#Oh but of course the police are heavily funded

[snailpaste]

Kiwis love to make fun of the USA, especially their healthcare, but aren't ready to confront their own problems.

Our ambulances and paramedics, firefighters, surf lifesaving, and rescue helicopters are all volunteer programmes and/or run by private companies.

All of our ambulance & paramedics come from private companies. Most are from St. John's, a corrupt bureaucratic organisation. They like their role because as a charity org they're entirely exempt from taxes, which is incredibly profitable for those at the top, who then have the luxury to buy brand-new sports cars each year while the actual paramedics recieve no benefits or counselling. You still have to pay for your ambulance, but at least it doesn't lead to crippling debt like in the states. The only exception to this is the Wellington region, home to just 10%~ of the population, which instead relies on... a different private company.

99% of Fire Stations are volunteer, and literally only a handful of stations are proffessional/career (and funded through insurance), some of which are composite. That 99% relies entirely on local communities chipping in.

St. John's is scattered much more sparsely, and so volunteer firefighters are the first responders in almost every single incident. They're ready 24/7, and often have to leave their jobs to respond to an emergency; They get payed absolutely nothing, get funded nothing by the government, and recieve no mental health treatment, pensions, etc.

Air ambulance and helicopter rescue services are owned by private companies, mainly the bank Westpac. A few others exist, also NGO's, outside of the populated places.

That it's seen as even remotely acceptable is beyond me.

[rotationalsymmetry]

Take 2 because the last post is too long as it is. I think I should take a moment to explain why you won’t see me going on about how the Dems are our only hope or whatever.

Walk a mile in my shoes. It’s 2000. I’m too young to vote. My state goes unambiguously blue, but Florida is too close to call. The Republicans put a lot of pressure on Gore to not look like a sore loser and concede already. Eventually Bush gets installed or whatever as President, having won Florida by a few hundred votes, maybe. Maybe not. A full recount never happened.

A year later 9/11 happens and Bush gets to be a war president and also uses the surge in national unity and international sympathy to make up lies about Iraq having “weapons of mass destruction” and goes and invades them too, because why not, something presumably Gore wouldn’t have done. Also, the idea of climate change gets back burnered in US politics, since Gore ran heavily on it and he lost so apparently that means it’s not a viable political issue or something. Idk. Point is, terrible outcome.

Also, we got “this is clearly the fault of anyone who might have voted Democrat and chose not to.” “Oh you mean centrist voters or independents?” “No I mean Nader voters” ok then.

A well established pattern of Democrats presenting “ohhh I can’t tell whether to vote D or R” as a legitimate dilemma that must be catered to and compromised over, but “ooh I don’t know Dems aren’t left enough for me” as treason and betrayal and not something that should ever under any circumstances be catered to or negotiated with.

This makes sense if you understand political parties as primarily representing the corporate interests that fund them. Most of those corporate interests donate to both parties and are fine with either one winning. They do not donate to the Green Party and are not ok with them winning.

It makes no sense from a believing in democratic principles perspective. Or in a “the republicans are our mortal enemies” perspective tbh.

OK. Time goes by and eventually we get Obama and the Affordable Care Act which is pretty cool, but not withdrawal from Afghanistan or Iraq. And of course not a general change in how the US relates to the rest of the world. Or, eg, how police and prisons are run. Hence the need for the Black Lives Matter movement, which in case anyone forgot started in the early 2010’s.

Then we get the utterly disastrous and terrifying 2016 election, where this fringe candidate nobody could possibly take seriously somehow, in spite of being a veritable scandle magnet and clearly not having an ounce of integrity anywhere in his person, somehow won not only the Republican nomination but also the general election. It could have been worse, I guess? I for one was afraid we’d get World War III. An attempted coup is a pretty awful outcome, well outside what anyone would normally expect a bad election outcome resulting in, but not quite that bad.

Point is, while like everyone else I thought Clinton was almost certainly going to win, I could see things would be Bad and potentially superlatively what the hell how is this even possible Bad if she didn’t, and while normally I’d be out there throwing in my labor like I did with Kerry in 2004 (I didn’t particularly like Kerry and I didn’t vote for Kerry, I voted for Kucinich, but I did work for his campaign. And then, between an abundance of news network caution and an abundance of “don’t be a sore loserman” caution, Kerry conceded before the news station I was watching (msnbc maybe?) called Ohio, which I will never forgive him for btw) I was in 2016 recently dealing with a new debilitating chronic illness and that wasn’t going to happen, so instead I talked to my then-boyfriend now-husband who was the one of us who actually had money, and we made a substantial-for-us donation to the Clinton campaign.

This is significant.

No, I need to give more context. I supported Kerry (well, I worked for his campaign) because he wasn’t Bush. While I did actively like a lot of things Obama was talking about while he was campaigning, a large part of why I voted for him was because, I don’t actually remember who was running against him in 2008, but whoever it was, I didn’t want them to be President. And so on. In fact for years and years, multiple election cycles, the main selling point for the Dems is that they’re not the Republicans. Sometimes it’s bombing other countries, more often it’s about Roe v Wade or something else domestic, but for multiple election cycles the Democrats’ primary selling point is that the Republicans are just awful and the way to not get a Republican in office is to get a Democrat in office instead, you don’t have to actively like them you just have to hate the other side more. This isn’t an incidental selling point, it’s their main selling point.

It’s actually such a central point that it’s often the main thing talked about in the primaries, not whether you like a more moderate candidate but whether that candidate can beat the other side. I don’t even know why moderate Democratic voters like moderate Democratic politicians, beyond them being “more electable”.

And I’ve contributed to this too. I have in so many words told the Democratic Party that the main thing I look for in their candidates is that they’re not Republican (or not a specific Republican, eg not Trump), which btw not going to do that any more but enough other people will that I don’t expect that to matter.

Later on I found this out. That the Clinton campaign gave money to the Trump campaign in the primaries because they figured Trump would be easier to beat. That the Dems are continuing to fund more extreme candidates in the primaries in order to have more extreme and presumably (???) more easily defeated candidates in the general election.

Do you see that? Do you see what’s going on there?

People vote Dem because they’re afraid of Republicans, especially the more extreme Republicans.

And the Dems are happy to take the money you and I and your friends gave them, money you gave them precisely because you’re afraid of the Trumps and the DeSantises, and giving that money to the political campaigns of the Trumps and DeSantises to make sure that when the general election hits, you’re maximally terrified and willing to give them even more.

And if you didn’t give them enough, I guess you get a DeSantis.

if the Democrats cared about what we cared about, they would never be willing to voluntarily increase their odds of running against a Trump or a DeSantis in the general election, even if they meant a higher risk of losing to a more moderate Republican (and I’m not even convinced it does mean that, this doesn’t actually seem like a strategy that wins elections.) either way, these people are not on our side. They are holding us hostage.

You might find ways to negotiate with someone holding you hostage, you might look for ways to pacify them. But you shouldn’t believe they are on your side.

When I was campaigning for (Green Party candidate) Matt Gonzales, the Democratic Party pissed my mom off — someone who’s much more moderate than I am and was never going to vote for Gonzales — by campaigning exceptionally hard against him, with national party funds. Dems like to talk as though radicals are their natural constituency. That of course leftists should vote Democrat! But if someone who’s actually leftist or anything close to it runs, the Democrats will turn on them at least as strongly as they turn on Republican candidates, if not more so. Probably more so. Good luck getting Democratic funding for your primary campaign if you’re a third party candidate. Democrats — the actual politicians anyways — see leftist third parties as a much greater threat than the Republicans.

Because. They. Don’t. Represent. Us.

And I don’t even mean they don’t represent us radicals. They don’t represent the people who vote for them. They represent the organizations that contribute to their campaign chest. And ordinary people do not contribute enough for us to buy their positions.

[rayshippouuchiha]

This is an idea that I've had for awhile, but don't have the energy for bc I'm no longer in the MHA fandom as heavily as I once was. Just hoping you like it well enough!

There is something...off about Pro-Hero Deku. Not enough to be noticeable, not really, quirks-heh-that could be waved away by saying that of course Deku would be different. Just look at what he does! Who cares if he's a little strange, we all have our own ticks!

But they don't see beyond the parties he hosts, fund-raisers for various organizations, where the alcohol is always flowing and there is never any fights. Where the lights blind the party goers while casting deep shadows, where the Pro-Hero hides until called upon. They don't stop to think in their revelry that the money they spend is a little more than what they had planned and they end up a little more drunk than intended.

People don't see that beyond the former criminals that Deku employs at his tower, that they are all scared of him. He caught them, gave them their life back, but all on the condition that they keep in contact with him. The people don't see how the shadows cling to his shoulders when he drags the Villains to their cells, as the criminal breaks down in the back of a police car, coming out more devoted to the Hero like Gods most fanatic worshiper.

Not even his friends see the way that Deku's smiles are just a bit too wide, his hands this side of controlling, his speech a little too much like sweet wine. Making promises that are true, but dangerous if one takes too much. His friends don't see the horns that curl around his head, a laurel wreath made of grape vines as his crown and his cape shifting into a haze of contorted patterns.

No one sees the way that Deku's irises flash intoxicating dark blue and pupils wine red.

But he notices. He sees the way that the public is enamored with the Pro-Hero, just like they were with All Might. But All Might never got this popular this fast, even in the wake of his retirement, this new comer never should had risen that fast.

Deku did though and he sees the way that his friends flock to him, unknowingly hiding themselves underneath the biggest predator in the forest.

He sees all of this and when Deku looks his way, eyes swirling with impossible colors and the air suddenly smells of cigar smoke and whiskey, he winks.

And Shouta wants.

AU idea is that Izuku Midoriya is actually Dionysus, God of Party, Alcohol and Madness. Aged-Up and Shouta is falling and falling fast, even if he is the only one who knows.

Oh wow

[whereisten]

The Interview

A Doyoung fic that’s part of our Halloween Series!

Summary: you’re a journalist that just booked her biggest gig, an interview with Doyoung, a vampire notorious for a series of murders in your city.

Pairing: Vampire!Doyoung x female reader

Other characters: Best friend!Johnny

Genre: horror, angst, smut, violence

Word count: 8.7 K

Warnings: blood mention, descriptions of murder and violence, cursing, smut! (Threesome (MMF), breast fondling, fingering, male masturbation, oral sex, penetration, slight overstimulation, c*eampie.), mentions of chains and knives.

A/N: I am sorry for taking so long to post this, but I hope you enjoy!! I didn’t proofread (shocker) so there may be some errors but I will fix them later. THANK YOU GUYS AGAIN FOR THE SUPPORT FOR OUR HALLOWEEN SERIES AHHHH!! It’s been so much fund and I hope you guys enjoy the last few fics we have coming up!!

----------

You entered the house and walked hesitantly inside, looking around to observe all of the meticulous paintings and art. The mansion was dark and gloomy, it sent a chill through your body to imagine all of the horrors and secrets it held within it. So much murder, so much blood and death. And yet, it was kept in pristine condition by a loyal maid. Not a speck of dust in sight, and no stench to even indicate a single crime having been committed.

You sat down in his office on a cushioned loveseat before you  placed your recorder on the coffee table in between your seat and his.

You heard the jingles of his handcuffs and the many footsteps of police entering a few minutes after.

He sat down across from you as you cleared your throat. You noticed his irritated and burgundy red wrists being burned by the handcuffs around them made of pure silver.

He was stunning, like a painting himself. His skin looked like it was made of the most expensive marble, his eyes looked playful, but held a dark glint about them that you couldn’t shake. His arms were in front of him as his hands were held together by the handcuffs, you couldn’t ignore the obvious presence of his biceps as they strained against the thin material of his long sleeved prison uniform. His veins also bulged from his wrists all the way to his neck.

The devastatingly handsome man looked...hungry.

His tongue darts out over his bottom lip as he watches you observe his features.

“Oh, a pretty one for once, thank God.” He smirks.

You look at him sternly and press record on the mechanism in between you two.

“Good afternoon, Doyoung, my name is y/n. Today, I’ll be asking you a few questions about the crimes you’ve committed, but first, I would like for you to confirm your identity.”

You hold your iPad in your arm and start to type a description of his features and what he is wearing.

Doyoung laughs.

You stop writing and look up at him.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m chained up in my own house, and not in the sexual way for once…”

You look back to your iPad.

“Unless..you’d like to change that..” he says with a low tone that makes your body shiver.

“Doyoung..you’ve just been sentenced to a lifetime in prison for the brutal murders of 36 people. I’d appreciate it if you’d just answer a few questions so we can both go about our day.”

“Oh dear, I won’t tell you anything unless you get these barbaric things off of me, and get these useless men out of here.” He tilts his head towards the police officers behind his seat.

You shake your head. “No can do Doyoung, you’re a danger man, if they leave I’m done for.”

He chuckles lowly. “Don’t you trust me, sweetheart? My maid is no longer here, she testified against me and fled the country, so obviously I have no intention of ruining my place with anyone’s blood while she’s gone.” A smile crosses his face and it makes you uneasy.

You shouldn’t have done what you did next, but for the sake of writing a damn good article for Neo chronicles, you knew you had to. This trip would’ve been a waste of time and effort. It took you months to convince your boss to get you an interview with Doyoung, the notorious vampire that was just found guilty of capital murder.

He could tear you to shreds in moments with his hands and teeth, but something told you to ask that he be free..just for a few minutes.

He leans forward and keeps your eyes in his gaze. “You want them to release these cuffs, don’t you?”

You swallow hard then look up at the head police officer.

“He won’t cooperate unless you leave and take the handcuffs with you, please…” you beg, but the officer immediately shakes his head.

“Under strict orders from the judge, we cannot do that. It’s a miracle that we were even allowed to bring him back here.”

The tall man says without budging.

Doyoung turns to look at him. “Officer...these cuffs really hurt..it’ll only be for a few minutes..please.”

The officer furrows his eyebrows.

“Officer..I promise it’ll only take 15 minutes.” You continue.

“Fine...we’ll be right outside the door.”

You’re surprised to see that the officer agrees. He takes his key and opens up the cuffs. He then places them beside you on your chair.

“Slap these on the son of a bitch if he tries anything.”

You nod. A part of you felt so uneasy now that you were alone with him, but you had to make the most of it and get some information out of him while you could. No one could do what you were about to do, for Doyoung would be put away for life in a few days.

The door clicks and the room falls silent.

Doyoung turns to you and already starts to heal his wrists. “Well, then...should we get started?”

“Where are you from?” You ask.

He raises an eyebrow and throws an arm over the head of his seat.

“I’m from this city, dear.. I was just raised in a very different one...a few hundred years ago, without the cars, without the noise..”

“You’re the first of your kind that society has come across. Are there any more like you?”

He chuckles then looks at you and tilts his head. “There’s no one like me..”

You lick your lips quickly and lean forward. “Are there any more vampires, Doyoung?”

“Of course there are, some lurk in the shadows, some live boldly as the very doctors that take care of you. No one from my bloodline is alive however.” His gaze shifts downward as if he’s reminiscing.

“How do the vampires survive without being caught?”

He looks back up at you. “We just feed on animals to get by.”

Your heart began to race, you were finally getting information that no one else knew about, for Doyoung never spoke a word to investigators looking for answers about vampires.

“So why did you feed on humans and kill them instead of changing them?”

“For survival, sweetheart. I’m a man with very expensive taste..I’ve been killing humans for years, but I got lazy and decided to not run from city to city..I’d take out anyone that was evil or treated others like shit..some of my victims deserved it, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

You looked to the side. You did notice that he mainly killed other murderers or robbers.

“Furthermore, humans have polluted the earth so badly, the taste of animals that feed off of diseased grass is just disgusting. I couldn’t take it anymore.” His face winces.

“And human blood..is it good?”

Doyoung smirks. “Oh, my love, you have no idea. It’s sweet and savory, there’s nothing like it..and if I may say, it’s even better when the subject surrenders willingly.”

“Did your subjects surrender willingly?”

He looks up and tries to think. He taps his chin. “No..I don’t think any of those bastards surrendered, they were quick fixes to my thirst. There was one woman though..Hmm what was her name?...Was it Diamond or Daisy?”

You closed your eyes as you listened to him struggle to remember the names of his victim.

“Darlene..her real name was Darlene, but she went by Tiffany at the strip club she worked at.”

“Ahhh! Yes! Darlene..she was sweet, magnificent. I remember taking her in the back of my car, she was ecstatic. She felt amazing around me, so warm. Her body shook as I stretched her out and played with her beautiful womanhood..such a shame.. she was so willing.”

You swallowed hard as tears filled your eyes. Doyoung was making light of a dark situation that ended in the murder of a young woman just trying to live her life.

He leans forward to get your attention. “First..I tasted her lips, then I placed my tongue around her hard nubs. I traced my tongue down her abdomen and all the way...down, before letting it rest on her folds. I licked up her essence and listened to her moan and breathe heavily. I can still hear the rush of her blood in her veins. I can still taste her trembling core on the tip of my tongue, and feel her velvety walls around my fingers.”

You cross your legs as his voice lowers more and more with each sentence.

His dark eyes hold onto yours as his smile grows. He can smell the pool building in your underwear.

“In and out, I moved in and out, circling around her bud before she came hard all over my mouth. But I licked it up and kissed her thigh as she begged for more. She tasted delicious and brain became flooded with thoughts of just how wonderful her blood would taste too. So I wrapped her legs around my waist and pushed into her, sliding in between her delicious and wet folds and hitting her sweet spot over and over.”

“Doyoung..” you turn away and gulp, but he grabs your chin within a split second of standing up in front of you.

He tilts your head upwards and gazes down at your lips.

“I placed two fingers into her mouth...just like this.” 

On instinct, your mouth falls open, allowing him to place two fingers onto your tongue. Your mind went crazy, half of it screaming for you to look away from the dangerous man, the other half saying “yes, God, yes.”

You sat with your mouth agape, waiting for him to continue.

“If only you could taste her...nonetheless, when she came again, her eyes rolled in the back of her head and the veins of her neck stuck out to me, begging to be punctured into. I sucked her dry even as she clenched around me from the overwhelming pleasure.”

He withdrew his fingers, licking them as his eyes held onto yours.

“Your lips must be delicious too.”

You snapped yourself out of your daze and shook your head.

“Doyoung, what the hell?”

He sits back into his chair. “Any more questions, love?”

You clear your throat again and look at your iPad.

“Uhh..what are your abilities?”

He smirks. “Well, I’m sure you can imagine one of them. But in addition to that, we are fast, strong, powerful beings. Some can read minds, some can hypnotize..we are what humans aim to be, perfect beings.”

Your face grows into one of disgust. “With the exception of having the burning need to murder, right?”

He chuckles once more and rolls his eyes. “Humans kill all the time, what makes us so different if we do it for survival? Murders are done out of rage against those that are simply different in terms of religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation all the time, why aren’t you interviewing those bastards?”

You hesitate.

He leans towards you and crosses his arms.

“What if you could make this world a better place by getting rid of those that commit crimes against the helpless? I can see that you’re one that believes in justice.. you can be like me, but use your abilities for good..”

You shake your head. “Absolutely not, you’re a monster. Just because you killed for survival does not negate the fact that you still took many lives.”

He leans back and nods. “Oh, pity then. I thought I’d have a partner for my getaway. I would’ve loved to keep such a pretty face by my side..”

Your eyes widen, you lean back and reach for the handcuffs..but they’re not there.

He jumps up from his seat.

You stand up as well. “What are you doing?”

But within seconds, your arms are behind your back and locked in the handcuffs that he stole from beside you.

“Doyoung!”

He pushes your body so that it lays back down on the love seat. You stare in horror as he crawls over you while looking up your scared face through his lashes.

He licks his lips.

“Thank you for giving me this chance to get away..”

“Help!!” You call out and soon the police break through the double doors.

Doyoung flicks his head towards them and holds out his hand. “Halt!”

He yells and they stop in their tracks.

You cry out. “Doyoung!!” But he’s already dug into each and every one’s necks and ripped into their throats.

Blood platters across the room and the bodies fall down dead almost unanimously as Doyoung moves incredibly fast. He appears as a blur one moment and the next moment, he is over you again, but this time with the lower half of his face covered in crimson liquid and his eyes intense.

He licks your collarbone, slowly trailing his tongue up your neck then to your chin. You tremble and cry as your heart races.

“Mmmmm...sweetheart, I’d take you right here, but you’ll taste so much better when you give in to me completely, I’ll see you soon.”

He disappears, you only hear the breaking of a window behind you.

You close your eyes tightly and sob.

The police officers that were outside in their cars immediately run into the house when they see that Doyoung has flown away.

They open your handcuffs and console you as you turn away from all of the dead bodies on the floor.

When things finally settled, you noticed that Doyoung had taken your recorder, leaving you without proof that this interview even happened.

———

[3 Months Later]

A national manhunt for Doyoung had been going on for months, no one saw the man or..creature. The good part about his absence was that there were no more killings. You tried your best to explain what happened that day, but you couldn’t. Everything felt blurry, all you could feel was this longing to be with him again. He had you under his grasp in just a few minutes, but that partially wasn’t your fault. You were hypnotized, just as the police officer taking him out of handcuffs was.

But you couldn’t help but feel guilty when you thought about the lives lost that day, the families that weren’t with their loved ones anymore because of your weakness. You swore it would never happen again.

You were released from your job at the Neo Chronicles, your boss was embarrassed and dealt with the harshest treatment from not only the legal system, but from the media as well. No one understood how such a huge mistake could be made. They had him and were ready to punish him for his crimes, but in just a few minutes, they lost him, the only vampire known to man.

You worked from home now, uploading conspiracy theories to your own website where people could submit photos, videos or written accounts of their experiences with the supernatural. They could do this anonymously if they wished. You wrote about Doyoung and the vampire community, you even went out at night at farms or in the woods to try to catch vampires in the act of taking blood from them, but you had no luck.

You would set your life to finding Doyoung, you’d make him pay for what he did to you. Even if you were intrigued by him, you’d make him suffer. However, you couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t kill you as well.

———

[One Month Later]

You were about to do some research on cult practices that involved sacrifices, when you heard a knock at your door. You jumped up in your chair at your desk and turned to the door.

You swallowed hard. Had you done too much digging? Was someone tracking you? Were you being watched all this time?

Maybe you shouldn’t have visited the dark web.

You stand up slowly and walk to the door. You hear another knock.

You grab a tennis racket you placed by your door after playing tennis earlier that day. You then look through the peephole and see him.

Your heart started to race. Should you call the authorities? Should you scream for help? No. They would just be too slow, they’d be gone by the time a shriek escaped your throat.

You quickly opened it and held up your racket.

“Ah!!!” You yelled as you swung it, but he grabbed it with one hand and broke in two effortlessly.

Your eyes widened as he stood there with one corner of his mouth tilted upwards. His eyes sparkled in the darkness.

Your jaw fell open while the rackets ripped to your doorstep in two separate pieces.

“Invite me in...I have the recorder.” He demands through a husky tone.

You breathe heavily. “I-I..”

“May I come in...sweetheart?” He pouts.

You sigh and nod. “Yes.”

You didn’t want to but he had the evidence that you needed. Maybe you could just take it from him and he’d leave. With that piece of evidence, you could get your job back or make money online with your testimony.

Doyoung speeds past you and sits at your desk.

“Ooooo..satanic cults...interesting!” He searches through your computer.

“Hey!” You lock your door and walk towards him.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“How have you been doing, my love? Have you been well? Probably not...seeing that you’re stuck at home now, researching this nonsense.” He ignores your question and stands up from the desk.

You walk after him into the dining room.

“Answer me! Why are you here?”

“Have you thought about my proposal? You’ve had a lot of time..”

“Why didn’t you turn yourself in?!” You grab a knife from your kitchen counter and hold it behind your back.

He takes a look at your 4 day old pizza on your stove top and gags. “You and I both know I wouldn’t dare out well in prison.”

“So why the hell are you here?!” You say a little louder.

He turns to you suddenly and flips you around. In just a few seconds, he pins you against the wall with your cheek pressed against it and your hands behind your back.

You grunt as he presses in your back with your elbow.

“Did you know that you’ve been on my mind every night since that day?” He forces the knife out of your hand and trails the tip down the side of your face. 

You wince as you anticipate it breaking your skin, but he only drags it down your neck delicately and watches goosebumps decorate your skin.

He flips you back around so you face him now, he looks down at your chest and breathes heavily over it. He still holds both of your wrists in his hand, clenching his fist around them tightly as you squeal.

“The way you smell, the way you feel, the way you taste...it’s all haunted me..I want you so badly..”

You blink rapidly. “If you want to kill me, why don’t you just do it already.”

Doyoung chuckles and hangs his head low.

“I’m here to ask you again...join me..live as I live and give up this boring life..” he licks long your neck as you struggle in his grasp.

You shake your head.

“No..I don’t want you..I don’t want to be a monster like you.”

He laughs as he smirks while watching your lips. His closeness to you makes you dizzy, but you try to remain firm. 

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m too old to be fooled, I know you have a recording of our little interview on your ipad..I know you don’t really need that recorder..so why did you invite me in?”

Your face falls. How did he know that you had a second audio recording saved to your iPad.

“Okay...fine, I wanted a reason to let you in..” you search his eyes. 

He smiles and watches your lips.

“Oh? And now that I’m in, what else do you want?”

You pant and lick your lips. “I want..to feel what that woman felt..”

He kisses your neck. “Like this?” He whispers against your heated skin.

Your eyes close as your head falls back. “Yes..take me to my room..” you beg breathily.

He wraps his arms around you and by the time you open your eyes, you’re on your bed with your legs around his waist.

He grinds his covered member into you and listens to you moan.

He continues to kiss your neck and bite teasingly.

He licks over the warm area and moans. The cold touch of his fingertips makes you yearn for him more. 

“This is what I missed, the taste of your beautiful skin..”

He looks down at you through wide eyes, he adores your lips and eyes, watching as you finally give in to him like he’s longed for.

He leans down and kisses your lips.

You reach above your head and place your hands under your pillow. You grab a specialized collar.

“Look at me, Doyoung.” You whisper in between kisses.

He releases your lips and looks up. You suddenly lock the collar around his throat.

He hisses, flying to the ceiling and grabbing at it in an attempt to take it off, but he has no luck.

The collar made of pure silver sends violent and painful shockwaves through his body whenever he touches it.

It tightens slowly to stop him from breathing.

His eyes grow. “What..what have you done to me?” He says as he dangles from the ceiling and looks down at you on the bed with a smile on your face.

“Oh Doyoung, you’re old but you still didn’t see this coming..” you chuckle, everything went as planned.

“Please...please stop this...” he reaches out for you as he gasps for air.

 You stand up from the bed and look up at him.

“I’ll explain this quickly since you’ll be unconscious in about three minutes..”

He loses his grip from the ceiling, falling onto the bed limply.

“Do you remember a tall fellow that you bit one evening as he walked home from work?”

Doyoung groans in pain.

“I’ll take that as a no..” you continue. “Well, this victim’s name was Johnny, he owns Johnny’s Café and locked up kinda late that night when you found him. He became your prey and in the blink of an eye, was left to die in a dirty alleyway. No one was there to help him, no one…” your eyes start to water.

“He was my best friend..and you killed him. Or so I thought..you see, you made a grave mistake with this “murder.” You didn’t ensure his death by sucking until you heard the very last beat of his pulse. You got what you wanted and left him there with a faint pulse. He was able to pull his phone out and call me..I found him through Find My iPhone, and when I inspected his injuries..I realized that he had been attacked by a vampire.”

Doyoung’s eyes roll in the back of his head as he takes his final breaths.

“It was my first time seeing such a wound since I was young. Guess what, Doyoung? My family has hunted vampires since the beginning of time..my grandparents were sure that they had killed all of you in this city...but it seems we hadn’t, and Johnny’s attack is what brought this issue to my attention. Lucky for me, you fell right into my hands, making it easy for me to gain more information about your kind and the actual status of vampires in our city. I was ill-prepared for your hypnosis, however. That’s why I couldn’t lock you down the first time.”

You walk up to him and caress his pale face. You then yank his arm and drag him through your house and down to your basement.

You throw him down the stairs and walk down.

You both hear yelling and crying. 

That’s when Doyoung sees him. That night starts to come back to him, the night when he attacked Johnny.

Johnny is chained to a wall in your basement. His hair is long and disheveled. He yells as he begs for food. His fangs stick out, he looks weak and terrified.

Doyoung gasps. “I didn’t mean for this to happen..”

“This is where he will have to stay, I can’t turn him in because he’s my best friend, but I also can’t kill him or set him free to murder innocent people like a maniac..I will fix him, I swear I will.”

You flip the lid off of a coffin and throw Doyoung into it after much effort. Luckily, he was quite weak from the collar already.

“Even though you turned my best friend into a monster, I am thankful to you for bringing all of your kind’s secrets to light. I will find each one, and I will kill them.” You smirk.

“Enjoy prison, you monster.”

Doyoung only smiles. “I’ll be back, sweetheart. Hunting you will make for a lifetime of joy.”

You shut the lid over the coffin and nail it shut.

You drag the coffin upstairs using a pulley system then call the police to retrieve him.

—————

[2 Years Later]

You enjoy your life as a journalist once again. You gained wealth and notoriety for your interview with Doyoung. You also hunt and kill vampires that killed animals, you finally had used the training from your family to do so.

“I never thought you’d have to do this..” your mom said one day when you visited her for tea.

“I thought..we killed them all and kept you and the rest of our world safe.”

“They’re like roaches..they never die.” Your dad yelled from the living room.

“It is what it is..” you took a sip from your cup.

“But tell me, once one has changed...is there any way to turn them back?”

You thought of Johnny and how you had to watch him suffer now for the past two years. You loved him dearly and spent hours on the dark web searching for clues as to what to do, but nothing worked.

You didn’t tell your parents, for fear that they would tell you to kill him immediately or they’d do it themselves.

You wouldn’t give up on you, you just couldn’t.

The two of you were friends for her 10 years, how could you even think of killing him?

Your mother laughed. “Honey..we’ve tried everything, there’s no way…once they change, the hunger roars through them, making them impossible to tame.”

You nodded. 

“What is it you're not telling me?” She tilted her head when she saw the look of worry in your eyes.

“Nothing, it’s just...some of these people are good people..I just wish we didn’t have to kill them..”

“People? They’re not people! They’re savages and self-centered barbarians! Don’t fall for it, all they do is lure in victims for their own gain. They have no conscience.” Your father walked into the dining room with a freshly carved stake.

“Here.” He hands it to you. “You kill those bastards without any thought in your head, they’re meant to seduce you, make you think that they’re innocent humans with beating and good hearts, but they’re not! Kill them before they kill us.”

You nod and take it from him.

—————

[1 Year Later]

You receive news that Doyoung has broken free from prison. No one knows of his whereabouts so all eyes turn to you.

“We can set up police around your place to keep watch if you’d like..” your boss tells you.“There’s a chance that he’ll come after you first.”

“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.”

You weren’t scared at all, and having police around would only draw more attention to you than you needed. What if they heard Johnny in your basement? What if they saw you bringing in live rabbits in the middle of the night?

And if something were wrong, they’d eventually go into your basement only to find a series of hunting weapons and digging gear, for you always buried the vampires you killed deep in the woods.

You headed home and walked in slowly.

The air felt crisp and cool, the night sky peered in through your windows. You looked around and that’s when you noticed that one of them were open, the wind blowing the curtain that should’ve been drawn over it.

You hold your stake close to you and quickly walk over to it.

You slam it down shut and turn the lock, but by the time you turn back around to head to your room, you see Doyoung.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

He stands just a few feet away from you with blood dripping down his mouth and neck in a steady pool.

You step back and walk around in a circle.

Doyoung smirks and walks in a circle towards you too.

“You knew I would be here, and yet, you came home on time..are you not afraid of me?”

He chuckles and holds his arms out.

You raise your stake in front of you.

“Do I look like I’m afraid of you?”

Doyoung tilts his head and pouts. “I’m not sure, your heart is racing, the sweat on your forehead is building, your grip on the stake is weak..”

“I didn’t give you permission to come in..”

He shakes his head. “No no, you didn’t..but someone in this house did.”

Your steps falter for a moment and you swallow hard.

When you listen closely, you hear something happening in your kitchen.

Then your eyes widen when you realize.

“Johnny..”

You gasp and run into the kitchen.

Doyoung laughs loudly.

You scream when you see Johnny sucking blood from a woman’s neck in the middle of your kitchen.

“No!!!” 

“I’ve missed you, my love...but I see you kept him around, locked up in the basement for fun..I used my senses to contact him and tell him to give me permission. You see, he doesn’t enjoy being locked up in your basement.”

Doyoung stands behind you and crosses his arms while leaning against the doorway.

“Johnny!! Stop this please, this isn’t you!” You try to shake him off of the woman but all Johnny sees is red. He has never had human blood before and now his eyes have been opened. You start to cry, your stake drops out of your hand.

“He can’t hear you, he’s enjoying what will now be his favorite meal in the kitchen.”

Doyoung grabs you by the neck and slams you against the wall. You yell out in pain.

“And here we are again, but this time we have some unfinished business, you and I...what should I do with you?”

You shake your head as he lifts your body nearly four feet off the ground while choking you.

“Please Doyoung, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have turned you in..please, just let me go, I’ll run far from here and leave the two of you alone to kill as you please.” Seeing Johnny like this leaves you broken. You can’t believe he’s free to live as a monster after all of your efforts to protect him.

“But running will only make me want you more, I enjoy this game that we play..” 

“Doyoung…” you tap his wrist as it becomes difficult to breathe.

“Being choked isn't so nice, is it?”

“What..what do you want from me?”

“I want you, but I like that you’re a challenge, you make my life exciting, and now that I have you here, I want to let you go again just so I can watch you run.” He grins.

“You can shoot some arrows or throw a few stakes, how about it, y/n?”

“Fuck you! I’m not some toy!”

You try to wiggle out of his grasp.

“Then take my offer..I’ll only ask one more time..will you give in to me?”

You start to shake your head, but Johnny rises up from the body on the floor. He runs his hands through his long black hair and licks his lips while panting.

“Y/n..I feel...amazing.” He smiles at you. Even after all these years of you feeding him small animals and keeping him locked up, he still looked at you with love.

You cry harder. “No..Johnny..please don’t give in, I can fix you, I’ll find a way to turn you back.”

He chuckles then steps closer to you. He already looks healthier with the heavy dose of human blood he just consumed. “And you’ve been searching relentlessly for this cure for how long now?”

Doyoung lets your body slide back down the wall as he loosens his grip.

“I’m so close, just trust me.”

“Y/n..Look at how happy he is, don’t you want to be happy too?”

“yes..join us..” Johnny traces his finger down the side of your face.

“No!” You suddenly push Doyoung off of you and dive to the floor for your stake.

You jump back up but Doyoung takes you into his arms.

“Is this what you want?! To die instead of being with your best friend forever?!”

You press the tip of the stake into his chest, you’re so close, but your mind doesn’t allow you to push harder.

“Do it! Kill me!” He doesn’t put you under hypnosis because he wants to see what your true desire is.

Doyoung watches your sad eyes as you struggle to stab him.

Him being so close to you makes you weak, you don’t know why, but you fall into him more.

You second guess everything and your will weakens more and more each second.

You lean forward and kiss Doyoung’s lips finally.

You relax into his arms as his tongue traces over your lips to enter.

You swallow back your disgust from the taste of blood on his lips and close your eyes. A rush runs through your body, it’s like you’re being commanded by waves at the beach, your body just enjoying the feeling of floating in his arms.

The stake falls out of your weak hands. Johnny comes up behind you, kissing your neck from behind while circling his arms around your waist.

If you could just distract them for a few more moments..you could catch them off guard, take them to your room and grab the stake under your pillow..just a few more minutes.. 

Then..a sharp pain makes you jolt. Your eyes fly open. Johnny’s fangs dig into your neck. He sucks hard while you groan.

“Johnny!” You cry out, but then you moan as a feeling of euphoria washes over your body. You feel amazing, your mind goes blank, a soft, tingly sensation makes you weak as blood rushed from your veins and to his mouth. You’re drunk from their love and you want more.

Doyoung continues to kiss your lips and smiles when he feels you finally giving in to him.

Your heartbeat drives him crazy, he just can’t stop thinking about how good you must taste, so he takes the two of you to your room and lays down beside you on your bed.

Your neck is bent backwards towards Johnny behind you still, your hard nipples covered by your dress are just begging for his mouth.

“Do you give in to me, dear?” His lustful voice echoes in your ear.

“Yes..” you whimper.

In one swift move, Doyoung tears your dress off and throws it to the floor. He licks your hard nubs passionately, darting his tongue out and playing around with them with the tip.

Johnny continues to suck slowly, his hand reaching to your front side. He placed two fingers in between your legs, swatting away your thighs so your legs open more.

You are enraptured by them, completely forgetting your plan. But it didn’t matter anyway, your fate was sealed the moment Johnny bit you. He would either suck you dry or leave you alive to turn into one of them.

A part of you feels regret, but another part has come to terms with your situation. Right now you were focused on the yearning in your chest that made you tremble and the building heat between your legs that needed to be tended to.

Without warning, Doyoung bites your breast and sucks hard after latching his lips around the nipple.

He groans as he listens to you yelp.

You run your hand through his hair. “Yes..that feels so good.”  You felt like you were already climaxing with both men sucking your blood at the same time.

Johnny’s fingers push past the waistband of your underwear and presses against your folds.

Doyoung sucks harder, the taste of your blood is sweet and intoxicating, he never wants to stop.

You feel Johnny’s long fingers rub circles into your clit, your legs widen more as you ache for more. He lets go of your neck and nibbles your ear.

“Can I?” He asks seductively.

“Yes..” you bite your bottom lip, your body becoming more and more turned on from Doyoung’s mouth and Johnny’s touch.

You can feel Johnny’s hard member against your back as he pushes one finger into your throbbing opening, sliding it in effortlessly. 

“You’re wet…” he pulls his finger out and places it into your mouth. You moan while licking his finger.

“So wet..” he then pushes two fingers in, your body flinches as he pumps in and out of your. Your head is dizzy, you felt that you’ve lost too much blood. You’re too weak and Doyoung feels it too.

He gives your breasts a few more kitten licks to clean up the blood on it, then looks into your eyes.

“How do you feel, my love?”

“I’m-I’m dizzy..” you moan shortly after as Johnny adds a third finger and presses upward while inside your pussy.

Doyoung smiles when he sees your low eyes. “It’s time for you to feed..”

Your eyes widen. “What?”

Doyoung uses his nail and digs a vertical line into his throat.

“Taste me..”

“N-no.” You shake your head.

“This is what you are now, y/n..just taste him and you’ll know..” Johnny whispers into your ear.

You stick your tongue out hesitantly and lick up the trail of blood on his neck. It tastes wonderful, amazing and different. You didn’t know what to describe it as but you felt that rush from earlier run through your body once more.

You lick again, this time, placing your mouth into the wound and actually sucking more blood out. 

Doyoung groans while pushing his pants down and taking his member out. He strokes it up and down and pants as you suck hard. You can’t use your fangs yet, but the feeling is still magnificent for him as well.

You need more, a hunger builds in your body and you tilt over Doyoung more to apply pressure.

Johnny withdraws his fingers, allowing you to completely kneel over Doyoung’s lap now.

He lays flat on the bed and watches you mount him. You look beautiful naked, like a goddess. Your eyes are wide with hunger and desire and he’s happy to be at the center of it all. He aligns his cock with your opening, watching as you slide down onto it slowly while wincing.

You breathe heavily and lean forward so you can suck his neck again. You place your hands on either side of his head and move up and down slowly, your body already clenching around him as he fills you up completely.

Johnny wraps his hand around his aching cock and strokes it as you ride Doyoung.

Your body becomes cold even as you sweat from the constant movement.

Your mind is flooded with sounds of Johnny’s moans coupled with the new sound of blood rushing through Doyoung’s veins and into your mouth. 

He guides you down onto him by placing both hands on your ass. You push down onto him harder and faster, moving your hips so that his cock curves into you and presses against that spot every time.

You whimper as your movements stutter.

Doyoung flips you over onto your back, he watches your mouth, covered in blood, fall open into a loud moan. “Come on, sweetheart. Tell me how badly you want to cum.” Doyoung says with an evil smirk across his face covered in your blood now.

He thrusts into you hard and places both hands on your knees. He pushes them further apart and watches as he slams himself into you.

“Johnny..she feels so good..she’s just like you imagined for all these years..”

“But how does she taste?” Johnny strokes himself faster as he aims for your breast.

“Her blood tastes sweeter than any berry, and her pussy? Well, you’ll just have to try that yourself.” He goes faster, so fast you can only feel a satisfying vibration that stimulates your clit.

You throw your head back. “Fuck..Doyoung..”

“Do you want me to stop?” He stops suddenly to tease you.

“No no no no, keep going..please!” You beg in a high pitched tone almost embarrassingly.

He resumes his speed, watching your hands grip the sheets and your eyes roll in the back of your head as you cum.

Doyoung grunts and releases inside you.

He milks himself out completely as you shake from your orgasm. You see stars and entire galaxies, a feeling washing over you like no other feeling.

You gasp and watch Doyoung pull out. He moves to the side while watching his cum leaks out of your entrance.

Johnny then flips your limp body over. He wraps and arm around your waist and pulls you against his hard cock. You’re sensitive so you cry out from suddenly being pushed into by his long member. 

He grabs your hair and bends your neck backward before biting into it to suck more of your blood. Your overwhelming sensitivity soon fades away and your climax starts to build again, the feeling in the pit of your stomach becoming nearly unbearable once more.

Johnny’s nails dig into your waist, slamming your ass against his hips as he reaches your depths over and over. He goes crazy from the feeling of your silky walls tightening around his cock. He wants to bury his cum so deep inside your pussy, that it leaks for days. And your sweet blood, he could drink it forever, he could drink you dry.

But Doyoung won’t allow that. “That’s enough..she’ll pass out if we take any more.”

Johnny stops drinking but grunts as he goes harder and faster.

Your knees make an indent in the mattress, you hold onto Doyoung’s hands for support as your mouth falls open.

“Fuck…” all you can mutter are curse words as Johnny destroys you.

Doyoung kneels in front of you, his intimidating cock sticking out hard once again.

He strokes it. 

You open your mouth and stick your tongue out. You had to taste him, again. You craved him.

With low eyes, you maintain eye contact as he fills your mouth and hits the back of your throat. You flatten your tongue, licking the underside of it. You press your tongue hard against every vein then kiss the tip once he pulls back out.

He pushes back in faster this time, listening to you gag and watching as tear up.

You moan to send vibrations through his body. Doyoung throws his head back and mutters “shit..”

You gag again but breathe through your nostrils.

Johnny presses into you one more time before shooting milky strings across your walls. He pants while cursing then lowers himself so that he can taste you from behind. He licks up all the slick that has escaped and sticks his tongue in as deep as possible.

The night went on for hours as you switched positions and brought each other to paradise too many times to count.

You collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep once the three of you were done.

———-

[The Next Morning]

For the first time, sunlight burnt your eyes and made you suffocate. You tried to jump up from the bed, but then you noticed that your legs and arms were tied to a bed that wasn’t yours. You looked around and saw that you were on it by yourself.

Where was Johnny? Where was Doyoung? Why did you feel a burning hunger in your chest?

You recognized the smell of an old building and looked above you. It looked like you were in some sort of castle. You were covered in a thin white sleeping gown that you didn’t recognize either.

“Doyoung!! Johnny!!”

A door in the corner of the room opens and in walks Doyoung with a smirk across his face and something in his hand.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

“Doyoung..please, I don’t feel good.” You strain against the chains.

Your eyes widen when you realize what dangles from his grasp.

Johnny’s head..

“No!!!!” You scream loudly.

“Oh, like music to my ears..” Doyoung chuckles and dangles the head above your body.

He sees your body through the thin fabric, your breasts and perfect curves, the warmth between your legs that he missed so badly. He almost regretted his decision.

He bit his lip and watched you struggle.

“Doyoung!! Why?!” You sob.

“Because you’re mine, you can’t be his too!”

Doyoung walks back over to the door and chucks the head outside.

He walks back over to you. “Well, now that we know what happened to Johnny, we need to discuss what’ll happen to you.”

“What did you do to me?!” You say through gritted teeth.

“Actually..it was Johnny that turned you..not me, but I made sure to kill him this time.”

Your face fell. This was exactly what Doyoung wanted. He lured you in by using Johnny, then he got Johnny to change you. They both seduced you to crowd your mind and make you too filled with lust to care. And now, you turned into the very thing that you hated the most.

“Now you realize…” Doyoung nods and strokes the side of your face.

“I couldn’t just let you get away with exposing my secrets and putting me in jail..I mean, the sex was amazing, so amazing, but I still couldn’t let you get away with it.”

You shake your head. “Please..I’m yours, I’ll do anything. I always wanted to be yours but I was too stubborn.”

“And the stake under your pillow? Would you have used it against me?” He pouts.

“No! I was going to love you.”

“Love me? A monster?”

“Doyoung please!!”

“This is your prison now...and when you are free, look for me, I’ll be waiting for you, my love..” he walks out and leaves you alone still tied to the bed.

————

[3 Days Later]

You finally break your chains with your new strength. You run out of the room, but find that you are in an old castle. When you run through the destroyed halls and into the courtyard, you see nothing but ocean.

Doyoung left you on the notorious Gil-Eul Castle, a mansion on a secluded island that was hundreds of miles from the nearest coast. It was known as the meeting grounds for vampires long ago, but your family along with other hunters destroyed it, planting bombs in the form of air strikes to kill everyone inside.

You yelled into the sky and ran around rampantly, searching for anything to eat.

You felt like you were going insane without blood. You were literally burning from the inside out because of the lack of blood in your system.

————

[20 Years Later]

You survived the last 20 years off of fish and rats. You never stopped thinking about Doyoung and how you’d get your revenge. You’d kill him slowly, make him suffer like you had, and even though you didn’t look any older, you felt tired and weak from watching the years fly by in a broken castle.

Until one day..a ship approaches the building. You watch from above as several construction workers all onto the island.

You lurk in the shadows and wait until one of them has strayed away from the group.

The man turns around when he feels that he is being followed, but sees nothing.

He turns back around and continues walking.

You reach out from a hallway and grab him by the collar. You feed on him quickly then do the same with the other men. One by one, you kill each man to quench your plentiful years of undying thirst. 

But you’re not dumb, you save one of the men so that he can bring you back to your country. The man tells you that they had planned to clear the island and build a resort.

You take your tattered dress off and shower in the bathroom on board. You break down in tears when you feel warm water and soap on your skin for the first time in twenty years. You were finally free.

You find a set of clothes set aside by the workers and put them on. It’s a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt that’s not the right size, but it’ll have to work for now.

Once home, you hypnotize the man that brought you back.

“Tell them your team was attacked, you were the only one that survived. It was a man with fangs and pale skin. His name is Doyoung.”

The man nods, then walks off the ship and heads for the police station.

You, on the other hand, go in the opposite direction.

You thought about visiting your parents and letting them know that you were okay, but what would they say now that you were a vampire? Would they try to kill you?

You weren’t sure, so you continued walking to his mansion.

You closed your eyes and tried to focus, you knew that all vampires were connected and that if you tried hard enough, you could sense where he was.

It didn’t take long before you heard his voice. It was coming from an apartment about 10 miles away.

Of course he stayed in a nearby city.

You knocked on his door and waited for him to answer.

With round glasses on, he opened the door and smiled widely. “I knew you’d find me..”

“Invite me in.” Your voice was stern.

Doyoung nodded. “Of course.”

“Are you here to kill me?” He walks behind you.

“Yes.”

“Then go ahead.”

You turn to him.

“Why did you do this to me?”

“Life is pretty boring for an old man like me..I wanted to do something different.” He sits on the couch, then pats his thigh. “One last time before I say goodbye. I’ve missed you..”

You scoff. “You never came back, so I couldn’t really tell.”

“You were in solitary confinement, what could I do?”

You walk over to him and sit on his lap.

He placed his hands onto your ass and brought your body down onto his pelvis.

“Did you miss me?”

“No..”

He bucks into your clothes opening, brushing his hard member against it. “Are you sure?”

You bite your bottom lip, then reach to your back and pull out your stake.

You had made it with materials from the burnt down castle. You even engraved your initials into it, knowing that you’d use it to kill him.

“Yes..”

He smirks and licks his lips. “Are you ready?”

“Why aren't you scared?” Your brows furrow.

He chuckles. “I’ve been anticipating this moment for quite some time actually.”

You shake your head. “That’s not fair, this is too easy.”

He flips you over onto your back and suddenly you’re in his room and lying on his bed with him in between your legs. “And would you rather I make it difficult for you? Are you sure you want to wait another 20 years?”

You whimper as he commands your needy body effortlessly.

He grinds down into you. “If you won’t be mine willingly, then I would rather die..so are you ready, my love?”

You pause for a moment.

“Absolutely.” You press the stake into his chest, watching as his final breath leaves his beautiful lips.

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

JKR 2: BRC 1

Joker x Reader

Word Count: 1921

Summary: You love him, that much is obvious, but now Wayne is being flirty suddenly.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Alas, the much awaited sequel to JKR. At some point I got an ask for a sequel, but I literally cannot find it, so … Here it is! There will be more posting randomly as I get it out. Unlike my other series, I’ve got nothing like an outline, so I have no idea how long this is gonna be or when I’m gonna be posting it.

One of your favorite parts of being a mercenary was the fact that it was extremely rare for you to have to be a functioning human on Monday mornings. It was a perk you hadn’t really expected, but you absolutely loved sleeping in while the rest of the world crawled out of bed to begin another shitty work week. That alone almost made it worth it to put up with all the nonsense you handled day to day. And since you’d gotten involved with the joker, you’d even gotten to enjoy the addition of a warm body next to yours seeing how he shared your philosophy on those mornings. 

So when you woke up naturally one Monday morning several months since agreeing to work with Joker, you were more than a little annoyed. The irritation was only slightly alleviated when you started to really observe your surroundings and realized that Joker was currently playing big spoon with you and clinging to you like a child with a beloved toy. That, at least, was a sweet bonus to waking this early. A little smile formed on your face despite yourself. You could feel his breath on your bare shoulder, softly puffing every now and then in his sleep; the rhythm of it could almost put you to sleep.

And then your bladder made itself known. 

The annoyance promptly came roaring back.

Getting out of bed was a whole little challenge in and of itself due to the way he was clinging to you, but you somehow managed to escape without waking him. When you glanced back at the bed and saw the fearsome Clown Prince of Crime cuddled up to your pillow and snuggled under your covers, your heart gave a hard thump. Try as you might, it was steadily becoming harder to deny that you’d somehow developed feelings–real, deep feelings–for the madman. Every day you tried not to think about it because of how unlikely it was for him to reciprocate, but seeing him so vulnerable–without makeup and with green hair so faded it was almost completely back to its normal dishwater blond–made some part of you swoon. He trusted you enough to be so unguarded, and that was enough for you … mostly. Part of you still craved someone to talk seriously with, but you were content enough even without it. Or so you told yourself.

Sighing, you shook off the emotions and picked up his grey, patterned shirt from the day before. Problems for another day, you supposed.

Once your bodily functions were taken care of, you quietly stalked your way into the kitchen. Clearly, you weren’t going back to sleep anytime soon, so you might as well make a coffee. Maybe that would somehow help you tame your unwelcome feelings.

Clearly the answer was a big, fat “No,” since, as you were returning to the bedroom, you got distracted with how cut he was while you were in the doorway, mug clasped between your hands. You allowed yourself a moment to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and pretend that the two of you were just normal people.

Then, true to Gotham’s nature, it all came shattering down when you heard the telltale scratching of someone picking a lock. Specifically the lock on your front door. The switch in your mindset to Business Mode was instantaneous. Your world seemed to sharpen as you slowly eased the bedroom door closed; it would be quite bad if your suspicion about the intruder was true and he saw your houseguest. Your hand tightened around the mug, ready to throw the scalding liquid in an instant if threatened.

An angry scoff left your lips when you recognized the head of brown hair that peaked inside your apartment once the door was unlocked. “You’re really making me regret my decision against getting a guard dog, Mr. Wayne.”

You absolutely hated how dashing his ensuing smirk made him. “As busy as you are? Probably not the best idea.” Unlike the last time he broke in, he wasn’t dressed like he came from a trust fund soiree; instead, he was in a more casual ensemble of dark jeans, a dark shirt, and a leather jacket with red trim.

“Any particular reason you’re breaking into my home today or were you just hoping I was still asleep so you could peep?”

“I have to say no. That’s not exactly my style.” A thump from the bedroom halted whatever excuse he had for this breaking and entering episode.

Your heart gave its second hard thump for the morning, this one out of fear instead of love. Leveling Wayne with a harsh glare, you ordered, “Stay put.”

“Of course.”

Mug still clenched in your hand, you quickly retreated back to the bedroom. Based off the sight that greeted you, you could only assume that the noise was Joker grabbing his pants off the chair and inadvertently throwing the knife from his pocket into the floor. “You good?” you asked the obviously-groggy man.

“I heard voices. What’s going on?”

“Don’t you normally hear voices?” you teased in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“No. And you know that,” he deadpanned. His tongue started flicking as his irritation aggravated the tick.

“I’ve got an unwelcome guest again,” you stated, deciding that blunt was probably better than finesse.”

“Wayne?”

“Yes, so you’re going to stay here while I deal with him.”

“Should I be … jealous?”

“Fuck no. Can’t stand the bastard.” Well that was a bit of a lie. As much as the richboy infuriated you, he also acted as a constant source of amusement. “But I don’t want him knowing anything else about me if I can avoid it. Be a good boy and stay here, and I’ll let you have your wicked way with me later.”

“You’ll let me do that anyway.” He was right and he knew it. There was a long pause as you stared each other down. You could practically see his brain working over his options until he finally exhaled heavily. “Fine. I’m too tired for this, anyway.”

For once, his exhaustion worked to your advantage instead of making him intolerable. “Thank you. I’ll be back in a few.”

“I await with bated breath.”

The Joker handled, you slunk back out to deal with the unmasked Batman; part of you realized that Gotham City Police would love to be in your position. Both men, vulnerable with identities out in the open? They’d probably kill for it. You, however, were just tired of today already.

When you returned to the living room, Bruce had once again made himself at home on your couch. “Boyfriend?” he questioned, eyebrow raised.

“Something like that.”

“He’s got interesting taste,” he commented with a little gesture towards your body.

You raised an eyebrow. Sure, it wasn’t exactly your style, but, “You’re one to talk. Enough of the questions, Mr. Wayne. Why are you here?”

“I need a date for a gala I have to go to tonight.”

Your eyebrows now shot up almost to your scalp. “And you came to me? First off, I don’t like you, so what the fuck? Second, you don’t like me, so what the fuck? Third, do you honestly expect me to believe that you couldn’t get a date? And for that matter–”

“Relax, Y/N. I’m hiring you for a job. I need a distraction, and I hear you’re the best.”

“Awfully short notice. What if I don’t have anything to wear?”

“Already have that handled. Come by my penthouse at six.”

“And payment?”

“Half now, half after. Check your bank account; money’s already there.”

“You’re damn sure that I’m gonna do this, aren’t you.”

“You’re curious, you want to know what I’m up to, and you always get the job done if you’re being paid for it.” He was smirking again and heading for the door as he said that. “See you tonight.”

“Bastard,” you spat at the door the second it was closed. Already, you wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed and stay there for the rest of the day and it was only …  8:13 according to the clock on the wall.

Resigned to your fate for the coming evening, you retreated back to the bedroom. This time, you didn’t even pause to admire your lover’s form splayed across the bed. You did notice that his eyes were staring at you as you approached, though, and gave him a small smile.

“Got a job tonight with the hunky rich boy, huh?” he teased while rolling onto his stomach and kicking his feet up like a girl in a movie about a slumber party. “Am I just not, uh, doin’ it for ya anymore, dollface?”

“Fucker didn’t exactly give me much of a choice, did he?” you sniped right back. “Scoot over; you’re in my spot.” 

His response was to flop back over onto his back and pat his lap. “You’re mine now, remember? I was a proper gentleman and hid away while you talked to your suitor.”

“He is not–” You were cut off by him tugging you down to straddle him. “My suitor,” you finished, doing your best to sit on him with some modicum of dignity.

“Oh, you don’t have to lie to me, sweetheart. He’s quite, uh, dreamy.” He cackled. “Any chance you could convince him to join us in here sometime?”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry, J. I don’t think he’d go for it.” Especially considering the whole nemesis thing … “You’re just stuck with me, I’m afraid.”

“Ah well, have fun for the both of us, my dear,” he shrugged. His fingers suddenly halted their attempts to unbutton your (his?) shirt; alarmingly, you hadn’t even noticed him doing that. “Why did Brucy know what it is you do for a living anyway?”

Fortunately, you knew that question was likely to come up months ago, so you’d long ago thought of an excuse. “Did a job cleaning up one of those trust fund brigade’s messes after a particularly nasty party–”

“Ooh!”

“–and that apparently got me on his radar.”

“Never a dull day for a mercenary.”

“Or a madman,” you teased right back. “But be that as it may, I’m gonna enjoy having you all to myself until I have to go to that stupid party.”

“Never a dull day, indeed!” he cheered. “But for real, you gotta get a video or somethin’ if you fuck him tonight.”

You rolled your eyes even as you tugged at his boxers. It was an interesting thought. While you had first priority on the Joker when he was off the clock and a serious case of feelings for the clown, you were under no illusions that this was an exclusive thing. Physically, you sated each other easily. Emotionally, you were all the Joker needed (or wanted, for that matter), but he wasn’t crazy enough to think that he satisfied all of your needs. The whole comforting thing specifically was a weakness of his. You’d discussed all this (excluding the whole love issue) months ago at your insistence since you had no desire to earn the Joker’s wrath by having an affair.

Shoving all that aside, you just scoffed. “That man is infuriating.”

“And he has a crush on you. I can tell. We madmen have a … sixth sense for these things. Besides, the flirting was painfully obvious even from in here.”

“I’m not fucking Bruce Wayne.”

“Right. You’re fucking me!” Another hysterical cackle.

“Well …” you grinned, “I’m about to be, anyway.”

[always5hineee]

Profit Margin- Chapter 17: Pre-Show Decorating

Chapter warnings: Mild language, intense themes, heavy violence

Word count: 1600

-----

"Y/N..." She heard a voice very faintly in the distance. Where was it coming from? It almost felt like it was surrounding her, just the wind from the clouds in the sky above her. She didn't want to respond to it- she liked it here. It was quiet, and peaceful, and she didn't have to remember anything she didn't want to. "Y/N!"

       Startled out of her sleep, Y/N sat up straight, just barely jostling the still-asleep Xiaojun beside her. She glanced over to find that the source of the whisper-shout was YangYang, hand still near her shoulder from trying to shake her awake. It took her a few seconds to realize what was going on. He was looking at her intently as she realized what it must look like.

       "I'm not-" She started stammering, gesturing to Xiaojun, "We're not- this isn't-"

       "What?" The man looked confused. "Oh, no, we know, it's fine. We came down to check on him when he didn't come to the bedrooms. Anyway, we have more important things to worry about." He quickly moved on from the subject. Apparently at least some of the others were completely aware of his situation. "There's some new information, but, uh... you're not gonna like it. I've been told to invite you to the meeting, but trust me, you don't wanna s-"

       "I'm coming." She said, swinging her legs to get out of the bed. "Should we wake up Xiaojun?"

       "No, he had to deal with Lucas himself, he must be tired. We can fill him in later." Himself- had he told them that he did all the work alone? Granted, he was the one with actual medical capabilities, but that was a little underhanded. Still, she worried that if she corrected him, he'd wake the man up, and she wanted to let him rest. Worse, YangYang could force her to stay, seeing as how he didn't think she should be in the meeting to begin with. Silently agreeing, she followed him to the board room.

       She hadn't been there since she had first been taken to Kun for evaluation. It hadn't changed except for the fact that there were now people seated at the chairs. Kun sat at the head, of course. The seat to his right was empty, and to his left sat Ten. WinWin sat next to the first empty seat, while YangYang moved to sit next to Ten, but leaving a space in between. She knew why there were so many empty seats, but it was a bit strange to see. She wondered which space belonged to each of the absent.

       "Y/N, if you could, sit next to YangYang." She was grateful for this, both because she needed the direction on what her place was, as well as the relief of not having to have a reason not to sit next to Ten. "Now, if you'd direct your attention to the screen above the doorway." As she looked in that direction, she realized that there was indeed a television situated over the entryway. She hadn't noticed it before. Evidently, it must have been connected to the laptop and remote that were in Kun's possession.

       Suddenly, the screen was lit up with a news story. She couldn't tell what website it was on, or if it was just a document that he had compiled himself from other sources. There were a lot of words, but she didn't get a chance to read the screen before he clicked on the picture to the right. As it filled up the television, she froze in horror. She saw the front of a stadium with people being held back behind police tape, as well as something tied to the overhang with a dark stain beneath it.

       Switching images so that just the main focus was visible, she saw that it was actually several things rather than one. Each was a young woman, tied around their underarms, somehow affixed with the rope to the overhang of the venue. That meant that the stain beneath them must have been... blood.

       "Last night, seven girls were found tied up in front of the stadium. Each was covered in systematic lacerations all over their bodies, excluding their hands, feet, and neck to head area. Authorities have no lead on the culprit, but they have determined that the victims died from bleeding out."

       "Isn't that the venue we were supposed to..." WinWin started, then cleared his throat awkwardly. He didn't want to finish.

       "Yes, we were meant to perform there within the week. It's unclear as to whether that will still be occurring."

       "I mean, I think we can tell who did this." Ten spat, glaring at the table.

       "We don't know it was him!" WinWin defended. "This could all be a misunderstanding!"

       "What is there to misunderstand?" Ten began arguing with him, ready to blame Hendery for all of his behavior at the first chance he got. At this, the door burst open, drawing everyone's attention away from the fight and onto the new arrival. Xiaojun was standing in the doorway, clothes and hair a mess as well as breathing heavily, but still there.

       "Why didn't anyone come wake me up?!" He demanded. "What's going on?"

       "We didn't want to interrupt your resting after having to deal with Lucas." Kun stated simply.

       "Why'd you let Y/N come then?! She did like a third of the work!" Kun's glance shifted a moment, although she couldn't quite catch to where.

       "That wasn't the information I was given."

       "Well, yeah," Xiaojun explained, "Because I didn't want you all to be worried that I entrusted Lucas's life to a stranger!" A stranger? Okay, ouch. Sighing, Kun shook his head.

       "Oh, well. You're both here now. Sit down and read the screen, we were just about to continue on with the briefing. As Xiaojun sat in the empty place across from YangYang, Ten and WinWin were silent. They apparently did not plan on acknowledging the outburst, and neither did the leader. Once he was sure that Xiaojun was adequately informed, (as evidenced by his furrowed brow) he shut the laptop, causing the screen to go dark.

       "In addition, it seems that we're missing about five hundred thousand dollars in funds, the total being taken from four different accounts."

       "Wait, what?" WinWin cut in again. "Why wasn't I informed of this until now? Our financials were all in order yesterday."

       "Because I wanted to have the discussion here." Kun mentioned simply. "I found it unnecessary to trouble you outside of this."

       "This doesn't make sense- where were the funds removed from? We have ATM capabilities disabled on all but one of our accounts. Each has a different password, as well as several other security characteristics. Not only that, but I'm meant to be notified every time funds are added or removed. To bypass all that without triggering any suspicion, it should be impossible, I-" As he spoke, Kun was looking at him intently, along with a much more aggravated Ten.

       "So, when were you going to tell us you were working with him?"

       "Excuse me?"

       "You said it yourself! There's no way the money could have been taken without you noticing. Conclusion: you did notice, because you knew it was happening! I bet you're funding his sick, fucked up games, aren't you!" Both of the men stood at the same time, seconds away from having a complete fist-fight in the middle of the conference room.

       "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Even if I was working with Hendery, and I was going to steal from ourselves, I wouldn't just sit my ass around this dump! I'd take it all and leave! I can't believe you'd even suggest that-"

       "OH so you admit that you might do it?"

       "It was an example! You've always been such a-"

       "Enough!" Kun stood as well, slamming his hands down on the table and scaring Y/N more than a bit. She'd never seen him raise his voice. "You're arguing like five-year-olds. And in front of a lady, at that. Sit down and start acting your age. Hendery is a liability. If he gets caught, it could blow our entire operation. I've worked too hard for too long just to get ratted out by some angry little kids. I don't care what it takes, you are going to find him, and deal with him. Understood?" They all nodded, the tension in the air thick enough to cut.

       "If all he wanted was money, he wouldn't be killing people. Hell, if all he wanted was money, he would have stayed here, this is profitable. He has a reason for this, we just don't know what it is. Until we do, you need to stop making up conspiracy theories in your minds. Focus on your job. Dismissed." Everyone promptly stood, causing her to rush and do so as well. She was more than concerned with the fact that Kun's issue was not with the murder, but with Hendery. She had a sinking suspicion that, should they find him, he would be lightly reprimanded and then put back in position. She had almost forgotten they had no problem with killing.

       "I'm going to find him." Ten growled. "You stay here." She wasn't sure who exactly he had said this too, but Kun didn't contradict him. She supposed that the leader had stated as he wished when he'd said to find him at all costs. Thinking back to Lucas, she silently wondered if Ten would ever return.

Go to Chapter 18

[slashhinginghasher]

Midnight Star - Chromeskull x OFC - Part 4: Half A Ghost

Summary: When things don’t go to plan, you change the plan.

AKA a nice helping of backstory with a side order of Jesse being a horny freak.

This story is on Ao3!

None of this was going the way he’d planned.

Granted, the plan was fairly light on details - most of which revolved around turning the bitch into a human Picasso - but it was still a plan, god damn it, and none of those details involved him sulking in his office and pretending the ache in his balls was just from her well-placed kick (lucky hit) and not the lingering taste of her blood in his mouth. For someone who was all skin and bones, she was surprisingly strong. Put a little meat on her and she’d probably be a tiny terror. And despite how scrawny she was, he had to admit she’d looked positively fucking edible like that, all pink-flushed and trembling (even if it was just heatstroke). Small wonder he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her--

Fuck.

There were already rumors floating around the organization that he was going soft, thanks to that cocksucker Preston. Some quick knife work had easily convinced the man to drop the subject, but whispers had a way of... lingering. The organization was still recovering from the Miami debacle a couple years back. It had taken more money than he’d liked to make that particular police investigation disappear.. Between the amnesiac hooker melting his face off and Veronica blowing her brains out in FBI custody, the last thing he needed was to be seen slavering over yet another piggy like a horny teenager.

Fucking Veronica.

She was the last time he’d taken work home with him. The mind games had been fun at first, and having clean pussy on demand was a definite plus. But he’d grown tired of playing at domesticity, of making blatantly false promises (of course I don’t touch the other girls, baby, only you). Boredom led to stupid choices. A kid? Jesse was a man of many talents, but fatherhood was not one of them, especially with a simpering little ex-piggy as the mother. Veronica’s suicide was probably the only good thing to come out of that mess.

But he hadn’t thought of Veronica in over a year, and the fact that he was now just served to piss him off even further. The situation was rapidly spiraling out of control. He had half a mind to storm back down to the basement and snap the bitch’s skinny neck, just to be done with all of it. He was almost out the door when his computer chimed with an email notification.

From: agallagher@chrom.net Subject: Found her Attachment: marpol.zip

And just like that, boiling rage gave way to an intense, almost electric curiosity. After the initial encounter, he’d sent a picture of the girl to his team with orders to dig up everything they could about her. Now, it seemed, they’d hit pay-dirt. With a slight quiver of anticipation, Jesse eased himself into his leather desk chair and opened the email.

Name: Marena Polunochnaya Age: 23 (alleged) DOB: Unknown Place of birth: Unknown (native Russian speaker) Relatives: Unknown Education: Unknown

What the fuck? That was it? Jesse snarled, ready to throw the laptop across the room and put A. Gallagher’s head on a pike. He clicked open the attachment with a little more force than necessary and was surprised when dozens of files, arranged chronologically, appeared on the screen. The earliest file (a brief police report about an altercation outside a south Miami bar) was dated from four years ago. Before that, nothing. 

Little miss Marena Polunochnaya, it seemed, was half a ghost.

And the other half was a little hellion, he thought, scrolling through what seemed like an inordinate number of police reports. Theft, both petty and vehicular, vandalism, street racing, underage drinking, trespassing, assault and battery, minor arson, justifiable homicide…

Wait, what?!

He couldn’t open the file fast enough. Apparently, the girl had been the victim of an attempted mugging three years prior. According to the court reports, she had killed the mugger in self-defense, sustaining a stab wound in the process. And there was video footage: a security camera outside a club caught the entire thing.

Click.

The footage was surprisingly high-quality for a security cam, although the low light still made the picture a little grainy. A familiar little dark-haired figure walked into the alley and was grabbed by a larger figure with a bandana wrapped around the lower half of its face. The mugger pinned the girl to the wall with his forearm and pulled out a knife. There was no sound, but Jesse didn’t need dialogue to enjoy the show. The girl was making placating gestures with her hands, likely promising cooperation. The idiot eased his hold on her and was immediately gifted with a frankly beautiful left hook. His knife hand lashed out, he staggered back, and the girl was doubled over with the knife buried in her rib cage. By body language, the mugger seemed shocked; he probably hadn’t been expecting a fight or planning on actually using the knife for more than intimidation. The girl stumbled forward a step, hand held out as though pleading for help.

And then.

God.

She pulled the knife out of her chest and slammed it home in the mugger’s throat, ripping it open in a glorious arc of arterial spray. The mugger dropped, convulsed a couple times, and was still. The girl leaned heavily against the wall and pressed a hand against the growing dark patch on her side, presumably staying there until the cops arrived on the scene.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

If he hadn’t been hard before (he had been), he sure as fuck was now. Jesse watched the video again. Again. Again. He dragged a hand over his growing grin, trying to ignore the uncomfortable tightness of his slacks. He was only about a quarter of the way through the files, and curiosity won out over arousal. He kept scrolling.

After the failed mugging, the girl was admitted to some do-gooder program for “at-risk repeat offenders” under the sponsorship and care of one Dr. Linda Malloy. The program’s website sported pictures of gleaming dormitories and spacious gardens, along with promises of education, vocational training, and therapy for “reintegration into society.” The whole thing was disgustingly optimistic and upbeat, and Jesse almost laughed at the thought of the scraggly wildcat in his basement sitting in one of those plush offices.

Dr. Linda Malloy kept extensive notes. Two and a half years’ worth, to be exact. Many of them were dense with psychobabble and medical jargon that Jesse didn’t have the patience to decipher, so he skimmed them, letting his attention fall on whatever caught his eye.

“...shows clear signs of PTSD - insomnia, night terrors, mistrust of authority, violent reactions to unexpected or unwanted physical contact, frequent dissociative states - but refuses to share any information about the events which may have caused her condition…”

“...had to be sedated after refusing to sleep for four days straight and threatening a staff member with dismemberment…”

“...locked herself in the maintenance shed and was found trying to sharpen her teeth with a screwdriver and a metal file…”

“...continues to meet all overtures of friendliness with aggression or by resolutely ignoring the other party…”

“...refused to speak English the entire session. Later translation shows she was parroting my questions back to me in Russian….”

“...did not move, speak, or make eye contact for the entire session…”

“...regarding her habit of ripping pages out of her journal and burning them after writing on them. I asked her about it one day, and she said thoughts cannot return once they’ve been turned to ash. I asked how she had discovered that, and she simply replied ‘Hana.’ When I asked her who Hana was, her eyes widened, as though she had made a mistake, before her entire manner turned cold and she walked away….”

“...had to lock her in her room at night to keep her from breaking into and sleeping in the walk-in freezer…”

Jesse had never been one for novels - couldn’t see the point in spending hours reading about fake shit - but he could’ve read this shit all day. Amazing how so much fucked-upness could fit into one tiny person. He wondered how she’d ever conned her way into getting discharged until he read a little further and saw that funding for the program had been cut, forcing the “residents” out into the world despite the many protests of the staff.

Information was light after that. She paid for a shitty studio apartment with cash that she must’ve gotten from an under-the-table job. Her run-ins with the police were few and far in between. Jesse didn’t blame her for keeping a low profile after escaping Mayberry Asylum. He wouldn’t want to be stuck in a hellhole like that either. (Of course, now she was stuck in his basement, which probably seemed like another hellhole to her. Oh well.) The final file was dated from three weeks ago.

It was a warrant for her arrest on charges of quadruple homicide.

Jesse inhaled so sharply he nearly choked on it. His eyes darted over the preliminary report. Girl seen entering a penthouse apartment with four men. Noise complaints from downstairs neighbors around 4 am. Police arrive on scene to find three corpses, one almost-corpse, and no girl. No one had seen her leave.

There were pictures. Jesse’s hands were practically shaking with excitement as he opened them.

The first corpse had been pushed down the stairs, his neck bent at a terrible angle and blood seeping from his crushed skull. The second had been stabbed repeatedly with a broken bottle until his face and throat looked like raw hamburger. The third was a mess of chemical burns. The coroner’s report said he’d been drowned in a bathtub full of cleaning chemicals. The fourth man had been bludgeoned with a wooden baseball bat, half the vertebrae in his neck and back shattered. He’d died in the hospital two days later.

Oh, someone has been very, very naughty.

The urge to cleave her little skull in two was rapidly being replaced by the urge to rail her until she forgot her own name. It probably wouldn’t take long, he mused. The name was bigger than the girl. He pulled up the video feed from the basement and was greeted with the sight of her retching miserably over the grate in the floor. Right. Head injury. Drugs. Dehydration. She probably wouldn’t survive the fucking she had coming to her in her current condition, and Jesse now had a very keen interest in keeping her alive. He sent a quick message to his medical team before reopening the footage of the failed mugging.

The best way to regain control of the situation, after all, was to admit that the situation had changed.

The relief he felt as he freed his aching cock was nearly as powerful as an orgasm. Jesse couldn’t remember the last time he was this hard. He ran his thumb over the head, letting out a shuddering breath as he gathered the precum beading on the tip. He began to pump the shaft in slow, firm strokes and let his imagination run wild.

He’d tie her down, of course. No way his devious little doll would remain still long enough for him to fully enjoy her. He’d trace his tongue over every goddamn scar on her body, over her hardened nipples and the sharp points of her hips and that handy little panic button carved into her neck. Then he’d turn his attention to her tight little pussy, keeping her on the edge until she was writhing and swearing and begging for it. Then, only then, he’d make her taste herself on his lips as he slid into her tight, wet heat, fucking her hard and fast until she screamed herself hoarse.

Jesse came with a silent groan and the first real smile he’d had since Princess Fuckin’ Gemstone obliterated his face.

Marena Polunochnaya.

He rolled the name over his tongue. It tasted like blood.

[name-me-regret]

Us, The Martians 1/?

Us, The Martians Prologue

Read on AO3

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Will you hold the line? When every one of them is giving up or giving in, tell me In this house of mine? Nothing ever comes without a consequence or cost, tell me Will the stars align? Will heaven step in? Will it save us from our sin?

~Natural - Imagine Dragons

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

The young man, just barely sixteen, pulled his bag close to his body, his hood covering most of his face as he walked along. His clothes were tattered from many days living in the street, a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt underneath that hadn’t been washed in at least a three days. The night was cold, with a mist hanging in the air that made it even cooler for this time of night as spring was ending. It was quiet, almost too quiet being New York, but then again, it was the part where not many of the ‘good people’ of New York ever went. It was where someone could disappear, and no one saw anything, even when they had.

St John Allerdyce knew the risk, but he couldn’t go back home, and all the homeless shelters he’d tried had been full to capacity. He’d even tried F. E. A. S. T. but it seemed this was one of the first places to fill up . The teenager just wanted to get through this night, and then tomorrow he’d try to find the place he’d heard about. It was a school, a special school that was rumored to be for people like him; abnormal, freaks.

That’s what his parents had called him, before his dad had run him out. John had barely had enough time to grab a backpack filled with clothes and the money he’d saved up from several allowances, and from when he’d started working at the local bodega. He’d ran away from... well, he didn’t want to call it a home, since the ones that were supposed to be his family had turned on him as soon as they knew he was different. However, those people weren’t his family, since the way they treated him wasn’t how one behaved with someone they loved.

They were the freaks, not him.

His abilities had developed early, almost three years ago when he’d gone through puberty. He’d been terrified, so he had hid it. It was no comfort to John that he’d been right to hide it.

Now, none of that mattered, it was in the past. It was about survival now, and getting to that special school.

However, it seemed he would never make it.

They came seemingly out of nowhere, at least ten heavily armed men and women. He reacted instinctively, flicking open his zippo lighter as he lit it, and then used his powers to take the fire and formed a fireball. John launched it at the closest threat, and the woman fell as she was engulfed, rolling around on the ground to put out the flames.

John ignored this and instead brought his attention to the nine other threats. As he formed another fireball, one of the men were quicker as he pulled out a gun and fired. However, there was no sharp sound of a normal gun, and instead he felt a sharp pinprick of pain. He pulled the object out, eyesight starting to get fuzzy around the edges, and saw that it was a small dart.

The sixteen year old staggered back as the fireball in his hand flickered and went out with a hiss, and slid down the filthy alleyway wall. John saw that the woman was up, her tactical gear singed and smoking, and besides a burn over her left cheek, she seemed relatively unharmed. She growled and took a single step forward to kick him in the stomach as John cried out in pain, curling down around himself to guard from another attack.

“Now, don’t harm our guest too badly,” an amused voice chided the woman, who immediately backed off. An older man stepped forwards as the soldiers (mercenaries?) moved aside to let him through. He was wearing a three-piece suit, and he could have easily been someone’s grandfather, if not for the cruel glint in his eyes. When it was combined with the false smile he wore, the teen felt properly fearful. “How very nice to meet you, Mr. Allerdyce.”

John was surprised that the man knew his name.

“Oh, you’re wondering how I know your name? From your family, of course,” he chuckled. “After D.C., we’ve been monitoring things closely.” He had his arms behind his back as he paced in front of him slowly. “We pinged the call as soon as your father called the police. When he mentioned how you made the flames of a kitchen fire extinguish, I knew I had to meet you.”

The man snapped his fingers and John was hit with another dart. This one dragged him under, like dark water closing all around him. “You and I are going to get very well acquainted, St. John Allerdyce,” the old man chuckled.

John wondered moments before he passed out if he would survive this acquaintance.

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

It was raining, buckets that came down so it was hard to see anything. Harley cursed as he ran down the road toward his house, his sneakers getting soaked through as his foot landed in a muddy puddle, and wished the city would pave the road. However, he doubted that they would, since there weren’t any paved streets except for the main roads of Rosehill, and this wasn't a main road. It was a side road that went along their house and several others, and that then merged with the main road that led to the interstate.

The teen cursed as he ran through another ditch, the water making the ground soft enough so he didn't fracture his ankle, but he did fall flat on his face. He coughed as he scrambled onto his hands and knees, water being splashed everywhere, and his face was covered in mud and filthy water.

Damnit, he was going to have to toss his shoes into the washer, and hopefully they dried by the morning. If not, he was going to have to deal with wet shoes for the last day of school. He hated to do it, but he might need to use some of his saved funds to buy some boots. They were expensive, but he needed to get some Wellington pull-on work boots, since he knew it was likely to rain the rest of the week.

"Mama, I'm home," he called at the door, yanking off his jacket as he shook out his wet hair. He sighed when he saw that his mom had left a towel hanging from the hook where they usually hung their coats. The back of his shirt wasn't as muddy and he used that to wipe his dirty face, glad that it was raining hard enough that most of the mud that had gotten into his blonde hair had been washed out.

The adolescent, who was going to turn fourteen in a few days, towel dried his hair before draping the towel over his shoulders. His sneakers had been kicked off at the door, and his jeans and boxers soon joined them, using the towel to wrap around his waist. He wasn't too terribly skinny, but even then the large towel was able to wrap around him almost twice.

"Harley, is that you?" he heard his mother calling. She must not have heard him call out, but had likely heard the thump of his wet sneakers hitting the wall when he tossed them, along with his wet muddy clothes into the corner next to the door.

"Yeah," he called back a bit louder. "I'm gonna go shower and change! I got soaked right through!"

"Uh, yeah, hurry back down afterwards, ya hear?"

"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, going up the backstairs. Their house might have been cramped and falling in disrepair, but it was so familiar to him, having grown up here all his life. This was the only good thing their father had ever left them, an old two story white house that was nestled at the edge of the woods right outside of town. Harley and Abbie had played in those woods most of the days of summer vacations while growing up, since there was a fishing hole somewhere in the middle that was attached to a small stream.

He took a quick shower, scrubbing his hair nice and hard to get any dirt and small rocks out of the strands. He’d have to make sure to get them out of the drain cover after he was done.

Harley felt ten times better when he finally left his room, having hurried there from the bathroom since he had forgotten to bring a change of clothes, like always. “Mama, I’m as hungry an an ox,” he said, hurrying down the front steps this time, since it came down to the living room. He’d heard her from this area, so he figured she was there enjoying a hot cup of tea. While it wasn’t too cold since it was the start of summer, but there was still a bit of a chill in the air.

It was a usual thing to come in and find her enjoying some tea after a shift (or coffee if she had a second shift later), and she’d kicked off her white sneakers to be cleaned before her next shift the next morning. Only, this day was not the same as most afternoons he’d experienced, and it was because of the man sitting on the couch as Harley came in.

“Tony?” Harley asked, hand pushing back his hair away from his face. It had gotten rather long and out of control, and now tried to fix it a bit self-consciously. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, kid,” the superhero greeted with a grin. “I’m here to take you and your family to New York.”-

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

[cecilspeaks]

145 - The Veterans

Fake it till you make it. Mike it till you like it. Book it till you look it. Welcome to Night Vale.

More soldiers of the Blood Space War have returned home to Night Vale. Another craft landed in the corn field of John Peters – you know, the farmer. Beings of astonishing structure emerged alongside four human figures in space suits. The astronauts removed their helmets to reveal they are Night Vale residents James Peters – you know, the brother of Johns Peters – you know, the farmer; twins Drew and Dan Christiansen, and Junior Blay. These veterans of the interstellar conflict were welcomed by the citizens of Night Vale with hugs, a brass band, and delicious unsold baked goods left over from last month’s PTA bake sale to support the Blood Space War.

The returning soldiers thanked the gathering, but warned Night Vale of the Polonian armies of star system Lakaia 9352, who are encroaching at this moment upon our own galaxy. Admiral Junior Blay of the 63rd mountain cavalry said the Polonians are ruthless killers. They are three times the size of humans, with hundreds of sharp teeth up and down their many boneless limbs. They have only one eye, which really messes up their depth perception, (Blay) said, but that eye can also shoot out lasers, so it’s sort of a six of one way, half dozen the other

The crowd did not hear most of what the veterans had to say, as they were mesmerized by the beings of astonishing structure standing atop the landing ramp of their disc-shaped craft. “Oh those?” Sergeant Dan Christiansen said. “They are allies. They’re from the Battlestation Wolfgang. They have no home planet, as it was destroyed millennia ago by the Polonians.” The crowd pointed and shouted “interlopers of astonishing structure” at the beings, but Lieutenant Drew Christiansen said: “Oh, they have no oral or written language. They cannot understand your noises.” Drew then did a kind of b-boy pop and lock dance move and the beings of astonishing structure replied with a balletic prance before entering their ship and departing. They said: “Thanks, but this place is weird.” Drew Christiansen interpreted for the crowd.

Dan and Drew Christiansen were born in Night Vale in 1912. They became tax accountants. They had wives and children. They donated to the old Night Vale Opera House and were avid sports fans. They even started the first ever semi pro sand hockey league. Dan passed away in 1994 of liver cancer, and Drew passed away weeks later of a heart attack. They were survived by their wives, children, and grandchildren. But upon returning to Night Vale this week, these 107-year-old men looked to be in their late 20’s. The Christiansen twins have attempted to reunite with their families, but they were unrecognizable to their grandchildren who are now middle aged. And when Dan and Drew tried to apply for jobs, they were declined on account of an antiquated law that makes it illegal to hire the dead.

Junior Blay, a 50-year-old man, said he was born in 2022 to Oliver and Linda Blay of Old Town Night Vale. The Blay family was contacted about this and said they had not planned to ever have children, so Junior will likely have been an accident or a dramatic change of heart. Blay was wounded in his combat assignment and returned home for treatment. He suffered third degree burns across his abdomen and arms and needs a skin craft, but the Night Vale VA has to wait for approval from the Red Mesa VA to clear his procedure, which could take weeks.

Jim Peters was honorably discharged from service and was heavily decorated with chevrons and medals. But his face sagged with exhaustion and history. His brother John was the first to greet him, but Jim could not match his brother’s tearful enthusiasm. Jim had seen too much, experienced too much, to ever feel normal again.

In light of the physical, financial, and spiritual crush on these men, the City Council announced that it would paint a giant American flag atop City Hall and play John Philip Souza’s famous patriotic march, “Bodak Yellow”, at all hours of the day over a loudspeaker. And the whole town cheered proudly, for they were truly taking care of our vets.

Let’s have a look at sports. The Night Vale High School wheel chair basketball team, captained by junior point guard Janice Palmer, won their semi-final game last night against Cactus Park High School 72-58. Forward Quinn Booman led the team with 20 points and also had 8 rebounds and 10 assists. The Scorpions fell behind by 16 points in the first half, but really found their inspiration at halftime. Coach Jacobite McPhee told his team not to get down on themselves because it’s impossible to make every single shot, you just have to have fun. McPhee then took out an acoustic guitar and sang the following original song.

[Joseph Fink sings] Physics is a science of made up numbers and rules So we can only make joy and pass the ball like fools. To win it leaves our hands of free will it’s true Cause you never ever know what that ball is gonna do. Physics is a science of made up numbers and rules So we can only make joy and pass the ball like fools. Yes we can only make joy and pass the ball like fools.

The team relinquished their illusion of control and dominated the second half offensively. The Scorpions face Pine Cliff this Saturday afternoon in the district tournament final, so let’s all get out there and support our team, really root for the ball to go into the… the hmm hmm, the the, you know the thing that the ball is supposed to go into. And this has been sports.

Senior strategic advisor Jameson Archibald at the Intergalactic Military Headquarters, speaking from an inflatable raft atop an infinity pool filled with Remy Martin Black Pearl Cognac, said he and his top strategists in the Intergalactic Military Headquarters still have no idea what the Blood Space War is about. But they’re glad to learn that the Polonian armies are approaching. “We’ve got all this money piling up for the war and we’re getting bored with hosting Lamborghini demolition derbies,” Archibald said. “The government keeps sending us cash and we’re like OK y’all, but like what are we supposed to do with iiit? And the feds are like, I don’t care start a war or something.” But unfortunately the government allotment for an interstellar war was wiped out on a failed investment in a tech startup that was pitched to them as “the Uber of Netflix of Facebook” by a 7-year-old wearing a suit. So, the Intergalactic Military Headquarters was forced to ask for contributions. Hence, the PTA bake sales. Additionally, the Sheriff’s Secret Police were able to provide several armored combat vehicles, two tons of enriched uranium, and a satellite activated missile launching system, all of which had been donated to the Secret Police by the US army.

Sheriff Sam said they had wanted to keep all that high-tech battle gear, but using a nuclear submarine to stop Night Vale citizens who were fishing without a license, created to what Sheriff Sam referred to as “less than satisfactory optics”. Archibald said he was appreciative of the Secret Police’s charity, but he’d just received word that the Polonian ships are already within the outer limits of our solar system. So not sure there’s much left to do, really. He then took out a roll of 100-dollar bills from his shirt pocket and ate it like a Snickers bar.

An update on the high school basketball tournament. The City Council announced that there will be a parade for the team, win or lose, next Tuesday evening. The parade will feature giant floats in the shapes of famous basketball players, such as Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, and Little Bow Wow. There will also be a celebrity appearance by Lee Marvin, who will be celebrating his 30th birthday on Tuesday. Aww. Happy birthday, Mr. Marvin!

The City Council expressed civic pride in this talented team of young athletes, and enjoined all of Night Vale to come out in celebration of sportsmanship, regardless of the outcome of the championship game. “Of course,” the single-bodied entity of the City Council said with uncharacteristic mirth, “we think our team will win.” The City Council’s many faces then winked in unison. “Also,” the City Council added, “If you look up in the sky, you’ll see that a large chunk of the moon just exploded and the Earth is surrounded by enemy space crafts, but there’s not much we can do about that, so let’s just cheer on our basketball team.” The City Council then held up their many fists and squealed: “Yay team!” as pieces of the moon began to thunder down around us.

Let’s go now to today’s Weather.

[No Good Day” by Windows to the Sky https://windowstosky.com]

I’ve just received an email from Harrison Kip, archeology professor at Night Vale Community College. Kip told me that while on a dig in 1993, he and his team of researchers found remnants of several spacecraft buried deep in central Nevada. Kip was studying fossilized remains to determine eating habits of early North American habitants, but what he found were several triangular titanium vessels, each roughly the size and shape of a Burger King. He tried to check his notes from that excursion, but those pages had been torn out of his journal. Despite this, he’s positive the ships he can see above our Earth are identical to the ones he found crashed in the desert 25 years ago. Inside those ships were creatures the size of hippos, with long dangling limbs covered in sharp teeth. Kip remembers calling the college to ask for more funding for this research, but before he could do anything, a black van drove up to the dig site and several men wearing business suits that were patterned in desert camouflage got out, they arrested Kip and his assistants, and had them reprogrammed.

Kip said the reprogramming was successful until today, when he heard my news reports about the Polonians, and his memories suddenly returned to him, and now he believes he knows exactly what has happened in the Blood Space War and how we will end it. He’s going to type up his notes while they’re still fresh in his mind, and get them over to me asap. Oh, this is so very exciting! Science saves the day. Once again. Uh huh, here’s a follow up email from Harrison. It says: “Hey Cecil, disregard whatever I said earlier, I don’t even remember what it was. Some guys I didn’t know showed up and put a metal helmet on me, there were a bunch of wires and knobs and lights coming out of it and it felt so peaceful and comfortable, like when you’re eating Belgian waffles with ice cream or binge-watching Terrace House, anyway I don’t remember what I sent you earlier since (--) have been deleted, so whatever it was it couldn’t have been [angrily] that important? Sincerely, Harrison?” No! No, this is terrible. OK, I’m going to forward Harrison’s first email back to him to see if it rejogs his memory. We’ve gotta learn exactly what- Hello? Hello there? Listeners, there are some men entering my studio. They’re wearing business suits made from a desert camouflage patterned fabric! Oh, Gucci, I love it! They’re, they’re putting this crazy hat on me and it has a bunch of lights and wires, hang on Night Vale, listen to this interview I recorded earlier today with John Peters – you know, the farmer. These boys are here trying to get me ready for fashion week, I-I-I think?

John Peters: Jim came home this week and I was real happy, happier than a pig starring in its own TV show about pig detectives solving pig murders. My brother taught me to play football when we was boys. He’d throw the ball and say: “Johnny, move your hands together like salad tongs when the ball gets near you, that’s called ‘catch’.” I tried so hard to catch that ball, but I never could. [chuckles] We had fun. Jim taught me so much and he took care of me, running off the bullies at school, buying me soda pops and candy canes from this man who lived in a trunk of a broken down ’56 Chevy in the alley behind the post office. I’m almost 60 years old and my brother left for the war back when I was 15. And to see him again, boy to see his face after so long, he ain’t changed one bit. He literally is the same age as when he left, 22 years old. But he’s not the same Jim. He don’t wanna throw the football or go looking for discount sodas and candy in weird alleys. No, Jim looks sad. His body’s strong but his mind seems so weak. I saw him crying the other day and told him what our papa always said to us: “Jim, boys don’t cry. Not without talking through their feelings with someone else.” So I put my arm around young Jim. I must have looked like a granddad - me so old, him so young - but our memories of each other were the same age. Jim cried into my shirt and said, “Johnny, I’ve been in that war darn near a hundred years. That’s a lot of space travel, not a lot of fightin’ but when there is fightin’ it’s gruesome.” Jim said he didn’t wanna see no more war, but he said that in his last battle he risked his life to disarm a bomb that would have killed ten of his fellow soldiers, and one of them was the General. “The General has a plan for ceasefire,” Jim said, “the General has a plan for peace. But I think the General needs me, Johnny.” I said, “Jimbo, I need you.” But I knew that I’d been without him for 40 years, while this General was with him for nearly 100. I knew I was lyin’ to Jim and myself. Jim hugged my neck and kissed my cheek. He donned his space suit and walked out into the corn field and disappeared. I think my brother is gonna save us all. Anyway, it’s a sad story, but it’s also happy. Like a goat playing a piano, stories carry lots of different emotions all at once.

Cecil: [sounding high] Alright, listeners, I’m back. I don’t remember what I was talking about, nor where I got this really cool hat. But City Council announced that the space ships that were surrounding our planet are gone. But they were deeply unnerved by the fact that the ships did not retreat, they simply disappeared. The City Council then added that the moon is still broken but honestly, they see this as a crisatunity to buy a new one.

Oh, don’t forget to come to the basketball championship parade on Tuesday.

Stay tuned next for simultaneous panic and relief, As you realize all of your emails are gone.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: Develop your chi. Really work that chi hard. Get sixpack chi. Totally swole with chi. Roll up those sleeves and welcome people to the chi show.

[justkeeptrekkin]

Prompt if you wanna: Some fake!dating maybe they have to go undercover for hero work?

anon do you know how hard it was to not write a 80+k slow burn friends to lovers fic here? I’m such a ho for fake!dating. THANK you for this blessed ask. 

“We definitely, absolutely should not make-out in plain sight in the corridor of a villian’s penthouse apartment.”

Hizashi says it, but he very much does not mean it. He grabs Shouta’s face and kisses him again like his life depends on it. 

Which it sort of does.

Twenty minutes earlier.

The piano music sounds distant and strained in Hizashi’s earpiece. The laptop screen shows a sea of people who, for anyone who wouldn’t know any better, seem upstanding- if not also unnecessarily rich. The charity-event pretence is a clever disguise, but it didn’t fool everyone.

It had been Nezu’s idea to organise an undercover infiltration; with a little research, Hizashi discovered that several suspects for one of Tsugauchi’s biggest cases would be attending this party. Not that he should know about such things, but it’s hard not to pick up the facts when the police leave them around so lazily. Now, Hizashi sits in a storage room downstairs, Nemuri perched beside him on an upturned mop bucket. They both listen, watch the party roll ahead with all the glitz and glamour that would be expected for its absurdly wealthy guests. Prosecco, fancy looking finger-food, music, all set in a penthouse apartment in uptown Mustafu.

It looks like way too much fun.

“Why the hell is Shouta the one who gets to undercover?” Hizashi whines, leaning his chin heavily on his hand and watching his best-friend-who-he-most-certainly-doesn’t-have-feelings-for stand awkwardly amidst the crowd. “He’s literally the last person to ever appreciate this sort of thing, man, it’s so un- ooh, look, they have vol-au-vents-”

Nemuri shoves him in the shoulder, a reminder to concentrate. “I don’t need to tell you why, you know the answer.”

She folds her arms across her chest. She’s wearing a dress that is entirely too revealing for it to be a convincing disguise; even with the blonde wig, Hizashi reckons she’d be recognisable anywhere for her chosen style. Hizashi, meanwhile, is wearing red contacts, has temporarily dyed his hair black, and has been forced against his will to shave off his moustache.

He’s still bitter about that.

He sighs and drums his hands rhythmically against the bucket he’s sat on. It turns into a tuneless rendition of Down Under by Men At Work and Nemuri nudges him again.

“Can’t hear.”“Sorry.”

Shouta sighs into his earpiece. He’s always the one to go undercover since he’s still not that recognisable, despite his brief foray on national television. Hizashi and Nemuri, however, are. The only reason they’re dressed to the nines is for if  back up is needed.

Truthfully, Hizashi thinks the only reason they didn’t send him down is because they think his acting is too good.

“Eraser. Shou. There are crab cakes going by. Put one in your pocket for me.”Nemuri unsuccessfully muffles her laughter, and Hizashi thinks he can see the entire camera on Shouta’s lapel move with the extreme-sighing that he’s displaying.

“Shouta- the crab cakes! The crab ca- goddamn, why do you hate me so much, dude? No free food for your handler?”

“Stop distracting him,” Nemuri says, but there’s no sincerity and she’s laughing through the words. “Oh, we’ve got Suzuki at two o’clock, Eraser.”

The man of the hour; Tsukauchi’s prime suspect. A multi-millionaire bordering on billionaire with an intelligence quirk- a man who handles complex mathematics and probability as easily as ABC. Unsurprisingly, suspected of using his abilities for embezzlement and fraud. Worse, believed to be funding several underground villain organisations. He’s dressed in a fine black suit, so simple and understated that it screams this cost more than you’ll ever earn in your lifetime.

Shouta makes his way over.

Hizashi’s leg starts to bounce up and down nervously, making the adjacent shelf of cleaning products rattle. Shouta is able to remain deadpan in almost any situation, making him ideal for undercover cases- and he can be surprisingly good at improvisation. But there’s also something about his reserved exterior that makes villains suspicious of him. Now, as he winds through the party towards one of the most intelligent suspected villains that they know of, Hizashi can only watch and advise into his ear-piece with a growing sense of anxiety.

“He’s already drunk,” Hizashi observes for Shouta’s benefit, examining the slight dribble of prosecco down the collar of Suzuki’s priceless suit. “This guy isn’t usually the messy type. And he’s talking to people he doesn’t know, judging by his phone contacts, so he won’t push you away.”

Shouta hasn’t even arrived at the small cluster of people yet before Suzuki’s eyes fall on him, double take, and settle there. And there’s something in the way the shallow smile and calculating look melts, the way it shifts into something possessive. It makes Hizashi growl angrily down Shouta’s earpiece. Hizashi is painfully aware that Shouta cleans up very nicely, it’s unsurprising for others to notice this too, but-

“Reel it in, Mic,” Nemuri says in a low, teasing voice that makes him shoot her a hurt look. Shouta doesn’t know anything about his feelings, and she’s certainly not meant to be making it even more obvious than it already is.

The fact that Suzuki’s attention has changed so suddenly to the approaching stranger isn’t lost on the other guests, and they move their conversation elsewhere. Suzuki leers, starts making small-talk with Shouta and Hizashi feels immediately sympathetic. He’s always struggled with such things.

When the conversation shifts onto Suzuki’s quirk, and thus, complex mathematics, Hizashi starts to worry.

When he laughs and lays a friendly hand on Shouta’s forearm, he gets pissed.

Removing his mouth piece, he says to Nemuri, “I told you I should have been the one to go in.”“Hizashi, you’re our linguist, you’re only ever the one to go undercover when-”

Hizashi stands up abruptly, knocking over his bucket-seat and smoothing down his incredibly dull grey suit. He wishes they’d let him go with the purple. “I’m going upstairs.”

Nemuri grabs him by the arm. “Hizashi this does not qualify as an emergency, if you think he needs advising, advise. From a distance. That’s why you’re his handler-”

“Yo my dude, my pal, you’ve gotta chill.” Hizashi spins round, rests his hands on Nemuri’s shoulders, and tries to convey as much confidence as possible. “I’m going whether you like it or not. I’ll try not to scream at him, but I can’t promise anything.”

He leaves the storage room and ignores the sound of Nemuri calling after him.

Five short minutes later he finds himself winding through the crowd, offering smiles here and there. He manages to swipe a crab cake and stuff it in his mouth, expertly swallowing it before plastering on a grin and taking Shouta’s side.

Shouta’s eyes zip over to Hizashi, assessing his presence and staring perhaps a little longer than is wise. He can see the question in his eyes even if no one else can. Hizashi doesn’t give him the chance to come up with a story; he was always better at that.

No matter what Nemuri says about his acting.

“Sweetie, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

Shouta doesn’t react. In fact, his entire lack of response and the following, gaping pause is pretty suspicious. Hizashi bursts into an unfamiliar laughter- it’s his posh-party laugh that he and Nemuri have always enjoyed practising, head thrown back, hand on chest. He clings onto Shouta’s arm. “I thought I’d lost you at the drinks table, I turned around and suddenly you’d disappeared!”

Shouta’s chest rises as he takes a steadying breath, mouth falling open to speak, but nothing comes out. 

The smile Suzuki gives Hizashi is courteous. “It seems he’s lost for words. Suzuki Reo.”

Hizashi takes the hand that’s extended and shakes it with a lot less enthusiasm than he ordinarily would. “Oh, charmed, I’m sure,” he says smoothly.

“Charmed I’m sure,” Nemuri repeats mockingly into his ear piece.

“And who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

Hizashi’s brain falters. He hadn’t come up with a name for himself.

“Regina Falange.”

There’s a surprised snort at the other end of Hizashi’s earpiece, followed by uproarious cackles. And: “Mic please, honey, oh my god you might be smart but you’re a shit actor, you’re going to get all of us killed-”

“What an interesting name.”“It’s European.” He tries to fight off the temptation to end that with a questioning inflection: Is that believable?

“Fascinating.” He doesn’t sound all that fascinated.”We were just discussing my quirk, how awfully self-centered that sounds.”“Suzuki-san has a mathematics quirk.” Shouta supplies this quietly, almost conspiratorially, leaning towards Hizashi as he says it. He’s wrapping his arm around his waist. Hizashi’s heart stops, before he remembers that he started this we’re-a-couple charade and he really shouldn’t be acting so flustered by it.

“I was just telling your partner about Zeno’s arrow paradox, but I’m afraid I may have lost him.”

Hizashi looks down at Shouta. Shouta returns the look.

“Oh, that sounds very complicated,” Hizashi says sweetly. “I’m sure I wouldn’t understand.”

Shouta narrows his eyes. He knows this game and he’s never liked it. Hizashi, on the other hand, lives for it.

“Ah, it’s simple really,” Suzuki says, his smile apparently genuine now. This is a man who enjoys to show off. And a man who enjoys to show off is a man who lets information slip. “Imagine an arrow at point A, and the target at point B, and in the course of reaching B the arrow must travel at least half that distance, which we can call point C. In getting from C to B, the arrow must travel half that distance, which is point D, and so on. But once you realise that you can keep dividing space forever, paring it down into smaller and smaller fractions, you come to see that the arrow, in fact, can never reach point B. Mathematically speaking, therefore, there is no smallest number- and no limit to greatness. Infinite everything.”

He concludes this unnecessary exhibition of his intelligence with an almost disappointed look in his eye, staring over Shouta’s shoulder.

“‘You must therefore confess that all that exists is not unique, but rather of number numberless’.”

Hizashi rattles off the quote with an air of nonchalance. Shouta glares at him.

Suzuki blinks drunkenly at Hizashi, clears his throat in surprise. “Lucretius said that, if I’m not mistaken?”“Yes.”“You speak Latin.”“I read it from time to time.”

“Hah! You almost had me take you for just another party goer. I’m not often tricked.”

“Well, we have to have our fun somehow, right? You must get so bored with a mind like yours, in a world like this.”

“Oh, it can get me into quite a lot of trouble.”The rapid fire interaction reaches an abrupt pause as both men silently assess each other. Hizashi feels Shouta tug on his suit jacket with a little more force than is necessary.

“Excuse us.”And Hizashi finds himself, without the opportunity to press any further, being directed by the small of the back out of the main reception area and into a quiet corridor. A waiter leans against the wall on his phone, registers their presence, and scurries back into the kitchen.

Shouta rounds on Hizashi, standing close so he can whisper and be heard.

“What are you doing?”Hizashi hesitates, the right words filtering to his mouth too slowly. “I came to help! He was rattling off all this crap about mathematics, man-”

“You’re my handler, you’re meant to stay out of sight and feed me information from a safe distance.”“Is this wh- you’re angry at me? Are you really pissed at me because you think that I’m not safe right now?”“I had it covered. We have a system, you broke it and I want to know why.”

“I-” Hizashi doesn’t want to answer that question. “Why did you pull me away? He was opening up-”

“No, he was getting suspicious. The ingénue act works fine, but only if you don’t prove them wrong. Now he doesn’t trust us and he knows he’s been tricked by you before.”

“OK, but, that’s not. It’s not just that, I mean-” God this is so frustrating. He shoves a hand through his hair. “Fine, listen, I was freaked out because he was being all handsy with you and I didn’t like the idea of you being at the receiving end of some creep trying to flirt with you and he’s a villain so that’s even worse and-”

“Wait-”

He’s vaguely aware that Shouta’s trying to interrupt him, but the word vomit is virtually unstoppable now. “And maybe I just felt like I should be here to mediate or maybe it’s something more, I dunno-”

“There’s someone coming-”

“Maybe I just felt like something was- wait what-?”

Before Hizashi is aware of what’s going on, he feels Shouta grab his lapel and drag him into an abrupt kiss. It lasts only a few seconds, and during the entire experience the inside of Hizashi’s head is screaming. When Shouta pulls away, Hizashi collapses against the corridor wall.

“Whuh,” is all he manages.

“Don’t freak out.” Shouta says it so evenly, like it’s that simple.

“I’m not freaking out.”

“You are freaking out. Someone was coming and you were talking about the mission.”

“Ah- yeah, right, sorry.”“Don’t apologise,” Shouta adds. “I’m sorry. That I didn’t warn you.”

And despite having broken apart from their kiss, they’re only inches away from each other. And Shouta is still holding onto Hizashi’s lapel. He’s staring at Hizashi’s lips.

There’s the sound of footsteps approaching.

“We definitely, absolutely should not make-out in plain sight in the corridor of a villian’s penthouse apartment,” Hizashi says reasonably. Before pulling him into a sloppy, desperate kiss, breathing into each other’s mouths and Shouta crowding him against the wall.

Oh god. This is happening. Wait, this is actually happening, isn’t it?

“Boys, as much as I’ve been rooting for you for the past fifteen years,” Nemuri’s voice slips into their ears, sounding quietly amused, “this could not have come at a worse time.”

Shouta pulls back immediately at the sound of her voice and bristles at the reminder that they’re being watched. Hizashi slouches against the wall, feels like he might melt into a puddle on the floor. He watches the way Shouta stares at the ground with a thoughtful crease between his brow. 

“Can we talk about this when we get home?” he whispers.

Shouta opens his mouth speechlessly. Gives a shaky nod.

They regard each other for a long moment, hands still on each other.

“Let’s get back in there,” Shouta says, at last. He looks a little off-centre, which is as ruffled as Shouta gets. Hizashi feels a hell of a lot more than a little off-centre.

Hizashi responds with a grin, and holds up his hand for a high-five. Shouta surveys his raised hand with a weary smile, and obliges.

“Let’s do this.”

[transrightsjimin]

i cant STAND watching dutch politics on tv, like everyone is makes such fucking dumb statements; we have two fascist parties ( + recently two fascist women tried to recently create a one issue party for healthcare); the capitalist party VVD has been the largest one, leading multiple coalitions in a row; there is no true leftist party in the second chamber even if three are pretending to be leftist or even have left or socialist in the name bc their policies and statememts have all been neoliberal (to even fascist in the case of SP) bc they rather change the course to the right to win votes than strive for smth good; protestors against our blackface tradition are terrorized by neonazi hooligans and other racists while media, police and politicians side with the hooligans or treats it like some kind of equal fight with two guilty parties; fascists and capitalists are coddled in mainstream media because they're so "funny" and "gezellig" (this horrible word that means cozy / sociable that dutch ppl latch onto); the teenie tiniest climate goals are debated heavily and rejected bc oh no this isnt good for business!! but its all fine its all good just great bc we don't live in the US and the netherlands is obviously the best country to live in bc [examples of policies and social systems that got introduced in the past and are now deteriorating bc of the privatisation of things tht used to be publicly funded] and just AAAAGH

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

Adjustments

Adjustments

The water was so cold… Why did they keep it so cold? 

He shivered, bringing his arms around himself.

“Five more laps then your done for today. Go.”

He looked up to where the voice was coming from. 

Why? Why order him about? It wasn’t his idea to be here in the first place.

“Hikaru…” 

It wasn’t his idea… to have his parents’ spirits have to protect him after they were killed.

“Hikaru…”

“WHERE ARE MY PARENTS? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM!?”

“Shhh… You don’t need to worry your head about the other test subjects.”

“Please… I’ll do anything! Just tell me!!”

“... They were dispatched two hours ago.”

“No… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“Hikaru.”

Hikaru gasped, shooting up in bed, his heart racing, panting trying to catch his breath. The room was dark, save for the moonlight that drifted in from his window.

That’s right… I’m not in the lab anymore… 

“Hikaru?”

His head snapped to the side, seeing Hideki was standing next to him, holding his pillow. 

There was concern in his eyes, laying a hand on Hikaru’s shoulder.

“You dreamt about it too?” 

He sighed shakily, nodding, making room on the bed for his brother. 

“Yeah… I… I dreamt about when they first started running me through that course….”

Hideki frowned, climbing up beside him, bringing an arm around his shoulders.

“I saw… I’m so sorry that happened… I’m sorry I wasn’t there-”

“Don’t!” He snapped a little before taking a deep breath, composing himself. Hideki was technically his “little” brother. He had to be responsible. “Don’t apologize for something you can’t help… They probably would’ve killed you too.”

Hideki hugged him tightly.

“Still…”

Hikaru returned the embrace as the two lied back in the bed, huddling close.

It had been a long last couple of days. Finalizing paperwork, giving statements to the police, getting what was still at their parents' house. Most of it wound up in basement storage, the rest, the boys put up in their rooms, recreating what their setups used to be before. But nightmares still were a pain to deal with. 

Especially, when they were so intense that sometimes both twins dreamt about the same thing.

“We should tell them tomorrow.” Hideki yawned a little, burrowing his face into his pillow. “I don’t wanna lose more sleep.”

Hikaru brought the blanket up around him, laying down again.

“Yeah… Me too.” He closed his eyes, sighing heavily. “Sides… the ceremony’s on Friday.”

“Don’t remind me…” Hideki pulled the blanket up over his head. “I didn’t wanna go back to the water just yet.”

“That says a lot, considering if you had your choice we’d have all lived in Cacharadon for life instead of just a few months.”

“... That was different.”

Hikaru brought an arm over him. 

“I know.”

I know all too well.

He nuzzled Hideki, humming softly. He didn’t want either of them to sleep just yet. Not with minds fogged over with nightmares and memories that were all too fresh.

Hideki smiled a little, recognizing the tune. A song their mother had sung to them when they were small… and still did, even if now it was in dreams.

“And all the light will be, will be… and all the waves, the sea…” Hikaru sung softly, breaking off into humming once more.

“And all the waves, the sea… And all the light will be…” Hideki yawned, nuzzling his twin, sighing in content.

Full moon swims, Mom’s Enya music blasting in the car on that rocky beach…

I promise, I’m gonna take care of him… I promise.

“Hey… Hikaru?”

“Yeah?”

Hideki smiled faintly, closing his eyes.

“I’m glad you’re back.”

Hikaru smiled softly, curling up beside him.

“I’m glad to be back.”

oooooo 

Carmen yawned, heading out of the master bedroom. She had to get an early start if everyone was going to eat on time.

She swore the last few days had gone by like a blur. From a mother of one, open to the idea of trying for another, to suddenly having three.

She stopped short by Hikaru’s room, listening in.

He was still fast asleep… they both were, curled up beside each other. She peered in, noting one of the boys had kicked off the blanket in the middle of the night.

They have to get up soon… but I can spare them a few more minutes.

She went in, dusting off the blanket before tucking the boys back in. She looked them over, sighing in content.

These were her boys now.

They’re really my kids now….

I can’t replace Aika, but I’m gonna do everything in my power to be a good mother to them. 

She kissed their foreheads, starting to make her way out… wincing as Hideki let out a yawn, sitting up.

The boy stretched, wincing as his joints cracked, looking to her blearily.

“... Ohayo…”

“Morning…” She put a finger to her lips. “You can go back to sleep. It’s okay.”

Hideki shook his head, getting out of bed, making sure Hikaru was still fully covered.

“Nah…” He followed her out, closing the door behind them. “What’s goin on today? More legal stuff? Another check up?”

“Nope, none of that. We got a reprieve from that mijo.”

Hideki smiled, keeping close to her as they headed for the kitchen.

“I really like it when you say that.”

Carmen smiled, ruffling up his hair a little.

“You’re my son.” She straightened up. “Now, you wanna help me make breakfast?”

“I was hoping. Things have been so crazy lately, I’ve never gotten to really help out.” Hideki grinned sheepishly. “And your food is so yummy. I really wanna learn how to make it.”

“Maybe we can help each other. You good with Japanese cooking?”

“My specialty!”

“I suck at it. Nothing ever tastes the way it does when Eiji cooks. Maybe you could give me a hand?”

Hideki beamed, grabbing up an apron hanging off the island, tying it on.

“It’d be my pleasure.”

They got right to work, the kitchen soon turning into a flurry of activity. 

Carmen watched him out of the corner of her eye, noting how fast he moved, all across the kitchen without missing a single beat.

This was one of the few times he was truly relaxed. He could just focus on the meal that was forming before him, adjusting the flavors.

“Alright, the trick for a really delicious miso soup is this.” Hideki carefully placed about half a teaspoon of miso into the ladle, using a set of metal chopsticks to whisk it into the broth. “You go, just a little at a time until it’s how you like it.” He poured a bit out into two tasting spoons. “Here.”

Carmen took a taste, sighing happily at the mellow flavor.

“Oh, that is the good stuff.”

“Right? I like about this much, with a little bit extra because we’re adding tofu that’ll really suck all the flavor up.” Hideki watched her for a moment as he went to cut the tofu… twirling the knife in his hand before doing so.

“Hey! No one likes a show off but me.” She laughed. 

“Hee?”

Even with what he deems as simple he has such a passion for it… I wonder…

“Hideki?”

“Hm?” He looked up.

Carmen stirred the pot on the stove, giving him a curious look.

“How much do you like cooking?”

He smiled, looking back down at the cutting board. 

“Cooking just has always been a part of me. Ever since I was little and helping Okaa-san in the kitchen.” He chuckled a little. “I was always getting in her way, wanting to know what magic she was making in that tiny kitchen back in Tokyo.”

“Aww… That’s wonderful.” She hurried by him to set another pod in their coffee maker, sighing happily as the aroma of fresh coffee made itself present. 

He snickered.

“Whaaat?”

“No, sorry just…” Hideki snickered again, giving her a grin. “You sound just like Hikaru!”

Carmen blinked.

“Wait… Hikaru already drinks coffee!?”

“Only during competition stuff for his robotics club stuff. or when he’s tinkering. All night. “

She eyed the cup.

“I guess I should be glad it’s only certain occasions, eh?”

“Yeah, he’s trying to get better about it. Used to be really bad during cram sessions for school.” Hideki rolled his eyes. “Otou-san had to cut him off.”

Carmen frowned a little.

“Right…”

“You two don’t have to call us anything you don’t want to. We’re fine if you just wanna call us by our names, or even just “Hey you,” it’s your decision, boys. There is no pressure.”

The twins were confused, giving Carmen and Eiji bewildered looks. They had just come back from the court hearing about custody being given to the Miyamotos… They were confused to say the least.

“Why?” Hikaru asked, tilting his head. 

“Because, we don’t wanna replace your parents. We love you and want the best for you… including what you’re comfortable calling us by.” Carmen explained.

“Well, we already talked about that.” Hideki rubbed the back of his neck, biting his lip.

Hikaru looked up at the ceiling.

“Otou-san and Okaa-san. Father and Mother. That’s how we’ll call our...” Hikaru looked down. “Our late parents..”

“If it’s okay with you guys.”

“Of course.”

They’re good kids.

She shook her head, trying to get back to her previous train of thought before she snapped her fingers.

“Hideki, where do you want to go with cooking?”

“Eh?” He gave her a confused look. “Why?”

“Well… I wanna get to know you better. I wanna know what your passions are, your dreams… All that.”

He grinned sheepishly.

“Well… promise not to laugh?”

“Mother’s honor.” She smiled softly.

“Well… I wanna open a restaurant.” He said quietly. “One with all kinds of techniques and good food, for really good prices, so people all over can come and get a good meal. I wanna make people happy with what I make for them.” He gave her a small grin. “Like you.”

Carmen smiled softly.

“Oh, mijo…”

“What do you think?”

“I think, we’ll be setting up a culinary school trust fund too.”

She squeaked a little when he rushed to her, hugging her tightly.

“You mean it?!” He asked, an excited look in his eyes. 

Carmen brought an arm around him, kissing his head.

“I promise. And when you open that restaurant, I’ll be first in line.” She cupped his cheek a little. “Okay?”

Hideki smiled brightly.

“Okay!” He chirped before hurrying back to the stove. “You’re so cool!”

Carmen grinned to herself.

Heh… I’m the “cool” mom.

oooooo 

“BIG BROTHER!!!”

Hikaru yelped as he was awoken. He coughed, trying to catch his breath, looking up… to see the big blue eyes of Ken looking down at him. The little boy had a bright smile on his face, sitting on his chest.

“Good morning!” He chirped.

It took him a moment to register what just happened before groaning, trying to pull his pillow over his head.

“Nooo, not morning. Go back to bed.”

“Nuh uh, I know that trick!” He giggled before flinging the pillow away. “C’mon, wake up!!”

Hikaru rolled his eyes, smirking. Before Ken could respond, the teen lunged up, pulling him into his arms.

“RAWR!”

“EEEP!” He squealed, wiggling up a storm. “The monster has me!”

“BWUAHAHAHAHA!” Hikaru laughed, messing up his hair even more. “THE KING OF THE PREDATOR BORN HAS DESCENDED!!”

“EEEEK!” Ken laughed harder, squirming. “OKAMI! HALP!”

“Not even dogs can save you now!” 

Heh… Reminds me of when me and Deki were this little. We jumped on our parents a lot to wake them up too…

Hikaru stopped after a moment, hugging Ken close to him. 

I’m still tired…

“Hikaru?” Ken asked, tilting his head.

“Huh?”

“Are you okay?” 

Hikaru smiled, exhaustion in his eyes.

“I will be kiddo. You ever have bad dreams?”

Ken fumbled with his fingers, nodding.

“All the time.” He said softly, looking down. “Of lots of stuff.”

Hikaru ruffled his hair.

“I had bad dreams last night.”

Ken leaned up, wrapping his arms around him.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Shark Pup. C’mon, let’s go see your-our family.” He lifted him up, carrying him out. “Where is your fluff ball anyways?”

“I dunno.” Ken blinked. “Kami usually always comes when I call.”

There was a whimpering coming from the kitchen as they made their way in… trying not to laugh.

Okami was laying at Hideki’s feet, whining every time he flipped the rolled omelette he was making.

“Okaaamiii!” Ken whined, hopping out of Hikaru’s arms. “You silly!”

Hikaru rolled his eyes.

“Can never trust anyone around Deki’s cooking. They all become entranced.” he snuck up behind his twin, ruffling up his hair. “Nya! You freakin food siren!”

“HEY! KARU!!!” 

Carmen giggled, shaking her head.

“Hikaru, Ken, help me set the table. Hideki, go get Eiji, please?”

“Kay!”

“Si, Mommy!” Ken hugged her around the waist before hurrying to do as asked. 

It wasn’t long before Eiji came down the stairs, the man still wearing his pajamas.

“Morning…” He yawned, kissing Carmen on the cheek. “How are all my favorite people?”

“Starving.” Carmen nuzzled him. “How’d you sleep?”

“Barely.” He tucked his head into her neck, sighing heavily. “M’just so tired.”

“I know, mi amor…” She stroked his back. “Now, make yourself comfortable. Breakfast is ready.”

“Oh.” He looked at the spread, giving her a wide eyed look, more awake now. 

It was a full traditional Japanese breakfast. The kind he usually made on the weekend.

“...  You did this!?”

“We did it together.” Hideki smiled, setting the rice cooker down on the table, serving himself. “I wanted to help.”

Eiji smiled, sitting down, putting his hands together.

“This is gonna be wonderful. Alright. together now!”

“THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD!”

This is just what I needed. Oooh sweet glorious food. He closed his eyes, sighing happily. 

“Hideki, you are a genius in the kitchen.”

The boy beamed.

“T-Thank you.”

“That’s my bro.” Hikaru offered a fist bump. “Great job, Otouto.”

“Hee.” He met it. “Thanks Hikaru… Did you ever get back to sleep?”

“... Moderately?”  He sighed, leaning back in his chair. “There’s just… a lot on my mind lately.”

Eiji and Carmen exchanged a concerned look.

“You don’t have to tell us right away…” Carmen laid a hand on his shoulder. “But we want to help if we can.”

Hikaru fidgeted, looking down. He shook his head.

“Hey.” She tilted his chin up. “We’re never gonna judge you. No pressure, but I have your back.” She gave him a serious look. “You’re my son now too.”

Hikaru smiled faintly.

“Yeah… I know.” He played with his food a little. “I’m just… I guess I’m still not… me again.”

“That’s okay.” Carmen squeezed his shoulder. 

“Like Carmen said, we got your back.” Eiji gave him a reassuring look. “We’ll get you the help you need. Both of you.”

“I… I guess it wouldn’t hurt. To see someone about all this.” Hikaru propped his chin up. “I’m just… I’m so tired.”

“That’s what’ll happen. Honestly, I’m proud of you for speaking up.” Eiji’s gaze softened. “This makes it a bit easier. I actually did make an appointment for you both. Separate therapists but if you want the same one-”

“Same one!”

Hikaru looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

“Is that why you were up all night?”

Eiji rubbed the back of his neck.

“Guilty as charged. You guys have been through stuff. No kids your age should’ve had to endure.”

“And we just want the best.”

Hikaru leaned over, hugging Carmen with his free arm, relaxing a little bit.

“... Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, mijo.”

I just…. I can’t do this alone.

But it’s okay. I’m gonna get better.

I’m gonna be okay.

[newagesispage]

                                                  APRIL                      2019

PAGE   RIB

***** The Rolling Stones have cancelled their North American tour. Mick Jagger apologized for cancelling due to undisclosed medical treatments.  Oh Baby, Get Well Soon!!!!

***** Mick and his squeeze, Melanie Hamrick have put together a ballet set to Stones music called Porte Rouge. After premiering in Russia it will come to NY on April 18 for an opening night charity event to benefit Youth America Grand Prix.  Tickets start at $600.

***** Tina Fey and Carol Burnett  are working on a movie about Carol’s book, Carrie and me: A Mother –Daughter love story.

***** When I hear Bernie Sanders going on, I can’t help but think of Jimmy Carter. He was pushing many of these messages in the seventies. He tried to get us to have more respect for the land and to save energy and the greedy wrote him off as boring and the era of greed took over. Will we listen this time?

***** The Mueller report was finally turned over to Attorney General William Barr. This has started a whole new set of problems. Barr gives us a summary that is like springtime for Trump. He jumps right in to those that done him wrong and FISA warrants. Should congress get a look at the full report? Everyone is talking over each other and don’t seem to hear what the other is saying. Everybody piles on Adam Schiff because they think he isn’t accepting the report like a good Dem should. If they would listen, he makes it very clear that he respects the findings but they need to see the report. How dare they ask HIM to resign as Intel committee chair. It was heartwarming to see his backbone. They must quit backing down. We still don’t have the whole story but he still free to say that he thinks the actions we already know of were wrong. What the hell is wrong with that? Barr is supposed to release the heavily redacted report in mid- April. No collusion? Perhaps, Scary Clown 45 would probably not get his hands dirty. Obstruction? We’ll see. ** Tyler Mcgaughey, William Barrs son in law will now advise Trump and the White House staff. ** I am really sick of listening to the old white man POV.

***** Dow chemical has donated a mil to Trump’s campaign. Strange that Trump has blocked a report  that took years of research and shows proof of Dow toxic pesticides which jeopardizes over 1,200 endangered species.

***** US from Jordan Peele opened to 70.3 mil. Just like his last movie, critics tell us to watch it twice. How great for the bottom line.

***** John McCarty, a dead man is running for village President in Spring Bay, Il.

***** Look out for the new film, The Kid, directed by Vincent D’onofrio. The western stars Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt, Hawk , D’onofrio , MorningStar Angeline and Leila George.

***** Did you ever see the reunion movie ‘Return to Green Acres? ‘  They tried to warn us of who Trump was a long time ago. How strange that it came full circle with that ridic Emmy Green Acres thing he did.

***** Shaq has become a deputy sheriff and has also been added to the board of directors of Papa John’s where he is an investor.

***** In sexual harassment news, Lucy Flores, a former Nevada assemblywoman has accused Joe Biden of unwanted touching and kissing at a 2014 campaign event.

***** Mark Hamill will voice the Chucky doll in the new Child’s Play.

***** Law and Order will get its 21st season.

***** The daytime Emmy noms have been announced and Days got the most this year. WOO HOO! The soap was nominated for drama, writing, costume, music, casting, art direction and oh, just everything. In the acting category the lead noms are Marci Miller, Tyler Christopher and Billy Flynn.  Kate Mansi was noticed for a guest spot as Abigail so 2 actresses are up for Emmys in the same role. Other guest noms went to Thaao Penghlis and Philip Anthony Rodriguez. Kassie Depaiva, Linsey Godfrey (really?), Martha Madison, Greg Rikaart and Eric Martsolf were all nominated.  Younger actor nods went to Olivia Rose Keegan, Lucas Adams, Victoria Konefal and Kyler Pettis.  C’mon , why nothing for Lauren Koslow, Greg Vaughan, Casey Moss, Susan Seaforth Hayes and Robert Scott Wilson?? I think I would switch a few of these around but it is still great to see Days so blessed.  I was also happy to see Max Gail from GH get noticed. CBS led the networks in noms. Hooray for Wayne Brady for game show host and Mark Hamill, Ruth Negga and Steve Buscemi in animated programs. Watch for the Daytime Emmys on May 5 which will not be on television again.

***** General Robert Neller has told the Pentagon that funds diverted to the wall are keeping Marines from rebuilding hurricane hit bases.

***** Devin Nunes is suing Twitter for the parody accounts, Devin Nunes Mom and Dvin Nunes cow which is pretty funny.

***** The EU is banning straw, cotton swabs and plastic cutlery by 2021.

***** Jenny McCarthy has a book out that slams The View.

***** Roseanne is thinking about suing ABC and has said some rather nasty stuff about Sara Gilbert.

***** Michael Avenatti was arrested for trying to extort $20 mil from Nike in NY. He claims he was just doing some lawyering.  California has him on bank fraud charges.  Why is there so much shadiness in this world? Let’s start rewarding the people doing good in this world and quit talking these headlines everyday.

***** Why did this Jussie Smollett thing go away?

***** Wal Mart is walking back this getting rid of the elderly and handicapped greeter thing.

***** Tracy Morgan and Will Forte are to star in the new animated Scooby Doo movie.

***** Johnny Depp has sued ex Amber Heard over the abuse allegations.

***** Martha Stewart is diving into the Marijuana product industry.

***** New York charges Manafort with 16 crimes. Perhaps he won’t get off as lightly with the state crimes.

***** Season 9 of American Horror Story has no premiere date yet. Emma Roberts is confirmed to return. It looks like it will also include Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and silver medalist Gus Kenworthy.

***** New California Gov. Gavin Newsom has halted executions for now.

***** Dems will hold their convention in Milwaukee. And if I hear again that Hillary didn’t go to these sorts of places, I am gonna puke. She went! She went! Just not so much at the end.

***** Howard Stern will release his first book in 20 years this May.

***** Ok, so glad to see Whoopie Goldberg is starting to get back to work but it is just so unbelievable in this day and age and access to info that she seemed shocked that the insurance companies decide people’s fate. Of course, that is if you are lucky enough to have insurance.

***** Sandy Hook families can take lawsuits against the gun companies to court now.** Three suicides have recently come from survivors and a parent of Parkland and Sandy Hook. The pain goes on.

***** The Senate voted 59-41 to terminate the emergency declaration. VETO

***** Rick Singer, founder if a college prep business had pled guilty to money laundering, obstruction of justice and racketeering. The nationwide college entrance exam scandal involves about 50 people including Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin that dates back to 2011. People paid millions to use ringers to take or fix their children’s exams and sometimes faked photos with coaches to include them in sports they were never involved in. The U.S. attorney does not believe the schools themselves were involved. **Lawsuits have already begun from those claiming they could not get into a good college because those spots were taken by these alleged cheaters.

***** Jennifer Hudson will play Aretha Franklin in the biopic.

***** Experts say a recession is on the horizon.

***** Two Sacramento police officers will face no charges for their overkill of the unarmed Stephon Clark. Oh Big surprise!!

***** White supremacist groups on line are growing faster than ISIS. ** I never get it, if white supremacists are so supreme, so wonderful, wouldn’t they rise to the top naturally? Why do they need to rid the world of others or keep minorities down?? If they think others are so inferior, those they hate or fear should not be a problem .

***** Jeanine Pirro was pulled off Fox news after a racist rant about Muslims. ** And where is Rudy? The lawyer hasn’t been seen on the air since January. ** Is this true? Did Ivanka and Jared really try to resign? Did Scary Clown 45 try to push them into it and then not accept those resignations?

***** This can’t be true. Only 5 states have laws requiring patient consent for medical students to do vaginal exams on women under sedation.

***** I rarely think about Jay Leno but he was right about the late night comics all doing different versions of the same joke.  But, who is he to talk? I mean how many different things did you do on OJ and Clinton?? At least these guys are funny.

***** The talk that people stay in their bubble becomes crystal clear when you see the poll asking if the President is truthful: Fox viewers : 84%, MSNBC viewers : 21% and CNN viewers: 1%. Whoa!

***** Word is that Scary Clown ordered economic advisor Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department to file a lawsuit to block the Att-Time Warner merger to retaliate against CNN.

***** At least 250 power plants across the country are leaking toxic chemicals into nearby water.

***** Jay Inslee is running for president! I think Stacey Abrams and Jay Inslee would be a nice ticket>

***** Beta O’Rourke is running for President! The psychedelic warlord!

***** Kristen Gillibrand is running for President!

***** Conor McGregor was arrested and charged with felony strong armed robbery and criminal mischief in Miami.

***** The process is in the works to get Trumps tax returns.** The house Judiciary committee has requested 81 documents.** This can’t be true. Trump was signing Bibles for volunteers and survivors in Alabama??

***** Just when it can’t get any weirder: Li Yang and her hubby, Zubin Gong run a string of massage parlors with questionable reputations. Until recently they ran the one that Robert Kraft was busted in. They also had a web site that seemed to sell access to their buddy, Donald Trump with Chinese business contacts. As soon as the story broke, the sites for an international consulting firm, text only in Chinese and no prices for the meets came down. Li Yang and her associates are in pictures at the inauguration, the White House, Mar A Lago and Trump’s super bowl party with the Pres, his sons and other Trump family members. We should have seen this coming. The old adage that always holds true with this administration seems true here. They always blame others for what they are really guilty of, this explains the Pizzagate garbage. This could be bigger than we ever dreamed. Even stories that we may have thought a bit out there need to be looked at closer. Can we connect the sex trafficking, the White House, the money? It is time to quit fucking around with the sellers and customers of those exploited in the sex trade. I don’t get it, all these men from Trump to R Kelly have the power over the women they supposedly use and abuse and yet they are always so angry. Perhaps they wouldn’t be losing their power if you treated others with respect and dignity. They always want all the power for themselves. And c’mon media, stop talking your heads off about the Omar story and give this Li Yang story a closer look.

***** The story of the fall of Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes is a sad one. It does show that greed and massive fraud are not just for the men of this world. When I first heard of her plans for the blood testing, I was so impressed with what she was accomplishing at her age. Yes, she was another poor little rich girl whose family fortune was quite diminished by the time it got to her. Even without the Fleischman yeast money, she did seem to have advantages. I can see how some of us were fooled but what about the big investors, the stalwart statesmen?  Do they not remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is? How can all the hype, the press, the marketing snowball before there is any proof that something is what is actually supposed to be?? I always assumed that by the time I am hearing about it, things are about ready to go. Seeing all these stories like Trump and Deutsche bank, light sentences for Manafort and now Holmes and her partner in crime seeming to get off lightly, there is not much hope for the little guy. WHY can’t we hold those involved in big money crimes really responsible??

***** It’s true, rich people cause socialism – Neal Brennan.

***** Even in 1692 the rich were different. –Stacy Schiff- The Witches.

***** FEMA released the personal data of 2.3 million victims.

***** They have dug up old words from Fox’s Tucker Carlson. Big surprise that he seemed to empathize with Warren Jeffs, thought women should just shut up and called a woman “cunty.”  The women who lap up the words of these men must not think much of themselves.

***** Why are we letting the banks finance detention centers and prisoners? It’s more than immigration or punishing criminals. Why is this big business?? I can’t believe this is still going on. Wake up!!! When will the children be free?  C’mon House and Senate, Pass the Shut Down child prison camps bill.

***** Somebody has to pay for this President’s folly: The scary clown new budget cuts:$ 1.5 trillion from Medicaid/ $845 billion from Medicare/ &25 billion from Social Security.

***** About 1 rural hospital a month is shutting down due to lack of support and lack of funds.

***** Globalization seems to be spreading a pathogen killing the olive trees in Italy.

***** A fake Melania?? WTF? UGH!

***** Matthew Whitaker is out! Bill Shine is out!

***** When will we ever be able to buy the boxed set of Late Night with Dave?? Hurry so the next generation can see the genius they may have missed.

***** Pete Davidson and Kate Beckinsale??

***** Hey Bill Maher, way to go with your PETA message about the terrible treatment of the geese used to make Canada Goose down jackets.  I will stay away!!

***** J Lo and A Rod are engaged.

***** Bette Midler and Judith Light will join the cast of The Politician.

***** Jussie Smollett has been indicted on 16 felony counts.

***** HBO’s Crashing was cancelled. Pete Holmes was great in this but I never really saw much promotion for it. I hate it when good stuff falls thru the cracks.

***** Kathy Griffin has a new film about the ridiculous Trump head, nearly career ending, Government harassment crap in her life. Kathy Griffin: A Hell of a story. Make that lemonade!! A girl has to take care of herself. It premiered at SXSW.** Speaking of SXSW, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez drew great crowds while she was there.

***** R Kelly lives in Trump tower in Chicago. Well, of course he does.  Why is it ok for the rest of us to put up with these arrogant, abusive males in this society? Everyone is giving kudos to Gayle King for her calm demeanor in her interview. Yes, how professional of her but why should she be subject to that disrespect??  She is in her workplace. Would R Kelly have liked his Mother or daughter to be treated that way?

***** So, word is that Isaiah 45 is a Trump thing with the evangelicals. This scripture refers to Cyrus , the anointed one. OY!

***** Days alert: Robin Strasser is coming OH BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** Judith Chapman and her old style soap acting just too much. ** C’mon Chloe and Rex!!** More Nurse Shelly!! ** Is Johnny Dimera on his way to town? ** I was so glad to see Tony, one of the best characters ever anywhere, even if it was part of an out of body experience.

***** Why do we have to keep talking about George and Kelly Ann Conway?? Are they just covering their bases? With one on each side of the Trump argument, they win no matter what happens right?

***** So now we know that about 400 Catholic clergy have been accused of sexual  misconduct in Illinois. It never ends.

***** End the electoral college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***** S

***** Fox has hired Donna Brazile. People seem to finally be taking Bill Maher’s advice and telling their point of view to the other side. How else will sanity prevail if we don’t find common ground? We cannot look to this administration for guidance in this world, we have to figure these things out for ourselves, which we should be able to do anyway.

***** Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds.  We have to find our self- worth.  

R.I.P. Andy Anderson, Katherine Helmond, Nathaniel Taylor, Luke Perry, Alabama tornado victims, Jan Michael Vincent,  the Ethiopian airlines disaster victims, Hal Blaine, victims of the New Zealand Mosque shootings, Sydney Aiello, the Ogossogou village attack victims, Denise DuBarry, Larry Cohen, Jeremy Richman, Ray Sawyer, Tania Mallet and Nipsey Hussle.

[qamorfakemon]

Hmm well this is... different? It appears to be some kind of newspaper currently in circulation in the Qamor region, “Estrella News”

It’s slightly outdated by the looks of it tho. In fact, it appears the event this article is reporting on actually occurred a few years ago!

Entire transcript of article under cut. I wonder what it’s alluding at...?

QAMOR SKY OPENS UP

Gabbravo City in Panic as Mysterious Rift Lights up Sky

The day started out like any other in the free spirited-capital city of Qamor. Bright blue skies, Pokémon trainers battled, and tourists enjoyed Gabbravo City’s many attractions. However, in almost an instant the peaceful illusion of the fine day were ripped apart in an event felt throughout the entire region. Before our very eyes, a bright light appeared in the city’s busiest cross section, initially causing confusion and surprising passerby’s and motorists. “At first, I thought it was lightning” said one commentator. “But then I realized there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so it couldn’t have been that!” For a while, the light just hung in the sky oddly warping and rippling the air around it, then in an instant the sky ripped open in a burst of energy that shook trees and shuddered windows. At least 20 ft in diameter, this enormous gap in space-time pulsed and sparks with brilliant colors; it was a completely otherworldly sight. At this point the civilians around flew into an outright panic, this was an event no one in the Qamor region had ever encountered and were all understandably sent into a frenzy. For its entire 20 minute duration, news of the event spread from word of mouth and via social media. Not only was every corner of Qamor privy to the situation, but word started spreading to other regions of the world.  Before us reporters knew it, Internation Police made it on the scene elevating the police department’s duty (Although this reporter would like to say that the police were just as scared and confused as the civilians). Quarantining the area, Interpol kept us members of the press and civilians alike away from a safe distance to the rift, however they would not answer any questions we had in regards to the situation. It WAS a very tense situation, to say the least, but tensions escalated within the final minutes of the rift’s existence. In an intense pulse of energy,  some kind of “Unidentified Being” (Or a “UB” as Qamor’s very own Professor Leo, leading researcher into Paranormal and Extraterrestrial activity sciences, informed as the official classification for a Pokémon or Pokémon-like creature from unknown origin) appeared from the rift and flew away in an undisclosed location. Many first hand statements regarding the UB are very inconsistent. The air around the creature, or possibly even space time itself, was heavily distorted and neither satisfactory footage nor reliable firsthand accounts were retrieved. As if things could not get more bizarre, as the rift began to stutter and fizzle for the final time, 2 objects were launched from its epicenter as it dissipated into nothingness with one last pulse of energy. The objects hit the ground hard, enough to crack the pavement as well, however from all outside view they seemed to remain mostly undamaged. Unlike the UB, we were able to snap a few photos of these anomalies, however Interpol intervened and  attempted to stop us reporters from getting anything better than the out of focus image we displayed in this very article. As quickly as the International Police appeared, they seemingly vanished in an instant with all evidence from the wormhole taken in for analysis. Police were informed to keep the area blocked off to civilians until further notice, but we were able to interview multiple experts who arrived on the scene when this event hit international news.

(Pictured: International Police agents appear on the scene investigating mysterious objects that fell from sky rift [enhanced])

Us at Estrella News were fortunate enough to be able to talk with some representatives from the Aether Foundation, a self-funded organization that seeks to promote wildlife conservation and Pokémon research, and its associate Professor Burnet, lead scientist studying alternate dimensions in Dream Radar Labs (Both situated in the Alola region). According to these researchers, what occurred today in Qamor is a relatively common anomaly in Alola knows as an “Ultra Wormhole”. According to Professor Burnet, who works closely with the Aether Foundation to investigate and record these events, Ultra Wormholes are “Bridges in Space Time” that allows matter to cross from our dimension to a conceptual location known as “Ultra Space”, and vice versa. “Ultra Space,” Professor Burnet explains “Is a theoretical ‘dimension between dimensions’. Not much is known about it now, but via Ultra wormholes object, beings, or even People are able to cross vast distances from other points of Space and Time into our own or other dimensions. It’s very complex and metaphysical, but the best way I could explain it is if you think of our universe and other universes as separate, divided bodies of water. Ultra Space is like a canal system that connects and weaves between all bodies, acting as a sort of web. Where the canals meet a body of water, however, is a gate that keeps everything in and out of that respective body. These gates act as Ultra Wormholes, and it requires an immense amount of energy to open it up, but if you were able to you would have access to the entirety of the canal system and in return access to any other body of water- given you also had the energy capable of open THOSE gates that is”. If this information confuses or even alarms you dear readers, have comfort that you are not alone!  “Of course, this is all just very theoretical at this point” Reassured the Professor. “Our concepts and understanding of Ultra Space might definitely change in the future as we come to understand it and Ultra Holes better. After all, only a handful of people have ever actually travelled through one-“ Professor Burnet cut off here as if catching herself revealing too much information. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I respect my colleague’s privacy, and I wouldn’t want to disclose any classified information”. We respected Professor Burnet’s wishes and avoided further question, but we did ask her if she had any additional information she would like to or was able to share about the situation. “I would say trust the International Police to get this whole situation figured out. They are very reliable and competent from my experiences in Ultra Wormhole accidents in Alola” We thanked the professor for her time and allowed her to discuss the situation and share data further with Professor Leo.

(Pictured: Aether Foundation Branch Chief Faba (left) - Dream Radar Lead Scientist Professor Burnet (middle) - Qamor’s Official Expert on Extraterrestrial and Paranormal Activity Analysis Professor Leo (right) )

It was at this point that Aether Foundation Branch Chief Faba approached our unprepared reporter and began his interview unprompted, below is the transcript of the discussion

Faba: Yes I am now available for an interview; I will graciously answer any questions you have in regards to the Ultra Worm-Hole.

Reporter: I’m sorry? Who Are you?

Faba: Why, I’m Branch Chief Faba. Representative of the Aether Foundation and here in place of President Lusamine. I would have suspected any information would be appreciated, I consider it a selfless act in the name of freedom of circulation of intelligence.

Reporter: O-of course! The Aether foundation! We at Estrella News would absolutely appreciate your input!

Faba: Of course you would, the information I hold is vital to your research, I expect.

Reporter: Uhh… ok. So first I would like to know how closely you at the Aether Foundation work with Professor Burnet in studying these Ultra Wormholes she mentioned.

Faba: Oh of course, the Professor. Unfortunately, she collaborates with other members of our Foundation, including the Mistress herself. I am uncertain of the specifics of her research, but I can discuss my many accomplishments as Branch Chief!

Reporter: Well, what are your duties in the Foundation?

Faba: Oh? I’m sorry, most of my work is very imperative to the organization and confidential, the research I do is not yet ready to be released to the public. Without a doubt my many, many breakthroughs as Branch Chief would shake the scientific community to its core.

Reporter: I’m sorry, but you were the one who brought it up.

Faba: Apology Accepted.

Reporter:… Well, is there ANYTHING you can discuss about your work.

Faba: Yes, I can discuss the nature of Ultra Wormholes that I have discovered under the foundation.

Reporter: (Finally, something informative) Ok Branch Chief* Faba, Professor Burnet explained thoroughly what Ultra Wormholes are and how they function, what can you say about Ultra Wormholes in Alola.

Faba: Yes I overheard your discussion with the Professor, I was disappointed to say the least. I was looking forward to enlightening the reader with my accurate research explaining the nature of this phenomenon. (Sigh), but I suppose there are more reporters I can discuss it with.

Recently, Ultra Wormholes have only made appearances in the controlled environments of our laboratories. They are unfortunately very short lived, and MUCH smaller than the one that appeared over your quaint region.

Reporter: you’ve really been able to recreate them in a lab? That’s impressive, but isn’t it dangerous?

Faba: Your compliment is acknowledged. And to put your worries to rest, we have only had a single incident regarding our synthetic Ultra Wormholes in the entirety that we have produced them in a lab, I consider this an accomplishment! I am however not at liberty to discuss the specifics of this incident, of course.

Reporter: Of course.

Faba: Ultra Wormholes have occurred and appeared frequently throughout Alola’s history, an interesting phenomenon indeed. They even appear in murals and cave paintings by the ancient Alola people, I wonder how they managed when all those creatures came out and destroyed the land with their many battled against the fabled Island Gaurdians.

Reporter: Speaking of creatures coming out of the the Ultra Wormholes, can you discuss anything about them? Should we be worried if one managed to escape and is now wondering around the Qamor region?

Faba: Oh unfortunately the nature of UB’s is one of the confidential information we are researching at the Aether Foundation. Besides, this is really the Mistress’s realm of expertise. I would almost go as far to say she’s even obsessed with these creatures, but of course I won’t because my opinion of her is too high to even suggest such a thing.

Reporter: Of course it is.

Faba: I can discuss, however, that your concern for these creatures will not be needed in the near future of course. Oh ho! One of my most anticipated experiments will come to light soon that will deal with any Ultra-Terrestrial threats!

Reporter:  I’m assuming you can’t discuss it further, so we can move on.

Faba: I’m sorry but that’s all the time I will permit you to this interview.

Reporter:  Wait I still have more questions regarding the Foundation and your president-

Faba: I am a very busy man and there are many other reporters I need to discuss with, of course you understand. I, Branch Chief Faba, am a very irreplaceable and important member of the foundation; I am one of a kind in the entire world! As such, everyone wants a fraction of my time. It would be absurd to allow just one source to have my very crucial information. If you have any further questions regarding my duties as a high ranking administrator, visit my blog and read about my secret to success.

               Branch Chief Faba then left our reporter and into the crowd.

*The Reporter accidentally referred to Branch Chief Faba as “Mr Faba” and, after a lengthy tirade of respecting proper authority ranking, and requested all references of himself to specify his position as Branch Chief

               Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain an interview from Professor Leo at this time, however she announced a press conference later this week discussion her findings and the findings of other scientists and researching she collaborated with on scene. It’s been a very hectic few days, and as of publishing this issue of Estrella News Interpol has yet to come forward to directly address the public. Many of the big named researchers have left with all the information they needed, leaving just a few stragglers in the wake. The Gabbravo police department have informed the public that the blocked off cross section will be reopened within the week, suggesting a gradual but eventual return to normalcy.  This event has left us all shaken, and threat of the mysterious UB and its whereabouts linger over our head. Our humble region in the international spotlight, however, we are a resilient people. When we live in a wonderful world inhabited by Pokémon, some craziness is just to be expected- and in some cases welcomed.

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 5 (3 of 6)

Carrying on with our series of reviews for episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, here’s a third instalment of episodes from the show’s fifth season.

Episode 11: Hero Worship

Plot (as given by me):

The Enterprise is sent to locate a research ship called the Vico and locates the vessel adrift just outside the Black Cluster, the region the Vico had been assigned to explore. The ship is heavily damaged, and Commander Riker leads Lt. Commanders Data and La Forge on an away mission to recover all logs from the ship’s computer. Having previously detected no life signs from the Enterprise, the away team is surprised when they find a young boy named Timothy is still alive aboard the Vico, albeit trapped by debris.

 As the debris and hull plating around the room where Timothy is trapped blocks transport, Data surmises that through his android strength, he can lift the debris to free the boy.  However, this would cause imminent structural collapse, so Riker and La Forge beam back first, giving Data the time and freedom to move the debris and get Timothy to the corridor.  The pair are beamed directly to sick bay, where Timothy claims the ship was attacked. Some initial evidence seems to support this, as the gravitational wave-fronts inside the Black Cluster would hamper sensor effectiveness, and the damage is consistent with disruptor-style weaponry and Breen combat tactics.

 However, La Forge notes the evidence is inconsistent with Timothy’s story about the ship being boarded, and Counsellor Troi suggests the boy could be repressing the true events due to trauma; as he processes what happens, he may volunteer the truth of his own accord.  Troi asks Data to help, as Timothy seems to have bonded with his rescuer. Data agrees, and when Timothy learns Data is incapable of feeling emotion, he begins to pretend he is also an android, emulating Data’s mannerisms and pretending to have no emotions either.  Troi explains to Captain Picard that Timothy will only assume the android persona until he feels emotionally strong enough to do without it, and that they should encourage it to help the boy along. Picard orders Data to help Timothy “be the best android he can possibly be.”

 As Data helps Timothy, the Enterprise enters the Black Cluster to investigate further what happened to the Vico. Sensor reflections and a refraction effect when the ship’s phasers are fired quickly reveals that the Vico could not have been attacked as Timothy described. The boy is brought to the Captain’s Ready Room, where he claims he’d caused the ship’s destruction by accidentally hitting a control panel. Picard, Data and Troi all explain that the control consoles on all starships are designed to require a user code before the controls can do anything. Because of this, Timothy could not have accidentally affected anything on the Vico, and as such the truth of what happened to that ship is still unexplained.

 The discussion is interrupted by the increasing gravitational waves, which are growing in intensity and battering the Enterprise. Timothy’s recollections of what happened on the Vico give Data an idea, and he swiftly determines the cause and solution of the problem. Data urges Picard to lower the shields, and Picard obeys, which causes the growing gravitational wavefronts to dissipate. Apparently, Timothy’s recollections enabled Data to theorise that both the Vico and the Enterprise experienced a harmonic amplification effect; the more power that each ship put into their shields, the worse the gravitational wavefronts became, resulting in the Vico’s destruction.  The Enterprise leaves the Black Cluster, and Timothy remains friends with Data even after abandoning his android persona.

Review:

For me, this episode is a very good episode, but it’s also very mis-titled.  When the boy Data rescues begins emulating him, that’s not an ‘oh wow, this guy is so cool, I want to be just like him’ reaction.  If it was, then the episode title would make sense.  What he’s actually doing is thinking ‘ok, I feel bad because my parents are dead and I think it’s my fault, so I’ll pretend to be this emotionless robotic being so I can avoid that pain.’  That’s not hero worship, that’s a form of demand avoidance, albeit in this case avoiding dealing the emotions of a traumatic event rather than an activity of some kind.  It’s an interesting idea to explore, don’t get me wrong, but I think the episode needed a title that was a bit more on-target; something like “trauma” or “mistaken guilt” would have worked better.  It’s also interesting to see Data be emulated rather than doing the emulating for once, while at the same time Troi gets a chance to do really well as ship’s counsellor and co-own this episode with Data.

 Timothy’s mistaken belief that he is responsible for what happens to his ship is also a great example of a fallacy of reasoning that was the title of an early episode of later drama series The West Wing. That flawed reasoning is post hoc, ergo proctor hoc, or translated to English, after it, therefore because of it. The reasoning assumes that if one event occurs after another event, it was cause by that preceding event. However, this reasoning is highly flawed, often because the true cause is often harder to find and overlooked. In this case, Timothy assumes that because his hand hit a control panel just before his ship was destroyed, he was responsible, but had he been more well-versed in starship operations, he would have known his actions couldn’t possibly have been responsible.

 It’s a method of reasoning politicians will often trick members of the public into using when those politicians have screwed something up and don’t want to take the blame.  Too much money going out in benefits?  Blame immigrants rather than the uber-wealthy who fail to cough up their fair share of tax money through loopholes in tax law.  Too much crime?  Blame addicts despite the fact that a) politicians cut spending on police forces, b) they also cut funds to education that could help steer young people away from gang and drug culture, and c) addiction is a medical issue and our NHS is also being targeted by cut-happy politicians.  As with the case of Timothy in this episode, such real-world examples of this kind of reasoning are counter-productive; only when you bother to look at the actual cause of a problem instead of the assumed cause and find an actual solution is the problem solved.  Too bad that in real-life, no one in charge of solving problems actually wants to do so.  For me, this episode gets 9 out of 10; with a better title, I’d have given it full marks.

Episode 12: Violations

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise conveys a delegation of Ullians to Calder IV. Tarmin, their leader, explains that Ullians are telepathic historians who conduct their research by retrieving long forgotten memories, and demonstrating this on volunteers by helping Keiko O'Brien recall a lost childhood memory, and revealing Dr Crusher is thinking about her first kiss. Tarmin continues to explain their abilities that require years of training, and his son Jev, also part of the delegation, has not yet reached his potential. Jev is upset at this implication and leaves. Counsellor Troi follows and talks to him, pointing out that her own mother is also quite overbearing. After finding a common bond, Troi leaves for her quarters. While there, she recalls a romantic interlude with Commander Riker, but as the memory gets more intense, Riker begins to assault Deanna, ignoring Deanna's screams of "No!". Suddenly, Riker is replaced by Jev. Troi screams out in pain and collapses, later to be found in a coma.

 Riker speaks to Jev as the last person seen talking to Troi, and asks if he would submit to medical tests to make sure the Ullians do not carry any harmful toxins or pathogens. Jev agrees, but later Riker suffers from a similar flashback and also collapses. Dr Crusher's tests reveal nothing, but her scans of Troi and Riker show an electropathic activity typical of a rare neurological disorder, Iresine Syndrome. However, the doctor rules this out as the disorder would produce a low histamine count, and the counts for Troi and Riker are normal. Captain Picard asks the Ullians if they would allow for further scanning, which Tarmin agrees to. None of the Ullians, nor any of their volunteers during the demonstration, show this disorder. Later, Dr Crusher succumbs to a similar flashback, and Picard asks Lt. Commanders Data and La Forge to continue the investigation. Following Dr Crusher's research, Geordi looks to other cases of Iresine Syndrome in Federation records, eventually discovering two that occurred on Hurada III while a Ullian delegation was present. Picard requests the Ullians to confine themselves to quarters until they resolve the issue.

 Troi wakes from her coma, and when news of this arrives to Jev, he requests to help probe Troi's mind to find out what happened. Picard allows it, and with Jev's help, Troi recounts the memory, ending with the replacement of Riker by Tarmin. Jev asserts that for his people, forcefully inserting oneself into a memory is a crime, and contacts his homeworld to let them know of Tarmin's crime. As they near their destination, Jev comes to say goodbye to Troi, apologizing for his father. When Troi offers sympathy, Jev engages another mind probe, causing the same memory to occur for Troi. Just then, security personnel arrive and take Jev into custody; Data and La Forge had discovered two additional instances of unexplained comas on Nel III, and that Tarmin was on his home planet at that time. As the Enterprise sets course for the Ullian homeworld, Tarmin is cleared, and Riker and Dr Crusher recover from their comas.

Review:

This is a much better stab at tackling the issue of rape than I’ve seen many shows do, and it certainly helps the show redeem the insensitivity with which the same issue is handled back in the second season opening episode “The Child”.  Granted, it’s all done psychically rather than physically, and one could perhaps argue that this makes the episode very strictly metaphoric, but I disagree.  Granted, in the real world telepathy does not exist, but through the application of various tools of mental manipulation in unethical manners, it could well be possible to trick victims into situations where they are subject to mental abuse that could be the psychological equivalent of rape.

 It’s also great to see that this episode acknowledges the act of rape for what it is, namely a form of violence.  Because rape is sometimes also known as sexual assault, many are given the misconception that rape is still somehow a sexual act.  It’s not; sex is about mutual pleasure, either for its own sake or as an expression of romantic love.  Rape is about violence, about the misapplication of a need for control/domination through the victimisation of others.  In addition, Riker’s taken down by this psychic rape analogue along with Troi and Crusher, which highlights that it’s not just women who can be rape victims, while at the same time still keeping women as the majority of the victims in line with the reality of the issue.

 The only real issue I have with the episode is that we as an audience know who the rapist is right from the teaser at the earliest, and from the first attack at the latest.  The look on Jev’s face just before the opening title sequence roles betrays the rapist lurking within, and his face shows up in every single memory invasion.  As a result, it’s hard to buy into Jev’s claim that his father is supposed to be the psychic rapist; the earlier scenes where Tarmin is being outwardly pushy aren’t enough for me to buy that alternate explanation, and the reveal is too soon within the run-time to be the solution.  Overall, I give this episode 8 out of 10.

Episode 13: The Masterpiece Society

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise has been assigned to the Moab sector to track a stellar core fragment from a disintegrated Neutron star. They find the fragment is due to pass near Moab IV, threatening a human colony on the planet. On contacting the colony to arrange for evacuation, its leader Aaron Conor refuses, though allows an away team down to discuss the matter. Conor explains that the colony was formed 200 years prior to create a perfect society using genetic engineering and selective breeding, and he and the other leaders feel that evacuation would destroy the perfect order they have achieved. They discuss other alternatives and Enterprise Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge is introduced to Hannah Bates, the colony’s lead scientist in theoretical physics. Bates proposes using a multi-phase tractor beam, powered by the Enterprise's warp core, to push the fragment from its path, which La Forge agrees would be a possible solution. After some deliberation, Bates is allowed to leave the colony to the Enterprise to oversee the process. Meanwhile, Deanna Troi and Conor start to develop a romantic attraction as they try to convince the other leaders that evacuation is the best option.

 Aboard the Enterprise, Bates' solution is found to be effective, but the equipment required is damaged too quickly to be used. La Forge recognizes her solution could be augmented with similar technology that enables his VISOR to operate, allowing the equipment to last long enough to manipulate the fragment safely away from Moab IV. La Forge comments that this solution wouldn't be possible in the current colony's manner of perfection as “imperfections” like blindness would have been outright eliminated. As they continue simulations, they find that the solution is not perfect, but La Forge suggests that they reinforce the colony's shielding during the fragment's passing, allowing the colony to survive the fragment's passage. Conor initially refuses as this would require more Enterprise personnel to transport to the colony, and he fears cultural contamination, but relents when Troi convinces him this is the only solution. The Enterprise is able to push the fragment far enough that the colony appears to be safe.

 As the other Enterprise crew return to the ship, La Forge and Bates check on the status of the colony shielding. Bates reports there are microfractures that will soon fail, and recommends full evacuation. La Forge, having not seen these on his VISOR, recognizes that Bates falsified the readings, as she wishes to leave with the Enterprise, recognizing that the colony has languished behind the technological improvements of the Federation. Admitting her lie, she requests asylum aboard the Enterprise. Several other colonists express their desire to leave. Troi brings Captain Picard to the colony to discuss the matter with Conor. Though Picard recognizes that the colony's society will be altered by agreeing to asylum, he cannot refuse this request as a fundamental right of human free will. Conor reluctantly agrees, and allows Bates and 22 other colonists to leave with the ship. As they leave orbit, Picard comments how this affair is a clear example of the necessity of the Prime Directive; the intervention of the Federation to save the colonists may have, in the end, proved just as dangerous to the colony as any core fragment could ever have been.

Review:

This is a good episode not only for exploring the issue of genetic engineering and Eugenics, but also for pointing out how fundamentally stupid the latter concept is.  One of the many things I remember from my science lessons in school were the words of Charles Darwin, that the strength of nature is in its diversity. The whole reason why Earth has such a variety of life, and why humans are in turn so diverse in and of ourselves, is to enable it to survive.  Wipe out a certain type of life form from the planet, and it wreaks havoc on all the other life.  Wipe out a given racial type from within humanity or any other species, take its number and its genetic diversity too low, and you risk the loss of certain antibodies, or even a lack of sufficient genetic diversity, either of which can result in endangerment or extinction.

 This is seen in the colony featured in this episode; the people and their environment have been made to depend on each other by design in a similar way to how life on Earth is inter-connected and inter-dependent.  Remove enough pieces from the design and the whole thing gets ruined.  In addition, it’s clear from how Benbeck behaves in general and how Bates initially treats Geordi that genetic engineering hasn’t ‘improved’ the people at all.  They’ve each just been pre-programmed to be good at one thing, and in the process, they’ve become anti-disability bigots.  If that’s what genetic engineering would do to humanity, I for one would want any scientist even theorising such changes to be shot, hung, electrocuted or otherwise executed.  As much as the idea of being to work what you’ll do with your life from an early age and then do it brilliantly has a slight appeal, I’d sooner keep hold of an aimless and often incompetent humanity than trade away any hope of humanity getting better at accepting those who aren’t regularly abled.

 Geordi’s line to Hannah is perfect in this regard; when she claims it was the wish of those who founded the colony that no one there should have to ‘suffer’ a life with disability, Geordi retorts “who gave them the right to decide whether or not I might have something to contribute?” This is exactly how everyone who is differently abled must feel at some time or another dealing with the regularly abled world, especially when they start talking about ‘curing’ us, like we’re some kind of disease.  We’re not a disease, we’re people, and being differently abled gives us unique perspectives that add to humanity’s potential and advancement, as Geordi proves when the technology of his visor ends up being what solves the whole problem. Just goes to show that the only people who ever truly blind are those who fail to see value in those of us who are different.

 The one thing spoiling the episode for me is Picard showing regret at mucking up the colony through their interference. While that does gain some plus-points in that it speaks to the idea that humanity needs to leave nature well enough alone more often than not, we’re talking about a colony of anti-disability bigots.  Far as I’m concerned, the Enterprise should muck it up one way or another, and since they didn’t leave well enough alone on the stellar core fragment, dragging these genetically engineered throwbacks out of their moronic ignorance serves just as well. Overall, I give this episode 8 out of 10.

Episode 14: Conundrum

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

After being scanned by an unknown alien spaceship, the Enterprise crew discover that their memories, along with those of the ship's computer, have been partially erased. Although they retain their practical knowledge and skills, none of the crew can remember who their crewmates are, and have forgotten their own identities. Mysteriously, during the scan, an additional crewmember, in an officer's uniform and with the rank of commander, has joined the group on the bridge.

 The bridge crew attempts to gain control of the situation, and Worf, wearing his baldric, assumes because he is decorated that he is the captain of the ship, and assumes command. Data, with the memory files identifying who he is unavailable, and based on where he was when the scan happened, assumes the job of bartender in Ten Forward.

 After considerable time, the ship's computer memory is finally reached, and La Forge brings up the manifest of the senior staff members. Among the bridge crew is listed the mysterious new member who is identified as Commander Kieran MacDuff, the executive officer. The computer also reveals what is apparently the Enterprise's mission: According to the orders, the Enterprise is part of a fleet of vessels fighting a decades-old war with the Lysians. Their current assignment is to destroy the Lysian central command headquarters, which they are to do while maintaining communications silence. Worf apologises to Picard for taking over but is assured he and the rest of the crew were simply doing their best.

 In the meantime, Ensign Ro concludes that she and Commander Riker are likely romantically connected, and pursues this relationship. The two had been bickering about rank and proper procedure prior to the memory loss. Meanwhile Deanna Troi also realizes she has feelings for the commander and finds evidence which supports their past relationship.

 Doctor Crusher works to restore the memories of the crew, a process complicated when it's found that the medical records for the crew have been destroyed. She tries an experimental procedure on MacDuff, who apparently reacts poorly to the treatments, but later smiles when Crusher turns away.

 Continuing toward the target, the Enterprise encounters a Lysian ship, which is easily destroyed. Picard becomes concerned with how mismatched the firepower of the Enterprise is compared to her supposed enemies. Picard complains to MacDuff that he feels as though he has been given a weapon, taken into a room and told to shoot a stranger. Ultimately, when faced with the Lysian central command, drastically incapable of fighting them off and with 15,311 people on board, Picard calls off the mission, stating that he does not fire on defenceless people. Angered by this action, MacDuff attempts to take control of the Enterprise throwing Lt Worf across the bridge when Worf attempts to restrain him. Riker then fires a phaser at MacDuff, revealing that MacDuff is some manner of alien. MacDuff struggles to activate the ship's weapons, but Riker and Worf defeat him by simultaneously firing their phasers at him causing him to collapse.

 D. Crusher is able to restore memories to the crew. The alien is identified as a Satarran, who are at war with the Lysians so they plotted to hijack the Enterprise and tilt the war in their favor.

 Riker remains uneasy when he encounters Troi and Ro in the Ten Forward bar. Troi claims his actions resulted from subconscious desires and curtly informs him that "if you're still confused tomorrow, you know where my office is."

Review:

Compared to “Future Imperfect” and “Clues”, this episode is a better use of the concept of amnesia to throw our characters a curve ball because it’s using it more extensively.  “Future Imperfect” didn’t really use amnesia per se; it was just an excuse to explain why Riker couldn’t remember an ideal-ish future that was actually a holodeck program of sorts.  Likewise, “Clues” only erased memories covering a very short space of time. In this episode, who the characters are gets shoved right out the mental airlock, and it’s fun to see how they try and work their way back to themselves.  The change in the Ro-Riker relationship that creates a love triangle between the two of them and Troi is probably the most amusing concept out of the lot, albeit a predictable use of the whole ‘sexual attraction disguised as antagonism’ cliché if you go by the pre-amnesia relationship between Riker and Ro.

 The biggest problem is the addition of the alien who claims to be Commander MacDuff; just by his presence alone combined with the amnesia, you know the two will be linked, and the solution is given away pretty much the moment the fake mission gets revealed.  There’s no climax or suspense, and most of the characters return to who they should be despite a lack of memories too quickly.  As a result, the more interesting use of amnesia is undermined by this less-than-brilliant execution.  For me, the episode only racks up an end score of 7 out of 10.

Episode 15: Power Play

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise approaches Mab-Bu VI, a moon covered in electromagnetic storms, from where it has detected a distress call. Lt. Commander Data discovers that the distress call is standard for Daedalus-class starships, which went out of service 172 years ago. He then finds that the USS Essex, a Daedalus-class ship, was lost in the region over 200 years ago. After concluding that visiting a ghost ship with an away team in such hazardous conditions is a waste of resources, Captain Picard decides to move on and report the whereabouts of the once-missing ship. However, Counsellor Troi indicates that she feels a living presence on the surface. Data announces that electromagnetic interference prevent the use of the transporter to the moon; Picard authorizes a shuttlecraft mission, manned by Commander Riker, Data, and Troi.

 As the shuttlecraft travels towards the moon's surface, the crew loses control, and makes a crash landing. By the time the shuttle lands, all communication with the Enterprise has been cut off by electromagnetic interference. Riker has a broken arm due to the crash landing and the three crew members emerge from the shuttlecraft to learn about their surroundings. They observe the front of a massive electrical storm. A tricorder scan indicates EM bursts across the entire spectrum.

 Back on the Enterprise, the crew discuss rescuing the crew of the shuttle. Ro Laren uses the descent angle of the shuttlecraft to approximate the landing site. Transporter chief Miles O'Brien proposes that he should transport to the surface and use a pattern-enhancing device to allow a reliable transport of the away team. Lt. Commander La Forge cautions Picard that O'Brien's chance of surviving the transport is about fifty-fifty. O'Brien acknowledges the risk and Picard grants permission. O'Brien safely transports to Mab-Bu VI and prepares the transport procedure. While doing this, the crew is struck by what appear to be bolts of electricity, incapacitating all four members. Three light sources enter the bodies of Data, Troi, and O'Brien, and Riker awakens to finish the pattern buffers. All four are then safely transported back to the Enterprise.

 When they awaken, Data, Troi, and O'Brien insist that the Enterprise conduct a survey of the southern polar region of the moon. The rest of the crew refuse. The three then stage a violent uprising and take command of the ship. They use hostages as leverage to force Picard to change course. Dr Crusher determines that Riker was not affected because the pain from his broken arm repelled whatever force possessed the others. Troi, the leader of the mutineers, then reveals that she is the captain of the Essex. She claims that their spirits were trapped in the electromagnetic fields of the moon and if the Enterprise transports their bones back to Earth, they can be set free. However, Picard is sceptical of her claim because of their violent actions.

 La Forge, Crusher, and Ro devise a plan to separate the possessive entities from the crew members' bodies by inducing pain, then containing them by flooding the area with a particle field. However, the plan fails when Data suddenly moves out of the attack area. After Data threatens to kill everyone in the room, Picard agrees to comply with their demands. He tells Riker to let Data, Troi, and O'Brien move safely to one of the cargo bays. Picard, Worf, and Keiko O'Brien accompany them as hostages. After they arrive, Picard challenges Troi about her claim to be captain of the Essex and she reveals that the moon is a penal colony. O'Brien uses the transporter to beam hundreds of other prisoner entities into the cargo bay. These prisoners are to take over additional crew members' bodies so they can commandeer the Enterprise and return to their home planet.

 The bridge crew activates the particle field, which sequesters the other prisoners. They then prepare to blow the cargo bay hatch, which would kill the six crew members in addition to all the prisoners. Picard, Worf, and Keiko each declare that they are willing to die, which forces the three prisoners to relinquish their hosts. Worf beams all prisoners back to the moon. Data apologizes to Worf for the way he acted when possessed by a prisoner, adding that Worf must have exercised extreme self-control to not fight back. O’Brien is joyfully reunited with his wife and baby daughter.

Review:

This episode stands out for being ‘that one where Marina Sirtis did her own stunt and broke her coccyx’, as well as being perhaps an early prototype for the ‘make O’Brien suffer’ episodes of DS9 fame. Him revealing that he’d have killed the entity possessing him if he could, taken in context with how much O’Brien hates the Cardassians for forcing him to kill when he had to fight in the Federation-Cardassian war, shows this couldn’t have been an easy experience for the character.  However, aside from that, it’s another example of ‘actors playing their characters weird for weirdness’ sake, and again the solution is given away early.  The weird energy going into Data, Troi and O’Brien practically screams possession by an alien consciousness, Data’s actions afterwards telegraph the mutiny ahead of time, and if the behaviour of the possessing entities didn’t scream desperate escaping prisoners, I don’t know what does. For me, this episode is only worth 5 out of 10.

[arizonamansions-blog]

Dogecoin moving ahead of bitcoin and every other cryptocurrency out there per google News

https://www.dailyfx.com/forex/market_alert/2021/04/14/Dogecoin-Explodes-and-Leads-the-CryptoMania-Ahead-of-Coinbase-DPO-Bitcoin-Cash-Surges-.html

Dogecoin aims to take over the cryptocurrency market. BitCoin got into bed with governments across the globe, DogeCoin is being called the people’s money across the globe. Decentralized away from Governments which is why is it gaining so much traction.

One thing is for certain dogecoin is here to stay it will have its good days and it will have his bad days just like any other stock. The biggest difference between doge coin and any other currency is that doge coin gives the people the power to control the almighty dollar instead of corrupt governments.

Our tax dollars go to paying police that are killing people left and right and it has started movements such as #blacklivesmatter and #Georgefloyd

People want to defund the police across the nation and it’s no wonder when police are killing innocent teenagers, please see the news links below.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1264731

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52861726.amp

People are starting to realize to cut the head off the snake we need a new currency that can actually make a difference.

Imagine all the people that would still be here if the police were not funded in the first place.

#DogeCoin is the only way to defund corruption in government and that’s why people are investing heavily in it.

#Fakenews Will do everything they can to shut down #Dogecoin governments Globally will do everything they can to quash this stock because they know if it takes off they will lose all control of the financial markets globally and it would put the people in charge of money not corrupt governments.

#DogeCoin Globally Becoming The People’s Money. People are realizing how governments spend our money.. #DogeCoin Even #Googlenews can recognize the people have spoken and the people can’t spend their money Innoway they see fit.

Doge coin will face opposition against every government entity in the world but what people don’t realize is we outnumber governments by about 9 1/2 billion people.

Every time a president leaves the White House it costs the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars for security, armored vehicles, private airplanes, and of course weapons of mass destruction.

Governments use so many social control mechanisms and scare people have to death daily to fill their agenda.

#Dogecoin it’s going to take off but every government in the world is going to do everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen. If #dogecoin becomes bigger than bitcoin which #googlenews has already acknowledged is happening now.

———

A LIST CELEBRITIES ENDORSING Dogecoin

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They understand the importance of this Currency. Dogecoin is the key to unlock the financial prison we are put in the second we get our first credit card and student loan. That is the moment you are processed. They might as well throw you in a black and white striped outfit at that point. They caught their fish that will be paying interest on those loans until you are 75.

Let’s say you wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer and you needed to get a student loan to get through college. Did you know that if you get a $500,000 student loan you would end up paying back $1.5 million after all said and done. There is a reason banks call interest interest rates it says it right in the name they are interested and ripping you off. Do you think that’s fair to borrow $500,000 to become a pediatrician to have to pay back $1.5 million? Your payments on that loan would be $4000 a month for 30 years. Now if you purchase a home for $500,000 the same exact concept applies. Now you are responsible for paying $8000 a month and that’s not including utilities, water, electricity, Internet, food, and entertainment. Since you are now obligated to pay those loans back in for you would have to make about $13,000 a month just to break even. If you miss a single payment your credit rating will go from an 800 down to a 450 pretty quick.

The United States national debt is $23 trillion and counting. What is their credit rating now? Oh wait, it doesn’t matter they can put their loans in deferment whenever they feel like it. To the federal government does it really matter if they are $23 trillion in debt or $100 trillion in debt? Who is going to oppose us? After Hiroshima and Nagasaki I don’t think any country in the world would dare use force on having us pay back China.

#Dogecoin - it’s not a matter of if it’s going to take off it’s just a matter of time which is why governments across the planet are purchasing more dogecoin than you could possibly imagine.

So it’s OK that the federal government can rack up that kind of debt with absolutely no consequences whatsoever but if we make a mortgage payment late you won’t be able to finance a popsicle after that for seven years. Is that fair? If you think the answer is yes please quick the X button at the top right of your screen.

Governments across the globe are purchasing quadrillion‘s of DogeCoin Cryptocurrency. It is acting exactly like Bitcoin did when Bitcoin first started almost verbatim

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DOGECOIN CRYPTOCURRENCY SET TO BE BIGGER THAN BITCOIN BY THE END OF 2021

Governments globally are perching quadrillion‘s of shares of DogeCoin cryptocurrency, it’s happening, and set to be much bigger than BitCoin

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The people that purchased hundreds of bitcoin‘s at $200 a share are now billionaires, Bitcoin is trading at around 60,000 dollars per bit coin today. Imagine owning 1000 Bitcoin today purchased at 200 a Bitcoin.

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This is bigger than you and I. This is for our kids, and our grandkids, and our great grand kids.

It’s okay if you don’t under Cryptocurrencies. I didn’t, I was a skeptic, until someone explained it to me in plain English. I will do just that, right now.

The programmers responsible for creating the block chain computer programming code or perhaps the most genius coders to have ever existed because they figured out a way to set us free in every way.

You might be working 40 to 60 hours a week making $40,000 a year maybe even $150,000 a year but the point is you are not working for yourself you are a slave to a company that will work you to the bone and then tell you to piss off when you are too old to do the job and younger more talented kids out of college can replace you for much cheaper. You might get lucky and have a small 401(k) and maybe even a small pension that you can live off of the rest your life in a two bedroom two bath and not have to work so you can be on a fixed income that you can barely get bion for the rest of your days.

Cryptocurrency is designed to give the people control of the all mighty dollar not the governments. I have seen governments go to very great links to try to shut down cryptocurrency because they know if it takes off governments lose full control over the financial markets. Whoever controls the financial markets controls your life.

The point of cryptocurrency is to give you the financial freedom to live your life on your terms however you deem necessary not how a government thinks you should live cryptocurrency gives you the freedom to make as much money as you want and the government can’t do a darn thing about it because it is a D centralized financial system that the government has zero control over. No government has control over any cryptocurrency which is the beauty of it all.

In short cryptocurrency gives regular people The ability to turn a few thousand dollars into a few million dollars so that they do not have to live and die underneath the sword of a corrupt government. They say we have the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, and the freedom of press... our first amendment rights... if you honestly feel that is true you should ex out of this window right now.

Cryptocurrency gives people back their right to pursue happiness.

Cryptocurrency is designed to give you your life back and allow you to pursue your dreams. Your dream might be different than mine but whatever your dreams might be this is your opportunity to actually be able to accomplish your dreams and hopes for the future.

My dream personally is to expose the corruption in our medical system, and put the right people in charge of our health and wellness because right now we are getting poisoned with incredibly unhealthy foods that should never have been approved by the FDA, we are drinking water with an incredible amount of chlorine in it, and we are breathing in the most toxic air this world has ever seen and it is causing a battery of different health problems from cancer to auto immune disorders. People like to assume it was all one big coincidence but I can assure you it is 100% intentional.

There is absolutely no money in keeping people healthy at very low costs. There are trillions of dollars wrapped up in keeping people sick and selling them a host of pills and treatments they really don’t need. When I discovered the truth behind our medical system it was at that moment I decided to do some thing about it and cryptocurrency was the light when I was in the darkness.

People that I genuinely loved my whole life passed away because they were eating garbage and drinking toxic water, when it came time for our medical system to save their life they pumped him up full of chemo and radiation took all of their money threw a bunch of pills at them and then killed them after the insurance money was gone and there Bank accounts were liquidated and their houses were refinanced to the point where they owed more in their house than it was worth.

My dream is to make sure our children do not have to endure these medical injustices and I’m doing something about that right here and I hope you can join me in that fight. https://gofund.me/190a3d0c

On a day-to-day basis I am going toe to toe with big Pharma and Western medicine. We are only a few thousand strong at this time and big Pharma alone it’s a multi trillion dollar industry so believe me when I say, they will do just about anything to protect what they have built. Big Pharma has monetized and monopolized every single medicinal plant on earth.

https://www.newsmax.com/t/health/article/691946?section=Natural-Health&keywords=alternative-medicine-doctor-dies&year=2015&month=09&date=16&id=691946

https://www.gazettetimes.com/opinion/letters/letter-conspiracy-targets-holistic-doctors/article_66755c2b-0772-55eb-aaf5-7e18827d837c.html

Our naturalistic and natural path doctors are now forced to work underground they cannot advertise for obvious purposes.

Only the super rich can afford the best food, the best air with houses up in the mountains, and the finest water this planet has.

I highly encourage everybody to read the testimonials on X 39 stem cell patches. Again I was a skeptic at first but after being on stem cell patches for a year I genuinely cannot believe how much better I feel. I am 41 years old and I feel like I’m 25 years old X 39 stem cell patches simply activate your own stem cells because they’re being suppressed by chlorinated water and preservatives: https://www.lifewave.com/stemcellcancercure

Once a person loses everything and they have nothing left to lose, they are free to do anything. Someone with nothing to lose is perhaps the most dangerous, better yet, the most real person you will ever know. If you are one of these people, we sympathize with you.

Our Justice system is broken in just about every way. If you have had a case(s) which should have have gone to trial where Justice was actually delivered, I’d really, really like to hear about it. Email me the case at arizonamansions@gmail.com

I have been in and out of court more times than I can count. Never once formally charged with anything. Judges don’t read your case, they have too many cases. They make snap Judgment calls with out doing their due diligence, and when Judges do this, and they do not listen, they may not realize it at the time, but it radicalizes a person down to the bone and ignites a fire in them that it impossible to put out.

Think about that for a second. We the people are paying Judges in building federal court houses so that the federal government employees can sit pretty in their new homes in their new cars while having the ability to pass judgment on others without even reading the cases.

These judges make snap decisions without having all the information and those decisions have it detrimental impact on everybody involved, that is, if you are even lucky enough to get a Judge The hear you.

Why are we funding a judicial system that simply does not listen two basic facts? Unless it’s a high profile celebrity keys your case Will be open and shut in 15 minutes in a Superior Court, House. I have seen judges put children back into a home that was clearly unfit for a child putting that child in grave danger. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We can safely say in Arizona at least our judicial system does not care about us, at all. I watch them drive up in their V 12 venom viper and throw on a black robe.

We have to ask these tough questions. Why are our children hiding behind their i phone 12’s, why are our Schools being shot up, and why are teen suicides going through the roof? Try looking up statistics in the last 6 years. I can’t find any, which tells me it’s really, really bad. It is up 60% between 2007 and 2017. 60 Thousand Teens gone in those 10 years. The last 5 years, God Only knows because they won’t publish those numbers. If you can’t find some thing on the Internet that information is being suppressed.

Our children need time with their parents, love, and be able to take a few vacations a year with their families to make memories that will last a lifetime.

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/youth-suicide-rate-rises-56-in-decade-cdc-says-11571284861

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/07/us/ten-years-of-school-shootings-trnd/

In the real estate crash around 2009 approximately 45% of America‘s wealth was lost. Ever since then just about everyone I know personally has been doing everything in their power to recover from that crash. That crash was caused by the Clintons and Alan Greenspan giving out incredibly risky loans to people with horrible credit ratings. Why would a bank give a loan to a person with a 400 credit rating and no income on a 3/1 adjustable rate mortgage? Homes were appreciating at nearly 30% a month for two or three years and then when we got to the top and realized it was all a house of cards, that house of cards came tumbling down and America feast another avoidable depression

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/youth-suicide-rate-rises-56-in-decade-cdc-says-11571284861

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/07/us/ten-years-of-school-shootings-trnd/

Dogecoin has the answer. The dogecoin Cryptocurrency Stock can give families enough money to be able to take a little bit of time off of work so that they can give their children the love and attention they need so that these numbers are not so incredibly horrific.

It is a fact that our children are turning to their cell phones for attention because their parents are overworked and under paid. If a teenager gets a heart emoji from a pretty girl in his class that will mean more to the child then a weekend fishing trip with dad.

Dogecoin is a means to put healthy food on the table, healthy drinking water, and top of the line air filtration systems in your home.

It sounds easy to get clean food clean water and clean air but from everything that I’m seeing humans are not getting that right now. The top 1% of course are getting these items but if you don’t have a few million dollars to put in the right systems to protect your family you are left fending for your family as best you can with home made items. It amazes me the ingenuity human beings have on ensuring their families safety rich or poor.

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