I put the bi in bitch

Listen, Liu Qingge is a fucking cunt. He's blunt to the point of tactlessness (autism), arrogant as hell (deserved. Man can summon a tornado casually, I'd be arrogant too). He's 30% petty catty bitchiness, 30% ready to throw hands if you breath near him, 10% social skills of a fucking brick to the face, 10% honor code the size of the mountain, and 10% virgin asexual demi romantic idiot (affectionate). People see the honor code and they let it slide because he's a good sort, but my man is the equivalent of a feral badger someone brought to the fight club. Its a good thing he spends 95% of the time on night hunts off mountain or beating the shit out of his disciples or fighting Shen Qingqiu | Jiu, because if the peak lords had to spend actual time with him he'd be as fucked as Shen Qingqiu | Jiu. He's great .... In a very small dose moderation.

You think he was better as a teenager? Fuck no. He was worse!

Shen Jiu is just enough of a bastard to fight a middle schooler. Not to mention early disciple Shen Jiu? No filter, no training to be less of an asshole, spitting rage and poison due to recent very painful qijiu reunion bringing back up a lot of bad memories and hurt. On top of that he's spent 2-4 years with Wu Yanzi in his post Qiu trauma destroy the world era. He's at his worst, not yet taught to be refined, he's 100% a cunt too.

Anyways, imagine for a moment Liu Qingge [personally I like Zhilan for his birth name. Characters: 鸷 (Zhì - Bird of Prey / Fierce) | 岚 (Lán - Mountain Mist), but what do you think?] age 12 meeting Shen Qingqiu [Jiu] age 18 and they meet in like either a dueling tournament or just Liu Qingge picking fights as per usual. She Jiu definitely won, because he's a former street kid and demonic cultivator, he doesn't know the rules of competition fighting. Meanwhile Liu Qingge is probably a martial prodigy at this point, but bored by the lack of challenges, treated with kid gloves by older disciples, too used to competition fighting and too young to NOT be a sore loser. He definitely didn't expect Shen Jiu to break his nose and pull his hair and kick him between the legs. He definitely shouted about dirty tricks like a pissed off wet cat, then immediately resorted to following the only person who didn't treat him like a dumb kid/baby.

And Liu Qingge is young enough (and aroace spectrum enough) that he doesn't immediately set off Shen Jiu's trauma/hate-fear of men. That or he's pretty enough Shen Jiu thinks he's a girl. Honestly, either way, by the time it really registers to Shen Jiu that that kid he's got hanging off him like a particularly aggressive handbag is a man, it's too late he's already given too much trust to that one.

They bathe together (back to back, so no one or nothing can catch them unaware and vulnerable), they sleep together (taking shifts where one is night watcher and the other is safe to sleep guarded), they hang out on rooftops and gosip meanly about passerbys in a way that destroys self esteem, social standing, and will to live all at once. They actively heal each other and make each other worse for four years and then ...

And then the well mission...

But before that Shen Jiu definitely just throws out death threats when mildly annoyed and everyone probably feels the need to tell that socially blind kid that he 100% means that... How else do friends turn so fast if not for a slow poisoning?

And once that belief worms it's way into Liu Qingge head enough to accuse, that breaks Shen Jiu too. Because it's a betrayal on both sides. A betrayal of a perceived murder attempt, and a betrayal of trust/letting someone in only to be fucked over again. For Liu Qingge it's "I can't believe I was stupid enough not to notice the knife at my back all these years" and for Shen Jiu it's "I can't believe after everything you prove to be just as wretched as any other man". Not to mention of Shang Qinghua DEFINITELY exasperated that situation by spilling poison into the water, testifying that Shen Jiu 100% tried to kill Liu Qingge anytime anyone had reason to doubt.

You are correct @haley-harrison if they were friends someone would have mentioned it ... Unless the friendship doesn't manifest as traditional friendship. As far as anyone outside of the two of them is concerned the dynamic is more like...

Liu Qingge following Shen Jiu around yelling at him to fight him until Shen Jiu blows up and attacks him

Shen Jiu and Liu Qingge on the rooftop having a competition over who can verbally dismantle the most people until they cough blood. Unclear who is winning.

Shen Jiu is clearly bullying Liu Qingge to be annoying (he's doing something like reading poetry while laying across Liu Qingge back as Liu Qingge is doing pushups. so Liu Qingge has something to do to burn off the extra energy and he can do his homework in peace.)

The villain halo is too strong. No one really considered that friendship enough to mention it, just a calmer point in the lifelong rivalry.

That or it's just explained by Shen Yuan (SVSSS) being a terrible narrator or straight up oblivious and Liu Qingge just being too confused by how vastly different Shen Qingqiu | Yuan is in general, let alone how different this is to last time they were friends, that by the time he's over it Shen Qingqiu | Yuan is already married to Luo Binghe and bringing up they used to bathe/sleep together and roast the shit out of people for fun would definitely get his ass attacked by his husband and he unfortunately promised to try not picking fights with him.

Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.

So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.

But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.

It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?

So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:

Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.

And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.

So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".

So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.

My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.

Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.

Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.

Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).

Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues

According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.

Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.

For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.

Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life

Aaand a close-up:

HEY HI HELLO THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE

Yue Qi, dragging blood covered seething feral teen Shen Jiu to the Peak Lords: "this is Xiao Jiu, he is my friend and he saved my life and killed a demonic cultivator. Can we keep him? Pretty please"

Qing Jing Peak Lord, deciding adopting a malnourished teenager he literally watched on magical cultivator television kill several disciples and then his own master, like that's not going to stab him in the back: "dibs, lmao, this'll be hilarious."

Writes the name Xiao Jiu (not Shen Jiu, it's important for the hilarity) in the book where the disciples names are recorded ...but not the characters for Little Nine. Because of homonyms. Instead the book reads his name as 晓咎 (Xiǎo Jiù).

This character for Xiao means the dawn/daybreak or to understand. The character for Jiu means to fault/blame, or Misfortune/Disaster. Poetically his new legal name can be translated to "Dawn of Disaster" or "To Understand Misfortune". Very in character. But why is this funny? Its funny my friends because of this.

Disciple, waving cheerfully: "Yo, Xiao Jiu! Are you heading to the library?"

(Intent, respectful: "Greetings, Ominous Harbinger of Doom! Shall we study?")

Shen Jiu, stops dead in his tracks, fan snaps shut and his eyes narrow into slits: "Kill yourself."

(What he heard, insulting: "Yo, Little Trainwreck! Off to read some books?")

And, because of this ...For the rest of his life he is referred to as Xiao-shixiong or Xiao-fengzhu. He has to keep a straight face as he's basically called a hot mess to his face all the time and because he's never certain if his sect mates are calling him little senior brother/or our little peak lord or not.

And it's all Yue Qi's fault. Forever. It does not matter if the qijiu misunderstanding gets cleared up because Shen Jiu is going to kill him for telling everyone his name is Xiao Jiu.

Listen, Liu Qingge is a fucking cunt. He's blunt to the point of tactlessness (autism), arrogant as hell (deserved. Man can summon a tornado casually, I'd be arrogant too). He's 30% petty catty bitchiness, 30% ready to throw hands if you breath near him, 10% social skills of a fucking brick to the face, 10% honor code the size of the mountain, and 10% virgin asexual demi romantic idiot (affectionate). People see the honor code and they let it slide because he's a good sort, but my man is the equivalent of a feral badger someone brought to the fight club. Its a good thing he spends 95% of the time on night hunts off mountain or beating the shit out of his disciples or fighting Shen Qingqiu | Jiu, because if the peak lords had to spend actual time with him he'd be as fucked as Shen Qingqiu | Jiu. He's great .... In a very small dose moderation.

You think he was better as a teenager? Fuck no. He was worse!

Shen Jiu is just enough of a bastard to fight a middle schooler. Not to mention early disciple Shen Jiu? No filter, no training to be less of an asshole, spitting rage and poison due to recent very painful qijiu reunion bringing back up a lot of bad memories and hurt. On top of that he's spent 2-4 years with Wu Yanzi in his post Qiu trauma destroy the world era. He's at his worst, not yet taught to be refined, he's 100% a cunt too.

Anyways, imagine for a moment Liu Qingge [personally I like Zhilan for his birth name. Characters: 鸷 (Zhì - Bird of Prey / Fierce) | 岚 (Lán - Mountain Mist), but what do you think?] age 12 meeting Shen Qingqiu [Jiu] age 18 and they meet in like either a dueling tournament or just Liu Qingge picking fights as per usual. She Jiu definitely won, because he's a former street kid and demonic cultivator, he doesn't know the rules of competition fighting. Meanwhile Liu Qingge is probably a martial prodigy at this point, but bored by the lack of challenges, treated with kid gloves by older disciples, too used to competition fighting and too young to NOT be a sore loser. He definitely didn't expect Shen Jiu to break his nose and pull his hair and kick him between the legs. He definitely shouted about dirty tricks like a pissed off wet cat, then immediately resorted to following the only person who didn't treat him like a dumb kid/baby.

And Liu Qingge is young enough (and aroace spectrum enough) that he doesn't immediately set off Shen Jiu's trauma/hate-fear of men. That or he's pretty enough Shen Jiu thinks he's a girl. Honestly, either way, by the time it really registers to Shen Jiu that that kid he's got hanging off him like a particularly aggressive handbag is a man, it's too late he's already given too much trust to that one.

They bathe together (back to back, so no one or nothing can catch them unaware and vulnerable), they sleep together (taking shifts where one is night watcher and the other is safe to sleep guarded), they hang out on rooftops and gosip meanly about passerbys in a way that destroys self esteem, social standing, and will to live all at once. They actively heal each other and make each other worse for four years and then ...

And then the well mission...

But before that Shen Jiu definitely just throws out death threats when mildly annoyed and everyone probably feels the need to tell that socially blind kid that he 100% means that... How else do friends turn so fast if not for a slow poisoning?

And once that belief worms it's way into Liu Qingge head enough to accuse, that breaks Shen Jiu too. Because it's a betrayal on both sides. A betrayal of a perceived murder attempt, and a betrayal of trust/letting someone in only to be fucked over again. For Liu Qingge it's "I can't believe I was stupid enough not to notice the knife at my back all these years" and for Shen Jiu it's "I can't believe after everything you prove to be just as wretched as any other man". Not to mention of Shang Qinghua DEFINITELY exasperated that situation by spilling poison into the water, testifying that Shen Jiu 100% tried to kill Liu Qingge anytime anyone had reason to doubt.

NO WAY…