#also all of them have tried to beat the living daylight/straight up murder each other at one point

[a-bitch-made-fullmetal]

plagued by post canon brainrot yet again.

ok so bear with me, I fear I'm a basic bitch and just kinda assume Al and Mei end up together because literally why not.

but I've also been seeing a bunch of cute art of Mei and Scar around lately, so I got to pondering vaguely about their post canon relationship and made the executive decision that they very much stay in touch because once Mei has decided a person's place in her life there is literally no escape for them. Scar is her dad now. unfortunate!

all this to say, those people are having THE most awkward family reunions.

Al is standing there making polite small talk with someone like "that over there is my beautiful wife, she's related to the current emperor of xing actually! I've actually known him longer than her haha, he kept climbing in through our windows and making us buy him food. yeah she beat the shit out of me when we first met and also transmuted my soul once, she's so strong and talented <3 the man with her is her sort of adopted father, he tried to murder my older brother in front of me once when we were teenagers and he, um, committed Other Crimes too, but who hasn't! my sister-in-law almost shot him in the head once btw. he did explode half of my body when I was still made of metal but it's all water under the bridge now!! yeah I used to be metal. long story. anyway how are you related? <3"

[dark-visitors]

Yeeeeeeeeeeees! I need 100k words of Wyclair causing havoc within pack Sinclair. Wyclair being a rare ship is causing me emotional distress at this point.

Tyler being salty when they first get there because Wednesday gets to stay in Enid’s room while he’s forced to bunk with Enid’s brothers. And Wednesday being Wednesday makes sure to rub salt in the wound, being extra flirty with Enid and dropping innuendos like they’re going out of fashion. He tries to sneak his way in late at night only to be caught by Murray who silently places a hand on the back of Tyler’s neck (not so firm that it hurts but firm enough that it gets the point across of scaring the shit out of him) and turning him back towards his own room never saying a thing.

Wednesday and Murray sit next to each other, not saying a single word for several hours. Enid loves it ‘cause they’re bonding in their own weird way.

Meanwhile Enid’s brother keep trying to get Tyler to fight them. But he can’t because Enid would be mad. Only when he explains that he just gets bullied for being whipped by their little sister. Tyler then points out all the scars he got from fighting Enid before Laurels hold broke only for it to backfire even more when they start making fun of him for losing a fight to a girl.

Tyler’s straight up not having a good time. And it gets worse when one of Enid’s brothers starts flirting with Wednesday in front of him and he can’t do anything to stop it. Wednesday a mixture of annoyed and oblivious and Tylers about ready to give in and fight them just to prove that none of them were good enough for Wednesday even if she was single. But then Enid (jealous girlfriend and a festering pit a suppressed rage due to dealing with her mother) beats him to it. Enid wins. They stop making fun of Tyler for losing to a girl.

Enid being annoyed at all the toxic masculinity. Tyler would never hurt her on purpose and she makes sure to make that clear to all of them. Only then he “does” and with her “best friend” after they PROMISED THEY WOULD CONTROL THEMSELVES. And she’s about ready to leave him to the wolves… literally (she doesn’t obvi but she’s pissed and now she has to come out and explain how a three-way relationship works to an increasingly angered Esther). Wednesday’s annoyed both at not getting to see Tyler fight a pack of Werewolves but also because even after that incredibly awkward relationship reveal Esther still refers to Wednesday as Enid’s friend. Enid has to stop Wednesday from detailing their sex life at the dinner table just to prove a point.

Also Murray 100% knew all along he just never said anything. He knows his daughter and the way she looks at the Addams girl isn’t so different to the way she looks at her boyfriend and they aren’t exactly subtle. The rest of them are just dense (her brothers) or don’t see Enid dating a girl as a possibility (Esther). But he figured Wednesday couldn’t get his baby girl pregnant if he let them share a bed and Wyler getting caught “cheating” was as good a time as any to scare the living daylight out of the boy in case his eyes ever did wander (Murray and Gomez laugh about it years later… in front of Tyler as he sits there nervously sweating as they joke about murdering him if he ever hurts their only daughters. It’s not a joke and they all know it).

Actually I need to see Murray, Gomez and Donovan awkwardly conversing with each other at a family bbq because their unhinged children have made them family. Don can barely handle Wednesday and Enid on top of Tyler and now he’s been thrown in with their crazy families and they are STRESSING HIM OUT.

Esther: Look me in the eye and tell me that you’re not in love with those despicable teenage felons.

Enid: *staring longingly at Wyler across the quad* I’m not in love with Tyler and Wednesday.

Esther: Your eyes are nowhere near mine.

[mymoonagedaydream]

Witness Protection (Part 10)

Summary: You were terrified to find out which pair of eyes would be looking back at you when Bucky woke up

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x y/n

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: Oh Lord the fluff of it all, also terrible language

Author’s Note: I just want them to be happy so help me god

---

You waited in the front room for a while, debating with yourself whether it was a good idea to be there when Bucky woke up. If he was back to his usual self, you wanted to try comforting him as best you could, but if he was still under then seeing you might just aggravate him. 

Steve made some food and you sat together while you waited, giving you a chance to question him.

‘I don’t understand. Hydra just got him back, why did they send him after us?’

‘Well they probably just sent him after you.’ Steve’s response was jarringly casual. ‘He was away for a long time, they probably wanted to test his commitment. Like when the SS would make recruits raise a dog for months, then make them shoot it.’ 

‘Charming.’ You replied through a dry chuckle. 

‘You know what I meant.’ He nudged you. ‘Think of it as a compliment. They figured that if he was able to kill you, he’d do pretty much anything.’

Strange kind of compliment, but you were past the point of argument. 

That probably would’ve been a good time to tell Steve what had actually happened, how Bucky had more than enough time to kill you, how he’d hesitated- but you decided not to. Maybe it did mean something, but Steve wasn’t the person you wanted to talk to about it. 

Eventually you decided to leave him in the living room, trusting that he probably knew how best to handle whichever situation arose. Collapsing onto your bed, you tried to rest, but sleep was fractured and fleeting. Every noise from the living room jolted you back awake. Every creak of the bed sounded like the clicking of a gun. After hours of frustration, you finally managed to fall into something resembling rest. 

---

You woke to a room filled with daylight, but from how you felt you knew you couldn’t have slept more than a few hours. 

Muffled whispering was coming from behind the door. 

Moving across the room as silently as possible, you put your ear to the wood. You recognised Bucky’s voice straight away. It wasn’t the harsh, gravelly voice you’d heard yesterday, it sounded more like your Bucky. Steve was speaking too. You managed to make out some of the conversation.

‘Buck. She’s not safe anywhere.’

‘I know. But neither am I.’

‘You can handle yourself. You can fight. She can’t, and they know that now. All they need to draw you back is her.’

Bucky’s voice started cracking. ‘What do I do Steve?’

‘What Stark told you to do before. You give her the skills she needs to stay alive. You fix this.’

‘I don’t know if I can.’

‘Jesus, Buck.’ Steve was suddenly louder, agitated. ‘You almost killed her. You had a gun to her head.’

You moved away from the door, deciding to let them finish before you went out. As difficult as it was to admit, you couldn’t help but think Steve was right. Maybe if you’d had some training you could’ve done something back at the safe house, could’ve defended yourself. Bucky wanted to protect you, but it was obvious now that he couldn’t, not all the time. You still trusted him, trusted that he’d do anything in his power to keep you safe, but he needed to hear what Steve was telling him. 

You sat on the bed, waiting anxiously. Both voices faded back into whispers as you stared out the window. After a while, there was a gentle knock at your door and Steve leaned in. 

‘He’s alright, you can come speak to him.’

Shuffling into the front room, you saw Bucky hunched over on the sofa, head in his hands. He looked exactly the same as he did back at the compound, the day all this started. He looked devastated.

You sat yourself next to him and he raised his head to you, the sight of your healing cuts and bruises seeming to shock him. He probably couldn't see the full extent of them back at the warehouse for all the blood. 

He put his flesh hand up to your cheek. 

'Are you alright?'

‘I'll be okay.' 

You smiled, but he looked away from you and his hand dropped, moving to rest on your knee. You wanted to tell him that everything was going to be alright, that you didn’t hate him or blame him for anything, but it looked as though hearing that might just tip him over the edge.

'Bucky, I heard you talking to Steve. I think he’s right.’ 

‘I know he is.' 

'It doesn't have to be like it was at Hydra.' You placed your hand over his and squeezed it hard. 'I understand that their kind of training is all you know, but we can take it slowly, figure it out together.' 

He rubbed his forehead, looking like a war was waging inside his mind. You did your best to keep him grounded by squeezing his hand tighter, and tighter. 

Then he just collapsed into you. 

He pushed his head into your neck and wrapped his arms tight around your waist, gripping harder when you brought your arms up around his shoulders. You cradled his head, stroked his hair out of his face and planted a lingering kiss on his forehead. 

You'd never seen him so vulnerable before. He probably never had a chance to be, he was just expected to be cold and indifferent. You were happy that he was letting himself feel and you were going to be there for him for as long as he needed, no question. You sat like that for a long time, silent, just taking solace in each other’s company.

'I could've killed you.' He muttered, face still buried in your neck. 

'You didn't. You had the opportunity, but you didn’t.'

He raised his head slightly, looking at you in confusion. 'Are you sure?' 

You nodded feebly, giving him a reassuring smile. He sat up a bit, moving himself closer and bringing his face back to level with yours. 

'I had direct orders. Leaving you alive was against them.' He smiled widely. 'I must really like you.' 

You gave a quiet laugh. 'Thanks. I like you enough to not murder you, too.'

He leaned in and pressed his lips against yours, catching you off guard. You pulled a sharp breath through your nose and felt your chest fill up, before completely relaxing into him. 

God, you'd missed this. 

Everything that had happened- the compound, the safe house, the red room- it all felt so far away. Nothing outside of this moment could touch you. Bucky was here and, for now, you were safe. 

He pulled away an inch, forehead still resting on yours. Without missing a beat, without even thinking, you whispered to him.

'I love you Bucky.'

His eyes opened abruptly. He looked bewildered. Fuck. Couldn’t just enjoy the fucking moment. Had to put your fucking foot right in your fucking mouth and-

‘I love you too.’

He smiled before pressing forward you again, harder. His hand buried itself in the back of your hair and he positioned himself over you to deepen the kiss. You’d have given anything to rip his clothes off right there on that couch, but you had a nasty feeling that Steve would wander back in at any moment, so you brought your hands to his shoulders and pulled your face away.

'I mean it Buck. I don't care if we have to run forever.'

He kissed your forehead, wrapping his arms around you. 

'We're gonna figure this out. They're not taking you away from me again.' 

---

Part Eleven

---

@zizzlekwum @calwitch @shower-me-with-roses @supernaturalwintersoldier @the-romanian-is-bae @shadowed-wax @justanotherblonde23 @connie326 @sxbby-barnes

---

[backtothestart02]

Hazy - 12/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: Enjoy! 

Commissioned by Patricia H.

...

Chapter 12 -

Joe was awake, stable, and in his own room by the time Barry and Linda returned to the hospital. He also had a couple of police in his room interrogating him when they arrived as well. Barry hated it. No matter how many times the nurse at the station told him they were just taking his statement, he didn’t like it. Anything that looked like an interrogation was one in Barry’s eyes. Especially since Eddie was also a cop and could turn things in his favor if need be.

“Hey,” Linda said, standing beside him as they waited in the hall. “It’s gonna be okay.”

She ran her hand down his arm briefly, and he knew it was supposed to be comforting, but it just irritated him. He didn’t want any more explanations. He just wanted to see Joe, to see with his own eyes that he was okay, and to get some guidance on what they should do next. Whether he’d grown up in his house or not, they still clearly had a connection. Barry needed to use that to figure out just exactly what this timeline entailed, and how he could fix things, if he could fix them at all.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides, and Linda stopped touching him. He wished he could feel bad for pushing her away, but she had to understand. Right?

The two cops emerged from Joe’s room moments later, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“You can go in now, son,” one of the two officers said.

Barry let Linda be the one who smiled politely and said her thanks. He dashed in immediately and sped-walk over to Joe, hugging him gently.

“Oh, my God, I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Joe chuckled and patted Barry’s back lightly.

“Of course I am. I can’t be taken down that easily.”

Barry sighed, kneeling beside the bed.

“It should’ve been me.”

“Bear, no. I won’t hear you talking like that. You were already in the hospital due to Eddie beating the living daylights out of you. The last thing you needed was to get shot. None of us deserved any of this. Eddie is just…out of control. A jealous maniac. Not that it came out of thin air, of course. But he could’ve tempered his feelings in a way other than kidnapping and attempted murder.”

Barry swallowed.

“Have you heard anything?” he asked gently. “About Iris?”

He shook his head sadly.

“Nothing. I was somewhere else, trying to find another way to…fix all this.”

Joe’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Where were you at, son?”

Barry hesitated.

“STAR Labs,” he finally said.

“The museum?” Joe asked, thoroughly confused now. “Don’t they close kind of early today?”

Barry winced. “Yeah…”

“What are you not telling me?”

Barry sighed and sank back onto his haunches.

“I don’t…think you’d believe me even if I told you.”

Joe was about to pursue his questions further when he saw movement in the doorway.

“Linda? Honey, is that you?”

She popped in.

“Yeah, it’s me. I was just giving…giving you two some privacy. I know you don’t really know me. I’ve just…been here for Barry, in case he needs me. Which he often does, without realizing it.”

Joe managed to chuckle. Barry actually appeared annoyed.

“Well, I appreciate that you’ve been taken care of him, dear.”

“Of course.” She smiled, her hands folded together in front of her. “Can I…get you anything, Mr. West?”

“Joe, please. And um, a cup of water would be great. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

She turned and scurried out the door, likely headed for the nurse’s station down the hall.

Barry fixed Joe with a confused look.

“Why’d you do that?”

“I wanted to make sure we were alone for a few minutes.”

Barry tilted his head in curiosity.

“Does that girl like you?”

“What…do you mean? Like, as friends? Because we were barely acquaintances three days ago.”

“That’s…not what I meant.”

It took a few more seconds for Barry to connect the dots. When he did, his eyes bulged.

“Whoa. Like like, like…like-like as more than friends like?”

Joe waited.

Barry burst out laughing.

“No way! She likes Scott. She spent the entire gala drunk-flirting with him. She used me to try and get him jealous.”

“Maybe things have changed.”

“How?”

Barry was in disbelief. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this. Sure, Linda had been really clingy today, but she was just being a good friend. Right? That was it… Right?

“You don’t want me to…ask her, do you?”

Joe shook his head, smiling.

“Just be on the look-out for signs, son. Okay? And be careful how you respond to her, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea.”

Doubt still wrote itself straight across Barry’s forehead.

“Yeah, sure, okay.”

“Water is here!” Linda announced, coming through the doorway.

The two men looked and saw she’d brought a tray of 6 cups full of water. Barry blanched and met Joe’s amused gaze.

“Thank you, Linda,” Joe said as she set each cup on his mobile tray. “That’s very kind of you.”

“Should keep you hydrated for a while.” She fixed her gaze to Barry. “Don’t you think?”

“Well, yeah. Mhmm.”

He didn’t look at Joe, who he had a feeling was smiling smugly. Instead he got to his feet and crowded Linda off to the side.

“Linda, uh, do you think…you might want to go home? I mean, you really don’t have to stay here. I’m probably going to stay until he gets let out and then maybe go home with him.”

“Oh. Uh…but what about your pain meds? Are you feeling pain right now? Do you want to sit down?”

A smile tugged at Joe’s lips over on the bed. He couldn’t help but overhear.

“No, no, I’m good,” Barry assured her.

Linda’s shoulders slumped.

“I was kind of looking forward to taking care of you this week,” she admitted, and he swallowed.

“It could just be the adrenaline from running all over the place. You could drop off the meds at Joe’s house tomorrow. I could give you the address.”

“Oh. Right. That…that sounds good. Probably the uh…best course of action.”

Barry forced a smile.

“Great. Thanks. I appreciate everything you’ve done, Linda. And when this all blows over and Iris is back, if you need to make Scott jealous again…within reason, I’ll be right there for ya.”

“Right. Scott. I…kind of forgot about him with everything that’s been going on.”

Joe stifled a snort, but it came out as a couch, and Barry knew the man was laughing at him behind his stoic face.

“If you need anything, you’ll call me?” she asked hopefully.

His lips had thinned, but he nodded to assure her.

“I promise. Thank you. Again.”

She nodded and took a step back, looking over at Joe who seemed to have recovered from his coughing fit.

“I hope you get better soon…Joe.”

“Thank you, Linda,” Joe said. “We’ll keep you in touch about Iris…and Barry,” he added after a beat.

Barry shared a wide-eyed stare with Joe, but Linda was oblivious. She took a few steps back and then went out the doorway and out of the hospital, presumably to call a cab home.

“Well? Do you believe me now?” Joe asked.

Barry shook his head in awe.

“How did you know?”

“I’m a detective, Barry. How else do you think I picked up that you were in love with my daughter at such a young age?”

Barry wandered back over to his bedside and pulled a chair over to sit on.

“I can’t even imagine how tough it was to move in with us having that crush.”

And there it was. Barry tried not to look too relieved. At least that piece to the puzzle was the same. But what about his dad then? If he wasn’t the Flash… That meant no Zoom, and no Zoom meant he might still be alive. But no evil Wells making a confession, that might mean he was still in jail. It might also mean Joe still 100% believed he was guilty of Nora Allen’s death.

Barry licked his lips. His heart was pounding away at the thought of seeing his dad again. His real dad.

“Barry?”

He looked up into Joe’s searching eyes.

“Hmm?”

“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly. “I’m just…thinking about Iris and this whole, messy situation.”

“Ah. Yeah, I don’t know how to save her, Bear. Especially when…when I’m like this.”

“You’ll be out by tomorrow,” Barry said. “I’m sure of it.”

“And then?” He looked up at him hopefully.

If he was the Flash, he would tell him everything would be all right. He would speed through the city until he found Iris and Eddie and put the latter in custody. Everything would be put right then. He could even go back in time to fix this whole mess and set things right.

As soon as he knew what had been changed to begin with.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Joe said, when he saw Barry frowning without an answer.

Barry met his eyes.

“Yeah. Me too.”

…

It was just after midnight when the call came. Joe was fast asleep in his hospital bad, but Barry, strung across three armless chairs in an attempt to get some shut-eye was more than half-awake when his phone started to buzz.

Still, he had to blink more than a few times to read the name correctly that was blaring across his screen.

“Iris?” he whispered into the void.

Falling off the chairs in the process of trying to sit up, he answered the call as quickly as he could.

“Iris? Is that you? Where are you? Are you okay? How are y-?”

“It’d be nice if it was that easy, wouldn’t it?” a snarling voice cut him off.

A chill ran down Barry’s spine.

“Eddie.” Anger flooded his body. “Where is she?”

“She’s safe,” he answered. “With me. At a hotel. We’ve decided to start fresh. Give this marriage another shot.”

Barry scoffed. “Somehow I find that hard to believe when you shot her dad.”

There was a pause.

“He shouldn’t have stepped in front of-”

“Iris?!” He was standing now. “The woman you’re now claiming wants to start fresh with you? I don’t buy it.”

Barry could practically hear Eddie grinding his teeth on the other end.

“It’s not your job to buy it,” he finally said. “It’s your job to not come looking.”

“Over my dead body.”

“I would’ve taken that,” Eddie spat back. “But you’re too damn resistant.”

Barry’s eyes narrowed.

“You want to know Iris is alright?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll send you a video of her an hour ago, but then I’m throwing out this phone, so don’t bother trying to track it. You’ll never find us. You’ll never have her. She’s mine.”

“E-”

Eddie cut the call before Barry could finish saying his name. Seconds later the video came through. Barry watched it immediately.

It showed Iris, looking a little worse for wear but she wasn’t bound or crying. When he squinted though, he could make out what looked to be duct tape marks across her face over her mouth. It had clearly been ripped off right before filming the video.

“Go,” Eddie said in the background of the video.

“Hi, Barry,” she said, managing the tiniest of hopeful smile. “Dad…I hope.” She sniffled.

“Don’t cry,” Eddie snarled.

She looked down to regain her image, then started up again.

“I hope both of you are fine. I want you to know I’m okay. I’m fine. And…”

“Say it,” Eddie muttered under his breath. “Say it,” he said again, louder when she didn’t say anything.

“I’m fine,” she said through a strangled breath. She swallowed hard. “Don’t come looking for me. I’m happy with Eddie. We’re going to start over somewhere else. I’m…happy.”

The video froze on her tear-streaked face.

End of video.

Barry scoffed as his hand clenched hard around the phone.

She was not happy.

She was terrified for her life.

And he had to act quickly before they left wherever they were at. Iris’ life depended on it.

[thighhighsanti]

sweet but psycho

summary: Seoul has been a mess lately, people were getting killed and the mafia groups tried to gain control over the situation. Problem was, there were three groups and they all wanted to be on top. Y/N was.. an informant and hired assassin for anyone who offered her a good amount of cash. She kept her identity hidden behind a mask, keeping her private life and jobs separate. But this became more difficult when one of the big groups was out looking for her best friend. Can she really keep her identity hidden, and is her friend really the one they want?

word count: 2.6k

pairing: ok so in the beginning kinda minseok x fem!reader but might chance later, you’ll see why. 

tags/warnings: (these will mostly be the same for the entire series) Mafia AU, any kind of weapon, mayor character death, mention of blood, angst, mention of loss, descriptive death and fighting, smut in future chapters, kidnapping, stealing, hacking, uhh cages? Stockholm syndrome. mention of BTS and GOT7

Your name: submit What is this?

25 Juli 2018.

My legs swung on the sides of the building as I patiently waited, my headphones where on at full volume so all I heard was my music. That was until my music softened due to an incoming call. With a sigh I turned around to grab my phone from my bag. ‘Hmm?’ I mumbled into the phone after answering.

‘Target is on the move’ the voice on the other end said before hanging up. ‘As if I didn’t know already’ I whispered before leaning to the side and settling the rifle on the stand between my legs. As I hummed along with the song my headphones had continued playing, I looked through the scope.. He was almost in sight, and not to forget.. way behind on his and now my schedule.

I watched as my target, some important political person, got into sight. He walked up the stand to start his speech, which he spend the entire night writing. Which I would know, considering I had watched him write it.

‘Good afternoon everyone, thank you all for coming’ he began, watching as some people hurried to their seat. ‘I know you’ve all seen the news these past few days, so I won’t start with some bullshit story about how there is nothing to worry about.’ I snickered a little as some people turned to look at each other and some shifted uncomfortable in their seats. ‘For the few of you that maybe haven’t seen the news.. Let me make this short, basically some mafia groups decided it was a good idea to cause some fuss’ he said before letting out a sigh as some people started to get up and ask questions.

As I continued to watch I felt my phone begin to vibrate and my music softening again. I groaned before picking up the phone ‘what?’, I snarled a little to rude for everyone’s liking, I was talking to a mafia boss after all. ‘Why is this guy still talking, what’s taking you so long? Just take the shot!’ the voice said angrily. ‘Calm down, I was just listening to his interesting speech’ I mumbled as I hang up, not letting him continue. ‘It’s always the same with these guys’

‘However-’ he said raising his hands and getting everyone to quiet down. ‘-We will fix this city, we will take down the mafia and put a stop to all of this’ he finished as people started yelling in cheers. ‘Fine, time to end this’ I said to myself as I fixed my rifle, turning on all the right settings and… fire… The sound of the shot was being silenced by the silencer attached to the end, but also by all the cheering going on.

The cheering quickly turned into screaming as his body fell to the floor. The bodyguards around him ran over to help him, but it was already too late.. the bullet went straight through the head. I watched for a moment as people ran away, scrambling in fear of being hit.

After a few more seconds I disarmed the rifle, taking it apart and stuffing it in the bag next to me. As I stood up I grabbed my phone from the ground and watched as the money was being transferred to me. I swung the bag over my shoulder and put my hat on, walking to the fire escape. If I walked among a crowd I would look like some young college student, you would have no idea I had a deadly firearm in my bag. Luckily for me the running crowd also helped.

I stuffed my phone in my pocket before climbing down the fire escape, the bleeping sound imminent as the number of cash kept growing. After jumping down the last bit I quickly joined the groups of people, some were running towards the stage while others just tried to run away. As I continued to walk to my home I checked my phone every now and then, the amount of money still rising.

The mafia group I did this job for was a new and uprising group, they were the ones causing trouble. While the bigger groups just tried to calm things down and get back control. There are 3 mafia groups that are currently active in Seoul. The new group was called GOT7, nobody knew much about them. They didn’t do a lot of dealing, they just wanted others to know about them. They were also the ones that hired me for this job, they wanted the city to know they could do some serious damage with the right people.

The second group was called Bangtan, or something like that. They were more quiet, they had a few night clubs and from what I heard they gave good parties. I had also done a few jobs for them but they were nothing mayor, usually just a little ‘watching’ or get information.

And the last one was called EXO, they were probably the biggest and almost everyone had heard of them in one way or another. They were a group that also, surprisingly, had done some good to this city. You could usually find a few of this group in the area where I lived.

I might even had a few in my bar, which was my ‘normal’ way of income. My dad used to have a small bar on the side of town and right before he passed, he gave it to me. I did my best to keep it running, but with my other job it got kind of difficult sometimes. Luckily I had a few people helping me out, some of my remaining family and also my good friend Lu Han. They had all helped me with rebuilding some of it and they also helped me with changing the later added rooms, so I could turn that into my house. It was small but it wasn’t like I was there a lot anyway.

In all my time of spying, killing and beating people up I hadn’t really met with all the mafia folk. I preferred to do business over the phone, considering I didn’t want them to see my face. In the beginning Bangtan had asked for a meetup as they just wanted to know who they were working with, which was understandable.. And I had to admit, I was curious too. So when I did meet up with the groups or other people that need my ‘services’, I always wore a mask. Because of the money I got from all these jobs it was a good one too.

It pretty much covered my entire face but I could ‘open’ it at certain points, so you could either see my eyes or my mouth. It was made of this really strong steel so it was as good as bulletproof, although I had yet to test this theory. When I met with Bangtan I let them see my eyes, so there was a certain amount of trust with us. They trusted me enough to do some jobs for them and so far I hadn’t disappointed them.

GOT7 mostly offered the jobs like before and I hadn’t really worked with EXO, as they were kind of a tight group. Of course there were other people that paid for either information or to get rid of someone. I had even done some spying for a woman because she thought her husband was cheating on her.. and she was right. So I gave her the right photos and she got a divorce, not the best job but it was easy money.

It was around night time when I reached my apartment, the speech was in the afternoon so I had taken longer than expected . I entered my building through the back door, locking it behind me and walking to the desk. After throwing my keys into a basket I grabbed the remote and turned on the television, curious as to what to news had to say about the recent murder.

As I watched the news, where they just mourned and talked about the scandal that happened in broad daylight. The media was also accusing the bodyguards for not doing their jobs right, after all it indeed was light and they hadn’t even seen me. Not that anyone ever did.. but that was just plain sloppy.

I grabbed an apple from the basked and hopped onto the bar as I grabbed my phone from my pocket. The full amount of money had been completely transferred into my account, this meant I could also finish rebuilding the bar. After all it was my plan to stop my side job when the bar was finished and running smoothly.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of someone unlocking the bar door and shutting it behind them, locking it again. Two of my workers, Kate and Anne walked in laughing to something they said. They greeted me as they came into sight, Lu Han walking closely behind them. ‘Are you really planning on working again, you do know you don’t get paid for that right?’ I mocked him as he just smiled at me. ‘Actually no, I just came to check on you and get drunk’ he laughed as he pulled me in for a hug, pulling me off the bar so Kate could clean it.

‘Well in that case you’re a costumer and we sir, are not open yet’ Anne giggled at my comment as she began to pull the chairs off the tables and setting them up. The two worked to tidy the place up as Lu took a seat at the bar, but not before grabbing a beer from one of the small fridges. His attention turned to the television as his brows furrowed. ‘This is getting out of hand, the mafia shot this guy in broad daylight and got away with it. What else are these guys capable of’ he muttered and took a swig of his drink. I simply shrugged my shoulders, causing him to look at me.

‘Does that not bother you at all?’ he asked me with surprise in his voice. ‘As long as they don’t touch my bar or my family I.. I don’t know, care I guess. It’s not even anywhere close by, I’m sure they won’t come here’ I admitted as I grabbed a drink for myself. ‘Ok girls, I’m rolling up the shutters’ I said before grabbing the remote and pressing the button. As the shutters slowly went up I noticed it was already super dark outside, the streetlights barely doing anything. ‘I hate this town’ Lu muttered as he took another sip.

It took only an hour or two before the bar was pretty much packed, it was Saturday after all. The girls were serving drinks and snacks to the people at the table as I took care of Lu and the others that were seated at the bar. Lu was pretty hammered, laughing at almost everything I told him. It was moments like this that I was happy I had a spare room, which is where he usually ended up when he was drunk in my bar… Or just drunk general, sometimes he went out to other places but he always forgets where he lives so he just gave the cab driver my address instead.

Lu looked around hazily before his gaze went to the front door and stayed there for a while. ‘Shit’ he muttered under his breath before quickly looking back ahead. It only took a few seconds before he got off his chair and started stumbling to the door leading upstairs to the other rooms. He typed the code into the lock pad and went inside, closing the door behind him which locked instantly.

As I tried to figure out who, or what he was running from a voice caught my attention. ‘Excuse me?’ I heard someone say, causing me to look towards the source of the voice. ‘Have you by any chance seen my friend, he was just sitting here a moment ago. But I think we walked by each other’ he explained as he looked around the room before looking back at me. The guy in front of me was wearing an expensive looking black suit and he just looked like… well trouble.

‘You say that as if I’m supposed know your friends-’ I started causing one of the guys behind him to snicker. ‘But I did see someone go to the toilets over there, but I don’t know if he’s the one you’re looking for’ I shrugged as I nodded in the direction of the toilets.

The guy turned around to the three guys behind him, who I assumed were here with him. He simply looked towards the bathroom, causing two of the guys to walk off in that direction. One stayed outside while the other one went inside, probably looking for Lu, who of course was upstairs.

I grabbed a glass from the bar, washing it a little before drying it with a cloth. As I did this I tried to keep an eye on the two guys at the toilets but the one in front of me grabbed my attention again. ‘Oh I’m sorry, I’m being awfully rude. I haven’t even introduced myself’ he laughed a little as he stretched his arm out to me, offering me his hand. ‘I’m Minseok I’m a friend of Lu Han’ he smiled at me, as he waited for my name. With a bit of hesitation I put the glass and the cloth away and offered him my name and my hand.

‘Nice to meet you, do you work here part-time?’ he continued the conversation as he waited for the two others guys, the one behind him looking around the room. ‘Actually I am the owner’ I explained causing the other one to look at me. When he saw I was looking at him he quickly turned to look the other way. Just as Minseok was about to say something the two guys came walking back from the toilets. One of them tapped his shoulder, causing him to turn sideways and look at them.

One of the guys leaned in a little as he whispered something into his ear. After a few seconds Minseok sat straight again and let out a deep sigh. ‘I’m sorry but I must leave’ he muttered before looking at me and running a hand through his hair. ‘I hope to see you again sometime’ he smiled at me before giving me a small wink and getting up. The group of four walked to the door and almost as soon as they stepped out of the bar you could feel the atmosphere chance.

‘Did you see that guy?’ the person that had sat next to him said to another as soon as they got out of the bar. ‘Yeah, you really think that’s him, that he’s that mafia boss?’ another said as they huddled together a bit, hoping to quiet their conversation.

I looked out the window, only to find them already gone. So they were part of one of those mafia groups in town, maybe that new one? I’d didn’t matter really, the only thing that did was how the hell they know Lu and what did he do this time to get involved with the mafia.

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

Why the United States in in chaos & almost everyone wants to leave

Hello Tumblr. I am a United Statesian (or, as some say “American”, despite the fact that there is a North, Central, Latin, & South America as well & all of them are technically Americans but not United Statesians), and not proud of it. Here’s a list of angsty reasons why. There will probably be a few side rants but I want to clear up exactly what is going horribly wrong in this shitty ass country. I will give a list overview, then expound upon each item.

1. The abortion laws/bills in over a dozen states that may go federal because the administration sucks. Alabama refused to make exceptions for the death or incapacitation of the mother, for rape, or for incest in their abortion law. 26 white male lawmakers passed the bill and the governor signed it, despite being “representatives” of the people. This means the mother (or anyone with a uterus, because remember transgender men and nonbinary people can have one too) is just a fucking INCUBATOR for a child if her spouse decides so. An 11 year old girl got raped by a 26 year old man in Louisiana, but thanks to their Heartbeat Bill she’ll have to carry & deliver a child at ELEVEN YEARS OLD. Let that shit sink in, because that’s horrifying. What happened to “the land of the free and the home of the brave”?

2. Mental Health, & how people view mental health & use of hospitals. We live in a very individualistic society. Everyone is afraid of everyone else. Everyone assumes the other people are insane druggies and alcoholics who will murder or steal from them given a second’s chance. If a person (say, someone suicidal) decides to seek therapy or a mental hospital for assistance, everyone is even more afraid! They assume crazy and refuse them jobs, homes, financial aid, and all kinds of basic human decency & respect. They say they don’t do this, but the proof is in the statistics. Majority of United Statesians will, at some time during their life, develop a serious mental disorder--and of these 90% or so who do, only 10% of that crowd will seek help because it causes so much grief. 1 in 5 adults (around 20%), 1 in 5 youth between 13 & 18 years of age, and about 13% of children aged 8-13 years old will develop a serious mental disorder IN ONE YEAR, but very little is done about this because it is so hushed and frowned upon to admit distress and seek aid. Everything has to be done on your own and support systems are gone so things like Shaken Baby Syndrome have sprung up (from overwhelmed parents who probably haven’t slept in days and shake their child out of frustration, and this causes the child as it grows up to be unable to walk in a straight line, always drifting left or right).

On a similar note, the bystander effect. Kitty Genovese (Catherine Susan Genovese) was brutally raped and murdered over 20 minutes in 1964, while 20 onlookers did NOTHING. The attacker left and returned to finish the job, and no one did anything. This was the only reason people were interested in studying this effect, because these people were everyday apartment livers, not psychopaths. This happened in broad daylight, in an open courtyard where help was easily accessible if anyone had had the worry to do so. The bystander effect means if the people around you are doing nothing or seem unconcerned, you are likely to assume crackhead or druggie or not a big deal instead of possible emergency, or to assume others will act, and to do NOTHING about serious events like Kitty’s death.

3. Monetized Healthcare. Sometime during the Nixon administration, this administration signed a bill into law allowing insurance companies to monopolize healthcare. They are now allowed, by this law, to charge as much as they want, however ridiculous. Ambulances cost around $6,000 to take a dying person to the hospital. If you get shot it’s about $154,000 (per person) to get it treated in a hospital. A stab wound costs around $12,000 (per person). The legal, federal poverty line right now is $20,000, and at $65,000 a year my family (medically unable to work mother, working father, two children) was living paycheck to paycheck with about $20 to spare after taxes, bills, and necessities were taken care of. Stanford researchers reported that between 2006 and 2014, more than $6,600,000,000 was spent on gunshot injuries (6.6 billion was just in-the-door costs, not including treatment). Following the mass shooting in Las Vegas, an article describing the costs of those victims was published…& it reported that in-and-out patients on average spent $5,254, and anyone kept one night or longer spent on average $95,887—as if their day wasn’t already bad enough!

4. LGBT+ concerns. LGBT+ hate crimes are on the rise. Between 2016 and 2017, the FBI’s Department of Justice reported 2206 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, 243 based on gender identity, and 77 based on sex. This means about 16% of hate crimes were sexual orientation, 2% were gender identity, and 1% were sex. This seems like a small number, but that is a solid 2,449 attacks (rape or murder) based on LGBT+ status and 77 based off a physical, genetic trait we do not choose. That is a terrifyingly high number. 1 in 5 LGBT+ people remain silent, because of statistics such as these and (often religiously inclined) pressures from their family and social circles. People still openly hate and discriminate against these people for something they cannot change. They are called delusional, confused, and broken because they are certain of who they are and what they like, love, and enjoy.

5. HATE CRIMES are on the rise again, and it’s terrifying. See above (#4) obviously, but also racist & religious crimes are on the rise. There were 642 more crimes in 2017 than in 2016, and between the two years this totals 7,620 race-based hate crimes. Each crime can mean one person got hurt or attacked or killed, or it can mean hundreds at a time…it varies depending on the perpetrator and what they hope to achieve. Religious crimes, especially towards Muslims and Jews, are on the rise again, with places of worship being shot up or burned down. In 2016 and 2017, 2837 hate crimes were committed because of religion. This includes a 291 incident rise from 2016 to 2017, and it’s still rising.

6. School shootings, and the NRA’s response. The NRA (National Rifle Association, the main distributor of weapons) refuses to admit that mental health concerns should be taken into account when distributing weapons. They’re so worried about profits they don’t care that children are getting ahold of their weapons and killing and injuring hundreds to thousands of innocent children and adults in schools. One incident occurred because a girl turned a boy down when he asked her out, and instead of accepting this and moving on he tried to kill her. She escaped due to the aid of classmates, but it was a very close call. In other cases children went after their bullies (many of whom had their own issues), and we’ve had hundreds of innocents die while the NRA does absolutely nothing and denies any involvement or responsibility. When it comes to abortion people shout “what about the children” (despite the fact that the fetus doesn’t even have a heart until about 5 weeks, and the heartbeat bills sit at 3) but when it comes to school shootings they ignore the children who have families and lives and hopes and dreams in favor of their guns, because it is written into law that is very difficult to change the people have a “right to bear arms.” But this amendment was added when one-shot rifles were it, and now we have automatic rifles with 300 rounds, but people still scream they have their right because it’s written down somewhere.

7. Lack of respect in the police force & authorities. Tying into number eight…the police (among other authorities) have an overall lack of respect for the people they serve. Naturally there are remarkable exceptions, but it is commonplace. They are taught to act before they think and to profile people. They will go after women and people of color far more often than men and white people. They will criticize women and trust men’s judgement over women’s. They assume people of color or women are always (or almost always) in the wrong, no matter their surroundings. Women and people of color are taught to be on edge always and to fight dirty and run, and never to expect respect.

8. Single-parent families, & views of their parenting skills. My friend’s mother just got screamed at for her “horrible parenting” skills. She is a single mother with a 5 year old daughter, an 18 year old daughter, and a 10 year old son. She works full-time on top of caring for her children and doesn’t always have the energy or time to pay attention to them…unless they act out. Learning this, her son decided to start running away all day without telling her where he was. He could be gone 8am to midnight the next morning. The last time, he refused to get out of his therapist’s car so she called the police (with mother’s permission). The police, rather than realizing from the story of a neighbor whose 17 year old child had been beat up by the 10 year old or from the family who insisted that this child had been acting out a lot recently and had called his mother a whore several times, a bitch, and told her to burn in hell…decided to lecture this single mother on her parenting skills because “ten year olds can’t be dangerous”...and possible because he is the only male in the household. There is now concern, after a night in a psych ward where this child called her abusive, that the 5 year old will be permanently removed from their home despite no abuse having occurred. Single-parent families are only given attention when they fuck up, and never any aid or counseling or financial support to prevent massive explosions like this one.

9. LGBT+ families, and scrutinized views of their parenting skills. Oftentimes LGBT+ families are amazing parental systems. They love themselves and as such are free to love their children unconditionally and expect nothing but encourage everything. Their parenting skills have been scrutinized due to doubt of this fact, and it’s been proven true. A few states have now banned LGBT+ families from adopting children, as if their sexuality or birth gender (“what’s in your pants” again) is any of the adoption agency’s fucking concern.

10. EXTREME POLARIZATION over party lines. Everyone is turning party on party. It’s always the Democrat’s fault or the Republican’s fault if something goes wrong. There will be a blind eye turned to any information to the contrary that possible one’s own party has done something they do not approve of. This results in dog-piling of anyone with a solid opinion. 20 people leapt down my mom’s throat for suggesting people try to change the administration rather than complain about it on social media, and she was called an “unAmerican Nazi”. People throw things like this around nonchalantly, as if they’ve forgotten its roots—and most of them have.

11. Lack of policy knowledge before voting. People are so focused on party lines (“Independent”, “Democrat”, “Republican”) that they don’t do any research on the policies of whom they choose to elect to lead our country. Our electoral college system is fucked and refuses to be changed. It was supposed to represent the people’s choice, but majority vote chose Clinton and the electoral college landed us with Trump. This is not how our system is supposed to work. We are living in a capitalist oligarchy lead by corporations, not a democracy.

12. Ethnic heritage, & loss of policies. Our administration proposed removing all protections for the remaining land of the native peoples of the First Nations, as well as all the scholarships for their education so they can participate as functional members of our society. A person of Cherokee descent told me on the university campus that 6 year old children are still being quietly kidnapped from the nation and brought into white society, never to see or hear from their families again (or be seen or heard from) due to a systematic destruction of their culture. Racist hate crimes are back on the rise, since hate-filled people are emboldened by the current administration’s open hatred of certain ethnic groups and sexes. Petitions are not enough, peaceful protests get brutally shut down by cops with batons, and nothing is right.

13. Unemployment and homelessness. This is a huge crisis that is being dealt with improperly by our management, AKA the Trump administration. They bring back unhealthy jobs that will destroy our world and call it a job well done while kicking more people to the streets. Every homeless person is assumed to be a druggie or an alcoholic, especially the men, but this is extremely wrong. Many of them do have disorders, this is true (schizophrenics and sometimes druggies will end up homeless), but not ALL of them are. Most are simply everyday people living paycheck to paycheck, reduced to begging money from high-and-mighty classist (often racist or sexist) closed-minded people who rarely care enough to offer aid.

14. Breathable air, & drinkable water (that doesn’t light on fire, thank you very much), AKA lack of pollution. Our president, who is supposed to represent WE THE PEOPLE, abolished clean air and water acts preventing coal companies saying he was “bringing back jobs for the people”. What this means, in reality, is that we won’t be able to breathe in about five years, water will all be polluted by offshore drilling, and climate change may well envelope the world and kill all life (grim and dramatic, but a very real possibility). The water within miles of any natural gas fracking fills with fracking chemicals and will LITERALLY LIGHT ON FIRE, and it causes various cancers and other illnesses. Vast majority of these people can’t afford to move, or are too old or sick to do so. Pollution is everywhere. I have asthma…it sucks hardcore.

15. Obesity, overweight, & physical health problems.

The corporations keep everyone so stretched living paycheck-to-paycheck above the 20 year old unchanged poverty line that they’re forced to consume everything offered. A soda or energy drink is $2 or $3 LESS THAN WATER, and when you’ve got only $20 to buy food that may make you more inclined to buy the corporation’s syrupy nutrition-less crap. A McDonald’s meal, to call out a corporation, costs about $4 (compared to $20-$60 for a decent, healthy restaurant with good non-GMO healthy food), but scientists were legitimately unable to figure out some of the chemicals in the food—and the human body sure as hell can’t use that for energy, but it costs so much less it’s a necessary evil sometimes when budgets are thin! This leads to severe obesity (especially in children), cancers, heart failure, and clogged arteries, among other complications.

16. Anxiety & depression are so commonplace they’re dismissed as actual disorders. This is a terrifying revelation. These are severe disorders…that are being overlooked. Depression means the person has a severe lack of motivation, the things they used to enjoy are no longer enjoyable, and sometimes they even desire an early (very soon) death. But due to the fact that this is very commonplace and almost everyone is depressed, people with this disorder are told to “suck it up” because “life sucks”, or to “just smile” or to “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” or to “get over yourself” or that “other people have it worse. This makes depression a much grander monster to tackle, because there is no social support system for a disorder that nearly everybody suffers and considers a normal state of mind.

Anxiety in and of itself is perfectly normal. It’s why we care how we look, why we get up to go to school or work on time, why we look presentable and friendly, and part of how we engage with others around us. However, too much anxiety can be crushing. It seems every person at my university has an anxiety disorder of some kind (social, general) or is distressed (not just stressed, but so over-stressed their systems are failing and they’re getting headaches and finding themselves unable to cope). The pressure of finals or midterms that will determine your fate for the next semester or year, the pressure of clubs or kids or other commitments… it’s all too much. We’re all overwhelmed. Our systems are overridden. We’re running on 4 hours of sleep and an energy drink or a coffee every day, and the greasy sort-of-food in the cafe with its heavy salt and heavy oily fatty foods draw in swarms of distressed and hungry students and staff. Everyone is on a grind. Our brains are overwhelmed, constantly slammed into overdrive. There is no reprieve. It’s school, work, kids or homework, studying, tests, repeat…over and over until people drop out of school or social groups they used to enjoy. 90% of college students will develop a mental disorder in their time on campus due to the financial and emotional stress of attending school.

17. Retirement age keeps going up (it’s around 70 for full benefits) despite life expectancy going down. One can reap the rewards of Social Security by 62 for a loss of 30% of the money you put in there out of your own hard-earned paychecks, or full benefits at 67, or 21% extra benefits if pulled at age 70. This is despite the fact that kids are committing suicide and people are dying of poor health (at the hands of corporations and processed foods and chemicals leading to heart failure and severe obesity and cancer) between 45 and 65 years old…and most people will never reach 70.

18. Suicide rates are on the rise as young as 11 years old. Kids as young as eleven are committing suicide. It’s extremely common for 13-18 year olds to self-harm, starve themselves, or commit suicide. The pressure of society to have sex as young as possible, to get married as soon as possible, to know what they want to be when they’re older, and to fit in is so strong it crushes their will to live. This is terrifying.

19. Pressures of social media & the Internet. Kids learn very fast that if you don’t have a good “brand” or persona online, you will fail socially. Now they have to learn Internet lingo as well as proper grammar, despite how difficult grammar on its own is to learn, and they learn from social media influencers that what they have to do to get attention and “followers” is to flash bare skin or beat someone up or take part in a “challenge” that may harm or kill them. With the way school is taught and how white-washed it’s become (especially in Texas), it is increasingly difficult to convince children this is NOT what they want from their life and why they can’t become a YouTube star overnight like some kid who reviews toys and makes millions of dollars doing it (he’s only eight by the way).

20. Lack of filtering for children...and dangerously adult “children’s” websites. So-called “children’s” game sites full of games such as Mafa.com, where it’s supposedly for children but it’s games with injured or pregnant favorite characters and a game that the entire purpose is to hit Dora’s bare buttocks as fast and hard as possible (it even has a scream effect with it). This is advertised as ‘the best girl games for children’. What is this teaching our kids?

21. EVERYONE IS TRIGGERED BY EVERYTHING. This ranges from the words “flesh” and “moist” (especially together), politics, the news, and school shootings to actual abuse and rape (abuse and rape are legitimate reasons, don’t get me wrong, but these are things we need to talk about and people are too triggered by everything & kind of wimpy (don’t hate on me for that, it’s true that people have lost majority of their ability to handle stress & there are legitimate mental health reasons for that)).

22. College is encouraged but funding is shitty & most students can’t afford to eat. There are federal grants/scholarships but they’re so so limited in scope and what they’ll give, and 3/5 of the students at my university (a commuter campus mostly composed of middle-aged & young parents with 5-11 year old children) CAN’T AFFORD TO EAT FOOD while they attend school, and the stress levels are high enough it’s almost guaranteed (about a 90% chance) that the average university student, regardless of prior ability to handle stress, will develop at least one mental disorder, and this is usually some form of anxiety or depression. This is so “normal”/commonplace no one cares.

23. COMPLACENCY. Because let’s face it, if even half of these things happened in France or someplace else there would’ve been a full-scale revolution that overthrew the whole administration, but we’ve had nothing. No one wants to talk about politics, we all get angry and depressed/suicidal talking about it, and unless the bad stuff DIRECTLY, IMMEDIATELY, & STRONGLY affect people, no one cares. If you drink water with natural gas in it & get cancer/get sick, maybe you’ll care a little. But if you watch someone do that or light their tap water ON FIRE, you can just turn the screen off and go on with your life like Oklahoma and all other natural gas sites have nothing going wrong.

24. On that note, corporations are polluting everything, and no one is stopping them. We need purified water & ice from the refrigerator or some purification system now because natural gases & all kinds of unhealthy chemicals have infected our waters. A military facility dumped 3 tons of nuclear waste into the Puget Sound despite it being illegal, and no one said a damn thing. No one cares that fish and other marine life are swallowing plastic and dying, or that we drink plastic, or that plastic is literally made from oil, or that these toxic wastes getting dumped in the water will cause cancer in 2 to 5 years, or that they soon won’t be able to breathe the air, because right this second it doesn’t seem to affect them. We’ve gotten so used to pollution that we don’t really notice it anymore.

25. Public transport is unreliable & sucks. Unless you live in a huge urban city, public transport is unreliable. In big cities it comes every fifteen minutes to all ends of town; in a suburb, it comes maybe every forty-five minutes (they’re often late)...and though it goes to all the commerce centers and downtown, public transportation from one end of town to the other where the university is doesn’t exist, because society doesn’t care enough about education to complain. Everyone is so overwhelmed with work and home life and survival stress they have no time to care about the things that should matter, because it doesn’t directly affect them.

26. Living is expensive as hell! This especially applies in big cities, where a one-bedroom shitty apartment can cost as much as a full three-bedroom 2-bath house in a small city. The more immigration comes to the city or suburbia, the higher the prices. Just two years ago my parents’ 3 bedroom 2 bath house cost $300,000; the same house now costs $500,000, and it’s still going up. This is good for the seller, but horrible on the buyer.

27. Education is there to brainwash you & tell you how to think, and to pit people against each other in a fight for “good grades”, not allow freedom or  true creativity. We are told from age 6 that money is everything. We are told how to do math and how to write, but never to understand what we’re doing or why we’re doing it. We’re not taught to truly think for ourselves, or the consumer society would ultimately collapse. Schools are too busy cramming tests in for everyone from kindergarten to senior year of high school that the kids aren’t really learning, just temporarily memorizing. Kids are starting to hate school. 5 and 6 year olds are skipping classes. Everything is about tests and grades, tests and grades. No  true learning takes place. It’s all about the numbers, not about the reality.

The No Child Left Behind program seemed like it would help keep kids from socially falling behind, but instead it resulted in 18 year olds who still can’t read (though by 5 most kids can) and kids who slack off because they legitimately can’t comprehend what’s going on. Kids compete for “good grades”, a concept made up by someone many decades ago that no one fully understands except as a statistic for performance. If one child asks why they’re told to shut up and take notes; if a kid takes a creative approach to an assignment such as turning an essay into a thorough powerpoint or an art project they’re given a failing grade; freedom and creativity and critical thought are being crushed. Children now learn to keep their heads down and be shy, to be a bully, or to be an outcast because those are their only offered options.

28. Rape culture. “She was asking for it.” “She shouldn’t’ve gotten drunk.” “She shouldn’t’ve worn those clothes.” “She didn’t say no.” “Rape doesn’t happen to men.” “Oh, boys will be boys.”

These phrases are commonplace on the Internet and all around the country. We hear them all the time. Just because the woman was dressed comfortably or fancy because she was comfortable in her own skin, she wanted to be raped. Just because she wanted to have a good time that night and decided to drink, it’s her fault it happened (even if a rape drug was involved). Just because she didn’t outright say no to him (or her), it’s her fault she got raped. “Boys will be boys”, used to excuse anything a man does. Rape never happens to men and it’s somehow funny to suggest it might. Women never rape people. It’s bullshit, plain and simple. Everyone likes to excuse behavior like that. If you raise a boy, girl, or nonbinary child to respect people and see them as personalities and lives instead of toys and prey, rape wouldn’t be viewed this way. If you raise a boy, girl, or nonbinary child to expect respect and not give in to pleading or coercing or allow anything under standard, rape wouldn’t be viewed this way. This culture is changeable, but no one is willing to make the change. There are legitimately people out there who laugh about men getting raped. Statistically, 1 in 6 men will get raped in a year…and that’s just the ones, in this fucked up culture, who are willing to report it. Statistically, 1 in 3 women will get raped…and again, just the ones, in this culture, who are willing to report it. In high school I couldn’t find a single girl who had not been raped at least once (whether orally or whatever form doesn’t matter), and I (physically female but genderfluid) was the only person I knew who had not experienced it. I came very close around 9, but luckily my older brother caught the guy in time and thanks to him I was the only one untouched by high school, by 18 years old. …Shouldn’t that be terrifying? By the time this generation is reaching adulthood, 1 in 100 kids has not experienced rape, and most of it is because we are taught to sexualize and objectify everyone instead of befriend and love them. We are taught apathy or pity, not empathy.

Now do you understand why we’re in chaos? Why I want to escape? Why everyone wants to leave?

I’m really stressed every time I turn on the news because it’s always more and more bad things. We live in chaos. There are days I don’t want to wake up, days I contemplate self-harm, and days I want to leave the country entirely. This chaos is enough to crush a society.