Tumgik
#like actually helping
flannelepicurean · 4 months
Text
Fic Excerpt: Holiday Rush
Okay. So. Not that long ago, I started finally doing a Coffee Shop AU in the DBZ space, and it got completely out of hand (like they do) and became a dystopian-humor meditation on corporate customer service work, with light smut. Also, the latter half of it turned into a Christmas/holiday special, because...it got completely out of hand, and by then, it made PERFECT SENSE for Frieza to put them under an insane holiday sales rush challenge with the abolition of the heinous indentured servitude contracts for Raditz and Vegeta as the year-end prize.
I have NOT finished the entire piece in time for this Christmas, because there is A LOT of it, and I hope to have it completed in time for next year.
But SWEET BABY GOKU IN A GODDAMN MANGER, I really, REALLY need y'all to come with me on the journey of "Goku's 'True Meaning of Christmas' Speech, and the Subsequent 'Spirit Bomb of Social Media' Event" moment. AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!😂😂😂
Here go:
Goku grumbles a fierce, “This isn’t right,” and turns off the blender.
Vegeta’s heart stops. The floor tilts. “Goku,” he pleads, “Goku, no...wait...don’t go! DON’T LEAVE US, GOKU!”
Goku marches out from behind the counter, heedless of Vegeta’s anguished wailing, strides to the center lounge, kicks a stack of magazines from a low, circular table in the Chipper Chat & ChillⒸ Zone, and leaps atop it. Waves to Puar at the DJ station, and raises his hands as a triple volley of air horn sound effects blares throughout the shop. 
In the stuttering hush that descends, Goku calls out, “WOULD YOU PEOPLE LOOK AT YOURSELVES?!”
“Goddammit,” Raditz whimpers into Vegeta’s hair.
“Chums,” Goku pleads, “this isn’t Chipper! This isn’t Cheerful! This isn’t holiday! Don’t you see what’s happening? Can’t you see what you’re doing?” 
A portly gentleman in the crush by the front snaps, “I’m trying to get a fucking coffee!”
Goku flings a double-underline of athletic arms and emphatic palms toward the counter, hits the customer with a heartfelt, “And they’re trying to give it to you! Don’t you understand?” He looks around at the crowd, reminds them, “A lot of you are regulars here! You know these guys! They’re YOUR guys! And you’re their Chums! But you’re not acting very Chums right now, you’re acting like dicks!”
Vegeta slumps forward, rests his forehead in his hands with a massive sigh, and Raditz follows, keening against the top of Vegeta’s head.
Goku explains, “Okay...you may not know this, but these guys are corporate wage slaves—and I mean literally, it is only just barely technically not illegal, but I’m telling you, I’ve seen the paperwork, and it is fucked up. But you know what? They still come in here every day—EVERY DAY—and try to give you a good experience!”
A green-skinned guy swathed in black, with heavy eyeliner and skull-shaped beads stacked up his antennae quips, “What about the pointy one?”
Goku raises an eyebrow. “Vegeta?” Sweeps a puzzled gaze over the crowd. “I mean, he’s always been pretty cool.”
A woman in a festive sweatshirt with blinking lights fires back, “OH, NO HE HAS NOT!”
Vegeta lifts a weary gaze and heaves a deflated “Hey, I’m trying, okay?” over the counter.
Goku points out, “And I’ve seen some really good comments on the customer satisfaction survey cards, so it seems like that’s working out, huh?”
A throaty voice only a little like Bulma’s calls out, “Yo, he didn’t even yell at that dude who just said he was shitty!” from somewhere near her position in the throng.
Heads perk up in the crowd. A ripple of chatter begins anew, with more question marks than exclamation points.
Goku’s fingers flex as though preparing to fly across a whole fleet of blender buttons. His frame begins a subtle bounce on the balls of his feet as he calls out, louder, “And Raditz assistant manages the heck outta this place! If you were in literal corporate bondage, would you spend extra time keepin’ it fun?” He throws a wide shrug at the assembled patrons, inquires, “Who here hasn’t enjoyed at least one wild specialty drink at Chipper Cup?” Aims a finger into the mass of holiday shoppers, rings out, “You! You there! Bro with the phone!” 
Vegeta’s voice clamors, “Yeah, please stop filming this, Phone Bro,” just as Goku continues, with twinkling zeal, “Didn’t you show up like a hundred times for the Cotton-Eye Joe?”
“Yeah,” the man answers, with a wry twist of expression that slews the crisp shape of his goatee, “that thing was gross as fuck, dude.” 
Goku returns a wilding grin. “But it was funny. Right?”
The man pauses, wide-eyed. Then drops his head and slips his phone into the pocket of his down vest with a contrite, “...Yeah.”
“And you started that viral video challenge because of it!” Goku chimes into the space. Demands, “How many new followers did you get from that?” and immediately steams on, “This is what I’m saying, people! The guys at Chipper Cup don’t just serve it up hot, and chill, and smooth, and whipped, and steamy, and—”
Vegeta snaps, “Goku!”
Goku shouts, “They spread cheer!” 
A bouncy co-ed with tinsel worked into her nearly floor-length twists, and a parade of glitter dazzling above her wide, dark eyes squeals, “And that’s the true meaning of Christmas!”
Goku pauses. Considers. Responds, “Well...kinda. But NO!” He whirls toward a new zone of the sales flow floor set, his face a grim citadel. “The true meaning of Christmas is CORPORATE CONSUMERISM. For the people you love!” He pulls his fists against his chest, presses the shoppers with his earnest insistence, “And everybody out here loves those two handsome, hardworking baristas back there... So come on and start corporate consuming so we can save their Christmas!”
The shop erupts in a resonant clamor of cheering. 
Goku raises his arms aloft, commands, “Faithful ChumsⒸ of Chipper CupⒸ! Lend us your social media! Reach out deep...far into your networks! Give us your hashtags! Post your selfies! Take pictures of your beverages! Send them to EVERYONE YOU KNOW! Boost our signal, Chums! Raise our Chipper Cheer Championship ChartⒸ levels! Like to charge! REBLOG TO CAST!” Phone cameras strobe and dazzle like fireworks as he bellows, “FILL THIS COFFEE SHOP WITH HOLIDAY SPIRIT!”
“Oh shit,” Vegeta mutters, a sheen of sweat catching crystal chill from the open door. 
Raditz grips his shoulders briefly, fires a determined, “We can do this, we got this,” and marches to the counter. Gestures for Bulma, instructs, “Stay close for a sec.” Snags Goku by the front of his apron as he jogs back toward the smoothie station, proclaims, “If we pull this off, you son of a bitch, I have no idea what I’m gonna do, but until then, no more wild cards. You gotta do exactly what I say, got it?”
Goku beams back a snappy, “Yes, sir!”
Raditz sweeps an arm over the full team, “That goes for everybody! We’re about to get the holiday rush of the century up in here, ‘all hands on deck’ doesn’t even begin to cover it! But we’ve all put in too much work, and we’ve come too far, and we’re this close, we’re this close, and we’re not gonna give up! And let’s be real—that was a great speech, Goku, but it’s gonna get ugly in here, and we gotta keep ahead of it.” He shakes his head, lays down a grave, “There’s no backup coming. There’s no clocking out early. We’re not gettin’ out on time, we’re not gettin’ overtime, or holiday pay, or any of that. We’re down to the wire.” He decrees, “This is it. But we’re a team. We can do this.” 
Vegeta’s features settle from apprehensive tension to a kind of thoughtful admiration. “You...you really are a hell of an assistant manager, Raditz,” he affirms.
Raditz looks over the gathering throng with grim determination. Squares his shoulders and rumbles, “Not tonight.” He vaults over the counter and stands tall in front of the milling crowd. Declares, “Tonight...I’m gonna manage!”
4 notes · View notes
tentacleteapot · 4 months
Text
solved the paradox of the ship of Theseus btw!! turns out the answer was “it depends”. hope that helps, have a good weekend everybody!
40K notes · View notes
mo-mode · 4 months
Text
AU where Mr. D claiming to be Percy’s dad accidentally counts as Claiming according to Greek god law or whatever and now all the other gods legitimacy believe Percy is his son, but if Mr. D corrects it, he has to explain to Zeus why he pretended he was Percy’s dad so now he’s like “YEP ol’ Perry Johansson is MY child wowie just look at the little fry, you have your mother’s eyes. Please stop standing next to water or you will blow my cover”
Meanwhile Poseidon is just standing off to the side like “how on earth did I dodge THAT bullet”
23K notes · View notes
inkskinned · 9 months
Text
because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.
you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.
you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.
don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.
if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.
you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:
how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!
aren't you happy yet?
46K notes · View notes
telltaletypist · 3 months
Text
the beatles are an infuriating band to me as a relentless contrarian. liking them is cliche, hating them is cliche, being indifferent towards them is cliche. it's impossible to have an novel or interesting take on the beatles in current year. like how am i supposed to win here?
20K notes · View notes
fremulon · 1 month
Text
forget Resting Bitch Face, I have Resting Competent Face. People see me and think ah yes she can point me to the nearest train station. Fellow grocery shoppers ask if I know what kind of butter they should buy. If a strange man speaks to me on the street it is literally always an inquiry and never a catcall. Once someone randomly asked me what an equinox was and after I told her she nodded and said "you seemed like you'd know." why am I assigned oracle at random interaction
9K notes · View notes
Tumblr media
THANK YOU. JESUS CHRIST THIS DRIVES ME INSANE EVERY FUCKING TIME BE NICE TO THE PSYCHROLUTES GOD
25K notes · View notes
theoldkyokodied · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
The Allegiance of the Ascended Vampire and the New God of Magic
14K notes · View notes
stoopidstapler · 9 months
Text
Tumblr media
SO IVE BEEN GOIN INSANE SINCE THIS TRAILER DROPPED. JUST. SIMON. SIMON. SIMON.
10K notes · View notes
stuckinapril · 4 months
Text
friend wanted to see my tumblr, and when i told him i can’t show it to him bc it’s basically my personal diary he went “oh so I can’t see it but a bunch of strangers on tumblr can??” he literally does not get me. no one will get me like the people in my phone get me
#It’s just so different#even though it’s public it still feels secret and safe. i feel comfy sharing a lot more on here than I do in my actual day to day life lol#in my head I’m also just speaking to myself 90% of the time which helps#if a friend off tumblr saw my thoughts I’d feel so weird ab it#esp bc they might get the vagueposting about certain situations and tell mutual friends#no thank u. this is for me. I’m not about to start censoring my thoughts bc someone I know knows my tumblr#u guys literally saw me have LIVE BREAKDOWNS#meanwhile I’ll have the worst fucking day in history and tell no one about it. I’m already cripplingly private but way more so in real life#this is basically a low stress journaling outlet for me. it’s so important for me to maintain the separation#like this is actually my diary & has been so handy for letting out emotions / articulating thoughts / staying on track !!#& I’ve met so many kind people on here who actually get me. which is so hard to find irl bc I’m surrounded by pre-med gunners/overachievers#who are by standard not very good w emotion & can be competitive/judgmental. or at least it’s hard for me to be vulnerable in front of them#and I’m part of that crowd so I reserve my emotions only to a handful of very close friends#it’s nice to hop on here and express negative emotions!! or positive emotions!! just whatever I want and it’s low stress and people get me#I don’t have to worry about judgment or competitiveness etc etc#like everyone on here is so kind & nice & understanding. & just a breath of fresh air from the types I run w. it’s just nice to have this#so idk that’s why I think I’ll always be strict about keeping the worlds separate. it just works#p
6K notes · View notes
phleb0tomist · 5 months
Text
tumblr users will have the most inaccessible, unreadable, low contrast, flashing carrd you can possibly imagine, with a dni full of insider acronyms with no translation and numerous link buttons labelled with cryptic captions, and then go ahead and put “ableists dni and kys!” on that carrd
6K notes · View notes
beybuniki · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
best friend with social anxiety
6K notes · View notes
ed-recoverry · 10 months
Text
To anyone who was suicidal at age 14 or younger, here’s your permission to grieve. Here’s your permission to not joke about it or just flat out ignore it. Here’s your permission to acknowledge that lost child who felt way more pain than any child should ever feel. You’re allowed to cry for that child, whether you healed or are still suffering the same thoughts. Finally allow yourself to grieve for that child filled with undeserved hurt.
10K notes · View notes
grimalkhiindi · 2 years
Text
I hate you shipping discourse I hate you unnecessarily aggressive DNI banners I hate you dehumanization of those you disagree with I hate you harassment over ships or favorite characters I hate you purposeful lack of nuance I hate you false equivalencies I hate you policing how people engage in fandom I hate you actively trying to make fandom spaces hostile I hate you refusal to filter your feed I hate you making it everyone else's problem
40K notes · View notes
inkskinned · 11 months
Text
the thing is that they're so fascinated by sex, they love sex, they can't imagine a world without sex - they need sex to sell things, they need sex to be part of their personality, they need sex to prove their power - but they hate sex. they are disgusted by it.
sex is the only thing that holds their attention, and it is also the thing that can never be discussed directly.
you can't tell a child the normal names for parts of their body, that's sexual in nature, because the body isn't a body, it's a vessel of sex. it doesn't matter that it's been proven in studies (over and over) that kids need to know the names of their genitals; that they internalize sexual shame at a very young age and know it's 'dirty' to have a body; that it overwhelmingly protects children for them to have the correct words to communicate with. what matters is that they're sexual organs. what matters is that it freaks them out to think about kids having body parts - which only exist in the context of sex.
it's gross to talk about a period or how to check for cancer in a testicle or breast. that is nasty, illicit. there will be no pain meds for harsh medical procedures, just because they feature a cervix.
but they will put out an ad of you scantily-clad. you will sell their cars for them, because you have abs, a body. you will drip sex. you will ooze it, like a goo. like you were put on this planet to secrete wealth into their open palms.
they will hit you with that same palm. it will be disgusting that you like leather or leashes, but they will put their movie characters in leather and latex. it will be wrong of you to want sexual freedom, but they will mark their success in the number of people they bed.
they will crow that it's inappropriate for children so there will be no lessons on how to properly apply a condom, even to teens. it's teaching them the wrong things. no lessons on the diversity of sexual organ growth, none on how to obtain consent properly, none on how to recognize when you feel unsafe in your body. if you are a teenager, you have probably already been sexualized at some point in your life. you will have seen someone also-your-age who is splashed across a tv screen or a magazine or married to someone three times your age. you will watch people pull their hair into pigtails so they look like you. so that they can be sexy because of youth. one of the most common pornography searches involves newly-18 young women. girls. the words "barely legal," a hiss of glass sand over your skin.
barely legal. there are bills in place that will not allow people to feel safe in their own bodies. there are people working so hard to punish any person for having sex in a way that isn't god-fearing and submissive. heteronormative. the sex has to be at their feet, on your knees, your eyes wet. when was the first time you saw another person crying in pornography and thought - okay but for real. she looks super unhappy. later, when you are unhappy, you will close your eyes and ignore the feeling and act the role you have been taught to keep playing. they will punish the sex workers, remove the places they can practice their trade safely. they will then make casual jokes about how they sexually harass their nanny.
and they love sex but they hate that you're having sex. you need to have their ornamental, perfunctory, dispassionate sex. so you can't kiss your girlfriend in the bible belt because it is gross to have sex with someone of the same gender. so you can't get your tubes tied in new england because you might change your mind. so you can't admit you were sexually assaulted because real men don't get hurt, you should be grateful. you cannot handle your own body, you cannot handle the risks involved, let other people decide that for you. you aren't ready yet.
but they need you to have sex because you need to have kids. at 15, you are old enough to parent. you are not old enough to hear the word fuck too many times on television.
they are horrified by sex and they never stop talking about it, thinking about it, making everything unnecessarily preverted. the saying - a thief thinks everyone steals. they stand up at their podiums and they look out at the crowd and they sign a bill into place that makes sexwork even more unsafe and they stand up and smile and sign a bill that makes gender-affirming care illegal and they get up and they shrug their shoulders and write don't say gay and they get up, and they make the world about sex, but this horrible, plastic vision of it that they have. this wretched, emotionless thing that holds so much weight it's staggering. they put their whole spine behind it and they push and they say it's normal!
this horrible world they live in. disgusted and also obsessed.
#this shifts gender so much bc it actually affects everyone#yes it's a gendered phenomenon. i have written a LOT about how different genders experience it. that's for a different post.#writeblr#ps my comments about seeing someone cry -- this is not to shame any person#and on this blog we support workers.#at the same time it's a really hard experience to see someone that looks like you. clearly in agony. and have them forced to keep going.#when you're young it doesn't necessarily look like acting. it looks scary. and that's what this is about - the fact that teens#have likely already been exposed to that definition of things. because the internet exists#and without the context of healthy education. THAT is the image burned into their minds about what it looks like.#it's also just one of those personal nuanced biases -#at 19 i thought it was normal to be in pain. to cry. to not-like-it. that it should be perfunctory.#it was what i had seen.#and it didn't help that my religious upbringing was like . 'yeah that's what you get for premarital. but also for the reference#we do think you should never actually enjoy it lol'#so like the point im making is that ppl get exposed to that stuff without the context of something more tender#and assume .... 'oh. so it's fine i am not enjoying myself'. and i know they do because I DID.#he was my first boyfriend. how was i supposed to know any different#i didn't even have the mental wherewithal to realize im a lesbian . like THAT used to suffering.
28K notes · View notes
uncanny-tranny · 4 months
Text
This might seem like an "old man yells at cloud" situation, but it's just wild growing up and being told how dangerous distracted driving is - how, at highway speeds, you can traverse the length of a football field (100 yards, 91 meters) in a matter of seconds - how one split second sending a text while driving could result in a potential fatal crash, and then getting on the road as a driver and being surrounded by billboards. Their entire purpose is to catch one's attention, so they're lining major roads, which tend to be highways. How is it that you're told how important it is to never be distracted while driving, but still being advertised to?
At best, this type of advertising is an eyesore to pedestrians and motorists and a general waste of electricity to light it, and at worst, it is an active danger considering they are there to advertise and therefore, must catch people's attention.
I'm not even against advertising in theory, but this particular mode bothers me so much and I hate how pervasive it is - especially in large cities or highways.
3K notes · View notes