#this is a psa so that nobody gets surprised in the future

[featherymainffins]

One thing about me is you can always count on me to want the character who is incomprehensible. People often say "Oh you're gonna want this one for sure" because they think I have a type. There's the secret: There is no type. The only type is confusion.

If the character you are showing to me is perfectly comprehensible and makes sense well unfortunately I will be normal about them. Horny? Perhaps. But to a normal degree.

Show me a cunt who makes no sense at all and it's over. I'm finished. KO'd. I'm done. It's over for me forever.

#at this point i have learned this about myself as well #because i didnt know this either suprisingly #i got the memo after i became insane about Gor//tash #after that i went 'oh ok i think i understand it all now' #actually there ARE some outliers but those are artificially manufactured outliers #as in i become insane about any character i analyse. which means that i get really weird and freaky even if theyre comprehensible #its that uuuh its that one quote. about how you need to understand your enemy in order to defeat them but once you understand #them you love them. so i think thats just what happens in my brain after an analysis. and some of the characters are outliers #because they are both incomprehensible and have been analysed. but that is perhaps a different factor #like as in i become insane about an incomprehensible character i analyse them to understand #i get even more insane. #funniest example of his has got to be Var//ney Castle//vania because the analysis doesnt even explain anything thats wrong with him #like it says a lot of other stuff but hes just incomprehensible for fun. even from a meta perspective hes hilarious they literally #had only two designs and the result is the combination of both of them. no nobody explains why he specifically has weird eyes #see? incomprehensible. #anyway sorry for that. but yeah basically people need to stop being surprised that i want to rail a character when theyre #a puzzle for me to solve or to try to solve. like??? what were you expecting. #show me a character with problems that would take a team of psychologists from all approaches several decades to understand #and ill show you how weird i can get. literally my only criterion for getting insane and unhinged about a character #this is a psa so that nobody gets surprised in the future

[negasonicimagines]

Love Shouldn't Hurt

trigger warnings: abuse, self-hatred, depression, and any other content warnings that come with the Deadpool franchise

request: Love love love your fics!! Can you please do one where Reader is a human and Ellie saves her from an abusive relationship and they fall in love?

notes: this was… a hard one to write. as someone who’s experienced abuse on a few different levels from a partner, you aren’t alone. you may feel like no one else would’ve loved you before, and that no one else will love you after what you’ve been through, but they will. if you’re struggling with abuse, please reach out to someone, anyone. even me, if you really don’t feel comfortable talking to someone you know. it can and will get better. things might not be okay now, but they will be. you are so loved.

i modified the request a bit, i hope that’s ok. i just adore a good best friends-to-lovers piece. sorry for the cheesy title, but i hope y'all are glad i'm semi-back. trying to write more since i'm in a better place and this is a good creative outlet for me.

synopsis: Ellie’s thrilled to return to her hometown after her senior year at Xavier’s is complete. She’s most excited to see you again. But, what happens when you aren’t the you she knows and (secretly) loves?

Ellie’s favorite part about coming home in the summer is seeing you.

Maybe that’s wrong; maybe she should be excited to see her family, or to be back in her own room, or to be away from the chaos at Xavier’s…

But it’s true.

This time, though, as you come out of your house (next door to hers, the only perk of living in suburbia is that you’re so close) you don’t skip along like you used to. Your smile is… Different.

“Hey, Ellie,” you say, and even your voice sounds different. Normally you’re grinning like an idiot, brimming with a puppy dog disposition that acts as a foil to her catlike aloofness. At the risk of sounding like a creepy teenage boy, where’s her hug?

“Are you okay?’ she blurts.

“Yeah, of course,” you laugh it off, your fake smile growing wider. You don’t wanna tell her? Odd. The two of you had drifted apart over this last school year, more than usual. It was normal for one or both of you to get carried away with your studies or other friends and forget to respond to a text every once in a while, so she hadn’t thought much of it. She knew once summer came, you two would fall right back into your routine of slumber parties nearly every night, catching up on all the crazy shit that’s happened in your lives during your time apart and making some more crazy shit happen together.

“...Okay,” Ellie decides to respond. Your phone vibrates, and you flinch, instantly pulling it out and quickly texting back. Your fingers are like lightning. You quickly lock your phone and slip it back into your pocket.

“How’ve you been?” you ask her. “How are things with Yukio?”

“Oh, we broke up almost as soon as we started fucking dating. Thought we’d work out as more, but decided pretty quickly that we were better off as just friends. Our future plans didn’t really line up, among other things. Other than that, I’ve been pretty good.”

“That makes sense,” you say, but you sound even more tense. “Uh, if we happen to run into Vivien, can you not tell her that? She’s the jealous type, and she knows we’re close, so…”

Ellie feels an odd twinge at that, more than just jealousy. Her mom always told her she had good intuition, so she presses further.

“How are things with you two?” she wonders.

“Oh, just great! She really is the best, words aren’t enough to describe it,” you answer enthusiastically, but it still feels so… Off. Maybe it is just jealousy making Ellie feel awkward. Envy was always her worst sin, coveting what she can’t; what she shouldn’t have. You’re her best friend, you always have been. It would probably end like it did with Yukio, burning fast and bright, but once the initial excitement is over… It’s over.

“That’s awesome,” Ellie says. “So, what were you thinking of doing today?”

“Oh, uh, whatever you want is fine,” you chirp.

“Breadstix?”

“They don’t have a lot of vegan options,” you remind her.

“You like it, though. I’ll cope.”

“But-”

“No ‘buts,’” she insists. “I don’t know why you like that place so much, the breadsticks they’re named for are pure shit, but I’ll just cope and get a salad.”

“Last time you ordered it, they put cheese on it, even though-”

“I remember. I’ll just send it back again, it’s not a big deal,” she insists once more. “Why are you arguing so much? It’s your favorite local place that isn’t fast food.”

You sigh.

“Fine, let’s go,” you cave, letting her pull you along to her car. You sit in the passenger seat, buckling your seatbelt as she starts it. She buckles her own, passing you her phone. You look at it as if it’s a foreign object.

“You always pick the music. What’s with you?”

“Have you ever considered that maybe I don’t like making all the decisions all of the time?” you bite back.

Ellie stammers, not sure how to respond.

“Hangry, huh?” She decides that must be the reason for your change in attitude. It’s already eleven, and you’re an earlier bird than she is. You likely skipped breakfast knowing the two of you would be eating when you hung out. She takes her phone back and just picks one of your playlists on Spotify.

You’re quiet on the short drive there, and it makes Ellie feel even more uneasy. Your chatter-- which she usually pretends is meaningless to her --is sorely missed.

You’re texting again, intently focused on the screen as if the task is difficult.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I said that I’m fine,” you quickly answer, locking your phone again and tucking it back in your pocket.

“I’ll drop it for now, but… If something was wrong, you’d tell me, right?” Ellie asks.

“Yeah, of course,” you agree, but she doesn’t feel better.

“Cool,” she replies, parking outside of the restaurant. The two of you get out, it’s early in the lunch rush so you’re still able to be seated pretty quickly. Your drinks arrive just as swiftly, and Ellie catches you texting with that determined expression on your face again. “Seriously. What’s going on?”

“Just Vivien. She wanted to hang out today, but I didn’t know that until I told her I was gonna be with you. She’s just a little disappointed.”

“Well, she can join us, I’m sure-”

“No, no, it’s really alright,” you quickly reassure her. “I- These days, I don’t really spend time with anybody but her. I’m surprised she even let me- That came out wrong, she-”

As you continue to stumble over your words, the pieces continue to fall into place for Ellie, brows knitting closer and closer together.

“Is she hurting you?” Ellie asks. Xavier’s sex education isn’t just about the mechanics, it’s a pretty progressive class. They had a whole unit on abuse. Ellie’s pretty sure she’s seeing signs of it right now.

“No, of course not! I mean, every relationship has its challenges, but-”

“She is, isn’t she? Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“‘Cause I knew you’d look at me like that,” you sigh, giving up on the lie.

“Like what?”

“Like… That. So disappointed in how pathetic I turned out to be. I mean, you’re Negasonic Teenage Warhead, for fuck’s sake, I… It must be so- I-”

“Hey, hey, no, that’s not it at all. I’m disappointed in myself, I should’ve fucking known something was wrong, I mean, I did, the second you came out of your house, but before that… I should’ve checked on you more. I’m- I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault I let it get this bad. She- She’s just- When it’s good, it’s good, y’know, but- I don’t know. I love her.”

“Those PSAs are right, though. Love shouldn’t hurt.”

“It always does,” you murmur, and you give her a meaningful look. If only she knew what the meaning of it was.

“Well, it shouldn’t,” Ellie insists. You’re picking at your pasta. You usually inhale it. Ellie almost asks what’s wrong, but she knows what it is. She’s sure Vivien’s taken every opportunity to break you down. “Eat, please. Or it’ll be a waste of my money.”

“Who said that you’re paying? You don’t even like this place.”

“I said I’m paying. Making a decision so that you don’t have to make them, isn’t that what you complained about earlier?”

You sigh in defeat, eating an actual bite instead of just twirling it around on your fork.

Ellie digs into her salad, she can’t help but fondly smile at you despite the situation. She’s missed you so much.

“When are you gonna do it?” she asks.

“Do what?” you wonder, as if you’ve forgotten the context of the question.

“Leave her.”

“I can’t,” you quickly say, but Ellie still catches a fearful tremor.

“Why not?”

“There’s nobody else. I mean, yeah, you and I are still friends, but… When you reject so many offers to hang out, people stop asking. They stop talking to you altogether, eventually. And… She’s the only person who’s ever wanted me, y’know? And now she’s the only one who ever will.”

“That’s not true,” Ellie says.

“It is.”

“It’s not, I swear,” Ellie insists. “I- You’re gonna need some time to heal, after everything, but… I do.”

“You’re just saying that. There’s no way, after all these years, that you finally-“ you stop yourself.

“Finally?” Ellie asks.

“That you finally love me the way I love you.”

“You mean…? I just thought… I’ve loved you just as long, but I thought you only saw me as a friend, and I didn’t wanna ruin that. The way things went with Yukio just reinforced that- That fear.”

You nod.

“Well, I guess that settles it. You’ll- I’ll call her. I can’t do it in person, she’ll… Y’know.”

“I know,” she gently responds.

You call Vivien.

“Hey, I… I can’t do this anymore. Us.”

You flinch. Ellie can hear the sounds. The yelling. And then the crying. And then the yelling again.

“I mean it. You’re right, you can do better, so… Go do better. We’re not good for each other,” you say with a shaky sigh. “Mhm. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I know. I know. It’s not like that. Yeah. Goodbye, Vivien.”

“I’m proud of you,” Ellie says softly, and you just scoff, rolling your eyes before you sink your teeth in your bottom lip. You cover your mouth. “Hey, hey, you’re gonna be okay.”

“Will I?”

“Yeah. I might be ‘Negasonic Teenage Warhead,’ but you’re Y/N. Twice as strong without the annoyingly long codename.”

“Yeah, right,” you scoff again, eyes watering. “I just- I just don’t know why I wasn’t good enough.”

“You’re perfect, she’s just… Some people just don’t… It’s hard to explain. I have a- He’s not my friend, I can’t believe I almost said that, thank the fuckin’ lord he didn’t hear me… I know a guy who deals with those kinds of people. He told me that most of them, they… They don’t ever change. Maybe they could, with help, but due to the ego that makes them abusive in the first place, they’re never gonna get that help. The world’s better off without them. There’s nothing you could’ve done.”

“That- That makes sense,” you admit. “I just wish we lived in a world where love was enough.”

“Me too,” Ellie sighs, and you take a sip of your drink. She mirrors your action, realizing that she’s actually quite thirsty. The two of you finish your brunch in a heavy silence. It feels like you both should be talking, but nothing feels right to say. That’s okay, though, Ellie’s just missed you so much. As depressing as the current mood is, there’s a bit of hope. You’ll be back to your regular self eventually; a stronger, more mature version, and Ellie will be there to shower you with the respect and affection you deserve when you’re ready.

#tw abuse #cw abuse #negasonic teenage warhead #negasonic teenage warhead x reader #negasonic teenage warhead imagine #ellie phimister #ellie phimister x reader #ellie phimister imagine #lesbian x reader #lesbian imagine #lesbian fanfiction #wlw x reader #wlw imagine #negasonicteenageimagines

[matt0044]

“Cool, cool, coolio.”

If that’s not Zayto’s victory catchphrase, we are officially lesser as a species.

We start with our opening titles upgraded to have all five Rangers present and accounted for. There wasn’t even a cold opening so you know that it’s that kind of episode. I personally would’ve left out Izzy and Javier’s faces if only to keep some kind of surprise while featuring the new Black and Green Rangers in suit.

Void Knight’s been busy creating his new general out of robotic parts, bringing us the very “creatively named” Boomtower who needs the Nephrite Orb as a means of powering up. Mucus also returns to Area 62 with a new Sporix named Draknarok. I like how the villains are a motley crew under a lone knight’s command in a rather dingy hideout. It’s like with Evox forces but more... ragtag.

Zayto comes to BuzzBlast for to apply for a job as one of their reporters and trying out catchphrases to fit in with the modern day. Amelia and Ollie urging him to not even was exactly what I was thinking. It’s the sort of “out of touch” alien shenanigans I feel they missed out on with Brody way back in Ninja Steel.

Amelia and Ollie meet Javi playing his harmonica as our future Black Ranger turns out to be the artsy one of the team. He and Zayto are given assignments by Jane to assess their skills. Javi gets the Nephrite Orb story while Zayto’s assigned to get the scoop on Izzy Garcia as a athletic protege You know it’s Power Rangers if you don’t need thirty years experience for an entry level job.

Thus we meet our first genderbent Ranger in years at the local sports field practicing her javelin throws. Zayto is reminded of his Knighthood training and even gives Izzy pointers on how to improve her trajectory. I think having her as a well-built athlete works in favor with her Ranger form being... less than dainty.

Javi is getting dirt on the Nephrite Orb when Mucus, Boomtower and Draknarok zap on it. Mucus even goes, “...and scream!” as if she’s the director. Heck, she even sits by the sidelines in battles just to enjoy the show rather than retreat. Javi rings up the Ranger Hotline and interrupts Zayto’s interview with Izzy sadly.

Warden Garcia, in his infinite wisdom, rolls up in his dinky station wagon and tries to stop the villains in their tracks. It sadly slipped his mind that he’s not allowed any sidearm in a TV-Y7 show so he ends up flat on his back. Methinks he should apply for SPD with that gumption. They could do with a Gold Ranger.

The Rangers arrive on the scene to battle in original footage that’s honestly pretty damn good with how better the choreography’s improved. They each utilize the Boost Keys in a strategic takedown while Javi grabs the Nephrite Orb and drives off in Warden Garcia’s station wagon. Mucus gets all slimy and sticks to the car. Though “It’s Morphin’ Slime” should’ve work as well as it does.

The Rangers get Warden Garcia to a medical center before J-Borg comes along as BuzzBlast’s live news coverage. In this age of Social Media, who am I to question? Jane works the teleprompter only to mess it up by spilling her coffee all over the keyboard. Credit for being a hands on boss. I feel like J-Borg would’ve been funnier if she spoke out all the gibberish with a real straight face.

Izzy rushes over to her stepfather after he’s discharged and learns that her brother, Javi, is hiding out with the Nephrite Orb. She gives the Rangers a tip about a secret place her brother goes off to when he wants to play his music, something Warden Garcia’s no fan of. I sense a parent/child difference story. :P

Javi retreats into the forest but forgets about Mucus who gets Boomtower and Draknarok to teleport in. My favorite part has to be when Draknarok teleports once again to catch a running Javi rather than the one time they do it to enter and exit a battle. Thankfully, the Rangers arrive with Izzy to keep the orb away.

Javi decides to enter the fray by using his harmonica to deal an ear-piercing attack to the villains because... Sporix are sensitive to music apparently. He gets a far better idea by smashing the orb on a rock so nobody can use it. However, the jewel is revealed to contain the Green and Black Ranger keys that the Garcia siblings pick up as if by instinct before being instantly morphed.

And then comes the scene that droves me bonkers. Javi becomes the Black Ranger while Izzy becomes the Green Ranger... with a skirt. I thought that this meant they’d be digitally adding a skirt to the Ryusoulger footage for Green... but then Izzy rips it clean off because it’s “not really her thing.” They put in an explanation for why a female Ranger does not have a skirt while another does.

They top that showstopper of a scene with Izzy and Javi kicking major Hengemen butt. They even pull a Super Megaforce with her tossing him an extra saber to dual-wield with while she uses her javelin as a lance. Once again, this is a damn good Power Rangers exclusive battle. Izzy even uses some gymnastics to get the drop on Boomtower, sticking her spear in a tree.

“Vibing?! With a teenager?! No thanks!” So that’s why he’s called Boomtower.

Draknarok grows in time for all five to try out the Megazord together. It’s mostly Ryusoulger footage but once again, I’m loving how agile and less bulky the Megazord is currently. After getting another dormant Sporix, the Garcias are introduced to the command center and Solon as well as the prospect of new Zords. I hope the two of them can pilot their own Megazord as a duo ala RPM.

Javi gets the job at BuzzBlast with a new assignment to find the best burger in Pine Ridge for Jane. Hopefully, he gets a free meal for it. Meanwhile, our intrepid robotic reporter reenacts the infamous British “Play Safe” PSA complete with hair standing up. Again, I feel her shtick should be rolling with whatever mistakes she made since she’s a robot and thinks a bit more logically.

#Power Rangers #power rangers dino fury #dino fury #super sentai #kishiryu sentai ryusoulger #ryusoulger #nick #nickelodeon #nicktoons #hasbro #hasbro studios #allspark pictures #toei #toei company #toei limited

[bigskydreaming]

I really encourage people who have legitimate gripes with something I say or express on here to like.....either just DM, @ me directly or if you’re going to pop into my inbox to debate something with me, like, do so off anon, even if you ask that I don’t publish your ask and just respond to you in private. I always abide by that if people ask me to do that, and I’m 10000x more likely to treat your complaint or disagreement with dignity even if I completely disagree with it, than like....if you go on anon with it. 

Because dunno if you’ve noticed, lol, but there’s kinda a tendency with people who pick fights with me on anon or who @ me in general with some form of “LOL I can’t believe you’re so dumb as to believe this thing [that you don’t actually believe or else is not at all actually what I’m framing it as being],” to like.....only really do so in an attempt to trip me up, expose me as a hypocrite or pull some kind of ‘Gotcha!’ So, realistically, it just is not possible for me to give most anons who disagree with me the benefit of the doubt or for me to assume they’re at least coming from a place of actual honest disagreement rather than just....playing games, which I fucking despise and I refuse to respond to with respect. 

I sound ridiculous in nine out of ten of my over the top responses to people giving me shit, because of...deliberate intent on my part. *Shrugs* Because I personally consider it to be extremely ridiculous, how often I have people trying to poke holes in things I say, by.....poking at stuff I never even say, lol. 

I don’t actually always believe I’m right about everything, but I fully understand how my tone can convey that I do think that in a lot of these back-and-forths, because.....the one thing I do pretty much always think I’m right about is what it is I’m actually saying or believe. And thus, I really do not care for people trying to tell me I said otherwise, when I have a looooot of proof to point to how even when I’m being like, King Ridiculous in how I say or phrase something....nobody ever seems to have trouble comprehending my points on pretty much any topic across the board......until it happens to be a point I make on a matter they take issue with.

So just a general PSA, do with it what you will, but like. I’m just saying: 

I know I’m contentious, and I don’t actually want people to just automatically 100% take everything I say as fact or just never disagree with me, since that’s like....the polar opposite of pretty much my entire belief system or view of life and how to go through it lol. 

Buuuuut it honestly is exhausting constantly being hit up by people in bad faith, and who prove over and over again that they are perfectly comfortable saying or doing anything with no loyalty to even their own arguments, as long as it nets them a ‘win’ in arguing with me for the sake of arguing or whatever the fuck their motivation might be, I honestly do not care, lol. And I’m just......long past assuming that someone who is approaching me on anon to argue or contest something I’ve said or a position I’ve taken, is doing so in good faith instead of just as part of a twelve step plan wherein they disingenuously go about trying to lay some kind of convoluted ‘trap’ to lure me into. As though any of this is worth that fucking effort in the first place. LOL.

So by all means, disagree with me, contest me, put the screws to something I say and force me to defend my point further.....but like.....just be fucking honest about it. Or be willing to put your URL/name to it when doing so, even if you ask that I keep it out of public view, so that at least I know you’re not one of my half a dozen hate-following Regulars who habitually pop up on anon pretending to be someone brand new until three messages later when they’re like “Surprise! You thought I was just some rando, but here I am with the same receipts I’ve been claiming to have for the past half a decade!” (Oh no, much shock, mortification, oh unknowable plot twist, who could have ever seen that coming). LOL, y’know what I mean? Like, if you’re off anon or if you at least @ me with something approaching at least SOME modicum of respect, I’m soooooo much more likely to not just dismiss anything and everything you say from the word go, just because the sheer novelty of that approach is gonna be more engaging to me than, like, Me Vs Some Rando Whose Opening Gambit Is “Well Actually.....*proceeds to argue against points several galactic light years north of anything I’ve ever actually said ever*”: Round Fifty Two Bajillion. 

Like yeah, I’m rude as fuck in a lot of the arguments I get into on here, because I’m not a big fan of turning the other cheek and also I’m not gonna gloss over the ugly in something someone says just because they couch it in ‘civilized, well-mannered discourse.’ So I’m not at all offering some carte blanche guarantee or a secret password for how to go about saying something vile to my face without me responding by verbally ripping your head off, lol, I just mean like.....you ever have some free time to kill, go back through my archives to my earliest posts on this site. You can literally WATCH the slow expiration of my Give-A-Fucks in real time. I usually position myself to be the Reactive part of an argument on this site deliberately.....I don’t go starting things unless I’m weighing in on something that crosses my dash and already is looking ugly as hell, and for the most part, 90% of the fights I get into on this site are people approaching me to begin it, and y’know.....I don’t owe it to anyone to treat them or their position with more respect than they approach me with. LOL. And also, I don’t owe it to my own reading comprehension or that of anyone else who is similarly not an idiot to treat the ‘faux-respect/politeness’ people are addicted to on here as anything other than rudeness couched in the additional insult of assuming I and others are too stupid to see the subtextual disdain. Like. Nope. Miss me.

Bottom line is just, I’m not looking to be yet one more person giving people who are legitimately questioning things they’ve been told or led to believe, like, reason to be too intimidated or afraid to actually question these things rather than just keep to their personal status quo in an effort to avoid confrontation. But I’m always going to be trying to balance that with being equally not a fan of enabling people who play-act at being too fragile or delicate to face up to their own behavior or the ugliness of their own opinions or stances if its delivered to them in ways that inspire them to cry-type about how like, its not their fault society told them it was okay to shit on entire groups of people as long as they could safely get away with it.

There’s a line there and I’m no tight-rope walker so no, I don’t have all the answers and am not actually trying to pretend I do, and believe it or not, I put a lot of thought and introspection into constantly self-evaluating not just my own stances and beliefs, but the why’s of them, and the how’s of how I go about interacting with others because of them, or talking about them, or anything of the like.

But because I do put a lot of effort into that myself, I am aware of like....there not really being an excuse for others not being similarly willing to do the same with their own behavior, beliefs or approaches to others, so.....meet me halfway, is all this really comes down to. To anyone who genuinely does find themselves at odds with things I say or troubled by viewpoints I espouse or even just flat out confused as to how to reconcile something I brought up with contradictory beliefs they’ve long held or been instilled with and are just trying to figure out which actually sounds more right to them now.

I do not want to be the bogeyman who is just so intimidating that even when he says something that makes you go ‘huh, maybe this thing I thought was wrong, but I’m not sure,’ you’re afraid to follow-up and explore that further in a back-and-forth with me. But I’m similarly disinclined to be used as the strawman/patsy/etc of people who are just interested in trying to manuever me into some conversational position they feel they can use to discredit me in front of their own followers and thus cement their own bullshit position that way. 

I just happen to get a lot of the latter, and that kinda plays directly into why I so often end up defaulting to the former. That’s not actually an excuse and so its more than fair for anyone to think that’s no reason to change their mind about me, a thing I’ve said or a way I’ve said it. But if fair is actually a thing you’re interested in, then please consider factoring all of the above in when deciding how or why or in what ways you approach an argument or disagreement with me, if you find yourself inclined to do so in the future. 

I would appreciate it, and even more importantly, I promise you it will be far more productive in encouraging me to actually argue or debate a point with you. As opposed to just making light of anything you say to me, much like I feel most approaches to me make light of the things I say, and thus.....my tendency to default to variations of LOL, you got some dumb on your face there buddy.

ANYWAYS.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,

The Extremely Tired and Over It Management

#sorry to be keeping it so heavy this week guys #but like #it remains heavy and thus I remain....keeping it? #idk its 1 am my brain went on break hours ago and I think maybe its just not coming back at this point #whatever #ANYWAY I do not mean to be boring but am I fed by the energy people direct at me and so much of it lately seems to be boring #and thus boring I in turn seem to be #idk basically that's just my spin on you are what you eat #and thus if you come at me like a walking bag of dicks Im gonna tell you to go eat a bag of dicks #*Shrugs* #my eloquence #it abounds

[mishaandthebrits]

I don’t care

First of all, I love Danneel, but let's pretend she's not with Jensen in this one. I know, that's sad and unrealistic because they're an otp, but for the sake of the story. Also I don't know what this is, let me know what you think. Have a good day PSA end         

"I'm at a party I don't wanna be at Nobody's even lookin' me in my eyes Then you take my hand Finish my drink, say, "Shall we dance?" Don't think I fit in at this party Everyone's got so much to say, yeah I always feel like I'm nobody, mm Who wants to fit in anyway? 'Cause I don't care when I'm with my baby" - I don't care (Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber)

It's an annual thing, please join me? That's what Jensen had said and being you, you had agreed after a little thinking. The two of you were dating hardly three months when that happened and you didn't really know any of his friends yet. You knew his parents and family and they loved you, so one worry was lifted off your shoulder, but the closer you got to the date of the annual supernatural cast Dinner, the more nervous you got. What if they didn't like you? What if they thought you're weird?

Pinning the last strand of hair in place you looked at yourself in the mirror. "You look stunning.", Jensen spoke from the door frame before walking up to wrap his arms around you from behind. "They're gonna love you, don't worry.", he then smiled sensing your nervousness and you nodded taking a deep breath. There's only one way to find out. You grabbed your purse and took his already outstretched arm smiling slightly. "Well look at you handsome. You look good in a suit!", you complimented him and he slightly blushed while guiding you to the car. The drive wasn't long and soon you stopped in front of a big house that apparently belonged to Genevieve and Jared Padalecki, two of Jensen's friends. When you looked up from your thoughts, your boyfriend already offered his hand to you which you gladly took. With you by his side he walked up to the door but you stopped him. "Don't be ner... oh...", he started before you tucked on his tie so it sat as it's supposed to be. "I am nervous, but I still can't have you running around like that.", you giggled and just in the moment the door opened and your eyes widened as you looked at the beautiful woman in the light. "Jensen! Welcome!", she greeted him with a hug then looked at you smiling and offered her hand. "You must be Y/N? Welcome! I'm Genevieve, but just call me Gen, everyone does.", she introduced herself and you shook her hand smiling. "It's a pleasure to meet you Gen.", you replied before being invited inside by her. "Should I show you around quickly so you don't get lost?", the brunette woman suggested making you nod. "I'll go find the others okay baby?", Jensen asked and kissed your cheek once you had agreed which, as always, left you blushing. Gen guided you through the house and introduced people to you here and there. It weren't many as they kept the party pretty small, but most of the cast was there apparently. "So Y/N, how long are you and Jensen dating?", Gen asked when she finished in the kitchen where she prepared tea for the both of you. "Oh Uhm... only three months... I... I wasn't sure whether it'd be okay if he brought me here... I mean you all know each other so long and all.", you nervously replied and took the cup with a small smile and a nod. "What? Oh no! That's totally okay! We're actually glad he found someone he wanted us to meet! In his last relationship it seemed like he didn't really think it was the right girl, he never introduced us...", the woman opposite of you explained and you tilted your head blushing yet again. "Baby? I've been looking for... Oh you got tea!", Jensen spoke just as he entered the kitchen in the perfect moment. "Gen made it, isn't that amazing?", you smiled widely at him the previous talk with Gen already forgotten. "It is!", he agreed silently thanking Gen. He had told her about you in advance, what you liked and did for work and in your spare time so the two of you had something to talk about. He also mentioned your love for tea but didn't think she'd offer you one. "May I kidnap her? Your moose wants to meet her.", your boyfriend spoke wrapping an arm around your waist gently. "Of course! We've got all evening to talk.", Gen smiled your way and you smiled back. She was really nice and possibly the two of you could become friends even. Guiding you towards the garden Jensen kept his arm around your waist while you held your cup with both hands afraid to drop it. "The tall one on the left is Jared, Gens husband, the smaller on the right is Misha, his wife Vicky is looking after the kids and the younger one is Alex, his girlfriend is taking a walk with Arlo.", he quietly explained before you stepped up to them. "Ladies, this is Y/N.", Jensen introduced once you stood beside the three men. All of them smiled at you widely and shook your hand. "It's so nice to finally place a face to the stories he's told.", Jared spoke smiling and yet again you blushed and looked at Jensen slightly surprised. "Only good ones baby!", he quickly assured you. Misha seemed to sense your slight discomfort because he nudged the much taller man. "So Y/N, what do you work as?", he then asked. You were certain Jensen had already told them but appreciated the change of topic. "I'm an astronomer at the local scientific institute.", you told them and they seemed genuinely surprised. "Oh wow! Jensen only said you're a scientist, but that's so much better!", Misha replied and shot Jensen a seemingly disappointed look. "Well Jensen hasn't even visited me at work yet, so he doesn't for sure know what I'm doing.", you giggled and kissed his cheek. "Just because I don't want to be the only person in the room not getting anything because they are staring at the beautiful referent.", he shrugged with his damn cute smirk and you smiled. "You know I love you, did I mention that?", you whispered to him and he nodded smiling before he gave you a small kiss on the forehead and excused himself and Jared leaving you with Misha and Alex who both were extremely interested in your job and hobbies in general. "I didn't even know we had an astronomy department at the local science institute! Maison and West are gonna love that!", Misha smiled just when another female stepped up to the three of you. "Oh hey Y/N!", Jenna spoke and greeted you with a hug. "You... know her?", Alex frowned after she greeted him with a kiss. "Yes! That's Y/N dummy, I told you about her! From the guided star tour?", she explained to her boyfriend and Misha listened. "What's that?", he frowned at the mention of the tour. "Oh we organize a tour through a garden where we have the solar system made out of glowing balls and fairy lights. It's to show how small we are compared to the whole system. It's at night so you see the beautiful lights.", you explained. "You should check that out with Maison and West Misha! It's really interesting and I'm sure they're going to love it!", Jenna added and Misha seemed to think for a moment. "I'm sure they will! We definitely have to go there! But only if you and Jensen join us? And the two of you and our lovely hosts of course.", the male suggested and you nodded happily. You always loved getting others to learn about the universe and the stars and planets. Especially kids because after all they were the future. Soon Jensen and Jared came back and Jensen kissed your cheek before Jared stole you away because apparently he needed help with something in the kitchen. Of course you followed him happily although you suggested he didn't actually need any help. "So? What is it Jared?", you asked when he closed the door behind the two of you. "I just... i wanted to thank you.", he began and you frowned. "Thank me? For what?", you questioned confused and he smiled. "For making him happy. I've noticed that the first day he talked about you, before you even started dating, he kept smiling the whole day and when I asked him about it he told me how he met you. I have to admit I was really hesitant at first because of his status and all, but after seeing the two of you together today? No doubts, none at all. Gen agrees with me on that. I don't know if you realize it, but Jensen is a different person since he met you and in the best way even possible. He adores you and we all see you love him just as much.", he spoke and by the end you were sniffling and your eyes were wet. "He didn't tell me you're such a softie Jared.", you said out of reflex and quickly shut your mouth only to hear him chuckle. "Oh he told me about that too. And well, what can I say? I'm only a softie if it's about my family and Jensen is my brother, I want him happy and I am incredibly glad we can add you to that family if you don't mind, because that's what you are now.", he grinned and pulled you in for a hug when the door opened and Gen stepped in. "Hey! I wanted to be here for the talk!", she pouted and Jared laughed. "We have all evening Gen.", you smiled at her and now she laughed as well leaving Jared confused at your inside joke. "Well I'm leaving you ladies to talk then while I join the guys for a moment.", he smiled and left after giving Gen a quick kiss. Once he had left Gen told you how happy she was you and Jensen met and that she loved seeing the both of you together because you made each other happy. "Y/N? Where are you? I want to say goodbye!", you heard Misha yell into the house minutes later and frowned walking up to him. "You're leaving already?", you asked and he sighed. "Kids can't sleep.", he shrugged which made you have an idea. You quickly explained it to him and just twenty minutes later the adults each sat in their cars with their kids while Jensen and you took Alex and Jenna. Another twenty minutes later you stopped the car and opened the door with your keys before flicking a switch so the whole thing got to life. All of their face light up like a Christmas tree at the sight of all the beautiful lights and planets and constellations. While the adults walked around on their own you took the kids and explained everything to them. You asked when they were born and showed them their zodiac signs in the night sky projected onto the globe above your heads. All of the kids loved the playground that had an astronomy topic to it and in the end they fell asleep in the arms of their parents exhausted but with a smile on their faces. Once you had said your goodbyes Jensen and you dropped off Jenna and Alex and then headed to your shared home when his phone buzzed. "Can you read it?", Jensen asked and you nodded taking it out of his pant pocket. "It's from Jared.", you started. "Tom and Shep are fast asleep, Odette just was hungry but is now out like a light in the wind. Please thank Y/N, like seriously. Plus you better make sure you treat her right cause she's a keeper!", you read out loud and blushed a deep red when he chuckled and placed his hand on your leg. "You really are a keeper!", he giggled when his phone buzzed again. "Sheppy called her auntie Y/N on our way back! It was so cute! I'm sad I didn't film it!", you read again and Jensen smiled with a little 'Awww' sound while you just sat there smiling. "Thank you Jensen.", you told him shortly before you reached the house. "For what?", your boyfriend tilted his head while looking at the streets. "For taking me with you and making me happy. Gen and Jared talked to me, you know?", you admitted and now he was blushing. "They talked to me as well... About how I plan to make sure you are Happy and all...", he mumbled and you curiously looked at him. "And?", you whispered not sure whether he actually heard. "I... I already have the ring inside... I just wasn't sure whether it's too early or so...", he quietly told you as he parked. Your eyes widened slightly and you looked at him surprised. Obviously you loved him and wanted a future with him. The two of you had taken your relationship really slow, you knew each other for 1,5 years, got to be friends, flirted, went out, then started dating three months ago and now that? "Y/N... would you consider becoming my wife? Maybe in the future? We can take it as a promise ring, you know?", he nervously spoke and you took his hand smiling. "I'd love that Jensen. A promise sounds wonderful to me right now and then you're just gonna ask again in six months and I will promise you, I'll say yes.", you gently told him and before you had even finished he kissed your lips smiling happily.

He did ask again six months later and as promised you said yes. It still felt like your love was brand new and with every day you only loved him more. Gen, Jenna and Vicky were your maids of honor and Jared, Alex and Misha shared the title of best man. The kids threw flowers and by now all of them already called you auntie Y/N.

General Tag List: @lokilvrr

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#Jensen Ackles #jensen #ackles #fluff #adorable #supernatural #x reader #reader #spn #supernatural x reader #spn x reader

[susiecarter]

I wanted to say that I love your Croc/GQ fic so much — for two characters who had very little screen time you've really done an incredible job fleshing them out. I wanted to ask, do you ever think about their future? Do they both vaguely assume they'll die on the job? would they ever manage to get out and go live in a house on a swamp in Florida somewhere?

/o\ :D Aw, man, thank you so much, anon! I'll be honest with you: I love love love that people like my Bruce/Clark work so much, and it makes me so happy ... BUT there's something a little extra awesome about making a rarepair like that convincing and engaging for anybody but me and Hecate (who convinced me with an exchange request alone), and I couldn't be gladder that you've enjoyed all my fics about them so much. \:D/! Haha, and I'm relieved you don't mind me taking liberties filling in the blanks, either. ;D

AS FOR YOUR ACTUAL QUESTION, on the one hand I'd feel silly doing anything but acknowledging that dying on the job is ... probably the most realistic outcome for them both, considering. (Like, canonically, that WAS the outcome for GQ, at least unless Suicide Squad 2 says otherwise; and when Croc's not on the job, he's in Belle Reve. I somehow doubt he gets to retire with hazard pay.) But on the other hand, if realism were what I was here for, I wouldn't be writing fic about a SEAL doing magical black ops and the mutant crocodile man he's in love with. :D

So, yeah, I am 3000% here for them both assuming they'll die on the job, and being vaguely surprised when that's not how it happens—when they keep on going, maybe save the world publicly enough that nobody can get away with stuffing Croc in a box afterward; when it gets awkward to do anything but let them both retire quietly, in exchange for them not telling anyone what else ARGUS has gotten up to. Which with me at the wheel probably results in some angsty stupid thing where they both realize they were assuming they'd be together forever, but MAYBE THE OTHER GUY WANTS SOMETHING ELSE, oh no, and they don't talk about it for ALMOST too long but then they do, and also they bang. :D

And thanks to @amaronith, I also have epic schmoopy daydreams about the most ridiculous slow creeping found-family fluff you can imagine, where they're figuring their futures are going to end because of the Squad, but instead it turns out, like—that IS their future, and it's a pretty good one (Croc finding a mutant egg on a mission! Hiding it from everyone and sneaking it back to his cell! Looking after it like the Best Taciturn Crocodile Dad! GQ discovering it one day and helping him! AND THEN IT HATCHES and everything dissolves into mutant crocodile kidfic and protectiveness and parenting without realizing how committed you are until you are Real Committed ;-; because y e s. Does Croc try to give their crocodile baby to GQ because Belle Reve's no place for a kid? Does GQ refuse and instead wrangle some kind of special dispensation, because ARGUS wants to study the baby and GQ's not above using that as a bargaining chip? DOES THEIR BABY GET STOLEN BY EVIL SCIENTISTS, and there is a rampage and a big rescue mission and everything is hearts? PROBABLY YES :D). Which, by the way, dioscorea wrote accidental baby acquisition ALREADY and it's so good and I love everything about it. ;-; JUST A PSA.

And there is DEFINITELY some kind of longfic in my heart where ... like, GQ gets an opportunity on a mission somehow to dig the bomb-thing out of Croc's neck for him, and does it, and tells him to get the fuck out while he can; and Croc stares at him for a minute until GQ really yells at him because somebody's going to notice the bomb-thing signal going dark or whatever, and then does go; and GQ pretends to everybody else that Croc died on that mission, and assumes Croc's making the most of his freedom and that GQ's never going to see him again. ;-; But he's Okay With That because At Least Croc Got Out, and Probably Croc Looks At Him And Sees ARGUS Anyway, and It's Better This Way. ;-; BUT THEN he gets injured somehow and has to take like six months, a year, to recuperate—or even cursed rather than injured, and he's being put on furlough until it can get broken—and he lets himself be shuffled off to some ARGUS safehouse (except maybe he gets to pick which one, and picks the one close to a swamp because it ~reminds him of ~someone). And he's living out in the middle of nowhere by himself for like a month, recovering, doing PT, before one night he thinks he sees something move in the water. :D And he doesn't dare let himself believe it's Croc, but IT TOTALLY IS, and Croc tracked him down on purpose and doesn't leave, and they end up with this whole weird domestic routine where they're sort of living together in the marshy wilderness, and they don't talk about it until they do, and then they bang. /o\

So, uh, yeah. Their immediate future is definitely filled with missions and adventures and probably getting accidentally soulbonded. :D But I love love love to think about how they could end up sticking together over the longer term, alive and looking after each other and living together next to a lot of water. ♥ THANK YOU FOR ASKING, SORRY ABOUT THE ESSAY

#asks:anonymous #susie is a suicide squad fan #despite her good sense and judgment #fic recs #seriously click the readmore there is NEW GQ/CROC IN THE WORLD \o/ #and it is fluffysweet delightful temporary accidental baby acquisition #BEST TROPE OR BEST TROPE??? #i think we all know the answer to that one #asks

[shadu-kiam]

PSA for Young People

So many of you already know that I’m a chef.

In my kitchen, there’s a cook who’s my youngest one -- 24. He cooks as a day job while he pursues his dream of being a musician. I have no disillusions about why he’s here: he’s here to make money to support himself while he chases his real dream. 

So imagine my surprise when he comes in and seriously asks me what it takes to become a sous chef (an assistant manager, basically).

Confused, I ask him if he wants to become one; I already know that his dream is to be a musician. He looks kind of down and says that he’s been talking to his mom lately about having a “real future,” and he’s worried now about not having a back-up plan. He was a few credits shy of a two-year degree in psychology when his mom got sick and he had to back out (couldn’t afford the debt). He usually seems pretty happy with his life as a cook who does gigs by night, so I’m a little worried at the downcast expression on his face.

I’m almost 30, now, and I remember being in his position. At 22 years old, I was aimless and a constant worry to my own mother, who wanted me to finish school. I mostly went to culinary school just to shut everyone up about how I was throwing away my future.

I now have 100k’s worth of debt for a degree I didn’t even really want in a field I feel very little passion for. My passion is writing and art, and no amount of forcing myself to care about the culinary world actually inspired me to do so. I care enough to do my job well, because now I have to keep making money in order to pay back the debt I racked up trying to find myself.

So I told him to sit down, and I told him about what little I’ve managed to learn about myself in the last 10 years.

Maybe this can help some of you younger ones out there, too.

1: College is a sucky and fucking expensive place to find yourself. 

Getting away from your parents and becoming an adult is a pretty amazing rite of passage, but doing so at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars a year ends up just creating problems for yourself later that you’re going to wish you’d had the foresight to avoid. 

I sat him down and I asked, “How much did college cost a year?”

“Twenty four thousand,” he said.

“And what would you major in, if you went back?”

He looked lost, and I shook my head. “Don’t go to school until you know the answer to that question.” 

$24,000 a year? To SEE if you want to pursue a major or not? To see if that’s a good “back up plan” for your dreams? That’s too high a price -- because it’s not just money you’re borrowing, it’s years of your own life paying that money back.

2. Debt is a prison you’ll be trying to escape your entire life. 

Eighty thousand dollars of debt for a bachelor’s degree -- if you hate the major you chose, congratulations, because you’re essentially stuck doing a job in that field for the next twenty years in order to pay back the money you borrowed to get that degree you didn’t even really want. 

The debt forces you to get a job. Having a job forces you to find shelter and food. You then have to pay bills. You need a way to get to work. More money.

You’ve basically assembled a prison for yourself because you were scared of the future, and now you have a future you hate. That fucking sucks. No amount of security is worth the unhappiness you’ll feel doing a job you can’t stand and watching your real passions wither away and die -- passions you now have very little time to focus on.

3. Fuck your parents. That’s harsh, but hear me out. 

I listened to my parents when I went to school. And they were sincerely worried about me and my future. They cared and they wanted me to be safe and happy and financially secure. I understand that and I appreciate their concern.

But they’re going to be dead in a few decades and guess who’s still going to be here, living with the decisions they made for me? Me. 

The only person that’s with you your entire life is you. Make decisions that you want to make. Let your failures and your successes be yours and yours alone. Maybe the decisions you make don’t pan out -- that’s fine. At least they were yours. Don’t let other people set you on a life path you’re not certain is right for you, because once you’re on it, it’s going to be hard to get off.

Maybe you’ll disappoint your parents by not getting that degree, but that’s not going to matter very much to you forty years from now when your soul had withered up inside your body and they’re no longer around to disapprove of your choices, now will it?

Disappoint them now. It’s okay. They’ll still love you. And they’ll be glad to know you’re happy, no matter what.

4. It’s okay to not fucking know you’re doing. Nobody does. 

Not knowing what you’re doing is perfectly normal and it’s fine. You’re not stupid for not having your life figured out at 18, 22, 30, 50, or 80. Nobody knows what they’re doing. Your parents don’t know. Your grandparents don’t know. The wise neighbor to your left that lived through the Great Depression and all the World Wars doesn’t know.

When you become an adult, you realize how much of adulthood is just winging shit and being like “Golly, I hope this doesn’t turn out to suck!” 

Nobody has their shit together, so don’t feel pressured to have yours together. Twenty years from now, your shit still won’t be together; the only difference between you then and you now is that you’ll have realized that it’s perfectly normal and nothing to panic about.

You may change your “passion” like 10 times in your life, and that’s also normal. Don’t get bogged down on making a decision for what you’re going to do for the next sixty years. 

Because the real truth is, you don’t know. And you can’t know, nor can you really plan for it.

And that’s fine.

5. You can change your mind as much as you want. 

Just be happy. Just because you wanted to be a world-class ballerina two years ago and you’ve realized that you actually want to be a world-class oil painter now doesn’t invalidate your prior passion for ballet, nor does it make the time you spent working on that dream a “waste.” The time you spent caring about ballet more than anything else in the world was a beautiful time that you shouldn’t want to take back.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that just because you didn’t care about it from the start of your life to the bitter end, it didn’t really matter. It did, and you’re the person that you are because of it.

6. Don’t be afraid. 

There’s a lot of things to be afraid of in this world. Chasing a dream that doesn’t pan out shouldn’t be one of them. Just because you chased the dream of being a musician and you didn’t become world-famous doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have chased that dream. It doesn’t mean you’re foolish for having that dream, or for working so hard on it.

If you’re young, and you don’t have really heavy responsibilities (like a child you have to care for), then this is the time to do the crazy shit. To let yourself try and become the thing you always wanted. If all you have to take care of in this world is yourself, then go for something wild.

Go for the thing you always wanted. Maybe you’ll get it, and maybe you won’t. Maybe in five years you’ll realize you don’t want it anymore, and you’ll find yourself back where you started.

It was still worth the journey. And it was still worth the uncertainty.

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

EDIT: 

7. YOU DON’T NEED A COLLEGE DEGREE TO BE SUCCESSFUL. 

Can’t believe I forgot this in my original post. YOU DON’T NEED A DEGREE TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR LIFE. Look at what you really want to do and SERIOUSLY ASK YOURSELF if you NEED a degree to do it.

Writing? Drawing? Painting? Making music? Not only do you not need a degree for that shit, it’s up for debate as to whether getting one is even worth the cost. What are you learning for 20-40k a year that you couldn’t learn from the goddamn internet or just by being friends with someone else in the field???

Seriously examine whether or not your passion requires a degree. If it doesn’t, DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY for an empty status symbol.

/ end rant

#tmi #weird life advice #millenials #mistakes #the myth of financial security

[jonathanbelloblog]

Details on PSA’s Future in America and the Car-Sharing Business That’s Already Here

PSA, owner of the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, and Opel/Vauxhall brands and which announced its intention in 2016 to return to the North American market by 2026, unfurled the first consumer-focused step of what it expects to be a 10-year plan when it trial-launched its Free2Move program in Washington, D.C. Based around an app that proposes to offer District residents total mobility at a flat price—from cars and SUVs to electric scooters and bicycles to ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft—with no extra charges for parking, gas, and insurance. Signing up costs $10 and users may use the app to book with Bird, Capital Bikeshare, car2go, Jump, Lime, Skip, and Uber. Notably, none of the 600 cars in service will be PSA products, but rather Chevrolet’s Cruze compacts and Equinox crossovers. On the occasion of Free2Move’s launch, our New York bureau chief Jamie Kitman spoke with PSA’s senior U.S. executive Larry Dominque, formerly of Nissan and now stationed at the French company’s newly opened offices in Atlanta.

Automobile Magazine: So you just have officially announced your car-sharing business. But it was soft-launched prior to that?

Larry Dominique: Four weeks before. We put about 137 of the cars out on the streets of Washington, D.C. We had put some marketing stuff out there and allowed some hand-raisers to register for the system and we gave them promotional access. Because we wanted to make sure that everything is working very, very well from the applications standpoint—how you book it, how you find the cars, the registration process, the back end.

We wanted to test everything out because everything we’re trying to do in North America is related to high customer satisfaction. Everything we want to do must be done with quality. I didn’t want to launch anything in scale until I had confidence that everything was going to be working perfectly.

AM: You could argue that even that the hard launch is sort of a beta because it’s in only one city. How soon do you see yourself expanding into other cities?

LD: Great question. One of the things that my CEO [Carlos Tavares] believes in is profitability. He likes margin, and he likes managing frugally and with high agility. So we’ve looked at what other car-sharing businesses have done. Enterprise has bought into cities and gone out of cities; car2go has bought into a lot of cities, and they lost $60 million in the U.S. last year. Washington D.C. is a fairly high-cost city to do this, so what our team has done is set up a very lean operation. I’m very confident it will turn around to profitability pretty quickly. We looked at many different cities, we looked at population density, income, openness to mobility and alternative transportation, and we chose D.C. as one of the top cities that we felt was right for mobility services, in particular car-sharing. As we get a good understanding of the financials and how to operate car-sharing efficiently, we’ll be ready to jump to the next city. We’re already identifying other potential candidate cities.

AM: Where do you guys see yourselves as differing in your business model from the companies that have been doing this unsuccessfully so far? What’s structurally different about what you’re attempting?

LD: On the experiential side, we believe the front end of our app is better than most, and we’re going to continue to roll out new features. Things that attract loyalty, things that we believe will make the access to the vehicles easier, faster, more reliable, more consistent. In concert with our Free2Move car-sharing, we’re launching our Free2Move aggregation app as well, which incorporates our car-sharing in it.

AM: What else does Free2Move Aggregation include?

LD: Free2Move Aggregation is a platform we launched here a year ago where, through our multi-provider registration, you can come into our app, put in your driver’s license information once and credit-card information once, and you’re registered for any of our partners that are on our system. In the city of D.C., as of this conversation, we have nine discreet programs. Car sharing, bike sharing, scooter sharing, and so on. We’re going to be incorporating ride-hailing soon.

Aggregation is nice in the sense that is gives you access to what we call First Mile/Last Mile, so if you want car-sharing or ride-hailing you can get it. If you just want an electric scooter to go six or eight blocks, we have that available as well. And you don’t have to worry about going to a dozen native apps. You can do it all through our app, and all the billing and everything else is taken care of.

Even though they’re a competitor for Free2Move car-sharing, car2go are on our aggregation platform. Primarily because we believe there’s a big enough marketplace out there for everybody to participate. Also, they run about 75 percent Smarts and 25 percent Mercedes, so that’s different types of vehicles for different needs. For now, we’re running Chevy Equinoxes and Chevy Cruzes in D.C., so we believe we have the right cars and the right SUV. Nobody else right now offers a [car-sharing] SUV, but we do.

AM: I guess on some simplistic level that’s one of the surprises—that you would be opening with somebody else’s cars, although I can see what the advantages to that might be. It seems like this plan is well-suited to allowyou to kind of grow up in semi-public, without the same pressure that you would have if you were like, “Here’s our new models” or “Here’s our new dealer network.” Whereas using other peoples’ cars eases you into the market and sort of forestalls a cruel judgment day.

LD: A cruel judgment day is probably a relevant commentary. The way I’ve approached this and that Carlos approached it with me initially is [based on the fact that he] understands really well there are 42 brands and 430 something models for sale in the United States. Incentives hover around 11 percent [of transaction prices]. Intra-brand competition in some places is worse than inter-brand.

So how do you come into this amazingly large market and focus on C and D segments, which mean high transaction prices in theory, high profitability, and do it successfully? We discussed this for a long time. And the focus needs to be on being different in everything we do. And that means not just in customer experience, but also how you structure the business and how you invest.

The biggest mistake most companies make is over-investment, and then the moment there’s an initial downturn, their fixed costs are way beyond their revenue, and they’re in deep, deep trouble. We want to avoid that. And how do you avoid that? By planning well and making sure you understand very, very well the trends, the consumers, the behaviors, their wants and desires. How is mobility as a service saving car-ownership patterns? What are we seeing geographically? How are alternative powertrains manifesting themselves in North America versus other parts of the world?

So while we are in the process of homologating our own vehicles—which takes a few years to do—we’ve made it very clear: We’re going to launch with mobility services, without our cars. If I have a business, and there’s an opportunity to make a good business case and learn from it, if I need to put GM vehicles in, I’ll put GM vehicles in. I’ll use anybody’s brands. I don’t care as long as they’re the right car for what I’m trying to accomplish. I don’t think we’re ready to actually launch our retail sales. But through everything we’ve learned and the planning we’ve put in place, I think we’re going to be very well positioned.

And I think, just to be very clear, we have no legacy in North America. I have no dealer networks, I have no dealer contracts, I have no service contracts, I have no IT contracts, I literally have a greenfield opportunity in North America.

AM: Must be exciting. It’s really almost impossible to imagine anyone else having such an open field to run on.

LD: Exactly, and trust me I’ve had lot of calls from my friends at other OEMs saying, “Larry, you have an opportunity that we can only dream of.” They can’t tear down what they’ve already got.

AM: PSA actually has in its quiver a lot of brands that I would imagine have quite a bit of good will—Citroën, Peugeot, and Opel—in the United States. I think those can credibly be sold as mildly upscale, reasonably premium vehicles, which is a good thing. And there is a base of people who are familiar with the brands and would be excited to buy one of their cars. Which brands do you think make the most sense for North America? What does your research tell you?

LD: Some of the most fun I’m having is listening to all the different guessing that’s going on out there in the marketplace. Every time there’s an article in Automotive News and it talks about the brand, people are saying, “Oh, it’s gotta be DS—no, it’s gotta be Opel. Oh, it’s probably gonna be Peugeot.” Right? So we’re hearing a lot of these different things.

We’ve identified the brand. I know [PSA CEO] Carlos [Tavares] is cryptic, and we’ve been cryptic for a reason. But we’ve done the research; we wanted to understand. One of the things we wanted to understand is what is the awareness level? What is the perception of the brands and the company or being French? What does it mean to American consumers and Canadian consumers?

And the great news, to your point, is a lot of people had very positive reactions to a French automaker. They thought it was different. We did static clinics with the vehicles. We did dynamic clinics with the vehicles, including competitors and so forth, and I’m very, very pleased with the response we got from American and Canadian consumers related to all of our brands.

So we don’t start out in negative position in anyway. It’s interesting because if you resurrect another French brand from the past, the response was much more negative.

AM: That would be Renault?

LD: Yeah. And they injured the brand with the Alliance, they had some major market issues with some of those cars, and that still resonates with people in their minds.

AM: What do you mean major market issues?

LD: From our point of view, what I wanted to make sure is, I wanted to understand where our brands resonated, where we had challenges, what opportunities existed, what sore spots were there from already existing products. So the great news for me is people are open to us. When you look back 60 years ago when the Japanese came in for the first time in the late ’50s, the cars were basically crap. They were small compared to the U.S. cars, they were underpowered, they rusted easily—and they fixed those things. But it took decades for them to fix the issues. The Koreans came in 30 years ago, and also their products were not very good. Today they are.

The great news for me is our products are already globally competitive, and having quality, reliability, safety, is just a cost of entry now. We make good cars. And I’m very confident the cars we’re designing with full homologation for North America, with the right specs and features—including the right size cup-holders. We’re going be much more vocal externally [about which brand] in the first quarter next year. We know that we have one opportunity to re-enter the North America market successfully.

We will focus on customer satisfaction and on high margins, not on market share. If I’m bringing vehicles over for the time being from Europe, and plants in Europe, they’ll make a marginal contribution to an existing marketplace. Yes, we have to invest uniquely to build some products in North America, but for the most part, it’s using existing plants we have, which means I don’t have to pay for a billion-dollar plant, divided by every car I sell. You can focus on margin per vehicle sold.

AM: Well all the discussion of margin makes me think that you would come with some sort of SUV since they seem to carry the biggest margins.

LD: What I sense is very clear externally and internally: You cannot ignore the four key segments, you can’t ignore C-sedan or whatever you want to define as a future sedan.

AM: You mean the way Ford Motor Company is.

LD: I hear you, and look where their stock is.

You need an unique value proposition. We’re not thinking of the value proposition as merely the vehicle, we’re thinking of our value proposition as the buying process, the sales process, the ownership process, the high-end mobility. We believe that part of our value proposition is not only having great differentiated vehicles, beautiful design, great features, with the right performance, with the right DNA to be French, and to be the brand we’re bringing to the market, but it’s also that whole attached experience to the whole process, and what differentiates us from other brands.

From a French brand point of view, just being French, I was very pleased to learn [from research, that] people understand fashion and design and innovation come out of France in addition to luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Hermès and great wine. American consumers think the vehicles would have a certain kind of flair and uniqueness and design and so forth, but there’s not a negative association.

Relative to our French brands, as you can imagine, Peugeot and Citroën have a history here in the United States, and people know of them. Older people know them directly through friends, family, themselves. Younger people know some of the brands, or they have an uncle that had a 504 or something like that. But you show them the logos, and many people are aware of the logos. And you can just show them the Peugeot logo, show them the Citroën logo, and a lot of people know what those are. DS is less known, but DS has only been a brand for about five years and has never been sold here.

AM: I’m guessing it’s probably a choice between Citroën and Peugeot, but at the same time it occurs to me that you could actually have the luxury of having a dealership or portal where you could buy or get all three brands or even four brands, and each of the brands could be represented by a model. There could be one Peugeot and one Citroën and if they’re all together in the same place, what’s the difference? You get something that’s greater than the sum of its parts in terms of excitement and interest.

LD: It’s interesting you say that. One of the things that’s extremely critical for me, is I know the energy that all the OEMs spend differentiating their own individual brands. How Buicks are different from Cadillacs, how Chevy is different from Buick, how Infiniti is different from Nissan. And if you’re going to successfully and organically build the brand, you have to focus on that brand, just the single brand. It’s not to say in the future once you’re well established and positioned, you could potentially bring another brand in, but we’re going to focus on a single brand.

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