I have watched grown adults shaking and crying from checking their student loans. Who are asking God and me and whomever is listening - how is it possible I have paid off more than double of what I owe and I still have the entire amount left to go?
I have watched people look at me and cheerfully report that the medical debt is too severe, that they will never be free from it, that they don't even bother buying potentially life-saving meds because they simply can't afford it. More than once I have heard the phrase - it's fine, I'll just die, I guess.
And at the end of the day, either you are okay with them dying too, or you are angry about it. You think you are free? What freedom comes from owing money? It is nice that is always our own faults; 18 and signing over our entire lives to a government that blames them for existing. It is an honor to die for your country. It is my fault when I am crushed under the white heel of poverty. You are not a serf, right? You have freedom of choice. And a beautiful life.
"Taxes," he says. "Nobody is getting my fucking money. I made it myself fair and square."
Insurance doesn't cover my illness because it is preexisting. I am told it will be 500 dollars to even see the doctor today. She informs me the damage is permanent. "Out of network," she says when I press, "You're looking at a starting twenty thousand." I tell her thanks. I will make an appointment later, I say, but I am not making that appointment. I am not going back. I do not have, categorically, twenty thousand. I make my choice as if I have any.
"I did the right thing," she says to me, desperate, sobbing. "I went to school! I worked hard! I have paid 120 thousand dollars! For a single college degree!"
...I was just fired without warning because of ableism, after being repeatedly reassured that accomodations would be made and leniency would be given due to my illness
I'm so shocked and betrayed and just. Kind words would be nice. I'm already in debt, this job was my way out.
My undergrad university was ~$25k a year. My sister’s undergrad university was ~$40k a year. My law school was about ~$90k a year (I did get a scholarship which brought it down to ~$60k a year). My sister’s grad program is ~$12k a year. That is just tuition… Extra stuff like textbooks, parking fees, rent, and other living expenses aren’t included.
AND IT GETS BETTER! All government subsidized student loans have a 4-8% compounding interest rate that accruing the minute you take them out, not just after you graduate. So not only do you have to worry about paying off your principal, you also have to worry about the interest your loans are accruing while you try to pay them off. And that’s just government loans… I am not even going to get into what the students who take out private/bank loans have to deal with because it gives ME anxiety tbh, and I don’t even have any!
I was extremely lucky that I came out of undergrad debt free, so I only have to worry about my law school loans. But I have friends who came out of law school with about ~$250k to $300k in student loans from undergrad and grad school to pay off.
i did just see AZRIEL bustling through the halls, he is a GUARD for HOUSE BARATHEON. his loyalties lie with POPPY BARATHEON & HIMSELF, and i have heard that he can be QUIET but others have said he is OBSERVANT & LETHAL, maybe he will make it out of here alive
Alright tis Kitty - introducing my fifth baby. I am very excited about him and I hope you enjoy him just as much as I do.
Azriel was raised alongside two others (unrelated) by a gruff man who made a living off of the favors he sold. It was made clear from day one that this man was not his father and that the three children had been sold as a payment of a debt their parents owed. In turn, they would need to work for their freedom. But everyday they slept beneath a roof, were fed and clothes added to the debt they owed.
The man they were raised by was more a criminal then an honorable man, but due to so many looking the other way, many thought him to be respectable leader within their community. His business was conducted in the dark - shady deals and unthinkable favors granted to anyone who was willing to pay the price ( one that remain unnamed, but often came later and with a heavy interest ). For this reason, the people who worked for him had seedy skill sets ( from thieves to trained assassins, they were all lethal ).
Originally, the three children competed - each trying to quickly pay off their debt to be free - but when the task proved to be made all the more difficult, they learned to work together.
Over the years, they found themselves each being trained in something particular ( a lure for men, a thief, and Azriel a trained killer ).
Each forgot their debt overtime, falling into a comfortable pattern of life - one made easier when they were frequently paid with heavy bags of coin.
At twenty five - when the man who’d raised them was contemplating selling one of the two women he’d been raised with for a pretty coin ( a move he deemed would pay off her debt despite the fact that she would become property of someone else ) - Azriel used the first blade gifted to him by this man to slit his throat. The action set a hefty bounty on his head, and he was forced to flee. His two companions took the opportunity and followed him.
Escaping onto a boat bound for the seven kingdoms, the three arrived with nothing but the clothes on their backs, a singular blade between the trio, and a set of skills that had no place within such a land. They tried to find a comfortable place to live but nothing ever really felt like home. Occasionally stealing food or bread, the trio was near starving when they entered the border of the Stormlands.
Due to lack of strength and a mind more focused on food then on the skill set that had become second nature, he was caught stealing was set to be dragged before the Ruling Lord Baratheon when he and his escort were intercepted by Poppy. She’d taken one look at him and demanded his release. And though he’d been ready to run the moment he had the chance, she dragged him to the kitchens to be fed and offered employment he couldn’t refuse.
Fetching his two companions, the trio settled into Storm Ends - each taking upon a job and agreeing to spy & gather any information they deemed necessary before reporting it back to the Baratheon girl. Their agreement was that they could leave whenever they pleased, something Poppy agreed to willingly so long as they didn’t betray her prior to this.
Over time, Azriel settled in and found himself trusting Poppy - going so far as swearing his loyalty to her. She is now the third person he genuinely trusts.
Basics:
He earned the nickname of Shadow Killer while in Essos.
He’s from Essos originally ( he will not disclose the exact location so don’t bother asking ) but has been in the Seven Kingdoms for about nine years
He’s very quiet and observes more often then not? He’s not mean but will more likely make you uncomfortable by how blunt he is then anything.
Connections!
Give me the two he was raised with ( but discuss it with me because I have an idea of their relationship already )
People he’s met since his arrival in the Kingdoms? Maybe before he ended up with the Baratheons? Or when he traveled with Poppy?
For the request and shipping meme. Do you go in order on what you want to do? Or do you pick randomly or do something else?
For requests and Shipping memes I go in order of what I’ve got finished to a point where I feel ok with sharing them with the world. For comics, a lot of the time I have a bunch of sketches or lineart drawn out and I don’t really tend to share those anymore because I think that it’s important to you that I don’t clog up your dash with unrelated content. A lot of the time I will have things half finished but not be sure of where to go with things until later.
A lot of the time too I have ideas for longer things which will take more time and I still want to be making things. This can be a detriment for some of my OTPs because I have so many ideas and I want to do my favorite ships justice.
On the flipside, I end up drawing some of my OTPs more often than others. I went through a phase where when I was drawing in my sketchbook, my default not thinking drawings were of Merida and Elsa because I like drawing both of their hair a lot.
Occasionally I will have difficulties with drawing things (specifically this gave me trouble and I didn’t always have the skills to draw Ursula to a degree where I felt comfortable with sharing my results but I am actually really proud of how I can draw Ursula now) Additionally, if I know that I’m not sure what I want to do and I have a copy of the movies involved, I will rewatch them because I love having an excuse to watch Disney movies. Additionally, sometimes I am not fully in the know about shows because I haven’t seen them. (Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Adventure Time, a lot of anime) and so I have to wait to get access to these shows to actually make fanart for them.
A lot of the time I try not to bunch a bunch of the same character together because specifically with characters that are featured a lot (Elsa and sometimes Ariel) people can get tired of seeing the same people over and over again so if I finish something with Elsa then I try to not follow that immediately with another Elsa. I think that oversaturation can turn people off of characters/pairings that they might otherwise like and also not everybody likes every Disney character. In order to not wear them out/ make sure that there’s stuff for everyone, I try to make sure that I don’t repeat characters one after another.
If you want to rush your request to the top/make sure that I do your request/ have an extremely specific request, it would be really cool if you could donate money to me, because honestly, this takes the largest amount of stress off of me. I need money to pay off student loan debts and the last time I stayed in the hospital.
// unreasonably anxious, so no replies tonight, but I gotta vent a little under the cut.
I got a call a few times (3, starting last month over the course of every two to three weeks) from, after googling, seems to be a debt collecting firm. I haven't spoken to them as I either missed the call or in general don't answer calls from numbers I don't know.
Thing is while I do have some credit card debt after the holidays, it's nothing substantial, and I've never missed a payment ever in my life. They never leave a voice mail, they've never emailed me, never sent anything in the mail and have never texted me???
I checked my credit karma and pulled my experian report and all my accounts are in good standing and I have nothing reported to collections. So it's probably nothing, right???? but it's enough to make me stupid anxious. I scream.
