hot take possibly? but i actually think it’s okay for things to be marketed for adults. it’s literally okay if things aren’t suitable for children. i feel like we are losing the plot
Western passport holders will never understand. To go anywhere with a third worlder passport like a Filipino one, you need your tax returns, certificate of employment, bank statements, marriage certificates, sometimes a recommendation from a citizen of the country you want to travel to, everything possible to prove that you have a job and a family at home and you're not planning to be an illegal immigrant, JUST to get hit with a rejection because the embassy didn't believe you had enough proof.
Did you have travel plans? Already booked the plane tickets and hotels? Fuck you, better hope they issue refunds (they don't).
Americans and Western Europeans will never understand how insanely hard and bothersome it's to travel anywhere with a weak passport, let alone immigrate.
You want to study abroad? Show us proof that there is a quadrillion dollars in your bank account. Oh, an average monthly salary in your country is $400 and you plan to work when you arrive? You can't do that, silly, a student visa only allows you to work 2 hours every third Wednesday, and if we find out that you're working a second more we will deport you.
You want to work abroad? Better be a programmer, then of course you are welcome. Doctor, scientist, white-collar or, god forbid, blue-collar worker? You can fuck right off, your visa application goes straght into trash.
But if you marry one of our first-world citizens, then fine, you can come. Because we can't upset them, after all, they are a real person, unlike you.
EU Advice to people who have friends in places with weak passports- go to your department of foreigners and ask for something that called Formal Letter of Invitation or something similar. It usually is called something similar and costs a few euro/whatever currency you have. It will not be more than a fancy coffee at Starbucks or such place.
You will have to prove that you can afford a guest, have some income and also usually take responsibility for possible deportation cost.
But if you really are inviting a friend over, they will give you a formal document you can send to your friend. Then the friend applies for a visa while attaching the Very Official document with it. They will get the Schengen visa and most probably will get it expedited too.
It's some effort, but if it's for a friend it's worth it. And it's way less costly than the ridiculous loops the friend is being forced to go through and pay for multiple 3rd party services just to get a freaking visa for a month.
Also true of America—I don’t know whether you can get one written for you at an agency, but you can just write and send a letter yourself! A formal letter of invitation can speed up the B-2 (tourism visa) process immensely, it’s helped get my Georgian friend to visit after having been rejected twice. You include a number of specific details and send it either to your friend/family directly, to the relevant consulate, or both. Here are good templates to follow:
Sample Invitation Letter
Invitation Letter for B1/B2 Visitor Visa Application Priya Mehta 2789 Willowbrook Rd, Apt – 12C San Francisco, CA – 94115 Dear Consular Offi
i finished the audiobook in 4 days, saw the movie the day after, and have dragged everyone else i know into the Project Hail Mary pit by their ankles. so, y'know, i feel TOTALLY NORMAL ABOUT THEM!!!!
my drawings are a fusion of the book and movie aesthetically, but I decide to keep Rocky's little shirt + the horrible burn scarring of the "lets shove Rocky in the airlock to save him" scene.
i also designed this sticker, and if anyone wants to buy one, lmk:
2nd prompt down! It's satisfying writing and completing something even if it's small - maybe especially because it's small and I'm not putting too much pressure on myself.
(Am going to work on the other prompts this evening, but thank you those who sent them!)
So this one's for @otherships200 who requested:
NHS becomes sect leader while Nie Mingjue is still alive. Maybe it could be before his fatal Qi deviation and Huaisang somehow discovers the truth of it.😉 Then he makes Mingjue to take some kind of "spa vacation" where he heals. Meanwhile NHS will become acting sect leader. 😄 He is set on revenge and making Jins pay for what they did. I would love to see NHS in his strongest element like that, where he manipulates politics, sects and basically unofficially rules to get back at his enemies. And Mingjue is impressed by him.😁
I hope you enjoy!
~ ~ ~
Nie Huaisang dismounted his saber just before the entrance to Cloud Recesses. He nodded at the familiar disciples that stood at the gate.
"Nie-zongzhu," they greeted respectfully.
Ugh, how he hated being called that. A year and he still hadn't grown accustomed to it. He doubted he ever would.
He lifted the jade pendant at his waist despite knowing the disciples knew he had leave to enter. He'd learned it was easier to perform that same formality over and over again than to argue with the attending disciples that yes, Nie-zongzhu was allowed to enter, they'd seen him do it time and time again...
"They're in the cold springs," one of the Lan disciples said as Nie Huaisang was motioned inside.
He nodded.
Soon enough, he was winding his way through a copse of woods, following the sound of a guqin. He held back an instinctive shudder that only fully went away when he broke through the trees to see Lan Xichen by the water's side, playing for a large man partially submerged in the cold spring.
His brother.
"I'm back, Da-ge!"
Without stopping his music, Lan Xichen lifted his head to offer up a teasing smile. "Welcome back, Nie-zongzhu."
He pouted and sat at the man's side, leaning his head over onto his shoulder. "Er-ge," he whined. "stop calling me that."
"It's what you are," Lan Xichen countered, then winked. "Sang-di."
In the water, Nie Mingjue raised his wet arms and stretched. "Are we almost done, Xichen?"
A few more notes were strummed, and then Lan Xichen waved away his guqin. "That's good for today."
"And do you think I could train this afternoon?" Nie Mingjue's hopeful eyes looked half his age.
Lan Xichen's eyes turned down and he shook his head. "You're doing much better, but I still don't think it's wise to train more than once a week. The risk of qi-deviation is still quite high even after a year of treatments. Perhaps if there had been some indication as to what had been setting it off-"
Nie Huaisang and his brother traded subtle glances.
"-but since there wasn't, we have to work with what we have. And until I'm satisfied you won't get worse, I'm going to have to keep restricting your training."
Nie Mingjue frowned but nodded.
"Er-ge, could I have some time alone with my Da-ge?"
"Of course." Lan Xichen handed Nie Huaisang a set of robes, then gracefully rose to his feet. "If either of you need anything, you know all of Cloud Recesses is at your disposal."
Nie Huaisang stood up and held the robes out, keeping his eyes diverted as his brother rose from the cold water. Arms threaded into sleeves, then his brother turned around to finish wrapping his robes together. Nie Huaisang reached out to help him with his belt.
"You should still be Nie-zongzhu," he muttered as the last buckle was fastened.
"Have you burned the Unclean Realm to the ground yet?" He shook his head. "Then it's all yours." Nie Mingjue held out wooden comb that Nie Huaisang accepted.
Then together, they sat on the rocks, Nie Mingjue with his back turned to his brother and Nie Huaisang beginning to brush his hair.
"So, what news do you have?" Nie Mingjue asked gruffly.
"A bit, since I haven't seen you for almost two months." He pulled at a particularly tangled knot with the comb. "Do you want the 'I told you' news, or the 'Grab some soup and watch from a distance' news?"
His brother's shoulders moved in a shrug. "We both know you'll never resist an opportunity to tell me 'I told you so'."
He grinned. "Well, you know I've had Su Minshan watched since I figured out he was helping Jin Guangyao. My eyes in Lanling spotted something very, very interesting the last time Su-zongzhu went for a steam bath. It seems... he has all the visible signs, but none of the ill symptoms, of the Hundred Holes Curse."
Nie Mingjue groaned. "Just because Wei Wuxian didn't cast the curse after all, it doesn't mean he wasn't wrong for all of his wicked tricks."
"But Da-ge, if people were wrong about that, maybe they were wrong about other things. The Wei-xiong I knew-"
"Stop calling him that," his brother hissed.
He swallowed hard. It was an old argument, one they likely would never come to an agreement upon. He knew his brother was more worried about other people overhearing and thinking that Nie Huaisang had been an accomplice of the Yiling Laozu, but it still hurt.
"People can be wrong," he reiterated. "And from what I can tell, none of the Jin have any idea that Su Minshan was the one who cursed Jin Zixun – though I bet San-ge probably knows, considering how close they are."
Nie Mingjue ran his fingers over his temple. "All right, and the other news?"
He paused, setting aside the comb so he could begin separating out his brother's hair for a set of Nie-worthy braids. "All right, now I know you're righteous and have your code, but there are times when it's best to just sit back and do nothing, and let the universe establish its own justice."
"You're not reassuring me."
"Well, you know my friends at the Dusky Tortoise?"
"Are you really still going to that brothel? I thought you were going to get married and give us another heir."
He rolled his eyes. "I haven't even decided upon a wife yet, Da-ge. Anyway, I'm told that there was a call put out for several prostitutes who will be hired to attend some sort of secret event near Lanling."
Nie Mingjue frowned. "Doesn't Jin Guangshan usually prefer to keep it at three women or less?"
"Exactly."
"So it wasn't for him."
"Not necessarily... one of the names my contact mentioned sounded like one I'd heard San-ge say when he thought I wasn't listening." He twisted a newly made braid around on itself. "If my suspicions are right, then we might have a new Jin-zingzhu soon."
His brother's shoulders tensed. "Are you really telling me you're going to do nothing when you suspect a sect leader is going to be murdered?"
"I'm telling you that all I have are suspicions – including that the reason San-ge messed with the song of Clarity is because his father ordered him to get you out of the way. We both know the world would be a better place without Jin Guangshan in it." He let go of his brother's hair and leaned forward, wrapping his arms around Nie Mingjue's neck from behind and holding him tight. "Don't worry, San-ge won't go unpunished for what he tried to do. But if he can get his father out of the way, that's less work for me."
His brother snorted in laughter. "Of course you don't want to do any work. It's why you're doing all this bullshit instead of challenging them to a duel like a man."
"You and I both know I would never win a duel against anyone," he sighed, releasing his brother. "And that those in the right are rarely those who are strong and powerful."
He began pulling his arms back, but his right wrist was grabbed in his brother's tight grip.
"I know," Nie Mingjue whispered, "that might doesn't make right. If I could fight this for you-"
"But you can't," he whispered back, holding back tears as he remembered the way his brother had been at his worst, when Nie Huaisang had been terrified he would watch his brother die the same way their father did. "I have to fight for us, the only way I know how. It's why I'm Nie-zongzhu now, even though I hate it. A-Die must be rolling in his grave, horrified that I'm the one leading our sect now."
"He isn't." Nie Mingjue had never sounded as certain as he was in that moment. "He's proud of you, as are our mothers. As am I."
"Even if I'm scared?"
"Do it scared. Do you think I wasn't afraid when we fought the Wen-dogs?"
"And even if I do it in ways you don't like?"
His brother turned his head a little, giving Nie Huaisang a glimpse of his brother's dimples. "I'm just a disciple. Who am I to disagree with Nie-zongzhu?"
When Nie Mingjue called him 'Nie-zongzhu', Nie Huaisang could almost believe it.
"I don't mean to interrupt," Lan Xichen's voice came from above them, "but it's almost time for midday meal. You're both welcome to join us."
"We'll be right there," Nie Mingjue answered for them both. "Just after Nie-zongzhu finishes braiding my damned hair."
An affectionate squeeze around his wrist, and it was released.
And with a smile, Nie-zongzhu finished braiding his brother's hair.
