#z plays monopoly

[ereborne]

Song of the Day: January 9

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

#song of the day #I'm at my grandfather's house now! #he's more than half deaf (partial hearing in only one ear) and the only thing more substantial than his record collection #is his sound system #CCR loud enough to feel in your bones. take a shower while the music plays and feel the water droplets vibrate as they fall. it's amazing #I missed the fuck out of this old man. had no idea the extent of it. I missed him so bad #old man with his La-Z-Boy perfectly molded to his body and his turntable collection and his novelty soda cozies and his model planes #it stormed like hell all day and none of us could hear each other speak over the wind and thunder and dogs howling and blessed CCR #so we've just been hanging out. played monopoly except again we couldn't hear so it was like monopoly + charades #sensory input through the /roof/ I forgot what it was like here. bliss for my brain #tomorrow if the weather stays calmed down I'm going to ask him what 'who'll stop the rain' is about #get those soothing background 'fuck vietnam' sounds going while I do my reports for work. missed this shouty old man like hell

[britneyshakespeare]

i met her in a club down in old soho where you drink champagne and it tastes just like moxie cola

#c-o-l-a cola #text post #the kinks #i used to play lola in my high school guitar class btw. fun fact #i have nostalgia for every song mr. z incorporated into our lessons. he was a great teacher #and it was a great class. #i heard he retired last year though and i was like :( #of all the high school teachers i wouldnt mind running into #the tastes just like coca cola line has always been one of my favorite sensory images in any song #maybe. maybe i just love coke. #i get the same way about frank o'hara's having a coke with you. #sweet. bubbly. delicious. coca cola #i have been accused of being a soda enjoyer (the accusations are true) #moxie is owned by coke now. i wish that meant it was more widely available but alas #i am oppressed until i can order moxie at restaurants #and cream soda!!!!!!! #none of the big three soda monopolies in the us have a regular cream soda brand which makes it hard to enjoy #capitalism is terrible. byyyye

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Big Tech disrupted disruption

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/08/permanent-overlords/#republicans-want-to-defund-the-police

Before "disruption" turned into a punchline, it was a genuinely exciting idea. Using technology, we could connect people to one another and allow them to collaborate, share, and cooperate to make great things happen.

It's easy (and valid) to dismiss the "disruption" of Uber, which "disrupted" taxis and transit by losing $31b worth of Saudi royal money in a bid to collapse the world's rival transportation system, while quietly promising its investors that it would someday have pricing power as a monopoly, and would attain profit through price-gouging and wage-theft.

Uber's disruption story was wreathed in bullshit: lies about the "independence" of its drivers, about the imminence of self-driving taxis, about the impact that replacing buses and subways with millions of circling, empty cars would have on traffic congestion. There were and are plenty of problems with traditional taxis and transit, but Uber magnified these problems, under cover of "disrupting" them away.

But there are other feats of high-tech disruption that were and are genuinely transformative – Wikipedia, GNU/Linux, RSS, and more. These disruptive technologies altered the balance of power between powerful institutions and the businesses, communities and individuals they dominated, in ways that have proven both beneficial and durable.

When we speak of commercial disruption today, we usually mean a tech company disrupting a non-tech company. Tinder disrupts singles bars. Netflix disrupts Blockbuster. Airbnb disrupts Marriott.

But the history of "disruption" features far more examples of tech companies disrupting other tech companies: DEC disrupts IBM. Netscape disrupts Microsoft. Google disrupts Yahoo. Nokia disrupts Kodak, sure – but then Apple disrupts Nokia. It's only natural that the businesses most vulnerable to digital disruption are other digital businesses.

And yet…disruption is nowhere to be seen when it comes to the tech sector itself. Five giant companies have been running the show for more than a decade. A couple of these companies (Apple, Microsoft) are Gen-Xers, having been born in the 70s, then there's a couple of Millennials (Amazon, Google), and that one Gen-Z kid (Facebook). Big Tech shows no sign of being disrupted, despite the continuous enshittification of their core products and services. How can this be? Has Big Tech disrupted disruption itself?

That's the contention of "Coopting Disruption," a new paper from two law profs: Mark Lemley (Stanford) and Matthew Wansley (Yeshiva U):

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4713845

The paper opens with a review of the literature on disruption. Big companies have some major advantages: they've got people and infrastructure they can leverage to bring new products to market more cheaply than startups. They've got existing relationships with suppliers, distributors and customers. People trust them.

Diversified, monopolistic companies are also able to capture "involuntary spillovers": when Google spends money on AI for image recognition, it can improve Google Photos, YouTube, Android, Search, Maps and many other products. A startup with just one product can't capitalize on these spillovers in the same way, so it doesn't have the same incentives to spend big on R&D.

Finally, big companies have access to cheap money. They get better credit terms from lenders, they can float bonds, they can tap the public markets, or just spend their own profits on R&D. They can also afford to take a long view, because they're not tied to VCs whose funds turn over every 5-10 years. Big companies get cheap money, play a long game, pay less to innovate and get more out of innovation.

But those advantages are swamped by the disadvantages of incumbency, all the various curses of bigness. Take Arrow's "replacement effect": new companies that compete with incumbents drive down the incumbents' prices and tempt their customers away. But an incumbent that buys a disruptive new company can just shut it down, and whittle down its ideas to "sustaining innovation" (small improvements to existing products), killing "disruptive innovation" (major changes that make the existing products obsolete).

Arrow's Replacement Effect also comes into play before a new product even exists. An incumbent that allows a rival to do R&D that would eventually disrupt its product is at risk; but if the incumbent buys this pre-product, R&D-heavy startup, it can turn the research to sustaining innovation and defund any disruptive innovation.

Arrow asks us to look at the innovation question from the point of view of the company as a whole. Clayton Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma" looks at the motivations of individual decision-makers in large, successful companies. These individuals don't want to disrupt their own business, because that will render some part of their own company obsolete (perhaps their own division!). They also don't want to radically change their customers' businesses, because those customers would also face negative effects from disruption.

A startup, by contrast, has no existing successful divisions and no giant customers to safeguard. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain from disruption. Where a large company has no way for individual employees to initiate major changes in corporate strategy, a startup has fewer hops between employees and management. What's more, a startup that rewards an employee's good idea with a stock-grant ties that employee's future finances to the outcome of that idea – while a giant corporation's stock bonuses are only incidentally tied to the ideas of any individual worker.

Big companies are where good ideas go to die. If a big company passes on its employees' cool, disruptive ideas, that's the end of the story for that idea. But even if 100 VCs pass on a startup's cool idea and only one VC funds it, the startup still gets to pursue that idea. In startup land, a good idea gets lots of chances – in a big company, it only gets one.

Given how innately disruptable tech companies are, given how hard it is for big companies to innovate, and given how little innovation we've gotten from Big Tech, how is it that the tech giants haven't been disrupted?

The authors propose a four-step program for the would-be Tech Baron hoping to defend their turf from disruption.

First, gather information about startups that might develop disruptive technologies and steer them away from competing with you, by investing in them or partnering with them.

Second, cut off any would-be competitor's supply of resources they need to develop a disruptive product that challenges your own.

Third, convince the government to pass regulations that big, established companies can comply with but that are business-killing challenges for small competitors.

Finally, buy up any company that resists your steering, succeeds despite your resource war, and escapes the compliance moats of regulation that favors incumbents.

Then: kill those companies.

The authors proceed to show that all four tactics are in play today. Big Tech companies operate their own VC funds, which means they get a look at every promising company in the field, even if they don't want to invest in them. Big Tech companies are also awash in money and their "rival" VCs know it, and so financial VCs and Big Tech collude to fund potential disruptors and then sell them to Big Tech companies as "aqui-hires" that see the disruption neutralized.

On resources, the authors focus on data, and how companies like Facebook have explicit policies of only permitting companies they don't see as potential disruptors to access Facebook data. They reproduce internal Facebook strategy memos that divide potential platform users into "existing competitors, possible future competitors, [or] developers that we have alignment with on business models." These categories allow Facebook to decide which companies are capable of developing disruptive products and which ones aren't. For example, Amazon – which doesn't compete with Facebook – is allowed to access FB data to target shoppers. But Messageme, a startup, was cut off from Facebook as soon as management perceived them as a future rival. Ironically – but unsurprisingly – Facebook spins these policies as pro-privacy, not anti-competitive.

These data policies cast a long shadow. They don't just block existing companies from accessing the data they need to pursue disruptive offerings – they also "send a message" to would-be founders and investors, letting them know that if they try to disrupt a tech giant, they will have their market oxygen cut off before they can draw breath. The only way to build a product that challenges Facebook is as Facebook's partner, under Facebook's direction, with Facebook's veto.

Next, regulation. Starting in 2019, Facebook started publishing full-page newspaper ads calling for regulation. Someone ghost-wrote a Washington Post op-ed under Zuckerberg's byline, arguing the case for more tech regulation. Google, Apple, OpenAI other tech giants have all (selectively) lobbied in favor of many regulations. These rules covered a lot of ground, but they all share a characteristic: complying with them requires huge amounts of money – money that giant tech companies can spare, but potential disruptors lack.

Finally, there's predatory acquisitions. Mark Zuckerberg, working without the benefit of a ghost writer (or in-house counsel to review his statements for actionable intent) has repeatedly confessed to buying companies like Instagram to ensure that they never grow to be competitors. As he told one colleague, "I remember your internal post about how Instagram was our threat and not Google+. You were basically right. The thing about startups though is you can often acquire them.”

All the tech giants are acquisition factories. Every successful Google product, almost without exception, is a product they bought from someone else. By contrast, Google's own internal products typically crash and burn, from G+ to Reader to Google Videos. Apple, meanwhile, buys 90 companies per year – Tim Apple brings home a new company for his shareholders more often than you bring home a bag of groceries for your family. All the Big Tech companies' AI offerings are acquisitions, and Apple has bought more AI companies than any of them.

Big Tech claims to be innovating, but it's really just operationalizing. Any company that threatens to disrupt a tech giant is bought, its products stripped of any really innovative features, and the residue is added to existing products as a "sustaining innovation" – a dot-release feature that has all the innovative disruption of rounding the corners on a new mobile phone.

The authors present three case-studies of tech companies using this four-point strategy to forestall disruption in AI, VR and self-driving cars. I'm not excited about any of these three categories, but it's clear that the tech giants are worried about them, and the authors make a devastating case for these disruptions being disrupted by Big Tech.

What do to about it? If we like (some) disruption, and if Big Tech is enshittifying at speed without facing dethroning-by-disruption, how do we get the dynamism and innovation that gave us the best of tech?

The authors make four suggestions.

First, revive the authorities under existing antitrust law to ban executives from Big Tech companies from serving on the boards of startups. More broadly, kill interlocking boards altogether. Remember, these powers already exist in the lawbooks, so accomplishing this goal means a change in enforcement priorities, not a new act of Congress or rulemaking. What's more, interlocking boards between competing companies are illegal per se, meaning there's no expensive, difficult fact-finding needed to demonstrate that two companies are breaking the law by sharing directors.

Next: create a nondiscrimination policy that requires the largest tech companies that share data with some unaffiliated companies to offer data on the same terms to other companies, except when they are direct competitors. They argue that this rule will keep tech giants from choking off disruptive technologies that make them obsolete (rather than competing with them).

On the subject of regulation and compliance moats, they have less concrete advice. They counsel lawmakers to greet tech giants' demands to be regulated with suspicion, to proceed with caution when they do regulate, and to shape regulation so that it doesn't limit market entry, by keeping in mind the disproportionate burdens regulations put on established giants and small new companies. This is all good advice, but it's more a set of principles than any kind of specific practice, test or procedure.

Finally, they call for increased scrutiny of mergers, including mergers between very large companies and small startups. They argue that existing law (Sec 2 of the Sherman Act and Sec 7 of the Clayton Act) both empower enforcers to block these acquisitions. They admit that the case-law on this is poor, but that just means that enforcers need to start making new case-law.

I like all of these suggestions! We're certainly enjoying a more activist set of regulators, who are more interested in Big Tech, than we've seen in generations.

But they are grossly under-resourced even without giving them additional duties. As Matt Stoller points out, "the DOJ's Antitrust Division has fewer people enforcing anti-monopoly laws in a $24 trillion economy than the Smithsonian Museum has security guards."

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/congressional-republicans-to-defund

What's more, Republicans are trying to slash their budgets even further. The American conservative movement has finally located a police force they're eager to defund: the corporate police who defend us all from predatory monopolies.

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #coopting disruption #law and political economy #law #economics #competition #big tech #tech #innovation #acquihires #predatory acquisitions #mergers and acquisitions #disruption #schumpeter #the curse of bigness #clay christensen #josef schumpeter #christensen #enshittiification #business #regulation #scholarship

[schrodinger-swriter]

Hi! May I request B, C, J, L, T, and Z for Vaggie? Thank you so much!

B, C, J, L, T, and Z for Vaggie

First writing for Vaggie, I hope this isn't too OOC! I hope you enjoy Anon!

I think this may be the last post of the night, if I cannot sleep I might write some more.. Though I think I will save the remainder of my requests until tomorrow. Hmm..

BONDING:

Bonding with her can be tricky... she's only really known battle up until her fall... Though, perhaps you both spar in order to get to know one another better? At least in the beginning, until Vaggie finds other ways to bond with someone. Another idea is perhaps the two of you recovering together after said sparring session! When you are both in a more developed relationship, you two may bond over games. Card games, I think! Who doesn't like spending time with their favorite person while playing Uno or Monopoly!

CUDDLING:

She's very.. cold... I mentioned in my Lute post that Heaven Born are cold, going off of the headcanon that it is because they were never alive/mortal. The same applying to most Hell Born, with the exception of Charlie and a handful of others.. This still applies to Vaggie, given her being a fallen exterminator. Similarly to Lute, she lays a little stiff during cuddling, but generally lays more loose and relaxed if given enough time to break out of the exterminator.. soldier... mindset. Likes being the big spoon as it makes her feel secure and that she can protect you if anything were to happen.

JEAOUSY:

She gets jealous fairly easily, and can sometimes lose her composure when interacting with you or the other person. She can be quick to understand if someone is coming onto you and you're uncomfortable, going as far as to bluntly tell the other party to go away in a... not so polite way. However, she's still open to communicating her feelings if asked about it. She's not very good at hiding her feelings, so she will talk sooner rather than later.

LOVE LANGUAGE:

Quality time means so much to Vaggie. She loves spending time with you when she can and has the mental capacity to be around other people. Words of affirmation also mean a lot to her, so please do be sure to remind her that you love her!

As for giving, she would make sure to pay attention to what makes you feel loved and adapt her behavior to suit your wants and needs. She is very attentive.

TUNES:

More of... Songs you two listen together rather than songs you associate with the relationship!

ZZZ:

As mentioned in the cuddling section, her body is cold! She also sleeps stiff, too. The good thing is that she doesn't toss and turn. As well as this she's very open to letting you snuggle into her side while you share the bed. Very quiet, too. Doesn't snore or sleep talk... though she is a morning person, in fact she tends to wake up very early.. so you might be accidentally woken up when she's crawling out of bed to get ready..

#hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel x you #hazbin hotel imagine #hazbin imagine #hazbin x reader #hazbin x you #vaggie x reader #vaggie x you #vaggie imagine

[vxmpyr-clxb]

☆ . . . LEARN THE ALPHABET WITH SAGE!

A is for — “And here I thought Jake would’ve been the first to lose a limb.” Playing COD and other shooting games with the boys.

B is for — "Bitches love me bitches love me-" Jake on live and going to ask Sage if she wanted to join. Only to open the door and hear her screaming the lyrics to a song. Jake immediately slamming the door shut after hearing her.

C is for — “¿Cómo te va? Ten cuidado. No te caigas.” Teagan randomly switching languages when speaking to the boys in a en-o’clock ep and not even realizing it for a good 20 minutes.

D is for — "DEEZ NUTS!...I'm sorry." Her on a live, and letting the intrusive thoughts win, pt. 1.

E is for — “EVERYTIME WE TOUCH I GET THIS FEELING!" Karaoke with Heesung, Jay, and Sage is chaotic to say the least.

F is for — "FUC-FLIPPING FONGTASTIC PENGUINS!" Teagan stubbing her toe on the counter in I-land.

G is for — "Get me out of here.." Sage looking towards the cam during a live, with Niki and Jake, like she's in the office.

H is for — "HEKVSFKJASK-" Her literally getting choked out by Niki when they were roughousing and him dragging her off the side.

I is for — "I’ve accidentally indulged in too much ‘me time’ and must now suffer the consequences." Sage leaving her room after 24 straight hours of gaming and just hanging out and almost falling due to lack of iron.

J is for — “Just take me out! I wanna go back to bed." The group playing paintball while on a variety show episode and Teagan standing in the middle of the arena with her arms open.

K is for — "Kill me and I'll haunt you for the rest of your days, Kim Sunoo." Enhypen playing Mafia together.

L is for — "Likeee- You can’t sit with us.” Enhypen playing a game on one of her vlogs where you have to guess the person they’re pretending to be.

M is for — “MONSTER ENERGY!” Playing that one guessing game with headphones and Teagan being absolutely wrong in her guess.

O is for — “One more week of being stuck here with this *bleeep* cabeza de mierda and you will find a dead body.” Sage whilst on i-land and the boys keep eating all her favorite snacks when she started her period.

P is for — “Please, for the love of Christ, stop throwing monopoly money like we’re in a strip club!” A clip from one of her vlogs on Enhypen's group game nights.

Q is for — "QUACK QUACK HOE!" There's compilation of Teagan accidently cursing in public on YouTube somewhere, I just know it.

R is for — "RAAHHHH!!” Sage randomly using British slang out of nowhere and the boys getting confused.

S is for — “Shit..Oh fuck!…Who said that??” Her in the background of one of the other’s lives and dropping something and cursing.

T is for — "This is our village idiot—" Sage showing off her family pet, Rex, in a vlog.

U is for — "Ur joking.. Ur joe-king." The girl mimicking that one tiktok trend and dying of laughter on live.

W is for — "WAKE UP IN DAY ONE!" Shouting the lyrics to their song during a karaoke challenge.

X is for— "XYNDNDK” The girl falling out of her chair while laughing in an en-o’clock episode.

Y is for — “Yang Jungwon, I know you are not killing people without me!!!” Sage messing/joking with Jungwon when they all played Among Us together.

Z is for — "Zesty? Girl what.." Sage reading comments on live and laughing at goofy ones.

should really be named sage can't stop cursing pt.1

#ও 11:11 › @ sage ᶻ 𝘇 𐰁 ˳ ֹ ｡ fan made content #ও 11:11 › @ sage ᶻ 𝘇 𐰁 ˳ ֹ ｡ misc. #enhypen 8th member #enhypen addition #enhypen added member #kpop addition #enhypen oc #oc kpop idol #fictional idol oc #kpop female oc #fictional kpop oc #kpop oc #fake kpop idol #fictional idol addition #idol oc #fake kpop addition #fake kpop oc #a to z #kpop original character

[indouloureux]

What about some fluff where you and Joseph play a board game or do a puzzle together <3

i've been playing scrabble for the past week so i'm putting that here

joseph pouts at his letters, annoyed eyes flitting between the board and his tray. "is there such word as q-i-p?"

you shrug, arranging your own letters into words that you can muster. "i don't know. i'd say we google it but... it's against the rules."

he picks a letter up — u, placing it beside the letter q before he realizes he doesn't have an i or a z. "damnit."

"you know, it's just us playing," you raise your brows at him. "nobody's gonna know if we use google or not. it's not like we can form words when we search what word starts with q?"

"but that's cheating," he exclaims, laughing slightly. "you know i don't cheat."

you roll your eyes. "yeah yeah." say that to monopoly, your mouth wants to say. but you don't, because soon you'll forget the game and start talking about it. you take a small cube between your thumb and index, pouting at the blank square. "why don't you just skip?"

"we can do that?"

"duh."

"alright, i skip." joseph raises his hands. "i'm— my mind isn't functioning. your turn, love."

he places his elbow on the table, resting his cheek on his fist as he watches you choose a letter. joseph's eyes scan the word quill aligned horizontally, before they see you place the letters e-e-r beside the first L.

"leer," he reads out loud. "leer for?"

"six," you say. "it's a double letter."

"fuck,"

you chuckle when he writes the words down, knowing you're ahead of him from the way his points ranged between 3-5. joseph sets the pen down on the table beside the paper, frowning at his letters once more as you take out three new cubes.

too distracted from arranging your letters, you don't realize that he's forming something else that isn't connected to the words. you see i-l-y placed beside each other on top of the green board, making you look up to see his lips etched into a cheeky smile.

"i love you," he mouths, then winks. but you purse your lips and huff.

"i'm not forfeiting."

"you don't love me."

"honey, i do," you coo at his pout, his curls astray on his forehead that hide the wrinkles of his furrowed eyebrows. "its just funny that you can't accept the fact that i'm smarter than you."

small blurb before i go to bed

reblogs and feedback are appreciated <3

#joseph quinn blurb #joseph quinn x reader #joseph quinn x you #joseph quinn x y/n #joseph quinn fluff #joseph quinn fic #joseph quinn fanfiction #joseph quinn #blurb #eddie munson #eddie munson blurb #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfiction

[anangelwhodidntfall]

Intimacy Challenge: Day (17)

30 day intimacy challenge 

word count: 1.2k

Day 17: If you're feeling disconnected from your significant other, there's no better way to get closer than by planning a special night just for the two of you. And there's no rule that you have to go out and break the bank to enjoy a date night with your special someone. In fact, there's something really magical and sweet about planning an evening at home with your honey, whether you're having a marathon, indulging in a relaxing spa experience or anything really, the ideas are endless!

Jake:

He had worked tirelessly to plan the most romantic night at home for you two, figuring that you guys could have a date night at home tonight. So when he got home from his chores, he worked to make it more romantic setting up flower petals, candles, and dinner from Neytiri because he couldn't cook, and some romantic music to set the mood for when you got home. About twenty minutes later, he could hear you approaching you making him walk outside and greet you, which brought a smile to your smile.

"I missed you ma Jake." You said pressing a kiss to his lips.

"I missed you more pretty girl, in fact, I have a surprise set up inside for us." He said with a smile.

"You do?" You asked him with a smile.

"Follow me." He said taking your hand and leading you inside your home where you saw the date he had set up for you two.

"What's all this?" You asked looking at him.

"Figured that we could have a little date in. What do you think?" He asked you.

"I think it's beautiful. Thank you." You said turning and looking at him with a smile.

"You welcome, come on let's go eat." He said pulling out a chair for you before pushing it in for you.

Z-Dog:

You came to your exhausted wanting nothing more than to be in your girlfriends arms. You unlocked your room door and saw that it was set up like a movie theater making you smile.

"Hi my love, I've missed you so much." She said wrapping her arms around her.

"I missed you too. Are we having a movie night?" You asked her.

"We are. I've got all our favorites lined, some pizza, popcorn and candy. Now all is missing is your cute butt in those cute pjs I've picked out for you." She said lightly tapping your butt.

"Alright I'm going." You said with a giggle as you walked into the bathroom and changed into the cute pjs that she had laid out for you.

A few minutes later you walked out of the bathroom and over to the bed where she was laying on. She sat upon seeing you approach the bed.

"I swear you could wear a trash bag and you be the sexiest thing in here." She said giving you a kiss before making you do a small turn.

"Thank you, you don't look so bad yourself." You said to her.

She helped you onto the bed, where you snuggled into her side as she started up the first movie and you guys began eating the food.

"I love you." She said making you look up and see her with a love sick look in her eyes.

"I love you too." You said leaning up and pressing a kiss to her lips.

Neteyam:

His dad had shown him what board games were growing up and he then in turn had shown you them and it was one of your favorite things to do together. So tonight when his parents offered to take ya'lls daughter for the evening, he decided to set up a cute little board game date night for you two.

"What's all this ma 'Teyam?" You asked him as you returned from dropping your daughter off at his parents.

"I figured we could have a little date night in since we don't have our little princess." He said taking your hands and leading you towards the table where he currently had monopoly set up.

"Monopoly really? You do remember that I beat you every time we play right?" You asked him as you took a seat.

"Well see about that my love." He said pressing a kiss to your lips before taking a seat in his own chair.

You two spent most of the evening playing a variety of games where you each both won and then snacked on some food that he had prepared for you guys.

"Thank you for tonight Ma 'Teyam." You said to him with a smile.

"No need to thank me, my love, I was happy that  we got to do something together with our free night." He said.

Tarsem:

For your date night in, you and Tarsem decided to work on the scrapbook you two were making for your children. You two were currently shifting through some of your photos, laughing and talking about the memories in those photos.

"Wait a minute, where is this from?" You asked your mate seeing a photo of yourself that you don't remember.

"Oh umm...." Tarsem said blushing as he looked at the photo of you.

Even before you and Tarsem officially mated back when you were friends, he always thought you were beautiful, and more often than not you were his muse, so when they introduced cameras on Pandora, he often found himself taking pictures of you when you two would hang out.

"You were my muse back then as you are now." He said with a small smile.

"You're so cute, you know that?" You said looking at him with a smile as you pressed a kiss to his lips.

After working on your scrapbook for a little bit, you two decided to take a break and make something to eat. After cooking some food, you two sat near each other talking and eating and just enjoying each other's company.

Tsu'tey:

For you and Tsu'tey's date night, you two decided to do a spa day at home, complete with the full intention of relaxation. After bathing, you two were sporting mud masks which were a little tough to explain to Tsu'tey but he ended up allowing you to do it, and he really liked applying yours.

"I feel like Jake, the first time he fell off his pa'li." He said making you laugh at the memory.

"If it helps any, you are a lot more attractive than he is during that." You said as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to your lips.

After your timer went off on your phone, you both washed off your faces. You had just finished washing off your face when your stomach growled making you both laugh.

"Here yawne, you can eat while I do your hair." He said handing you a bowl of soup as you settled between his legs.

You ate your soup and talked with each other while he redid your hair, making sure to work through any knots gently careful not to hurt you. You finished eating and just sat there as he finished up the last few parts of your hair before placing a kiss on your shoulder.

"All done yawne, what do you think?" He asked handing you a mirror.

"It looks beautiful, thank you." You said pressing a kiss against his lips.

"You're welcome. Did you still want to do my hair or are you tired?" He asked you.

"Without a question, I want to do your hair. Now switch with me." You said with a smile as he settled between your legs and had to slouch a bit since he was taller than you.

#jake sully x reader #jake sully x you #neteyam imagine #neteyam x reader #neteyam imagines #tsutey x reader #tsu'tey x reader #zdog x reader #avatar zdog #tarsem x reader #tarsem x you #30 day intimacy challenge

[novamariestark]

OMG I just came across your page and read your Tallahassee fics and had to come say that they are so spicy, fun & amazing!!!! Please tell me you have plans to write more because you’re the best writer I’ve read for him 💕

I wanted to ask if I can request a bit of a comfort fluffy one if you like it where like in the first movie he reveals to everyone that Buck was actually his son so the reader ends up comforting him later and they make love telling him they won’t replace his baby but maybe it’s time they can make a new family of their own together.

Hello 😁, thank you, I'm glad you like my stories. I am in the middle of another one atm but I got multiple ideas on how to end it and I sometimes can't make decision to save my life 😂. I rewrote this a couple of times, trying to get it perfect. I hope it's somewhat close to what you were thinking x😊

𝐿𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒

Summary: During a game of Monopoly, you find out that your boyfriend lost the most important thing in his life. His son

Warnings: none

Word count: 1950

“Hey guys, look what I found,” you announced cheerfully as you skipped into the living room, where the group was gathered around the fire, their faces illuminated by the flickering flames. The room is dim, but the fireplace casts a gentle glow. You held up a box with a hopeful smile plastered on your face, revealing the game you had stumbled upon, “Wanna play?”

“Oh, Monopoly,” Columbus said, reaching up for the box with a smile. "Cool." He quickly opened the box to admire all of the little pieces, game tokens, Chance cards, Community Chest cards, and the big stack of Monopoly Money. He placed the box in the middle of the group and began unpacking the pieces.

"Wow," Wichita exclaimed, "I haven't played that in years."

“Dibs on the top hat,” you called out, shooting your hand in the air as if you were asking your teacher for permission to talk. Tallahassee smiled at your childlike enthusiasm, and you could feel his gaze on you as you eagerly awaited his response. After a few seconds, he silently handed you the top hat, and you took it with an excited expression. You quickly took the spot next to him, and his arm immediately wrapped around your waist. You felt the warmth of his body pressing against you, and you smiled as you settled into the spot that you would come to think of as yours. You had been searching for this feeling for a long time, and now that you had it, you felt happy and content. Tallahassee smiled as he kissed your head.

You each roll the dice, aiming to get the highest number that you can and to be the first to get to the fun and exciting places on the board. Wichita lands on Park Place and wastes no time, quickly buying it up and planning to build some houses. Little Rock, meanwhile, rolls a double, is thrilled to land on Boardwalk, and is lucky enough to be able to buy it before anyone else. On the other side of the table, Tallahassee gets sent to the 'Go' spot, collecting two hundred dollars and reminiscing on all the times that she has mistakenly ended up there before. Columbus, however, rolls snake eyes, revealing that it’s time to pay taxes.

Little Rock rolled the dice again and got a seven. She moved her token and landed on the Free Parking space on the game board.

“Oh, free parking, which coincidentally is the best thing about Zombieland,” Wichita points out, and you laugh before bringing your drink to your lips to take a sip.

“That’s a good one, but I think the best thing about Z-Land is no speed limit,” you replied, smirking. The statement echoed through the group, eliciting knowing chuckles. You were no stranger to the thrill of the open road, though your reckless driving had earned you a fair share of speeding tickets in the pre-apocalyptic world, which the group was not surprised about. Tallahassee rarely lets you drive anymore.

“Of course, you’d say that,” Tallahassee said with a chuckle. Columbus shook his head and Wichita was suppressing a giggle. Little Rock sat with a straight face, although you could tell she was amused. You grinned at them all.

“No, best thing about Z-land No Facebook status updates. You know "Rob Curtis is gearing up for Friday". Who cares.” Columbus added, rolling his eyes.

“Or ‘Already on my third cup of joe this morning!” You chimed in.

Tallahassee, with a playful twirl of the fork in his fingers, added, "The best thing is no more flushing, epic." His statement elicited a collective chuckle from you.

You shook your head at him and smirked. “Of course, you’d sat that,” you mimicked. You squeal as he brings his hand to your waist, giving it a light pinch.

"And the worst thing? About Z-land?” Wichita asked, her eyes grazing over the group.

“You mean other than the fact that I shot Bill Murray?” Columbus asked sadly, looking down at the board, looking for something to occupy his hands.

Tallahassee's gaze remained fixed on the floor as he spoke, “That's easy. Losing Buck,”

“That's his puppy.” Columbus told the girls, gesturing towards him.

“I tell you, I never thought I could love anything like Buck. The day he was born, I just lost my mind.”

“Sorry.” Wichita whispered, her voice heavy with regret at asking the question.

“He had my personality, my laugh, and my appetite,” he continued, the strain in his voice becoming more obvious as he was on the verge of crying. Then it hit you. The pain that was swimming in tears in his eyes, his actions, and his hatred towards the zombies It wasn’t a puppy they took from him. It was his son. Why did it take you so long to realize this?

His soft sobs that he fought to contain drifted through the air, reaching your ears. You felt helpless. You didn’t know how to make him feel better. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out something: “We made this wallet together out of duct tape."

He handed the wallet to you, and in it, you saw two pictures of a young blonde boy. You smiled. He’s adorable, or he was. Asshole zombies. You wanted kids. At least you did before the apocalypse started. Now it seemed like a bad idea. Even though you would love to have a family with Tallahassee. But you weren't sure if he'd want one with you.

“I haven't cried like that since Titanic,” he said, picking up a pile of money to wipe his tears. Tallahassee excused himself from the game and headed upstairs. You then excused yourself and followed him.

You softly knocked on the door before entering. “It’s only me,” you said. When you walked in, he was lying on the bed, hugging the pillow. You went to the other side and lay down beside him, facing him. “I’m sorry, baby."

You wished you could take away his pain, but all you could do was be there for him. You kissed his forehead, whispering words of love and comfort. You looked into his eyes, wet with tears, and saw the depth of his grief. You knew he had lost a part of himself—a part that could never be replaced. You wanted him to know that he was not alone and that you loved him more than anything in the world.

“I know nothing I can do can ever make up for that, but I love you, and you have me forever,” you whispered. Tears welled up in your eyes as you stroked his cheek, wiping away the trail of water left behind by his tears. You wished you could kill them all and wipe them off the face of the earth. You wished you could end this nightmare, this hell.

But you knew that was impossible. You knew that you were outnumbered and outmatched. You knew that you had to keep fighting, keep living, and keep hoping.

You tightened your grip on him, trying to convey your love. You kissed his cheek, his neck, and his shoulder. You whispered words of comfort. You told him that you were sorry, letting him know that you were there for him and you would be through anything.

He smiled weakly at you, squeezing your hand. He thanked you for being there for him, for being his rock and his anchor. He told you that he loved you too and that you were his everything.

He leaned in and kissed you softly and gently. He wrapped his arms around you, pulling you closer to him. He rested his head on your chest, listening to your heartbeat. He closed his eyes and sighed. He felt a flicker of hope in his heart.

You continued to stroke his cheek softly, basking in the warmth of his skin. His eyes fluttered shut, and his breathing was slow and steady. You couldn't help but smile at the sight of him, completely relaxed.

However, your mind was racing with questions and doubts. You had been through so much together, surviving in a world that had been torn apart by a deadly virus. The two of you had formed a bond that was unbreakable.

After a few minutes of internal debate, you decided to voice the question that had been weighing on your mind since you got together. "If the world wasn't the way it was, would you have a family with me?" you asked softly.

There was a moment of silence, and you felt your heart sink.

But then he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "Yes, I would," he said. "If we can find a safe place to set up camp and live, maybe we still can."

You couldn't believe what you were hearing, but it seemed impossible in a world where survival was the only goal.

"Do you really think we can?" you asked as his hand moving to rest on your stomach as if something was already growing in there.

He nodded with a determined look in his eyes. "I'll make sure of it," he said, pulling you close and kissing you softly.

As your kiss grew more passionate, you felt like the whole world around you had stopped. His hands slowly left your face and tangled into your hair. As our kiss grew more passionate and desperate, it felt as though time had stopped. Your lips intertwined, speaking what words could never express.

You knew that the future was uncertain, but with him by your side, anything was possible. Tallahassee had become your home, and no matter where you were, as long as you were with him, you knew that you would be okay.

***

9 months later.

You writhed in pain as you lay on your bed, clutching the sheets tightly in your hands. Tallahassee was kneeling by your side, offering words of comfort and support as he guided you through each painful wave. But despite your best efforts, you couldn't help but feel a seething anger building within you. As the minutes turned into hours, your frustration grew with each passing moment.

“God, I hate you!” You screamed at him, squeezing his hand as hard as you could, your nails digging into the rough flesh.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the moment arrived. With one final push, you gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Tears streamed down your face as you held your newborn in your arms, your eyes glistening with tears of joy, exhaustion, and overwhelming love. The tiny, fragile life you cradled in your arms represented a glimmer of hope in a world tainted by chaos and uncertainty.

You both gaze down at your newborn daughter, her fragile fingers clutching one of Tallahassee’s. You turned to him, his eyes reflecting a mixture of pride and tenderness, and asked, "What shall we name her?"

Tallahassee, who had been deep in thought, looked up at you with a twinkle in his eye. "I have the perfect name," he said, as his thumb gently stroked the back of your daughter's tiny hand. "Let's call her Dove."

A warm smile graced your lips as your eyes lovingly met those of your beautiful baby girl. "Dove," you whispered softly, "I love it."

And Dove it was. The name suited your little angel perfectly, with her delicate features and pure innocence. You both vowed to love and protect her with everything you had and to give her the best life possible.

With your precious newborn cradled between you, he gently leaned in, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead. “Thank you,”

You took his hand in yours and looked him in the eyes. “We’re not replacing him,” you told him seriously. He squeezed your hand and brought it to his lips, placing a soft kiss on the back.

[You can change the name if you want guys ❤]

#reader insert #female reader #tallahassee #zombieland #tallahassee x reader #zombieland fanfiction #zombieland x reader

[ipoxcky]

SQUAD 312 AND MONOPOLY HCS

canonically, it would take place at the end of chapter 7 of aurora burning. what if instead of frennet, kal, fin, auri and scar woke up z and ty, and the gang played monopoly?

finian would be praying to the maker each turn. he would always land in the community chest or chance between 3 hotels when he’s broke and he'd be like “maker, i’m not sure what i’ve done to deserve this, BUT THANK YOU🙏🙏🙏”

tyler would be a stickler for the rules. always enforcing them and then reading them verbatim whenever they got violated. he could SENSE whenever you landed on his property and owed him rent. HE WOULD FEEL IT BRO

tyler would almost own an entire color set—but scarlett would buy the last one missing and would refuse to give it to him bc she’s j evil 😭she’d always get what she wanted though because her deals would be perfect

zila would be like almost insane because she’d try to stop herself from calculating the probabilities of any one property being landed on and basically ruining the “game” aspect of it for herself…she would be the banker but even those calculations wouldn’t keep her at bay 😭

kal would be put on a team with aurora, and even after studying the manual for like two hours beforehand he would still whisper to aurora occassionally like “aurora, what is an ‘avenue?’” “i am not the best with syldrathi economics, let alone terran. however i am fond of war strategies. if this auction allows things to get physical, i will get us that property, be’shmai.”

“so, these false credits will allow us to purchase these false properties when it is our turn? we have to roll the ‘dice’ to determine those odds? well, fate can only decide that…that is the objective? i see. this terran game is quite fascinating.” (side note i’m so mad that i didn’t write this down as soon as i thought of it at 2am bc i had the PERFECT kaliis dialogue in my mind like it was so canon bro i’m fuming)

because auri’s from the actual time, she can make up any rules that she wants, so she just gaslights everyone and makes up rules as she goes “well, back in my time, people collected 500$ as they passed go. let’s play it that way. yeah, you could get passes on really bad rent if you strike a deal with the person. if you roll doubles you can roll again, but if you roll three doubles you go to jail.” 

#booklr #ya fiction #aurora's end #aurora rising #aurora burning #headcanons #kaliis idraban gilwraeth #tyler jones #aurora cycle #finian de seel #kaliis gilwraeth

[spoiledblog]

When playing boardgames like monopoly, which of the characters would suck at it and which would start their villainy era?

R: Cue their villain arc. They are both a sore winner and a sore loser.

Z: Probably not invested enough to be competitive or good at games like Monopoly. Don't play poker with them, though.

Kestrel: They'd be bored, but I can't decide if they'd be bored because they'd be ruthless enough to be really good and therefore find no challenge in it or if they'd be bored because they wouldn't care.

#the second sight #interactive fiction #character prompts #character asks

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Snippet from the next chapter of Mama’s boy

His eyes found a box covered in different colored dots. Twister. Just off of the packaging it had to be more fun than Monopoly. Spider held it up to show the group, eliciting a mix of laughter, mischievous smiles, and ambivalent looks. Quaritch shook his head, “I don’t think that’s a good idea, tiger.”

Spider glanced between the man and the colorful box confused. “Why? How do you play?”

“It’s just a very physical game. You could get hurt if you played with the others.” With the others, already implying to Spider that Quaritch wouldn’t be participating.

Spider shrugged, “So what? I grew up rough housing with Na’vi.”

“Na’vi children,” Quaritch amended. Spider was big for a human and because of that wasn’t that much shorter than his friends. But the recoms? They all had a minimum of two feet on the kid. And most of them still weren’t as cornatated as they used to be when they were human.

“Spidy can spin the wheel,” Ja said, taking the box from Spider, moving to an open space to spread out the game mat.

“You're not seriously going to play this are you,” Z asked, judgment written across her face as she took in the tiny human sized mat.

“You bet your ass I am! It’ll be hilarious! Now who is brave enough to play with me.” It took some work but Ja was able to convince Mansk and Lyle to join him, Prager and Z lining up seats next to Quaritch and Spider to watch the impending disaster. Spider was handed the multi colored wheel, with instructions on how to shout out directions. With a flick of the plastic arrow he called out “left hand on yellow.” The three men complied, instantly making Spider see how this was going to be a shit show, their long limbs looking ridiculously oversized on the tiny mat.

They quickly became entangled with each other. Mansk and Ja were displaying some impressive feats of strength and flexibility, while Lyle was stuck in an unfortunately compromising position. Spider was cackling so hard he had to pass his wheel spinning duty off to Quaritch who was doing a very good job of pretending to be unamused by the whole situation. Z and Prager were sarcastically cheering on the sidelines.

“Right foot on red.” The trio collectively groaned. Their right feet were across the mat on green.

“Mansk, y’a gotta go first man,” Ja said, panting with the effort of holding his position. Mansk grunted his answer, straining to pick his foot off the ground. He slowly but successfully moved his foot into position. Ja followed suit struggling just as much but ultimately succeeding. Then it was Lyle’s turn. The man had to practically do a handstand to move his leg over his comrades without accidentally kicking one of them. His foot hit a red dot hard, sliding on impact. A ripping sound echoed in the room, as the mat split in two, causing the three men to fall in one big pile. Everyone on the sidelines, including Quaritch, roared with laughter.

“Way to go Lyle,” Mansk shouted from the bottom of the pile.

“I slipped!”

“Get off of me you bald bastard.” Ja yelled, flailing helplessly in the middle of the tangled bunch.

So much for Twister

#miles spider socorro #spider socorro #colonel miles quaritch #miles quaritch #avatar fanfiction #recom lyle wainfleet #recom ja #recom mansk #recom zdog #recom prager

[starlightandetherealshadows]

ROs hobbies?

Hi lovebug! ✧˚ ༘ ⋆｡˚

I was SO excited for this ask, I love talking about the RO's hobbies and life outside of this hellish invasion. I've mentioned some of this stuff before, but I like having it all in one place. So thank you, sweet one! -`♡´-

♡ Ayana/Adriel:

A is a talented mechanic. When they had free time (rare for doctors but ya know), they would work on fixing cars. They have a motorcycle that is their pride and joy. It was going to the scrapyard, but A decided to pour time and money into getting it in working condition. I mentioned this before but A loves reading mangas and watching anime! A will blush if you talk about this, but A was a theater kid. They can't sing, but they used to act their asses off in the school plays. A is into rock-climbing!

♡ Zero:

Both male and female Zero grew up doing ballet and gymnastics. And they were good at it, like really fuckin good. Zero used to get bullied in school quite a lot, esp male Zero bc the whole "ballet is for girls" nonsense :( They can also sing (but they're shy about it) and they're a talented artist. Painting is their favorite art medium, but they also use their sketchpad a lot when they don't feel like getting paint everywhere. Z is good with little magic tricks involving sleight of hand (considering they used to make a living conning people....)

♡ Veronica/Vincent:

V is a classically trained cellist, but they don't have a cello on them, unfortunately. They're a voracious reader, which they bond with X over. V doesn't have their driver's license, so they used to skateboard everywhere. V did martial arts for many years, and has a plethora of gold medals and trophies from it. V likes photography too, and was on the cross country team in high school.

(of course, with V's memory loss, they can't remember much of this. It's a fuzzy memory of having certain skillsets, like riding a bike after years and realizing that you still know how)

♡ Cecelia/Chase:

C used to work in a bakery, so you can imagine how good their house used to smell. Other than baking, they used to collect baseball cards with their father and play baseball/softball themselves (D1, they're talented!) C can do tiny stick and poke tattoos. C knows how to do origami! They leave little paper objects and animals all over the safehouses, much to the amusement of the others. They know how to surf from summers spent on the beach.

♡ Xa'eks/Xa'veed:

X is really good at archery. They used to have little competitions with their siblings back on Nion 8. They're also really into plants and bugs, collecting and identifying them. When they first landed on Earth, X was so excited to explore and catalogue all the different types of foliage/insect life. X has quite the blooming garden in the alien's central city. They love classic literature. You can find X and V having heated literature debates that may involve screaming and cursing and threats of violence. X also loves board games and was fascinated by the idea of Monopoly. X likes puzzles, and that's how they passed time while waiting for, you know, their conquer-Earth orders for the day.

*see now I HAVE to write about the group playing a game of monopoly together.*

Thank you again for the fun question, anon!!!

All my love,

Cheye

#choicescript #choice of games #cog #ask: css #ask: answered #ask: RO

[beneaththeplanetofthebatmans]

New charcters in FF7 remake games, rated:

Chadley: 3/5, A Type of Alphinaud, I have much experience dealing with his type of insufferable preteen knowitall attitude.

MAI: 4/5, I hope she deletes Chadley

Broden: 4/5, get better soon :)

Roche: 0/5, I hate this motherfucker. Please leave me alone.

Rhonda: 3/5, she doesn’t have enough lines and her judgment is suspect but I like her style

Kyrie: 1/5. I only have room in my heart for one failson, and that’s Johnny.

Johnny: 5/5 I hope he’s found dead in Miami

Chocobo Sam: 1/5 I like making fun of this guys PS3 style but I also think he sucks and I don’t trust him. His monopoly on Chocobo rides in Midgar sucks.

Madam M: 4/5. What is this lady’s problem.

Andrea Rhodea: 10/5 no notes

Gen Z Pokemon Trainer Card Girl: 3/5 Cool design.

Bill: 1/5, I didn’t play Intergrade but I had to give him 1 point for being an old man with swooshy anime hair

Bill’s Grandchildren: 3/5. Pretty normal but I think the boy is going to sell my organs on the black market.

General Kevin or Garrett, I already forgot his name: 0/5. Some kind of backstory villain for Rufus?? Walks barefoot?? Died?? I feel like this game is going to try to flesh out Rufus given in the old game Rufus disappeared for 90% of the game before rescuing you in the last act. So I can see why they want to make sure he doesn’t just disappear from the plot. But I don’t like this guy and his motivation is ????

#rebirth spoilers #kinda

[harveyb-wabbit92]

[Z curiously watching Akari, Zero and Taiga set up a game of Risk.]

Z: How do you play?

Akari: Risk is a game of global domination. Roll your dice and move your armies. Whoever gets the highest dice roll wins. The loser loses an army.

Zero, talks faster: Whoever gets the second dice roll wins and the loser loses and army.

Taiga: Draw a matched set of three Risk cards for additional armies.

Z, whose only ever played life or monopoly:.. where do I set my hotels?

[cut to later Seven joined the game.]

Z, to Seven: Let's get it on bitch, I'm attacking you in, uh, in Chinatown.

Seven, ignoring the bitch jab: I don't have any armies in Chin-.... Z. You're in China.

Z: Oh, then I'm attacking myself in Chinatown.

*everyone groans*

[Cut to a while later...Glenfire ends up playing after Seven gets dragged off by Zoffy. ]

Zero, to Glenfire: 6 beats 4. Get the hell out of my country.

Glenfire, fuming: That does it!

Zero: You are too headstrong young Glen, I'd thought you'd be used to losing by now.

Taiga, wearily: hey take it easy guys. You wouldn't want to...

Glenfire: MAGIC MISSILE! [Starts grabbing game pieces and throwing them around.]

Akari: NOOOOOOO!

Glenfire, Still throwing game pieces: MAGIC MISSILE! DIE ZERO! DIE! MAGIC MISSILE!!

Taiga: You idiot! You're killing yourself too!

Akari: We'll all be spread out so thin that the only person who could possibly win would be...

[Everyone look to Z who had fallen asleep halfway through the game and is drooling over South America.]

Z, after he woke up learned he won: I'm the greatest! I'm the Risk champ. Hooray for everything!

Zero, Akari and Taiga, dully: Yay....

#S: undergrads #ultraman incorrect quotes #tokusatsu incorrect quotes #tokusatsu #ultraman #ultraman taiga #ultraman zero #ultrawoman oc: Akari Yuri #ultraman zett #ultraseven #ultraman zoffy #glenfire

[the-real-things-tournament]

0.5mm Pencil Lead

2002 Honda Civic

320 Pack Glitter Gel Pens

A Blunt

A Candle That Smells Like Fragrant Evergreens

A Copy of "The Book Thief" (2005) by Markus Zusak

A Daisychain

A DVD Copy of Over the Hedge (2006)

A Train

Ace of Spades Playing Card

Adderall

Adipose Plushie

Adorable Cow Creamer

Airpods

An Innumerable Amount of Lost DS Styli

Animal Shaped Rubber Bands

AP French Exam Packet

Argon (The Element)

Aviator Goggles

Baguette Body Pillow

Battery

Bead Maze

Beaded Curtain

Beanbag Chair

Bed

Beehive

Best Rock

Big Drinking Fountain

Black Out Curtains

Blanket

Blue Jeans

Blåhaj/Ikea Shark

Bread

Bright Orange VHS for the Rugrats Movie

Broken Alarm Clock

Bubble Toy

Bucket

Bur Oak Tree

Buttons (for clothes)

Can of Beans

Cast Iron Pan

Cat Collar With Bell

Chalk Boards

Cheese Grater

Chew Necklace

Chicxulub Impactor

Claw Hairclip

Clip-On Earrings

Clock

Coconut Broom

Colored Fairy Lights

Comically Oversized Lollypop

Construction Cone

Contraception

Crane Machine

Crayons

Dead Baby Possum Killed by Chihuahua (RIP)

Digivice V-pet

Dildo

Dirigible

Dirty Glass Bottle You Find In The Woods

Disinfecting Wipes

Dice

Dragon Ball Z Volume 4 (Manga Paperback)

Drinking Bird Desk Toy

Earth

Egg Slicer

Elementary School Yearbook

Empty Pizza Box

Every Basket

Every Knife

Eye Mug From a School Ceramics Sale

Fake Dictionary Lockbox

Fancy Showerhead

Fantasia 2000 VHS Tape

Fencing Mask

Ferrofluid

Finger Cymbals

Finger Cymbols

Fingerless Gloves (made of wool)

Flower Bush By The Pavement On The Street

Four Seasons Puzzle

Froggy Chair

Furby

Furby

Garden Gloves With Claws

Garlic

Gendang

Generic Paw Of A Monkey

Geode

Glow in the Dark Celing Stars

Glow Stick Liquid

"god i wish that were me" Screenshot

Golden Acorn Statue

Googly Eyes

Guitar

Half An Onion

Halloween Skeleton Decoration

Hand Mixer From The '60s

Haunted Callie Calamari Doll That Drinks All Your Pepsi and Calls You a Bitch

Heart-Shaped Glasses

Holly the Dragon Beanie Boo

Homemade Hand Sanitizer

Hurdy Gurdy

Ice Cube

Ice Maker

Japanese 5 Yen Coin

Kids Watercolor Set

Kitchen Sink

Knockoff Garfield Plush

Knäckebröd

La Croix Sparkling Water Pamplemousse

Late Night Infomercials

Lavender Scented Candle

LEGO Spring 2007 Catalog

Lightning McQueen Crocs

Lindt Gold Bunny

Lint Roller

Lip Smackers Watermelon Chapstick

LNER Peppercorn Class A1 60163 Tornado

Lobster Ornament

Loch and Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster Ladles (one solid, one with strainer holes)

Loofah

Lun-Class Ekranoplan

Mammatus Cloud

Manatea Tea Infuser

Meat Cleaver

Meat Tenderizer

Mechanical Pencil

Microscope

Microwave

Mini Cuban Flag on Plant

Mini Fan

Monopoly Dog Piece

Mop

NA Mazda Miata (Specifically With Googly Eyes)

Native American Fire Opal Blade

Nebula

Nokia Phone [phone])

Occlupanids

Old Faithful

One Crouton

One Flavor Blasted Cheddar Goldfish

Onion Chopper/Mini Food Processer

Opalized Fossil

Oumuamua

Our Sun

Paint Tube

Palm Leaf Rose

Paper Crown

Paper Leaves

Paracetamol Tablet

Pencil

Pizza

Plastic Lightsaber

Plastic Play Food Set

Polly Pocket Website (circa 2005)

Popstar Microphone

Potato

"Previously on X-Men" (YouTube Video)

Rainbow Desk Lamp Christmas Gifted By Aunt

Rainbow Pride Flag

Red Bouncy Ball

Rice

Rocking Horse

Roller Skates

Rounde (Sheep Plush Adored by Friend Group)

Rubik's Cube

Russian Nesting Doll

Salt and Vinegar Chips

Sand-Filled Frog Toy Named Floppy

School Chair Attached To Desk

Screwdriver

Seattle Space Needle

Seki Edge Nail Clippers

Sewing Pin

Sharpie

Shoe Insoles

Shoelaces (From The President)

Silver Hoop Earrings

Simply Southern T-Shirt

Single Macaroni Noodle

Siren Percussion Instrument

Slap Bracelets

Sliced Bread

Slinky

Slip N' Slide

Slotted Spoon

Snowman Headband

Solar Eclipse Sunglasses

Soviet-Era Apartment Complex

Spamton Plush

Sparkly DND Dice That Look Like They Should Be Edible But Aren't

Spoon

Squirmles

Squishmallows

Squishy Water Tube Toy

Stained Glass

Stand-Up Bass

Starbucks Coffee Cup

Steel/Metal Pipe

Stick (From the Ground)

Stop Sign

Stuffed Animals

Styrofoam

Subway Employee Hat

Swiffer

Tamagotchi

The Bible

The Demon Core

The Entirely Of Wikipedia Printed Out

The Giant Canadian Rubber Duck

The International Space Station

The Internet

The Kaaba

The Milky Way

The Mona Lisa

The Moon

The Spinx

The Statue Of The Shoe That Almost Hit George Bush

The Tiny Jack Hiding In The Wall Of My Trunk For When I Have A Flat Tire

The Transistor

The Voynich Manuscript

The Wheel

The World Trade Center (WTC)

The Zener Diode

Theremin

TI-84 Graphing Calculator

Tofu

Tom Scott's Best Thing Survey

Torn Apart Skunk Dog Toy

Trans Flag

Tumblr Anon Hatemail

Tungsten Cube

Two Paper Cockatiels On A Wire Stand On My Desk

Umbrella Hat

Unicorn Pillow Pet

Vicks Vaprorub

Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers Painting

Vintage Railway Poster

Walkable City

Water

Water Bottle

Water Snake Wiggler

White Boards

White Out

Wind Chime

Wings of Fire Slightly Used Coloring Book

Wireless Headphones

Working McDonalds Ice Cream Machine

www.hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com

Xbox 360

Yoga Ball

Yu-Gi-Oh Cards

Zipper

Ōdachi

#info stuff #prep stuff #the real things tournament

[peridot-tears]

I think a lot about how US-centrism is a really big thing, and something we USians commit whether we are conscious of it or not -- because, quite frankly, no matter how much we proclaim to dislike our country or want it to change, or straight up just want to leave it behind, it's already been deeply intertwined into our personalities.

But there's also that other factor where when it comes to fandom, we end up writing AUs set in the USA, because, well...that's still our home? That's what we're familiar with? So of course I want to play around and reimagine WangXian as diaspora Chinese growing up in New York, just like me. I think it'd be really funny to reimagine Arno as an exchange student who has to deal with NYU kids out here (I pity the man, NYU is an elitist nightmare). And if Tumblr is a US-based site, where most of us end up gathering, that's just math, right? There are going to be a lot of USians here writing about our experiences in this country, because they're the things that immediately affect us the most.

I don't think it's inherently bad to want to reimagine characters in the world we personally live in, but we do have to ask ourselves some hard questions about why we want to take these characters and put them in a setting that we are comfortable with. Would we appreciate them all the same if they were in a setting unfamiliar to us?

And if we were on a non-American site doing the same thing, and the people on that site got mad at us, how would we react? We have to be honest with ourselves.

Also, HUGE disclaimer:

This is not permission to whitewash characters.

If you're writing an AU with characters of non-American origin, do your research on their cultural norms.

Also, the USA is the "melting pot" or whatever the fuck you wanna call it, right. So is this character going to be an immigrant, a tourist, a tenth-generation American, or a second-generation American from another country's diaspora?

*Or are they Indigenous? In which case, what nation are they from, did they grow up on the rez, elsewhere, and what relationship do they have with their family and identity?

We should still think outside of our country. Realizing and acknowledging that we are raised to be ignorant of the world, and that our country holds a cultural Monopoly (i.e. our fucking media and entertainment are EVERYWHERE, and my roommate from Vietnam knows iCarly as well as I do, and I know someone from Nigeria who grew up on Johnny Bravo, just to name a few examples) are only the first step. We need to deprogram and see the rest of the world as a place that exists outside of us while still being affected by just how sprawling our influence is.

My personal experience:

I'm an immigrants' kid who grew up among other immigrants' kids in New York (note, I say "immigrants' kid," meaning I am explicitly not saying we immigrated, only that our parents did. People assume I came here just because I'm not white, which is some racist bullshit).

I have lived on other continents.

MDZS is easy for me because it's my culture. I've written them as diaspora Gen Z kids, Chinese people who grew up in mainland cities I'm familiar with, and in the canon Ye Olde China (Tang-dynasty-ish, but also a Ming-dynasty AU) setting.

I write French Frye in modern-day Paris and London very easily because as a USian, we're taught that "world history" is just "Western and Central European history." We're a Eurocentric society. Also, I've been in those cities and know people from there.

I struggle with writing Ratohnhaké:ton even though he is literally Indigenous to the land I grew up on (Kanien'kéha:ka were from upstate New York, just a day's drive from me, before colonization forced them to move further north). As a USian, that means I was taught the colonizers' attitude towards Indigenous folks, and despite all my research and talks with Indigenous folks to learn to be better, I will eventually trip up and accidentally say something racist or culturally offensive.

This isn't going to stop me from writing fanfic about him, but I'm gonna do my due diligence and consider the circumstances he would be in in a modern AU.

Yes, I want to write a modern-day AU where he goes to China and trains with Shao Jun, because I'm Chinese and I think that would be neat.

When I read modern AU MDZS fanfiction, I can tell who's not Chinese when I read about WangXian living in a house in China. I cannot emphasize how different the apartment-to-house ratio in most major Chinese cities is from the USA. I don't find it offensive, it's just a really strong tell.

If you're writing an AU set in NYC and there isn't a single "yerrrr" in it, you've already outed yourself (this is a joke).

#idk what this is #issa rant #tears falling like peridots