here people dress up in advance and celebrate throughout the duration of the week leading up to it. Of course, the trick-or-treating only happens on the day of, but there are a plethora of other things for people to do during that week.

People dress up, children go on field trips, there's a festival, and even the grocery stores have little events they put on to promote their business.

You've never really gone before since crowded places aren't the most comfortable for you, but you actually feel a little giddy about taking them all to see the town with you.

Right away you know you're going to have to buy them all costumes, but for the last week you've been pet sitting this rich couples Rag-doll cat, Princess, and your going rate is $18/hr for a week... Do the math ;).

You're going to get paid later in the day today after you drop her back off at their house, and that's not even accounting for the other animals you've been watching for varying amounts as well.

So, essentially, you're gonna be perfectly fine financially.

Anyways, as soon as you're done doing your little bit of research there on your computer you close it and leave your room again, hopping down the stairs with a big bright smile on your face.

When you reenter the living room, everyone is gathered there and looking at you expectantly.

At first, you don't do or say anything since you're super confused, but when the silence begins to drag on for too long you ask hesitantly, "Uh... Is everything alright? What's going on?"

"Well, you left to your room very quickly." Bilbo comments, standing up from his spot on the couch, "But from the smile on your face, I'm assuming it wasn't because of anything bad?"

You nod your head and sigh, leaning down to pet Mittens who is rubbing herself against your legs, "Yeah, everything's fine. It's great, actually." You pause for dramatic effect, then add, "I just figured out a way to take all of you out! Like, to see the town and stuff!"

"You have?" Thorin asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"Mmhm!" You stand up straight and nod your head quickly, bouncing on the balls of your feet, "See, I figured I'd probably be able to take you and maybe Kili, Bofur, and Dwalin out at some point... like, if some of you were to groom yourselves different or wear hats...," once more you stop your speech and realize that may be offensive, "N-Not that I think there's anything wrong with how you look-"

"Nobody is offended, I'm sure. Go on." Thorin urges, amusement present on their faces from your sudden frantic backtracking so you don't offend them.

"R-Right, uh... anyways, you guys are taller so I knew I could probably bring you along sometime, but I wasn't sure how to get everyone else to come along, and then I realized that this next week is the week leading up to halloween!" You say it like it will answer all their questions, forgetting that they probably don't know what halloween is.

Silence passes by for a few seconds as they wait for you to go on, and when you don't Kili asks, "What's 'halloween'?"

"Oh, yeah, it's like, a holiday where children dress up and go to peoples houses to get candy. And when I say dress up, I mean in costumes." You rub the back of your neck while you explain and add, "In my city, the place we are now, we celebrate throughout the whole week. There are games, festivals, and lots of events... and there are people running around in masks all of the time. So I can get some of you costumes and then I can bring you all along!" Your smile returns as you pick apart the details, and it seems your excitement is contagious.

"Wait, so we will get to walk around the town and see other things?" Nori questions, looking over at his brothers with a smile.

"Yeah, but I gotta get you costumes first. Like, ghosts and some masks of different things. But if we wanna make the most of our time then I should probably go now."

You turn after that and go to the counter to grab your purse, pausing when Balin asks, "So it's a holiday where people run around in disguises, getting candy, and playing games as a community?"

Once again you nod your head, turning around to look at him with the same bright smile on your face.

"So, anyone can be anyone?" The older dwarf asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, pretty much." You look down and go through your purse, making sure everything you need is in there before walking over to put on your tennis shoes.

"Even the man who was here the week before?"

Now that certainly gives you a pause.

Before you were never worried about it, but now with what's happened with him, you aren't so sure that it's so safe anymore.

"Um... yeah, I guess." You'd rather not think about it, so you start to tie your laces up. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Well, you already said that you can bring some of us, so why not do that now? Just to make sure?" Balin asks, though it's more of a 'you should really do it cause we're gonna freak out if you don't'.

You don't respond and instead finish tying your shoes first, thinking over his request.

When you're done doing up your shoes you turn and see that they're all looking at you with similar expressions of worry, and it makes you sigh, "Okay, fine. But whoever goes can't wear their normal clothes cause people will be weirded out. The halloween thing doesn't start for another day."

There's a moment of silence while some of them exchange looks before Thorin speaks, "You mentioned Kili and myself first. Surely that should be fine."

"Um..." You look between the two and tilt your head to the side thoughtfully, arms crossed over your chest. "Sure. But your hair is definitely going to stick out, Thorin."

He nods his head in understanding.

"And what about me?" Kili asks eagerly. It seems he's really excited about finally being able to leave your property.

"You're fine, I think. Am I taking both of you?" You inquire with furrowed eyebrows, walking a few steps forward.

"You might as well." Kili says with a big silly smile.

Well, you can't argue with that logic.

You shrug your shoulders and head up the stairs again, "Alright, go get changed into some of the clothes I gave you."

---

Once they're dressed in t-shirts and sweatpants (you didn't know their sizes so you got whatever would fit at the time) you observe them both with narrowed eyes while rubbing your chin.

"Hm... On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Kili a 9 and Thorin a 6." You say after a moment, turning to look at everyone else and get their opinions.

"What is the scale referring to?" Fili pipes up suddenly, looking up at you.

"How convincing they are."

"Why do I get a 6?" Thorin grumbles, looking at you pointedly.

"Your hair." You reply simply, walking over with a hair tie stretched between your fingers, "Hold still."

You gather his hair over his shoulders and pull it back, putting his hair through it and wrapping it around until it's nice and tight.

As soon as you're finished, you step around him and look to see if it's made a difference, and when you've determined that it's good, you smile, "Okay, now it's at least an 8." You turn towards Kili and ask, "Your hair is fine, right? Or do you want me to put it up?"

He doesn't say anything and neither does anyone else, and when the silence persists you raise an eyebrow, "Hello? Earth to Kili, I just asked you a question."

"Uh, no, you don't have to, thank you." He shakes his head and seems to come to some sort of realization since he starts to smile at his uncle in that big teasing grin you've, unfortunately, become accustomed to.

You nod your head and skip back over to the counter, swiping your keys off of it before heading to the front door.

"Come out whenever, I'm gonna get my car started."

Once you're out of the house some of the dwarves begin to laugh, and Kili pokes fun at his uncle, "Thorin, you have quite a red face, are you sure you can go?"

Thorin glares at his nephew and replies coldly, "She meant nothing by it."

"Right, but is that disappointment I hear?"

The glare he throws his nephew is so withering it could suck the life right out of a flower, but Kili is no flower, so he only laughs more.

"She offered to do yours too, you know." Fili adds when he begins to feel bad for his uncle.

Kili pauses his laughter and glares at his brother, "But she didn't do it."

"She would've."

"Oh hush, you're just upset that she didn't ask to do your hair." Kili shoots back, glaring at his brother.

"I am not, because unlike everyone else, I knew she meant naught by asking." He shoots back with a smirk.

Kili huffs indignantly and glares at his brother, saying no more as he heads out the door after you.

Thorin turns to everyone before following and states, "Try not to destroy anything while we are gone." His voice is firm and he waits until he gets nods from them all before leaving after you.

---

Once you're all in the car you put it into drive and go, turning up the radio so the car won't be completely filled with silence while you drive.

Occasionally, you'll glance at Thorin in the passenger seat or Kili in the back, and each time you do they're looking out the window at the passing scenery with awe.

"If you're impressed now, wait until we get into the big city." You comment suddenly, smiling to yourself while you watch the road ahead.

And when you do arrive in the city, they are impressed indeed.

The gasp that leaves Kili when you drive through the first big street draws a giggle from you, and when he presses his face against the window as you pull into the parking lot of the seasonal halloween store, your smile grows even bigger.

Even Thorin is impressed by all the wonderful things around, and when you turn off the car after parking you turn to look at them, "Thoughts so far?"

"It's wonderful." Kili breathes, looking at the bright, moving signs and huge stores all around.

"Yes, I don't believe I've ever seen anything so grand before." Thorin agrees, looking over at you with a smile of his own.

"Well if this impresses you, wait until we get inside the store. Try not to get scared."

---

The three of you eventually make it inside, and when you do they are in awe once more.

The seasonal store is dark with black painted walls and bright white florescent lights, and there are various halloween and horror things everywhere.

When you walk in there is one of those electronic jump-scare things, and while you were expecting it, the poor dears behind you weren't.

The witch thing pops out and cackles loudly, saying one of her many phrases, and as soon as she does both Kili and Thorin freak out. And when I say freak out, I mean 'pulled out some small weapons they decided to bring and screaming' freak out.

Luckily there is no one around at the moment, so you step between them and the witch and laugh nervously, "Put those away please. We're gonna get kicked out if anyone sees you with those."

They look between you and the electronic woman a few times before slowly putting their knives away and relaxing their stances.

"Thank you..."

"What is that?" Kili asks, glaring at the ugly jump-scare machine while you walk past it.

"It's a halloween decoration designed to scare people. And it seems like it worked too." You reply easily, looking back at them with a more mischievous smile.

Kili looks around slightly nervously and grumbles defensively, "I wasn't that scared... Uncles screams are what startled me."

"My screams? Kili, let's not lie now, clearly you were horrified." Thorin says disapprovingly, shaking his head.

"Aw, you guys are cute." You purr jokingly, waltzing up to the kids costumes isle.

They stop arguing after that.

You browse through the messy shelves quietly for a little while, trying to find the best ones, when you see a doggie in the cutest ghost costume.

A squeal leaves your lips when you see the cutie pie and you cup your cheeks as an adoring expression comes onto your face.

Without hesitation you hop over to the owner and ask excitedly, "Where did you get that?"

The man with the dog looked up quickly upon hearing your excited yelp and when he saw your exuberant form he smiled too, "I bought it a week ago here. They're near the back."

His answer fills you with joy, and you continue to stare at his pupper for a moment before he says, "You can pet her if you want, she doesn't bite."

He doesn't need to tell you twice.

You kneel down right away and scratch behind her ears, and her tail begins to wag wildly at the attention.

It seems that she likes you just as much, because she takes a seat and leans into you when you scratch her all over like you do with your dogs. It's at that moment when you begin to wonder if she'll fit in your purse.

Before you can finish your calculations and plans on stealing this mans dog you hear someone clear their throat and you realize then that you forgot all about Thorin and Kili.

You turn your head and see the two of them standing there with amused expressions on their faces.

Upon realization that they're watching you, and have been for a little while now, you jump to your feet and feel your face heat up. "I-If you make fun of me I'll leave both of you here." You threaten very unconvincingly, crossing your arms over your chest.

Kili starts to laugh but he doesn't say anything about it, looking at his uncle who also releases a few chuckles of his own.

You glance back at the man and see that he's looking at them, and you realize he probably thinks Kili's short stature is a little odd.

"U-Uh, thanks for letting me pet your dog!" You say quickly, heading back over to the two of them with a blush on your cheeks.

You turn back to the shelves of costumes and the man and his dog walk away, and once their gone you glare at the two of them half heartedly. "You guys are total meanies." There is faux bitterness in your voice when you speak as well, and it only brings more laughter from them.

"I only find it cute." Kili states, smiling good naturedly before continuing, "Every time you see an animal you get very excited."

"Cause I love animals."

"Yes, we can tell." Thorin muses, stepping up next to you to look at the spiderman mask in your hand.

You tap your foot against the ground a few times before putting the mask back.

A ghost costume for Bilbo; check.

That is all.

You literally don't have anything for anyone else, and honestly you're beginning to think that it's impo-

And then another idea hits you.

Class of middle/high-schoolers in a fantasy club. It's farfetched and barely believable, but most people won't say anything about it out of fear of being offensive, so it's perfect!

You don't have to buy them costumes at all (minus Bilbo), all you need is stuff to make them look less like dwarves and more like children pretending to be dwarves.

It sounds easier than it actually is, but you think you can pull it off. All you need is some netting, makeup, wigs, and nose and scar wav and you'll be set.

Once you get this idea you run away from the kids section with the ghost section and head toward the halloween makeup isle, seeking out the items mentioned previously without hesitation.

You find what you're looking for in minutes, and once you've got everything you zoom to the checkout since you're going to need to look up some tips on how to pull this off.

You're so excited you nearly forget to make sure Kili and Thorin are still with you, but once you see them you smile in relief and pay for everything.

Once you're all back in your car, Thorin asks, "I thought we were going to get masks?"

"Well, we were. But then I had an amazing idea consisting of pretending you're all students or something who invested in really expensive dwarf costumes. It's perfect, 'cause no one will ask and we'll get lots of compliments."

Thorin nods his head slowly and puts his belt on like you showed him, but before you go you turn and look at Kili expectantly.

The young dwarf doesn't say anything at first, but when your staring consists he asks slowly, "What...?"

"Put on your seatbelt."

There's more silence until he puts it on, raising an expectant eyebrow at you, "Is that better?"

"Much."

#the company x reader #the company of thorin oakenshield #reader insert #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfiction #kili x reader #thorin x reader #thorin oakenshield #bilbo baggins #kili #fili

[browniefox]

Poker Playing Family Time

@wrightfamilyweek day 6 - Routine.

The Wrights enjoy some bonding time at the Borscht Bowl Club. Can also be read on AO3 right here :)

oOo

It’s kind of a miracle that, despite it all - despite Daddy working five days a week at the Borscht Bowl Club and the other two with his Secret Project, and then Trucy (once again, in the new school year) trying to do a single show every-other weekend and then school on the weekdays - that there’s still ever a chance for Trucy to help Daddy out with his poker games.

Daddy has made some kind of deal with the Borscht Bowl Club over the years so that he’ll only take on the more serious poker players once a month; a saturday evening, the last of the month, when Trucy didn’t have a show. Trucy was more than willing to move around her schedule at the Wonder Bar as she needed to go with Daddy on those days. Daddy had told the staff he just liked bringing his daughter with him, his good luck charm. It was normal, after all these years, and none of the staff nor the usuals so much as blinked anymore at her trailing after him.

Usually, Daddy drives places now, but on Big Poker Nights, when he’s with Trucy, they walk from the office to the club. They leave right after Trucy gets home from school, walking down the street, chatting about Trucy’s school day and the bits and pieces of Daddy’s Secret Mission he’s willing or able to tell her. She rattles off the countries in the North American continent with Daddy checking her answers on the practice sheet. When she’s done, Daddy complains about annoying people he’s had to meet with or talk to - never by name - and practices a heavily-edited version of some speech with each recital of it getting goofier and goofier until they’re both laughing as they walk through the club doors, out of the warm sun and into the cold.

“Evening Phoenix, Truce,” Ms. Vanessa greets them, and Daddy makes a token effort to quiet down his laughter, “There’s an early competitor tonight. I know you don’t like other challengers on the big-shot nights, but he’s dumb and paid top dollar, so how could we say no?”

“Well, I suppose a warm-up can’t hurt,” Daddy shrugs. He looks over at Trucy, eyes half-lidded, his performance appearance in place since they left home. He nods over to the Hydeout, “You want to watch this one too, or stay up here and work on homework?”

“I’ll come along, Daddy!” Trucy chirps.

“Alright then, right this way, Wrights.” Vanessa bows comically low and leads them to the poker room. They pass by the piano on the way, and Trucy’s backpack is place on top of it. She waves to the staff and they all wave back, most of them smiling at seeing her. Daddy has said they like her more than they like him, and he’s right.

After all the times she’s been down there, Trucy could find her way to the Hydeout in the dark, which she kind of always does every time, considering the dim lighting on the stairs.

“He talked a big game when he showed up earlier today.” Vanessa says to Daddy, and he nods.

“So you’re throwing me a soft ball to start with tonight, huh?”

“Now, you of all people should know better than to assume anything about an opponent before you see them.” Vanessa half-heartedly reprimands.

“But Daddy’s gonna blow him out of the water, huh?” Trucy says and gets a chuckle from Vanessa.

“Yeah, he probably will.”

The dealer stands during the poker games, but Trucy’s extra chair is already down here. Like the other two, it’s a swivel chair, and she hops into it and twirls around a few times.

“I thought I was going up against Phoenix Wright, unbeaten Poker Champion, not some kid.” The man who’s already sitting at the table sniffs, and Daddy finally comes in through the door.

“Sorry, but these days Phoenix Wright’s also a full-time dad, I hope you can pardon my little darling being here.” It’s worded like an apology, but it’s clear that Daddy is absolutely not at all sorry about it. Trucy smiles innocently, like a perfect angel, and the man turns up his nose with a sniff and a ‘hmph’. Ah, so he’s going to be one of those guys.

“Really, letting a kid in here? Your own daughter? Well, ‘darling’, I hope you like watching your dear old dad’s reputation come to an end.” The man brags. Daddy just blinks slowly at the man, unimpressed, while Vanessa rolls her eyes and takes her place at the side of the table. Trucy rolls her chair to be next to Daddy and he ruffles her hair.

“Mr. Allen, Mr. Wright, are you both ready?” Vanessa asks, and the game starts after they both nod.

Trucy mostly keeps her eyes closed. Slipping into her tell-catching ‘mode’ comes so easily at this poker table, but she needs to be on her top form for the real competitor later tonight. She listens as the cards are shuffled, as soothing and familiar as the sound of rain, and then are dealt out. She half-listens to the match as she leans against her daddy. She opens her eyes every-so-often, mostly to see where the chips are standing at the moment. Trucy catches some of Mr. Allen’s tells, big and noticeable movements most of the time that there’s absolutely no way Daddy misses.

It ends with Mr. Allen angrily flipping the table over and spitting vulgarities at Daddy while he cover’s Trucy’s ears, even though they both know she’/ already heard all those words.

“Well he seemed nice,” Daddy jokes and Trucy giggles, “Alright, let’s get some borscht, yeah?”

They spend the next four hours on the piano. Trucy is allowed - encouraged, even - to plunk around on the instrument whenever and however it suits her fancy. A small stack of extra cash grows next to him from people who refuse to listen to her daddy’s terrible music while eating. Trucy gets some homework done, taking up nearly the entire table next to Daddy that they’d used to eat dinner. As Trucy makes her way through worksheet after worksheet, the staff member on the other side of the table cycles through whoever is best at the subject. Math homework is always fun, because it always creates a whole crew of people ignoring the tables they’re supposed to be waiting and the jobs they’re supposed to be doing as they try to solve the equations. Not that Trucy usually needs all that help, but they seem to like to try either way.

You can always tell the moment when the big, important player enters the building. The staff suddenly stand up straight, all eyes on the person, ready to wait on that person like a king. Daddy gets tense, but that kind of tension nobody but Trucy ever seems to notice.

This time, it’s a large woman with a long braid of colored hair. She looks around the club with a sort of honest curiosity that’s hard to come by with people like her, and when she spots Daddy at the piano, the woman smiles and comes right over.

“Oh, Phoenix Wright! Oh my, the legend himself, in the flesh! Well, I thought I’d never be here, but here I am, and there you are! Oh, right at the piano, just like they said you’d be! You can’t play, right? Or is it ‘Wright’? Hehe, do you get it?” The woman chuckles at her own pun. Daddy gives a shrug.

“I hope you didn’t come with too many expectations. Rumors have a way of getting a little out of hand.” Daddy says. Daddy never tells his challengers how true the undefeated poker champion title really is.

“Well, I mean, six years undefeated? It’s a little much to try and sell, huh?” The woman winks at Daddy and laughs again.

“Has it really been six years already. Ah, time, you cruel cruel mistress,” Daddy mourns, playing a chord on the piano. By now Vanessa has come over, and Daddy stands up, slouching with his hands in his hoodie pocket, “Well, Ms. Jackie, shall we get this show on the road?”

“Oh, of course, of course. I mean, I’ll probably stay around and try the food afterwards - do they really only have borscht here? I’ve never had it. Is it any good? What does it taste like? - but I mean, why stall? I’m so excited to see the legendary Wright in action.” Ms. Jackie rambles on as Daddy and Vanessa slowly start to head towards the Hydeout for the second time that night. Ms. Jackie walks right next to Daddy, talking about how she’s from out of state and so very excited when she heard the rumors - undefeated! Six years! How remarkable! How insane! How intriguing! - and now she was here and she was so very very excited.

It isn’t until both Daddy and Ms. Jackie have taken their seats that Ms. Jackie seems to even notice Trucy as she takes her own, the chair already right next to Daddy.

“Oh, and who is this little angel?! Oh my, isn’t she just precious with her little cape!” Ms. Jackie coos to Trucy.

“I’m Trucy Wright. I like watching my daddy play poker. I hope that’s okay.” Trucy tilts her head and smiles sweetly. Ms. Jackie practically melts.

“Ooooh, how sweeeeet! Well, I’m Jackie Blackerly, sweetie.” Jackie reaches across the table and Trucy shakes her hand kindly. She likes Jackie, she decides. But liking the opponent has nothing to do with the poker match itself, unfortunately, and Trucy doesn’t tell Jackie that she’s well out of her league. Maybe Daddy holds the champion title, but they both know that it’s really Trucy who never loses against the high-ranking opponents.

“Is it okay if I sit here? I’m Daddy’s good luck charm, you know.” Trucy tilts her head.

“Oh of course, of course! Oh my, nobody ever mentioned Mr. Wright has such an adorable daughter!”

“Are you both ready to start?” Vanessa asks. The cards are beyond well shuffled by now. Daddy nods, and then just like that, the warm and pleasant emotions disappear from Jackie’s face, like they’ve just been shut off, a blank mask over them.

“I’m ready.”

The cards are dealt, Trucy’s hand wraps around her Daddy’s arm, and just like that, the game, the tells, the truth, everything just slips into focus. She’s done this hundreds of times now, the world almost moving at a crawl to watch the little twitches and microexpressions. The code for telling Daddy what to do, a squeezing of his arm for different amount of times, is simple enough, and basically muscle-memory. Part of Trucy thinks she’d actually struggle a bit to do poker on her own and forget that she’s the one who’s supposed to actually be making the decisions and playing the round, not just delivering the information. She’s played this team version of the game many many more times than she’s ever played it ‘normally’.

Their winning the game is practically inevitable, but to be fair to Jackie, she clearly knows what she’s doing as well. Her tells are subtle, small, and take Trucy a lot of focus to find.

It’s a shame, really. Trucy had been hoping to maybe talk some more with Jackie after the game, but tonight is not going to be one of those. Already, Trucy’s head is pounding like the beating of a drum, feeling drained from the hard work. She curls up in her chair as the results are called, pretending she’s a little girl who is just tired and sleepy instead of someone trying to block out the sound of Jackie congratulating Daddy. Her chattiness, something Trucy had found fun and endearing, is now the last thing Trucy needs. Jackie heads up while Vanessa cleans up the cards and Daddy gently rubs Trucy’s back.

“How you doing, kiddo?” Daddy whispers. Trucy shakes her head. She feels him shift next to her, and then him saying, “Vanessa, think Trucy and I are gonna head out now.”

“Poor kids all tired again, huh?” Vanessa says. With her eyes closed, Trucy can’t see any tells or anything, but sometimes she wonders if Vanessa has caught on to their little trick here, “I’ll finish up here, get the kid back home and in bed.”

“Thank you, Ms. Vanessa.” Trucy says, making an effort to open her eyes up, the dim lighting of the Hydeout not yet searing with the migraine still in its early stages.  Daddy slips his hand into Trucy’s, and together they go back up to the bar.

Trucy makes a token effort to help Daddy get her homework together from where it’s strewn out all over the table. Ms. Jackie comes over and is saying something, a lot of ‘Oh, are you leaving already? Oh my I was just amazed, you were amazing down there! Have you always been a poker player? Now that I’m thinking, you look sort of familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?’ And Daddy says ‘Haha, yeah, gotta get my little Trucy to bed, you know. You clearly know what you’re doing. Nah, but I’ve always been great at bluffing. Must be your imagination, I’m nobody important.’

She sneaks a peak at Daddy at that moment and sees his little tell, looking down with his eyes shielded by his hat, a sort of melancholy smirk marring his face, a little twitch of his fingers. He’s lying. He was somebody important; maybe not in the big grand scheme, maybe not a world-famous magician, but he was important to some people. Trucy wants to say “you’re my Daddy, you’re important to me,” but the pain in her head spikes and she squeezes her eyes shut again.

After a moment, Daddy grabs her hand again, and she keeps her eyes closed as he leads her out of the white and annoying noise of the bar and out onto the street. It’s still warm, even at night, and she realizes she forgot to grab a grape-juice bottle. Daddy seems to notice the same thing, letting go and telling her to wait there as he runs back inside.

He’s back in a second, the cold bottle pressed into Trucy’s hand, and she puts it against her forehead as they walk. It’s beautifully numbing to the pain there, and she zones out, focusing on the feeling as they walk down the street, completely silently this time, back to the office.

Recently, after so much practice, Trucy’s been getting better. She doesn’t always have a migraine after games, especially against the easier players. But Ms. Jackie had been good, and so Trucy is tired again. She wonders if her grandpa would’ve been able to teach her how to do this without getting a headache if he was still alive, he always seemed to understand Trucy’s little trick, but there is no way to know now.

When they get to the office, Trucy goes right to her room. The blinds were already closed earlier, before they left, just in case, and the curtains are closed to further block out any of the last beams of light. Her room is almost pitch-black. Daddy takes the bottle from her and hands her the little rice-filled frog they keep in the freezer, and the froggy friend rests on her forehead. Some medicine and a glass of water is placed in her bedside table, and she makes an effort to take it. It doesn’t always help, but sometimes it does something.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Truce.” Daddy whispers. Trucy cracks her eyes open, and from the light of the open door just barely catches Daddy blowing her a kiss.

She’s happy she’s able to help Daddy. She doesn’t care if she gets a terrible headache from it, because he’ll take care of her until it’s over, and even through the pain, she can’t wait to spend time with him again next month.

#ace attorney #phoenix wright #trucy wright #wrightweek21 #fanfiction #fanfic #browniefox writes

[felassan]

unsourced DA4 snippets under the cut:

(Please remember that these are just offhand comments, don’t read too much into them or jump to conclusions. The game is still years out, we know next to nothing about it and many things could change between now and release.)

Q.) Does DA4 have ray tracing? A.) All they can really say right now is that they are taking advantage of the new hardware. When they’re ready to show gameplay we’ll know for sure

A lot of dev creativity comes from them being able to play around with different ideas and such for a while in “DA Weeks”. These are internal periods when the devs can pursue different individual creative projects that in some way benefit DA, and were talked about in the 25 Year Book [ctrl-F “giants”]. In DAI for example the giant mobs were the result of one of these. A surprising amount of stuff from these weeks makes it into the games because they’re things individual people are really passionate about. Something in one of the DA4 videos that have came out so far was actually the result of a DA Week, but they can’t say what specifically

The timing for when to announce or show stuff is always tricky. They know people are hungry for as many details about the game as possible, indeed any, but until the game is done it isn’t done. This sounds obvious but [the point being made here was that] in game development, things can develop ‘out of order’, for example a vertical slice being made before the game’s opening act. And there’s a lot of times when things have to change during production, and different reasons for this - anything they show too early before release is at risk of becoming ‘cemented’ in fans’ minds, naturally, yet also at risk of being cut still. [My observation here is that this is what happened with the DAI Crestwood demo, as an example]

[Related to the above] They also don’t know what’s going to ‘fit’ - the game is taking a few years to make and the real world continues to change and witness events in that time [it sounds like this means that sometimes events which happen in the real world mean they end up reevaluating what storybeats/plotpoints they think would be alright to make use of in DA4]. The hypothetical example used here was of a pandemic [note that this was a purely hypothetical example only for the purposes of explanation, that’s all]: if there was a pandemic or similar plotline in the current draft of DA4, they would now be like “Hmm we probably shouldn’t do that storyline anymore, it’s a bad time to do a pandemic storyline” 

[More of a general comment] A lot of external people say “BioWare is dead/dying”. People have been saying that for like 15+ years now. At this point EA has owned BioWare longer than the time period when BioWare was not owned by EA. A studio being dead only happens when the studio actually closes and stops giving staff paychecks. When a good game comes out, people come for the good game. When a game underperforms, they don’t play it - this is how products should work. It’s okay to be displeased by a product. If you are, that’s okay, don’t buy it, that’s fine! It comes down to the exchange of money for goods and services

Q.) Is it easier to work on the Frostbite engine now that they have multiple games and DAI, which is on Frostbite, under their belts? A.) The more they work with anything the better they learn it and the more they get to know it better, so things do get easier [this echoes a Reddit comment made by Mike Laidlaw about the team knowing the engine for DA4]. Engines aren’t always a defining factor of a game though, it often comes down to what /technology/ is used. For example, no engine has the conversation/dialogue system/technology that they need. One of the “industry-leading” [quotation marks because this is a quote] things BioWare wants to do is the conversation system. This isn’t something they can just ‘get off a shelf’, as it were, because that wouldn’t be industry-leading, instead they have to do that development in order to make something unique. Consequently they have to invest a lot in their own technology. Whether or not the Frostbite engine comes with it is irrelevant because no engine comes with the level of tech that they need to meet the goals for their product. Hence, they want to make sure they focus in on specific technologies that are unique selling-points of their products and that they have to invest in

Related to the above, they also want their character creation to be considered industry-leading (representation, impactful)

[A comment which ties to earlier dev comments (cautions/caveats) about concept art, such as PW’s]: Concept art and similar stuff is just that, concept art/concepts/early stuff. Sometimes we look at concept art and start playing the game in our heads, or make takeaways like ‘I saw [this], which means [that]’. The example used here was of Varric voicing the recent trailer. The VA / character did the voiceover for the trailer, and so some people conclude “well this must mean that he’s a main character”. The caution is that well, that could be the case, or maybe they just needed someone to voice some lines

[More of a general comment] Looking back at BioWare history, some folks were once like “You have the Star Wars license and made KOTOR 1, why are you now making Mass Effect instead of another KOTOR?” The reason is because they wanted to. Some folks were also like “You have the D&D license and made NWN, why are you now making Dragon Age?” Again the reason is because they wanted to. This is always a factor, they have to have some say in what they make. When you look at anything, be it a movie or a book or a game, you can usually tell if the person or people behind it were enjoying themselves when they created it. If they were, the product is usually better. If people are happy to work on something and into it, it’s better. The point being made here is that the best way to make people work on something is to let them work on what they want. This stuff has an influence on the creative process

[More of a general comment] They love their fans, but a fair bit of decision-making has to come down to the fact that they are paid salaries by a company, which means they need to sell [x]-many copies. It means that if they don’t sell [x]-million units they are at risk because they are spending [x]-million to create a product. This unfortunately means that sometimes they have to make decisions which are impacted by UX reviews [I think this means user experience reviews?]. For example, they could have metrics/data which say that 80% of players want [this], but that [this same thing] is going to anger 5% of players. This sucks but that is good math sometimes at that level [I think “that level” here means in a studio of BioWare’s size which makes AAA games, as there was an accompanying note that in indy game dev they don’t have to do math of this kind as much, as indy games tend to be a lot more tightly-tuned]

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #video games #covid mention

[gumnut-logic]

Reactions (Bit 2)

Bit 1 | Bit 2

This is Fandomversary 2020 Fic Three - Bit 2. And guess what? It is at least a three chapter story. ::headdesk:: I knew this was going to happen.

This is for @soniabigcheese​​ who asked for Gordon and Bedlam. That’s where it started…it seems to want to go in directions I hadn’t planned.

Many thanks to @onereyofstarlight​​ and @scribbles97​​ for all their wonderful help with this fic (and always).

I hope you enjoy it.

-o-o-o-

Fortunately or unfortunately, it took the trip to the police station before their identities were discovered.

The police chief was dragged from her office. She was a short woman, probably in her fifties with eyes that had seen far too much. She looked Virgil and Gordon up and down, stared at their ID and set her shoulders.

“Don’t expect special treatment here. The law is the law. Money does not let you escape it.” She handed their ID back to the duty officer. “Process and book them just like the others. Maybe they’ll learn something.” She turned her back to them and disappeared into her office.

Virgil stared after her with an aching face. A glance at his brother found a Gordon explosion in the making.

“Gords.”

Those russet brown eyes darted in his direction and Virgil shook his head just once.

The aquanaut’s lips thinned to almost nonexistence, but his shoulders settled. He still turned to the officer, however. “At least can we please have some medical attention for my brother?”

“After processing.”

And they were fingerprinted and genetically identified. The database churned out Gordon’s military record and two brushes with the law as a teenager.

Dad had been so angry both times.

Kind of like what Scott was going to be in a short period of time.

Virgil didn’t have a police record. All his liaisons with the law had been as an International Rescue operative. The database was pedantic and churned out a list of all the incident files he had been a signatory on.

It was a long list.

At least some respect appeared in the officer’s eyes at the math of how many people had been saved by the two men standing in front of him.

Regardless, they were searched. Gordon’s pocket knife was confiscated and Virgil watched sadly as they packed away the brand new piano string he had bought on the way in to town. What was worse was his favourite multitool, which lived in his left boot, went with it. Gordon frowned at the sight of it.

Holograms were taken and they were escorted to a cell, fortunately one that only contained the two of them. There, finally, Virgil was able to let his shoulders drop and lean back against the cool brickwork and let out a breath.

“Sorry, Virg.”

A slow blink. “Had to be done.” A sigh and he reached for his collar. “Thunderbird Two to Tracy Island.”

“Tracy Island, how goes those steaks, Virg?”

He pressed his lips together and his cheek complained. “Could be better.”

Scott picked up his tone of voice immediately. “What’s wrong?”

He really didn’t want to ruin his brother’s mood. Another sigh. “Got into a fight. Been arrested.”

There was total silence at the other end of the line. “You’ve been arrested?”

“Yes, and Virgil was punched in the face!”

That face glared at his little brother. “I’m fine, Scott, but we need bail.”

More silence.

Shit.

“I’ll be there in fifteen.” The line cut dead.

Virgil slumped against the wall.

“Fifteen? He’s not using One is he?”

A sigh. “Yes, he is.”

“Virgil, report.” John’s voice was sharp and Gordon rolled his eyes.

Virgil held up a hand, stopping Gordon from adding to the mess. “We’re in jail, John, as you have no doubt scanned thoroughly. Tell Eos to be subtle this time.”

“Excuse me, Virgil, it wasn’t my fault last time.” Her voice was even sharper than John’s and it rattled his headache.

“One word, Eos…popcorn.”

“That wasn’t my fault.”

“She was just trying to help, Virgil.” Okay, so he had stepped on his brother’s ‘daddy toes’.

He touched a finger gingerly to his bruised cheek. “Whatever. Just do what you can to stem the tide of paparazzi.”

A sigh. “FAB.” Pause. “You still haven’t given me your report.”

“Virg has a shiner in the making. Needs an x-ray of his cheek bone. That asshole hit him hard.”

Virgil glared at Gordon and paid for it when it pulled at his injured face.

“Grandma has been notified.”

Shit. Could this day get any worse? He had only wanted to relax for a couple hours.

“Scott’s en route.” Was he imagining a hint of apology in his space brother’s tone? There was certainly enough concern.

“I’m fine, John. Just need to get out of here.”

“Help is on the way.”

His only answer was a grunt.

-o-o-o-

Scott was punctual as usual. There was no missing the roar of One’s engines as she caused a traffic hazard outside the building.

Virgil, who had been nagged to lie down by a persistent aquanaut, pushed himself upright at the sound.

Gordon was rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “Now we get to see some action.”

Virgil rolled his eyes and regretted it. Another poke and prod revealed some nasty swelling. He must look a sight.

Scott was going to be unbearable.

It was another five minutes after the cooling of rocket engines out in the street before their cell door was flung open.

The situation was worse than expected.

Virgil stared, still sitting down on the bed, as his grandmother hurried into the room.

Oh, shit.

He had the briefest glance of a concerned Scott before their grandmother was in front of him.

“Virgil, oh honey.” Her fingers took his chin as she studied his injury.

“I’m okay, Grandma.”

“We’ll see.” And with the flick of a purple wrist, out came a medical scanner, its yellow light flickering over his face. He flinched away. “Hold still, honey. Just a moment, I promise.”

He felt like a five-year-old.

“Gordon, report.” Scott’s voice was sharp and so military, Virgil could hear Gordon’s spine crack into attention. What followed was a concise and accurate report of the fight. Virgil was surprised at how much his little brother had absorbed amongst the bedlam.

“Your cheek bone is not broken, but you’ve got a doozy of a contusion there, honey. Lots of bed rest and chicken soup for you.”

Great. Just great.

He hoped the soup was from a can.

Another voice echoed down the corridor. A firm and sharp stream of legal terms that definitely did not sound good for anyone who wasn’t a Tracy.

“You brought Jack?”

Scott’s attention switched to Virgil. He shrugged. “He’s our lawyer. You’re in jail. Seemed pertinent.”

“In fifteen minutes?”

“He got a ride in Thunderbird One.”

Virgil snorted. “Was that a reward or a punishment?”

“He seemed to enjoy it.”

Jack Dunning was their family lawyer and considering their occupation, he earned every cent the Tracys threw at him. Short, dumpy and balding, the man was raking the police chief over the coals as they arrived at the door of the cell.

One glance at Virgil and Jack turned back to the chief and ripped her an extra one about his medical condition.

“We called the medical attendant.” Her words were defensive and much less the sure person they had met before.

“So, you’re telling me, International Rescue could respond faster from halfway around the world than you could find a local doctor? Considering the amount of swelling, Mr Tracy could quite easily have a concussion, broken cheek bone, possibly internal bleeding. Why was he not seen to?”

“We were in the process of-“

Jack ignored her and prodded his tablet.

“What about the other participants? Your report mentions that there was some loss of consciousness. Have these men been attended to?”

“The severity of their injuries called for it, yes. Procedure-“

“Then why was Mr Tracy neglected?”

“He was not. The medical attendant was on his way.”

“So, International Rescue can respond faster.” He poked his tablet some more.

“Look, I don’t know how you rich types expect to be treated, but in this police station everyone is treated fairly and equally.”

“You better hope so.” Jack’s tone was final and spoke of an investigation in the future.

“Okay, boys, time to go home.” Grandma really was the real commander on the team. It was proven by the fact Scott did not hesitate to obey.

“Gordon, you have Thunderbird Two. Virgil, you’re riding with me.”

“Really?” So, it came out whiney and petulant. Big deal.

“There is no way you are flying with that injury, young man.” Grandma tugged him to his feet.

“I’m fine, Grandma. It’s just a bruise. You said so yourself.”

“Forget it, Virgil.” Scott’s tone was final and spoke of future discussions on the topic.

Okay, so Grandma being here was a temporary distraction from the words Scott had no doubt were loaded up and ready to be fired his way.

Time for a pre-emptive strike. “We were in the right, Scott.”

“I’m aware of that, Virgil. Time to go.” Scott ushered Gordon ahead, gently took Virgil’s arm and led him from the holding cell.

A glance at those pursed lips made it very clear that as predicted, Scott was pissed.

An internal sigh.

This was not going to be fun.

-o-o-o-

Next

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Virgil Tracy #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #Grandma Tracy #Sally Tracy #nuttys fandomversary

[lilikags]

Maybe Homework Isn’t So Bad After All (Hinata Shoyo x reader)

Contrary to popular opinion, homework can actually have a positive effect. Sometimes. 

Pairing: Hinata Shoyo x Kageyama’s sister reader Type: fluff Before you read notes: ... can I just say fried rice? 

"Woah! Kageyama, your house's so cool!" Hinata's eyes beamed, seeing the Kageyama's front door. It was a bit more modern, though smaller than his own.

"It's a normal house...." Tobio looked at Hinata, feeling done with him and his energetic energy. You heard the noise and peeked through the door.

"Oh, you brought home a friend? You should tell me these things; the house's a mess. I guess the least I could do is put together some snacks." You looked at Hinata. "Oh, you're the Hinata Tobio keeps talking about, right? Sorry about the house, it's a mess."

"It's awesome!" Hinata jumped and hit his head, apparently trying to express how cool the house was.

"Oh, you okay? I'll get some ice if you need-"

"He's fine." Tobio answered. "He's hit his head before, no big deal."

"What if it's-"

"I'm okay!" Hinata flashed a bright smile. You guided them to the living room- that was the part of the house you would lead guests to whenever they came over. You sat down, next to your brother.

"Uh, so you're here to hang out? Study?" you tried to start a conversation.

"Kageyama and I don't have good grades... and we need to pass all of our classes to go to the training camp..." Hinata's smile dropped.

"Well, I'm sure you can figure it out! If you need help, you can ask me, but don't expect me to be as good as your teacher. Good luck! Call me if you need any help." you waved to them and went back to your room. You had some homework left to do, so you decided that you would finish that before playing some games.

You have always loved video games. Tobio has always loved volleyball. It seemed like he inherited all of the physical talent while you inherited all of  smarts. You weren't that smart, but you were somewhat at the top of your class. You were also in advanced math, meaning that you were taking Algebra 2 in 10th grade. It wasn't that hard, since you had time to study and actually paid attention in class, unlike your brother. Though, you couldn't really blame him. He always, in your opinion, got back too late at night and was exhausted from practice. Of course, he would be tired the next day as well.

You set to work, putting all of your focus on your homework so that you could play some games. You did have a test next week, but you could totally study tomorrow. It's not like it's hard anyways; you could probably take a couple of  hours to study for it and you'd be just fine. You knew you were procrastinating, and you did believe you were too good at it, but you saw no reason to stop. After all, if everything ended up okay, it's all good.

The homework was surprisingly easy; you got through it in half an hour and you set on to your games. You unplugged your phone, which was now at full battery. You put in the password and opened up (favorite game). You were getting into it, remembering all of your plans and strategies you had in mind. After all, a strategy is absolutely necessary to climb the ranks.

You decided to start off with some pvp, to get your adrenaline up. Pvp was always exciting for you; real-time strategy and the randomness of debuff landings (that sometimes did not land) always made it more fun. Real-Time Arena was your favorite; countdowns limited the amount of time you could think about your next move and that was exhilarating.

Unfortunately, you were interrupted by the two boys knocking on your bedroom door. "(f/n)-san!" You turned around and opened the door, "You need help?" They both nodded and you asked what they needed help with.

"(f/n)-san, we don't understand how commas work." Ah, commas. You were always good at English grammar, and it actually came as easily to you as Japanese. Maybe learning languages was what you were good at.

So, you sat down between them so that they could more easily see what you were writing, and you answered their questions as you explained it. You even stayed around to make sure they would remember it for the test.

By the time you were done, it was close to midnight. Since today was a Friday, there was no school the next day. That meant you could play games. You stood up to stretch, pulling your arms over your head and touching your toes.

"(f/n)-san, thanks a lot!" Hinata flashed a bright smile. You never really smiled like that anymore. You used to, as a young child, but nothing could ever make you smile like that these days. You softly smiled back and quietly closed the door, returning to your room.

You started to decide what game you were going to play, but you were interrupted by the doorbell. You wondered who it was; who would ring the doorbell so late at night? You looked through the window, and found your best friend, (b/f/n), standing in front of the door and holding a bag of your favorite snack, [favorite snack].

"What's up?" you greeted (b/f/n).

"Let's play [favorite mobile game] together." (b/f/n) explained, and you understood what was happening immediately. (b/f/n)'s parents always went out on a romantic vacation around this time, and she would always come over to play mobile games when that happened.

You welcomed her into the house, and the two of you headed towards your room. You passed by the living room, where Tobio and Hinata were. You checked on them, making sure they were okay, and they were talking about the practice match they recently had against Aoba Johsai.

Suddenly, as you were about to leave them along, (b/f/n) blurted out, "Do you guys wanna play [favorite mobile game together]?"

"Huh? But (b/f/n), they don't play games like that-" She cut you off, "The more the merrier, right? It doesn't hurt to play!" You looked at your brother and Hinata.

"Sure! I'd love to play!" Hinata pulled out his phone. Tobio tried to object, but he gave in and soon enough, everyone was playing [favorite mobile game] in the living room. Hinata somehow was good at it, and it surprised you how much he was progressing in just a few hours. Tobio was the slowest out of the two of them, and you giggled at that.

You didn't think teaching the two boys how to play would be fun, but it was plenty enjoyable. The four of you played all night, not a single one of you regretting hanging out all night one bit. All of you were exhausted, and Tobio and (b/f/n) had fallen asleep earlier, and it was just you and Hinata. The both of you were tired from staying up all night, and you finally gave in to fatigue and closed your eyes.

♡~ᴛɪᴍᴇꜱᴋɪᴘ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʏ ɴᴏʏᴀ~♡

Your eyes fluttered open to a sunset. You looked at the clock, and it read "1:23 PM". You lifted your head, which had been resting on something, something warm. You looked to your right, and you saw Hinata there. Upon realizing you had slept on Hinata's shoulder, you blushed.

"Oh my god, I just slept on his shoulder, (b/f/n)'s gonna make fun of me when she wakes up, Tobio's going to yell at both of us, accuse him of doing something, oh my god, there's going to be chaos..." you freaked out, your thoughts going wild. You attempted to reorganize yourself, "Okay, calm down. You're getting nowhere with this. Let's just get up and make some food. I'm sure everyone's hungry."

You got up, and you heard Hinata stir. You hoped you didn't bother him and walked to the kitchen, grabbing an apron and getting some ingredients for the fried rice you were going to cook. You were never great at cooking, but you've always loved fried rice.

Fried rice was the first dish you ever learned how to make. After years of perfecting your own recipe, it was what you considered part of your pride. You always poured your heart into this dish when making it, and this time was no exception.

You hummed while cooking, enjoying it. Whenever Tobio wasn't home and you had the house all to yourself, you would sometimes cook, especially when you were stressed. You were lost in your own thoughts, when you heard someone move a chair. You turned around, surprised.

"Oh, Hinata-kun! Good morning, or I guess it's afternoon now. Are you hungry?" you asked, transferring the fried rice from a pan to a large bowl.

"Yeah, a bit. Actually, that fried rice smells great! Do you mind if I have some?" Hinata asked, excitement showing on his expression.

"Uh, sure. I made it for everyone anyways; I figured we'd all be hungry when I woke up," you replied, scooping a portion into a bowl and handing it to him. You hand him some chopsticks and you hear him thank you for the meal. You smiled as you saw him eat the fried rice; it looked like he was enjoying it.

"(f/n)-san! This is really good!" Hinata exclaimed. "I could eat this every day! How do you make it?" You were taken by surprise. You never thought someone outside of your own family would compliment you. "Oh, thanks. Well, uh-" You were cut off by your brother, who had just woken up. "Oi, Hinata! Why are you yelling so loud in the morning?!"

"It's already the afternoon! Anyways, (f/n)-san's fried rice is really good!" Hinata yelled back.

"Ah, so that's what the smell was. Did you make any for me?" he turned to you. You nodded and handed him a bowl and his chopsticks.

Soon enough, (b/f/n) woke up and you gave her the last bowl of fried rice you had prepared. When you were all done, you washed the plates, and Hinata offered to help. You declined at first, but he insisted. You gave up and let him help you. (b/f/n) and Tobio went to continue playing that game; they were both really into it.

"Ring ring ring" Hinata's phone rang. He picked it up, and you could hear a woman from the other side. You assumed it was his mom; no one thought to call his family that he was staying here. You could hear Hinata apologizing, and you handed over the phone to you.

"Uh, hello? I'm Kageyama (f/n). Sorry for not letting you know Hinata-kun was staying over here; I should have called to make sure it was okay with you-" Hinata's mom cut you off, "No, no, it's okay. I'm sorry you had to put up with Shoyo, he must have been troublesome to take care of."

"No, no! We all played games last night; it was more fun with him around." you spoke with his mom a bit longer, and when you hung up, you handed his phone back to him.

"My mom didn't scold you, did she?" he asked.

"No, no. She's really nice!" you shook your head. His mom had asked him to go home, so he left soon later.

"Hey, (f/n)-chan, you like Hinata-kun, don't you?" (b/f/n) sneaked up from behind you.

"Ah!" you turned around. "No, I don't!"

"Then, why fried rice taste so good?"

"I must have improved."

"No way! Not that much in such little time! It has to be love!"

"No, it's not..." you looked down in embarrassment.

♡~𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒑 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒚 𝑯𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒂'𝒔 𝒃𝒊𝒌𝒆~♡

Hinata ended coming to your house to play [favorite mobile game] with you, Tobio, and sometimes (b/f/n) pretty often. The four of you became pretty close, especially you and Hinata.

You and Hinata, who you now called Shoyo, were the last ones awake. The four of you had played games all night, and of course, (b/f/n) and Tobio fell asleep first. After all, they were prone to that.

"Hey, (f/n)." Shoyo turned to you.

"Hm?" you turned to him.

"Maybe homework isn't so bad after all. It's what brought the four of us together..."

~END~

2015 words! I didn't imagine it would be this long. Anyways, how'd you like it? I'm thinking of making a part 2, should I? Thanks for reading! Love, Lili Kags♡♡♡

Edited: 10/13/20

Credits: header image is from unsplash

#lili kags #hinata shoyo #hinata x reader #hinata x y/n #haikyuu x reader

[asymptotichigh5]

Energy, the economy, and everything else.

I’ve been meaning to address this subject somewhere for a while. For the longest time, I hesitated on what the best medium to achieve this would be : on one hand, a Facebook status needs to be short and concise, which is not necessarily my forte and of course, there is also the fact that it would quickly be washed away in the storm of social media posts that has become 2020. A YouTube video then occurred to me to be most appropriate, but it would be long, my camera sucks and I hate video editing. So, I finally turned to this blog, which I had abandoned for quite some time. Surprisingly, there was an article in my drafts I had started writing almost 5 years ago about exactly this topic titled “A physics crash-course for politicians: a recipe not to kill us all”, but it was a bit too dramatic and I might get called off for taking political stances, when in reality there will be none in this post (which is surprising, for any of those reading this who know me). Anyway, this article will be the first in a series, which I might or might not continue, depending on interest, even though I did promise a friend of mine to carry through the entire message the whole way through, hopefully I’ll be able to do this with some of you actually reading all the way through, though that might be too optimistic.

Energy is a concept which is as important (if not more) as it is misunderstood by the general public. Most people don’t consider energy to be a considerable issue in their daily lives, but hopefully by the end of this post you will understand that energy is what allows you to live your 21st century carefree lifestyle. It turns out that most of us consider energy to be a bill to pay at the end of the month, or an annoyance to pay for when we fill our cars with gasoline at the pump, but energy — before being a bill to pay, or a commodity — is a physical quantity. A quick look at Wikipedia will give you a definition of energy which appears to be rather circular. Perhaps a more appropriate definition of energy for the sake of this post is the following:

Energy [/ˈɛnədʒi/, noun] : a physical quantity quantifying the ability to change the environment, or the ability to do work.

By “change the environment” we refer to the ability to perform any kind of change at all. Letting a ball fall involves energy, heating up water to make a cup of tea involves energy, me typing on this keyboard at this very moment also involves energy, etc. The SI unit for energy is the Joule, which at the human scale represents a tiny bit of energy (roughly speaking, it is the energy required to lift a medium-sized tomato (300 grams) by 1 metre. This unit has the annoying nuisance of being too small, so for the rest of this post we will talk about energy in terms of MWh (megawatt-hours), which corresponds to 3 600 000 000 Joules, which is a hell of a lot more medium-sized tomatoes lifted, or in terms of kWh (kilowatt-hours), which corresponds to 3 600 000 Joules. It is a good exercise to try to understand the MWh in terms of human work to put everything into perspective. To this effect, the BBC actually had a great documentary which appeared in 2009 about electrical energy consumption in the UK which performed an experiment in which a tiny army of people were forced to pedal to provide electricity to an average-sized house with an average-sized family having an average-sized consumption of electricity. While the documentary has great shock value, we need not hire an army of 80 cyclist to get the right orders of magnitude. An 80 kg man carrying 10 kg of supplies with him and climbing 2000 m up a mountain spends roughly 0.5 kWh to go up the mountain. Similarly, digging up 6 m${}^3$ of dirt to make a hole 1 m deep takes roughly 0,05 kWh of energy. By comparison, 1L of oil provides 2~4 kWh of (usable) mechanical energy.

Of course, using the oil to drive up the mountain, or to fuel an excavator to dig up the holes is a no brainer. Oil, or more precisely the machines it feeds, are not constrained by fatigue, do not form unions, do not complain that the ruble is too heavy, or that their legs are tired. It is also incredibly cheap by comparison, even if the human workers going up the mountain or digging up the hole are not getting paid at all. Assuming the cost of a slave to simply be the sustainance cost of a human being (i.e. minimal clothing, food and shelter) it is still a couple of hundred times cheaper to use a machine instead of a person to perform tasks, whenever possible. The reason why slavery ended is not because all of a sudden people grew a conscience out of thin air, or because we are so much better or educated than our ancestors ; it is simply stupid to have slaves in a world where you have access to a dense source of energy, because using this energy for mechanical work is many times more efficient and cheaper than owning slaves. This heuristic argument is also what ultimately explains the correlation between the abolition of slavery and the first industrial revolution (although the latter was mostly fed by coal as opposed to oil). In other words, the huge disparity in the efficiency of dense energy sources is what explains that mankind has historically always transitioned to sources of energy which monotonically increase in energy density.

But just what makes energy so important? Well, the answer lies in the definition. Since energy is ultimately the driver for any transformation of the environment, energy is by definition the main driver of the economy, too. In fact, the availability of a large supply of energy is what has allowed the development of modern society as we know it: paid holidays, retirement benefits, social security, social programs, your trip to Thailand last year, the variety of food you find at the supermarket, the fact that you even have disposable income to spend however you wish, free time, your ability to pursue long years of study, etc. Without the access to a cheap, reliable source of energy, this would all be impossible. Without realizing it, on average, we can calculate an equivalent amount of slaves used by any human on Earth today, given our estimates on the output of energy a human being is capable of delivering above and the total energy consumption of the planet. Doing the math, we find that an average human lives as if he/she had ~200 slaves working for him/her constantly. If we look at developed nations, this number jumps to 600 to 1500 equivalent slaves. This is an outstanding standard of living compared to what any of our ancestors ever knew. And so, it’s not that our generation is 200 times more productive than previous generations of humans, what has been driving the economy for the past 220 years is not humans, so much as it is the increasing access to a park of machines which has driven GDP growth since the industrial revolution. In fact, this can also be seen in developing countries, where an increase in development is immediately accompanied by a rural exodus driven by the introduction of machines to perform the heavy work in the fields. This allows for a widening of the pool of workers, which can then be free to use more machines and increase GDP.

So what sources of energy have we been exploiting in the last 220 years? Worldwide, the mix looks a little bit like this: 

Notice that most of this mix (oil, gas and coal) are sources which are fossil fuels. In essence, what this chart is saying is that we owe all of the societal progress of the past 220 years to fossil fuels. Of course, the use of these fuels has the annoying consequence of releasing CO${}_2$ into the atmosphere which — as we know — has some rather undesirable consequences for the future of humanity. This chart also tells a story about how people have completely misrepresented and misunderstood the problem. Most people think that the energy crisis will ultimately be solved by replacing the carbonated sources of energy by “renewables”, even though the later are basically invisible in the above chart. Luckily, a world where we live only with renewable energy is entirely possible: it’s called the Middle Ages. The impossibility of replacing these carbonated sources with “renewables” is an important point to treat, and deserves an article of its own, but in the end its cause is the same as what has driven this discussion so far: energy density. We shall come back to this important point in a subsequent post. For now, let us finish driving the point home in establishing the unequivocal link between energy, specifically oil, and GDP.  Energy availability is the main driver of the economy, this is simply because the economy is nothing other but the collective transformation of stuff into other stuff by humans. This, and the fact that 50% of the world-wide oil consumption is used to transport goods or people from point A to B is what explains the following correlation between oil and GDP: 

In light of global warming, the question becomes one in which we are forced to arbitrate between real GDP growth and carbon emissions. It is literally that simple, yet it is difficult to grasp what this means. GDP growth is an abstract concept most of us don’t really understand, and most people advocating for giving up growth don’t fully grasp the consequences of what it will mean for all of us. Very really, what it means is diminishing real wages and purchasing power by a factor varying between 3 or 10 over the next 30 years (we will come back to these figures eventually in another article, too). Now, most people will point out that we can and should just take all this wealth from the oligarchs and the billionaires out there, and this is true and should definitely be done, but it will unfortunately still not be anywhere near enough to solve the problem. Orders of magnitude are a bitch and maths sucks, especially when they contradict your political opinions. In real terms, giving up growth means to take your current salary, and divide it by 10, and ask yourself whether you are really ready to live with that. The questions on left and right are at this point so irrelevant that it is stupid to even ask them. Both of these models of thinking completely rely on a pie which is ever increasing and in which the living standards of everyone eventually rise. For the right, this is obvious, but this holds true even in a leftist society, in which the social programs and everything that goes with it relies heavily on economic growth and an increase of the economic pie. This view is flawed, as in very real terms in order to protect ourselves from climate change, the only way is to considerably decrease our dependence on fossil fuels, in other words, considerably decrease global GDP.

(Un)fortunately, whether the politicians decide to take global warming seriously or not, the problem will auto-regulate eventually. You see, there is a tiny and obnoxious problem regarding our addiction to fossil fuels: we are running out of them. We should point out that not all fossil fuels are equal: this is not only true from a carbon emission perspective, but also from a transportation point of view. Indeed, only about 10% of the coal produced yearly is actually exported, because it is inconvenient to transport. Gas presents a similar problem, given its physical form, which is not sufficiently energetically dense to be easily shipped without compression (which itself involves energy). This leaves oil as the main source of energy which is actually exportable and tradable.  And so, not only is oil vital due to the fact that it is the only source of energy which can reliably be used to for transportation, it is also the only option when looking at trading energy internationally. However, oil production has been already past its peak in most countries with considerable oil reserves. From a European point of view, the problem is actually worse as the energy consumption in Europe has been stagnating and in fact decreasing since 2005, when we reached peak consumption.

Incidentally, this explains why there has been no -- and there will be no -- economic long term real growth in Europe in the future, and it this has indeed been the case ever since 2008. In fact, most of the economic growth which has happened in Europe ever since is due to the trade of goods which increase in value over time (such as housing), which gets further gets inflated as there is a surplus of liquidity which has been continuously injected into the system since the introduction of quantitative easing. We will come to this problematic in a latte post. Similarly, we observe analogous curves of decrease in variation of energy consumption in the countries of the OECD (source of data: BP Statistical Review 2017), which means that this halting of real economic growth is not to be expected anywhere else in the OECD either.

During a recent discussion with a close friend of mine, he pointed out that the decrease in consumption in energy could be explained by the fact that the economy in developed countries had essentially become an economy of services, and that thus, this correlation between GDP and energy consumption and production was flawed, but this reasoning is wrong. First, because many of these services introduced involve or depend strongly on developments in e-commerce and industries attached to the development of the Internet and computers. However, the digitalization of the economy has not led to a decrease in energy demand, but in fact quite the opposite, if anything it has considerably increased our energy dependence. Second, the data simply states otherwise across the board. For instance, the chart below depicts an evolution of the percentage of people working in services and the amount of tons of CO${}_2$ released in the environment per capita in the World (data is from the World Bank).

Of course, the fact that these are positively correlated in the world and these countries is expected. In the world, because supporting the increasing living standards of the people working in the service sector necessarily comes out of an increase of the economic pie, which can only mean that the energy consumption (thus, at first order, the tons of CO${}_2$ in the atmosphere) increased. In European countries, the CO${}_2$ per capita has been reduced, partly to a negligible population growth, but also due to the delocalization of the most polluting elements of the economy to developing countries. Nonetheless, the general worldwide trend is clear: more service sector employment correlates with higher output of CO${}_2$, which implies higher energy consumption. But of course, by the reasoning above, this is hardly surprising.

Most of the time, the decline in the rate of growth of oil production is dismissed by saying that we will always find alternative forms of petroleum which will remain exploitable and will secure us with more oil. However, these alternative sources, such as bituminous sands and are problematic to exploit, require more energy input to be exploitable and are of lesser energetic quality. Similar decreasing curves of consumption and production have been appreciated for gas as well. Coal remains an exception to this, but it is not easily tradable, which implies that only 8 countries (including the US, China and Australia) really can consider exploiting coal for long term energy consumption, but given the climate consequences this poses, this is hardly a desirable outcome.

And so ultimately, it is not even a question of deciding whether or not we want to transition out of fossil fuels or not. The decrease in fossil fuel consumption will happen whether we like it or not — and by extension, so will the inevitable shrinking of the economy. The problem is that it might not happen fast enough to avoid catastrophe, which might already be unavoidable. What this also means is that the questions we should be asking ourselves as a society are not so much whether we should adopt liberal or leftist policies, but rather how we optimize the distribution of resources in a world where the economic pie decreases year by year, but no one seems to be wanting to have this discussion seriously.

#energy #energy crisis #renewables #renewable power #oil #environment #environmetalists #economy #economic crisis

[levyfiles]

27 for the end of year asks?

#27. Have you done anything that scared you?

Ooof Ok. A little backstory then. Warning: this is a long little personal irl tale and hopefully interesting enough to be worth sharing so I’ll put it under a cut.

Before I got my promotion in January, I had spent all of last year already doing the work for less of the pay because my manager trained me to do all the paperwork and accounting for her on Wednesday so she could focus on other stuff. I was fully trained to run the accounting on the full slot count every day but there were no shifts available for me to be supervisor because a guy (let’s call him R) who had worked there much longer than I had taken on more shifts earlier last year. I was patient and worked full time, I even covered for anyone who was sick, did my time until said guy moved on to another department. 

Suddenly the shifts opened up and unfortunately at the same time, another guy (we’ll call him B) who had the Saturday supervising shift took some time off because of an injury and of course, like I said in an earlier ask, a really shitty worker quit. I was, from the end of February and all of March and April, running the department from Thursday to Sunday with 3 brand new workers who I had to train at the same time as do the job I had to. It was hard, the hours were longer, and there were times I really felt so drained I thought I’d never get my regular life back. 

B quit permanently because he couldn’t do the more physical aspects of our work which involve hauling 1 tonne iron carts full of over 500 slot machine casettes full of money across the casino and then opening said casettes one by one to count and sort the cash. The job involves a lot of repetitive hand-intensive tasks and for all the math and stacks of cash and electrical sorters, the hardest part of the job is getting the money off the floor at hours between 2am - 4am or at earliest 6am. It takes a toll on people and the body. I’m lucky enough that I’ve always been nocturnal so the hours are me at my sharpest and strongest.

At some juncture in May, R who had gone to tables to be a dealer wanted to come back. The hours were shit and guests who play poker are too often assholes to the card dealers. I learned the news second hand from a guest service manager that my manager had already agreed to reschedule him to come back.immediately. I confronted R who had neither told me he was leaving to begin with and didn’t tell me he had plans to come back. He told me everything I heard was true and worse. I was terrified because a) what I had had to go through to train the new crew b) the large amount of time I’d spent waiting for this promotion. 

It hurt all the more because R happens to be one of my really good friends. I called my manager that morning to ask her about it. I’ll always think about that phone call and what it taught me about how people are in positions of authority even when they tell you ‘you can talk to me about anything’. Her first reaction was to act like she didn’t know what I was talking about and she flip-switched the moment I told her who told me about it. That I had asked R personally and he told me his return date, that he’d been guaranteed by higher management that he could come back and that everything would be the same; that his stint on the dealing tables was just a trial to see if he would like it given that the dealing department was short (for obvious reasons). She sighed and switched up her tack, suddenly it was “no one was supposed to know” and other crap. Finally I was able to work up the nerve to ask her, “After all we’ve been through, me and the new crew; am I going to lose my position so R can come back and have his old one?” She seemed surprised by the question and the entire conversation in general, but she guaranteed that there was a miscommunication; that R’s return would only impact the new girls. My position was safe. 

This bothered me. It bothered me because my manager, before news of R’s coming back had dropped, had started training one of these new girls (let’s call her S) to cover my position if I was ever sick or injured (very normal thing to do) so now there would be 3 people on the crew who could do the job I was doing. Before R wanted back in, I was relieved that maybe S would get a supervising shift so I wouldn’t be so overwhelmed. 

Now this is where it gets complicated. The schedule was all over the place. S was now fully trained to cover for anyone who didn’t show, got sick, or injured is great at her job; we all love her. She fits right in. and is always willing to cover shifts and has since become my movie-night buddy. A week after she was trained, my manager sends me an email saying that we’ve got the new crew cemented, she’s got the new schedule all worked out. She keeps me on Thursdays and Fridays, gives R Saturdays, and then S takes Sunday because, according to my manager “Everyone who’s trained to supervise and do the accounting needs to have a regular shift. It’s only fair.” 

So just a reminder, the whole of last year I was put on call, working under two adolescent dudes who I had to push myself to my physical limit to be as good as all while waiting and wondering if a shift would ever open up; if I’d ever be able to actually get paid for the job I was already doing for my manager on Wednesdays. That whole time it had never seemed to occur to her to give me one of R or B’s shifts, but now suddenly she has someone new on that’s not me, it’s all about being fair and delegating out shifts fairly. I was really hurt. It was that all my hard work this past two years would mean nothing and to speak up would mean I’d be ruining S’s chance, have her waiting as long as I did or maybe longer to earn a shift. Usual me would do nothing, just take what I had got and never really speak about how mad and hurt I was about being passed over for a year and only given a promotion when my manager had lost two of her staff. I was mad that a guy could leap between departments and still be guaranteed everything and It made me concerned that if I hadn’t called her that morning, would she have bothered to preserve my position. Would it have been a no communication, silent demotion where I check the schedule and everything’s back to what it was last year. It’s hard watching that happen, hard not to think when you’re the one mixed-race black girl in a small predominately white run casino that being treated like crap feels equated to something a little more deep-seated than just coincidence or circumstance. 

First I talked to S. I just asked her how she felt about the job, about the trial by fire she went through in her first months working with us and she had been hinting a lot lately about how she felt a little bit of resentment for R because with his return, she was worried her and I wouldn’t be as close. That was a whole other thing we would later need to work out. The conclusion we got to was she didn’t want a supervising shift because she was working part time in maintenance outdoors and she liked it that way. I on the other hand, only have the department we were in.

I made the decision not to be usual me. It was mid-June and I invited my manager out for breakfast after work one day and I sat with her over eggs at Denny’s and I told her how the past year had felt, how it had looked when she made the decision to cut my shifts in the fashion of fairness when I had waiting a year and some months since being trained to get a chance at a regular supervising shift, that when i finally did get the promotion, it was like being abandoned because it was only after R and B were gone. I was terrified the whole time I gave my little speech because I didn’t want to appear angry or overly emotional in any capacity because if she was doing this on purpose, my reaction could easily be taken as aggressive and then I would definitely lose it all. 

I was surprised. She apologised to me, said that the thought had never occurred to her that I had been waiting, that she wished I had said something before. Feels strange now. She could easily have been lying to me, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. Now R, S, and I work together and we have a lot of fun at work and we help one another. I still keep all my supervising shifts and R (who turns out is a part time streamer on Twitch) wanted more time off anyway so there’s been no bad blood at all. Weirdly enough, in August, we all went to R’s wedding and celebrated with him until they packed up the venue, and just yesterday, we had a dinner together with R and his wife, S, me and another one of our coworkers. We feel like family most days and that is worth the terror and the fear I had going into the job to start with and speaking up for myself. Sometimes shit like that works out and I don’t think I’m going to be too meek or afraid to take a leap like that where my job’s concerned anymore.

(bravo if you made it to the end of this weird little story

#personal #ask game #sequencefairy

[ladylynse]

I didn’t think I’d have time to write anything else for the Phic Phight, but there was a reveal prompt, and I love reveals....

Prompt by @duckapus: Reveal- Jack starts to question why ghost hunting equipment malfunctions around Danny. Exclusively around Danny. [FF | AO3]

Jack hadn’t questioned it at first. Not more than usual, anyway. Most of his inventions were prototypes, constantly undergoing revisions as preliminary testing revealed potential improvements. He expected problems. Bugs. That was normal.

But somehow, none of those potential improvements ever dealt with a problem he’d had from the beginning: the way all his ghost hunting equipment malfunctioned around Danny.

Exclusively around Danny.

The first time he’d mentioned it to Maddie, the first time he’d really noticed it, she’d simply told him to double check that he had everything in the proper order—no wires crossed, no incorrect balance of internal chemicals, no improperly calibrated sensors, that sort of thing.

The second time he brought it up, she’d suggested ecto-contamination. Danny hadn’t worn his HAZMAT suit in years—they didn’t even know where it was anymore—and Jazz would at least don one of Maddie’s when she thought the situation was desperate enough to warrant it.

But no amount of tweaking had helped, and Danny had started spending as little time in the lab as possible. He shouldn’t have built up enough contamination to be so consistently pinpointed by their weapons—especially when those weapons had no trouble differentiating between their samples of ectoplasm and a semi-sentient ghost blob.

Jack hadn’t bothered bringing it up a third time to Maddie. She was busy, and while this was important, he knew she hadn’t forgotten about it. He suspected that she was looking into it on her own time. He’d decided it was best if he did the same. For Danny’s sake. If they couldn’t solve this problem by putting their heads together, maybe they’d get further if they went at it separately for a while, coming at it from different angles instead of convincing each other of a promising but ultimately wrong viewpoint. As long as they solved the problem in the end, it wouldn’t matter how they got there.

Really, it was a safety issue at this point. Their weapons wouldn’t do any lasting harm to humans if handled properly, but accidents happened, and a blast from an ecto-gun was still a blast from an ecto-gun. It would still hurt, at least in the moment, and a sustained blast would burn.

And, honestly, the fear of one of their weapons accidentally locking on to Danny kept Jack from developing things he was interested in, like missiles keyed to the particular ecto-signatures of ghosts which repeatedly attacked Amity Park. He knew it was possible. He already had the technology in the Fenton Booo-merang. Adding it to an explosive that would go off on contact wouldn’t be terribly difficult.

But he hadn’t yet solved the problem of why the Booo-merang was attracted to Danny, and he’d rather not send explosives meant for ghosts after his son.

It was the Booo-merang that Jack had in pieces in front of him again. The kids were at school and Maddie was out most of the day running errands, so he’d moved from the lab to the kitchen table. Interference from their samples in the lab shouldn’t be a problem, but he’d run out of ideas when it came to what actually could be the problem, so he was trying very hard not to rule anything out, however unlikely.

Unfortunately, the Booo-merang had been built exactly as it should have been. By this point, it had been rebuilt—with both old parts and new—no fewer than six times. He’d done the math again. Had Maddie do the math again. Their calculations weren’t wrong.

He could get the Booo-merang to home in on different ecto-samples, could successfully switch between them, but he had a sinking feeling that the moment he set it to seek out the strongest ghost within range, it would find its way back to Danny again.

Like it always had before.

Jack hadn’t had any success correcting the Fenton Finder, either. It would point to Danny. No matter what he did to it. It would still register other ghosts, however weak, but Danny’s blip invariably showed up stronger than all of them. If the reason for all this had been ecto-contamination—somehow—Danny’s dot shouldn’t be displayed as brightly, not now that Jack had revamped the interface so that the brightest dots represented the strongest ghosts. He’d meant for it to be a way to find the likely leader or the strongest opponent, should they face multiple ghosts at once, but he wasn’t convinced his efforts had paid off. If the Fenton Finder persisted in finding Danny, he should have been barely there.

It never should have marked him as the greatest threat.

The Ghost Gabber was no different. No matter what Jack did to it, it would always ‘translate’ Danny’s words. He’d adjusted its sensitivity to the point that it wouldn’t even register the incoherent garbles of an ectopus, but the moment Danny said something….

Jack sighed, pushed the dismantled mechanics away, and stood to get some water. He was missing something fundamental, something dreadfully important, however small or basic it seemed. The reaction was consistent. Repeatable. As far as his equipment was concerned, there was no mistake. If it reliably sought out Danny, there must be some reason for it.

Trouble was, since it didn’t seem to be a flaw in the equipment, and earlier trials had shown that it wasn’t an oddly high level of ecto-contamination, Jack had no idea what that reason could be. Really, Jack had doused himself in ectoplasm by mistake once and hadn’t even registered as a blip on the Fenton Finder. It knew the difference between the activated ectoplasm ghosts controlled and the ectoplasmic remnants those ghosts left behind.

It would be different if it weren’t only Danny, if it weren’t always Danny, or even if it weren’t every invention.

After all, experiments with repeatable results were more likely to be true. Particularly when the conditions of the experiment varied. When the environment changed. When the parameters were tweaked. Jack’s inventions always pointed to the same thing, no matter the circumstances.

But the result had to be wrong. Danny wasn’t a ghost. How many times had he jumped to that conclusion with Jazz and it had turned out to be nothing? Maddie would have his hide if he kept doing that, and Jazz would give him another lecture about how he was ruining Danny’s childhood, and he only wanted what was best for his family.

But if his inventions weren’t wrong, and if Danny wasn’t a ghost, what was left?

Jack drained his glass of water and made up his mind. He scooped the pieces of the Booo-merang into a box, cleaned the grease-stained newspaper off the table, and dropped the box off in the lab. He’d reassemble the Booo-merang later. Right now, he wanted to go for a walk. To clear his head. And maybe to get some answers.

Maddie had the GAV, but that was just as well. It was harder to sneak up on a ghost in that, even if they were easier to chase when he wasn’t on foot. Still, for what he wanted, the Fenton Finder would do the trick.

Jack checked the weapons supply in his suit one last time before heading out the door, Fenton Finder in hand. There were no ghosts nearby, so he fiddled with the settings and expanded its range. It was less precise the farther it stretched, but it was easy enough to shrink the range and increase its accuracy as he got closer to a ghost.

Following the Fenton Finder’s instructions to a pair of ghosts was easy enough, and Jack wasn’t entirely surprised to find himself spitting distance from Casper High. He caught the tail end of Phantom’s fight with Technus, and while the ghost was gloating to himself over capturing the technology ghost, Jack fired a net-gun at him.

Phantom squawked and tucked to protect the thermos as he dropped. Jack approached cautiously, not remotely surprised by the suspicion in Phantom’s eyes—or by the slight coating of ice that was forming over the net. He’d seen Phantom pull that trick before.

Jack held up the net-gun and an ecto-gun and very visibly put them on the ground where Phantom could see them. “I didn’t come here to fight,” he said. “I just want to talk, and I needed to make sure you stayed here long enough for me to ask if you will.”

Phantom frowned. “Release me, then.”

The net was now completely coated in a thin layer of ice. Phantom could get free on his own with one good ectoblast, but Jack took the offering for what it was and untangled the net. Phantom floated up to his eye level but didn’t leave—or release his hold on his stolen Fenton Thermos. Jack wasn’t overly happy about Phantom’s theft, but it was good advertising for FentonWorks, so he’d long ago decided to let it slide as long as Phantom stopped stealing from them. (The Fenton Ecto-Skeleton might have been used well by Phantom, but he’d also destroyed it, and Jack was only willing to lose so many prototypes.)

“What do you want?” Phantom asked. He was watching Jack’s hands as much as his face, and Jack wondered if Phantom knew he hadn’t surrendered all his weapons.

Jack opened his mouth and found himself hesitating. He knew what he wanted to ask, more or less, but he wasn’t sure how to ask it in a way that made sense—much less in a way that made sense to a ghost. It was just as well that he’d found Phantom. Of all the ghosts that plagued this town, Phantom was the one who was most likely to give him something approximating an honest answer. Jack wasn’t sure what he’d have to promise in return, but the ghost wasn’t above cutting deals—and he tended to honour them, as far as Jack had seen.

“Do you just want to meet me later?” Phantom offered. “I’ve, uh, got someplace I should really be getting back to, and—”

“You know my kids, right?” The question had tumbled from Jack’s mouth without his permission, but at least it was a starting point.

Phantom blinked at him and looked slightly uncomfortable. “Um. Yeah? Jazz and Danny, right? They both go to Casper High. I’m, ah, there a lot. As you can tell.” He gestured vaguely in the direction of the school.

Jack nodded. “Yes. They’re often targeted, being our kids.”

“Right.” Phantom nodded, though Jack had no idea if he actually agreed or if he was merely trying to keep Jack happy. “That makes sense.”

“And Maddie and I know they support you,” Jack said slowly, “despite everything we’ve taught them.”

Phantom winced. “I swear I’m not brainwashing them or anything like that,” he muttered. “They just know that not all ghosts are evil.”

“Not all ghosts believe they are evil,” corrected Jack. Phantom’s frown deepened, but he held his tongue this time. “In fact, few truly accept that they are. They’re so caught up in their own beliefs and perceptions of the world that they can’t see how horrible their actions truly are.”

“Right.” Phantom’s voice was flat now, as if he remembered enough of what his life had once been to approximate human emotions. “I promise not to attack your kids. Was that all you wanted to talk about? I can go without you shooting me in the back again?”

“No, I…I want to make you a deal.”

Phantom’s eyebrows shot up. “A deal? After saying that? You just told me you think I’m evil but I can’t recognize my own evilness! What kind of deal do you want to make with someone you think is evil?”

It wasn’t worth correcting Phantom now. He wasn’t in the mood to argue over semantics, and he had never been very good at that, anyway. “I’ll replace that battered Fenton Thermos of yours if you help me with a problem I have.”

Phantom crossed his arms. “How about promising that you won’t keep trying to catch me and tear me apart molecule by molecule?”

He wasn’t jumping at the chance to replace his Fenton weaponry, so either he was comfortable with breaking into their place or Maddie’s suspicions were correct and one or both kids was helping him.

And if the kids were helping him, it was even more likely he’d know the answer to Jack’s question.

“You’d have to help me with more than one thing before I’d agree to that,” Jack said dryly. “I can appreciate your twisted sense of self-preservation, Phantom, but sometimes sacrifices must be made for science.”

Phantom glowered at him. “You’re just making me want to help you way less. You know that, right? My sense of self-preservation isn’t twisted, especially when you’re a ghost hunter. I’m willing to work with you guys on keeping this town safe, but only if we call a truce. I don’t want you to shoot me the moment the opportunity arises.”

He wasn’t going to make any wild promises without consulting Maddie. If they were going to strike up any sort of long-term alliance with Phantom, her input would be invaluable. She was a better negotiator than he. Besides, at this point, he didn’t trust the ghost enough. Trust had to be earned. He knew it went both ways, but Phantom was never defenseless unless they managed to suppress his powers—and he could disarm them more easily than they could do that. “I can give you one week. If you can help me. Beyond that, I’d have to discuss it with my wife.”

To Jack’s surprise, Phantom smiled. “Really?” There was something…hopeful in his voice. “Okay, yeah. I’ll help you if you don’t hunt me for a week. What’s this thing you need help with? Do you want a tour guide for the Ghost Zone?”

The idea wasn’t a terrible one. He’d have to bring it up with Maddie later, maybe when he broke the news that they couldn’t hunt Phantom for a full seven days. He was sure she’d understand once he explained that this was for Danny. She knew how much he was willing to sacrifice for their family. “No. I need to know why my inventions target you.”

Phantom’s smile fell off his face. “What?”

“What exactly is it about you that my inventions find? Why do they work?”

“You…. Why are you asking me that? How should I know? You invented them!”

“My science isn’t perfect.” Jack hated to admit it, hated to admit folly or fault to a ghost. “Until we can break a ghost down to its components, until we can figure out what triggers its cohesion or the composition of its ecto-signature, we’re guessing.”

“And you think I can tell you all that? I’m not a scientist! Go talk to Plasmius.”

Jack frowned. He didn’t like the Wisconsin Ghost, not after he had tried to attack Jack’s family. “I trust him less than I trust you.”

“Yeah, but he knows more about all of that stuff than I do. I’ve never studied it. I can’t tell you anything about that. I still don’t even understand how I exist like this, and he’s tried to explain it to me.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “You died, Phantom. There are a number of reasons ghosts form—”

“That’s not what I— You know what? Never mind. If this is what you wanted help with, I can’t actually help you. So why don’t you just let me go this once, and we can go back to normal next time you see me? I should really be going anyway—”

“That’s not the only thing I need help with.”

Phantom sighed. “Are you sure? Because if it’s science-y, and it sounds like it probably will be, you’re better off talking to Plasmius. I mean, believe me, I hate that idea, and he’ll hate that idea, and I can’t guarantee he’ll help, but he’ll at least understand what you’re talking about. I don’t.”

“No.” Jack had known even before he set out that he wouldn’t ask help of Plasmius. Phantom, aggravating though he was, was preferable to Plasmius. He had never seen Phantom directly harm his family, and Plasmius had tried that right in front of him. “I…. This is about my son.”

Phantom froze. “Your…son?”

He looked scared now, which was interesting. Maybe it was Danny who was helping Phantom after all. Maybe Phantom was the reason all their weapons— But Phantom had no reason to lie to him about this when it would mean he wouldn’t have to worry about the town’s best ghost hunters tracking him down. Jack highly doubted he’d tell the whole truth, but if Phantom knew anything, however insignificant, he could have given it to them—even if he knew whatever he told them wouldn’t help.

“There’s something about Danny,” Jack admitted quietly, “that sets off our weapons. I can’t figure out what it is. Maddie can’t figure out what it is. Our weapons are designed for ghosts, not humans, but something that would destroy you could still hurt him.”

Phantom’s eyes were wide. “Comforting,” he squeaked. If it was an attempt at humour, Phantom had no idea of his ill timing. Then again, Jack wouldn’t expect anything else from a ghost.

“This is serious, Phantom. My son’s life is in danger. If something goes wrong with one of our inventions…. Accidents happen, but I want to prevent the ones I can. And finding out why our weapons target him and stopping it will go a long way toward that.”

Phantom stared at the ground and said nothing.

“Help me figure this out. If we’re successful, Maddie and I will discuss the possibility of a long-term truce.”

“I…I don’t think….”

“Please.” It was easier to get the word past his lips than he’d expected. “Please. For my son. You claim to be a hero, to want to protect this town, don’t you? Help me protect my Danny-boy.”

“I’m going to regret this,” Phantom muttered. Louder, he said, “This involves Danny. You should talk to him, too. I’ll, um, come by sometime after school—or at this rate, detention—is over.”

Jack frowned. “Why not help me now? Then, whenever Danny gets home, we’ll be ready for him.” He was tempted to ask why Phantom thought Danny might get detention when he hadn’t all week, but Jack was unfortunately aware that Danny got detention as often as he didn’t, if not more. He shouldn’t condemn the ghost for acknowledging that fact, not when he needed Phantom’s help. Not when he was asking for Phantom’s help.

Phantom gave him a goofy grin. “Because I have someplace to be right now. And you have to tell Maddie she can’t shoot me when I show up.” He offered a mock salute and vanished.

Jack didn’t know if he’d done the right thing. Alliances with ghosts made him…uneasy. Even when they were for his family. Even with a ghost like Phantom, who thought himself good. There was never a guarantee with ghosts, not in matters like this. Phantom could go back on his word. If this venture endangered his family….

He’d make sure it wouldn’t happen. He’d take every precaution he could. When Phantom came, he’d be ready.

And, hopefully, by the end of this, Danny would be safe.

XXXXX

Maddie looked over the lab and bit her lip. “I don’t like this,” she admitted. “Lowering our defenses risks the whole family, and—”

“—and it’s only for a week. We can be extra vigilant for a week,” Jack pointed out. “And if Phantom attacks us, then we get to tear him apart molecule by molecule!”

Maddie smiled. “You’re right. You agreed not to hunt him for a week, but if he attacks first, then it’s self-defence.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Good thinking, sweetums.”

She was still nervous. He could see that in every line of her body. She didn’t like this. But he’d trusted Phantom before, made a deal with Phantom before, and the ghost had kept his word. Jack wanted to believe he’d do so again. “This is for Danny,” he reminded her.

“I know. I’ll abide by your terms. For Danny.” She checked her watch. “I’ll make a fresh batch of cookies. If Phantom is going to be under our roof and unrestrained, we can at least learn what we can from him while he’s here.”

“Double the recipe?” Jack asked hopefully. He loved Maddie’s cookies—the entire family did—and if it turned out Phantom could and would eat, Jack wanted to make sure there were enough.

Maddie leaned closer and whispered, “I’m going to quadruple it,” before pulling back with a laugh. Halfway up the stairs, she added, “They never seem to last long enough anyway. Just don’t anger Phantom before we at least get that data!”

“I’ll do my best, sugar plum,” Jack promised, but Maddie was already back upstairs, and he was left waiting.

XXXXX

Danny came into the lab some time later—late enough that Jack knew he must have gotten detention for one reason or another—and he looked almost as nervous as Jack had ever seen him. “Your mom told you what we want to do, right, Danny-boy?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “Kinda. I got the gist from Phantom, too. After school. He’s, uh, gonna be late. The Box Ghost showed up again.”

“The Box Ghost doesn’t usually give him much trouble.”

“He, um, had a lot of boxes.”

Jack nodded slowly. He didn’t know if Phantom hadn’t told Danny the details or if he hadn’t been truthful about any of it, but it didn’t matter in the end. He wasn’t here now, and if he didn’t show up by the end of the day, then that meant he didn’t intend to uphold his end of the deal—and that Jack and Maddie had no reason to keep theirs.

Danny grabbed the rolling desk chair by the computer and sat down. “Do you need me for long? I have homework.”

Jack sighed and leaned against the examination table. “What I need, Danny-boy, is for you to tell me the truth.”

Danny stilled, the fingers drumming on his knee freezing mid-beat. He looked…wary. Tense. Scared. “What do you mean?” Now that Jack was listening and looking for it, he could hear the falsehood in his son’s voice, the forced nonchalance that was betrayed by his body. “What do I have to lie about?”

He was a teenager. Likely as not, he thought he had a lot to lie about, even though he was wrong about that. “Danny,” Jack said instead, “this is important. You need to realize that. Our weapons could still hurt you, and your mom and I don’t want that to happen. That’s why we’re doing this. But we can’t help you if we don’t understand what happened.”

“I never said anything happened!”

“It could have been something small,” Jack said, though he didn’t really believe that. Whatever it had been, the effects were significant. “Something that you didn’t notice right away. Just think. You’ve spent a lot of time in the lab over the years. Has anything unexpected ever happened?”

“No.” The response came quickly. Too quickly. “I mean, you guys take a lot of safety precautions.”

“Mads and I do,” acknowledged Jack, “but when was the last time you or Jazzy-pants wore a HAZMAT suit while you worked down here?”

Danny winced.

Jack just nodded. “Now, your mom and I don’t think this is just a case of contamination. Everything reacts so strongly to you, and the effect just seems to be getting worse over time.”

“Of course it does,” Danny muttered. He’d no doubt been hoping this entire mess would just go away on its own. Truthfully, Jack had, too, but he and Maddie had known better than to do nothing and wait in vain.

Jack handed him the Fenton Finder. “You never stuck around long enough for me to explain my changes, Danny-boy, but if you turn that on, you’ll see how bright your dot is….” Jack trailed off. Danny had obeyed him, but the screen was blank.

“Hey, it doesn’t think I’m a ghost anymore!” Danny looked thrilled. “Awesome, Dad! What did you do?”

Jack just stared at the screen, half-expecting the dot representing his son—which had always appeared so faithfully—to belatedly pop up.

He hadn’t done a thing to the Fenton Finder that should affect Danny.

Wordlessly, he reached for the recently-reassembled Booo-merang, turned it on, and tossed it. Danny ducked, but all it did was crash into the drying rack and shatter half a dozen test tubes, a couple of beakers, and a graduated cylinder. No matter how many times Jack had built and rebuilt it before, it had invariably locked onto Danny. Now, it was like there wasn’t even a ghost in the vicinity.

Danny reached for the Ghost Gabber before he could. “My name is Danny Fenton,” he said into its microphone, and this time—for the first time in Jack’s memory—it didn’t repeat his words.

The next thing Jack knew, Danny had his arms around his middle. “Thanks, Dad!” He sounded so relieved. It was almost painful to hear that, to hear how much of a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, a weight his own parents had placed there. “I don’t know what you did, but I don’t care because it worked. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Danny gave him another squeeze before releasing him and bounding for the stairs. “I’m gonna tell Mom and Sam and Tucker and Jazz!”

Jack just stared after him, knowing he should call out to stop him but not knowing what to say.

Danny should still be targeted. He should still be identified as a ghost. Jack hadn’t…. Nothing he’d done would have affected that. Should have affected that.

Jack wasn’t sure how long he sat there, going over everything he’d done in his head, before he began double checking his instruments. He did know that if Phantom hadn’t coughed, very pointedly, Jack would have never noticed him.

That, above all else, told him how much this had shaken him.

“I’m assuming you talked to Danny,” Phantom said from where he floated a foot and a half off the floor, well away from the examination table and any of their weapons that would reach out and grab him at a touch of a button. “So what do you need me to do? How can I help?”

Jack had never turned the Fenton Ghost Gabber off, and despite what he’d done, he now expected it to still repeat Phantom’s words.

It didn’t.

Which meant Jack hadn’t gotten things wrong. Not that way, anyway. He hadn’t…hadn’t…. “The Fenton Finder,” he croaked, making a vague gesture towards it. “Do you still show up?” He had to be sure. He thought he was, but Maddie would want more proof than a gut feeling when he talked to her.

Phantom didn’t ask why, like Jack had expected, though he was appropriately wary as he flew over to pick up the device and turn it on.

Jack wasn’t surprised to find that Phantom knew exactly which one the Fenton Finder was or how it worked.

“No,” Phantom said, turning the screen in Jack’s direction so that he could see it was still blank.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Jack whispered. This was the result he had expected, but not after getting the same result for Danny. He shouldn’t have gotten the same result for Danny. Not if…if….

“Why? What’d you do?”

“We have your ecto-signature on file,” Jack said slowly. “It was easy enough to get, and we can get it again if you try to sabotage our data.”

Phantom rolled his eyes. “I’m not planning on breaking into your vault to destroy your precious data. Even if most of it is wrong. Besides, the thing’s phase-proof, isn’t it?”

Jack might have once been surprised that Phantom knew so much, but not anymore.

“I promised not to hunt you for a week,” Jack continued, ignoring Phantom’s remarks for now. “If you were able to help me, I wanted to be sure I could keep my end of the bargain.”

Phantom frowned. “Were? What’s that supposed to mean? I haven’t tried to help yet.”

Jack made sure to look him in the eye. He needed to see Phantom’s reaction, needed to see that he was fitting the pieces together correctly and that he wasn’t still missing something. “I fed your most recent ecto-signature reading into our weapons and taught them to ignore it,” he said.

Phantom looked at him blankly for a long few seconds, and then his eyes widened in panic. “Oh, crud.”

“What happened?” Jack asked gently. He thought Maddie might know how to best address this, how to deal with this sort of thing better than him, but she wasn’t here, and he was, and…. And he just had to let Phantom know he wasn’t going to lunge for any weapons or activate the Fenton Anti-Creep Mode or anything else. He had to let Phantom know he was willing to listen, that he was ready to listen, if Phantom was willing to tell him.

Phantom broke his gaze, guilt and discomfort written all over his features. He didn’t answer, but he didn’t try to fly away, either.

Slowly, he dropped until his feet were planted on the floor. He shifted his weight from foot to foot and crossed his arms, huddling in on himself, but Jack wasn’t going to give in. He wasn’t going to speak first, not unless Phantom tried to run and he had to catch him with the Fenton Fisher.

Phantom was still staring at his boots when he finally spoke, his voice barely audible. “It was an accident,” he breathed, and Jack could no longer be surprised.

All their (extensive) research pointed to the fact that each ghost’s ecto-signature was unique. Not static—ecto-signatures were influenced by a ghost’s experiences after death just as they were in the moment of their formation—but never the same for each ghost. It was impossible. Even ghosts skilled in mimicry wouldn’t be able to fully replicate another’s ecto-signature, as their own would still carry its own tell.

So if he had fed Phantom’s ecto-signature into his inventions and now they didn’t recognize Phantom or Danny?

“I’m sorry,” whispered Phantom. “I didn’t know how to tell you guys. And then I’d waited so long, too long, and I just…. It was easier to keep it a secret, I guess.” He was mumbling now. “I’m sorry. I…I don’t….”

Jack crossed the distance between them and scooped the ghost into his arms. “It’s okay, Danny-boy,” he murmured. “We know now. You just tell us what you need, okay? We want to help you.”

Phantom—Danny—was very still in his grip. “You believe me? You’re not…mad? Or thinking this is some kind of trick?”

Jack had no idea how this was possible, no idea what had happened or what Danny had been through since—the fact that Danny and Phantom were one and the same proved his ignorance on the subject—but he did know that he wasn’t mad. Besides, he didn’t know how a ghost could pull off a trick like this—or what would be gained by doing so, especially when it could be so easily disproven. Maddie might have some ideas on that front, but Jack was already sure that he was hearing the truth.

He just…knew it.

He didn’t even need to weigh Phantom’s actions against those of other ghosts, or scrutinize his verbal slips, or continue to assess his familiarity with their family and their technology.

“Accidents happen,” Jack repeated. He didn’t know how they were going to break the news to Maddie. She might be horrified, might blame herself—for not doing enough, for not noticing, for what she had done, what they had both done, in their ignorance—but he couldn’t let her. They needed to focus on what they still had, not on what had happened in the past—at least beyond preventing it from happening again. But he’d let Danny tell her, maybe over a plate of warm cookies once they were out of the oven. Cookies made everything better.

“Sometimes,” continued Jack quietly, “life’s lessons are expensive, and sometimes the cost can’t be paid with cash, but you’re still here. You’re still you. You’re still my son. You always will be, and I’ll always love you.”

Phantom twisted in Jack’s grip to throw his arms around him and hug him tightly, and then there was a brilliant flash of light and Jack was holding his son, his Danny-boy, and—

“I don’t think I realized how much I needed to hear that,” Danny murmured into his shoulder. “Thank you, Dad. I love you, too.”

(see more fics | my phight phics)

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 19 #dp fanfiction #phanfiction #jack fenton #danny fenton #my writing #ladylynse #my phic phight phics #snippets #dp snippet #I wrote this instead of responding to most of the reviews on my last fic #only so much time

[leverage88]

Opinion Series

To my fellow young adults, with much frustration, it appears that we have inherited a world on fire. Our generations from the Millennials to the Generations Z, we all are faced with the unjustified burden of cleaning up the messes made by the generations before us. The student debt crisis is a primary example of one of many very difficult situations forced on to us because of our parents and their parents' parents made poor decisions. The U.S, as we know, is currently $1,5 trillion in student debt and it all started with the "Space Race." After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the U.S. government passed the Defense Education Act of 1958 to encourage students to attend university by mainly offering federal loans since they thought that too many scholarships were considered “free rides” and having the students focus on learning science, math, and foreign languages with the hopes of beating our opponents and it did work, The number of students attending colleges nearly doubled within the next decade When we fast forward nearly 70 years, we see that student debts have only increased and the Department of Education has become one of the largest banks in America in regards to loans. How disgusting is it that our government, let alone, the Department of Education, was never meant to be a bank so we have to instead, outsource management to Loan Servicers. The comedian, Hasan Minhaj, best describes these companies as part of a “multi-billion dollar predatory industry that ruins lives” and Navient is one of the largest and worst debt collection companies in the nation. They have been accused of abusing military members, double-charging borrowers, and in 2017 they were sued and accused of systematically misdirecting borrowers into types of forbearance, which disqualified them from a Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which is a program that offers public servants (think around the lines of firefighters and crossing guards) to have their outstanding federal student loans forgiven if they meet the requirements. Navient's web-page literally states that "We help our clients and millions of Americans achieve financial success through our services and support." but they are like any business and they only care about making a profit and our government has done very little to regulate these companies. So many lives have been ruined by this issue that it can feel like there is nothing we can do. Well, I say enough is enough! For too long we have been criticized for making the nation worst, for being too focused on comfort, and the media and the government have constantly berated us for having socialistic views, that are “un-American” but the reality is that the previous generations have failed us. Their way of handling the student debt crisis is not working. So many of our peers no longer cares about continuing education. For some, going to college is like getting a pool in your backyard. It is definitely something nice, but it is not really worth it. Thee thing about that concept is that the pursuit of knowledge obviously holds more value than a freaking pool. The student debt crisis is much more like a dam is holding back so much water that it is going to burst soon and if we don't do anything about this issue, we are going to drown.

As a parent, it is only natural to want your child to be happy. You make constant sacrifices for them only because you want your children to have a better life than what you, yourself had. For many years parents have thought that in order for their children to succeed in life, they need to get a good education so they can get a good-paying job and then they can live a happy, healthy, and meaningful life. There is nothing wrong with thinking that way, as a Pennsylvania mother, June, felt as well, while she encouraged her daughter’s ambition to study out of state at New York University. (Hsu, Student Debt Is Transforming the American Family.)  Her daughter studied diligently with the financial support of her mother June and her father as well as assistance from a couple of loans. By then end of her daughter's education, her daughter was looking forward to chipping away at loans while starting a career dedicated to bettering the life street vendors as she chose to study the effects of globalization on an urban space at NYU. You can imagine how proud June was of her daughter. However, when her daughter got a job offer that could actually pay off her now outstanding debts, her daughter, unfortunately, found that the job went against the very principles she held and studied in college. Now June’s daughter is faced with a difficult scenario as she has to pay off her loans but the only job she found that paid well enough was immoral, and her mother June cannot do anything about it. Right now, numerous families in our nation are in this situation. The student debt crisis is endangering the well-meaning efforts of families and it is only rising. College tuition has only been rising for years and the economist, David Klein, wrote an article where he briefly explains the challenge our children can face when they graduated college, where he states “Some students are able to land jobs after graduation with salaries that justify the monthly student loan payments, but others are not able to do so, rendering their student loans a particularly heavy burden.” Countless parents and students are faced with this harsh reality, as more and more graduates move back home with their parents since it is too expensive to move out on their own, get married, or even start a family. (ONeil, Overcoming the Student Loan Crisis) Student loans work well when the students are able to get high enough paying jobs that can eventually pay back the loan and still support themselves and their future families, otherwise their lives may be placed on hold. Now imagine if that was your own child who could not move forward with their lives just because they chose to get a proper education and there is not much you can do. It is in situations like this where people can feel hopeless, but that is not the case, as there are many dedicated politicians that are trying to pass legislation to change this situation, and it is all up to us to be active fight for reforms not just for our sakes, but for our children and their children.

My fellow Americans, I am in awe of our wondrous nation. In such a short amount of time, we have grown exponentially, especially whenever we have been faced with a challenge. As we look back to the past and remember when the world was fundamentally changed on October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union had just launched Sputnik, which was the first artificial Earth satellite the world has ever seen. While this was a momentous occasion for mankind and spoke well of our ingenuity as a species, our nation, the United States of America, was in a panic. Compared to our Cold War rivals, we were lacking in science, technology, languages, and all other aspects of education. It seemed impossible for us to catch up with the Soviets. In a way, we were at the bottom of the ninth, and it looked like the Soviet Union was going to come out victorious. In retaliation, our congress came together and passed the National Defense Education Act of 1958 or also known as the "NDEA," which was the first time our nation offered federal loans and scholarships to encourage enrollment in colleges, which not only shaped our government’s role in education as college enrollment increased fifteen-fold. This act also lead to us landing the first man on the moon. (National Defense Education Act of 1958, 85th Cong.) In the face of adversity, our nation has stood tall and withheld its value. Today, we are once again faced with an enormous challenge. After passing the NDEA, the U.S continued to give loans to college students, and while it did lead to increased enrollment, the Department of Education is more or less the largest bank in terms of loans, and the national student debt is at an all-time high standing at $1.5 trillion and rising. There are hundreds of thousands of borrowers that are being rejected from debt forgiveness programs due to being misled by third-party loan servicers or a general lack of education for these programs. (Friedman, Zack. “Why 100,000 Borrowers Were Rejected For Student Loan Forgiveness.") Our nation is also separated as many politicians and their constituents are stuck idly arguing over reforms. This debt crisis is also affecting us on a global scale. This is better explained as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)  did an article on the top ten most educated countries in the world with Canada being ranked first as more than fifty-five percent of the population being college-educated and the U.S. is ranked sixth with not even having forty-six percent of the nation being considered educated. Basically, we are no longer the top nation in the world. We are not leading the world in innovation as we once were and we are still being crushed by student debt. While many us feel hopeless in this situation, now is not the time to give up. Just as we pushed ourselves in the Space Race, we need to actively push ourselves once again to make long-lasting policy changes so that we can continue to encourage secondary education and make sure that our fair nation and that we can once again rise up and remind, not just the world, but ourselves that we are capable of overcoming any trial in our way, because this is America.

[dippedanddripped]

There was a time when climate change seemed like one piece on the checkerboard of world problems, a piece perhaps sandwiched between war in a remote country and the fact that the bees were dying, which you knew you were supposed to be upset about even if you weren't sure exactly why.

But then a terrifying article in New York Magazine about the soon-to-be "uninhabitable earth" went viral, and teens all over the world ditched school to protest in the streets, and fires ravaged California and storms pummeled the Bahamas, and a bunch of UN scientists told us we had a little over a decade to turn things around. In short: The zeitgeist began to change. For many, climate change went from feeling like one problem piece out of many to the board on which the whole game is played.

"Climate change is the biggest problem of our generation and the most urgent one to solve," Hana Kajimura, a sustainability analyst at Silicon Valley's favorite sneaker company, Allbirds, tells Fashionista over the phone. She's not alone in her thinking.

Just a few months prior to our conversation, Allbirds had announced that it was going "100% carbon neutral" as a way of reckoning with the fact that it, like every other brand or business, is an emitter of some of the greenhouse gases (or GHGs) causing global warming. The news came days after Everlane launched its first ever "carbon-neutral" product. And they were both preceded by Reformation, which had been calling itself carbon neutral since 2015.

Not long after, these millennial-friendly labels known for their sustainability-centric marketing were joined by their luxury peers: Gabriela Hearst, whose $6,000 handbags have become a fixture in the wardrobe of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, claimed to host the first ever carbon-neutral runway show at New York Fashion Week. Gucci declared its operations — including its extensive global supply chain and its latest fashion show — 100% carbon neutral earlier this month. And on Tuesday, Kering, the luxury conglomerate behind Gucci, Balenciaga and Saint Laurent, announced that it too was committing to carbon neutrality.

If climate change is caused by releasing gases like carbon into the atmosphere, then becoming carbon neutral is the best thing a brand can do, right? In theory, yes. Unfortunately, getting there isn't quite as straightforward as brands often make it sound.

Most achieve "carbon neutrality" through a combination of reducing emissions and purchasing carbon offsets. The former, which might include switching to renewable energy in a brand's warehouses, is pretty universally applauded by environmentalists. The latter, in which a brand pays someone else to either capture or avoid emitting a given amount of carbon elsewhere to make up for the fact that the brand emitted that amount itself, is more controversial.

"We tend to think of [offsets] as sort of being able to offset a company's guilt, as opposed to its true environmental footprint," Dr. Amy Moas, a senior forest campaigner at Greenpeace, tells Fashionista.

There are a few key critiques that offsetting skeptics make: that it gives corporations an excuse not to shrink their direct emissions, that the offsetting market is historically unreliable, and that accounting for offsets is often inaccurate.

Most brands are aware of the first critique — that buying offsets is just an excuse not to reduce emissions — and every representative I spoke to for this story assured me they were being vigilant on this front. Gucci stated in a release that it has "already achieved a 16% reduction of its overall footprint across its supply chain since 2015, relative to growth," and Reformation's Vice President of Operations and Sustainability Kathleen Talbot told me on the phone that "you have to be really careful that you're starting with reduction."

The second common critique is that the offsetting market has a history of unreliability. This stems from the market's nascency, when it was riddled with frauds. A 2010 investigation by the Christian Science Monitor uncovered offset providers that sold the Pope himself on the idea that they were planting carbon-sucking trees on behalf of the Vatican — without lifting a finger to do so.

"There were [offset provider] companies out there that were not developing the best projects, and it certainly gave the industry a black eye for a period of time," says Kevin Hackett, the client strategy director at a carbon offsetting provider called Native Energy, which works with Everlane, Reformation and Eileen Fisher.

"But what happened was that as the standards got stronger," he continues, "and as brands and companies became more aware of the issues and more adept at figuring out which projects worked and doing due diligence, those [fraudulent] companies began to disappear."

Many would agree with Hackett that regulations have gotten stronger: It's much harder to sell a project that doesn't exist these days. But environmentalists like Dr. Moas might still make the third critique, that carbon offsets are tricky to properly account for even without con men perpetrating intentional fraud.

This is where it gets tricky. There are numerous kinds of projects a brand can invest in: Some fund the capture of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that leaks from landfills. Others get a wind farm up and running so that locals can stop relying on coal-powered energy. Still others provide rural communities in the developing world with water filters so that they don't have to cut down trees to boil their water so it's safe to drink. And so on.

With so much variety, even the most strident of offset defenders would agree that not all projects are created equal. Permanence is one concern: Will a project's carbon benefit disappear tomorrow if it's based on something like a protected forest that could burn down? Additionality is another key quality to look for in a trustworthy offset: It means the carbon benefit genuinely wouldn't have happened without the offset money. In other words, you can't just pay a landowner to not cut down trees he wasn't planning to cut down anyway, or that offset wouldn't be considered additional.

Leakage is a third concern. If you paid to protect trees in land plot A, and the landowner took your money to protect those trees but then just cut down trees in adjacent plot B, that would be considered leakage. You didn't prevent the carbon-sucking trees from being cut down, you just caused the site of the chopping to change. On top of that, there's the concern of whether or not the offset project has the potential to harm communities that might live nearby.

When taking these criteria into account, forestry-related offsets — including the UN-backed REDD+ forestry projects which make up the entirety of Kering and Gucci's offsetting portfolio — become particularly suspect.

A scene from Gucci's "carbon neutral" runway show in Milan this season. Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

"There has not been one [forest offsetting project] that we have found that has been able to provide the long-term, verifiable emissions reductions without [negative] human rights impacts," Greenpeace's Dr. Moas says. "Not one."

Dr. Tracey Osborne, an associate professor at the School of Geography and Development at the University of Arizona, has been researching carbon offsets and offsetting markets for two decades. Though she highlights the importance of protecting forests and even thinks brands could play a role in this, she agrees with Dr. Moas that forest offsets as they currently exist are problematic.

"Right now forests are seen as cheap credits, the low-hanging fruit," she explains on the phone. "But if we do it properly, they actually would cost a lot more."

Because current forest offset prices are so low, she continues, the money is not sufficient to prevent cattle ranching, soy production, palm oil production or large-scale timber operations, which are often the real drivers of deforestation in the tropical nations where these projects are focused. Instead, cheaper offsets tend to target local indigenous communities and their subsistence practices even though research from organizations like National Geographic and Project Drawdown has demonstrated that indigenous land management practices can actually reduce emissions and deforestation.

In short: There's a lot of ways that offsets can go wrong and render themselves either ineffective at reducing net carbon in the atmosphere, or even become actively harmful to vulnerable communities.

As if all that weren't enough, there's an inconsistency in carbon offset bookkeeping so blatant it's almost hard to believe.

Aldyen Donnelly is a former consultant who's been involved in carbon trading since the early '90s. By 2003, she was the largest private speculative buyer of offset credit in the world — surpassed only by organizations like the World Bank, she says. In short, she knows the market inside and out. While she acknowledges many of the other pitfalls listed here, one of the biggest in her view stems from a simple math problem.

"There are a lot of companies who are buying offset credits and saying, 'Now we're carbon neutral!' and they're not bad guys; they have every reason to think they are [carbon neutral]," she says on the phone. "But they're buying certificates with a stated value of one ton when the underlying value of the certificates is, at best, if everything else is done perfectly, a half a ton."

The reason is simple: international carbon markets don't consistently practice double-entry bookkeeping. In other words, when a brand buys offsets across international borders, the seller isn't subtracting what they've sold from their country's total carbon reductions, even though the buyer is adding it to theirs.

To illustrate: Let's say a landowner in Brazil says "I have a project that draws down ten tons of carbon from the atmosphere," and a brand in France says, "I'd like to buy two tons' worth from you to make up for the two tons I just emitted." You'd think that after the sale, Brazil's carbon registry would have to enter a -2 in its log, since France just added a +2. But up to this point, that's not how it has worked — instead, Brazil keeps its number the same even as France adds +2.

What that means for brands is that when they think they've purchased 500 tons worth of carbon offsets across international borders, there's really only a net gain of about 250 tons at the most — and that's if they've managed to avoid all the other pitfalls listed above. It's such a silly math mistake that it's hard to believe it's happening in something as large as the multibillion-dollar offset industry. But other experts confirmed what Donnelly told me: Though there are moves to change this system, that change is still years away from being realized.

All of these issues point to the main reason Dr. Moas remains less than enthusiastic about offsets — they let companies treat the real, measurable carbon they're emitting now as interchangeable with the potential (and potentially smaller-than-they-thought) carbon savings that may result in the future from their offsetting projects.

From this vantage point, it would be easy to see why some want to write carbon offsetting off as greenwashing and move on.

But consider that even if every company in the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow (which, of course, they won't), the Earth would still have far surpassed what scientists consider a safe amount of carbon in the atmosphere. It becomes easier to see why there are still plenty of people willing to do anything they can think of to keep that number from growing.

"You can always argue that it's better not to emit in the first place, and that's what we try to convince our clients to do," says Arnaud Brohe, CEO of offset provider CO2 Logic. "But we believe that if you do emit, it's also better to clean up after your mess."

Brohe tells me that he'd love for governments to do such a great job fighting or regulating emissions that his company and job could cease to exist. But until then, he thinks offsets are a good way for corporations to voluntarily put a price on their own carbon.

"If you don't want to support one of my projects, I think it's great if you take the same amount of money and invest in some other [climate] action," Brohe says. "But just saying 'I'm against offsets' is not going to work."

For all of the ways that carbon offsetting can go awry, especially in forest-related projects, there really is scientific reason to not give up the whole endeavor entirely. It just might mean switching to projects that aren't exactly... sexy. Separating manure solids on a dairy farm, as Native Energy does in one of its offsetting projects, might not be as marketable to a luxury customer as planting trees in Milan is. But it's probably delivering a more reliable offset.

And while some might claim that offsets let brands pay to pollute, the money they're handing over can make a real difference for farmers and other private landowners, who often need financial support to become more climate-friendly operations. Regenerative agriculture practices, for example, have incredible potential to draw carbon out of the atmosphere, but there can be financial barriers for farmers who want to begin implementing them.

Dr. Adam Chambers, a seasoned climate scientist who works for the USDA, sees the offsetting market's potential to defray these costs as a significant boon.

"Seventy percent of the land area in the United States is privately owned, and you can mobilize those lands for solutions," he says on the phone. "What we haven't done in the past is empowered farmers and ranchers to be part of the climate solution, and provided them with a market signal that encourages a certain type of behavior."

Donnelly, despite spending a good portion of our interview talking about how offsets can go wrong, ultimately aligns with Dr. Chambers in his excitement about farming and soil. She believes in their climate change-fighting potential so thoroughly that she's helping launch Nori, a new offsetting marketplace, before the end of the year. Through Nori, Donnelly hopes to offer farmers the support they need to take on worthwhile climate projects while ensuring corporations that when they buy one ton's worth of offsets, that's really what they're getting.

And Dr. Osborne, the climate scientist from University of Arizona, says that forest offsets don't need to be written off indefinitely. Working closely with indigenous communities and independent researchers to correct past mistakes could result in new projects that do more to protect the crucial biodiversity and carbon-capturing potential of forests.

In the end, it seems that the best attitude toward carbon offsetting mimics the best attitude toward sustainable fashion innovation: A certain skepticism is required to sort out legitimate claims from the illegitimate ones, and there will be plenty of the latter. But the existence of shoddy attempts shouldn't be a reason to stop trying entirely. Instead, it should serve as a reminder that extreme caution is necessary.

In the end, Dr. Osborne says, "our world is not going to be saved by offsets." But that's not a reason to totally do away with them.

"In order to truly transform, to make a U-turn on climate, it will require massive transformation in our social, political and economic life," she says. "But an offset is one step... It's a way of starting to move the needle in the right direction."

#greenwashing #carbon neutral #streetwear blog #fashion blog

[formerprincess]

A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 52

Chapters: 52/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

Isaac takes the pack in and they all have to adjust to not having a home anymore. Money is a big, big problem and nothing seems to go right for the pack. Liam is struggling as well under all the pressure. Will the pack overcome this?

Isaac had been a literal savior to the pack when he offered to take them in and give them a roof over their heads for a while. It saved them the experience of living in the streets and they were grateful for Isaac being the amazing friend that he was. His apartment was beautiful with black wooden floors and white walls, large windows to overlook the city and also a large balcony, an expansive open kitchen leading into the living room area with flat screen and three couches. Isaac’s room, his office, and the room Nolan had used once were on the opposite end of the apartment alongside a spacious bathroom adjoining Isaac’s bedroom and a smaller bathroom for the guests. It was elegant and beautiful.

But with the whole pack cramming into it, the usual so wide apartment became crowded and figuring out the sleeping arrangements were a horror.  “I still have my dorm room. Ever can sleep there too; my roommate's girlfriend has her own apartment and he’s always there. Even some of the others can stay at mine’s as well, he won’t mind,” Caden threw in.  Liam grimaced. “This is nice but I rather not have the pack split up. The hyenas could use it and attack, we have no idea what their next step will be.” “I understand your hesitation, Liam, but look around. This place is bursting at the seems. The second bedroom is filled with air mattresses where the boys and the girls sleep, you and Theo sleep on one couch in the living room, Mason and Corey on the other. Having at least some people gone will give all of us more space.” Liam could not argue against that. There were too many people to make it work without someone stepping on someone else’s toes and so he groaned but nodded. “Fine but you’re not going alone. Tim, Mike, you’re staying with them. If you see anything suspicious, you alert us immediately.”  They nodded. “Will do.” Liam glanced at the girls trying to blow up the mattresses and he groaned again. “This is horrible.” “But we have a roof over our head at least,” Theo chimed in.  Liam gave him a tired look. In their current situation, this probably was the only good thing. 

****** The pack’s mood was bad and didn’t change in the next days. Nobody could blame them, they had lost their home and many things they held dear. Thankfully they had grabbed their favorite and most meaningful things before the house exploded and had also managed to save most of the pictures. Liam still had the book Theo made for him and the pictures of his grandfather, Theo still had his letters from Liam, etc... But even those things didn’t console the pack over the loss of their home. It had been such a deep cut in their lives, they all lost the ground beneath their feet and struggled. 

At this point, they all needed some good news but life seemed to be out to get them and threw stones in their way. Mike rushed into Isaac’s apartment one day, cheeks flushed with anger, and hair disheveled from grabbing it and running his hands through it in frustration.  “My parents froze my bank account! I cannot access any of their money.”  “What?” Theo looked up from his homework and frowned. That was a shocker.  “They do this from time to time to remind me who calls the shots. The only money I have left is the one I made with my jobs. Thankfully I opened another bank account where I had this money transferred to and my parents know nothing about. But that means I cannot buy another house for us and the insurance for the old house is lost as well. Sorry, guys.” He looked apologetically at his friends.  “It’s not your job to buy us a new place to live. You’ve done it the first time and it was wonderful but now we have to think of something else,” Liam chimed in. Mike looked at the Alpha and Liam gave him a comforting smile. “We’ll figure it out.” He really had no idea how but they had to think of something. After living together for several months and sharing such close pack bonds, parting ways and not living together just didn’t feel right.  “I really appreciate you trying to lift my spirits up but I’m actually good at math and our money is tight at the moment. No way we have enough to pay for a place for all of us.” Mike shook his head. 

Liam sighed. His Beta was right. Theo and Brett were the only ones working on a regular basis, Brett even working fulltime, all the others either had no job at all or only every now and then. But even Brett and Theo could not monetarily carry the whole pack. Money was a problem. A big problem Liam worried about big time. It gave him flashbacks to the time he and his mother had been on their own after his parents divorced. Emmet had not paid one cent and money had been tight for mother and son. They had lived in a hole in the wall apartment, tiny and above a Chinese restaurant, and his mother had worked two jobs to put food on their table at least. He remembered how exhausted she had been and how he learned to take care of the things in the household so she had one less thing to worry about. Mason’s mom had been a great help when she invited Liam to stay over for dinner and even gave Mason one more sandwich to bring to school for his best friend. She also had helped when Liam wanted to learn how to cook so his mom knew her son ate as good as he could to his abilities.  Yes, Liam remembered how being poor felt like, how it felt when you had to pinch pennies, and he had hoped to never experience this again. And here he was, Alpha of a homeless pack. It got to him on a deep level and he didn’t sleep well during the nights, but he refused to tell his Betas. They all worried anyway, no need to add to this. Now he understood what his mom went through back in the days. “I’m looking for a job,” he announced to his Betas. Next to college and lacrosse he wouldn’t make much but it was better than nothing.  “I think we all are, at this point,” Corey smiled tentatively at Liam. “We will make it work.”

They had to but there were so many things they needed to take care of. 

The only good thing at living with Isaac was that they didn’t have to pay for food. Liam had offered it once and Isaac had scoffed.  “Yeah, right, keep your money to yourself. You need this way more than me. Stop offering it! I won’t take it. I know a thing or two about not having a real home for a while, you know?” 

Isaac had a weekly delivery where his groceries were distributed to his flat. Liam had noticed that the amount of food delivered was enough so they all could eat and he had a sneaking suspicion Isaac had upped the mass he usually ordered. When he asked the older about it, however, Isaac acted innocently.  “What are you even talking about, that’s the amount I always get,” he said and kept his eyes on his screen. “Uh uh, enough to feed a whole pack of werewolves.” “I am a werewolf myself, I don’t like starving. What’s with this interrogation?” He typed on his laptop and Liam would have believed him if he didn’t saw the corners of Isaac’s mouth flinch. Yet he decided to not offer to pay for the food.  “Thanks for being such a great friend, Isaac.” “Don’t get soft on me, Dunbar. I’m just hosting you, nothing else. It’s nice to have company.” Liam just shook his head with a soft smile and then left Isaac’s office to let him continue doing his work. 

****** Nolan sat cross-legged on one of the sofas and held his cellphone in front of his mouth. He talked or rather argued with his mother about their current house situation.  “Mom, can’t you even try to understand??” He whined.  “No, I do not understand! I get it was nice for all of you to live together in this big house and it was nice of your friend Mike to buy it for you but I was never really a fan of this, to be honest. And now the house is gone, that’s unfortunate and I get you are sad, but you kids are being ridiculous!” Emma Holloway scolded.  “Mom!” Nolan hissed. His pack was around and they all heard what his mother was saying. “This is not about how you feel or what you liked or not. It’s gone anyways and now we have to find another place to live for all of us.” “You don’t have to, that’s my point! It was nice while it lasted but now you all can go and request a dorm room. You might not live together but it is the smartest move. Stop being so set on living together, that’s utopistic. You are college students, you should live like college students. In the dorm. With other people. Maybe you will make new friends. And if you have found a job and saved enough money, you can move into a nice little apartment with maybe one or two of your friends. You don’t have to live together. Stop telling yourself that!” “I can’t talk when you don’t accept what I’m saying!” Nolan hissed and ended the call. He dropped his phone on the couch and leaned against the headrest. He groaned. “Arrgh!”

“Mothers, huh?” Mason tried lightheartedly to dissolve some of the tension.  “I don’ get her. Why doesn’t she just accept we want to live together? Shouldn’t she be happy as a mother I found such great friends? I don’t want to live in a dorm room with a stranger, I want to live with my pack.” “For a mother who has no idea about the supernatural and just sees her son and his friends living together, it is probably hard to understand why it’s such a big deal,” Isaac calmly offered an explanation from his place at the dining table. Nolan twisted in his seat to able to look at him. “Are you for real?” “Yeah. I mean, you never told your mom you’re a hunter for a pack of werewolves, right? To her, you’re just a bunch of kids and that one rich friend bought a house for all of you to live together. Now some rowdies trashed the house and you can’t live together anymore. She doesn’t see the big deal behind it. Can’t really hold it against her.” “Huh,” Nolan huffed, “I’ve never seen it that way.” “I could tell,” Isaac replied with a smirk and Nolan rolled his eyes. “I still don’t like her saying we all should move to the dorms again. I want to stay with my pack!” “I get you but at this point, we probably don’t have another option,” Liam muttered darkly. “Also the cheapest option.” “Money is really an issue right now, what?” Nolan asked hesitantly. Liam bit his lip but then nodded. “As much as I hate to admit, yeah. When Theo and I moved here we both got jobs to have some money for our apartment. I’m currently unemployed and even if I manage to find a job, I won’t make nearly enough to buy a house for everyone. None of us will make that much money, not even all of us together. Aside from that, getting a job seems highly difficult at the moment, I don’t know why. Every job offer I see somebody else either gets the job or they don’t want a college student. It is frustrating and even with our parents' financial help, we’re having a dry streak.” Nolan made a concerned face. “Oh.”

Money was an issue. There was no use in lying about it or trying to sugarcoat it. That was their main problem. No money meant no new home, meant still being homeless. As much as Isaac told them they could stay as long as they needed, Liam knew the crowded living situation was not benefiting anyone. None of them had a place to be alone at home, none of them could fully rest and recharge their batteries. The mood was bad, as a result, there was barely laughter and they all felt lost and desperate. Liam worried about his pack and he tried to be strong for all of them. He was the leader, the shoulder to cry on, that’s what he was supposed to do. And he tried to take care of his friends. But even he could not prevent bad things happening to them.

Next one to fall victim to life’s fucked up ways was Theo. Since their house exploded, the First Beta had doubled his shifts in the coffee shop and only rested when Liam more or less forced him to do it. He also worked night shifts and the young Alpha seriously wondered where Theo got the energy from to pull this off and still attend his classes, even hold a high GPA. It was impressive and in Liam’s eyes, Theo deserved an award for that alone. He also deserved an award for putting up with his demanding boss. That lady has no ounce of empathy or pity in her body and was a literal slave driver. It only took Theo’s reminder of how much he needed the job for Liam not to storm in and yell at her. But he saw the toll it took on Theo. Hard work his mate could handle, sleeping on a couch and the pile of the workload from his classes were child’s play, but having a boss who screamed at her employees and especially at Theo for being anything but heterosexual was too much. Theo was no stranger to people hating him and taking jabs at him but since she was not able to separate his personality from his work, everything he did was critiqued and wrong. And that was hard to handle for the usually so confident ex-chimera. It went so far, Theo asked Liam not to come to the coffee shop when he was working to not give his boss yet another reason to hate on him. It hurt Liam but for his mate’s sake, he complied and Theo went on with taking the bullying.

Until one day he broke down.

It was late and his original shift had ended long ago but Liam knew his boyfriend took the extra hours to make more money. He expected Theo to come home, completely tired and emotionally drained and was prepared to hug him and pepper him with kisses, tell him how much he loved the older and how proud he was of him, but he wasn’t prepared for the twenty-two-year-old to stumble into the apartment, distressed and shaking like a leaf. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Liam asked worriedly and got up from his place at the table where he attempted to finish his last assignment for tonight. Theo shook his head and blinked against the tears. Seeing the usually so composed wolf completely broken down made Liam worry even more. “Theo, what happened? Talk to me!” “I need to quit. I…I can’t do this anymore.  She’s so hateful and she loves to humiliate me in front of everyone. I…Please, Liam, let me quit! I will find another job and get us money but I can’t work there anymore.” It shook Liam to the core. Theo put so much more thought in this than Liam had expected. He knew Theo thought a lot but he had severely underestimated the pressure his mate put on his own shoulders. He now wrapped his arms around Theo and the older clung to him while hiding his face in the crook of Liam’s neck. “It’s okay. I got you. I got you,” Liam murmured over and over again and stroked through Theo’s hair and over his back. “I’ll get another job soon, I promise. I will help you with the financial situation. But I can’t work under this woman any longer.” “Shh, it’s alright. Nothing’s more important than your mental health. We will find a way to make it work. You’ll quit and we will see about anything else soon.” He hugged Theo tighter and tilted his head to kiss his mate’s temple. “I promise we’ll get through this,” he whispered and Theo nodded hesitantly. “I will help you get money,” he vowed. Liam sighed. “I know. But don’t put so much pressure on yourself, okay?” “’kay.”

****** I will help you. Liam had known Theo was serious when he said that. He just didn’t comprehend the lengths Theo would go to fulfill that promise.   “You did what now?” He asked his boyfriend a few days later and gave the older a baffled look after hearing Theo’s latest declaration. “I sold my truck. It’s not the newest model but I took good care of it and got a decent price,” Theo explained again and waved the dollar bills he got after the sale in front of Liam’s face. “Why?” Seriously, what else was Liam supposed to say? “Because having two cars is silly. Your car – with all the respect – is too old to make a decent price and like I said my truck was in great condition. Selling it was only logical. It got us some more money.” “But you love that truck.” Liam felt like crying. He knew what that car meant to Theo. “It’s nothing compared to my pack and having money.” He got an impatient look on his face and waved the bills again. “You could say thank you, you know?” “You…Thank you.” Liam would have loved to tell Theo how much of an idiot he had been to sacrifice his truck, a place that had been his home for a while, but he decided to not fight his boyfriend on that. Theo gave a curt nod and stuffed the money in the jar Maya had established a few nights ago. In there came all the savings the pack could make for a new house. Needless to say, the jar was still almost empty. It was depressing and so Sadie had painted some flowers and suns on the glass to make it a bit more appealing.

****** Now, despite how sad their life currently was, there were some minor nice things. Lacrosse for example. The team had picked up some momentum and they worked together better than ever before. Liam was even sure they could score a win in the upcoming game. “You really think we can beat them?” Sadie asked when she and Liam talked about it one afternoon. “I sure hope so. Lacrosse is currently the only good thing in my life, a win would be very nice.” Theo raised his head. “Lacrosse is the only good thing in your life?” Liam gave him a funny look. “I just said that. What? It’s true?” The First Beta raised an eyebrow. “Because being in a relationship with me is not a good thing you have in your life. Totally. Can relate.” “Huh?” You could say Liam was dumb but he had absolutely no idea what Theo was getting at. “You can’t compare those things. What’s your problem right now?” “Oh, I can’t? Lacrosse seems to be the only thing right now that makes you happy. I’m clearly doing something wrong then. Why don’t you tell me what it is? I’d rather have you flat out tell me what’s wrong than saying such bullshit.” Liam barked out a laugh. That was downright ridiculous. “Theo, I really don’t know what your problem is right now. I wasn’t passive-aggressive or something and I didn’t critique you or our relationship. I am happy with you. You know that.” “Could have fooled me. And I’m not so sure you’re happy. Could express it a bit more often.” Okay, that hit a nerve. Liam took a lot of things and he really worked on his anger but Theo claiming Liam was not showing how happy their relationship made him was a no-no. His anger spiked. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” “I don’t think our relationship is a laughing matter.” Theo’s facial expression was calculating. “Do you?” “Stop being so goddamn arrogant!” “Call me arrogant all the way you want. At least, I’m honest.” “Oh and I’m not?” Liam was getting angry. Nobody was better at getting under his skin than Theo. “You really want to call me a liar?” “Well, there’s clearly something wrong and when you’re hiding it…” Theo trailed off and Liam gritted his teeth. That man was infuriating! “I am not hiding anything! You’re just making a fuss over nothing. Yes, I said lacrosse’s the best thing in my life right now. You know damn well I don’t see you as a thing. If that’s your problem, I can’t help you. You’re not a thing, Theodore!” “Of course I’m the one with the problem! You mighty Alpha do everything right, what? You’re never doing anything wrong. Glad to finally know how you really think!” “Stop twisting my every word! I didn’t say that, didn’t mean that, and you know I didn’t. You just want to fight right now and I’m not here for it!” “Funny, usually you’re the one who wants to fight all the time. How does it feel to sit on the other side of the table?” “Oh my god!” Liam jumped from the couch he had been sitting on. Sadie squeaked and then pressed both hands in front of her mouth. She, just like everyone else in the apartment, stared at the fighting Alpha Couple. They had their fair share of fights but this one was one of the worst they ever had. “I can’t talk to you when you are like that.  You just want to hurt me right now and I’m not staying to give you any more opportunity to do that. I am not your punching bag! Fuck you!” He yelled at Theo. Not waiting for his boyfriend to respond Liam stormed to the apartment door, grabbed his car keys from the sideboard there and yanked the door open. Mason called after him but Liam ignored his best friend in favor of rushing down the stairs and over to his car. He needed to get away for a while because right now he was angry and sad (so much for only feeling one emotion at a time, Theodore!) and he didn’t want to hurt anyone. It was better to pull himself out of the situation. He didn’t know where he was going when he no pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the street but Liam didn’t care at the moment. His phone rang but Liam ignored it. Right now, he didn’t want to talk.

He drove around aimlessly for a while and then just stopped in an empty parking lot. It was slowly starting to get dark and Liam had not paid attention to the road and therefore had no idea which part of town he currently was in. Not that this was anywhere near important right now. Even an empty parking lot was better than being at the apartment and fighting with Theo. Yet sitting in a lonely car and stare out into an empty parking lot made Liam realize what went down. He leaned his forehead against the steering wheel. “Fuck!” He cursed loudly. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” This was a complete disaster, more than their current situation already had been. Fighting with Theo was nothing Liam was new to but this time had been especially bad. It was rare one of them left the house during a fight, they mostly just left the room. Now Liam had run away and he was sure he fucked up even more than already. He was good at that, making a bad situation even worse. Kind of questionable talent. Liam crossed his arms on top of the steering wheel and buried his face in them and then he suddenly broke down. Had he tried to be the rock for his Betas and hold the tears in after they lost their home, he couldn’t help himself right now. The floodgates opened and it took Liam several long moments to compose himself. His body shook violently under the heavy sobs and arms were soon wet with tears. His mother used to say crying was leaning the soul and if that was true, Liam’s soul was clean as freshly fallen snow after that.

When he finally managed to compose himself, Liam felt drained and cold. An empty parking lot might be nice for some occasions but right now it only underlined how lonely Liam felt. He missed Theo and he missed how it had been before. The pack dynamic had changed since the hyenas attacked and the couple felt it too. But that didn’t mean he was not happy with Theo. Heck, Theo was probably the reason Liam could still carry on. His boyfriend gave him so much strength and confidence and he was always there when Liam needed him. He blew up so much probably because hearing he didn’t show Theo enough how happy he was, was just unfair. He still didn’t understand what Theo had been angry at. Too tired to even fathom driving back home, Liam crawled into the backseat of his car after he locked it. The street lamp on the parking lot cast a dim glance and in the back, Liam found a light blue hoodie. Theo’s hoodie. He had worn it the other day when it rained in the morning and had shed it during the day to only wear the shirt underneath. Now Liam used it as a makeshift pillow and he inhaled his mate’s scent. “You are a fucking idiot. The biggest idiot I ever met. You’re lucky you’re so gorgeous and I’m in love with you, idiot,” he told the hoodie and closed his eyes.

****** Liam was woken up by the loud horn of a truck passing by. He sat up and it took a moment for him to remember where he was and why he was there. When he remembered the fight and him sleeping in his car, he moaned and rolled his neck to get rid of any stiffness from the night. Looking at his watch Liam noticed it had stopped working and he groaned in displease before he tugged his phone from his pocket. He had a missed call from Mason and several messages which he opened swiftly.

From Mason [7:35 pm] Please drive carefully. I know you’re mad as hell but please, be careful. We all need you.

From Mason [8:22 pm] I just hope you not answering doesn’t mean you were in an accident. Theo would feel this, right? So I guess you’re alright since he’s still ranting about you being unreasonable. If you read this, give me sign you’re okay.

From Theo [8:30 pm] I don’t know how long you planned on driving around but I would prefer if you came home and we could talk.

That message made Liam bite his lip when his anger boiled up again. Why did Theo have to be so freaking stubborn and proud? Did he really expect Liam to come crawling back?

He almost deleted the remaining messages but then decided to be the bigger person and read on.

From Theo [8:49 pm] You’ve never been gone MIA for so long after a fight.

From Theo [8:52 pm] Are you really giving me the silent treatment?

From Theo [9:05 pm] Can you at least let me know you’re safe? Or let Mason know. Anyone of us so we know you’re not hurt.

From Theo [9:15 pm] I can’t feel you through our bond, it’s blocked. But I would feel if you’re injured, right?

From Theo [10:03 pm] Corey told me to stop texting you and give you a chance to calm down. You never not came home after a fight. I don’t know what to do.

From Theo [10:40 pm] What I said was out of line. I was an asshole.

From Theo [11:58 pm] Liam, I am sorry.

From Theo [1:15 am] Please, come home.

From Theo [2:00 am] If you don’t want me around when you come home, I understand that. But please come home for the Betas.

From Theo [2:02 am] I’m going out of my mind here. You might not want to see me but come home.

From Theo [2:02 am] Liam, please.

All those messages made Liam’s throat feel clogged up and he could barely swallow. His vision blurred when new tears welled up in his eyes but Liam wiped them away. Enough crying, now it was time to go home and tell the idiot no matter how angry he was at him he would never send him away. He climbed back into the driver’s seat and turned the key in the ignition.

The drive back home was tricky since Liam had not paid attention where he landed last night and now needed to find his way until he was in a familiar area. When he managed, however, the ride was short and he soon stepped into Isaac’s apartment. Mason just excited the guestroom and breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank god, you’re okay!” He embraced Liam tightly. “I was worried, Lee.” “I’m sorry. I just needed cool off time.” Liam patted Mason’s back. “Where did you stay the night?” Mason questioned after the friends broke their embrace. “I slept in my car.” “Jesus, Liam, just because Theo’s your mate doesn’t mean you have to make the same experiences as he did.” “I know, I know.” Liam nodded tiredly. “Speaking off: Where’s my beloved idiot?” “On the balcony with Corey and Isaac.” Mason gave Liam’s upper arm a supportive squeeze and then let Liam walk towards the open balcony door. When he stepped closer, Liam heard the three men talk.

“So you do realize how much of an ass you have been?” Corey, classic to the point. Theo sighed. “Look, I don’t need you as my personal Jiminy Cricket. I know I fucked up.” “Yeah, you did,” Liam agreed and stepped out of the apartment. Theo sat on the wooden bench Isaac had placed there, Corey stood in front of him and looked like a stern parent with his arms crossed in front of his chest and the frown on his face, Isaac leaned against the banister. But when Liam arrived, he and Corey soon left the couple and slipped in the apartment to give them room to sort everything out. Theo stared at Liam, obviously caught off guard by Liam suddenly being home again. “Liam…” “No. You sit and you let me talk first. Then you can say something,” Liam ordered. Theo closed his mouth and nodded.

And Liam sighed. He pushed his hands in the pockets of his jeans because he didn’t know what else to do with them. “Telling someone You are the best thing ever happened to me is a figure of speech. You don’t really see them as a thing. I don’t see you as a thing. But when I talked about lacrosse, I was actually talking about things. Theo, you are the best aspect of my life. Yes, life’s cruel at the moment but it would be even crueler if I didn’t have you. You make me happy, you give me the strength to carry on. I wouldn’t know what to do without you. It never occurred to me you might feel attacked by me talking about things, literal things. I still don’t understand how you could get so pissed at that.” Theo opened his mouth again and Liam gave a curt nod to show he was finished for now and Theo could reply. “I was angry. I’m still angry. At the hyenas, the whole situation. I needed an outlet for that and picked a petty fight.” “And you chose me to fight with? Or as a punching bag for your anger? That is not a good thing, Theo!” Liam’s emotions got the best of him again and he tried to control them all. “Liam, I am an asshole. I tear down good things. You know that.” “No!” Liam pointed at Theo. “This doesn’t get to be your excuse this time! You are not that bad person anymore and you build up so much in the last couple of years. You’re not tearing down anymore so don’t you dare hide behind this excuse!” They looked at each other and none of them was able to hide the whirlwind of emotions raging inside them. Anger, sadness, rage, fear, all the emotions up and down. Finally, Theo shrugged sadly. “Want me to go? I can pack my bags and leave asap.” “No, you fucking idiot! I do not want you to leave!! I want you to stay right where you are because you don’t get rid of me that easily! We both made a commitment back then on your birthday and we are in for the long run. Forever is not just a phrase, Theo Raeken! You are the love of my fucking life! I will grow old with you, so help me god!” Liam had gotten more and more worked up the longer he talked and in the end, he almost yelled at Theo. The silence stretched between the two men after Liam had finished and finally Theo cleared his throat. “That was the most threatening declaration of love I’ve ever heard,” he confessed sheepishly. Liam squinted his eyes and glared at him. “Yeah, it was. Maybe that did get through to you. I don’t want you to leave, no matter how badly we fight.”  He nodded to confirm his words in front of Theo and in front of himself and then, since he made himself clear and saw no use in further discussing this, brushed past Theo intending to step back into the apartment. A hand closed around his wrist. “Liam,” Theo began softly and the young Alpha stopped walking. His boyfriend gently tugged at his wrist when Liam didn’t turn to face him on his own and only then Liam turned around. Theo sighed. “I am sorry.” The look he gave Liam was a perfect impression of a sad puppy and you would have to need a heart of stone to not melt at that. The insecurity was still eminent in Theo’s eyes, his abandonment issues acting up once again, and Liam huffed out a breath. “You’re an idiot,” he declared and raised his hand to stroke through his boyfriend’s hair. “But you’re my idiot so I’m never letting you go.” He pulled Theo in a tight hug, arms securely wrapped around the older man’s frame. “Mine,” he muttered. In an instant, Theo’s arm wound around Liam’s waist and pressed him closer. “I am really sorry. I love you,” he whispered. “I know you are. I love you too, that’s why our fights have such an impact. Because we care so deeply about each other.” Liam pulled back but only enough to press a kiss on Theo’s lips. Theo’s lips twitched and then his hand was in Liam’s hair and he deepened the kiss. “Guys, dad and papa made up. Everything’s fine again!” Mike yelled from somewhere inside the apartment. Theo snorted and Liam grinned and they both broke the kiss because they were laughing.

****** “What in the name of Gordon Ramsay is that?” Isaac stared at the gray mass on his plate. “It’s a burger.” Theo rolled his eyes. “Stop being so picky, Zac!” “That is not a burger. Burger patties are not gray.” Isaac poked it with his fork and scrunched his nose when the burger bun almost fell apart. Liam could really not blame him, the food looked disgusting. The fries Theo dished with the burgers were coated with grease and he worried about the humans in the pack. They probably would get an instant heart attack if they ate them. The tomatoes and the cucumbers on the patties tasted like rubber and had the consistency of a noodle. “Okay, it’s not that good but it’s eatable. The diner where this comes from has patrons coming there every day, it can’t be that bad. You’re just used to fine dining and baguettes.” “Oh, another French joke, talked to Stiles lately?” Lori snickered into her water at Isaac’s remark and he gave her an amused look. Theo huffed. “The food will get better once I start working there, I think.” “Start working where?” Liam questioned with a cough. Not only were the fries greasy but they were salty as hell. “At this Diner.” Theo raised the plastic bag he used to carry the food home. Al’s Diner, read the bag in bold blue letters. “You work at a Diner? Since when? Why is it easier for you to find a job than for me?” “Because I’m not as picky as you are, honey.” Theo’s response got him a raised eyebrow from Liam and he smirked at the young Alpha. Then he proceeded to tell them the address of his soon-to-be workplace but Liam could not place it. He never heard of it before. “They were looking for a server and sometimes help in the kitchen. It’s not the best-paid job in the whole wide world but it’s something,” Theo finished his little report. Liam had to agree with that. Every job, as long as it was legal, was good, that’s how his mother raised him.

****** It not being the best-paid job in the world was literally the most positive thing you could say about the Diner. Liam and Corey had decided to go and check out Theo’s new workplace a few days after the announcement from the Beta. The other pack members still had classes and when Corey innocently offered it, Liam immediately agreed. He had been happy for Theo yet when they reached the area the Diner was located in, his stomach twisted in knots. Because this area was shabby. It could work perfectly for a movie in a criminal and dirty neighborhood. Upon arrival, they heard police sirens in the distance, three homeless people wandered the streets, right in front of the Diner stood a car with broken windows, some other people gave Liam and Corey dirty looks when they passed by. The Diner itself had its name in neon lights on the roof but several lights were broken. The windows looked dirty and as much as Liam didn’t want to have prejudices, he strongly suspected to meet cockroaches when he stepped in. “Theo didn’t lie when he said he’s not picky when it comes to work,” Corey stated and then glanced at Liam when he got no answer. “Oh boy, you face says it all.” Liam was probably gaping. He was just speechless. “Is he…Corey, tell me your best friend is not serious!” “Hey, you are in a relationship with him, you should know. I surely hope it is a joke. This is not something he should want to work in. Compared to that, the Diner in 2 Broke Girls is a five-star restaurant. You have to hand it to Theo, if he’s looking for a job, he’s looking everywhere.” Liam grimaced. That was a problem. He knew Theo could not get sick from a dirty workplace (he had to check in with Deaton to make sure) but he worried about the area. It was the one in Seattle with the highest crime rates, gangs were a thing here, just like drug trades, car theft, robberies. It wasn’t an area he wanted Theo to be in. He had a strong suspicion, however, Theo would not appreciate Liam butting in.

True to his suspicion, Theo didn’t take it kindly when Liam breached the subject later on. “What is your problem with it? I can take care of myself.” “There are people shooting each other!” Liam argued back. Theo shrugged. “I’ll heal.” “I know you will but that doesn’t mean you actively have to search out streets where you can get shot. I’m sure I can survive falling out of a window on the first floor, doesn’t mean I have to try it.” “You are being melodramatic, Lee.” “I am worried about you!” Liam slammed the knife he had used to cut cucumbers on the counter. Tim reached out and gently pulled the knife from his grip, for obvious safety reasons. “And I don’t see why. Just because this quarter is on the poor side and maybe has some criminal problems doesn’t mean it can’t be good.” “Do you have a death wish?” Brett inquired and stole one slice of cucumber. Liam swatted his hand away. “This is insane, Theo, you’re not working there.” “Liam, with all the love and respect that is not something you can command. You stated your opinion but a job is a job and I will not quit immediately after accepting the offer.” Liam’s eye twitched. “No, you have to quit.” “You’re being unreasonable. Maybe the part of town is sketchy but Theo is a big boy and he can take care of himself,” Mike backed Theo up. He then had the decency to at least shrink in his seat when Liam glared at him. “I’m on Liam’s side. You should not work there,” Corey declared. He sat perched on the counter and had watched the argument take place in front of him until now. Theo gave him an offended look. “Et tu, Corey?” “I’m just as worried about you as Liam. We heal but we are not superhuman. Even we can get hurt or killed by something else than wolfsbane and mountain ash.” “I think you two are just picky. Where is your sense of adventure?” Theo argued back. “I can tell you where it’s not: In that Diner between the cockroaches,” Corey told him flatly.

****** Despite his boyfriend and his best friend telling him not to, Theo started the job. Liam gritted his teeth every time he got a whiff of the old grease on Theo’s work clothes and he had to bite back his snarl. The topic of Theo’s new job was delicate and they refrained from talking about it too much. They knew what the other would say anyway. Theo didn’t understand why Liam was worried and Liam didn’t understand how Theo could not understand why he was worried. It made Liam’s skin crawl with unease but for the sake of the peace in their relationship, he tried to mask it as well as he could. Thankfully he had a best friend like Mason. Mason who sat next to Liam one day and poked his side. “Go and change into some clothes you won’t mind getting dirty. Jeans and a t-shirt should be okay. Go!” Liam gave him a flat look. “Why?” “Because we’re going to do something. Get up your butt, Em.” He had no idea what this was about but Mason had this look on his eyes, the one he always got before dragging Liam into something crazy. He had the same look when he declared Liam his flight attendant. And he had called him by the childhood nickname only Mason was allowed to use. Not even his mom had the allowance to call him Em. A rule little Mason had once laid out. Two reasons why Liam could not say no. So he moved from the couch and dressed in an old pair of jeans and a plain red shirt. He didn’t know when he had bought the shirt and it wasn’t his favorite so he didn’t mind when it got dirty.

“I’m ready,” he announced and Mason grinned. “Perfect. I’m driving.” He kissed Corey goodbye who waved. “Have fun, you two!” “Where are we going?” Liam inquired while he followed Mason to the car. “You will see when we get there.” “Come on, give me a hint!” “No. It’s not a long drive. You will live.” “Have you met me? Hi, I’m Liam Dunbar, impatient Alpha, nice to meet you.” Mason just laughed and got into the car. Liam shook his head but still got into the passenger seat. “Seriously, man, give me something.” “Patience, young man, patience.” “Mason!” “Liam!” Mason parroted in the same way Liam had called out his name. The young Alpha huffed but realized he would not get an answer out of his best friend. So he leaned back and waited to see where the drive would take them.

When Mason stopped at the junkyard, Liam did a double take. “Why are we here?” “Just trust me. We’re doing something here.” Mason gracefully slipped out of the seat and left Liam staring after him dumbfounded. What the hell could you do at a junkyard? “I’m not picking up any dirt,” he declared once he joined Mason outside and the two friends headed over to the entrance. Mason just sighed. “You’re getting more and more impatient with the years. How does Theo put up with that?” “I make it up to him with my mouth and my dick.” “Jesus, TMI!” “You’re one to talk!” The friend’s bickering was stopped when a tall guy stepped out of a tiny container office. He looked like Hagrid’s twin and gave them a questioning look. “I called the other day and made an appointment. Name’s Bryant,” Mason introduced Liam and him and the guy nodded. “I remember. You paid in advance, right?” “Yup.” Mason nodded and Liam watched the exchange with a frown. He wasn’t so sure what to make out of it. “Okay, so the cars are right over there. You’ll find everything you need there. Do as much as you like.” “Thanks, will do.” Mason beamed at Hagrid and then grabbed Liam by the elbow and dragged him into the pointed direction.

There they found an array of various old and broken down cars standing everywhere and also several sledgehammers leaning against a makeshift counter. Liam’s frown deepened. “Mason? Seriously, man, what the fuck?” Mason gave him a sober look. “I know you are angry. Angry at the hyenas, angry because of the current situation, angry at Theo for taking such a job in such a dangerous environment. But you don’t show it. You hide it. Over the past few weeks, you have been our shoulder to cry on. We all came to you and cried about losing our home and you always consoled us. Who consoled you? I know you’re just as hurt, probably even more because you think it’s your fault since you’re the leader. Lee, I know you- in some regards, I know you even better than Theo - and you are an emotional person. And all those things left their marks inside you. We are here so you can let it out.” He grabbed one hammer and held it for Liam to take. “So let it out.” Liam looked at the hammer and hesitated. He could not do that. Mason waited for him but then he pointed at the various cars. “Look, the junkyard offers this service to trash the cars. Which proves my position you can make money with everything but that’s aside from the point right now. Thing is, you can let all your anger out and nobody gives a damn.” He nudged Liam and only then the young Alpha took the hammer. It still felt wrong in his hands. “I’m not that Liam anymore, Mase.” He shook his head and gave Mason an ashamed look. “Right. That Liam would have lost it completely, tracked down the hyenas and beat them to a pulp after destroying the house even more and probably demolish his neighbors' cars. But this Liam? This Liam is different. He is mature, he knows about his weaknesses, and I am so proud of him for keeping his cool, not losing his temper. But it came to a point where he keeps it all in and that’s hurting him.” He put both hands on Liam’s shoulders. “What I’m trying to say, it’s okay to be angry. No one can hold it against you. The shit you’ve been through, somebody tried to kill you, people constantly underestimate you, your house was destroyed. Everybody would get angry at all that, not just somebody with IED.” “And you want me to do what now? Snap and destroy the cars standing around?” “That’s why we’re here, yep.” Mason shrugged and stepped back. “If you want to. I’m not pressuring into anything. I just feel like you need an outlet. Others go boxing or run for many hours. Those cars are literally trash, they’re not your coach’s car who will freak out. Nobody cares about those cars here. Take it all out on them. Better than to bottle it up.”

Liam looked at the car right in front of him. It was a blue Peugeot and it had dents and rust all over. He twisted the sledgehammer in his hands. His palms were sweaty. He remembered how angry he got after being benched and how liberating it had felt to trash the car. And he remembered the shame after the anger had subsided and he saw his mother’s face. It haunted him to this day and he never wanted to go back to that place.  “I didn’t bring you here to rip up old wounds or make you feel bad. I know right now you want to fight. But you can’t fight the hyenas at the moment, so you can’t let go off that anger. We both know what anger does to you if you can’t let it out. Even before becoming an Alpha you hurt yourself to stay in control. That is what I’m worried about. That you’re bottling up your anger and hurting yourself.”

His best friend knew him inside and out. How often Liam had broken his own hands to keep in control. At the zoo, in school. Or how he dug his claws into his palms until they were bleeding. All so he didn’t lash out. Yes, he healed, but Mason was right, it wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism. He gulped. Still, there was a difference between destroying a car and breaking his knuckles. Besides, he got better since Theo became a constant in his life and his anchor. Theo, the one currently working at the nasty Diner. The late shift of course, and he would need to take the bus back home. The horror scenarios Liam’s brain came up with...All because he felt the need to earn more money to save for a house they needed because some asshole were-hyenas had destroyed their home. 

The car creaked loudly when the sledgehammer collided with the hood. It left a nice dent in the metal and Liam watched with satisfaction. And then he slammed the hammer against the window of the passenger side. It burst after the second slam. From that point, there was no holding back. Liam assaulted the Peugeot again and again and wrecked the car. When he was finally done, he was bathed in sweat, wheezed, and the windows were busted, the hood had several deep dents and the mirrors were missing. 

“Feel better?” Mason asked Liam. He had watched the young Alpha take out his frustration and only left for a short moment to get them both a bottle of lemonade from the car.  Liam nodded and dropped the sledgehammer. “Yeah,” he admitted. Taking his frustration and rage out on an object and not on himself or a person around him felt good. And to know nobody would freak out about Liam destroying the car felt even better. He now dropped to the ground and leaned against the Peugeot. Mason joined him and held out one bottle for Liam to take. He gratefully took it and gulped down a large sip of it. Mason sipped his lemonade a bit more graciously and the friends fell silent for a moment. 

“I still feel it’s my fault,” Liam suddenly admitted. “If I had not been injured, they would have not thought of me as weak and would have not broken into our house.” He swallowed harshly. It was hard to talk about it.  Mason played with the label of his bottle. “An Alpha invited you to her territory with the sole intention to kill you. You didn’t force her to do this. You didn’t force the hyenas to be the assbutts they were. None of this was in your control.” “But I am the Alpha, Mason. If I can’t even prevent that, how good am I as an Alpha?” “Pretty good.” Mason gave him a smile. “Liam, people constantly cast you aside due to your age but they have no idea where you come from. What you’ve been through. You’re just twenty and you already achieved so much. You gathered loyal Betas around you and they’re loyal because you treat them with all the respect and love. Your little brother worships you. You have a mate who constantly gets better thanks to you, his words not mine. Thanks to you, I stopped being afraid. You give us hope. Whenever we need you, you’re there.” He shook his head with a soft laugh. “I know you for so long, I know you always had the odds against you. The little boy with IED coming from a dysfunctional family, with an abusive father, too angry to ever fit in. The boy who got turned into a werewolf without his consent. The Beta who stepped up as an Alpha when his Alpha left to save the world. I told you once and I’m telling you again now: All things considered, you’re doing great.” Liam looked at his emissary and smiled weakly. He remembered them as teenagers, after the fight with the hellhound, sitting in the locker room and watching Liam’s injuries. He had been hurt and scared back then and Mason had been by his side. When Mason told him it was okay, Liam had believed him. Had understood things might take time, but they would be okay in the end.  “There’s still so much I need to learn as an Alpha.” “And you will. You already did, nothing’s stopping you now. I am so so proud of you, Lee. And remember: Wounds heal. Things change. The situation currently sucks but we will overcome this. With you as our leader.” Liam wanted to believe Mason like he believed him back then. But this time, it was harder. The situation was different than just heartbreak. “It still hurts.” “Nobody said it would not hurt. It will continue to hurt for a while longer, I know that. I just want you to know, you don’t have to face the hurt alone. You have me. Us. The whole pack. Lately, we have not been the most attentive to you, too caught up in our own sadness, but we are here for you. If you ever need a moment to not be strong, we will take over. Just be open about it and don’t hide it. It’s not good for you.” He smiled, less weak this time. “Thank you, Mason.”

If the house getting destroyed was the season finale is this the first episode of season 2 now? Or, if you see them moving into the house as the beginning of a new time for the pack, is this season 3? Ah, enough of that episode talk. I feel sorry for the pack. They are all good people and they deserve good things happening to them. But the chapter gave me the opportunity to write a bit more of Liam's history and also showcase Isaac more. I love him as a character and I will probably let him appear more. He is a great friend to Liam's pack. And Mason is a perfect best friend if you ask me. What do you think of the chapter? As always, let me know ♥

#thiam #A tale written with fangs and claws #Morning Dew Pack series #alpha!liam #My writing

[continuations]

Universal Basic Income: An Introduction

Here is the text of a speech I gave at the 72nd Annual NYU Labor Conference, which this year was on AI and Automation.  Unfortunately there is no recording - I stuck relatively closely to this, but didn’t read it.

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Universal Basic Income: An Introduction

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this audience about Universal Basic Income. I am approaching this topic from the perspective of a venture investor who backs companies that automate tasks ranging from image recognition to medical diagnosis, as well as someone who has thought and written about automation for nearly three decades going back to my undergraduate thesis on automated trading in 1990.

For anyone unfamiliar with the term Universal Basic Income or UBI, it refers to a payment to every citizen that is unconditional, i.e. paid independent of employment status or income. A commonly used number is a monthly payment of $1,000 per adult and less per child. The idea for such a scheme in the United States is quite old and an early mention can be traced all the way back to Thomas Paine’s 1795 pamphlet on “Agrarian Justice.” Proponents over the years have come from all over the political and ideological spectrum, ranging from Milton Friedman to Martin Luther King Jr.

If I have done my math correctly, the first Annual NYU Labor Conference took place in 1947 at what we can now recognize as the beginning of the golden era of the Industrial Age. A period that lasted for 40 some years during which market based economies produced exceptional growth with the benefits shared between capital and labor. For the last twenty plus years, however, the benefits of growth have accrued primarily to the owners of capital in what has become known as the great decoupling, which is attributable to the twin effects of automation and globalization.

Given this impact of automation on labor it is not surprising that this section of the conference has the word “Mitigation” in its title. UBI is often positioned defensively: “Automation will take away your job, but here is some money.” This framing is deeply problematic. At best it makes UBI appear like another welfare policy and at worst it carries a ring of “opium for the people” -- a way of keeping the working population docile while capitalists get richer.

How then should people think about UBI? In my book World After Capital, I refer to it as “Economic Freedom.” Why? Because UBI massively increases individual freedom. It provides a walk away option from a bad job, a bad spouse or relationship, even from a bad city. As such it also provides new found bargaining power in the labor market for the roughly 40% of Americans who are part of the precariat. At its most fundamental, UBI makes people free in how they allocate their time. They can choose to work and make more money or they can choose not to and instead spend their time on friends and family, or art, or science, or politics, or the environment, or any of the millions of things humans do outside of the labor market.

There is another crucial distinction between the defensive, mitigation framing and the offensive, freedom framing of UBI. The former implies that we are stuck in the Industrial Age, whereas the latter carries the possibility of a new age, which I call the “Knowledge Age” in my book. The defining characteristic of the Industrial Age isn’t “industry” -- as in manufacturing -- rather it is the job loop: people sell their labor and use their income to buy “stuff” (goods and services), which in turn is made by people selling their labor.

Employment in agriculture declined from 90% of all jobs in 1780 to below 3% today. This change is often taken to show that we successfully replaced agricultural jobs with other jobs and that we can and should do so again now: automate existing jobs only to replace them with new and different jobs and thus stay in the job loop of Industrial Age. But that reading shows a lack of imagination. A different interpretation is that something that once occupied the bulk of human attention, producing enough food to feed the population, has been reduced to an afterthought.

Well, what occupies the bulk of our attention today? The job loop. Paid labor. If we succeed in enabling automation to its fullest extent, if we succeed in transitioning into the Knowledge Age, then 100 years from now we will have done to paid labor what we did to agriculture. A reduction from something that occupies 80 percent or more of human attention today, to something that’s barely noticeable.

It is crucial that we free up human attention now because too many important problems are going unsolved. The market based system has been so successful that it has solved the problems it can solve, leaving us with the ones it cannot. Prices do not and cannot exist for events that are rare or extreme. There is no price for a human finding their purpose. There is no price for preventing an asteroid impact. There is no price for averting a climate catastrophe. Because we are relying on the market to allocate attention, we are paying far too little attention to these crucial issues and far too much attention to making money and spending it on stuff.

UBI then is a central pillar of a new social contract that enables a transition to the Knowledge Aga, a transition that is as profound as the one from the Agrarian Age to the Industrial Age. What replaces the job loop? In World After Capital, I suggest that the answer is the Knowledge Loop, in which we learn, create and share knowledge -- broadly defined to include not just science but also art and music.

Now of course there are many objections to UBI. Most of these, such as people spending money on drugs, or an immediate collapse in the supply of labor, are easily dismissed by the evidence from UBI trials around the world going back to the famous 1970s Mincome experiment in Canada, all the way to the currently ongoing Kenya study by Give Directly. There is also indirect evidence that contradicts these objections, such as the by now well documented benefits to the Native American population from casino licenses.

I will therefore focus on two objections, one practical and one philosophical, that are not so readily addressed by the available evidence.

The practical objection that looms largest is that UBI is simply not affordable. Almost every analysis that comes to this conclusion makes two mistakes. First, looking at a gross instead of net expenses. Second, examining payments from a fiscal perspective only.

The gross expenses in the United States would amount to something like $3.3 trillion or roughly the same as all Federal revenues. Net expenses, however, would be quite a bit smaller. In conjunction with introducing a UBI, it is crucial to modify the tax code so that income tax is paid starting with the first dollar earned. A large fraction of the population that is currently not paying federal income tax, Mitt Romney’s infamous 47% remark, would instantly owe some amount of income tax. And of course for people already paying taxes the net transfer is also smaller. At a 35% flat tax rate on all income, whether from labor or capital gains, as well as eliminating various deductions, the net expense required for a UBI is on the order of $1.5 trillion. And this is a completely static calculation which does not assume any GDP growth benefits of UBI, which have been estimated as high as $2 trillion dollars.

$1.5 trillion in new expenses still sounds like an impossibly large amount. But with a UBI in place it becomes possible to eliminate some programs such as food stamps and TANF entirely and modify other programs, such as Social Security, for savings on the order of $500 billion. Now to cover the remaining $1 trillion there are various proposals worth considering including a carbon tax, a financial transactions tax and a VAT -- the latter being favored by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Some combination of these could cover the entire remaining $1 trillion.

But we should also consider a fundamentally different approach to implementing a UBI. I am talking about moving from fractional to full reserve banking, something that has historically been favored by economists from the Austrian school, as well as by Milton Friedman, whom I previously mentioned as a UBI advocate. Since the 2008 financial crisis, we have created annually on the order of $500 billion in M2 money supply. This money creation in a full reserve banking system would be possible as direct payments into citizens’ UBI accounts. Instead of letting commercial banks decide where newly created money enters the economy, it would enter equally for everyone. That would make it harder for someone like myself to get a mortgage for a second or third home, but would make it possible for many people to afford a first one.

At the $500 billion annual level we are simply matching the current money supply growth, which has not been inflationary. It is, however, possible to fund more and potentially all of UBI that way instead of via taxation. Wouldn’t that result in inflation? Won’t prices simply go up to offset the new money created? If we wanted to fund more of UBI that way we would have to also institute some form of demurrage, for instance through negative interest rates. Doing so will become much more readily possible with “programmable money,” a better term for what is often referred to as crypto currencies.

All in all though the key takeaway here should be that through some combination of changes in the tax code, elimination and modification of existing welfare and social programs, and some new taxes and/or changes to the banking system, it is entirely possible to finance a UBI. The fact that this is possible shouldn’t be surprising, seeing how even at the gross expense level of $3.3 trillion, a UBI represents only 15% of GDP.

Now on to the philosophical objection. This is the claim that removing the need to work in order to earn a living robs people of their purpose. While strongly held today, this view of human purpose would strike people from other time periods such as the middle ages or antiquity as absurd. They would have answered that human purpose is to follow the commandments of religion, to be an upstanding community member or to be a philosopher.

Why is it so difficult for us today to disentangle our job from our purpose? Well we have spent the last two hundred years or so telling people from practically the day they are born that finding and succeeding at a job is their purpose. It is deeply woven into our culture as part of the protestant work ethic. And it has become the singular goal of education. The current obsession with STEM education is not because of the need to solve difficult problems, such as climate change, but rather because of a belief that people with a STEM degree will find a better job. This of course should not come as a surprise as the modern education system was designed for the Industrial Age. So education too is something we will have to change.

By now you might say that clearly I must be crazy. I want to introduce a UBI, revise the tax code substantially, even alter how money is created in the economy and change the education system to boot? Any one of these seems impossible, let alone all of them together.

We can’t change this much. And yet we have done so twice already. After living as foragers for millions of years — 250,000 of those as Homo sapiens — we changed everything when we transitioned into the Agrarian Age roughly 10,000 years ago. We went from migratory to sedentary, from flat tribes to highly hierarchical societies, from promiscuous to monogamous-ish, from animist religions to theist ones. Then again only a couple hundred years ago we changed everything when we transitioned from the Agrarian Age to the Industrial Age. We moved from the country to the city, we switched from  living in large extended families to living in nuclear families or no family at all, we went from lots of commons to private property (including private intellectual property), we even changed religion again going from great chain of being theologies to the protestant work ethic.

Each of these massive changes in how humanity exists were in response to a huge shift in our technological capabilities. Agriculture allowed us to create artificial food supply. Industrial technology allowed us to create artificial power. And digital technology now allows us to create artificial intelligence. Digital technology is as big a change in our capabilities as those two prior ones, it is not simply a continuation of the Industrial Age. We should expect to have to change everything rather than getting away with a few incremental patches here and there.

In conclusion: UBI is not a mitigation measure, keeping us trapped in the Industrial Age. UBI is a necessary, but not a sufficient, enabler of the Knowledge Age. We need to change pretty much everything else about how we live as well, including education, healthcare, the intellectual property regime, and much much more.

#universal basic income #world after capital

[lyrasilverose]

Fuck today

I was actually having a pretty solid day.  It was gonna be long, I knew that, but it was going well and I was swimming through it pretty well.  Things at work have been the normal amount of frustrating, but I was excited about my new schedule that was set to start in a week. 

And then.  My aunt, for whom I work, did not show up to work.  At all.  She had promised to be here by 2:30 (well, 2, but I knew she’d be late, so I had planned for 2:30) so I could go home and get my kid.  She forgot.  I arranged something with a different staff member to cover the desk, which unfortunately cost her a client for the day (and more money) so I could go get said child.

I called my aunt, because frankly I was a pretty even mix of concerned (I had not heard from her today) and angry.  She was apparently napping when I reached her.  Book club went late last night, you see, (and I’m sure she drank an assload of wine, too) and she was tiiiiiired.  Then I expressed that I was angry.  This is where it went sideways.  Apparently I’m “always playing the victim,” and have made the “entire staff’s schedule revolve around me.”  Mind you, I am supposed to work 10-3 M-F and have been working 9:30-??? for who knows how long.  I never know when I’m going to be off, I never know when she’s going to show up, and I am left to run the business in her absence, but with virtually no actual power and limited knowledge of agreements she’s made with people/other businesses/etc.

She’s going to some woo-ass “Doctor” who prescribes homeopathic nonsense and does muscle testing to determine if you’re allowed to eat eggs, and now she wants to drag her brother (my uncle) who is currently scheduled for OPEN HEART SURGERY in another week in to see him because this dude things that the cardiologists and surgeons are wrong and he just needs... a hug, I guess?  I mean, she keeps saying stem cell therapy, but as far as I can find out, this guy doesn’t DO stem cell therapy (I’ve checked his website along with any other info I can find online).  And my uncle?  Not woo.  Not even woo adjacent.  But fuck it, right?  Cancel that surgery, and let’s see if his arms are weak when he holds a loaf of fucking bread.  She’s been pissing blood for weeks (so she tells me) and as far as I am aware (and I am much, much too aware of her personal nonsense) this Doc hasn’t so much as taken a urine sample.  He told her to stop doing heavy lifting (the heaviest thing I’ve seen her lift in the last year is a case of water bottles) and take more time for herself.

She has no grasp of how to run a business.  She doesn’t understand that being a small business owner means you don’t get days off, or downtime.  Especially when you can’t or won’t pay someone to take care of a lot of the daily operations.  She refuses to have an employee handbook, or approve any of the THREE I’ve already written.  She refuses to acknowledge any of the business advice she’s gotten from anyone, including the afore-mentioned uncle, who has owned and run more than one successful business in the past.  She abuses the goodwill of the people around her and just takes and takes and takes.  She does wildly inappropriate and downright illegal things, like handing a W-2 out to some random person who claimed to be the mother of one of our former employees.  When told that it was illegal, she rolled her eyes.  We finally got the FEDERALLY REQUIRED postings put up last month.  We opened more than two years ago.  She will get sued into the ground at some point, and it’s totally preventable. 

She’s always whining that she doesn’t get any time off, shows up late on the regular.  Sometimes catastrophically late.  I am forever putting out fires for the staff and the business while she’s not around.  Staff treats me as management, but I have no authority to actually make any decisions regarding them, so fuck me, I guess.  Oh, and up until his hip replacement and subsequent cardiac issues, she relied on my uncle to work 25+ hours a week for free.  Since he is no longer available, yeah, she’s had to be around more. So have I.  Only difference is that I get paid for the time I’m there, an expense the business can barely afford, as I’m constantly reminded.  But she won’t come work those hours herself, she needs downtime!

Speaking of the finances.  We were finally solvent.  We were making money.  Two years in for a small business, and in the black is a HUGE DEAL.  Then she goes and buys a $2,500 “vibroacoustic table” which is just a special massage table with a waterbed on it and speakers that make it vibrate.  I can’t sell that shit to people, nobody wants to lay there for an hour and be wiggled to the tunes of hippie flutes and drums.  It’s taking up an entire room (where we could put a massage therapist, but not now!) and tons of electricity, since we constantly have to run the heaters to keep the water from going cold.  She also hired an SEO company who, thus far, have done jack all and keep asking us for access to things we apparently don’t have the passwords to?  Like, we don’t, apparently, own the administrator account for our website.  And she doesn’t know how to get that or who might have it.  Which is fucking scary.  I’ve been informed we do not have the money for new towels, sheets, various cleaning products, light bulbs, and similar items, however.  Regularly. 

She’s not paying overtime, even when people work it.  42 hours in a week, but 0 overtime hours?  Hmmm, how does that work.  Keep in mind here that I’m a part-time employee who’s only scheduled to work 10-3 5 days a week, which, for people who don’t wanna do the math, is 25 hours a week.  Again, fuck me, I guess?  And I KNOW I’m not the only one getting fucked like this, so again, it’s only a matter of time until she gets sued into the ground.

Half our business correspondence is routed to her personal email, which only she has access to, and yet it’s somehow my fault when shit that goes in there doesn’t get actioned.  She fails to respond to business contacts and then gets angry with me for not, um, babysitting her and making sure she did it, I guess?  Anything that comes in to the business email or over the phones requires that I print it out, date it, put it directly in front of her, and repeatedly remind her of it, while she gets increasingly waspish about me “nagging” her.  So I get shit on from both sides, because I’ve told Person A she’d call them back, and they’re mad at me because she didn’t, and she’s mad at me because she doesn’t like being reminded to Do. Her. Damn. Job.

I’ve worked countless free hours, because it’s family and I’m too damn nice.  I get in at 9:30 every morning, and don’t clock in until 10.  I clock out at close, even when I stay late to work on shit.  Which goes unappreciated, because I get paid the rest of the time, I guess?  I can’t afford to work for free, I have a family and a life that requires money, like most people.

I just got screamed at for being “snarky”.  Because I have spent the last two months desperately trying to get through to her about some of the things I’ve just spent the last half hour ranting about, and she just... doesn’t hear it.  And so my tone has been steadily declining into snark.  She asks for help with things, then when I try to explain, for example, how to use Gmail (which is so intuitive it hurts), she randomly clicks shit and talks over me about unrelated nonsense and refuses to listen, then gets pissed that my tone starts to slide.  I do not have infinite patience.  I just don’t.  Especially when the person I’m trying to help just doesn’t seem to want it. 

TL;DR My boss is a mess, I’m related to her, and my life is about to explode.  So that’s fun, I guess