#Otherwise I think she’d dress like Adam Sandler

[tyrannosaurustai]

Powerpuff Girls !!

[bugcreations]

Master post for my most favorite subject when it comes to my MK1 stories - my fankids! They each mean so much to my little hearts in different ways and I'm always looking for ways to make them better, so please ask about them! For now here's the info on them…

🩷Astrid🩷

Age: 17

Sexuality: Bisexual

Height: 5'8

Likes: Fashion design, poetry, "fancy things", the color pink, butterflies, weaving

Hates: Stormy days, dull colors, mint flavors

Astrid, as you can probably guess, is the princess of Outworld! She has a pretty neutral image, some praise her for her fighting talent, polite, charming and witty personality and fashion-foward mindset, while others show disdain for her as she’s a result of a once formerly forbidden relationship, and…she inherits Tarkat.

However, Astrid has a strong heart, and she doesn’t see her Tarkat as a burden or a struggle, rather an obstacle that makes her stronger each time she comes back from overcoming bursts of her infection. She’d rather focus more on the things she wants to do, which involve fashion design, poetry, and hoping to explore Earthrealm and the unique cultures it can offer, something she wants to do a tad bit more than becoming Empress.

💙Mankato💙

(Note this one technically a windwolf fanchild - I HC Fujin to be a girl, and Nightwolf to be transfem in this timeline. Ed Boon dont fuck them up!!!!)

Mankato, otherwise known as Blue, is the definition of crafty and fun! He has autism and ADHD, mainly expressed through his energetic and disorganized nature, and his intense interest in owls! He lives and breathes owls, through art. He loves to paint, draw, sketch and color owls and all in his favorite colors, which are the primary colors.

Blue is pretty much your definition of a “silly little guy,” he’s the heart of gold of the team and also the shortest! But despite his small, sweet personality, he has impeccable fighting skills, which he can put to good use thanks to his mom’s wind talisman! He greatly aspires to be as important and strong as his Uncle Raiden, and wishes to be something like a Champion like him someday. But for now, he’s too busy having adventures with his friends and painting…wait for it…owls.

Age: 17

Sexuality: Gay

Height: 5’3

Likes: Owls, primary colors, soft clothing, sushi (with salmon and avocado only! It’s his safe food), adventure, arts and crafts

Hates: Anything bitter tasting, loud parties, people touching his braids

🧡Nanami🧡

Nanami is a total butch, reckless girl - she’s sassy, brave, and dresses like Adam Sandler. She’s got a big interest in boxing and basketball, and her athletic skills also aid her in kombat. While she definitely struggles with issues like her impulsiveness, her dads’ constant smothering, and her secret insecurities, she doesn’t let that show, as she just tries to do what she wants.

She’s the fighter of the group, she’ll protect them at any costs as she feels the most comfortable around them. If anything were to happen to any of her family and friends, she would never forgive herself.

Age: 17

Sexuality: Lesbian

Height: 5’5

Likes: Tigers, basketball, gaming, blue and orange colors, sports, boxing

Hates: Dresses, flowers, the color green, mushrooms

💚Kung Wei💚

Kung Wei is a bit of the jokester of the team, as he’s cowardly, often talks as if he’s full of himself, and throws himself into rather dumb situations for attention. He’s not a bad person at all though! He just likes to enjoy the wild side of life, and everyone constantly talks about how he’s a mini copy of Kung Lao.

Like Nanami, he too has insecurities, mostly rooted in being compared to all these great heroes in his family and scared he will also be forced into the dangers they have experienced. While his dads try to help him realize he doesn’t have to live like that, Kung Wei has some deep down anxiety that makes it hard for him to think otherwise.

Age: 16

Sexuality: Gay

Height: 5’8 Likes: Animals, food (especially involving shrimp), nature, skateboarding and board games (even though he loses half the time) Hates: Horror movies, lemons, insects, Vaternians (he’s terrtified of them)

❤️Spindle❤️ And now for my most favorite fankid, and makes up a large majority of my stories, my Reivik fankid!!!! Spindle was born and raised in Chaosrealm, so he’s a bit of a unique person when it comes to who he is! He’s a bit socially awkward often, under the impression others don’t trust him, but if he’s comfortable around othetrs (typcially his friend group) then he becomes witty, friendly and very joking as well. His intelligence comes from the ability to observe his surroundings and others in crystal clear ways in order to figure out how he can make others like him, since he always believes they don’t at first.

He may crack jokes and all, but he has the worst secret of the group - a type of curse he was born with, called Flesh’s Teeth. The way Spindle's curse works is like this - Any part of Spindle's skin can open up to create a mouth of razor-sharp teeth with a long snakelike tongue, and his eyes will glow red. Spindle gets much more ruthless, bloodthirsty and Ravenous in this form as due to his curse.He will go out of his way to attack anyone he finds delicious (Relatives are immune to his craving). When he eats his fill (typically 100 - 150 pounds), his nose will start bleeding, he will black out and not remember anything when he wakes up an hour later. His manifestations are spontaneous, but they typically occur every two weeks or so.

Spindle is always living with the fear that he will kill someone close to him, even if not his actualy family - and so he thinks everyone has a right to not like him, and that it is up to him to change it. However, what he doesn’t realize is that he is the glue of the group, and his friends are always there for him, even during his worst moments.

Age: 17 Sexuality: Pansexual Height: 6’0 Likes: The color blood red, hyenas, human anatomy, sewing, the smell of wood Hates: Bright lights, huge crowds, being questioned, tight spaces

[duaneodavila]

I Told You So: Now What? The In-House Counsel Search And Salvage Mission

As I may have mentioned in passing a thousand or so times, I support our HR function. Yes, the under 22 set with their quirky habit of violating their own dress code, social media use, and tobacco and alcohol on company premises policies. You know, the rule breakers who make the rules.

Without bothering to give Legal a heads up, HR terminated a benefits provider in favor of a more economical partner. I wish I had the space (or the nerve) to provide the text of the email (no registered mail, mind you, even though the contract required it) that HR sent. But it went something like this:

Dear [_____________],

We are terminating your contract immediately for poor service. We wish you all the best with your future endeavors. Sincerely, an HR VP who continually parks in the expecting mothers’ spot despite being male.

Okay, fine. I made up the signature line (but it’s true, the man has no shame). And here’s a hot pro tip for you business types, at least put a name in the addressee field. Otherwise, someone might think your best wishes for future endeavors to be a tad insincere.

A full quarter after this brilliant electronic kiss off, HR received a bill for — you guessed it — a $25,000 cancellation fee and the monthly service fees for the remaining three months in that contract year. Within hours of receiving this, HR scheduled a 5:00 meeting, because who doesn’t love a 5:00 meeting on a Friday before a long weekend?

Luckily, HR showed their hand by scheduling a meeting, rather than their normal habit of just showing up at my office demanding I solve some problem that could have easily been avoided. Like this one. So, I had a full 40 minutes to dig through my carefully organized Outlook folder where I advised the team JUST LIKE THIS not to accept the cancellation fee in Section 12 or eat the remaining months in the contract year in Section 15. And before you ask, no the highlight is not overkill with this team.

Even though the cancellation fee wasn’t strictly a legal point, I��m a business lawyer, so when I see things that make no business sense (like an outrageous cancellation fee), I flag it. That, and I really like my long-suffering HR Procurement partner. I knew she’d be making the same points in her comments, so I thought I’d come out in support of her before she had to go at it alone.

I also highlighted the lack of a termination for convenience clause (which I know some attorneys consider extravagant) and took the time to provide an example of how this would play out in real life if we were, to say, decide to terminate the contract six months into a 36-month term. I was off by three months, the relationship lasted nine months.

At 5:10 (because why would you bother to be on time for a Friday afternoon meeting before a long weekend… did I mention it was the Friday before a long weekend?), HR swept into my office in a truly spectacular huff. There was so much huff. And indignation. And gnashing of teeth.

I listened with my “could you say a little more about that” face, all the while my inner child (who enjoys fart jokes and 90s Adam Sandler movies) stomped her foot and shouted, “I told you so. I told you so. I told you so.” And it was completely unsatisfying. Of course, I was right. What was worse was that I’d even taken the time to write out a clear, not-overly long email explaining why we should push on these issues. I even offered to get on the horn with the vendor and help negotiate it out. And nobody listened.

When HR wound down, I explained that in addition to no termination for convenience language, there was no termination for performance either. (Side bar: And not only did the described wrongs not rise to the level of breach, material or otherwise, there wasn’t a single email between our team and the vendor to let them know we were so unsatisfied with the vendor’s performance that they were in danger of being terminated. Nothing. It was like someone invented the poor service argument to get out of a contract in favor of using another vendor.)

After breaking the bad news that we wouldn’t be going to court over a $68,000 invoice and pounding the tastefully lit hardwood of the jurors’ box a la Dick Wolf, I told the team our options were limited. We could call the vendor as a united commercial, legal, and procurement front to try and negotiate it down (we did try this and I’m still smarting from the verbal beatdown the vendor’s attorney delivered). Or, we could let this one go, accept the learnings, and plan for the next one.

As you may imagine, this news wasn’t well-received. I spent my Sunday evening on a call reiterating the same news to senior HR leadership. Only this time, the HR VP (yes, the giant man baby who parks in the expecting mothers’ spot), demanded to know why I hadn’t caught this. With more patience than this twerp deserved for disrupting my Sunday evening, I let him know that in no uncertain terms that I had caught this and flagged it for his team. I forwarded him the emails where I’d advised against the cancellation fee and offered help to negotiate it out. Then I asked him what he thought I could have done differently to better partner with his team.

After muttering about the need for Legal to be more “proactive,” I was dismissed. I went to bed fuming over that word and woke up the next day with it still hanging around like bad morning breath. I ended up calling an attorney friend on my commute in to chew over what I could have done to be more proactive (okay fine, I called to vent, and it was glorious). She listened, making all the right commiserating noises, and then offered me this gem: “Sometimes, you have to let them fail. If you bail them out now, the next time it’s $268,000 and it blows up their budget for the quarter. This is the right kind of amount for a lesson.”

This was deeply unsatisfying, but she was right. I did nothing. I stopped wracking my brain for some brilliant “get out of jail free” card or fourth quarter hail Mary pass. I let them pay the invoice. I offered no apologies for it. And when the next HR monthly meeting came, I sent in a five-bullet email that went around with the agenda that highlighted contractual term trends to be wary of as a savvy HR partner. It wasn’t quite as satisfying as resolving the issue, but I’d like to think it was a little proactive.

Oh, and I called facilities from one of the general conference lines and dropped an anonymous dime on that VP parking in the expecting mothers’ spot. Because, I’d like to think that was more than a little proactive.

Kay Thrace (not her real name) is a harried in-house counsel at a well-known company that everyone loves to hate. When not scuffing dirt on the sacrosanct line between business and the law, Kay enjoys pub trivia domination and eradicating incorrect usage of the Oxford comma. You can contact her by email at KayThraceATL@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @KayThrace.