Government Assistance Woes

Hello all. We weren't sure when or if to post this blog or not, but it seems the longer we wait without doing anything, the less likely things are to work out, so maybe we will just give it a shot.

This month, for some reason, the second half of our disability payment has not come through. We usually receive it as a cheque in the mail. The government website said it was supposed to arrive on the 22nd, but it didn't. We phoned about it a few days after, and they told us to wait longer and then to call back again. Today we have called back, but the wait time is over two hours and it's taking a very long time to speak to someone.

Currently, we have basically no money in our bank account. We rely on our disability payments for groceries, rent, and other living expenses.

Normally this wouldn't be an issue given the size of our commission queue, but as we've mentioned recently, our living situation has been compromised in terms of safety so greatly that we don't find ourselves with the ability to work or function on a daily basis. We can't really leave our room because that could risk running into our landlord, who will probably be drunk, who will probably antagonize us and make us feel scared again. It is hard to get out of bed, hard to eat food, hard to do anything because we're in this perpetual funk of anxiety. We've considered the possibility that our landlord has taken/hidden the cheque, but that seems a needless amount of paranoia to add to an already awful situation.

All that being said, we're being upfront: anyone who is able to help with a donation or commission request right now would be appreciated beyond belief. Our paypal is [e-mail], and you can message us on Patreon, or here on Fimfiction, if you'd like to discuss a commission request. Admittedly our queue is very backed up right now, but we'd be much happier accepting a piece of work future-dated than just receiving random handouts. That said also, we're not at the point where we can be choosy, and the choice was sort of either making this blog post or seeing how many more days we can go without food and other sundries.

Note: we are not going to starve to death. While our autism spectrum stuff and other disorders make it difficult to eat food in general, we have a bunch of saved up microwave meals to keep us fed. They taste awful and don't have a lot of nutritional value, but they are better than nothing. Our agoraphobia makes it very difficult to leave the house for things like a 'food bank', but we will definitely be investigating that option as the month drags on.

We've been on hold for about an hour and five minutes so far. Again, that paypal is [e-mail]. Please reach out if you'd like to work on a project, or if your Christmas cheer hasn't dried up yet. <3

Edit/Update: We were able to get a hold of someone on the government assistance line who was nice, but basically couldn't help us. They told us we still have to wait longer to have our cheque reissued, then we started crying. They put us on hold and gave us some numbers of assistance places we could call if we run out of food. We will call those numbers in a little bit after we stop crying.

Edit/Update 2: I think we have a Ko-Fi now? I am not sure what it is and/or what is different because the things go to Paypal, but someone said it was a good idea.

Edit/Update 3: This is to let everyone know that we don't need any more donations. We have been helped out a lot by everyone and had a not terrible time sorting things out with people on the phone. We were able to get some groceries and even enjoyed some healthy vegetables which was a nice feeling.

Thank you immensely to every single person who helped us out. While we're not adverse to accepting further donations now or in the future, we would always prefer to work for our income. If you'd like a story added to our queue, please get in touch. Thank you so much to everyone. <3

Comments

[sunsetshimmer_13]

I hope you’re ok darf

[Feech]

Do you have a Ko-fi account?

At a guess, the mail is so backed up from the holidays that you'll get your check after New Year's.

[darf]

5424356
We do now, I think?

That may very well be the case. It is very stressful waiting in the meantime.

[Pickleless]

I deeply empathize... truly, I really have nothing to give!

But I’ll always be an ear on Discord if you need it. I’ll pray for you.

[Feech]

5424363
I know you said you prefer to do paid commissions, but I don't have a specific story I want, other than "some kind of Rarity shipping story." Ko-fi is a handy way to send a little food money to bridge the gap.

[darf]

5424380
Ask and ye shall receive uwu

The holiday season always amounted to an increase in mail—delivery, receiving, whatever the various interstitiary components were called in a technical sense. To Rarity, it seemed nothing other than an inefficiency buried in heaps of oversight: if everypony was going to be shipping things this time of year, couldn't a Ponyville council of some kind come together to orchestrate a more organized approach to the holiday postal system?

Sigh. Evidently not this year.

"Easy does it now..." Rarity said to herself as she balanced a heap of packages atop her head, the rest of her body and available limb-space already adorned with various sizes of delivery item, some of them strapped into place to keep themselves from gravity's sinuous tendrils. Rarity had taken to talking to herself more as the end of the month approached, stress knotting itself into a ball in her chest that she was sure would unravel at a moment's notice if she gave it the chance. The key was to keep moving forward, head down, nose to the grindstone... though, as a matter of fact, that would end up hurting her nose after a while, if she weren't careful...

"Oh, fuss!" Rarity settled on an overall inoffensive cuss-word, the first that sprang from reflex as the tower of gifts and sundries atop her head tumbled down to the ground. The sound the scattered packages made as they bounced off each other would have been humorous in itself, if it didn't represent another fifteen minutes focusing herself to orchestrate package placement with more care than she'd ever aligned a stich before.

Surely, there must be a more efficient and less sanity-draining method of negotiating the transport of goods from one place to another...

Knock knock. Two polite taps on glass, seemingly from the side window of the boutique. Rarity sighed and allowed the remainder of the presents she was balancing to fall down and join their fellows, even unstrapping the few that had been fastened into place. She turned to the window, surrounded by the suddenly emerged heap of fancy wrapping papers and bows, only to find a familiar blue face smiling awkwardly at her through the polished glass.

"Rainbow Dash?" Rarity blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining the airborne visitation, then unfastened the latches on the window and opened it quickly, ducking back as Rainbow Dash let herself inside, a loud woosh rustling the bows and crinkling foil on the wrapped presents.

Rainbow Dash smiled and rubbed the back of her head somewhat apollogetically.

"Heheh, uh, hey, Rarity." Dash chuckled, seemingly more to convince herself than genuinely finding something funny. "Sorry to barge in on you like this. It's actually kind of a, uh, 'fashion emergency', if you could call it that. See, Soarin was explaining how he'd managed to combine eggnog and apple pie while he was getting dressed for practice, and I guess he must have forgotten to adjust a burner or something, because the next thing you know, he's covered from hoof to, uh... hoof, I guess, in this sticky, like, floofy, whipped cream kind of..."

Rainbow Dash trailed off as her eyes caught up with the speed at which her tongue had been racing.

"Wow," she said. "You've got a lot of presents in here."

Rarity scrunched up her face and blew away a stray bow that had landed atop her nose.

"You could say that," she said.

A moment of silence passed. Rainbow Dash seemed to be considering the room filled with packages.

"I bet these are a pain in the butt to send through the regular post office," Dash said.

Rarity sighed and nodded.

"Indeed. What you're seeing here is my third attempted at getting these delivered. I started out moving them by magic, but after so many big hauls my horn's just not up to it anymore..." Rarity pouted, her eyes glancing up at her softly sparking horn, the sure sign of over-duress during a day's activities.

"Ouch. That looks painful."

Rarity shrugged.

"All in the pursuit of generosity, I suppose.

Now, you were saying about your fashion emergency?"

Dash blushed just a little. She looked down at her hooves, shuffling them amidst the trails of wrapping paper and ribbon.

"Oh," she said, her voice notably quieter. "It's not really a big deal. I'm sure we can get it sorted out." Pause. "But, uh, you know, I was thinking... on my way back to, uh, Cloudsdale, I've got some free time... I bet I could deliver some of those gifts, especially if they're not too far—"

"Why it takes a team of well-trained ponies two weeks to bring a small parcel to my hair-dresser's front-step is beyond me, dear, but I'm sure suffering through the wait time will make the gifts that much more desirable..."

Rainbow Dash shook her head, then again, more emphatically this time.

"No," she said. "No, that's not right. I'm sure I can get... I'll get all these sorted out. Don't worry about it."

Rarity seemed finally to begin to believe her, just a little bit.

"You'd really do that for me? It seems an awful lot of work, and I'm sure you're busy, what with the snow schedule coming and all—"

"Don't worry about it." Rainbow Dash was already gathering gifts haphazardly under her forelegs, cramming as many as she could close to her body, then realizing she still had to be able to move, at least a little bit, if she wanted to bring the goods somewhere. She ended up sticking out her tongue, craning her head almost completely around, staring at her back laced with gifts as though it was a bizarre alien topography.

"Huh," she said. "Maybe I'll, uh, come back with a bag, or something..."

Rarity's eyes lit up. With the little bit of strength still remaining in her horn, she snapped open a cupboard and levitated out a luxurious looking purple saddle-bag, which, when hovered over Dash, seemed to fit the spry pegasus perfectly, as though it had been measured out long beforehand.

Dash and Rarity shared a glance. Then a smile.

"Thanks," Rainbow Dash said. "I'll get these where they need to be, then—I'm guess this isn't your last load of the day, either?"

Rarity shook her head, still smiling.

"Nope. I've got at least two trips worth of toys for the Canterlot orphanage, for starters, if you're up to it."

Rainbow Dash smirked as she flexed her wings and prepared to take off with the gifts she'd gathered up.

"When have you ever known me not to be up for something?"

With a wink to match her devilish smirk, Dash took off in a burst of rainbow, leaving behind a slightly less crowded Carousel Boutique in her wake, as well as a wistful-eyed Rarity staring into the clouds and sighing.

Maybe holiday shipping had just gotten a little bit easier.

[darf]

we don't know how to respond properly to thank the people who have donated so far. we are immensely overwhelmed with emotion and crying a lot at how generous some people have been. i don't know what to say right now. i will think of something good for later.

[Feech]

5424395
Oh, wow. I received several holiday gifts this year, but this is the one I was *completely surprised* to get.

I liked the phrase "gravity's sinuous tendrils."

Rarity should buy a wheelbarrow. (Gem-studded, I imagine.) Or... thinking way outside the box here... a pony cart. A sufficiently fabulous pony cart. Good thing Rainbow's damsel-in-distress meter went off.

"When have you ever known me not to be up for something?"
That sounds like an invitation, Rainbow. Or a suggestion.

Thank you for writing this!

[Huk]

OK, hope this helps...

P.S.
Out of curiosity... what's with the 'we' stuff? A fan of The Great and Powerful Trixie, perhaps?

[PresentPerfect]

I'd be wary of too many donations undoing your disability if it somehow comes through in the meantime, but I can signal boost this tomorrow if you'd like. :C

5424456
Yeah, who else is suffering here? D:

[darf]

5424456
5424463
We have dissociative identity disorder, which makes it easier for us to use 'we/us' pronouns without getting feedback from our brain noises/voices.

[Griseus]

Hope I didn't post something stupid somewhere that would screw up your help.

[darf]

5424675
5424463
i think we'll be okay, but thank you incredibly for your kindness. we will update further if there are any more problems.

[Reese]

Ah, I'm very glad to hear that you're in much less dire straits now. :)

Thank you, everyone who helped out!

I gather you are no longer in needed of signal boosts? I didn't find out about this until it was already resolved, it looks like, but please let me know if you'd like one from me anyway.
(Commissions or donations aren't really options for me currently, as my own financial situation is, while better than yours was there, pretty not great.)

[Huk]

5424471

Huh, interesting... you learn something new every day .

P.S.
I read the blog about your landlord... Jeez, what an ass He seems like a perfect example of someone who needs to accidentally slip and hit concrete face down... preferably multiple times .

Stay safe.

[Pickleless]

It’s a relief to find out you were helped.

Stay safe Darf.

[PresentPerfect]

5424679
Glad the site moves faster than I do. :) Be well.

[Sorden]

Good to hear that things are working out. I'm assuming you're not looking for any more commissions right now, but if there's a lull in the future, I'm game.