he'd been hoping to get back to his apartment without a hitch, but he can tell that won't be the case. not tonight.
shouto wishes he could catch a break. his body is heavy, weighed down by stress and exhaustion and confusion. he hates the confusion the most.
he's sure that if he hadn't had the help he does from the very beginning, he'd have lost a long time ago.
"It's not up to me." (It's up to you.)
— cas \U0001f338 (@dekuthepastry) January 19, 2021
he'd been hoping to get back to his apartment without a hitch, but he can tell that won't be the case. not tonight.
he continues walking for a beat, stepping out of view of his agency. he reaches a fire escape stairwell against the side of another building and climbs to the top, quiet as he can.
shouto could use his ice to get up,
he settles on the edge of the building, legs relishing in the pull of gravity for but a moment.
"shadow," shouto says aloud then, unsurprised.
everything about him, however, is tense.
"maybe i should develop more stealth tactics," the man quips. shouto knows it's just an attempt to keep the air light.
"i like to think i know you by now. anything new?"
"ah, straight to the chase with you," shadow hums, shifting on his feet. shifting like he wants to bolt. he doesn't, instead dropping down into a crouch.
"so what," shouto scoffs, "you can't finish it off from the inside like you've been doing?"
shadow smiles at him, but nothing about it is kind. it's grim. "that's not up to me."
"i've done my part, shouto," shadow says, voice tight. his viridian eyes glint in a way that sends another message.
/it's up to you./
'like me.' a quirkless vigilante, uncatchable and morally gray to the unsuspecting eye. someone who was never given the light of day, not like shouto was from the very beginning of his life.
shadow deserves so much more than the life he's led.
"you're better than any hero i've met before, shadow."
the man blinks, taken aback. "...what?"
shouto turns his head to face shadow head on then. "that's better than all the heroes who've fueled the hpsc for decades."
shouto knows that shadow knows he means it.
when shadow finally looks away, he lets out a chuckle, a short, wet thing like he doesn't quite want to believe it.
"well," shouto sighs, curious how far back this man's heroic streak goes, when and why it started. "i think that's who you've always been.
shadow's lip quivers, a small movement that shouto would have missed if he hasn't been paying such close attention to the vigilante in front of him. shadow snags it with his teeth to stop its shaking.
the man smiles then, genuine and soft and kind,
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the whole point of Dunks was you could go cop them at VIM whenever you wanted for $65. this shit is like having to enter a raffle to buy milk.
like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.
the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more
the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500
adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"
\U0001f91e ONLINE RAFFLE is available from @bodega for the upcoming "UNLV" Nike Dunk Low Retro. Open until 5 PM ET on 2/16.
— Kicks Deals (@KicksDeals) February 15, 2021
\u27a1\ufe0f\u27a1\ufe0f https://t.co/JxJlyPuJVo pic.twitter.com/zenWOCDg4L
like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.
the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more
the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500
adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"
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1/ Some initial thoughts on personal moats:
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
I'm increasingly interested in the idea of "personal moats" in the context of careers.
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
Moats should be:
- Hard to learn and hard to do (but perhaps easier for you)
- Skills that are rare and valuable
- Legible
- Compounding over time
- Unique to your own talents & interests https://t.co/bB3k1YcH5b
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
People talk about \u201cpassive income\u201d a lot but not about \u201cpassive social capital\u201d or \u201cpassive networking\u201d or \u201cpassive knowledge gaining\u201d but that\u2019s what you can architect if you have a thing and it grows over time without intensive constant effort to sustain it
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) November 22, 2018
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
Things that look like moats but likely aren\u2019t or may fade:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
- Proprietary networks
- Being something other than one of the best at any tournament style-game
- Many "awards"
- Twitter followers or general reach without "respect"
- Anything that depends on information asymmetry https://t.co/abjxesVIh9
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
