#them: talking about mergers and acquisitions

[cheriepits]

currently obsessed with the idea of gojo having a corporate partner

#gojo x reader #gojo x you #jjk fics #jjk fic #gojo fic #gojo satoru fic #them: talking about mergers and acquisitions #satoru: 🥺 #they'd be someone apathetic to networking but very ambitious #avoids their work parties like the plague #BUT will bring gojo there as a date once in a while #sometimes some poor unfortunate soul will make a snide remark about gojo being a teacher while reader is some hotshot founder #then the venom comes out #gojo who tries to fit into reader's blazer when he's cold with that dumb smile on his face #gojo who will literally pencil in his name and activity on reader's calendar lmao as if they'd ever forget about him

[wambsgansshoelaces]

heyy love, i love your fics so muchhh!! if ur requests are open, i was wondering if you could write this fun lil oneshot i thought of<3

(didn't really think much of the details but i imagined something like the episode with the pierce family, or u could change to what feels nice to u)

reader is like super hot/crazy attractive and the siblings are instantly interested. kendall and roman, being their idiot selves, start competing for her attention and trying to get her to accept going out etc. turns out, at the end of the day, shiv gets the girl, as she was the one reader wanted all along (gagged them)

Girls Get Girls

Siobhan Roy x fem!Reader

not gonna lie anon I feel like I didn’t do this too well so I’m so so sorry :( I still hope you enjoy even though I don’t really deliver x

btw I literally love you anon keep requesting

im so gay

Word Count: 2.893k

Mergers, acquisitions, stock, trade, liquidation. You couldn’t give a shit about any of it.

You’re not in the financial field at all, much to your parents’ disappointment. It’d brought you out of favor with them, brought your siblings closer to each other.

You usually don’t come to these things, but tonight it talk of selling the entire company. Leaving it all behind, cashing in the lotto, and fucking off. Your family had convinced you to come- despite your clear dislike for everything finance and business, you still hold stock and stake in the company. You were also going to get a pretty penny from your inheritance, so it would be wise to judge your potential buyer alongside your family.

You’re getting ready in your childhood bedroom, pacing the carpet as you put the finishing touches on your outfit. Your father had made it very clear: your job was to root out intention, then act accordingly. Regardless of whether you thought the Roys were worthy of the company or not is irrelevant at this moment. You need to be intimidating.

Intimidating, but also hot. Just for yourself.

A soft knock sounds at your door. “It’s me,” your cousin calls from the hall.

“Come in,” you call back.

She waltzes in, her blouse billowing behind her as she deposits herself on your bed. “Dad’s going to have an aneurysm.”

Even though you already know the answer, you ask, “Why?” You lean against your desk, facing her.

She snorts, knowing you’re trying to push her buttons. “He wants the company, dipshit. I still think all if this is to get on our nerves.”

“A chimp would do better as CEO than any of you,” you say, scoffing. What had started out as what you thought was joking was turning into something else.

“So why won’t you do it, then?” she asks, bitterly. “I don’t see why it has to be either you or someone out of the family entirely.”

“I’m not doing it because I don’t want to. My siblings also just… have no interest. We’re all off to bigger, better things.”

The two of you stare at each other until your father’s yelling draws you both from your trance.

“Up and at ’em,” he’s saying, pretty much to himself, once you’re downstairs. You brush imaginary dust from your sleeves as you make the awkward walk to the helipad. You and your brother share an exasperated look. Despite the fact that you’d been wedged apart over the years, you and your siblings share a lot of the same views and opinions.

“All this peacocking is fucking insane,” he mutters to you once you’re stopped a safe distance away from the pad.

“Just wait until you see them,” you mutter back.

Even though you weren’t involved in the business side of the company, you’d still been involved. You’d gone to dinners, conferences, galas. You were a bit of an outside source, as you held no real position in the company, but you knew you were vital.

At almost every event where someone with your last name was required to attend, there was also a Roy. You’d only ever seen them, never spoken to them

You hear the helicopter before you see it. Sunglasses perched on your nose, you look up. As it descends, your hair and jacket are blown vigorously back, and your hand goes to your scalp. The generated wind is aggressive, slicing over your skin, your clothing. The sound is now deafening, and you notice your sister clamping her hands over her ears. Your father gives her a look, something along the lines of don’t look weak, and your sister rolls her eyes in response, mouthing fuck you.

You have to suppress your smile. The helicopter’s landed, and people are starting to pile out.

“Logan, old friend,” your dad bellows jovially. While the two families had never met, never been close, you know your father and Logan Roy were actually the best of friends. You don’t know how they met. Your father spoke of Logan from as far back as undergrad university.

Your father steps forward, meeting Logan halfway as he leads the rest of his family towards yours. They envelope each other in a hug, and your brother snorts. He’s the only one who’s ever interacted with the Roys.

“It’s like he has a multiple personality disorder,” he’d told you the other day, talking about the enigma that was the head of the other family. “One second he’s laughing, then the minute Dad’s out the room, the guy’s raging over his kids or the people not doing enough work or whatever the fuck else is wrong with that stupid fucking company.”

He turns from your father to your mother, murmuring a warm greeting, then to the row of you, your sister, and your brother.

“Oh, look at the three of you! All grown and radiant,” he says heartily. So far, he doesn’t seem like the demon your younger brother had described him to be. But you know well enough that looks can be deceiving. He opens his arms out to you first, since you’re the eldest of the three. You give him an awkward hug, his hand clapping over your back in a friendly manner. “If only any of my children had the sense to get with you,” he mutters conspiratorially, earning a chuckle from you. He pats your shoulder, before moving on to your brother.

Logan’s wife is next. “Marcia,” she murmurs softly to you, taking you by the shoulders and air-kissing both your cheeks. You return the gesture as she does it, making sure to stay smiling. It’s all a flurry of names you’re sure you’re going to forget the second you need them. Connor, Gerri, Willa, Frank, Rhea. It’s really all just a bunch of letters bouncing around in your head.

Who you’re sure you will remember, though, are the siblings. The younger three. The important ones, your dad liked to call them.

As all of the ‘adults’ convened to chat amongst themselves, like they did when you were children, you and your sister are having a quiet conversation about your work. She’s in the middle of asking you to come out to her office to help you with something when you feel a hand settle on your shoulder. You turn, coming eye to eye with Kendall Roy.

“Hi,” he says carefully, small smile playing on his lips. “I don’t think we’ve met?”

“No, we haven’t,” you say back. “Y/N.” You offer him your hand to shake, like your father expects you to do with everyone.

“Kendall.”

“Yeah, I know,” you say awkwardly. He manages a laugh, withdrawing his hand, his eyes flitting over your face.

“I’m sorry it’s taken me this long, then, to, uh, put your name to your face.”

You’re not really sure what he means, but you don’t think you care that much.

“Move over, Kendall, you’re boring the shit out of her.” His brother comes over, bumping him with his hip. You have to stifle a laugh. “Roman.” You shake hands, offering him a polite smile. “He’s right, though. You’re a bit of a mystery to everyone.”

“Am I?” you ask, laughter seeping into your voice.

“Not to me.” Her voice is firm, clear. “I’m Shiv. I was at the conference you gave the Ethics presentation to. I know your work. My brothers are just stupid.”

You laugh for real this time. “Nice to meet you, Shiv. I’m familiar with your work, too. I’m just not so deep into the political sphere like you are.”

“I can help with that, you know,” she says, expression surprisingly soft. “I’ve been looking for someone that shares my opinions and… moral compass to work with. You need your rock, you know?”

The conglomerate of people slowly transitions inside. Roman and Kendall get roped into other conversations, your sister disappearing off to who knows where. You mill about in the dimly lit sitting room, watching everyone interact. Shiv’s still by your side.

“No offense, but I hate these things,” she says quietly, coming closer to you so you can hear.

You laugh lightly. “None taken.” You glance over at her to find that her eyes are already glued to you. You feel your face heat, her gaze flickering down your body before coming back up to your face. She has a sly smile on, but it’s quickly melting into one of real, soft emotion. You open your mouth to offer her something you’ll probably regret later, but are interrupted by your father clapping his hands together and waving everyone into the dining room. Instead, you give her an exasperated smile and follow the crowd.

Your father eyes you and your siblings as you all slip into your strategically chosen seats, making it so you’d all be surrounded by Roys. Your brother makes a face at you from the other side of the table. You ignore him, instead looking up at Shiv, who hovers by the chair at your left hand.

Almost shyly, she asks, “May I?”

“Please.”

A giddy smile spreads across her face as she sits, and you can’t help but mirror her expression. You look down into your plate, catching your sister’s gaze on you. Kendall takes the seat on your other side, Logan sitting directly across from you, right by your dad.

Roman and your brother are laughing over something as you get served the appetizer, your sister staring off into space while Connor talks at her rather than to her. Your mother speaks quietly with Marcia, and of course, your father and Logan are the loudest at the table, laughing and gesturing around.

Your cousin is on Kendall’s other side, overly-focused on her food. The conversation suddenly involves the entire table, Logan leaving forward. “What is it you do again, Y/N?”

You shrug lightly. “I work in media and risk analysis. Dabble a bit in economics.”

“So like Shiv?”

“Not really,” you and her say at the same time. You gesture with your fork, letting her continue.

“Our work certainly overlaps, and I’m glad it does,” she says, “but I’m more… political, she’s more… corporate.”

“If you dabbled in economics,” your cousin manages through gritted teeth, “we wouldn’t be here.”

“Neither would we if you did,” you retort calmly.

She scoffs. “I still don’t see why all of this is happening,” she says back, barely loud enough for everyone to hear. You look to your father, praying he’ll deal with it himself before she goes on some tirade, scaring off the buyer, but he makes no move. He simply glances at you, his gaze loaded.

Do it yourself.

You wait for a few moments, letting the tension strain the room. Maybe she’ll back off.

She doesn’t.

“The company is leaving family hands because of you, Y/N. It’s going to crash and burn because you refuse to fucking see what’s sitting in front of you.”

Logan’s lips press together into a thin line, and you know you have to recover. “I don’t want the company. Neither of my siblings want it. Don’t you think it’s a little telling you’re the only one lusting after it so loudly?”

“I don’t see what that has to say about me.”

“You want it, and you’re not getting it,” you say firmly. “You’re incompetent. The Roy name is not.”

Dinner is only silent for so much longer. Your brother, at his breaking point, asks loudly, “Why are you even here? You blew the Pierce deal. Fuck off.” Your father hisses something into your brother’s ear. He scoffs in response. “I’m sick of it, Dad. The three of us bust our asses to get this to go well for you and she gets to waltz in, do whatever the fuck she wants whenever the fuck she wants.” He quickly pushes back his chair from the table and makes his way out of the dining room.

Clearly, this is deeper than one stupid comment made at the dinner table. You throw a questioning glance at your sister. She gives a minute shake of her head. She doesn’t know.

Dramatically, your cousin follows your brother out. Roman is trying not to laugh, and all of a sudden, your father and Logan aren’t in the mood they were before.

You turn to Shiv, exasperated. She’s also stuffing a laugh down, and it’s contagious. “Is my juvenile family drama amusing to you?” you murmur to her questioningly, the soft clink of silverware and terse chatter filling the room.

“Yeah,” she says, nearly choking on a laugh. “This is so fucking stupid. How do you deal with it?”

“I never stay home.” You down the rest of the water in your glass.

“Hey, uh, Y/N,” Kendall begins, leaning towards you as you turn to face him. “I just wanted to say, I get how it feels.” He gestures vaguely around. “So if you want to, um, get some air after, I’d love to join you.”

You thank him sincerely, giving him a soft smile. Dessert finally comes out. You’re almost there. You turn back to Shiv, but she’s conversing with whoever’s on her other side, to your disappointment. You eat your cheesecake in silence, Roman catching your eye and giving you a wink. You didn’t know people actually did that, but he pulled it off nicely, you think.

When your father finally gets up, ushering everyone into the sitting room for drinks and chatter, you heave a sigh of relief. You trail behind the crowd, hoping to be able to slip away on your own.

You succeed. You sigh up at the high vaulted ceiling, padding towards the grand staircase up to your room.

“Hey, where’re you going?” comes a soft voice. You turn, Shiv, hurrying after you.

“Escaping,” you say jokingly, pausing on the stairs, letting her catch up to you.

“Can I come?”

“Yeah. You can.”

The sight of her sitting cross-legged on your bed does something to you. It sucks all the air from your body. But maybe that was just the sight of her.

"Your brother okay?" she asks, looking up at you.

"He'll be fine. Everyone's just a bit tense."

"Just so you know, your cousin's temper tantrum doesn't change anything."

"I'd hope it didn't."

"What would change things though," she tells you, "is whether you want to come on once we buy the company."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. I was serious when I was talking about how I need someone in my corner."

"What do you mean?"

"It's me. The company gets handed to me."

"Congratulations, Shiv. But really, I want nothing to do with it."

"I'd be running things. You'd just be my right hand woman. The very attractive right hand woman that I see every day."

You laugh, unable to suppress the grin splitting your face.

“My cousin’ll murder me,” you manage to say.

“So? Let her try. Not like you’ll go down or anything.” She smiles up at you. “I think that’s hot. You’re hot.”

Silence stretches between the two of you, both of you grinning at each other.

“You’re really pretty,” you breathe, believing she followed you for a reason.

“I’m glad you think so.” Her hands come to cup your jaw in the few instances it takes you to cross the room, slide onto your bed, and kiss her. “God, you’re so… so fucking gorgeous.”

“Yeah?” you ask against her lips, peppering gentle kisses onto them. “Stay the night.”

“I told everyone I went home,” she says, giggling.

Your hand flits to her hip, rubbing soothingly. Your kisses are slow, tender. You’re both enjoying yourselves. It feels so real. It feels like something more.

You slide off of her, off the bed, eliciting a whine from her pretty mouth. “Just locking the door, baby.”

You wake up, head buried in her chest. She’d borrowed some pajamas of yours, the shirt a soft cotton. Her breathing is light and airy, and it’s music to your ears. Her fingers are threaded in the hair at your scalp, her arm thrown over your back.

You drift in and out of consciousness until she wakes up, pressing kisses along your forehead. Shiv sits up, letting you stay settled in her lap. You press a hot kiss to her bare thigh, shorts hiked up her legs.

“You know,” she says, after a short while of silence, “Ken and Roman were drooling over you all night.”

You snort. “Were they?”

“I know them. They were. And here I am,” she says, satisfied with herself.

You let out an airy laugh. “Here you are.”

“I was drooling, too,” she admits.

“Can we stop talking about saliva?”

She pinches your ass, to which you don’t dignify with a reaction, instead smiling into her thigh. “I wanna keep seeing you.”

“I have to fly out to Italy for some work. Maybe I want you to come with me.”

“God, I love women.” Her hand cards through your hair. “Mind if I take a picture? I want to send it to my brothers.”

“Perv,” you mutter, but nod anyway. You smile at the camera from her thigh, pressing a searing kiss to the place where her leg meets her hip the moment she hits the button.

It captures her beautiful face in an ecstatic smile, yours in soft affection as you look up at her, not the camera.

#shiv roy #siobhan roy #shiv roy x you #shiv roy x reader #shiv roy x fem!reader #succession #succession hbo #succession fic #wambsgansshoelaces #succession x reader #anon ask #shiv roy oneshot #shiv roy fluff

[epicstuckyficrecs]

Epic Stucky Fic Rec | February, March & April 2023

I'm alive! 😅 I started making a fic rec for February and March in the beginning of April and then I completely forgot about it... and then by the time I remembered, April was almost done so I figured I'd wait 😆

Should I make a new banner? yes. Will I? Maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Complete

💙 Additional Information series by notlucy/ @notlucy (Modern AU, Coworkers, Sugard Daddy/Daddy Kink, BDSM | Explicit)

Proprietary Information (85K): Okay, so Bucky Barnes has a crush on Steve Rogers. The guy's gorgeous, talented and, oh yeah, the Chief Design Officer of the biggest tech company in the world. In other words: he's so far out of Bucky's league that he might as well be in a different stratosphere.

Preoccupations (6K): Steve doesn't usually pay much attention to the new hires. But there's something about this kid.

Brooklyn's on Fire (4K): Steve's turning thirty-seven and he really only wants one thing for his birthday.

Gimme Danger (6K): Bucky doesn't have time to explore his exhibitionist kink. He's very busy. He asks Steve about it anyway.

Remember You Well (in the Chelsea Hotel) (5K): Steve can't quite believe he has Bucky back. It seems too good to be true after the hell he endured while missing him. The universe, however, is full of surprises.

Close Call (6K): Bucky and Steve make it through two weeks of living together before the inevitable "first fight" of cohabitation. They (mostly) handle it like adults. And the makeup sex is killer, in Bucky's not-so-humble opinion.

To Sir, With Love (10K): Steve recognizes that his jealousy over Bucky's infatuation with one of his professors isn't rational, but that doesn't make it any less real. And, hey, if you can't beat them, join them, right? Besides, he's always wanted a tweed jacket.

Mergers and Acquisitions (41K): Steve and Bucky are going to the chapel, and they’re going to get married. Meanwhile, Peggy and Natasha…

💙 a day in the life by powerfulowl (StuckyFlangst) / @stuckyflangst (Post-Endgame Fix-It, Time Travel, Groundhog Day | 20K | Explicit): Steve Rogers wakes up on Tuesday October 30 1956, and doesn't seem to remember his life that well. Why does every day feel so familiar? And why does he keep getting visited by tall, dark, handsome men who remind him of Bucky?

The Day After, the Aftermath, or Whatever It Is That Feels Like a Hangover, Christmas, and His Birthday All at the Same Time by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (hutchabelle)/ @buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (Modern AU | 1K | Mature): Bucky wakes the day after his thirtieth birthday with a hangover, a hardon, and a beautiful man sharing his bed.

Tell Me I Can Have It All by HaniTrash/ @hanitrash (Stucky in Wakanda | 1K | Explicit): Steve is tired of Bucky trying to push him away after he comes out of cryo in Wakanda. Rehashing the same argument brings up some new information that Bucky can't ignore, and makes him second-guess his decision to keep Steve at arm's length.

I'd Fuck Me by fandomfluffandfuck/ @fandomfluffandfuck (Evanstan, PWP | 6K | Explicit): When unexpectedly given a unique hotel room while on a Marvel press tour, Chris Evans ends up spending his evening alone, yet still making the most of his room... (Part 1 of Fuck This)

I'd Fuck You by fandomfluffandfuck/ @fandomfluffandfuck (Evanstan RPF | 8K | Explicit): Armed with nudes that contain enough raw sexual energy to cause nuclear explosions, Chris decides it's time to fucking blow Sebastian's mind... (Part 2 of Fuck This)

Captain Orgy 69 @ gmail.com by Gfawkes/ @gfawkesphoenixchokingonashes (Evanstan RPF, Friends to Lovers | 12K | Explicit): Or, Chris and Sebastian finally star in that rom-com they've been talking about.

My Heart Belongs to Captain Rogers by lavenderbucky (Canon | 3K | General): Steve wakes up late for his run, wears one of Bucky's shirts in public and goes slightly viral on Twitter. You know. Just an average day in his life.

5 Times Bucky Styled His Hair + 1 Time Steve Did It For Him by lavenderbucky (Post-WS | 8K | Teen): Steve is so happy to have Bucky back. His best friend is a little different to how he was in the 40s, but in some ways he's the exact same. But even if Bucky is his favourite person in the world, and even if Steve thinks his hair is really, really pretty, Steve's feelings for him are completely platonic. Right? Or: a love story, told through Bucky's hair.

WIP

💙 This is (not) a Ghost Story [COMIC] by PottersPink/ @potterspink​ (Post-WS | 11/31 | General): Steve moves into a haunted house. Well — everyone else is convinced it’s haunted, anyways.

Countermoves by cable-knit-sweater (cable_knit_sweater) (Evanstan RPF, CATFA | 11K | Explicit): Sebastian knows about Chris Evans, has to take his shot when he sees him. Chris doesn’t have a clue who Sebastian is, aside from being a pretty guy he meets in a club. The attraction is instant, and Sebastian takes Chris home, with a little detour or two. Chris thinks it’s just a one-night stand he’ll be thinking about for a long time, cursing himself for not getting the guy’s number. Until a couple of months later, he has the first table read for Captain America: The First Avenger, and he meets him again.

💙 Whip Crack by Quarra/ @quarra (Canon Divergent, Tentacle Monster Steve | 15/? | 119K | Explicit): Tentacle Monster Steve is captured by Hydra. They send in the Winter Soldier with a bull whip to break him, but as far as Steve’s concerned the most beautiful creature he’s ever seen walked in to his cell and started waving a sexy black tentacle at him. It’s love at first sight.

💙 hey now, you’re an all star (get your game on, go play) by buckyismybicycle/ @buckyismybicycle (NHL Hockey AU | 20/? | 63K | Explicit): Boston Bruins trade notorious party animal/human disaster Bucky Barnes to the Dallas Stars, and captain Steve Rogers is not impressed when Fury puts him on babysitting duties. But, as he gets to know Bucky - really gets to know Bucky - he wonders if maybe the media has got it all wrong - very, very wrong.

Re-Read

💙 Latte Art and Slow Dancing in the Dark by deadonarrival (Modern AU with powers, Daddy kink | 89K | Explicit): Bucky is a somewhat well-adjusted former army sniper that got his shoulder blown out. He took his discharge and went home to finish school. His best friends and roommates (Nat & Clint) are CIA agents and tip him off that their local Sbux is hiring. He gets a job there and meets none other than the hottest guy on earth. So how does one get a date in the most top secret government location in the US? What happens when that guy is more than just a hot dorito and wants to give Bucky everything he wants? 

Now! That’s What I Call 90’s Slow Jams by deadonarrival (Modern AU | 11K | Mature): Steve goes home for the wedding of Becca Barnes and while he’s there he runs into his old crush. Her brother. Except now they are both hot as shit. Oh no whatever will happen.

Brooklyn by togina/ @toli-a​ (Post-WS | 8,7K | Teen): "Captain America, what’s your stance on gay marriage?“ Everyone knows that, by now. Everyone but Bucky.

#stucky #stucky fanfic #stucky fic #stucky fanfiction #stucky fic rec #weekly recap #evanstan

[just-another-josh]

Kara

Today is a good day.

No, today is a great day.

Lena continued to remind herself of that over the course of the last two hours.

It was an incredibly important day for her and her wife. Not just that, it was an important day for their family’s legacy. Today was one of those milestone days, the type that signified potential fully realized, the recognition of years of hard work and achievement. A cause for celebration with champagne, victory speeches, and overindulgent parties.

Lena knew this, she believed this.

And yet, all she wanted to do right now was punch Cat Grant in her stupid, Botoxed face.

Four months ago, Cat pulled Kara aside after a CatCo staff meeting and informed her EIC that she intended to run for president in the next election. “If a Cheeto-skinned, glorified game show host can become President of the United States, I should be a shoo-in,” she had reasoned with her. In order to avoid any blind trust complications and because presidential campaigns are very expensive, Cat decided to put CatCo Worldwide Media up for sale.

Lena was greeted by an ugly-crying Kryptonian when she arrived home that night. Cat’s departure was a double blow to her wife: Not only was Kara losing her mentor, but now she had to contend with a new owner who may or may not share the same journalistic integrity as Cat. Nightmares of another Andrea Rojas or Morgan Edge-like monster lording over the bullpen kept the hero up into the early morning hours after Cat dropped her bombshell.

Lena made a solid effort to reassure her wife that everything would work out for the best but when the company was put on the market the next Monday morning, the announcement quickly led to Lena’s assurances becoming hollow promises.

By the end of the week, the bidding war for the media giant had been whittled down to three frontrunners:

Roland Daggett: owner of Daggett Industries with reported ties to organized crime in Gotham.

Simon Stagg: owner of Stagg Enterprises who was currently involved in no-less than a dozen federal investigations for improper disposal of waste generated from his chemical plants.

The final bidder was no stranger to National City or the Superfriends; Maxwell Lord: owner of Lord Technologies and an all-around asshole, who appeared to have crawled out from whatever rock he’d been hiding under.

Lena knew that none of these parasites gave a damn about the fourth estate, nor would they want Supergirl watching over their shoulders while they engaged in whatever reprehensible activities men of their caliber got up to. Lena had no doubt that they’d use CatCo to steer whatever narratives that would profit them the most; much like Morgan Edge intended to do six years prior.

Bottomline, Kara was going to be out of a job if any of those criminals got their hands on CatCo.

Kara did everything she could to talk Cat out of selling to any of them, but Cat had no other viable candidates to sell to. Kara spent the better part of ten days straight trying to get Cat to see reason but was met with failure at every turn. Lena watched Kara sink further into depression as the days passed and it broke her heart.

On day eleven, Lena had had enough of watching her wife suffer. She had Jess arrange an emergency meeting with her finance and mergers/acquisitions department heads. There was only one item of business on the agenda, did L-Corp have enough in its coffers to purchase CatCo. She knew acquiring the media giant was going to cost a lot more than it did when she stole it out from under Morgan Edge. Luckily, the answer was a resounding yes. Since regaining her position as CEO of L-Corp, Lena had led the company to an unprecedented level of profitability. A proposal was quickly drafted. The minutia of the proposal was almost identical to the last time L-Corp purchased the conglomerate, save for one big difference: Kara, not Lena, would be named CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media; not just the print media, but TV, streaming, and online content.

Proposal in hand, it took Lena the better part of the evening (and early morning) to convince her wife that she was fully capable of doing the job. Hell, she’d been doing it for the last eighteen months as Cat became less involved in the day-to-day operations. Kara’s objections to Lena spending Lena’s money to save Kara’s job were quickly shot down, “You forget darling, it’s not my money, it’s our money. We’re married, what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine, you dork.” Finally seeing the light, Lena sent her wife to deliver the proposal directly to Cat; it took her less than twelve hours to accept their offer and approve moving forward with the sale. To say that she was relieved that L-Corp, and by extension Lena and Kara, would be running the company that she built with her own blood, sweat, and tears would be an understatement.

Now, Lena sat in CatCo’s executive conference room. Kara seated to her right, Jess to her left, and half of L-Corp’s legal department bracketing them. On the other side of the table, Cat, and her legal team. Lena had been fortunate enough to avoid attending the negotiation meetings in person; instead choosing to have her attorneys there as her proxies. Occasionally, she’d join the proceedings remotely whenever her two cents was needed. Today, however, was the big day. All the principles needed to be on-hand to sign the final contracts. Lena was initially excited to finalize the deal; if for no other reason than to see the beaming smile her wife had been sporting all day turn brighter than the sun.

Her excitement was quickly tempered when they stepped into Kara’s office and were greeted by Cat with a “Good morning, Mrs. Luthor. Good morning, Kiera.” Lena would have done a spit-take had she been drinking anything at the time. For a moment, she tried to convince herself that she had misheard her. That theory was quickly thrown out the window when Cat called Kara “Kiera” three more times before they reached the conference room. By the time they sat at the conference table to go over the final details before signing, Lena was seething.

After taking several deep breaths and getting her blood pressure under control, Lena tried to mentally talk herself down from doing or saying anything rash. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard Cat address Kara by that name, but it was the first time that it got under her skin. Why? Hormones. She was five months pregnant with twin Kryptonian girls.

For the most part, the pregnancy had been uneventful; after the hell that was first trimester, of course. She’d adjusted to the rollercoaster of emotions, eating 15,000 calories a day to keep her and her baby girls nourished, and the near constant fatigue. Most days, she basked in the experience of being an expectant mother; the flutter of kicks throughout the day, impeccable hair and skin, an insatiable libido, and a doting wife that would fly anywhere in the world to satisfy her food cravings. Yep, without a doubt, the second trimester had been treating Lena well.

Except for today.

Today, her lower back was killing her.

Today, her ankles were obscenely swollen.

Today, the twins were using her bladder as a trampoline.

Today, she felt like a swollen, bloated, beached whale.

Today, Lena had a short fuse, and Cat had no idea how close she was coming to lighting it.

As was standard practice for Lena with all business-related deals, she insisted on reading the final contract cover-to-cover before signing. Although she trusted her legal team, she refused to agree to any contracts that she herself hadn’t personally vetted. Her lawyers had been with her long enough to take their boss’ anal retentiveness in stride, fully understanding that it did not reflect on the quality of their work. While Cat herself remained non-plussed by the delay, her attorneys did a poor job of hiding their impatience. Picking up on the tension in the room, Lena’s senior attorney suggested that both legal teams take an early lunch and after receiving nods of approval from both Lena and Cat, the two teams exited the conference room.

Shortly thereafter, Jess received a text that appeared to be of an urgent nature. After receiving an ‘OK’ from Kara to use the Kryptonian’s office, she swiftly exited.

Kara and Cat continued to make small talk while Lena scoured the sales agreement line-by-line; occasionally securing her black, thick-rimmed glasses when they inched down her nose. Reading the contract had managed to curb her murderous thoughts; allowing her to convince herself that she was overreacting to Cat’s flippant disrespect towards Kara. She reminded herself that this was something Kara found perfectly acceptable, and if the time came when her wife did have a problem, she was more than capable of speaking up for herself. Lena took a deep breath and consigned herself to let bygones be bygones and drop the matter altogether.

Until…

“So, Miss Grant, I assume that once you’re elected, you’ll be giving us an exclusive post-election interview?” Kara playfully asked.

“Now, now, Kiera. As the president-elect I am obligated to give equal time to all media outlets. I mustn’t show any favoritism,” Cat said in a patronizing tone as she waved her finger at Kara as if she were chastising a small child.

Fuse officially lit.

“Darling, I am simple starving. I could really go for a Philly cheesesteak sandwich from that place we found in mid-town,” Lena said through a strained smile; trying her best to hide the anger coursing through her veins.

“D’Elia’s?” As Lena had predicted, Kara was predictably excited by the suggestion.

Lena nodded. “Yes, that’s the one.” She locked yes with her wife for the briefest of moments before averting her gaze back to the contract in front of her.

Kara’s face shifted from excitement to suspicion quickly, now focusing intently on her wife. Lena knew the Kryptonian was probably using her enhanced senses to see or if something was up. Lena cursed herself for thinking she was going to be able to hide her agitation, knowing full well that her wife would hear her increased heart rate and her uneven breathing. Lena blushed under Kara’s scrutiny and offered up her best smile.

Kara clearly wasn’t buying it. “Nahn rraop voi?” she asked with concern in her voice.

“Ju nim voi,” Lena reassured her. She leveled Kara with a look that told her to drop it.

Appearing to take the hint, Kara subtly nodded. “Funyuns too?”

Lena stared at her wife incredulously with a raised eyebrow. “Is that a legitimate question?”

Kara held up her hands in mock surrender. “A thousand pardons.” She turned to Cat. “Can I get you anything, Miss Grant?”

Cat rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Please, Kiera. In all the years you were my assistant, did I ever order anything as vile as a cheesesteak sandwich?”

Lena had to suppress the growl bubbling in her throat. She removed her glasses and massaged her temples in the vain hope that she could stave off the headache that could feel coming.

“A salad with a cheeseburger on top of it is somehow different?” Kara leveled Cat with a snarky smile. A deadpan look settled on Cat’s face. Kara shook her head. “They have salads…yogurt dressing and all.”

Cat seemed to perk up at this news. “Well, in that case, I’d love a salad.”

Kara nodded and turned her attention to Lena. She bent down and placed a chaste kiss on her wife’s forehead before super-speeding out of the room; Lena anchoring the papers in front of her to keep them from scattering.

As the breeze from Kara’s speedy departure subsided, Lena let out a long breath. After quickly organizing her thoughts, she straightened her posture and locked eyes on the woman across the table, sizing her up like a lion would a gazelle. Cat shifted uncomfortably in her chair, clearly unnerved by the intense look in Lena’s eyes, yet defiantly maintaining eye contact.

“Penny for your thoughts, Mrs. Luthor?” Cat said pointedly.

Lena folded her hands on the table, leaned forward, and using her well-honed CEO voice said, “I was just thinking about the remarkable difference in CatCo’s current market value compared to what I paid for it in 2017. Remarkable considering you purchased it from Andrea no less than three years ago for $250 million less than I paid for it.”

“The last three years have been very successful,” Cat said, clearly gloating. “And in all honesty, CatCo’s dismal market value three years ago was a direct result of Miss Rojas’ incompetence. The woman had no business being a journalist, she’s better suited to run some kind of multi-level marketing scam.” Cat scrunched up her nose like she’d smelled something foul.

Lena couldn’t argue, she wholeheartedly agreed with Cat’s assessment of Andrea. The woman had no concept of ethical business practices, let alone journalistic integrity. Lena was well aware that Andrea would run CatCo into the ground when she offered to sell it to her. Lena was more concerned with pissing Kara off at the time. A brief surge of guilt overcame her for the briefest of moments. Although she and Kara had long ago forgiven each other for their respective transgressions during their year-long schism, Lena still promised herself she would do something nice for the hero when they got home this evening as an unspoken “I’m sorry”; most likely something that would make her wife’s toes curl.

 “Still, it’s amazing what you’ve been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time.” Lena praised.

“Thank you.” Cat seemed pleased with the compliment…and herself.

Lena leaned in closer to Cat. “So, tell me, owner to owner, what’s the secret? How in the hell did you turn a sinking ship worth $500 million into what Kara and I are shelling out $1.4 billion for?”

The question clearly threw Cat for a loop, her eyes flitted around the room as she considered her response. “Well, you can’t be afraid to ruffle a few feathers. People don’t like the truth sometimes, but that’s the responsibility of a free press, exposing people to the ugly truths that surround them.” Cat’s smile regained its cockiness. “Accuracy is more important than expediency; being right is always better than being first.”

“I have firsthand experience in that regard,” Lena sighed bitterly.

A look of recognition passed over Cat and she nodded benevolently. “That’s right. Your mother’s escape.” Cat shook her head and snorted in disgust. “I should have fired both Snapper and Jimmy for their incompetence.” Cat quirked her head questioningly. “I must say I was quite shocked when I heard you and Jimmy were an item at one point given his…negative opinion of you in those early days.”

“I still am shocked at my utter stupidity.” Lena grimaced. “Luckily it wasn’t a permanent affliction.”

Cat said nothing in response to Lena’s lamentation and the two sat in comfortable silence. Cat’s features softened and her lips slid into a warm smile. “That whole mess perfectly illustrates why competent leadership is so important. A good EIC would have put a stop to their recklessness.”  

Thankful for the opportunity to shift the focus away from her relationship with James, Lena quickly replied, “I heard Kara tried to stop them.”

Cat’s smile took on a thoughtful appearance, a glimmer of fondness shown in her eyes. “That’s what makes her so remarkable. Even then, with only a few months’ experience under her belt, she still stood up to those jackasses. Her internal compass told her that something wasn’t right, and she refused to let her inexperience stop her from speaking up.” Cat’s look of pride was matched by Lena’s. “That’s what a competent leader does, sticks to their guns even when those in power tell them they’re wrong.”

“So, you think Kara a logical pick for CEO?”

“Absolutely,” Cat responded passionately. “Credit where credit is due, she’s been singlehandedly running the company for over a year now. She’s been performing tasks well beyond her job title and doing a damn fine job in the process.”

“So, would you say Kara has earned your trust and respect?” Lena set her trap.

“Unequivocally,” Cat said with no small amount of adoration, but her features quickly took on an aura of incredulity. “If I didn’t know any better Mrs. Luthor, I’d say you’re having doubts about putting your wife in charge.”

A feeling of pure satisfaction and anticipation surged through Lena as she now had Cat cornered, though she showed no signs of it, her poker face was impenetrable. (There’s a reason poker had been banned from Game Night, Lena could out-bluff everyone)

She almost felt sorry for the older woman.

Almost.

“No, Miss Grant, I have no doubts regarding Kara’s ability to run CatCo. I’m just confused.”

“About what?” Cat asked with an annoyed tone.

“I’m glad you asked.” The smile that spread across Lena’s face could only be described as sinister. “You compliment Kara’s leadership skills. You say that she is the best choice to run CatCo. You say that you trust her. You even go so far as to say you respect her.” Cat nodded, a look of absolute confusion on her face. “And yet, you continue to disrespect her on a daily basis, both privately and publicly.”

Cat sat silently, eyes the size of saucers and her mouth agape.

“What’s my wife’s name, Miss Grant?” Lena asked in an even tone.

Cat stared at Lena as if she was speaking a foreign language. Lena continued. “’Kara’. Say it with me, ‘Kara’.” Lena enunciated phonetically, making no attempt to hide the disdain in her voice. “K-A-R-A. If you’d like, I’d be happy to write it down in crayon for you.”

Cat was clearly flabbergasted, evidenced by her complete lack of response.

Lena took a deep, centering breath; her anger ebbing away ever so slightly. “Miss Grant, I don’t know you that well. When I met Kara, she spoke almost to the point of reverence about you. It became very clear early in our friendship that you were very important to her, so when you came back into her life, I viewed it positively.” Cat seemed to relax at the shift in Lena’s mood, her features loosened as she followed Lena with rapt attention.

Lena continued, her voice tinged with melancholy, “My opinion soured the first time I met you.” Cat looked at her questioningly, Lena rolled her eyes in response. “Our bridal shower,” Lena deadpanned. Cat gave a slight nod. Lena shook her head and continued, “As I was saying, our bridal shower was the first time I heard you call Kara ‘Kiera’. I just assumed I’d misheard you and let it go. When you called her ‘Kiera’ at our bachelorette party, I figured you’d had too much to drink. When you called her ‘Kiera” at our wedding, the only reason I didn’t cast a spell that would make all your hair fall out is because…well…it was our wedding, and I wasn’t going to ruin the day.”

Cat seemed to sink a little further into her seat as Lena listed off each slight, her face stoic.

“My favorite was the night Kara was awarded her second Pulitzer. You did such a beautiful job during her award presentation. Hell, you even introduced her using her proper name,” Lena paused, a look of mock astonishment on her face. “But no more than two seconds after she stepped off the stage, you called her by that goddamn name again!” Lena, face dusted pink, slammed her fist on the conference table, startling Cat.

Her anger rising, Lena gave Cat no time to recover as she leveled her index finger at the clearly unsettled blonde. “Kara is an extraordinary woman. She has saved this planet both as a writer and Supergirl. For fuck’s sake, she saved the universe from being wiped out of existence! Do you have any idea the enormity of something like that? I assure you, you do not.” Lena slowly rose from her seat and leaned over the table, hovering over a floored Cat. “She is a daughter, a sister, an aunt, my wife, the mother of my unborn children, and goddamn superhero for Christ’s sake! You will show her the respect, grace, and compassion that she is owed. You will commit to me right here and now that you will never, EVER, call her ‘Kiera’ again.” Lena picked up the contract and shook it in Cat’s face. “And if you fail to agree to that, I will burn this and piss on the ashes!” Lena mic-dropped the stapled papers.

Cat, wide-eyed and mouth agape once more, stared blankly at the discarded contract. Lena, satisfied with her tirade (for now), gently lowered herself into her seat. She retrieved her glasses and put them on. After grabbing the contract from its resting place on the conference table, she thumbed through the pages until she found where she left off and resumed her reading.

Lena was content to sit in silence while Cat continued to process what had transpired. She felt a great deal of satisfaction being able to defend her wife, even if it meant the deal might fall through. Lena knew that Kara would be devastated if she had to leave CatCo, and as much as Lena wanted to spare her wife from a broken heart, there was no way in hell she was going to let anyone disrespect her. If worse came to worst, they could buy a smaller publication and build from there; Lena feeling confident that any media organization run by Supergirl would garner a sizeable following, not to mention Kara’s skills as a publisher.

“Have you ever met Perry White?” Cat’s passive voice broke through the silence.

Lena set the contract back on the table, removed her glasses, and studied Cat for a moment. As far as Lena could tell, there was no trace of hostility or arrogance in Cat’s appearance. Lena had no idea why Cat was bringing up the former Daily Planet editor. Her curiosity peaked, she decided to follow Cat down whatever rabbit hole she was leading her. “No, I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure. Though I’m not too broken up about it seeing as how he was more than happy to label me as the anti-Christ after Lex was sent to prison.”

“The man was a pig,” Cat said, a slight tremble in her lips. “When I first started at the Planet as his assistant, he insisted on calling me ‘Caity’.” Cat paused, apparently waiting for some type of response from Lena; a raised eyebrow was all she received. “This went on for weeks. ‘Caity! Coffee, black! Caity, where’re my cigars? ‘Caity, get off your ass and get me some lunch!’. Until one day, I psyched myself up enough to correct him. He told me that he knew what my name was, but he didn’t care. From that point on, he started calling me ‘Caity-Cat’.”

“Did you report him to HR?” The look on Lena’s face was ice-cold, but the hint of warmth in her voice belied a touch of sympathy.

Cat scoffed, “God no. Filing a complaint against the EIC for one of, if not the largest newspaper in the United States would have been career suicide.” Lena could only shake her head in disgust, Cat nervously fiddled with her fingers and huffed, “It was a barbaric time. The entire industry was run by a bunch of testosterone-laden animals.” Cat chuckled quietly. “It’s unfortunate Perry retired before the Me Too movement, I would have loved to have watched him get skinned alive.”

Lena couldn’t help the snort that escaped her. Cat grinned brightly at her reaction. Lena quickly regained her composure and dramatically cleared her throat. “So how did you deal with it?”

 “I used it,” Cat said confidently. “Every time I heard the name ‘Caity-Cat’, I used it as motivation to push for a better career. I made a vow that I would make such a name for myself that that son of a bitch would have no choice but to show me the respect I deserved.” Lena could see a flash of steely determination in Cat’s eyes. “Come hell or high water, I would prove that I was worthy of his notice.” Cat swallowed thickly, her eyes becoming glassy.

Lena picked up on the bitterness in Cat’s voice. She could see how much the memories of her time under Perry White pained her. She couldn’t help the swell of sympathy generated by Cat’s remembrances. Whether she liked it or not, Lena felt a kindred spirit in Cat. Both had navigated a world heavily dominated by misogynistic, deplorable men who did everything in their power to ensure their failure. She understood Cat’s motivation to prove that she belonged in that world, no matter its futility.

“Did you ever accomplish your goal?” Lena asked, already knowing the answer.

 “In a way.” Cat thinned her lips, a far off look on her face. “A year after I got CatCo off the ground, I ran into Perry at some awards dinner. By happenstance, serendipity, or whatever the hell you want to call it, we went to get a drink at the bar at the same time. I said hello, and he grunted out ‘Catherine’.” Lena shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, unsurprised by the man’s apparent apathy. Cat grinned playfully, clearly feeling like she swallowed the canary. “But by then it didn’t matter. I’d grown far beyond needing his respect or approval. By that time, I had already accomplished more than that sack of shit ever could. I didn’t want, didn’t need a damn thing from him.”

Lena let Cat relieve her triumphant moment, happy in the knowledge that Cat was able to realize her self-worth without needing validation from anyone else.

“So, is that why you scall my wife ‘Kiera’? In some misguided attempt to motivate her?” Lena’s gaze bore into Cat with an intensity greater than Kara’s heat vision. “Because from where I’m sitting, it seems history repeating itself.”

Cat blanched at Lena’s assertion; a barely perceptible shiver ran the length of her spine. Cat let out a long breath before meeting Lena’s probing stare before answering wistfully. “When she started as my assistant, maybe…but I think it got to the point where I wasn’t even aware I was doing it.” Cat looked away from Lena, clearly angry with herself. She fell back into her chair with an unceremonious thud, her shoulders sagging defeatedly. “But it really doesn’t matter, still makes me a hypocrite.”

Lena answered Cat’s unasked question with a raise of her eyebrow and a slight tilt of her head.

Cat folding her hands on the conference table and leaned closer to Lena. “Please understand, I am so proud of Kara. She has exceeded every expectation I could possibly have of her. She has grown into a remarkable woman; and it has nothing to do with the cape and tights. She engenders trust and respect to a level I have never seen before. I’m used to my staff going above and beyond because they’re scared of me, but her, they do it because they adore her.” Cat’s eyes were glassy with unshed tears.

Lena’s features softened at Cat’s admission, a warm sense of satisfaction blooming in her chest. She started feeling the slight sting of welling tears in her eyes after hearing such kind words about her wife. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

There might be hope for Cat yet. At the very least, she’d avoid tasting Lena’s fist.

“Have you considered telling her that?” Lena pointedly asked.

Cat grinned sadly through trembling lips. “I feel like that ship’s sailed,” Cat said with a shaky voice. “How…when…I mean…I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

Lena didn’t even try to hide her enjoyment watching Cat ramble. “One, it’s never too late, two, use your words, and three, there’s no time like the present.” Lena motioned towards the closed door leading to the bullpen. Cat looked at the door confused. “Kara, I know you’re listening. You can come in now,” Lena said quietly.

Before Cat could react, the door opened and a sheepish looking Kara entered the conference room, two flimsy cardboard boxes filled with wrapped sandwiches and bags cradled in her arms. She set the boxes down and turned to face her wife. “I wasn’t listening.” Lena leveled Kara with an arched eyebrow in response, Kara quickly folded under her wife’s stare. “Well, I didn’t listen to everything.”

“Do tell, zrhemin.” Lena suppressed a grin.

Kara made to adjust glasses that weren’t there, quickly shifting to scratch her cheek.  “Fine. I’ve been listening since ‘piss on the ashes’”. But in my defense, I could hear your heartrate was elevated and I got worried.”

Satisfied, Lena shrugged. The color had seemed to drain from Cat’s face after Kara’s confession, her eyebrows hitting her hairline. An awkward silence followed. Cat and Lena appeared to be in a stare down while Kara tried to avoid looking either one in the eye. Lena emerged as the victor of the silent battle; Cat turned to face Kara.  Kier…Kara, I owe you an apology…”

“Miss Grant, you don’t have to apologize,” Kara cut her off with a wave of her hand.

“No, Kara, I do.” Cat took a focusing breath and swallowed thickly. “Your wife is right; I haven’t always been very nice to you. I’ve been disrespectful, callous, and sometimes, downright abusive; none of which you’ve deserved.” Kara was beaming as Cat spoke, now the third person in the room being brought to tears. “Sufficed to say, I will work harder to…be more positive with my feedback…and, at the very least, call you by your given name.”

Cat hesitantly approached Kara and after an awkward amount of positioning, embraced her in a tight hug. The floodgates opened and all three women had tears streaking their faces: Cat and Kara for obvious reasons, and Lena…well…goddamn hormones!

Kara and Cat pulled back from their embrace and messily wiped away their tears, a few sniffles coming from both women. “Thank you, Miss Grant. I accept your apology,” Kara said, a slight tremble in her voice.

Cat smiled at her warmly. “Kara, I think at this point you can call me Cat.”

Kara gasped in shock before devolving into clapping and squealing excitedly. “Ok…Cat,” she said with an overdramatic swagger.

Cat and Lena exchanged an eyeroll but didn’t comment on the Kryptonian being a spastic dork.

Cat leveled Kara with her best boss-stare, quickly pulling the hero out of her giddiness. “That is until I win the election. Then you’ll have to address me as Madame President.”

#supercorp #supercorptober2023 #kara danvers #lena luthor #cat grant

[bemusedlybespectacled]

Apologies for the off topic but would you have any tips on writing lawyers who arent just smarmy?

I DO INDEED.

Some negative traits for a lawyer character that aren't "smarmy asshole:"

Being gossipy. I have never, in my entire fucking life, met a lawyer who didn't like drama, and I am including myself in that. I know the exact details of at least three different affairs involving other attorneys in my area, all of which happened years before I started work. In law school I knew which professors had married students (and, in one case, divorced his wife who was also a professor at the same law school to marry a student), who was sleeping with whom, and who'd been kicked out for various infractions. This does extend to our clients, and we definitely will complain about them to other attorneys (within the bounds of not sharing confidential information).

On a similar note, being critical of other attorneys. So-and-so never files motions on time, or doesn't know the rules of evidence well enough to make objections, or can't write their way out of a paper bag.

Being competitive. This is more a thing with litigators, I think, but god does it feel good when you crush your opponent into the dirt. Law is an adversarial system with winners and losers, and it is so fun to be the winner. Even when you like the opponent, there's something innately satisfying when you destroy them with your superior skills.

Not knowing how other people operate. This can take a variety of forms. For some people, it's that "I have no idea if what I'm talking about is common knowledge or something only I know, so I need to explain it in detail" thing. For others, it can be "oh, not everyone thinks attempted murder is funny. Whoopsie." I had a conversation with a fellow attorney where I nodded along politely while he complained to me that representing landlords was no longer profitable for him, all the while thinking, "Does he....... does he not know that I do eviction defense?"

Being know-it-alls. I feel like this goes without saying, but quite a lot of lawyers are very confident in their knowledge and will be assholes about it. However, this doesn't stop them from...

Being perfectly average. The common idea about lawyers is that they're all Harvard-educated geniuses who know everything there is to know about everything. And I am here to tell you that lawyers are just as capable of being dumbasses as anyone else. I am incapable of doing math, and so are a lot of lawyers (the judge in the Alex Jones case kept joking about her inability to do math). When I was in law school editing the students' journal articles, I needed to give a remedial training on how to write essays because some people genuinely didn't fucking know how. And I'm not even getting into the guys who didn't know what sundown towns were.

On the flip side, some positive traits for a lawyer character:

Caring a lot. It is really, really common to burn out on law, either because your subject matter is depressing or your schedule is fucked or your clients just keep being in horrible situations that you can't help them in.

Being fucking nerds. About the law, about other interests like history or science, about fandom shit. I just found out that one of the public defenders here is taking his girlfriend (also a lawyer) to a con this week; he's easily 10+ years older than me and really good at oral arguments. I am mutuals on Tumblr with so many fucking lawyers. And that can include getting excited about weird shit, like me watching the Alex Jones trial the way other people watch sports events.

Having good social skills. Law is a service profession. Even in cases where your client isn't a human person (in-house counsel for a corporation, mergers & acquisitions, criminal prosecution where your client is The State), you are still providing a service and you are going to need to interact with the humans that benefit from that service, even if it's the complaining witness in a criminal case or the CEO of a company you work for. Attorneys with bad social skills – who are obstructionist to their opponents, or abuse their staff, or are bad with clients, or are smarmy assholes – are not liked in the profession, and being liked goes a long way with other attorneys. The number of times I've done things like call another attorney and said something like, "Hey, your client is violating the custody order, can you tell him to knock it off so I don't need to file something about it?" or "Why don't we both knock CPS out of this case and then do the adversarial thing when they're gone?" is... a lot.

In general:

Most lawyers are not making shitloads of money unless they are at very specific firms or doing extremely specific kinds of work. The majority of lawyers are basically middle class. So while the "rich asshole lawyer" stereotype exists for a reason, most lawyers aren't.

We have very strict ethical rules that we need to follow. Now, the ethical rules were implemented because people weren't being ethical on their own, but we do have them. If you want to be a nerd, go look up your local bar's sanctions page.

We specialize in different areas of law. Just like how an eye doctor might vaguely remember stuff about the endocrine system from medical school but probably doesn't know more than that, a criminal lawyer is probably not going to go into, say, wills & trusts. They can, but most people find their niche in an area they like.

There are other kinds of law than just corporate and criminal. Where is my seasons-long TV series about legal aid? Environmental prosecution? TAXES?

#writing #lawyers #lawblr #real lawblr #personal #askbox

[rpgsandbox]

5th-level Banish Rumour (Abjuration). Casting time: 1 Action. Components: Verbal, Material (A single public statement).

Dungeons & Dragons is in a bizarre place right now—it's on the verge of the totally-not-a-new-edition ruleset revamp and an in-development virtual tabletop project, riding high off the back of Baldur's Gate 3. But Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has also suffered from a massive round of layoffs, and the bruises of the catastrophic OGL fiasco a year ago are still smarting.   This has laid the groundwork for a swarm of rumours regarding a potential sale to Tencent—a massive conglomerate and holding company with its fingers in dozens of different pies including Remedy Entertainment, Paradox Interactive, FromSoftware, Epic Games and (most importantly to the matter at hand) Larian Studios. Said whispers began when the Chinese news outlet Speed Daily (as translated by Pan Daily) reported that WotC parent company Hasbro was "seeking to sell its well-known IP 'Dungeons & Dragons'", citing Hasbro's "financial crisis" as a reason for the speculation. That's despite D&D being a huge earner for Hasbro, achieving record years (as per a financial report last October) for the company. 

Shucking D&D as a property entirely would be like throwing a crate of diamonds overboard to stop your ship from sinking—not something you'd do unless you were definitely about to drown. Which isn't completely out of the question. That same report noted Hasbro's total revenue was down "13-15%", and repeatedly cites a difficult situation for toys across the board. Still, I'm not sure if things are dire enough for a spontaneous bout of violin-playing. That's been confirmed in a comment provided to Dicebreaker, where Wizards of the Coast writes the following: "We regularly talk to Tencent and enjoy multiple partnerships with them across a number of our IPs. We don’t make a habit of commenting on internet rumours, but to be clear: we are not looking to sell our D&D IP. We will keep talking to partners about how we bring the best digital experiences to our fans. We won't comment any further on speculation or rumours about potential [mergers and acquisitions] or licensing deals." So there you have it: D&D isn't being sold to anyone. What's more likely is that Tencent—which owns a 30% stake in Larian Studios—might be thinking about pouring money into another D&D game. That should surprise nobody, considering the meteoric success of Baldur's Gate 3. Another licensing deal isn't just 'not out of the question', it's a plain good idea. Under any other circumstances I'm not sure any of this would've made waves in forums and headlines. But the environment surrounding D&D at the moment is, understandably, one of fear. Hasbro's layoffs included several senior members of staff. Game designers, art directors, and Liz Schuch—the company's former Head of Publishing and Licensing, who was with Wizards of the Coast for 28 whole years.  There's a bordering-on-zero percent chance something like this would actually happen, but the background radiation of 'strange times' has a lot of TTRPG fans without a fuller scope of the situation willing to buy into speculative panic, and I can't say I necessarily blame them.

#RPG #Dungeons and Dragons #Wizards of the Coast #gaming news

[peach-fiz]

With Robin Williams trending, I'd like to insert my 2 cents about my favorite of his works and one of my favorite movies in general, Hook.

I don't see much about this movie and it's kinda sad seeing as it's such a deep movie about parent child relationships and the fear of death via getting old. And after having read the actual book by James Barrie, it's incredible how accurate they got it. I would also love asks if anyone has other things to add ab it, but I'm mainly going to talk about Peter and Jack's relationships and therefore Peter's relationships with his parental figures. (Tink, Wendy, his adoptive parents, and his birth parents)

The first thing we learn about Peter Banning is that he has a troubled relationship with his (I'm assuming 10 year old) son Jack. Peter himself is a merger and acquisitions lawyer and is deeply woven with his work. We also learn in those same first few minutes that it affects the time he spends with both of his kids.

In the same 2 minute span, Peter agrees to a meeting that occurs during a baseball game he promised his son he would attend, on a phone call in the middle of his daughter's school play where she is the female lead. A role very important to her because she's playing her great grandmother. Of course Peter missed the game and rather, sends a coworker with a camera to film it for him; which sets off a main theme of the film being Peter being unable to be there for his children, mainly Jack.

Next we learn not only does he not keep promises made to his kids but also to Wendy Darling(who took him in as an orphan when he was 13) who has invited him over for Christmas every year and yet he hasn't been in a decade due to work and her living out of the country.

Then when the movie's plot officially starts we begin to understand that Peter is wasting time and not caring (which could be a psychological side affect to being the same age for so many years that his concept of time is generally inept). Much later in the movie they expand on this idea of Jack's relationship with his father not being good and fueled by when they got to Neverland James Hook proposed thst if Peter could touch their hands, trying to get him to fly, that he would let them go.

He climbed all the way up the mast and gave up from grief and exhaustion. But to Jack, this meant his dad didn't care enough to try the tiniest bit harder to touch them.

Then we have later on when Peter finds his happy thought (which is one of my favorite scenes) where he remembers his mother and being Peter Pan and Wendy. I'm going to condense this as much as I can but Peter ran away and doesn't like his parents especially his mother because they wanted him to grow up and b e something and in his tiny baby head that meant growing old and eventually dying which is a fear that has dictated his life. He leaves people behind and breaks promises but when the same is done to him he feels abandoned (the way children do).

I don't know how to write an ending for this but I could continue if anyone is interested!!

#hook #captain hook #hook(1991) #hook 1991 #robin williams #peter pan #peter banning #maggie smith #long post #peachy rants #rant

[oliviablancmom]

Okay, since my post reach ten likes, I will take this as a "Yes" about knowing better the characters lol. So just for you guys Know, when I write something, even if only on my mind I like to give a face for the characters, I can't write or think imagining a blank face or me, but feel free to imagine however you want.

So let me presenting you guys, this beautiful family the Blanc's.

This is Clark Elias Blanc (uncle Clark for Max and Max only) he is french, and a business man, he directed mergers and acquisitions for some companies in the automotive sector, like every rich man he ventures into the investment things. His love for motorsport came from his father and grandfathers who were mechanics, both of whom first took him to the Monaco GP when he was a little boy and since that day, he has fallen in love with the sport. And made sure to pass this love for his children. Clark is currently Team Principal for the Skyline Racing Team.

This beauty right here, it is our first lady, our mother: Georgia Hale Blanc. She was a supermodel in her youth, but she drops her career to start a family with Clark. If was such a buzz for the media cause she was in her career peak, the magazines sweetheart and because of the age gap between her and Clark at the time ( it was only five years apart). Currently works in partnership with Susie Wolff to include girls in motorsport.

Clark and Georgia give birth to their two least favorite children (max it is their favorite, just kidding)

This is Josh Clark Blanc, Well Josh it is a womanizer, but this only because he (and Olivia) had the most beautiful example of what a relationship should be, and he's not so sure if he will find this someday. Just like his father, and his grandfather before that he inherited a love for motorsport, he started racing and competing with karts when he was just five years old, he had a natural talent, but it wasn't an obligation. There was a moment that took him away from the sport, but he recovered and returned to claim what it is his. Also loves to annoy his sister.

This is our Olivia Georgia Blanc, she is a sweetheart, shy, but goes feral to protect her brother and family name. She is her mother daughter, and loves fashion and art, not that she didn't like motorsports, but there's only one thing that makes her heart to speed when it comes to races. Don't like to be annoyed by her brother.

And finally, you guys have a new team to cheering for: Skyline Racing Team

motto: charged by lightning

Colors:

Factory: Croatia.

Team Principal: Clark Blanc.

Team Owner: Isaac Loncar

The team has won two titles in the first years of formula 1. It stayed out of the category for a while, and returned as a promise in the 2000s, after a long period of mess and bad results, it was restructured in 2016 with the arrival of Clark in team, went through a restructuring in the garage and factory, became competitive again, and is aiming to win a championship.

That it, let me know your thoughts on this, and if you guys have curiosity about them send me ask, I love this family I would love to talk about them. 😊

#max verstappen imagine #max verstappen x oc #max verstappen #max verstappen x reader #f1 imagine

[nanamin-3]

Serendipity.

as two childhood friends are reunited, they are presented with a proposition that will tie them together for good. Will they be able to remember the feelings of their youth, or will time have taken its toll and made irreparable changes to each of them?

pairing - sukuna/reader

genre - arranged marriage, unrequited love, modernAU, 18+

Part 2.

Taking a deep breath, you looked at the clock beside the door. You noticed you only had 5 minutes before Isamu Ryoumen and his son Sukuna arrived for the mysterious meeting your aunt had set up. With a frown, you headed over to the small bar in your office, turning on the kettle to prepare some coffee. While waiting, you couldn’t help but think back to the day your aunt had visited to set up this meeting. She refused to give any details, no matter how much you pressed her. All she could say was that it was something Isamu and she had been talking over for a while and wanted to discuss with you.

You had an idea of what this meeting might be about. The Ryomen’s where owners of one of the biggest IT companies in all of Japan, and you were the majority shareholder and chair of the Shiso group, a small but extremely profitable cyber securities company. After your parents had passed in a car accident when you were 15, it was determined that you would become chair and CEO of the company, with all your parents shares given to you once you finished college. Since you had been studying abroad, you were able to keep busy and your mind occupied, but once graduation came up, you could feel the reality of what was to come next settle in.

You were extremely grateful for your aunt though. Your father’s sister had stepped in as soon as the tragedy had happened, making sure you remained focused and took care of yourself. She took on the role of parent seamlessly and you were forever grateful for that.  

She ahead even offered to find someone else to run the company in case that was a path you did not want to pursue, but you had decided to continue your parents work and legacy. You worked hard in school, learned as much as she could and had been able to assemble a loyal and capable team, in which they had grown the Shiso group to one of the main securities providers to the biggest companies in Japan. All the praise had to go to them.

For this reason, you were hesitant to agree to this meeting. Isamu Ryomen was known to be a ruthless and calculating businessman. You knew that while an acquisition or merger might make sense at some point, and Ryomen inc. made sense to do it with, she did not want someone else to come in and change the dynamic of the company. You had to think about the employees, they might want to come in and force you to do things differently, which was something you refused to do.

You walked over to the window, pulling out your phone. 2:08, her aunt and the Ryomen’s were late. Strange, but at least that would cut their time shorter. With a smile, you walked over to the small table in the office and sat down, scrolling on your phone. A sudden knock made you look up expectantly, until your best friend and VP Shoko Ieiri peeked her head in. “What’s this? Aunty Akane is late? Soo unlike her.” Walking in, she sauntered over to the table and sat down, sliding a folder over for you to look at.

“Right? It’s okay though, she knew I had only an hour so the later they are, the least time I’ll have to deal with Isamu and Sukuna,” you said happily while looking over the contracts Shoko had brought in. Ieiri looked at you quietly, amused at your attitude and how dense you could be sometimes. “Whoa! Hakari closed the Hofstay group contract? That is perfect, remind me to get him something, that’s the fifth deal he brings in this quarter.” Ieiri chuckled, getting up to pour herself a coffee, “Y/N, I’m sure you’d tell me if something is going on, but is there a reason why Isamu and Sukuna are coming so suddenly?” Leaning back in your chair, you hummed. “It was mainly aunt Akane’s doing. I’m sure it must have something to do with an acquisition or merger of some sort. I mean, it might make sense eventually but not really something I’m open to right now, so nothing is really going to happen,” looking back at your friend you smiled. “I’m just going to take the meeting for auntie, that’s all. Also, you will be in the meeting, so once the hour is up, you can remind me of some place we simply cannot be late to!”

Ieiri nodded, turning to look at you while she leaned against the counter. “Is there a reason why Sukuna is coming though? You said you haven’t seen him since high school, right?” With a huff, you put your forehead on the table. “That is what I cannot figure out. Last time I heard, he was in London, finishing up school and then working on the branch over there. It’s making me nervous that he’s included on this for some reason.”

Ieiri walked back towards the table, looking at you in wonder. “So, you were keeping tabs on him the whole time and you didn’t tell me!?” Shooting up, you looked at Ieiri’s annoyed face as you felt her face heat up. “N-no! It’s not like that, I just wanted to know how he was doing. After his mom passed, I did reach out many times but didn’t hear anything from him, so…I just wanted to make sure he was okay.” Ieiri’s eyes narrowed dangerously, which you took as a sign that she didn’t believe you. Looking at your phone, you checked your messages to see if your aunt had sent anything.

“You know, I half expected you guys to end up dating eventually. You were inseparable all up to high school and he would always take care of you.” “-he was just like my brother, our parents threw us together ever since we were born.” Ieiri laughed, throwing her head back in disbelief. “Oh Y/N, you’re too old to believe that still. It’s like you were his, not in a possessive way at all. But I guess in a way where it was you and him against the world.”

 You looked at Ieiri quietly. She always had a way to bring out what you were really thinking. You had to admit that was why you were so nervous. You and Sukuna were inseparable all throughout your early years, always together thanks to your parents. It hurt you more than you cared to admit that he had stopped all contact with you once he had gone to school in London.

You always thought that you’d be in each other’s lives in some capacity. He had always protected you against kids that teased you and had stayed with you after your parents passed, but you noticed something in him had changed once his mother had passed. Before you could open that can of worms about feelings you had not sorted through in years, you heard another knock at the door. Ieiri and you quickly stood up as auntie walked in, followed by Isamu and Sukuna.

“Oh, my darling, I am so sorry we are late. Last minute delays but what we have to discuss shouldn’t take long!” The older woman heartily exclaimed. Rushing forward to greet her, you were already shaking your head, “No worries at all I understand.” Receiving one of her crushing hugs, you laughed while she patted your back lightly. Once she let you go, she zeroed in on Ieiri, “Shoko! My lovely girl!”

Turning to look back at Isamu and Sukuna, you smiled at the two men as you headed over to them, trying to contain your fluttering heart at the sight of Sukuna after so long. He was taller and more muscular. The same crimson eyes you remembered and the pink hair you loved so much. Before they could think of you as a creep, you bowed in greeting. “Sir, it’s great to see you. You as well Sukuna, I’m glad you are doing well.” Looking back at them, you could feel the frostiness oozing out of them. You were used to Isamu’s lack of emotion, but Sukuna’s smile did not reach his eyes. “Y/N, as I’ve told you before, there is no need for formalities. It is good to see you, I trust everything is well. With the company and yourself?” Said the older man in his usual bored tone. “Y-yes, running the company takes a lot of my time but everything is well. The company had an impressive quarter, but it’s all thanks to the employees really. Our newest hire, Hakari has been a great asset, were very lucky that he decided to come work here as I know he had a few offers.” At the mention of the other man’s name, Sukuna finally really looked at you. For some reason, he looked upset at the mention of Hakari’s name.

Before you could dig into this information deeper, auntie’s voice rang out, “Alright Y/N, let’s begin, I know you’re busy, so we won’t take much of your time.” Turning to them, you saw Ieiri with a look of worry in her face. Before you were able to ask her what the issue was, Ieiri started heading out, “Y/N, I actually have to attend to another issue while you’re here. We do have another meeting after this so I will come by for you so we can take care of that. Sir, it’s good to see you. Sukuna, good to see you too.” Both men bowed to Ieiri as she walked out and closed the door behind her.

“Um, I know auntie said that there was something we needed to discuss so please,” you said, directing everyone to the small sofa and chairs next to the window, “could I get anyone anything?” Isamu and auntie took the chairs, you noticed, forcing you to sit next to Sukuna in the small couch. Hoping you could busy herself with preparing coffee or tea for anyone, you were dismayed when everyone declined.

You cursed herself when you sat next to Sukuna, thinking you should have listened to Ieiri when she told you to buy a bigger couch. The small couch had their bodies basically pressed next to each other and you could feel the heat radiating from Sukuna’s large body. You were unnerved at the way Sukuna was acting. You understood that things might have changed once his mother passed, but you had tried to be there for him the way he had been for you. He had hardly said a word to you since arriving.

Isamu’s voice broke you from her reverie. “Y/N, you have been running Shiso group for five years now and doing an incredible job at it. I must admit that after Minato and Hana’s untimely passing, I had my doubts at Akane’s decision to keep you at the helm. But I can admit when I am wrong, and you have done a splendid job.” With a small smile, all you could do was nod. Was Isamu here just to compliment you? The conversation was not making any sense so far.

“As you know,” Isamu continued, “the next step should be to grow your company even more. You can do this by ensuring to have the correct allies and right connections in our business. Which is why, with Akane’s approval, I’ve come to offer a merger of sorts.” As you were about to decline, Isamu uttered the words you would have never imagined. “I am aware that you are against any merger or acquisition of your company to anyone else from what Akane has told me, which I understand, but as I’ve mentioned, longevity in our business is about connections and alliances. For this reason, I want to offer a union of both our families and companies by having you marry my son.”

You felt as If you’d been punched. Feeling breathless, you quickly turned to Look at Sukuna. He obviously wanted nothing to do with you, as he had avoided any type of contact with you previously and he couldn’t even spare you a glance even with this revelation.

You noticed he did not seem surprised, so he must have known about this previously. Finding no answer there, you turned to look at your aunt, who at least had the decency of looking a bit flustered. Straightening in her chair, she turned to Isamu in a haste, “what is the meaning of this, we had discussed bringing the families together but agreed that I would speak to my niece about the marriage proposal first.”

Both looked at each other defiantly, daring the other to look away first. “Akane, I understand, but please understand me. Y/N’s parents where family to my late wife and I, Minato and I frequently spoke of how wonderful it would be if Sukuna and Y/N were to be married. It is unfortunate the children lost contact once they went to university, but it was to be expected. Y/N and Sukuna are now back home, and I would be remiss if I did not give them a push in the direction we had always wished for.”

You scoffed. Feeling the situation slipping out of your hands, you looked down at your hands, wringing them together. You could feel everyone’s eyes on you, even Sukuna, so before a panic attack could come on you softly spoke out. “Isamu, I am so thankful that you still find it in your heart to look out for me even after my father’s passing. An alliance as you say, is not something that I am opposed to so we can discuss that further if you’d like.”

Glancing up, Isamu’s face was as apathetic as ever. You hated how frantic your voice sounded but continued on, “I understand why you would want a union through marriage, b-but…I mean, I haven’t spoken to Sukuna for so long. We did grow up together and he will hold a special place in my heart always, but he might not want this or already have another…person.”

You did not know why you said all that. It was true, but in your frantic state had shared thoughts only Shoko was aware of as your best friend. Everyone was silent, apparently at your sudden outburst, when you heard Sukuna clear his throat beside you. “My father and aunty brought this up to me already Y/N. If this is something you agree to, I am in as well.”

You were at a loss for words. For more reasons you could even begin to process. Hearing his voice after so long made you feel flustered, remembering late night conversations, discussing some show you two would watch or his incessant teasing that always flustered you to no end. Did the first words you heard from him after so long have to be, “sure I agree with this business transaction?”

Sukuna looked at you expectantly, his crimson eyes focused on you. “I n-need…” and as if sensing your distress, a knock was heard at the door, opening to show Shoko peeking on and looking at you expectantly.

“I am so sorry everyone, but I really must steal Y/N now.” Standing up, you bowed to Isamu, “I have to get going, but please allow me some time to think about this.” Standing up, Isamu started walking towards the door. You thought he’d leave, but before exiting your office, he turned to look at you one last time, “I have no opposition to that, please let us know what you decide Y/N. Come, son.” And with a curt nod to you and Shoko, Sukuna followed his father out of your office. “Darling, we will talk tonight,” finished Akane, waving to Shoko and exiting the office as well.

Once she was sure they had all left, Shoko followed you to your desk and sat opposite you. “Did they really ask you to marry Sukuna?” Looking back at your friend in shock, you nodded. “Did aunty tell you?”

“She did mention it right before I had to leave. She did say she would be telling you herself, but from your face, it looks like Isamu dropped the bomb before she was able to.” You could only laugh, it didn’t matter if they would have told you separately, it was still a shock what they were offering. It was even more of a shock to know that Sukuna agreed to it. You did not know what you would do.

“Do we have anything right now or for the rest of the day?” Shoko looked at you and happily shook her head, “Nope! I was able to clear our schedules and the meeting we did have to go to, I was able to get Hakari to take it.” Sinking down on your chair, you let out a long sigh and rubbed your temples. “Thank god he works here, I’m sure he can eventually take over both our jobs,” you said jokingly as you ducked a pen Shoko threw your way. “But really, do you want to finish here and head out for a drink?” Shoko stood up and walked towards the door, looking back at you, and smiling, “of course, hurry up and finish then Miss CEO cause we’re getting hammered tonight.”

You walked through the doors of your favorite dive bar, looking for an open table in the back. Finding one, you quickly walked back to claim it, waving hello to the bartender on duty. “Hello Aoi, I will have a gin & tonic please!” You quickly slipped a couple of bills over; sure, this should cover the complete annihilation you were planning for Shoko’s and your liver tonight.

“Just you tonight?” Aoi asked as he slid over the drink. Taking a sip and smiling at the bitter taste washing down your throat, you shook your head, “Ieiri should be here any minute now, she just got stuck at the office finishing off some stuff.” With a wave, you headed over to the open table you had spotted earlier.

Taking your phone out, you were letting Shoko know where you were sitting when a familiar voice called your name. “Hey boss! What are you doing here alone?” Looking up, Hakari was walking towards the table. You smiled at the burly, pink haired man as he sat next to you. “Ieiri and I are meeting here but she’s held up at the office! She shouldn’t be long I think,” with a frown, she took a long swig of her drink.

Hakari laughed and stood up heading towards the bar, turning to look at you he called, “what’re you drinking? She can catch up to us while she gets here.”

A few minutes later, you felt as if your head was full of cotton. Looking at your watch, only about 30 minutes had passed, but you felt you had been drinking for hours. “Damn Hakari, what did you get us?"

With a laugh, Hakari threw the remnants of his drink back, slamming the glass on the table gleefully. “They’re just mules, but I figured you’d need something strong since I heard that Isamu came up for a meeting?”

Gesturing to Aoi for another round, you looked at Hakari and rested your cheek on your hand with a sigh. How much should you tell him? He was a trusted employee and you had found him to be a great friend ever since meeting him, and Shoko was taking longer than expected. You really wanted to talk about this with someone.

“That bad huh,” Hakari said, staring at you hard. With a laugh, you thanked Aoi for the drinks he had brought up and looked down at your hands. “I guess so. I’m sure you knew they were looking to buy us out and absorb us. No one expected us to grow so much the last year and it’s thanks to you!” She said, slapping a hand on his shoulder, not noticing Hakari’s blush at your action. Maybe the alcohol was stronger than you thought, “but surprisingly Isamu was looking for an alliance of sorts, I guess? Basically, not looking to bring me down just yet,” you finished with a snort.

Hakari stirred his drink with his straw, deep in thought. “I see. So, what kind of alliance was he looking for? I’m sure Businessmen like Isamu don’t make offers without an ulterior motive so it must come with some contingencies.”

You felt nervous for some reason. Hakari had always treated you with respect and as a real friend, so you didn’t know why you were so nervous telling him about the marriage proposal. “Well yeah, my aunt and Isamu want his son, Sukuna and I to get married.” A few moments of silence passed, and looking back at Hakari, you could see how he had stiffened at the mention of Sukuna’s name.

“Ryoumen Sukuna is ryoumen Isamu’s son?” you nodded, alarmed at the change in Hakari’s demeanor. You continued hastily, “it’s not like he’s some stranger. We did grow up together and spent pretty much all our lives together also. We just lost touch once we each went to university, b-but…”

Hakari turned to look at you, “well, what are you thinking of doing?” You were still grappling with the decision, trying to think of what the best course of action could be. “Even if you grew up together, do you know what he has been up to this whole time you have not spoken? He had quite the reputation with the employees at his father’s company. The employees as well as the secretaries.”

You were surprised, you figured that he must have surely dated during all this time. Sukuna was an attractive man and came from a well-off family. That made him a catch anywhere, still, it was surprising to hear from him that he had agreed to marry while dating someone else. “H-how do you know all this?” Crap, she could feel tears forming already, it had been a bad idea to come drink after receiving all these news.

“We went to the same university. That guy is a real dick, he doesn’t care about anyone else but himself,” Hakari said softly. Feeling bad at his outburst, he placed a hand over yours, “listen, you will choose what is best for you. But working for you and getting to know you so far, I’m sure you’re going to base this decision based on how it will affect everyone else in the company. Don’t do that, whatever you decide we’ll be fine, as long as our fearless leader is okay, we will be okay.” He finished with a smile, and he swiped a tear that had fallen down your cheek with his thumb.

With a weak laugh, you thanked him, dabbing at your eyes roughly with some napkins. “Thank you Hakari.” At that moment, someone cleared their throat and you looked up to see Shoko standing near the door with a murderous looking Sukuna behind her. “O-Oh hey guys! Hakari, I didn’t know you’d be here; this is Ryoumen Sukuna.” Shoko looked at you questioningly, then at Sukuna and Hakari who were staring daggers at each other. “Yeah, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him before.” Standing up, Hakari downed his drink and started heading over to the bar, waving at Shoko before turning to you, “think over what I mentioned Y/N and I will see you at the office tomorrow!”

Turning back to Shoko, you swallowed nervously, before looking up at Sukuna. “Can I get you guys anything? Did you guys bump into each other in your way here?” You tried to sound as calm as possible, but Sukuna’s piercing gaze made you feel you were 15 again, flustered, and shy.

“Erm- no. Y/N, I was heading over here and Sukuna was waiting downstairs for you, I let him know where we were meeting up and he came over with me.” She looked at Sukuna, who in turn, pulled out his wallet and handed a card to Shoko, “Ieiri, would you mind getting us some drinks, I need to talk to Y/N.” With a curt nod, Shoko stood up and headed over to Hakari, who was talking animatedly with Aoi. She motioned she’d be over in case anything was needed, and you tried to give the most reassuring smile possible.

It was silent for a while, until you couldn’t resist anymore. “So, you don’t speak to me for five years then suddenly your father says we should get married. And you’re fine with it?” You did not expect to come out so strong, but maybe the alcohol was not such a bad idea after all. “Y/N listen, I kn- “

“No Sukuna, I missed you during that time we were both away at school. I missed my best friend and then…” wiping away newly formed tears, you continued before you could lose your nerve. “Did…d-did I do anything to you? And then when your mother passed, I wanted to be there for y- “at that moment, he slammed his hand on the table, rattling the many glasses left behind by Hakari and you. “Listen you brat, I’m doing you a favor. My father planned to buy your company out and strip it, you think he’s going to do that to his son’s wife?” You listened to Sukuna’s harsh words, trying to process this new information.

“I don’t need your help.” Sukuna laughed at your words, rubbing his eyes in frustration, “you think your company stands any chance against him? What’s more, why are you being so difficult about this? It’s not like you have suitors lining up at your door to marry you, and don’t think I didn’t know about your little crush on me when we were younger, so this is a win-win for you in all aspects,” Sukuna finished angrily, picking up his drink and drinking it all in one go.

You were in shock and did not know what to even reply to his last comment. Wiping your tears roughly, you looked at him defiantly, “so I’m sure those feelings were never reciprocated then. Fine, what is the expectation here? You’re fine to marry someone you don’t love? And just live the rest of your life with someone you obviously can’t stand?”

Sukuna scoffed, and she continued, “besides, aren’t you dating someone already?” At this Sukuna’s head snapped up to look at you. If you hadn’t been drunk, his gaze would have made you squirm in your seat.

“You know brat, I learned a long time ago love doesn’t exist. You should start getting yourself used to that idea. Obviously if we were to get married, I will not stray if that has you worried, but again, you look like the type to romanticize everything so maybe this is not a good idea if you’re expecting anything from me,” he stood up, throwing on his jacket.

“Look at this as a business transaction and do it for the good of your company, if anything. You think your parents would enjoy seeing what a weak woman you’ve become?” Motioning over to Shoko, Sukuna turned to look Over at you, “think of your company, and give my father your answer soon. Dismantling companies is not a fast process.” And with that he sauntered off.

Shoko came over to you hurriedly and hugged you. “Can we please go home? I’m sorry, I know you just got here.” Nodding, she helped you up, and as they headed out, she turned to Hakari who was still in the bar and gave a small wave. He returned it with a tight-lipped smile, while Shoko walked you over to her car.

As they drove over to your apartment, Shoko looked over at you nervously. “What happened? You guys were fine but then he left, and you were crying.” You didn’t even know what happened yourself. The relationship that was there when you were both younger obviously wasn’t there anymore, but if he hated you as much as it seemed, why did Sukuna agree to marry you? More importantly, you couldn’t let someone else take you company. It would put in jeopardy all the employees and put her parents work at risk.

“Nothing Shoko, I’m sorry you know how I get when I’m drunk,” you tried to offer your most reassuring smile, but did not do such a great job. Shoko pulled up to your apartment and as you were getting off, she held you back. “You know you can tell me anything right?” With a smile, you leaned in to hug her, trying your best to reassure your friend.

“Thank you Ieiri, don’t worry, I will figure everything out,” with that, you stepped out and waved as Shoko drove away. The elevator to your floor seemed to take forever, but once inside your place, you quickly headed to your room and stripped down to your underwear, too tired in every possible way to put on some clothes.

Now that you were in bed, you could no longer sleep. As you thought of what to do, you couldn’t help but think back to your childhood, and Sukuna. He had been such an important part of it all, that what hurt you the most was that for some reason he seemed to hate you.

He would take care of you, when boys would try and mess with you, and in turn, after an inevitable fist fight happened, you would be there to clean up his wounds and bandage everything up.

You remembered when you went over to his house to say goodbye when he left for school. His parents gave them some privacy, sure some grand confession of love would be happening, but they could be no further from the truth.

“Make sure to call me! I know that you are going g to struggle with schoolwork!” Sukuna pushed your head lightly, playfully as you giggled. “Yeah, yeah brat. I don’t know how you’re going to manage without me as your bodyguard. THAT is what has me worried.” As you pouted at his comment, Sukuna laughed that laugh you loved, hearty and full of life. “Take care of yourself Y/N,” Sukuna said suddenly serious. Looking at him with a light blush, you couldn’t help but look away. You wondered if you should tell him, tell him how much you loved him and how much his company meant to you. You felt like you could be yourself around him and you hopped you had given him the same confidence and support he had always given you.

Your relationship had never been the most physical, but you could feel tears welling in your eyes. You threw your arms around him and hugged him as hard as you could, hanging off him due to the height difference. “Wh-what are you doing Y/N, get off you freak!” You sniffed loudly, holding onto him tighter. You felt Sukuna hum, and his hands hesitantly came up and around you. One on your waist and the other cradling your head.

“I’m going to miss you brat. Take care of yourself and I’ll see you when I’m back. You better call me too.” And at that moment you swore you felt the lightest pressure on top of her head, where you swore Sukuna pressed his lips, but before you could ruminate more about that, he let you go and stroking your cheek one last time, he walked over to his car, got on, and with a last wave drove away.

You turned to your side and pulled your knees up to your chest and hugged them tightly. Who were you kidding, you still loved Sukuna, and seeing him again had stirred all those emotions in you once more. Before you could lose your nerve, you grabbed your phone from the nightstand and typed a message to your aunt: sorry it’s so late aunty, but I’ve thought about this situation with the Ryoumen’s, and I made my decision. I will marry Sukuna

You had to protect your company and your employees, and you wanted to protect Sukuna as well. You knew that something had happened to him while he was away and if he was offering to do this, there had to be a reason why.

Hitting send, you closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

The next morning, you woke with the biggest headache ever. Groaning, you turned to grab your phone, getting up to start getting ready to head to work. As you walked over to the bathroom, you noticed a message from aunty Akane. “Y/N, this will be great for you, I knew you and that boy were destined for each other! I’ve notified Isamu, so once you are heading to work, stop by their office so we can talk about arrangements!”

Groaning, you hopped on the shower to try and alleviate the headache. An hour later, you were driving over to the Ryoumen offices as your aunt had requested. As you parked and headed inside, you noticed how most of the employees would stare and whisper among each other, you figured they might know something.

 As you finally arrived at reception to Isamu’s office, you waved hello to their assistant Uraume, and let him know you were expected. “Oh yes Miss! I will let them know; do you mind waiting a second?”

With a smile you sauntered over to the glass wall, looking outside the courtyard. You had always admired their office layout. With the open space, and bright colors, you had loved coming over with your father when you were younger and play in the courtyard. As you looked over to that side, you saw Sukuna and another woman, walking over. You had just seen Sukuna for a couple of days now, but this person was the farthest from the sulky and angry person you had been dealing with.

You couldn’t help but stare, the female was very pretty, with long blonde hair tied in a pretty braid and her figure-hugging dress clinging in all the right places. She held on to his arm, and while he did not reciprocate the touches, he did not move away from her as you would expect him to.

As they walked through the courtyard, Sukuna looked up and saw you waiting at his father’s office and walked over, with the usual frown in place. Seeing him head over, you walked over to Uraume who looked up and motioned you inside. Thanking him quietly, you were about to step through to the office when you heard Sukuna call your name.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” Before you could burst into tear yet again, you smiled ruefully at him and walked over to the office door. “I came to give my answer.” Sukuna seemed surprised, which Uraume took advantage to cut in, “Sir, your father would actually like you to go in as well.” Not taking his eyes off you, he nodded and opened the door, ushering you in.

“Oh, my dear children!” Both of you were greeted by mizuna, Sukuna’s grandmother. Aunt Akane also rushed forward to hug the both of you. “My babies, you even arrived together. It is mean to be!” You greeted Mizuna and bowed to Sukuna’s father. “No aunty, I arrived alone, Sukuna was with someone else, and we just coincided in the lobby,” you quietly said, as you sat down in a small armchair, avoiding any opportunity of being forced to sit next to Sukuna yet again.

He sat in the couch next to you, yet you could still feel his anger radiating off him from your actions. “So, Y/N, Akane tells me that you have agreed to the marriage proposal. I am glad, my child. Is there anything you need from us?” You smiled and shook your head shyly. “Oh Y/N, we will make sure that you look stunning on your special day! It will be such a beautiful affair! I can’t believe I get to see the wedding of my only grandchild and to his childhood best friend! We will I invite everyone and- ““obachan,” you interrupted, “I am so thankful for your enthusiasm in this, but I would actually like to request something.”

Everyone looked at you expectantly, even Sukuna looked at you curiously. “I don’t want a big wedding, please. I just want to go to city hall and have a small ceremony with you three and my best friend Ieiri. And whoever Sukuna might want to invite as well.” Akane and Mizuna looked at you in disbelief, not understanding why you did not want to have a grand party to celebrate the union.

“Y/N please don’t take the opportunity to shower you with wedding gifts from me!” Aunt Akane exclaimed. You couldn’t help but laugh and shake your head, “please, this is all I really want. Of course, if Sukuna wants something different…” you finished quietly.

“I fine with whatever Y/N decides.” “Very well,” Isamu quietly replied, “shall we do this this Saturday? We can have dinner at our house after,” nodding, you bowed. As you were about to excuse yourself to return to work, Sukuna stood up and turned to you. Pulling out a small box from his pocket and opening it, he showed you a small ring. It was a thing gold band, with a row of small diamonds around it. It was small and elegant; you were besotted by it you couldn’t stop looking at it. “Do you want me to put it on or not you freak,” Sukuna muttered quietly.

Thrown off by the old nickname he often called you, you smiled and nodded slightly, offering your hand. Gingerly taking your hand, he slipped the ring on. They remained holding hands for a few second when they were broken out of their thoughts by Aunt Akane exclaiming, “well done my boy!” With a smile, you bowed once more to everyone, confirming the time to meet in city hall in a few days’ time and headed out.

As you walked to your car, you heard steps behind you, then Sukuna’s hand pulling your arm to turn you around. “Y/N, I wanted to say that-“cutting him off with a smile you laughed. “Sukuna, you always took care of me when we were growing up. Thank you but I think I can take care of myself from here on out.” Narrowing his eyes, Sukuna stiffened at your tone, “what is this supposed to mean?”

Opening the car door, you settled the door between Sukuna and yourself. “I think you were right, its best if I think of this as a business transaction and not something that can grow to more. This way now I can protect myself.” You could feel the fury radiating out of Sukuna, “Y/N, what are you talking about, huh?”

Sitting down inside your car, you closed the door as you lowered the window. “I think you’re right, why bother with an inane idea such as love. If you come to tolerate me eventually, I think that we can pull out a nice partnership out of this. Isn’t that what your father and you wanted?”

Sukuna leaned down to your eye level, “Y/N, what are you doing?” You couldn’t help but laugh, surprised that there was a modicum of concern in his voice. “Don’t worry about it Sukuna, I’ll see you in two days. You can invite that pretty girl from the courtyard if you want too! Alright see ya! I’ll be the one in white!” And with that you drove off, Sukuna’s form getting smaller in the distance, glad that you had been able to drive away before he could see the tears running down your face yet again.

#ryoumen sukuna #sukuna x reader #jjk #sukuna #sukuna x you #ryoumen sukuna x y/n #ryoumen sukuna x you #sukuna x y/n #jjk sukuna #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen fluff #sukuna x reader fluff #sukuna x reader romance #sukuna x y/n romance

[seat-safety-switch]

Merging companies is fun and easy, and everyone is getting into it. If you have a company that makes cars, and your rich friend has a company that makes cars, then why not slam them together? You’ll probably save money because you won’t have to buy so many office microwaves and little power drills for body panels, and also because most of your employees are going to get fired.

Thing is, consolidation has been a part of the auto industry almost from the start. That’s why you only hear weird old cranks complain about why their classic Durant or McLaughlin got ruined by those penny-pinching greedheads over at Buick. Cars cost an absolute shedload of money to make, so it stands to reason that not every car company is gonna survive. The big guys eat the small guys and become bigger guys, who then engage in bizarre accounting shenanigans for fun, and are then eaten by even bigger guys.

You can trust me when I talk about this. I’ve been in the auto industry for almost three weeks, and I’ve sold a company twice in that time. How? Simple: even the smallest, worst car companies have executives. And those executives get jealous of their friends at the big car companies doing all these cool acquisitions and mergers all the time. I just set up in the parking lot, offer a price even they can hit, and then they impulse-buy my ass, like when you get depressed on your way home from work and inhale four tacos. Everyone wins: the executives feel big, I get $17 to $25 million, and I get a corner desk made out of compressed and purified cocaine until the board realizes what happened and decides to fire me a few days later.

All it costs is a couple trips to the local print shop to make up some business cards, and an auto journalist on the take. The latter one is easy, as I’ve been writing for Road and Track and Car and Driver for over a decade. In fact, I’m not even sure which one it is that pays me – I just send my articles into both and hope for the best. Every so often, I stick in a plug that I am starting up an innovative new electric car company, and boom, I’m in another head office’s parking lot setting up like the tamale lady. Maybe I’ll be your boss someday!

[runwayrunway]

No. 48 - Eurowings

We're here today to talk about Eurow

Yes, Eurowings! Did you think those five letters started any other words? Silly. Let's discuss the aerosartorial choices of Eurowings, a member of - oh dear - the Lufthansa Group.

Eurowings! Eurowings is a former regional airline formed from the 1990 merger of Nürnberger Flugdienst, a regional airline that I'd heard of, and Reise- und Industrieflug, one I hadn't. After its acquisition by Lufthansa, it has been restructured into a low-cost subsidiary, making it something of the FlyDubai of Germany. That means I am yet again courting a C&D from the Lufthansa Group, and I am delighted to throw myself on this particular blade.

The process of Eurowings's evolution into its current state is somewhat tortuous, involving the cannibalization of its old subsidiary Germanwings (yes, this was subsidiary-ception, and while it happened after 2015 it seems to have been planned before...well, you know) and the establishment of an Austrian subsidiary which was moved to Malta last year and is named - get this - Eurowings Europe.

Eurowings has been going through it of late. Well, of ever, as far as I can tell. If you've ever been frustrated by a delay, spare a thought for the passengers of 2016's Eurowings flight 131, some of whom had their visas expire while stuck in their hotels in Cuba during their 60-hour delay. Every fourth flight could expect six hours or so of unscheduled quality time at the airport. Or, you know, 20 sometimes. 20 hours. Yikes! That's what happens when you start seven long-haul routes with one (1) A330 and a handful of various and sundry wet leases. A lot of their routes have been taken over by Lufthansa proper, which seems eager to kill the brand as soon as possible, and I can't blame them given it's somehow developed a worse reputation than actual Lufthansa. I've never flown with them. They served Boston for literally three entire months, but I wouldn't have flown Eurowings anyway. For my own taste their 'cheap' prices are still fairly expensive.

The Eurowings livery is unfortunately on more than just one plane for the moment. They have 95 A320 family members and four wet-leased Boeing 737s, giving them a very typical fleet for a low cost carrier. And they look like that!

Okay, first and foremost, I want to talk about their logo. It looks a lot like LATAM's logo.

Indeed, they even both use a variation on something adjacent to blue and something adjacent to pink. I think it's definitely a coincidence - they both were unveiled in 2015 - and even if it weren't I don't respect either one enough to defend its honor from the other.

So, those colors. I think I prefer the shades chosen by Eurowings, and in a competent livery design that palette could be extremely effective. I love LATAM's saturated pink and indigo, which made the mostly-white fuselage a disappointment, and I like Eurowings's desaturated fuchsia and cyan as a combination even more, but the lack of fuselage coverage gets even sadder when it's such light colors that fail to contrast against the white at all.

Unlike LATAM, Eurowings makes use of grey as both shading and background. I like this! I think it can make for a nice base to play with and a potential source of some interesting, dynamic designs.

Oh, and the logo is meant to look like an 'E'. I guess I can sort of see it, but it looks more like me attempting to get a pen that's starting hard going again. (Don't mix inks in pens, though. Especially not fountain pens.) Anyway, I don't really love the logo's shape in isolation but I do think it could easily lend itself to some totally acceptable fuselage layouts.

It's the wordmark that I think is interesting. This is about to be a long section about fonts but I promise that one, I have a point, and two, if you keep scrolling it will stop being about fonts.

The typeface used for the Eurowings wordmark is Soleto in medium weight. It was designed by Dalton Maag, a London-and São-Paulo based foundry. You've definitely seen their work around - they've done custom fonts for the likes of Pitney Bowes, Tesco, Fox Sports, Nokia, AT&T, Airbnb, Wix, USA Today, Google, and the flipping BBC, among others. And, well, a few that I would go as far as to say are pretty iconic:

Lush Handwritten is actually gorgeous in Cyrillic, by the way.

I would say they're not my favorite foundry, with a lot of their work trending towards somewhat boring sans-serifs that are not at all to my taste (you will never replace Gill Sans), but they've had some hits. They're also no stranger to airlines - they did a custom typeface for the TUI wordmark, which appears on their livery!

Blue side up appeal aside, I definitely want to someday talk about the strange beast which is TUI, the World's Most Misogynistic Airline.

So you might think that Dalton Maag was commissioned to make a nice custom font family for Eurowings, given Lufthansa literally used their money to commission a slightly different version of Helvetica, but you would be wrong. As their website makes no mention of a custom typeface for Eurowings, despite discussing modified versions of their existing products for other companies (like Fox Sports Cricket being a variant of Aller), I believe they are indeed using off-the-shelf Soleto, available via Dalton Maag's website as well as Adobe Fonts. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with this, and I, who cannot afford a tablet to redesign the Eurowings livery, am not trying to wealth-shame an airline for not custom-ordering a typeface. They're far from alone. Another Dalton Maag user is Cebu Pacific, which uses Foco in a bold weight to decent effect, and I firmly believe that there's no reason to commission a second Helvetica if you want to use Helvetica. SAS uses Rotis Sans, and that's a massive airline with money to spare.

I just think the contrast here is funny. I could get the right to use the full Soleto font family for the entirety of Runway Runway's branding, title, and body text for one thousand sterling, or around $1350 in USD. This is, to me, a fortune and more money than I've had at any one time in literal years. It's also definitely not what Eurowings paid. I don't know what they paid, because Dalton Maag does custom quotes for unlimited licenses, but I don't want to imagine how much it cost to commission a firm to make a second Helvetica, so this just makes me think that Lufthansa really despises Eurowings. Pointless diversion? Maybe. I just think it's funny.

I think Soleto Medium is on the uglier side. I mean, I really don't like how Eurowings uses it in the same way I don't like Helvetica or the FedEx proprietary font - I really don't like really wide sans serifs used as titling, and I'm not sure why. Is it because it reminds me of elementary school? Is it because I find them sort of illegible? Are they just...ugly? Well, there's no such thing as objective ugliness, but this is my blog and I dislike them. They're certainly not at all memorable, which frequently makes their use something of an epic branding fail.

Soleto looks better than Helvetica, I'll give it that. A lot better. It's not really the typeface, though. It's the usage. While Dalton Maag's website does say:

Soleto is a flexible font family that can adapt itself to a wide variety of uses. [...] [it] is also quite capable of standing on its own.

It opens with:

Soleto is a contemporary sans serif font family with a quietly confident character. It works well for big areas of text, creating an even rhythm and texture, but can also make a statement at larger sizes.

And I think this is totally true, actually. As body text Soleto is fine! (This is via Dalton Maag's TypeTester feature, as are all future samples.)

This is 10pt Soleto medium, and it's a solid if generic sans-serif. Not overly ugly, totally legible. I'm not sure it's meant to be used for a logo, though. When I read 'statement at larger sizes' I think...titling, not airplane livery. A title for a website and an airplane wordmark are just different orders of magnitude.

How about titling? Well, I tried my own name in a couple different weights, and I actually think Soleto looks great in black italic.

This is a bit modern for my own taste, but I think this would look fine as a wordmark. Frankly, I think it would look good as an airline livery! It's not nearly as generic, it's almost a bit stylized even, and it's legible. The italic is always something I think looks nice due to its aerodynamic implications, and with a name as long as mine you don't really notice that this also does that obnoxious thing where the bottoms of certain letters dip beneath the baseline. Let's try some other weights!

Normally I prefer lighter weights in sans serifs, but no, Soleto looks worse the thinner it gets. These are, respectively, Light and Medium. Medium is what Eurowings uses!

Oh, wow, would you look at that! One of their default color combinations is even basically the Eurowings scheme, though in reverse.

Well, this...doesn't look that bad, right? It's boring, but it doesn't actively make me wrinkle my nose.

So why is this such a problem? I mean, let's look at this picture of an airplane, as we do on this blog. I've chosen this picture because you can see a Finnair (post coming soon) plane in the background. Finnair has this neat spiky sci-fi looking wordmark, for which no typeface exists. This wordmark is absolutely huge, and in a very dark blue against white.

Meanwhile, Eurowings's logo is very similarly formatted to Lufthansa's. It's high up and closely spaced, making it feel a little claustrophobic. It's not...as bad as Lufthansa's proprietary Helvetica (Helvetica Neue Neue? Helvetica Ultra-Ultra-Condensed? Hellvetica?) but that's barely a compliment. Lufthansa has theirs well above the window-line all squished together, while Eurowings has the decency to use the windows as the underline you would think they're just perfect to be, but with a typeface that's medium weight, neither thick nor thin and with no italics or serifs, it becomes something of a small blob. To locate something that far up should be a stylistic choice. There should be no default choices in airline liveries. You can design a massive wordmark to cover the fuselage, or something which looks nice when localized to part of it, but you don't just get to do the equivalent of opening your text editor, typing in one word without indenting, and calling that a livery. Lufthansa doesn't get this, and neither, really, does any of the unfortunate airlines in the Lufthansa Group.

The color used doesn't blend into the white, but it also isn't like they're sharply contrasted. It just doesn't particularly draw your eye. It's a wordmark your eyes glide right over and it's not at all memorable. While grey or cyan could have been incorporated somehow to accentuate it, they weren't. For a livery that's mostly white to work, you generally need some sort of really vivid color. Kalitta Air's red and gold or Tibet Airlines' rainbow are examples of good use of a white fuselage. You could use a different background, but they stand on their own, and the white plays an active part in the color palette rather than just being a default canvas for it. Many airlines use black or dark blue for their wordmarks, and while these aren't the most creative choices they're used for a reason. Just look at Finnair. That's some contrast. It's nice and legible and distinct.

Icelandair's two most recent liveries use the same placement for their wordmark as Eurowings and Finnair respectively. Now, I actually like the wordmark on the old livery better. It has those nice trailing serifs and is in small caps, making it memorable and dynamic, and it doesn't feel closely spaced. The name 'Icelandair' teeters on the edge of being too long for this to work, but ultimately pulls it off. The modern livery dispenses with this much nicer font in favor of gigantic letters. While I like this less, it's still serviceable. It is gigantic, legible, and feels as natural as me sprawling out on a couch after work. It's simply expanded to its natural point. Adequately done on both archetypes.

Meanwhile, the lack of color contrast from the white fuselage was perhaps my main criticism of Air Astra's livery, which I otherwise quite like. It's probably the inverse of Eurowings, which is contrasted enough to be acceptable but entirely boring in design - well-designed, but please, please, please let me actually see it.

Eurowings just...well, I'm going to copy and paste exactly what I said earlier. There should be no default choices in airline liveries. You can design a massive wordmark to cover the fuselage, or something which looks nice when localized to part of it, but you don't just get to do the equivalent of opening your text editor, typing in one word without indenting, and calling that a livery.

And, as a final note, something that looks good on a webpage won't always look good on an airplane. The angles you'll see it from are completely different, it has to compete for the rest of the livery for your attention, and you can't necessarily put infinite space around it due to the very physically limited canvas you're working with. The Eurowings wordmark feels vertically cramped more than it does horizontally, because the windows are right below it and immediately above it the fuselage just...ends, from a two-dimensional view. Something looking okay in copy doesn't mean you can transfer it immediately to material.

Lindon Leader talked about this when discussing his design process for the FedEx logo in a very illuminating interview I cited heavily in my FedEx post. He looked at multiple pre-existing fonts but decided to create a custom one, and one of his reasons for this was:

[...] each had its potential limitations downstream in application to thousands of FedEx media, from waybills and embroidered courier caps to FedEx.com and massive signage for aircraft, buildings and vehicles. 

Something can look acceptable or even sleek on a webpage, and that same wordmark can look downright horrible when applied to an airplane. I'll say this for FedEx - while I find their logo ugly it is absolutely good at what it needs to do. It looks no worse in any one medium or context than any other, and that's one of the reasons it's successful. It's not to my taste, but it's definitely well-designed, and I think one of the ways to improve the livery would actually be to somehow give it more real estate on the fuselage.

So the wordmark is, in my opinion, an abject failure. It's not even ugly but I mean that in the same way Wolfgang Pauli describes crackpot physics as not even wrong. Like, it's fine. It's nothing showstopping or even memorable enough to be picked out of an identity parade of default webfonts but I don't despise it. It's a common phenomenon and I'm picking on Eurowings because it's there and I know exactly what font was used and thus can mess around with it, not because it's the worst. Much like Lufthansa, it's an opportunistic victim. You know, the sort of post I'll end up hyperlinking to later, because even in its failure it's nothing exceptional.

I will say I enjoy the tiny outline of black on the letters. That's not on the wordmark proper, as rendered on their website m, but adding it was definitely the right move to help the magenta stand out from the white. Once you know about it you can notice how it makes the wordmark pop ever so slightly, turning an unmitigated catastrophe into a mitigated catastrophe. It's almost infuriating that they did this thoughtful little thing when you zoom out and remember what it's in service of. This honestly is a reoccurring thing with Eurowings.

Look at that nice tail design! They could have slapped the logo on and left it at that, like so many other airlines, but they didn't. They use the same nice colors and the overlapping greys to create a design that is clearly their logo while also being abstract and dynamic. There's a lot of shapes, a lot of motion, and a lot of nice shades of cyan and magenta, and I love it!

See that airplane landing in the background? Think about what airline you think it flies for, and stick a pin in that for a minute.

Hey, uh...where's the rest of it, though?

So, yes. Eurowings shares the first five letters of its name with Eurowhite. If you're not familiar with the term (I have a glossary, by the way) it just means a livery that is almost completely white save for logos. One could argue that the fact that the pattern on the tail isn't limited to strictly the tail and does form some sort of attempt at a fuselage design means that Eurowings' livery isn't 'true' Eurowhite, but I'm not going to brook that. Eurowhite is a state of mind. There is a nice, abstract design here which could easily be extended further. There is a grey shade which could be utilized (as it is on the engines, which look like they're lost and wandered onto another livery by accident) and there are infinite ideas to be had on the planet, and instead the majority of the plane is just white.

If one thing is thought of as my thesis from this post, let it be this, said for the third time: there is no such thing as default. Things like this wordmark placement, this type of font, and the primarily white fuselage are not default. The fact that they are common and boring does not make them inherent until replaced. They are still an active choice just as much as designing a livery that doesn't utilize these features is. It was proposed, iterated on, signed off on, and implemented. Airlines don't start with a template they then alter. They start with a vast world of infinite possibilities and decide they want to do the same thing as everyone else - that's a choice just how any other act of cowardice is a choice. I think the misconception that boring design is a result of inertia and lack of effort is a harmful one. It is a choice. They choose to do this.

They do not choose it because it is right for their livery, because they like it. They choose it because it is common, it is safe. It is reliable and it doesn't rock the boat. I've said this before discussing Southwest and Flair - low-cost carriers should be willing to rock the boat. If you're going to advertise yourself as the no-frills option you shouldn't try to look all composed and corporate. You have nothing to lose with being bright and pretty and interesting, so why aren't you?

And that cowardice is what makes me hate it so much. Some liveries are ugly, and some are almost ugly but stop halfway to cower in a Eurowhite bunker in an attempt to stem the bleeding, but there's nothing more tragic than a livery so afraid of being ugly that it cuts off and cauterizes something beautiful. The fear of ugliness is the death of beauty. condor is worth one billion Eurowings.

(No, Eurowings does not fail the Star Alliance Test, though.)

Like many of these designs that sort of just decide to stop after the tail, the longer a plane is the worse the Eurowings livery is on it. This is a very nice tail attached to a big white tube. Sure, Eurowings mostly operates somewhat short aircraft, but that wasn't the case when the livery was designed - back then they had A330s. Even now they have A321s.

Frustratingly, given how much I've ragged on this livery, I do still really like the tail. Even more frustratingly, you can see how easy it would have been to not have it be this way. The end of the cyan stripe almost begs to be held onto, weaved onto the rest of the fuselage, but it just isn't. It looks unfinished. It looks sad.

With all these shades of cyan and magenta to play with, the light heavily alters the way the colors on the tail look. They're never not pretty. It's a lovely colorscheme that's dramatically underutilized. The way it weaves together has so much potential, and it's attached to a white body. It looks like the paint job is unfinished. And that's what I hate the most about Eurowhite - good ideas left to languish, where a bit of custom letterhead does a better job of expressing your identity than an airplane livery.

The one feature Eurowings has towards the front of the plane is this little cheek decal of the Eurowings logo. Nice thought, but it almost looks actively worse when it stands out like that among an otherwise blank space. Plus, it's so small it might as well be a dot. It's cute, but in terms of overall effect on the livery it has the effect of making something mostly white look cluttered, which is just downright bizarre.

Obviously I can't endorse this. While not quite at the Lufthansa Line, with the actual bit of design happening on the tail instead of a sterile block, it doesn't cover much more fuselage than a proper exemplar of the phenomenon, and that's just always going to be a bit of a kneecap. Eurowhite is a state of mind, so much so that I almost think an unremarkable sans-serif font is as much of a codifying feature as a white body despite not being specified anywhere in the term. The same decision-making process leads both places, and the little black outline and cheek stamp and nice tail design just cant overpower that.

I'm giving Eurowings a D+.

Eurowings reminds me most of Saudia. They both have gorgeous colorschemes wasted on a design which burrows itself down as far into the substrate of artistic cowardice as physically possible. It's especially tragic and leaves me fighting myself over my final ratings. It feels wrong to grade such a gorgeous tail so harshly, but the good design features just make the bad package even more insulting. And at the end of the day I just have to put my foot down.

Sometimes I'm generous with grading because an airline is new, or because they're iterating on something that could be taken in a good direction. Eurowings isn't in the process of developing towards something nice, it's just Eurowings. It's an airline that stranded people in Cuba for 60 hours and Lufthansa seems to want it dead. I don't think we'll be getting a Eurowings livery overhaul anytime soon and I'm pessimistic about its longevity in general. Low-cost carriers and subsidiaries of large airlines are both easy come, easy go. Tears in the rain. 'Twas ever thus. Try not to get too attached.

Remember that plane from earlier? Yeah, I've got no clue what airline it flies for, but I don't think I can rule out it being Eurowings. 'Twas ever thus.

#tarmac fashion week #grade: d+ #era: 2010s #era: 2020s #region: west/central europe #region: germany #eurowings #low-cost carriers #lufthansa group #air astra #icelandair #lufthansa #tui #finnair

[mariacallous]

Spread of Catholic hospitals limits reproductive care across the U.S.

Religious doctrine restricts access to abortion and birth control and limits treatment options for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies

The Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion is revealing the growing influence of Catholic health systems and their restrictions on reproductive services including birth control and abortion— even in the diminishing number of states where the procedure remains legal.

Catholic systems now control about 1 in 7 U.S. hospital beds, requiring religious doctrine to guide treatment, often to the surprise of patients. Their ascendancy has broad implications for the evolving national battle over reproductive rights beyond abortion, as bans against it take hold in more than a dozen Republican-led states.

The Catholic health-care facilities follow directives from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that prohibit treatment it deems “immoral”: sterilization including vasectomies, postpartum tubal ligations and contraception,as well as abortion. Those policies can limit treatment options for obstetric care during miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, particularly in the presence of a fetal heartbeat.

��The directives are not just a collection of dos and don’ts,” said John F. Brehany, executive vice president of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and a longtime consultant to the conference of bishops. “They are a distillation of the moral teachings of the Catholic church as they apply to modern health care.” As such, he said, any facility that identifies as Catholic must abide by them.

The role of Catholic doctrine in U.S. health care has expanded during a years-long push to acquire smaller institutions — a reflection of consolidation in the hospital industry, as financially challenged community hospitals and independent physicians join bigger systems to gain access to electronic health records and other economies of scale. Acquisition by a Catholic health system has, at times, kept a town’s only hospital from closing.

Four of the nation’s 10 largest health systems are now Catholic, according to a 2020 report by the liberal health advocacy organization Community Catalyst. The 10 largest Catholic health systems control 394 short-term, acute-care hospitals, a 50 percent increase over the past two decades. In Alaska, Iowa, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, 40 percent or more of hospital beds are in Catholic facilities.

“It’s all about market share,” said Lois Uttley, a senior adviser to the hospital equity and accountability project at Community Catalyst. Uttley, who has been tracking hospital mergers and acquisitions since the 1990s, said that with fewer choices, patients today face more difficulty obtaining reproductive services.

In Schenectady, N.Y., Ellis Medicine is in talks with the multistate Catholic giant Trinity Health. Last month, in Quad Cities, Iowa, Genesis Health System signed a letter of intent to enter a partnership with MercyOne, also part of Trinity Health. And this semester, Oberlin College had to find a new provider to prescribe contraceptives after outsourcing student health services to a Catholic system that would not provide them.

In rural northeast Connecticut, residents are protesting the prospect of their 128-year-old hospital becoming part of a Catholic system and thepotential impact on reproductive services.

“It would be very troubling to see cutbacks in a state like Connecticut,” said Ian McDonald, a stonemason who opposes the proposed deal between Day Kimball Healthcare in Putnam and Massachusetts-based Covenant Health.

Kyle Kramer, chief executive of Day Kimball Healthcare, said the proposed affiliation with Covenant Health wouldrescue the financially challenged 104-bed hospital.

“Obviously it has connotations,” Kramer said of the proposed move to faith-based ownership. The Catholic directives would “provide guidance,” he said in an interview, while insisting that “theservices that we have provided in the past are the same services that we will continue to provide in the future.”

Kramer did not answer questions in a follow-up email about how contraception and elective sterilizations could continue to be provided under Catholic doctrine if their primary purpose is for birth control. Nor did he specify how emergency obstetric care that could result in terminating a pregnancy might be affected.

Covenant Health spokeswoman Karen Sullivan said in an email that as part of the regulatory process, the Catholic health system is drafting a public response to questions by the state’s Oct. 23 deadline. The system, she said, is committed to “ensuring that the Ethical and Religious Directives are applied thoughtfully and with empathy, compassion and respect for every person we serve.”

Catholic hospitals and providers are accredited and held to the same standards as their secular equivalents, according to the Catholic Health Association of the United States, which lobbies on behalf of Catholic hospitals.

But reproductive rights advocates say there has been a steady erosion of services in both Republican- and Democratic-led states because of the growing dominance of Catholic hospitals.

Many patients are unaware of the restrictions because hospital administrators typically don’toutline the services they do not offer, saidSister Simone Campbell, a lawyer who until recently led the liberal-leaning NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice.

“Many hospitals have dealt with this by being pretty quiet. Dobbs has made it more of a question,” Campbell said, referring to the case that led to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Catholic facilities may not “promote or condone” contraception, according to the directives — a stance that is not widely shared by the public. Just 4 percent of U.S. adults think contraception is immoral, according to a 2016 Pew Research Center poll. Among Catholics who attend weekly Mass, only 13 percent say contraception is morally wrong, and 45 percent find it acceptable.

The directives,developed in the late 1940s by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, were updated in 2018, largely to ensure that Catholic doctrine prevails after mergers and acquisitions, according to Amy Chen, a lawyer with the National Health Law Program. They limit options for referring patients to secular facilities, saying employees must not “manage, carry out, assist in carrying out, make its facilities available for, make referrals for, or benefit from the revenue generated by immoral procedures.”

Interpretation of the directives varies among hospital ethics committees. But decisions ultimately rest with the local bishop, who is to be kept informed, the directives say, if “a Catholic health care institution might be wrongly cooperating with immoral procedures.”

“Bishops have a great deal of authority in their dioceses,” Brehany said. “A bishop should ensure that a Catholic organization is abiding by the directives.”

A 2018 survey published in the journal Contraception found that more than one-third of women who go to Catholic hospitals for reproductive care are not aware of the facilities’ religious affiliation. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of California at San Francisco, called for increased transparency among hospitals to raise awareness that patients’ options may be limited at institutions with religious ties.

“Even people who had a very wanted pregnancy are at the mercy of policies not driven by their personal values or by the best interests of their health,” said Debra Stulberg, the chair of family medicine at the University of Chicago and one of the researchers in the 2018 survey.

April King, 40, said she wanted to have her tubes tied immediately after giving birth to her second child in December 2020. The Los Angeles talent agent had suffered three miscarriages and knew her family was complete.

Then she learned she could not get a tubal ligationat Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, where she planned to deliver.

“I was just surprised that [the hospital] could decide that for us,” said King, who ultimately elected to go ahead with her delivery at Providence Saint John’s because of the care she had received there in the past.

Doctors,too, face surprises — and can even be reported to hospital ethics committees for following standards of care.

In Washington state, where 41 percent of beds are Catholic-run, legislators passed a law last year to prevent hospitals from interfering with a doctor’s ability to provide medically necessary care to a pregnant patient whose health or life is at risk.

Annie Iriye, a retired OB/GYN who used to work for a Catholic hospital in Olympia, Wash., testified in support of the bill. In a recent interview, Iriye described wanting to administer medication to hasten a woman’s delivery to stave off infection after her water broke at 18 weeks, before fetal viability. Even though the woman was in active labor, Iriye said other staffers refused to follow her direction as the attending physician because a heartbeat had been detected.

By the time the woman delivered, she had a fever and needed antibiotics. Staffers reported Iriye to the hospital ethics committee.

“I was flabbergasted,” Iriye said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, come on guys. Can’t we just practice medicine and give good care?’ ”

Patients say there appears to be little consistency in how hospital staffers interpret religious directives, with doctors sometimes having to make decisions on the fly.

Whitney Marshall, 29, learned only after waking up from exploratory surgery for endometriosis in 2019 at Ascension Crittenton in Rochester Hills, Mich., that her IUD had not been replaced. Marshall, who uses the device to reduce the pain associated with the condition, had to undergo a second procedure in her gynecologist’s office to have the IUD reinserted.The spokesman for Ascension Crittenton did not respond to requests for comment about the case.

“Some women cannot afford surgeries” to treat endometriosis, Marshall said. “So their only form of recourse is to try to regulate their hormones by using contraceptives.”

Catholic hospitals’ tradition of serving women and children in the neediest neighborhoods is “rooted in our reverence for life,” said Brian Reardon, spokesman for the Catholic Health Association. But the lack of choice has been felt keenly in rural and low-income communities where patients cannot easily transfer to secular institutions, reproductive rights advocates say.

Hospitals operating under Catholic restrictions are “the sole community providers of short-term acute hospital care” in more than 52 communities across the country — up from 30 in 2013,according to Community Catalyst.

In Putnam, Connecticut, residents have relied on Day Kimball Healthcare, the town’s only hospital, for more than a century.

Kramer, the chief executive, said the hospital has been exploring partnerships with larger systems over the past decade to ensure its long-term survival.

The proposed arrangement with Covenant Health requires the approval of Connecticut’s Office of Health Strategy, which has been examining how services might be affected.

The need to preserve access to reproductive health services can bring an end to negotiations. In 2012, the investor in a proposed joint venture with two hospitals in Waterbury, Conn., one of which was Catholic, pulled out after reproductive health advocates and the local archbishop raised opposing concerns about creating a “hospital within a hospital” to provide reproductive services — a workaround that had been successful elsewhere.

Access to reproductive services has shrunk recently around Day Kimball after the 2020 closure of Planned Parenthood in nearby Danielson.

Like many hospitals, Day Kimball does not provide elective abortions, according to documents filed with the state. But it has provided other care prohibited by Catholic directives, including elective sterilizations.

Those services are key to preventing unwanted pregnancies, said Lee Wesler, an internist who has been affiliated with Day Kimball for a decade.

“Any unwanted pregnancy is a potential abortion,” Weslersaid.

Members of the group Save Day Kimball Healthcare said that in conversations, Kramer and other representatives of the hospital have sought to be reassuring. “They say, ‘Everything will be fine,’ ” said Margaret Martin, a retired social worker and member of the group.

Kramer, who said he intends to stay on if the Covenant deal goes through, repeated those assurances to The Washington Post. “What we have been we will still be,” he said, while declining to describe how contraceptives could be offered for the sole purpose ofbirth control.

In a Q&A posted in September on the Day Kimball website, Kramer suggeststhat other justifications could be found for using “tools” suchas oral contraceptives, including “to maintain health and wellness, to address a medical condition, prevent disease, and mitigate cancer risk.”

Bruce Shay, a member of the Save Day Kimball Healthcare steering committee, says he worries doctors may leave if they have to abide by the directives — or might evade them by making “a sketchy diagnosis.”

Nandini Seshadri has seen that happen.

The 40-year-old Latham, N.Y. resident received a copper IUD after delivering her first child at a secular hospital that Trinity is in the process of acquiring. She was denied the device after giving birth to her second child at a Catholic hospital now affiliated with Trinity.

“I remember laughing and saying, ‘What? Seriously?’ ” Seshadri recalled. “I didn’t know that Catholic hospitals still did that.”

She was even more surprised when her nurse-midwife offered her a hormonal IUD instead, on the grounds that she needed it to stabilize her menstrual cycle.

“I didn’t have that problem,” Seshadri said. To give her the contraception, she said, the nurse “was essentially falsifying my medical record.”

[strongfuck]

💋 (from katagawa)

from this meme.

Rhys was naive to think that rising to the top of the corporate ladder would free him from ever having to attend a New Year's party again. Apparently there's an interplanetary shindig for the Borderlands' biggest corporations and their upper echelons of executive staff-- something about encouraging cooperation and competition, Rhys doesn't really know; he'd zoned out in the middle of Susan Coldwell's introductory speech and had promptly decided he didn't care enough to really think about it.

The same sense of listlessness that used to accompany him at Hyperion's holiday parties fills him as he mingles with people. His reputation precedes him, it seems; in his first year since relocating to Promethea, Atlas' stocks had risen to incredible heights, and he'd begun environmental research that's restored 15% of the planet's habitable spaces so far. People see him and they recognise him-- the bright blue ECHO-Eye and the tattoo on his neck are hard to miss-- and every time, Rhys ends up trapped in conversations that're nothing but indirect dick measuring contests and some supposedly "healthy threatening".

The attention suffocates him, and it gets worse the nearer it gets to midnight. Everyone starts moving about, pairing off in order to have partners for the fabled "New Year's Kiss", and Rhys turns down ten people in two minutes and decides he probably has to escape for the better.

So he slips away as a crowd gathers near the stage in the function area, ready to count down the few minutes to midnight with the giant Tediore-brand clock on the wall. And while Rhys had intended to be alone when he walked outside of the building and into the cold air, he sees someone had already beaten him there.

His eye glows as he attempts to place them, and just as the name of the figure lights up his ECHO-Eye's interface, the man turns around with a raised brow.

"Atlas," he says plainly.

"Maliwan," Rhys greets in turn. And then, because calling a person by their company name is ridiculous, he says, "Katagawa, right? I'm Rhys. Strongfork, I guess, if you want a last name."

"Rhys is passable."

"Cool." He smiles some, stiff and definitely awkward. "Do you have a first--"

"You don't need to know my first name."

"Yeah." Rhys coughs. "No, definitely."

Standing in the cold with his hands in his pockets, Rhys wants to sink into the snow. Katagawa is staring at him with a look that feels almost medical in its intensity, and Rhys isn't sure whether this is better or worse than talking to everyone inside.

So he tries to talk again: "What're you doing out here, anyway?"

"That's none of your business."

"Right. Well, I'm here 'cause I couldn't stand being in there." Rhys' thumb jabs over his shoulder in the direction of the party. "You know, talking to all those people... I didn't even know there were parties like this in the first place until Coldwell invited me."

Katagawa scoffs. "Of course there are parties like this. How else are we going to distinguish ourselves from the ordinary people?"

"Ah." Rhys isn't sure what he expected from the son of two Maliwan executives, but this feels about right. "Yeah. Definitely."

"I'm sure you wouldn't know, being ordinary yourself until recently" -- Rhys' brows furrow slightly at the sight of Katagawa coming closer, close enough to put a hand on his shoulder -- "but being this high up the food chain? It's the best place to be."

"Uhuh." A beat. "You're lucky your parents were such a big deal, then."

"I am more than--" Katagawa shuts his mouth, grits his teeth, and looks away. "My status comes from more than them."

"But it's 'cause your mum's head of Mergers and Acquisitions that you're here, right?"

"Shut up!" Katagawa declares, shoving two hands into his chest. Rhys steps back a measure because of it, but keeps his feet flat on the ground in the end.

He shrugs as he adds, "It's not that bad, you know. You can always move up. I was middle management at Hyperion until I just... took Atlas."

"Are you an idiot? That isn't how it works. I'm..." Rhys takes note of the way Katagawa's fists clench, and in the back of his mind he's glad everyone was stripped of their weapons before coming here. "I'm not next in line for mother's title."

"Well, what number are you at?"

Katagawa's quiet. Annoyed. And then he spits out, "Twelfth."

Rhys can't help the wince. Katagawa glares at him, though, so Rhys lifts both his hands up in surrender.

"That's not so bad," he says.

"How?" Katagawa rolls his eyes. "How in the world is being the twelfth in line not so bad?"

"You just... have to be better than the first people in line. Right? RIse above the competition. Beat them at their own game."

"You make it sound easy."

"It isn't," Rhys admits, "but it's not impossible, either. I think you can do it."

"You're just saying that."

"No, no, no-- I mean it!" He doesn't really, but the way Katagawa's expression has softened some tells him he's on the right track. "I genuinely think you can do it. You just gotta be patient and try. Stop relying on your parents' names, do something amazing for yourself, and... freakin' impress them, you know?"

Katagawa's staring at him again, but this time Rhys doesn't feel nearly as awful about it. Gone is the laser that would've sliced him from head to toe, replaced now by this look of enlightenment that makes Rhys feel pretty good about himself.

"I should be CEO," Katagawa says.

"You should be CEO," Rhys agrees. "I think you'd be great."

Katagawa's head lifts with new confidence. Truthfully, Rhys feels pretty good about being such an inspiring force in him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Rhys agrees. "When you rise up, you'll have to let me know. I'd love to work together with you."

Inside, a chorus of voices count down to the new year. Ten, nine, eight...

Katagawa's hand reaches out between them, a smirk on his face. "You promise?"

And Rhys, relieved that they hadn't devolved into a fight, takes the man's hand in his cybernetic one for a shake. "Definitely."

Five, four, three...

Maybe it's the feel good atmosphere. Maybe it's because the conversation turned out better than he expected. Maybe it's just Rhys falling to peer pressure, as New Year's countdowns tend to inspire, if only because he found a person he wouldn't mind giving a kiss to.

He tugs Katagawa forward and presses a chaste kiss to his mouth just as the countdown hits "zero". Fireworks go off, the coloured lights shine around them, and a few moments later, Rhys pulls away and says, "That was for good luck."

Then he lets Katagawa's hand go.

There's something about the look that Katagawa gives him after that-- something Rhys doesn't think about until later, when the party ends for good and he's hooking up to the fast travel network to return to Promethea. Before he leaves, he sees Katagawa staring at him even in the company of his parents (and all his siblings, holy shit, that's an insane number of kids). So he smiles and offers a wave, and Katagawa smiles back in a way that makes him think, hey, I've made my first cross-corporation friend.

"I'll see you around!" Rhys calls, unsure if Katagawa even hears him. Considering the other man mouths something in turn-- something Rhys himself doesn't hear-- he doubts that he does.

It's only when he's rematerialised at Atlas HQ that he takes a moment to process that most recent memory, replaying the footage saved in his cranial drive. Because, as he goes through the recording his ECHO-Eye made, he's pretty sure Katagawa had said I'm going to make you mine.

#anonymous #drabble. #[ getting free rhysagawa fic out of me huh #if you can't tell i don't know how to write katagawa BUT. we dont talk about that ]

[ryusaidate]

gen still thinks date is date, do you think that saito has to bullshit his way through a conversation with him

*guy who has been given the chance to rant about something only barely related to your question voice* Well,

people do a lot of silly funny "does date seem more murder-y to you lately" jokes and the jokes are funny! but on an actual canon level, on the very short list of things saito is actually good at, lying is near the very top. he acted as shoko for an entire year, aiballs can't detect shit, and date who has known boss for 6 years at this point describes his impression of her as 'perfect' there are many things to make fun of him for but this is not one of them (this is me advocating for more american psycho 'mergers and acquisitions'-type jokes /j)

the only way he fucks up is if his pure hatred for date outweighs his self preservation instinct (oh my god he would get So fucking upset when he notices himself using date's speech patterns unintentionally lmao)

all this to say: it'd be normal and they'd talk normally.

↑↑↑ normal regular guy kaname date!

#felis asks #sorry for only answering asks that i can use to rant about some other bullshit #just kidding i'm not sorry this is my house. #i need to draw amame more #post annihilation #aitsf spoilers #aitsf #aini #saito sejima #amame doi #gen ishiyagane #why does he not have an autocomplete tumblr tag?? poor genny #felis art

[subdee]

And the other way to look at this, really, is not about AI at all, but seeing this as the continuation of a gradual corporate incursion into the early spirit of sharing that characterised the internet. I say incursion but maybe the better word is enclosure, as in enclosure of the commons. And this positions AI as just a new method by which companies try to extract value from the things people share freely, and capture that value for themselves. And maybe the way back from this is being more intentional about building our communities in ways where the communities own them. GameFAQs was created to collate some useful stuff together for a community, and it ended up as part of a complicated chain of corporate mergers and acquisitions. But other communities experienced the kinds of upheaval that came with that, and then decided to create their own sites which can endure outside of that - I’m thinking here especially of Archive of Our Own, the biggest repository for fan-writing online. And incidentally, the source of 8.2 million words in that AI training set, larger even than Reddit.

The Washington Post published an article - GATED, which is exactly what "How to Find Things Online" talks about - that allows you to search Google's C4 training dataset, and this is what turns up for Ao3. 8.2 million words!!!!! No wonder the African content moderators are striking for better pay to remove all the porn from the chatGPT results!!!!!

Anyway. This is a very good accessible article about our upcoming... what? Retreat to unsearchable private communities that lock newcomers out so that people can talk to other people, not robots? Increasingly paywalled and corporatized commons? Future that looks like The Matrix, culture permanently frozen at "the peak of your civilization" as all the future training sets keep regurgitating the same info that millions of people put online, for free, from 1990 - 2020?

Here's AO3's recent post on their AI policies BTW, where they explain that they already removed the website from the Common Crawl in 2020 and recommend, for now, setting your new works to archive-only if you don't want them used to train commercial AI without your consent.:

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/25888?fbclid=IwAR0GgjG4nOWZh7WuwNT4bPCEnLd-sX1j9PxYNx7fQoC5OGQST24SOr5b1lw

Archive-locking as the only real solution makes sense, but also, is again exactly what this article talks about in terms of the incentives moving from putting things online for free where anyone can access them, to putting them behind a gate of some kind to keep the community a nice place **for** the community that built it.

Anyway. May AO3 live a long, long time. Not just because it's the most popular website in the WORLD in category: "books and publishing" but because it's being increasingly recognized as a gold-star example of a community seeing where the corporatization trend is going, and getting out ahead of it to make a community space for humans to share their work with other humans, for free.

#ao3 #the internet #our cyberpunk present

[isagrimorie]

So why, then, did The CW clean house this season? The blame isn’t squarely on network CEO Mark Pedowitz. Broadcast’s longest-tenured network topper reports to a board comprised of execs from Warners and CBS Studios, who for years have played a vital role in programming decisions. For example: While Dynasty has had the distinction of being broadcast’s lowest-rated scripted series for years, revenue from the reboot’s international sales and the Netflix deal kept it on the air for far longer than its linear numbers deserved. So after five seasons of living life on the bubble that included a wild history of casting changes, why did time run out on Dynasty and so many other CW favorites?

Blame streaming. And mergers. And The CW’s impending sale.

Warners and CBS Studios — now overseen by newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global — ended the Netflix output deal in 2019 to help boost their respective streaming platforms, HBO Max and Paramount+. Foreign sales, too, have dried up as those rights need to stay in-house as both platforms continue their global expansion in a bid to compete with Netflix and company in the streaming wars. That’s a loss of billions of dollars in revenue, making shows like Dynasty, for example, no longer profitable.

Without those two revenue streams, and amid new corporate ownership, the free lunches are officially over as both of The CW’s corporate parents are in active sale talks with station group Nexstar and other potential buyers.

(snip)

While The CW is expected to look considerably different next season — expect more low-cost foreign acquisitions and unscripted programming — the network’s most-watched originals are all returning. The CW gave early renewals to seven of its eight returning shows, all of them among its highest rated. Sources say Pedowitz wanted to bring back the Greg Berlanti-produced DC Comics dramas Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow but Warners no longer wanted to pay the leases on the studio space, which expired May 1, and prompted April 29 cancellations. Plec’s Legacies was also said to be a financial decision made by the studio.

Legends and Legacies, along with Charmed, In the Dark and Roswell, New Mexico all were part of the Netflix output deal.

(snip)

And before anyone can start a petition for the unfortunate shows that met their early demise this week, keep in mind that HBO Max and Paramount+ can’t save those lucky shows that were able to stay on the air as long as they did because they were part of the Netflix deal. Sorry, Legacies, Legends, Dynasty, Charmed, In the Dark and Roswell, as Plec said, “Today we mourn.”

Corporate greed destroyed CW. Paramount Global and Warner Bros wanted to compete with Netflix so badly that they made CW (a network they owned) unwind their Netflix deal.

I had wondered for the longest time why Batwoman was on HBO Max instead of Netflix and found out it was because CW ended their output deal with Netflix. I knew then CW was in trouble -- true enough a year after I learned about it, CW announced it's being put on sale.

Another thing I learned about HBO Max's/Warner Bros Day and Date release in 2020 and the outrage it caused among filmmakers is that Warner Bros putting their 2020-2021 movies on HBO Max meant the filmmakers/studios couldn't shop around their movies to other streaming platforms and would actually make less money. Because going straight to HBO Max meant WB would just be paying itself and at a lower cost too.

This is basically what happened with CW, CW used to have a sweet output deal where they just churn out shows regardless of ratings because Netflix and foreign markets would pay handsomely for the shows. The moment Paramount Global and Warner Bros decided to compete with Netflix and turned their eye on CW, was the moment CW was toast.

Because Paramount Global and Warner Bros were never going to pay CW the kind of numbers Netflix was willing to pay.

(Mind you, this was before the market corrected itself and Netflix's stocks fell to more reasonable figures-- which unfortunately triggered Netflix going around like a headless chicken because they've just been focusing on acquiring customers and not retaining them. Again, corporate greed).

This also means, unfortunately, as much as my heart wants it, there are no saving Legacies because Paramount Plus and HBO Max are the reason why Legacies was canceled in the first place. Netflix is also having its own problems, so there's a very slim chance for a save from there.

It's also a bitter pill to swallow knowing the reason why Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman were canceled was that Warners couldn't be bothered paying the lease on studio space. That's it. The whole reason.

Warners. Didn't. Want. To. Pay. Studio. Space.

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