#and i forgot to mention one (1) family owns the bridge that is a major international corridor between canada and the us

[awkward-teabag]

Love (cannot emphasis how much sarcasm there is in that word) that an official Canadian government response to high cellphone rates is to switch carriers.

Switch it to what? We basically have three companies since one was allowed to eat the forth (with the government saying it wasn't anti-competition and the company eating the other pinky promising they wouldn't jack rates up). Even the smaller companies have to rent infrastructure from the Big Three so there's only so much they can do if that rent costs an arm and a leg.

And that's not touching on how many "small companies" are actually just subsidiaries of the Big Three. You may save $5 but you're still with Telus/Rogers/Bell.

Or that the actual small companies tend to have shit coverage because they don't have the infrastructure available to them and are prevented from getting it. Or their traffic is throttled in favour of the Big Three's customers. Or both.

Or that they're extremely regional thus aren't an option for a huge chunk of Canada's population.

We have no true options and the government has shown time and again that they're fine with monopolies, in multiple industries, and don't care when said monopolies jack up prices to make shareholders and the c-suite more money at the expense of everyone else. At most there will be a verbal slap on the wrist and a giftcard for $25 that people have to register for, for a decade and a half of price gouging.

It's not talked a whole lot about outside the country from what I've seen and heard but Canada is a country of monopolies. A handful of companies own nearly everything, every province has a family or two that owns a hell of a lot (Nova Scotia is basically owned by one family at this point), and our government ignores it. Even the branch that is supposed to be against monopolies is fine with mergers and takeovers in most cases.

Because, you know, the company said it totally wouldn't use consumers' lack of options to increase prices.

[justinewt]

London, Punk Capital - MONEY HEIST: KOREA Chapter One

[MONEY HEIST: KOREA MASTERLIST]

Next Chapter (SOON)

Summary: When Jin-sol, a promising young sportswoman decides to send her whole life away, going as far as faking her suicide to get under the radar, and crosses paths with the Professor, she finds herself involved in the plan of an ambitious heist that reveals her true colors. The target: the Mint of the Joint Economic Area. 

Words: 5k

Warnings: Money Heist: Korea season 1 (episode 1), 1st person pov, mention of suicide: FAKE suicide (no blood etc), loss, backstory, screams, hostage-taking, tauting, guns

DECEMBER 2023

At only 18, the path I was going to take was already mapped out. Plans to major in Sports studies and have a brilliant career as a combat sports athlete. I practiced Taekwondo since I was 6 years old, and it was my dream to become a professional in this sport. My dream, to represent South Korea at the Olympics one day. If I had been born in North Korea and lived in poverty, like my mom did, I wouldn’t have had so many opportunities and options but ultimately, I chose to throw away one of the only things I was good at and end it all and give up the life of freedom she risked hers for. Years ago, my mother, a hardworking but private woman, died of overwork and left me in the care of my uncle. I was 10 years old. Nobody had ever told me anything about my biological father, even though she had known him quite well and my uncle was the closest thing I had to a dad anyway so after I found myself orphaned, he adopted me and I started to call him dad because I wanted to feel like my peers, who had their parents. But he died too, and not that long ago. He was a college professor and taught in the department of business and economics at the Seoul National University. This smart and caring man was the last family I had. Losing everyone just made me realise an honest life wasn’t always worth it.

The wind was blowing that night. I let my bag fall on the floor of the Mapo bridge sidewalk and took off my jacket, making sure my identity papers and suicide note were in the pockets. It was actually not my plan to take my own life. My only wish was to completely disappear from the radar screens and let life surprise me with whatever it could come up. I heard my grandfather died in a robbing, in the 90s. Maybe I could do that too, without the dying part obviously. This new life choice was a complete turnaround, but it was my choice. Living an underground life in the guise of a dead person wasn't just anything. I was calm as I tied my hair in a bun above my neck, staring into the distance. Cars drove by but no one pulled over to come and stop me and that was for the best. The bridge was notorious for suicides and dozens of telephones and signs to deter people from commiting were set up along both sides. Glancing around, I leaned on the railing, lifted my leg and tipped my body over to the other side, resting my feet on the ledge. I didn't even really want to kill myself; it was just to give the illusion of it, and despite the fact that it was good that no one was bothering me, I wanted someone to witness my fall so that they could then confirm to the authorities that I was the person who jumped. I was not yet such a famous sportswoman, few people would be sad to hear the news, maybe my old friends from middle and high school but that was all. Everyone would forget me, ultimately.

I tried taking deep breaths. Despite the bright lights all over the bridge, the water looked dark beneath my feet. After a minute of staring down at the Han River, I heard someone calling out to me. This was my cue. I didn’t even look at the person trying to talk me out of it, closed my eyes, held my breath and let go of the railing. My body fell forward, and I plunged into the water. For a brief moment, I forgot my plan and let the water carry me away but eventually, I swam. I swam all night long and hid under another bridge, far from the one I jumped off of. The police would check the bag and jacket I left, get a testimony from the witness and quickly rule it out as a suicide. They would try to find my body but after a few days of being unsuccessful at doing so and with no one stepping forward, like a family member or something, they would stop searching and I would be fine. I just needed to lay low for a bit. I hid in seedy hotels and dyed my hair red. On my ID, I had bangs and black shoulder-length hair. It was now quite different, and it changed my appearance a lot. I left Seoul and went where the wind took me. And the wind took me to Mungyeong where I joined an illegal fighting ring. I ran into some cool guy who became like a brother to me. You’ll meet him eventually. He is not especially sharp-witted but he's fun, I'm sure you'll like him. Just so you know, I’ll refer to him as 오빠 “oppa” most of the time. It’s Korean for brother.

We would fight at every illegal fight club we could find and never lost. He eventually beat up the gamblers who had bet on us and we left. He had told me his father was constantly in and out of prison and he was the last person we expected to see. Gamblers had lost lot of money because of the both of us and had sent their dogs after us. He played with them while I tried to fight them off. So much so I always had to urge him to keep moving. I was way younger but the most serious of the pair. We had slipped between two buildings, which roofs we were running on just a moment before, trying to escape them but we got stuck. These guys were above and below us. A few cursings came out of our lips as the wall exploded. We protected our faces and looked to the side. A man was sticking his head out of the hole made by the explosion. It was his dad. He helped us get out of there and we ran away. That’s when we were introduced to a man calling himself the Professeur, 규슈 “guyshu”. When I met him, the first thought that went through my head was that he reminded me of my uncle, but it wasn’t what this meeting was about. He needed us to join his plan, which was to rob the Mint in the Joint Economic Area. We were in. He had assembled a whole team of people like us, and he brought us together to where our hideout was. The place where we would learn all about his plan until the D-day came around.

I had no idea how he found this place. A whole hotel complex, abandoned. Perfect for us. As we walked down a tree-lined path to reach the disused resort, I looked at the faces around me. We were 10 in total. For the first day, we settled in the hotel swimming pool. The professor had set up a whiteboard and we sat around it, in an arc. I sat on a cube with the number 6 on one side and next to me was a stern man in a suit. I wasn’t in such fancy clothing, just wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER in red writings, a faux leather skirt, a pair of pantyhose and combat boots. There was this little thing I hadn’t left behind when I faked my own suicide, and it was a gold ring that my mom gifted me. It was a ring she had herself been gifted, by her older sister for her 18th birthday. She had written in the letter she left me, that when triplets are born in North Korea, boys get silver daggers and girls get gold rings, as a gift from the government. Until I read this, I had no idea my mother actually had three older siblings. The 50-year-old ring hung from a thin cord tied around my neck.

“Before we start, I wanna make this clear.” The professor started speaking. “From now on, regardless of age or where you’re from, we’ll all speak informally. We’ll use code names to call each other instead of using real names.”

“I can do code names, but what about respect?” Oppa’s dad raised his hand. “What’s the reason for that?”

“It’s safer that no one knows. It’s out of serious precaution for each other’s identity. How about we use city names?” He walked over to a small table and grabbed a globe from it. “It can be a city you wanna live in once the job’s over or a name that you like the sound of. It’s up to you, so pick one.”

Gyushu sat down and the first of us that stood up was the other youngest of the group. W ewere called the “maknae”, literally meaning the youngest. He turned the globe and put his finger on the city of Rio de Janeiro, sketching an excited smile, chuckled and moved his body like he was dancing the samba. That guy who looks like your typical K-pop idol is Rio.       He’s a horrible dancer, but apparently, he’s an amazing hacker. Then came oppa’s turn. I already told you, his story.

“Denver. I’mma go with that one since it’s near the Rocky Mountains. You guys know Rocky. It’s, uh… It’s my favorite movie of all time.” He punched the air, making the sound effect to accompany his gestures. Faced with his little show, his father seemed quite embarrassed.

“Just so you know, that movie is set in Philadelphia.” The professor's intervention caused Denver to stop, and he awkwardly brushed the hair from his face.

“Oh- oh, really? Philadelphia. Phil… That’s a bit long. Denver sounds a lot stronger, right?” His father then picked Moscow as his alias. I did say he was in and out of prison in the years prior to this day but he also used to work in the mines, so naturally he’s a digging expert. That’s why he’s here. And where was here? The dead-end that was his life.

“Has anyone here ever been to Africa before? The cradle of civilization. Words can only try to describe. Did you know the area’s famous for diamonds?” This woman who introduced us to her ass as she chose her alias was Nairobi. A pathological liar. A forgery master, claiming to have been a part of every major crime, but I didn’t take her word for it. She was probably nothing more than a con artist. She went back to her seat and two fellows walked towards the globe, squabbling over its use, pushing each other around. That jolly pair was Helsinki and Olso. Fixers from Yanbian. Word had it that they wiped their entire gang and left. Next was the man in the fancy suit sat in the chair next to me. He went up to the globe, his hands in his back and picked it to take a look at it. Berlin. He had this gift for making people nervous, but he didn’t intimidate or scare me. He was from the Kaechon camp in the North, where only the dead are free. How he got here is a mystery that made him the most wanted man in the history of North Korea. I hopped on my feet before he even came back to his seat and crossed his gaze when he handed me the globe, stepping away. His eyes lingered on me as I turned the globe and put my finger.

“London.”

“It fits you.” I nodded, giving the professor a smile as I returned to my seat. The last to take an alias was Tokyo. She had come down here from the North after being discharged from the army.

“Out of all the places, why pick Tokyo?” Denver enquired.

“Because we’ll be doing bad things.” Some of us chuckled at the remark. I sketched a smirk.

“Yo, that’s really smart.”

“She’s right.” The professor stood up and she walked past him to go back to her seat. I leaned on my knees, listening to him. “We will be doing bad things. We are going to pull off the single largest heist in history. The North opened up its economy, and every Korean was promised that they’d benefit from this, but in reality, only the rich got richer. It’s time for us, the ones left with nothing to claim what’s ours. This is why we’ve formed this team. I’m going to make this clear. Not a single person will get hurt. Our goal is to steal four trillion won and then we’ll disappear. We’re giving the public the best show they’ve ever seen, live and in their faces. And they’ll have no choice but to root for us all.”

“There’s no way that’s possible.” Rio said.

“Okay, let’s say it is possible. Where are we gonna find that much money?” Nairobi wondered.

“The target for our heist… is gonna be…” He marched to a table covered with a red fabric behind us and pulled it off. The others stood up to see while Berlin and I just pivoted in our seats. “… The Mint.”

FIVE MONTHS LATER

We all had to stick to our roles to make this plan work. I was one of the only ones to have no real decision-making power, but I was fine with it. It had been decided that Berlin would be the on-the-ground chief of operations, so I had to follow his orders and those of the professor to the letter, but my job did not end there. I didn't have a mere supporting role in the heist. What I had to do was a lot more vicious. We knew that there would be We knew that the hostages would not only be Mint employees, but also students from Myeongseong Foreign Language High School, where the US Ambassador's daughter was studying. She would be our key hostage. The most valuable of all. And what I was to do, prior to the heist, was get close to her and in order to do so, the Professor had provided me with a whole new identity to join this school, and more specifically the class she was in. I assumed a new name and wore a realistic wig that really gave the illusion that I had bleached my hair, but not to the point that it was white or platinum, but kind of straw blonde, with blunt bangs falling right above my eyebrows. It really changed my face. I wasn’t really into the whole going back to school thing, but I had to do it. At first, I was in school for about 90 percent of the time but once the professor brought us all together and we started working on the plan for the heist, I didn't go there as often anymore. One obvious excuse was that of the so-called chronic disease from which I suffered, or rather from which the student I played suffered and that I had to go abroad for a long time.

At the same time as preparing for the robbery, I was doing homework remotely and chatting with the classmates I had “befriended” to keep up appearances. I must have been very convincing in this role since I had totally succeeded in my mission and Anne Kim really seemed to consider me a friend. She was one of the people who texted me the most, often asking how I was doing and if I would be back in time to come with them to visit the Mint.

“It’s great you’re doing better.” Anne said as she was taking selfies in front of the Mint. I looked to the side and watched the students getting off the bus and nodded with a soft smile.

“It was hell having to stay in the hospital.” A group of girls then came running towards us, disrupting our quiet conversation and one of them grabbed my shoulder to bring me closer to them and take a picture of us. Right after the camera click shuttered, they ran back to the group of students. I stared at them. I couldn’t wait to take off that wig and stupid school uniform and take my place among the robbers. This little role-playing game had gone on long enough.

“Um, later can you send me the photos?” Anne and I turned our heads as we heard a classmate's voice rise near us. I hadn't even noticed he was there while we were taking the group photo. “You have insta, right?”

“I don’t.” Anne looked him up and down and took my arm to bring me with her to our classmates, standing two by two in line in front of the entrance to the Mint building. I was really getting tired of having to act like a 17-year-old teenager, but I played along and stood with her as the teacher invited us to follow her inside. With a quiet sigh, I looked behind us and saw two women standing by a tree. Nairobi wore a purple wig and was smoking, and Tokyo wore a light blonde wig. As I climbed the stairs, I held her gaze before walking into the hall and looking ahead. They now knew that Anne Kim and I entered the building, and surely told the rest of the team.

“Please stay in line as you follow me.” A lady greeted us at the entrance and guided us into the Mint, walking us down the monetary exhibition hall, telling us about the story of South and North Korean’s currencies. I wasn’t exactly paying attention to everything she was saying but rather waiting impatiently for when I would finally be able to swap roles. For now, I kept that jaded expression on my face and walked beside Anne. She stopped in her tracks to take a photo of a politician with a Snapchat filter on. The teacher reminded her not to take pictures and wait until the tour was over. We continued to follow the group and I saw Anne take a turn in the direction of the toilets. Glancing at our comrades, I slipped away, wanting to keep an eye on this precious hostage. I quietly opened the door to the restrooms and heard Anne speaking in English in one of the stalls. She was on the phone with someone, complaining about school, her uniform and her dad. Rolling my eyes in annoyance I turned around and the moment I let go of the door, I heard gunshots ring out. I was taken aback and jumped but quickly, a smirk appeared on my face, and I walked with a determined step while everyone ran and screamed around me. Nobody paid attention to my behavior, far too poised for such a situation. My fellow robbers were finally there, threatening the students and employees with their guns. When I found myself among the students, I started acting scared and let out a few screams of terror. I saw Tokyo arrive, she took off her wig and looked around. She held her gun against her shoulder, the barrel pointed in the air. When she met my gaze, she grabbed my arm and dragged me away. I cried out.

“Where’s the girl?” She spoke in a scolding manner, raising her voice and I did my part.

“In- In the restroom.” My body was shaking so much that I struggled to line up those three words and my voice broke into a sob as I answered. Tokyo looked at me with great surprise, eyes widened. She tightened her grip on my arm and looked me down, trying to hide that she had been unsettled by how intense but realistic my acting was. she let go of me, pushing me away unceremoniously before going to get Anne Kim. I lost my balance and the teacher caught me and brought me back to her and the students, asking me if everything was okay but I didn't answer, pretending to be so shaken that I couldn't answer, but on the contrary, her fear was very real. The robbers, dressed in red boiler suits and masks inspired by traditional Hahoe masks. Only Nairobi, with her purple wig, had yet to put the outfit on. As agreed, Berlin was leading the group. Despite the masks, I also knew very quickly which one was Denver since I saw him out of the corner of my eye wanting to approach me when he saw this distress on my face, and I also saw his hair tied in a bun. He had let himself be deceived by these artifices, but Berlin had prevented him from approaching me while they put blindfolds around the eyes of the hostages, lined up in two groups facing each other.

I was the last to be blindfolded and Berlin stopped in front of me, without a sound. I couldn't quite look him in the eye, but I stared at him anyway and all that fear I was faking was gone. His fingers lingered on the thread of my necklace and after holding the ring between his thumb and index finger for a hot second, he slowly lowered the blindfold over my eyes. They could have left my sight, but Tokyo had not yet returned with Anne, and it was important that the illusion remain intact for a little while longer, until the real moment of the reveal. Only then would they raise the curtain on the fact that I was one of them, and not a hostage. The latter were also shaking with fear and beyond this noise pollution, I heard footsteps coming towards us and I immediately thought of Tokyo. I didn’t need to see to have the confirmation that she had brought Anne. I heard the latter grunt when Tokyo pushed her after blindfolding the teenager. Berlin’s voice then rose as he took a few steps.

“Hello, everyone. I’m the one in charge here. I apologize for the invconvenience, but you are our hostages.” They whimpered, holding hands, shaking, but I stood still and listened to Berlin as he walked in front the hostages. “We each go through all sorts of moments in life, both good and bad. During the bad moments, it feels like the sky is falling down, but after some time, you’ll realize it was nothing. Each of you will have that experience, as long as you follow our orders. Many years from now, this will be an exciting adventure story that you can wow your grandchildren with. But in case any of you are thinking of causing trouble, let me tell you just one thing. I truly love when that happens.”

“Empty your pockets.” Moscow then ordered. The two hostaged that were holding my hands let go and I let out a sigh while they gave their access cards and cell phones, which were being put away in a box when suddenly, one of them rang, or so I thought but I quickly realized it wasn't a cell phone ringtone. I lifted the bottom of the blindfold and saw a landline phone on the reception counter. It was this phone that was ringing so loudly. I could also see that my fellw robbers had taken off their masks and Berlin was looking at all of them when the director of the Mint raised a shuddering hand.

“What is it?”

“That could be from headquarters.” He told him, trembling. “If we don’t pick up, th-th-they’ll know something’s going on.” The woman standing next to him gave him a shy blow with her hand. Berlin must have seen it but chose to act as if it was not the case.

“You know, I like your face. I feel like I’ll grow to like you. Answer the phone.” His voice suddenly grew harsher, and he grabbed the woman’s hand. She whimpered as he led her to the phone and was panting. He got her to calm down and take a deep breath and put her hand on the phone.

“This… This is the Minting Bureau.” Berlin and Denver exchanged a look. “We’re experiencing network difficulties." The woman's voice rose, taking on an aggravated tone. She told them off before hanging up abruptly. Berlin sketched a smirk as he properly replaced the phone on its base and took her hand.

“So, was it important?”

“It’s, um… it was nothing.” He looked at her and nodded with a large, drawn smile. His hand on her shoulder, he led her back to her place among the hostages.

“It wasn’t important. We won’t have any problems now, will we?” The woman and the Mint’s director nodded nervously. Berlin clapped the latter on the shoulder, and he whimpered, sticking to his secretary in fear. He then walked away from them and gave me a look as he passed in front of me. The blindfold he had put over my eyes was now up on my forehead, but obviously, since I wasn’t an actual hostage, he didn’t really care and waved at me to follow him. I smiled, knowing that I was going to leave this high school uniform. When they would remove their blindfold, Anne Kim would probably start to panic when she saw that I had disappeared, and she wouldn't recognize me behind my mask. She had no idea I had been wearing a wig for several months and that I was this red-haired robber. We would leave her the surprise and the pleasure that her good friend never actually existed. As we moved away from the hostages, Denver, Moscow, and Rio left the lobby and headed for the Mint vault. I watched them as I took off my blonde wig and let go of it into the bag from which I had retrieved the red suit, boots and Hahoe mask I was going to wear and walked to the nearest restroom. I had taken an earpiece as well.

It would probably take a few minutes for the three others to take care of getting the vault open. I quickened my pace as I walked down the hallway and pushed open the bathroom door and dropped the stuff on the floor before taking off my skirt and blazer. Once the suit was on, I pulled up the zipper to the waist, put on the combat boots and tied my hair in a low bun before washing my face. Without this light makeup, I looked more mature already. In front of the bathroom mirror, my eyes fell on the ring hanging from my neck, the one that had caught Berlin's eye as I stood among the hostages. I stared at the reflection holding it between my fingers and after a few seconds, I sighed, put my arms through the sleeves of the suit and put the mask on my face. I then shoved the uniform into the trash can and grabbed the bag to tie it before heading back into the hall. Berlin watched the room from the central stairs and glanced at me as I returned. I grabbed a gun and slung the handle over my shoulder, finally taking on my role as one of the robbers. The hostages were shaking like leaves as the rest of my peers walked across the room carrying bags filled with banknotes retrieved from the vault opened by Denver, Moscow and Rio while I was gone off to the restroom to change. Berlin pressed his earpiece, and I heard him in mine speaking to the professor.

“Professor, we’re going out now.” Behind my mask I watched him slowly descend the stairs. Moscow and I walked beside him. An alarm went off and the thud of the main door opening echoed all the way to us. Seeing the director lifting his blindfold and sneaking a peek around him, we came to a halt and upon realizing that we had seen him, he jumped and looked down. This man was such a coward but what happened was a perfect example as to why I had to keep my mask on for now. To keep the element of surprise. Berlin smiled and looked at Moscow and I and while he slowly walked up to him, I looked at Anne Kim. She was just a couple feet away. I didn’t feel bad for lying to her all those months, but I was well aware that somewhere deep inside me, she had become my friend and I hadn't had one in a long time. I did an immediate head turn when I heard him rip the blindfold off the director's head. The latter was shuddering. He leaned forward and whimpered, squinting his eyes really hard.

“I didn’t see anything. I swear.”

“You can look. Mmh? It’s okay, mm? I said open your eyes.” Berlin grabbed the man’s head and held him in place. “Do you wanna know what we’re up to? Is that it, huh?”

“No. I swear!” He whined, keeping his eyes shut in fear. I was watching him with a jaded expression on my face. I found him to be of a really irritating and annoying character. One time, he acts as if he thinks he's master of the world and there he is, shaking and yelping like a wounded dog. “I know absolutely nothing, and I don’t wanna know anything—”

“No, no. I like you, my friend, so let me tell you exactly what we’re doing right now.” He patted him on the shoulder and took a step back, pulling out his handgun and aimed at his head. “We’re going to have a gunfight with the police, and people are going to die, like in movies.” The director opened his eyes and looked at the weapon, scared for his life. “BANG!”

He fell to his knees, yelping and whimpering and the other hostages clamored at the loud noise made by Berlin, while he chuckled. I would have laughed with him if I didn't have to make sure that Anne Kim wouldn't hear and recognize my voice, but the situation was, from my point of view, very funny. This moment of Berlin having fun terrorizing the hostages was really setting the tone for the whole heist, and I couldn't wait to see what was next. Everything had been carefully planned, down to the smallest detail. The Professor was prepared to any eventuality. He had emphasized from the beginning that it was important no one gets hurt or dies. Killing or hurting people wasn’t the plan. We tackled the subject during one of those study session in the swimming pool of the abandoned hotel complex where we had established our headquarters. As always, we were seated around him, in front of the whiteboard covered with maps, a model of the Mint on a small table next to it. Arms and legs crossed, seated between Rio and Berlin, I was slumped in my chair, fiddling with the ring around my neck as I watched and listened attentively to the Professor.

“When the police arrive, act as if you’ve been caught while trying to flee, and shoot at them, and retreat back into the building to hide…” He moved his hand towards the model of the Mint. “…like a rat caught in a trap.”

“But why exactly do you want us to fire into the air?” Denver wondered.

“I told you. Our plan is to not kill or hurt anyone.”

“But it’s not like anyone plans to die.” Nairobi stated, followed by Rio, backing up her words. My eyes went from one to the other without really turning my head.

“She’s right. Who knows what’s gonna happen? Couldn’t we just kill a few if the situation calls for it?”

“Absolutely not. This is crucial for our plan to work.” I heard Berlin laugh behind me.

“Our plan? Sounds like your morals are getting in the way.”

“What’s with all the comments?” Tokyo spoke, and he didn't seem so amused anymore, staring at her. She looked at everyone and let her gaze fall back to Berlin, raising her eyebrows. “Our job here is to execute the Professor’s plan. If you can’t, then leave.”

And I agreed with her. Which is why, like the brothers and Moscow, I was among the few to not say anything during the lesson. I was not to question the Professor's words and orders. I had promised. Because it didn’t matter the reason, when the Professor told us to jump, we asked how high. From the hall, where only Berlin, Moscow and I had remained with the hostages, we heard police sirens in the distance, a brief silence and then gunshots. The hostages gasped and screamed, as usual. The police were firing back at them and we heard from our earpieces that something had happened in Rio but we couldn’t see what was going on. In the following seconds, they must have pulled back inside the building since the closing of the door was engaged. Now that news of an armed robbery over the Mint would spread, the real heist could begin. Officials from the North and the South would scratch their brains really hard to find the best way to resolve the situation. The Korean Peninsula, the only divided country on earth, was soon to be unified after all. An unprecedented situation was unfolding inside a unique zone called the JEA. Short for Joint Economic Area. Korea’s neighbors weren’t the only ones paying attention… the whole world was watching.

Bags full of red suits and masks were lined up on the floor. The rest of the team was back in the room after the exchange of gunfire with the police a couple of minutes ago. I stood next to the two brothers, near the bags. I was slightly behind, my face still hidden. The surprise would soon be revealed to my dear school friends.

“My dear hostages, please take off your blindfolds.”

“Come on, everyone. You can take ‘em off.” Denver raised his voice, urging them to do so while Berlin walked in front of them. They eventually took them off, hands shaking. My eyes were on Anne Kim who was just taking notice of her surroundings after removing her blindfold. She would quickly notice my disappearance, and most likely comment on it.

“It’s so good to finally speak with you all face-to-face. There’s no need to be afraid. We are all trapped inside the same building together, which means we have to work together, hmm?” He sketched a large smile and nodded at us to bring the bags. Standing beside Moscow in front of the stairs, he watched the others proceed to give red jumpsuits to the hostages. Anne Kim was looking around her, frowning.

“Where is Park Ho-Yeon? What did you do with her?” She demanded answers. Berlin smirked and turned to her, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. Back to them, I continued to give suits to hostages right in front of her.

“Who?” Berlin asked her, acting as if he didn’t know what she was talking about which he wasn’t supposed to so she must have mistaken his tone for mockery regarding her concern for her friend. He was, in a way, actually mocking and taunting her like he did with the director. Faced with his intimidating gaze which she held, she repeated herself.

“Where is my friend? The one with the blond—”

“What friend?” When she heard my voice, she went silent, probably not knowing what to think anymore. Time stopped for a few seconds. As I swiveled towards her, I slid my mask over my head and discovered the look of profound stupor on her face. She was shocked. Mouth open, she couldn't hide her shock. I took a few steps towards her.

“Ho-Yeon, you’re… with them?”

“My name’s not Ho-Yeon.” Berlin walked up to us, laughing and patted my shoulder, looking at Anne Kim, with a broad, amused grin on his face. This look of betrayal I saw in her eyes followed me as I walked towards the stairs with him.

“We have no intention of hurting any of you, trust me.” He then declared; hands clasped. He spoke with a smile. “Each and every one of you will return home without a single scratch, as long as you fully cooperate with us. I give you my word. Let’s just have some fun.”

Soon, the first day of this unprecedented robbery came to an end and night fell. We had been occupying the Mint for over 11 hours already and the whole world was kept in suspense, looking at us, wondering what was going to happen next. But people weren't the only ones racking their brains to figure out our next move. Even the task force was most likely confused. The one with the true upper hand was not the North or the South. It was the Professor. He developed plans and factored in everything. Like I said, he had planned everything, down to the smallest detail. The Professor came up with solutions for every possible situation and then a backup plan for each of those possibilities. I found it all very impressive and to be apart of it was beyond great and exciting. It had all just started earlier this day and I was already having a blast. All those months invested in preparing for this heist had been worth it. I was sure of that.

“They’ll be there very soon. Proceed as planned.” We were warned by the professor over the phone, that a military raid was coming to get us. We talked about this situation during our classes, which would happen if the North took over in the Task Force and they would never agree to negotiate with us. They would try to suppress us no matter what, and they would try to do so in secret.

“There is a total of five entry points. The main gate, the rooftop, the underground garage, the emergency exit on the side, and last but not least, the loading dock. If you remove the main gate and the rooftop where they’re likely to be seen, they’ll use the other three to enter.” Berlin raised his hand.

“Okay so let’s say we know when they’ll enter, thanks to the information from that woman.” I might have forgotten to mention it but yeah, the woman in question was the negociator, Seon Woojin. When I said the North took over amid the Task Force, I omitted that it would happen if she was sidelined. “How do we stop the Special Operations Unit when they have so many points of entry?”

“Well, that’s a good question.” He had this calm and collected look on his face, like he had it all figured out, which he had. I remember he asked us what we thought was the best strategy when we’re surrounded by enemies. We were only 9 robbers, but we had plenty of people at hand to repel the soldiers, without even having to fight. We outnumbered them, thanks to the hostages disguised as robbers. What they would see, no matter where they tried to get in from, would be masked people in red jumper suits holding guns towards them. With Rio in the office, watching the cameras, we were all with different groups of hostages turned into robbers for the subterfuge and the soldiers would never be able to tell a real robber with a gun from a hostage with a fake one. They would be forced to retreat. And it’s exactly how it happened. We handled the situation exactly how the professor told us to and everything went like clockwork. Everyone was then led back to the main room where there was a heavy silence among the hostages. Berlin, towering above us from the top of the stairs, broke the silence. I stood with my peers, on the other end of the room, right across the stairs.

“Now, my dear comrades, take off your masks.” He smiled as he watched them do as he said but quickly regained his seriousness. “Thanks to your cooperation, the police completely aborted their mission to raid the building.”

“Yes!” Moscow cheered and Denver and I chuckled.

“I want to applaud you all for being courageous and for your exceptional teamwork. We could not have done this without you.” He sketched another broad smile and slowly clapped his hands as he descended the stairs, and we joined in, walking in front of the hostages, mocking them with our smirks. We clapped strongly and eventually, one after the other, the hostages clapped along, and I laughed, meeting Berlin's gaze. We were both all smiles. The hostages didn’t look as happy as we did, obviously but how they felt went flying over my head. You can call me insensitive and self-centered, which I don’t think I was, but that still was the last thing I cared about. I did what I was asked to do, follow the Professor’s orders. I did my part and was satisfied. We had successfully prevented the raid, and the Task Force would be forced to recall their negotiator and forget about the use of force to enter. And with one of the hostages happening to be the daughter of the US Ambassador to Korea, that was no longer a possibility at all.

[To be continued…]  

Next Chapter (SOON)

Published (03/25/2023) by Andrea

Taglist: @cathrin2405​ @kika64

[hintofelation99]

Hi! I love your posts and want to ask your opinion on something. Who do you think in the batfam has the most and the least common sense of a normal person? If you can, can you also list how they are arranged? Thank you!

Ooohhh, this is a fun one! In my mind all bats lack common sense. Like obviously they're hella smart, after all they are a family of detectives, they just aren't very bright.

Here's a quick rundown (least to most): Tim and Dick tie for first place, both lack common sense in just in completely different ways. Then Damian (mostly cause of the whole 'being raised by league of assassins' thing), Bruce, Cass (controversial ik), Steph, Jason, Duke, Babs, and last on the list is obvs Alfred. (Kate is probs between Cass and Steph, but I've only really seen her in the DCAMU and need to get to know her better).

And Ima add a 'keep reading' cause this is gonna get long.

Tim:

Tim is one of the smartest in the family. He deduced Batman's identity as a child, majorly fucked up the League of Assassins, and has been honored (I say this v sarcastically just btw) with Ra's creepy obsession. He's smart, plain and simple. However, when it comes to just day to day survival and being loved, goddamn that boy is dumb.

He regularly mixes energy drinks and coffee. Sometimes he even mixes energy drinks, alcohol, and coffee.

In his mind warnings are optional. "Tim, did you just sniff that drano?" "Yeah, why?" "IT LITERALLY SAYS DO NOT SMELL" "Oops"

He regularly tests shit on himself. "Why is Tim on the floor?" "He mixed joker venom and fear gas to see what would happen" "HE WHAT"

Also if you try to compliment him or tell him you love him he will find a way to misunderstand. "Tim, I love you and you are an amazing son." "I don't know who this Tim is but he sounds great" "It- it's you, literally you. Timothy Jackson Drake." "I'm a bit confused, I didn't know you knew two Timothy Jackson Drakes. You should really introduce us."

Dick:

Dick in many ways is a total himbo. He's a complete sweetheart, super supportive, and very ditzy. His ditzy-ness directly correlates to how relaxed he is. Chilling in the manor? Peak himbo. A mission in space? Absolute genius and amazing leader. Just took down a bunch of thugs? Slowly reverting into dopey boi. He always has the ability to be super analytical, smart, and big brain, but he likes being whimsical and even airheaded. And that's not a bad thing, it's just him taking mental breaks, being lighthearted.

"YOU PUT DIESEL IN YOUR CAR?" "...Yeah, in my defense the nozzles look basically the same" "They're different colors?! Also the diesel nozzle doesn't even fit into your gas tank, how did you get it in?" "I'm a good pourer."

He always responds to the word dick and it always confuses him. "God Ra's is such a dick!" "What?" "Ra's is a dick" "I'm not Ra's!" "Wha- no! I mean penis dick!" "Ohhhh, yeah he is a penis dick"

Once Dick is safe he reverts into himbo pretty quickly, even after stressful situations. "Hey Wally?" "Yes babe?" "I forgot how to change my lock screen again" "Dick, you just hacked into an alien spaceship not even an hour ago??" "What's that have to do with anything?"

Damian:

Damian lacks common sense from growing up with the League of Assassins. He's an amazing warrior and super analytical but casual human interaction alludes him. He is getting better though, so eventually he'll be lower on the list than Steph. But for now he's a senseless bby.

The first time someone tried to give him high five he assumed it was an attack and flipped them. Same with a fist bump.

This is complete canon but his original treatment of Alfred, his brothers, and, well, everyone. Like bby boy please read the room.

His ego can easily override common sense. Like he wouldn't jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it, but if someone said he couldn't he'd immediately swan dive off that bridge.

Bruce:

For the world's greatest detective he can be a major dumb bitch sometimes. Some of it's growing up rich and some is being so wrapped up in his 'crusade for justice' that he just misses basic shit.

One time he walked in on Roy and Jason making out, the next day he saw them cuddling, then they mentioned moving in together. It took him three months to realize that they're dating.

He doesn't understand coupons, like at all. Jason has tried to explain them but Bruce just gets even more confused.

Bruce tried to make coffee once. He literally just poured coffee beans in water and microwaved it. He was surprised when it didn't taste good.

Cass:

Cass is similar to Damian in she lacks common sense from an unconventional upbringing. However she's learning way faster than Damian and depending on where in the timeline you're looking she might have more common sense than Babs.

Basic things like lines, turn taking, and speaking when spoken to aren't innate to her. Like, she knows and understands them, but often forgets about them.

There are many times that she blurs the line between civilian and vigilante because she'll do something that looks v stupid and dangerous for a civilian. The thing is she never notices when she does this.

One time she was in a restaurant and there was a cockroach on the wall across the room (cause Gotham) and instead of getting up and killing it like a normal person she threw her steak knife and impaled it.

Steph:

Steph is probably lacks common sense the most conventional yet slightly concerning way. She lacks common sense in the same way a cartoon character or sitcom character would. Like it's sorta realistic but at the same time damn bby girl why are you such a disaster??

She will do anything on a dare. Anything. There is a rule against daring Steph to do things while in the manor or on patrol.

Every time she hears someone say Red Robin she yells yum. This has gotten both her and RR shot.

Steph is v lucky that 1) she's a badass and 2) the batfam loves her because she annoys absolutely everyone just for shits and giggles and the only reason she hasn't been murdered is that Cass scares everyone.

Jason:

All common sense is lost when dramas at stake. Say what you will but Jason is the (second) biggest drama queen in the family. Also he, like most bats, lacks a sense of self preservation which leads to shit common sense.

He tried to steal Batman's tires.

Sometimes he listens to music during patrol and tries to hit people/shoot on beat. This has lead to stab wounds.

Jason loves to loudly quote classic literature while on stake outs. This is a problem for obvious reasons.

Duke:

Ok this is around the time you get to average common sense levels. But he still runs around Gotham beating people up in tights (or kevlar) so he doesn't get full points. Also he's still not Babs level common sense. One area Duke lacks common sense in is how to deal with the Batfam (which is v understandable tbh)

One time Duke was joking around with Jason and decided to steal a roll off of Damian's plate. This ended in blood.

Other than lacking Batfam common sense, most of his poor judgement moments are less notable but still concerning.

For example the time he challenged Dick to a hot dog eating contest then went on a roller coaster.

Babs:

Other than being a vigilante Babs almost has normal human common sense. However being a vigilante has negative side effects on ones common sense.

While Babs' sleep schedule isn't as bad as Tim's it's not a whole lot better. She's stayed up 72 consecutive hours multiple times.

She has accidentally poured coffee onto her computer instead of into a coffee mug.

One time she drank an entire gallon of milk before realizing it was a month expired.

Alfred:

Most assume that working for Bruce Wayne is a sign of him lacking common sense. But nah, it's him knowing, understanding, and challenging his own limits. Also it's him being a charitable human being. Like he has enough common sense to go around and tbh it's the only thing keeping the family alive.

"Master Bruce, you may not use Elmer's Glue All to close a wound."

"Master Dick I would encourage you not to teach Master Duke acrobatics on the glass coffee table."

"Miss Stephanie I would not advise trying to consume an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting, and no, I do not care if Master Jason dared you to."

Tada, there's the list! Sorry that was probably a lot longer than anyone wanted, but I enjoy talking about how ditzy the batfam is. Like they're all geniuses but at the same time they're just sooooo dumb.

[sambinnie]

1. Happy Mabon! Every autumn, I forget that the darkness comes clanging down in a great rush in the mornings. One day, I am greeted by a pinking sunrise. 48 hours later, it’s so dark on my run to the river that I have to stop a passing runner and check the time, in case my disturbed sleep sent me dressing and leaving the house at 2am. This summer may not have given us those mornings where it’s so hot I can barely get out of the water, where those early hours feel like full silent days carved out just for me to sit in the light and wait for everyone else to wake up, where the only extra thing I put on to run home is my trainers — I look at my waiting winter gear, neoprene socks and gloves, head torch, two more thickening jumpers, hat, thermal mittens — but every season, every day, is beautiful.

Today we go early for celebrations, and the water is silky, and Orion hangs over us with his phallic sword dangling and Betelgeuse winking on one shoulder. The near-full moon spotlights us and I feel almost ready for the shortening days.

2. Hilary Mantel continues to be a literary god. How does she write with that clarity? How can I ever speak with her calm good sense and wit? 

3. We have two main problems at the moment, as far as I can see. a) What we’re doing (“curating” our lives; twitter spats; purity spirals; division and isolation; wanting ‘debates’ that can only be won or lost; encouraging people to buy more things; trying to buy our happiness; letting marketers tell us how we feel about the world rather than encouraging major moral lessons from throughout the ages to challenge us on our weaknesses; refusing to accept that life is suffering; asking self-care to be a plaster for everything we don’t have) and b) what we’re not doing (joining together to stand against those with more money and power; protecting the people who have even less power and voice than we do as a matter of course; learning from history; protecting nature above all else; prioritising going for walks; learning to repair things and campaigning to make things repairable; having a basic belief in human dignity for all, not just those with whom we agree; accepting that truly, we are all different and no amount of shaming or disgust will change that; working to shape our societies, culture, economies, production, food supplies and communications around improving — not just sustaining — the air, water and land, and fighting to ensure all of those new shapes protect women and children).

Individualism has morphed into something so completely self-destructive that we’ve forgotten we need nature more than anything — literally, more than anything — and we need to unionise and unite and put aside differences and work together even with people we don’t like. 

Because when there are wicked people in power, when it’s genuinely exhausting to think about all the corrupt, venal, toxic, divisive, false, and cruel things they have done since coming to power, those people love to watch everyone below pointing their fingers at one another, saying, You, You’re The Enemy, You’re The Problem, while corrupt populist leaders rub their bellies and chuckle at another promise broken, another mass death on their hands, another building site on a protected forest. Do you understand the stakes here? Do you understand that it’s actual survival? It’s not about being right any more, it’s not about besting someone in the argument. It’s about having decision makers who can not only ensure there is still food to eat and air to breathe, but that relations both within a country and between countries are built on care, and support, and compassion, and believing in human dignity. And while it sounds wishy-washy and hands-clappy it’s the schmaltzy, sentimental truth. It’s the only one, really. 

If we instead continue to believe every single day that my feelings are the most important, that my beliefs are the right ones, that I’ve got to prove those baddies there are evil and awful and wrong, then honestly, what the fuck? If we’re happy to live in a country where hostile architecture is the starting point for all public builds, where we send refugee boats away from our shores, where affiliate links are a career goal, where we haven’t stormed the Daily Mail offices with accounts of all our lovely immigrant friends and family and had a huge feast together and compared our long and tangled family trees, then come on. It’s only a race to the bottom if we all keep running. 

Because, pressingly, whatever the spark of a major global conflict — assassination, fuel shortages, hyperinflation, invasion — the kindling is almost always a populace fed pure hatred for months, for years, until they can’t even taste it anymore but are ready to spew it out again, and are ready to use another populace as the receptacle. And hatred is brewed up in silence and isolation, and in the ashes of bridges burned between disparate groups. 

And on that note, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, mainly because I don’t believe governments are generally competent enough to manage Grand Plans, but it’s annoying that technology and social trends and culture have developed in such a way that no one knocks on anyone’s door for a chat as a matter of course now, that it’s a given that a ringing phone triggers anxiety, that it’s not the norm for cups of tea with your neighbours, that we don’t know each other’s neighbourhoods, that we don’t even talk on the phone, with live words and intonation and synchronised laughter, but in text, in WhatsApp chats, in tapped out words and symbols that we know can be screen-grabbed and misinterpreted, that we know are kept, filtered and sold by the tech companies. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just a reality that every single one of us can choose to do differently. 

Sometimes exactly the right thing comes along at the right time. All of us here watched About a Boy at the weekend, a film which is so wonkily weighted and oddly rhythmed, but a perfect depiction of everything I’m banging on about here. Hugh Grant’s character likes being alone. He’s happy that way. It suits him. It’s his choice. Then, between one thing and another, he finds himself drawn into a world of a suicidal single mother, a duck-murdering young boy, more single mothers, more tricky teens, plus exes and mothers-in-law and awkward support groups. And it turns out that actually, being with people is better. Being uncomfortable often develops you as a person. Constantly prioritising only yourself produces a waxen, pointless baby. Making shared sacrifices might just be the point of being alive. Remember that to be human is to be flawed. That no one is ever completely right, and no one is ever completely wrong. That the boring stuff makes us feel good, and the glossy stuff, if all we strive for is gloss, doesn’t. 

If you want anything practical, here are the things that have really helped me over the last few years:

Writing a letter or email regularly to my MP, to CEOs of organisations, to anyone I want to communicate my strong feelings and how I’d like things to be done better. Tweeting eats your soul. It’s a horrible myth the media pretends is important. It really, really isn’t.

Inviting people to go in front of me in queues, in traffic, getting on to buses and trains. It lowers my stress levels right down.

Learning the names of my neighbours and people I meet regularly on walks and letting them learn mine. (I definitely haven’t just decided I loathe a neighbour because they cut a bird-hatching tree down in their garden on the last day of the year it was legal to do so. It’s fine.)

Joining a few political parties, and the closest thing I have to a union

Making something, anything — everything can be done with love, and learning to not get sucked into the capitalist conceit of having to make it perfect, sellable, exhibitable is a genuine gift to yourself; making a cake or a film or a coaster and not putting it on social media, letting it be ugly or serviceless and loving it anyway. I felt extremely overwhelmed the other evening, but instead of doom-scrolling I knitted a… I don’t know, something flat and woollen, and it helped to have my hands and eyes working on directionless introspective creation. 

Trying to stop hating. Every time I want to tell a negative story in my head about someone, I attempt to turn it into something positive: how unhappy that person must be, what they must be missing out on. It’s so nauseatingly Pollyanna-ish, and of course it isn’t always successful, and of course every single day brings a hundred thousand examples of cruelty and injustice and wickedness, but the alternative only makes my life feel worse, so why would I indulge that? 

Teaching myself the names of birds, trees, flowers, clouds and constellations. I’m still at the most basic levels on all of these, but the difference one feels in the world when you can name things  — let alone use them and know their stories — is a very real sort of magic. (For that reason I hope to read this book very soon.) This episode of The Cut is also good on the wonder and power of learning the names of the weeds that grow in your nearest pavement crack. 

4. Creating anything is always a gamble, isn’t it, but writing a book you actually like for once and seeing it slowly and beautifully sink to the bottom of a river never to be seen again is ever so slightly crushing. However, it turns out even Thom Yorke feels that way, so I am comforted. 

5. I’m sure I’ve mentioned plenty of these before, but if you want some suggestions of where to find joy, here are my favourites from the last year or so:

I was given Lucy Easthope’s book, When the Dust Settles, for work recently, and I was surprised and delighted to discover the most uplifting, hopeful, human and rightfully angry book I’ve read in a long time. Do yourself a favour and preorder it. I bought this other book for my own birthday, gave it to a housemate to give to me, forgot about it, and was delighted to later unwrap He Used Thought As A Wife. Laughed a lot, cried twice. Marvellous. 

Now even the youngest housemate here can recite John Finnemore sketches and sing the songs. Has also taught them various composers, gods, logical fallacies and gothic story tropes. Also v funny. Oh, Kate Beaton! Her two books (Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside Pops) are a bit like a comic-book version of Finnemore, but swearier and sexier and utterly unsuitable for all the housemates who have read it and been educated about the Brontes, Katherine Sui Fun Cheung, Tom Longboat, Nancy Drew, Ida B. Wells, Sacagawea, and the Borgias. 

Had to give Inside a restraining order against me for the sake of us all, but Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade is a masterpiece of writing, acting, sound design and optimism. Spy is dumb action comedy polished to perfection, and Yasujirō Ozu’s Good Morning seems like the inspiration for almost all US arthouse films since 1990, and is also beautiful, funny, thoughtful, and good. 

Taylor Swift’s Evermore, like all brilliant albums, isn’t completely perfect. But most of the songs are. And Hole’s classic Live Through This is still just ideal for turning up very, very loud after a tricky day, for the enjoyment of any neighbours who may have hacked down a bird-friendly tree on the last day of February. 

Watched both series of Liam Williams’ Ladhood when I had a week off this summer, and really relished the location, the intention, and the writing. More please. 

Miles Jupp and Justin Edwards continue to be my comforting bedtime listening in In and Out of the Kitchen. Has it ruined Nigel Slater for me? Well, a bit, but no more than any of us deserved. 

I thought this would be a book I’d mumble through the first chapter of, then let get buried in my To Read pile, never to re-open. Instead, I found Whatever Happened to Margo? laugh-out-loud funny, drily written, and full of humanity. Excellent Women has made me want to read everything written by Barbara Pym, a goal I am slowly but surely working towards. 

6. I’ve spent the last few years trying to find hazelnut trees, and finally found a copse between a car park and a play area, full of nuts the squirrels hadn’t noticed. Now I’ve found them, the spell has been cast and I see hazel trees everywhere, on walks and on pavements and running along motorway slip roads. A tray of green and brown frilled hazelnuts now dries with the laundry. They are so beautiful. 

[warsofasoiaf]

Uh. I checked the character count, and this is going to end up long. My friend sent me something, and while I'm sure it's wrong, I don't know enough about medieval battles to dispute it. Can you help? Part one of many

He held storms end against a siege. From what information there is he seems to have done this well. I don’t know if he employed a scorched earth strategy before the siege began (if he didn’t then a rescind my compliment). The siege showed little in terms of tactical or strategic prowess on the part of Stannis but his will power was commendable and eating last was (part 1)

The siege showed little in terms of tactical or strategic prowess on the part of Stannis but his will power was commendable and eating last was a good morale booster (though he likely didn’t do this for the moral). Still, if the Tyrells had decided to storm the castle he would have lost. The battle shows more incompetence on the part of Mace than prowess on the part of Stannis (part 2)

He captured Dragonstone. There is very little mentioned about the specifics of the engagement. It is highly unlikely that there was a contested landing as the defenders lacked the numbers and morale for such a move and there is very little precedent for a contested landing in the historical time period that ASoIaF is based on. He likely arrived at the castle to find an open gate. Part 3

The best mark on Stannis’s record, and the only truly impressive thing he’s done was his destruction of the Ironborn fleet. He managed to split his fleet in two and flank the Ironborn without them knowing. Though this is still impressive it must be mentioned that Stannis likely had a great advantage due to technological superior ships (the ships described in the books are absurdly large and in an age where gaming and boarding was the main instrument of naval warfare that is a great advantage).

During the war of the five kings Stannis refuses to ally himself to anyone. This is a great black mark agains his record. And shows either an abysmal understanding of basic strategy or an incredibly diluted ego. Stannis’s choice to march on Storms end similarly shows either incompetence or delusion, only saved by an entirely unpredictable magical trump card on the part of Melisandre. Combined with the luck of the Stormlander lords agreeing to side with Stannis.

His attack of Kings Landing similarly shows a lack of understanding of basic strategy. This time he seemingly fails to scout ahead before initiating a contested river crossing. Failure to do this is an incredible oversight that cost him the battle. Part five sorry forgot the last one

After Stannis’s previous blunders lead to the annihilation of most of his army he gambles and sails north to try and win over the Northern lords. This is probably his first truly good idea in the war of the five kings. With Robb dead and the Lannister involvement in what seems to be one of the greatest war crimes in Westerosi history the Northern lords are ripe for realignment. Part 6

He crushes a numerical superior Wildling army though his force is made up of mounted knights and the Wildlings too don’t seem to utilize scouts. I would chalk this up to apparent wildling incompetence. Stannis then determines to march on the dread fort. Which is rightly pointed out by Jon Snow to be a stupid idea. Stannis then receives advice that determines his next moves. Part eight

Sorry, had to wait to submit more. Stannis then determines to march on the dread fort. Which is rightly pointed out by Jon Snow to be a stupid idea. Stannis then receives advice that determines his next moves. Stannis also seemingly wins the battle on the ice. His strategy seems to be fairly sound though he likely will receive no small amount of help from the Manderlys. Part nine

Part 10: Ultimately Stannis does not deserve his reputation. He isn’t completely incompetent. But He does not stand up the the likes of Tywin Lannister, Randyl Tarly, or Robb Stark In skill. Most of his victories are largely attributable to events that he had no control over and could not have forseen, from Melisandre’s magic to Jon’s council.

I wouldn’t worry. Whoever wrote that doesn’t really understand warfare either.

Defending against the Siege of Storm’s End was a remarkable feat of leadership. Stannis is young, and this is likely his first real test of major leadership. That he is able to handle it with only one instance of defection is no small accomplishment. A general needs to have this sense of leadership, in order to inspire his men and to get them to follow his orders. This is something we see time and again with Stannis; his troops truly do feel inspired by him, and are not simply fearing punishment for non-compliance. His men cross the burning bridge of ships during the Battle of the Blackwater, they follow him to the very edge of the world (bit of dramatic hyperbole here, but the Wall is remote and he would need to unite his men after the disastrous defeat). 

Capturing Dragonstone. I fail to see your friend’s point. Naval landings are difficult in premodern times. Stannis had to organize a fleet and land, and he had built ships to take on the Targaryen fleet. Again, that’s another part of leadership, particularly since medieval naval combat frequently had ships that would be commissioned for a purpose and then mothballed.

What we see of the Battle of Fair Isle shows instead Stannis using the terrain features and the advantages of his equipment to his full advantage. This is something I often see with amateur military analysts is this idea that good equipment is used as an excuse to dismiss battlefield accomplishment in favor of a preferred conclusion. In real battle, this isn’t the case, it’s a chaotic mess and tools and techniques still have to be used appropriately.

Now I agree that the early moves that Stannis makes in the War of the Five Kings does show that he needs his character development to grow into a better king. The need to secure alliances, and the way his poor interpersonal skills don’t make much headway with Catelyn despite her being tailor-made to support Stannis (save for that pesky Northern independence thing) do show that his problems front and center. 

I’ll be frank, your friend’s interpretation of Storm’s End suggests that he or she did no analysis the battle. I’ve seen a bunch of folks argue that on the r/asoiaf subreddit before. The facts of the matter are that Stannis forces Renly to move and nearly exhaust himself. He prepares his position and ground, he takes key advantage of Renly’s mistakes, and overall shows himself capable of winning the fight. Melisandre is often dismissed by people in our own world, but we have to remember that Planetos is a world where magic actually does stuff. I’d agree that a general in our own time who prepares for a magic bolt of lightning or something to strike down an enemy general is an idiot, but Planetos operates by different rules, and we have to make at least some sort of concession to that.

Now, we do see Stannis making a lot of mistakes in the battle, but we also see Imry Florent making most of the mistakes against tactical sense. Part of that is on Stannis, he is the senior commander, but part of that is also the problems of incompetent feudal leaders. Imry is an idiot, and he only got that position by nepotism. 

Dismissing the wildlings losses as failure to employ scouts simply doesn’t match the text. We don’t hear about the wildlings not employing scouts, what we hear instead is that Stannis joined with the Eastwatch rangers and set out. We also see that the wildlings do employ some of their forces well, particularly their mammoths, which requires Stannis to secure a breakthrough against one of the other wildling contingents to flank the mammoths and bring them down, which is good tactical maneuver to eliminate an enemy advantage.

Stannis relying on Jon for counsel being marked as a disadvantage is a completely foolish argument. Securing local intelligence to better plan and execute a military campaign is one of intelligence’s primary purposes! That’s one of the most prevalent reasons to secure friendly local sources, so that you can adequately plan with better knowledge. Stannis makes a plan, finds local sourcing which gives him better intelligence, so he changes it. That being held against him is just a bad argument, start to finish.

I noticed your friend completely omitted the capture of Deepwood Motte, and I’m guessing because it really tears a hole in their arguments. Stannis using classic military deception techniques, camouflage to hide his troops, and captures Asha as she’s trying to evacuate, all of which showcase Stannis’s intelligence and effectiveness within the military sphere.

The Battle of the Ice we see Stannis again making preparations to take advantage of local conditions. While we don’t see what it is, because we’re still waiting on the book, all of the chapters that we see of him in the fifth novel regarding this show him preparing, show him leading his men. 

Holding up Tywin Lannister as an example of a military genius is laughable, since Tywin gets beaten pillar to post by Robb Stark. His efforts to win the War of the Five Kings completely doom his house, since he violates every social taboo and engenders significant resentment to his family while doing so. I think it is possible to criticize Stannis’s mistakes in the Blackwater, without needing to minimize the actual accomplishments.

Thanks for the question, Anon. Here’s hoping you can correct your friend’s bad arguments.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[cleverlittlejay]

Raphael anon back once again with a hilarious thought: Family therapy with Crowley, Lucifer, Gabriel, & Micheal and it’s just so wild & the poor therapist is so confused. They assume it’s just rich people scandals & shenanigans but all of these drama queens in a room together trying to work through over 6,000 years of family issues while some poor human tries to keep everything from becoming a chaotic nightmare without the full story of what’s going on is infinitely funny to me.

hello, anon! this was such a delight to write! also, fun fact, i’m a psych major and took one (1) intro to counseling psych class, but that actually helped in writing this, so that was fun! This is also super long (1k words!) so it also goes under a read more. (another fun fact: i stole the name Dr. Martin from Lucifer on Netflix because why not.) 

(one more fun fact, i genuinely hate the Neflix!Lucifer stereotype that a psychiatrist who went to med school would be a therapist. it’s two different fields. ok sorry, it’s fic time)

Dr. Martin was good at her job. She worked hard to become a therapist, and she genuinely believed that she could help her clients. It’s why she started her private practice. 

Her next appointment was a family therapy session. She briefly wondered how her secretary forgot to mention that she had an appointment or that she had new clients at all, but these mistakes happen. Sometimes computers just don’t want to work, deleting emails and not saving the clients’ last names in the file. 

The family consisted of four siblings. Lucifer, Michael, Gabriel, and Anthony J Crowley. Anthony, she learned, preferred to be called Crowley, and the other three siblings did not share that last name. 

The four siblings did not get along. At all. And they wanted to, Crowley explained, but they just couldn’t see eye to eye. 

“It all started when Mother kicked me out,” Lucifer said. “More specifically, she had Michael kick me out because she’s–”

“Because,” Michael interrupted, “you were an awful son who refused to listen to her. Causing trouble, thinking you’re better than her. Asking questions.” That last part was clearly directed at Crowley, who offered a light shrug. 

“Interrupting isn’t kind, Michael,” Dr. Martin said. “Please let Lucifer talk, and then you can say your part.”

If looks could kill, Dr. Martin would’ve died a hundred times over in her career. Michael’s glare was terrifying, but she’d seen it all before. 

The final picture was that their mother kicked out Lucifer and Crowley due to rebelliousness. The two questioned her authority and so they had to be removed before they corrupted any others. Now, after the disappearance of their mother, the siblings decided to get together again and reconnect.

A cult, Dr. Martin realized. She was working with the aftereffects of a cult. The religious names, the absolute authority, the punishment that included some kind of fire, the isolation from others, it all painted a very clear but dark picture.

She thanked them for their openness and had her secretary book their next appointment. 

Then, she realized how much she didn’t know about cults–she owned a private practice, she didn’t work with law enforcement or social services–and began her research. She read articles on cult-related family dynamics and trauma. She even called her old colleague for some direction. 

The next session, the two eldest siblings focussed on each other. As Lucifer and Michael went on, Crowley and Gabriel seemed content to watch them argue as Dr. Martin futilely attempted to control the session. 

“Even now, you’re a pest,” Michael sneered, ignoring the no-interruptions rule. “Your demons cause nothing but trouble and you barely control them.”

Inner demons were difficult to control, sometimes spiralling and causing issues in real life. It took strength to admit that you need support in fighting your battles.

Lucifer spoke before Dr. Martin could voice that. 

“Maybe you should control your angels, Michael. Always wandering into trouble, making friends with demons and then getting hurt. It’s almost as if they don’t respect your command.”

“Tell your demons to stop fraternizing with the enemy!”

“Hey,” Crowley interrupted. “I thought that sides don’t matter anymore. I can fraternize with an angel if I wanted to.”

“Now, yes, but not before,” Michael said patronizingly, as if she was leading the session rather than Dr. Martin. “But you endangered yourself and Aziraphale by being with him.”

“Not like Aziraphale was in danger,” Gabriel grumbled. “He got away with it.”

The session ended without any of the siblings making any progress. It was fine, Dr. Martin rationed. Progress is not always linear, and she needed to first create a safe space where they were comfortable speaking up. 

She also realized that her original theory was wrong. It wasn’t a cult. It was the mob. 

Different sides, angels and demons, both told that the other is the enemy. Perhaps Lucifer and Crowley disagreed with their “mother’s” rule and were punished for noncompliance. Michael was clearly the enforcer, punishing those who stepped out of line. It blurred the definition of “sibling,” but it explained the disdain that Lucifer and Michael had for each other. 

This realization led to a new line of research. The mob was harder to research from a psychological or counseling therapy perspective, and Dr. Martin ended up making even more calls to colleagues and old professors. 

“First a cult and now the mob,” her old classmate laughed. “You have some interesting clients.”

Dr. Martin refused to admit that she was wrong about the cult. No one had to know. 

She changed her strategy during their next session. The past was important to understanding a person, but perhaps it was better to focus on the present. 

“Despite everything that happened, Lucifer and Crowley being kicked out and you being forced to lead, how do you feel about Lucifer right now?” 

Michael didn’t answer immediately, which was a good sign. When she answered, she didn’t look at Lucifer or speak to him directly, but she knew that he was there and listening to her.  

“I don’t hate him,” Michael said slowly. “He’s still my brother. I didn’t have a choice, you know. I had to do it.” 

Dr. Martin could imagine the lack of choice. It was likely that if Michael didn’t do as told, she would’ve also been punished. It was coercion, and Michael couldn’t be held fully accountable. 

“I don’t hate you, either,” Lucifer said. There was a forced air of casualness around him, protecting Michael from rejection. “You’re still my baby sister. No fall can change that, Micah.”

Progress. It took three sessions and a lot of pain and bitterness, but they were making progress. Michael and Lucifer finally broke through their hard shells to admit that there is a possibility to move forward in their relationship with genuine love and affection. That kind of hope was why Dr. Martin was a therapist in the first place. 

Dr. Martin scheduled their next appointment. She was hopeful for their next session, creating an outline that would include more dialogue and encourage the younger two siblings to speak more often. The four of them had hope yet. 

Dr. Martin was good at her job. She would help bridge a 6000 year old gap of pain and misery to create a new era of peace. Not that she knew that, of course. She was just a therapist to a weird group of siblings. 

Humans, She thought in amusement, were clearly Her best creations yet.

[ikemenvampire]

Let’s Make Christmas Cookies Together (Day 1)

Masterlist AO3

Part of the 2020 Winter Drabble Prompts by @obeywho-meduh Pairing: Solomon x gn!MC Note: Trying to get my writing skills back so it might be a little rough right now. Also my first attempt with a gn!MC. I also have no idea how to format in tumblr. Please note: the stickers they use are in accordance to the stickers in the game. Summary: 

"Let's make Christmas cookies together!"

Is what they'd said so excitedly to Solomon a few days ago that they'd completely forgotten one very crucial fact.

Solomon has no skills in the kitchen.

"Let's make Christmas cookies together!"

Is what they'd said so excitedly to Solomon a few days ago that they'd completely forgotten one very crucial fact.

Solomon has no skills in the kitchen. 

Unless you of course counted his ability to turn anything he makes inedible to the point that even Beelzebub, the avatar of gluttony, couldn't keep it down a skill. 

But they'd already agreed to have Solomon come over to the House of Lamentation tomorrow to bake some cookies together (Luke had texted in their group chat with the angels to please, please not bake in the kitchen in Purgatory Hall when he overheard their conversation while Simeon contributed a scared and shaking sticker in response) and they couldn't exactly back out then. Solomon seemed to think there was nothing wrong with his creations and they didn't want to make the sorcerer feel bad by suddenly cancelling.

With that all said and done, MC had no other choice but to prepare the House for Solomon's arrival to try and mitigate some of the damage they're expecting to come as a result of Solomon's... concoctions.

The first thing they do is head to Lucifer's office, all the while practicing their apology in hopes the eldest brother doesn't get too angry with them. But no matter how much they'd practice their speech, the resounding 'Enter' that they receive after knocking completely causes them to blank out.

"Er, hey Luci," MC greets awkwardly as they shuffle inside, hands fiddling with the hem of their uniform nervously. "Are you busy right now?"

Lucifer simply raises a perfectly arched brow at the human, taking note of the way they fidgeted under his gaze and sighs, setting down the papers he'd been examining. Clasping his fingers together on top of his desk and resting his chin upon them, he asks, "What is it, MC?"

Sheepishly, MC rubs the back of their neck and directs their gaze anywhere, but the demon in front of them as the words tumble out of their lips. "So you know how Christmas is coming in the human world, right?"

Lucifer blinks, but nods in return. For once, he's unsure exactly what about the jolly holiday caused the human so much grief, but he lets them continue speaking.

They take a deep breath and—"ImayhaveinvitedSolomonovertobakeChristmascookieswithmepleasedon'tgetmad."

It takes him a second to parse through the jumble of words, but the moment he does he could feel his wings burst out of his back as his demon form took over before it's gone, tucked again in his human form underneath a very thin layer of patience only brought forth by the human's scared 'Eep!'.

Lucifer pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out an exasperated sigh. Of all troubling things he’s had to deal with recently, not even Mammon had brought him this much grief.

"Pray tell, why?"

"I completely forgot that Solomon's a menace in the kitchen," MC explains, fiddling once more with their sleeves, "I was just so excited to celebrate the holidays with someone who would understand."

Lucifer purses his lips.

Of course, their human would begin to feel homesick. They've been here for a majority of the year, but it still doesn't erase the homesickness they must've felt since the beginning. And this Christmas holiday was usually celebrated with close family, friends, or a significant other so it made sense that those feelings would hit hardest during this time of year.

With a heavy sigh and plans to schedule a time for someone to come in and fix their kitchen afterwards, Lucifer reluctantly agrees to let them use the kitchen. "Just... Make sure you warn the others not to step foot in the kitchen that day. Please. I don't want to have to cart all of them to the hospital afterwards."

The bright, thankful smile MC sends their way is almost enough to make up for the fact that he's willingly letting chaos step foot into their kitchen. Almost.

He waves MC off with a reminder to let the others know as well and returns back to his work.

Suddenly, the weight on his shoulders felt a lot heavier than before MC came in. Though, the heaviness in his heart has lightened up considerably.

~°~°~°~

House of Lamentation (New) (8)

MC: *smiling sticker*

MC: Hey, everyone!

Mammon: *question mark sticker*

Asmodeus: *question mark sticker*

Leviathan: *question mark sticker*

Beelzebub: What's up, MC?

Satan: Did something happen?

MC: Ah, well...

MC: You could say that...

Belphegor: Spit it out.

MC: So, you know the Christmas holiday I was telling you all about a few days ago?

Mammon: The one where you get lots of gifts?

Asmodeus: The one for couples right? 

Asmodeus: *hearts sticker*

Beelzebub: The one where you get to eat lots of good food

Beelzebub: *eating sticker*

Belphegor: Beel, you're drooling.

Leviathan: Speaking of, I should get my list of merch to buy when things go on sale after

Leviathan: Thanks for the reminder!

Satan: Yes, MC

Satan: What about it?

MC: You know how I mentioned I liked to bake cookies to give out to friends and family as gifts?

Beelzebub: Are you making some for us?

Mammon: I mean, of course they are. Why wouldn't they?

Asmodeus: A gifted cookie from MC? 

Asmodeus: Filled with their hard work and love???

Asmodeus: I look forward to receiving some ;)

Belphegor: Hm.

Belphegor: There's a catch isn't there

MC: Ha... 

MC: How did you know, Belphie?

MC: Anyway, yes. I'll be baking some cookies tomorrow afternoon

Beelzebub: *awed sticker*

Mammon: A cookie from MC!

Asmodeus: *hearts sticker*

Mammon: Not that I want one of anything. I'd just feel bad since you’ll probably cry if I don’t eat it, that's all.

MC: The catch is Solomon is helping me

Beelzebub: *scared sticker*

Asmodeus: *scared sticker*

Mammon: *scared sticker*

Leviathan: *scared sticker*

Satan: *scared sticker*

Belphegor: It can't be that bad, can it?

Leviathan: Trust me.. it's that bad.

Satan: Beel won't even eat it

Beelzebub: It makes my stomach hurt

Belphegor: Okay. That's pretty bad

MC: Yeah, so

MC: Do you guys mind staying out of the kitchen while we're in there?

MC: I don't want you guys to get roped in as taste-testers

Asmodeus: Does Lucifer know?

MC: Mhm, yeah. He's the first to find out

MC: I think he was muttering about getting someone to come in afterwards and fix anything Solomon breaks when I left his office

MC: So we should still have our kitchen once we're done with it

MC: And I'll try to make a few good batches to share with you guys, don't worry

Beelzebub: *thank you sticker*

Asmodeus: *thank you sticker*

Satan: Thanks MC :)

Leviathan: Yeah, thanks!

Mammon: *smile sticker*

Belphegor: Good luck tomorrow

--- end --- 

MC tucks their phone back into their pocket and eyes the clock wearily. 

"I guess I should check and make sure we have everything we'll need for tomorrow. Then," they pause and take out their phone, smiling at the text they just received. "We wait."

~°~°~°~

Solomon

Solomon: Looking forward to tomorrow 

Solomon: *Whoo! Sticker*

MC: *dance sticker*

 --- end ----

 ~°~°~°~

The House of Lamentation is quiet. Quiet enough that the eerie creaks some of the doors made rang through the silent house. 

Anyone stepping foot inside would think that the house must be empty aside from their host.

But it's not.

No, in fact, MC was 99.9% sure they know exactly where each demon brother had locked themselves up in. 

Asmo is no doubt having a long soak in his bathroom, music turned low, candles lit, and flower petals floating in his bathwater. Levi on the other hand is probably having a quiet marathon of one of his shows—he often got loud when he gamed and catching Solomon's attention was just not it for him today.

Lucifer is likely in his study, getting some more work done (though MC has an inkling the eldest is also having a few glasses of demonus to try and deal with the whole 'Solomon is in my kitchen' issue) while Satan has his head buried in a new series in his bedroom. 

The twins are likely in the attic; Belphie having a good nap while Beel tries to pace himself with the snacks he and Belphie had brought up with them to tide over his hunger while Solomon was around.

Mammon, MC knows, is out doing a modelling gig as recommended by Lucifer. In the eldest's words: "No matter what, Mammon has no idea how to be quiet so it's best if he leaves the House while Solomon is here" which had been followed by Mammon's offended "Oi! Quit talking about me like I'm not here!"

In conclusion, the House is definitely not empty, but its inhabitants are playing 'away' to try and avoid becoming taste-testers.

It is, after all, finally time for MC and Solomon to bake some holiday cookies. 

MC passes Solomon a black apron while they grab their own purple one and tug it on. Reaching behind them, they begin to gather the strings when Solomon's fingers gently brush theirs aside.

"Here, let me," he whispers into their ear as his fingers deftly begin tying the strings into a pretty bow. "There. All finished," he murmurs into their ear once more, causing MC to bite back a shiver at the caress of warm air. 

Solomon steps back as MC turns and begins to busy themselves with organizing the ingredients in front of them.

"Thanks," they end up murmuring, bowing their head down in hopes of hiding the flush of their cheeks from their companion.

Solomon simply smiles and doesn't comment on it as he tugs on his own apron. Once done, he turns to them and tilts his head curiously. "You're measuring the ingredients?"

MC's hands freeze mid-pour into the bowl on the scale and their brows furrow in confusion. "Wait, hold on. Why does that sound like a question."

"Because it is?"

Blinking, MC rights the bag of flour and turns to Solomon with a frown. "Do you measure your ingredients?"

"There's no need to. I trust my potions skills."

"But you're not making potions??" To their credit, MC only sounds half-hysterical when all they really want is to grab the man by his shoulders and shake him to try and get some sense into his brain. "You're literally baking. Having measured amounts of stuff is what makes sure it'll turn out good."

"But potion-making and cooking are practically the same. You add ingredients into a heated surface and then you get something out of it." 

Nevermind. That half is slowly climbing into full-blown hysterical.

"That's—Okay, that's fair, but you should still measure stuff."

"Whatever I make always ends up fine to eat, but if you say so then I guess we can measure things out based on the recipe." Solomon eyes the recipe for chocolate chip cookies and hums. "I'll go ahead and measure the sugar while you finish with the flour."

MC barely manages to stifle their cry. "But they don't turn out fine. That's the point." 

"Did you say something, MC?” 

They let out an exasperated sigh, close their eyes, and pinch the bridge of their nose.

'Please, God. Grant me the patience I'll need to deal with this man.'

When they feel their skin warm slowly and a feeling of peace settle within them, MC knows that, had they not just received that blessing, they would be freaking out. After all, the fact God granted their prayer immediately meant even he knew there was nothing else that could be done concerning Solomon’s abilities in the kitchen.

"No, let's just get this done," MC mutters in defeat.

Solomon grins. "We'll make the best cookies, yet."

"Really, I'm just hoping they'll be edible."

 "Did you say something again?"

"No, nothing."

"Hm, weird. I must still be feeling the side-effects from one of my spells."

MC simply shakes their head and readies themselves for a long afternoon.

~°~°~°~

When the cookies are taken out of the oven, MC could barely stop themselves from tearing up.

Somehow, someway, the cookies look fine. No, not just fine, they look perfect!

"Let's let them cool and then we can start packing them into bags," MC suggests once the final baking sheet is out of the oven. 

"Should we try some first? They look really good and they smell really good," Solomon says as he scans the dozens of cookies. "I wouldn't mind having one right now, actually."

"It might be too hot so be careful," MC warns as Solomon reaches to pick one up. They watch him blow on it to cool it before holding it out to them with a smile. 

"Why don't you take the first bite?" Solomon asks. "You did do most of the work, after all."

Hesitantly, MC leans over and takes a bite of the cookie. Eyes widening, they beam happily at Solomon as they chew.

Swallowing, they gesture for Solomon to take a bite excitedly. "It tastes amazing! Have a bite!"

"Don't mind if I do," he responds and, with a sly smile, bites right where MC had bitten, causing red to bloom on their cheeks. He chews thoughtfully, staring up at the ceiling before redirecting his gaze to MC as he swallows.

"Yes, I have to agree with you," MC swallows at the heat in Solomon's eyes as he murmurs, "That particular bite was deliciously sweet that I can't help but want more.” 

"Um, go ahead then. Have some more," they gesture at the cookies shyly.

Solomon's lips form a sly smirk as he takes a step closer. "Are you certain you want to say that? I’m not exactly referring to the cookies." The hand holding the cookie falls, treat forgotten as Solomon takes another step, and another until they're so close to each other that they can feel the light puffs of air as Solomon speaks. "Well?"

This wasn't about the cookie anymore. Maybe it hadn't been since the start. Maybe this was a way for them to get to know Solomon even more and find out just what's in that brilliant brain of his. They didn't know, but while they may not know the answer to that question, they certainly knew the answer to this one.

"Kiss me," they whisper.

"With pleasure."

And when their lips meet oh so gently, MC lets out a pleased sigh. They can taste the chocolate on his lips, just as addicting as the rest of him. When he nips at their bottom lip teasingly, MC lets out a quiet sound of pleasure.

They don't know how long the kiss took, but when Solomon pulls away, all they could think of was that it hadn't been long enough.

"Let's put these away and then we can get back to what we really want to do. What do you say?"

And really, with an offer as enticing as that is it any wonder that all they can say is—"Yes."

~°~°~°~

Bonus 1 

"Have some cookies!" MC grinned as they passed around bags of the treats they'd made earlier with Solomon.

When all they received were apprehensive looks in return, they rolled their eyes. 

"I swear to my soul and to Diavolo that those cookies won't harm you. I've tried them myself and they taste delicious."

The brothers exchanged looks before Lucifer let out a sigh and opened the bag. Immediately, the delicious smell of cookies filled the air, causing Beelzebub's mouth to water.

Taking out a cookie, Lucifer studied it carefully before finally taking a bite. MC and the brothers held their breath as the eldest chewed and swallowed. Then,

"It tastes good. Almost as good as one Barbatos made.” 

"That's good enough proof for me," says Beelzebub as he opens the bag and shoves a cookie into his mouth without care. The rest of the brothers take a second of stunned silence before they began to hesitantly open their own bags.

As they snack on the gifted treats, a chorus of thank-yous leaves their giddy lips. Even Belphegor who'd been sleepily clutching his pillow earlier is wide awake, munching quietly on a cookie. 

"I'm glad you guys liked it," MC says as they shuffle to sit beside Lucifer. Leaning in, their eyes glitter with mischief as they share a secret. "Honestly, I didn't think they would end up tasting good since Solomon was helping, but he really surprised me today."

Lucifer carefully seals the bag again, planning to save the rest of the cookies for later before turning to face them. "Oh? How so?" 

"Mhm, well, for starters he doesn't measure his ingredients, which is probably why his cooking always turns bad. Another thing that he surprised me today was his ability to actually end up producing something that wasn't just edible, but good too." 

They hesitate to say their next words long enough that Lucifer picks up on it and, raising a brow, asks, "What's the last thing?"

"He's quite charming," MC says with a light blush.

"Charming," Lucifer repeats, his eye twitching subtly in annoyance. "In what way?"

"Well, in a way that ended up with us kissing for a while afte—Luci, where are you going?" MC quickly pushes themselves off the couch to follow Lucifer as he heads out of the room, a menacing aura following him.

"I need to pay Purgatory Hall a visit. There's a certain pest I need to deal with."

"W-wait, no, Luci—!"

 ~°~°~°~

Bonus 2

"I don't understand," MC raises their hands in the air in confusion. "You followed the recipe right to the gram. I watched you measure and put things in. How did it end up like this?"

The thing the two humans in Devildom were staring in silence at is a block of gray matter inside the pot that would bubble ominously at times, releasing a gas that smells like fish every time a bubble broke the surface.

"I literally watched you the entire time. What happened?" MC bemoans. 

Solomon sighs and covers the pot with its lid, his nose wrinkling when another bubble breaks the surface. "I don't have an answer for that. It seems that the cookies were merely a fluke. Perhaps a once in a lifetime kind of miracle."

MC covers their face in bewilderment. "I don't understand."

Patting their shoulder, Solomon shakes his head quietly. "Some things just aren't meant to be understood."

“MC! What are you cookin—" 

The two glance up and spot a frozen Luke at the doorway. The younger boy's face slowly goes from curious to horrified before he's sprinting out of the room.

"Simeon! Simeon! Solomon's in the kitchen again!!"

Solomon and MC hear the clatter of something falling and a yelp before the thudding footsteps resume.

Blinking and simultaneously deciding to ignore what had just happened, they turn back to the pot in concern.

"What should we do about the thing?" MC asks.

Solomon shakes his head. "We have to get rid of it."

"Even the pot?"

"Especially the pot."

[glapplebloom]

Hopefully by now you’ve played the game or seen someone’s let’s play...

The story begins with something I didn’t expect: a council of animals from all different species. A young Zebra named Ribbon tells them a story about how they were almost killed by weird shadowy creatures which we know as Predators. Between this and other eye witnesses, the Llama in the group believes the prophecy is true. While the Rhino, the head of this group I presume, don’t believe in it, she still thinks its a good idea to find this Key the Predators are looking for and the entire council states that each species brings up their champion.

Chapter 1 begins with Arizona. And I hope you’re good with her because she’s the only one you get to play with. The Cattle knew of the past as they kept its knowledge with them despite everyone else forgetting it as Legend. So when Arizona’s father call out for volunteers, the first of the Book of Lore is broke: instead of everyone rushing to prove themselves, they all fled until only Arizona was the last one standing. She of course volunteers but her pops wouldn’t allow it. But while Texas is the leader of the Group, its Minnesota, his wife and Arizona’s mother, that wears the pants in this family. With her mother’s blessing and her father’s worry, she’s off to be the Champion of the Prairie.

The first bit of game play begins in the Canyon Pass. We get to see Arizona travel through it. While the over world looks like an RPG, this is always first and foremost a Fighting Game. Which leads me to one of my first problems: the platforming uses fighting game controls. It was an issue for me because despite being able to do so in other games, I had difficulty performing the short hops and super jumps it expected me to. Gonna guess it was the controller’s fault since it looks like a third party 360 Controller, but this becomes a bigger issue later on.

Despite agreeing to wait with a kind lady for the bridge to get built, Arizona sees a predator coming out of the “warned not to enter” Salt Mines and fights them off. Something to note is your health and levels stay with you after the fight. So if you’re not careful, you’ll be too low of health before you had the chance to recover. You can rebuild if you finish an opponent off with a super move, but for those who bought this game and aren’t into fighting games, maybe add some items that can restore health. One thing I will say I am glad for is the platforming doesn’t affect your health... Yet.

After getting out of the Salt Mines, our first boss encounter. It combines a normal fighting game engine with gimmicks depending on who you’re facing. Snakey, for example, attacks you from the background and you have to fight your way towards him while avoiding falling projectiles. It makes it more unique than how other fighting game story modes play it out. Downside, they expect you to remove 2 to 3 full health bars while you’re stuck with the one. Again, something people really good in fighting games can handle. Others will likely find it difficult. I like to think I’m in the middle but I am a person who favors Shoto Fighters and learned until after the fact Arizona has a smashing ground move that could be the closest to a projectile

Arizona is in the big city of the Reindeer. You can explore the city, see Pom chasing her dogs, and have an option fights with a bunch of Predators in someone’s basement (which honestly I believe is important to the story but you get to see that gate again in a later chapter) and in a hidden room in the library (sleeping with a Velvet Plush). I forgot to mention there are hidden costumes for you to find to wear on your RPG self. After finding the museum (with no help from the Reindeer), we get to meet boss #2: Velvet.

Now for some praising: the story mode does a great job letting us know of the main characters they focused on. The writing is very humorous and shows that this could be a great show if we get someone to produce cartoons for it. But because both are champions, only one could get the key: And that means they have to fight.

Velvet has three stages, but two share a life bar. The first is a normal fight. The second the wind constantly blows against you. This is when the rope can be useful to bring her in close if you’re position is right. The third phase is the most annoying. She’s in a tornado of ice and you have to get in close to hit her. But she’ll throw out various projectiles at you. Get close enough and you can hit her. But if you lose, you have to start from the last checkpoint. This is another problem I had. Granted, the check points are usually close to the boss encounter and there is a skip dialogue option, but to do so constantly when you keep failing is annoying when you can just put the rematch after the fight.

After that, you get to climb a mountain. This means more platforming. The biggest problem here is this time there are enemies. Bird Enemies. You can’t just hit them once and not worry, they got their own Health Bars and will attack you if you’re in their line of site. So imagine fighting game controls where you want to block these birds but instead turn around, leaving you open for an attack from behind. This is why I appreciate that Smash gives people a button to do jump as well as the ability to press up. That could help these platform stages so much more.

After climbing a mountain and fighting a murder of birds, she is found and patched up by a tribe of llamas. They warn her not to venture far but she does ignore them because she is on a quest. They do warn her of a monster in the maze and Arizona does indeed confront this monster: the Third Boss Paprika.

Like Velvet, Paprika has three phases with two sharing a life bar. 1st is a normal fight. Second is her sneak attacking you which you can avoid if you’re fast enough (or remember in the rematches) and third is she presses along the 4th Wall so she can jump on you from the front. Also, no one can understand her, not even her fellow Llamas.

After that, Velvet explores a temple. This is complete with Predator enemies, the in story Boss Gauntlet Gate, and block puzzles. You even drop two big ones on sleeping predators on the ground. After going through all that, you meet the final boss of this chapter: Oleander (or Ollie if you want to annoy her). 

Unlike the other bosses, Ollie has four phases (but you only need to get to the third one to continue the story line): Phase 1, a normal fight. Phase 2, she sometimes burst in energy that can do major damage. Phase 3, she flies around the screen shooting magical blasts at you. And the Final Phase, with the help from Fred (the evil spirit within the book), you have to avoid his attacks while stopping Ollie from unleashing a one hit kill move.

If you lose at Phase 3, the story continues. If you somehow manage to win, Fred pretty much destroys you and the story continues regardless. Arizona is beaten as Ollie finds the information she is looking for. As she leaves, Arizona gets up to continue her journey, beaten but not giving up on her quest. And that’s where the Chapter ends.

Overall, its a fun story and its one of the most unique story modes in a fighting game. But I can see three improvements: Add a jump button for the platforming levels, have healing items, and maybe give back some health between phases. But still I would say give it a try or at least a watch.

[fortheheavenssake]

💟💟 PG MM Anon(II) 💟💟 Interpretation Collection - 8

52. June 19

MM ANON …… HMTQ boost……… cup cakes in kings-him ………… Garden-send-her ……… September kids ………… hack Australia ………… Bei-ching ………… Charlotte & George together ………… no longer alert ?? ………… “ get packed Philip we’re orf soon” ………debt, what debt? ……… slave day………… ONS………… “ bubble bubble- toil and trouble” ……… 🎼teach your children well🎼………… “Sydney ‘ don’t forget my tigger PJs”……… 🎼swing low,sweet chariot 🎼………… “ Cabbage ‘ it’s tic-toc time”.

*Entertainment purposes

June 19/20

✝️✝️🌈🌈💟💟THANK YOU DEAR MM ANON, FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO😊😊💟💟🌈🌈✝️✝️

RIDDLE#52

HMTQ boost………

HMTQ SENT A LETTER TODAY TO BOOST OR ENCOURAGE THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY FOR THEIR HARD WORK DURING THIS TRYING TIME. HERE IS HER LETTER . COURTESY OF www.business-live.co.uk

Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce chief executive Dr Ian Kelly has welcomed recognition from the Queen of the work the organisation and their members are doing nationwide.

The Queen is patron of the British Chambers of Commerce and she has acknowledged the response to the coronavirus pandemic as work begins on rebuilding the economy.

In the letter, Her Majesty said: “At a time of great difficulty for many, it is heart-warming to see the civic response and generosity of so many businesses, small and large, to the challenges posed, whether supporting the health sector or vulnerable communities.”

“As Patron of the British Chambers of Commerce, it gives me great pride to see the contribution you and your members are making to help firms, champion trade and rebuild communities.”

cup cakes in kings-him ………… Garden-send-her ………

BOTH WILLIAM AND CATHERINE MADE PUBLIC APPEARANCES TODAY. I AM SAYING THIS FOR THE LAST TIME SINCE I HAVE BEEN BANGING ON ABOUT THIS SINCE LAST NOVEMBER, SHOWED ABSOLUTELY NO SIGN OF A BABY BUMP.😮😞😊 WILLIAM VISITED THE MOST QUAINT BAKERY I HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN MY LIFE. OH HOW I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT FOR REAL. HE BOUGHT SOME PASTRIES, HAD A CHAT ABOUT HOW THE BUSINESS WAS GOING.I POSTED THIS EARLIER , THEY GAVE HIM THE CUTEST FOOTBALL THEMED EARLY BIRTHDAY CAKE. HE LOOKED LIKE A KID GETTING IT, IT WAS SO CUTE. SMITHS THE BAKERS SERVE HMTQ SANDRINGHAM ESTATE SO THEY MUST BE REALLY YUMMY GOODS COMING OUT OF THOSE OVENS.

CATHERINE, TRUE TO HER LIVE , YET ANOTHER THING SHE EXCELS AT VISITED A GARDEN CENTRE CALLED FAKENHAM,NEAR THEIR ANMER HALL HOME. . SHE LOOKED SO HAPPY AND HEALTHY. I LEARNED A NEW WORD, HER VEST SHE WORE IS CALLED A GILET. I WONDER IF THAT MEANS SOME WEAR IT FISHING, WITH THE WORD GILL IN IT? SHE REPORTEDLY SHARED THAT SHE AND WILLIAM HAD DONE THE GROCERY SHOPPING DURING LOCKDOWN. HOW AMAZING ARE OUR CAMBRIDGES I MEAN COME ON!💜💜💜💜💜❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💜💜💜💜💜

September kids …………

IT HAS BEEN ALL BUT CONFIRMED BY THE BIRTHDAY GENT HIMSELF, PM BORIS JOHNSON, THAT SCHOOLS SHALL FULLY RESUME COME SEPTEMBER IN THE U.K. HOW MANY RELIEVED PARENTS DO YOU HEAR SIGHING, IF YOU LISTEN REALLY HARD YOU CAN HEAR IT! GOOD, WE LIVE WITH VIRUSES AND BACTERIA ALL THE TIME. LIFE MUST GET ON, THE ECONOMY MUST GET ON. WE HAVE SEEN THE EFFECTS IN RECENT DAYS OF BEHAVIOUR PARTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO BEING ON LOCKDOWN FOR SO LONG.

hack Australia …………

BIG NEWS CAME DURING THE NIGHT FROM AUSTRALIAN PM MORRISON OF A SYSTEMATIC, TARGETED, REPEATED INVASION OF ALL SORTS OF PLACES BY A FOREIGN ACTOR. GOVERNMENT TO PRIVATE BUSINESSES TO FINANCIAL. IT HAS BEEN SUSTAINED AND AT SUCH A LEVEL HE WENT PUBLIC BUT AS FAR AS I KNOW HAS STOPPED SHORT OF NAMING THE ACTOR. THE PUNDITS HAVE RULED OUT RUSSIA AND ARE LOOKING RIGHT AT CHINA. CHINA HAS BOUGHT UP SO MUCH LAND, REAL ESTATE AND BUSINESSES IN CANADA ESPECIALLY ON THE WEST COAST.

Bei-ching …………

CHINA HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN TO HACK INTO COMPANIES, GOVERNMENT ETC AND STEAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. JUST LOOK AT OUR COUNTRY CURRENTLY “HOSTING”THE HEAD OF HUAWEIS DAUGHTER AT THE REQUEST OF AMERICA HAVING A WARRANT. SHE THOUGHT SHE WOULD GET BOND AT HER RECENT HEARING BUT THE JUDGE MADE THE RIGHT AND INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS DECISION TO NOT GRANT BOND. SHE HAS LOTS OF BODY PROTECTORS AT ALL TIMES. I WORRY BECAUSE CHINA HAS A LONG MEMORY. MEANWHILE THEY ARE AT IT IN AUSTRALIA MAKING BILLIONS FROM STOLEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, DESIGNS, SECRETS, DEALS ETC ETC.

Charlotte & George together …………

THE CAMBRIDGES HAVE GONE PUBLIC NOW STATING THAT GEORGE AND CHARLOTTE WILL REMAIN TOGETHER WHEN IT COMES TO SCHOOL ATTENDANCE EVEN THOUGH SHE COULD BE IN SCHOOL NOW. I APPLAUD THEM, THEY CAN SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER. I HAVE NO DOUBT THEY HAVE DONE PLENTY OF LEARNING AT HOME AS THEIR PATENTS ARE NEVER IDLE UNLESS THEY ARE BINGE WATCHING SOMETHING OR WATCHING FOOTBALL.

no longer alert ?? …………

THE PAPERS IN THE U.K. TODAY , PM SAYING THEY WILL MOVE DOWN ANOTHER STEP AND BEFORE LONG THERE WILL BE ZERO COVID ALERT. THE CURRENT CASES ARE VERY LOW AND PEOPLE ARE CRAVING TO HAVE THEIR LIVES………

debt, what debt? ………

AS YESTERDAY, OR EARLIER THIS WEEK, THE PAPERS STATED THE BANK OF ENGLAND HAS FLOODED £100,000,000.00 IN NEW MONEY IN AN ATTEMPT TO STAVE OFF A COMPLETE RECESSION DESCENDING INTO COMPLETE MARKET CRASH. THE LOCKDOWN EFFECTS ON BUSINESS PLUS PEOPLE ARE SAVING MONEY NOT SPENDING IT LIKE THEY WOULD IF LIFE WERE THE USUAL. SEEMS TO BE SOME SPENDING LIKE THE DEBT IS NO BOTHER. EXAMPLE BEING THAT £9,000,000.00 PAINT JOB ON THE PLANE MM ANON MENTIONED THE OTHER DAY. BAILOUTS, STIMULUS PACKAGES, ASSISTANCES TO FAMILIES AND THE UNEMPLOYED AND SOON TO BE UNEMPLOYED….JUST READ @sandiedog POST YESTERDAY ABOUT THAT.

slave day…………

IN AMERICA, THIS WEEK IN JUNE IS REFERRED TO AS JUNETEENTH. I MENTIONED IT THE OTHER DAY. TODAY LOTS OF REMEMBRANCES. IN TULSA OKLAHOMA, ON JUNE 19/1865 AN ENTIRE SECTION OF THE CITY, BLACK OWNED BUSINESSES, IT WAS CALLED THE BLACK WALL STREET. IT WAS A MASSIVE GROUP THAT INVADED BURNING EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND AND MURDERING HUNDREDS OF BLACK CITIZENS. I HAD NOT HEARD OF THIS UNTIL THIS YEAR. ITS STILL A VERY PAINFUL MEMORIES FOR THE COMMUNITY. TODAY IS CALLED THE START OF EMANCIPATION. NO MORE BEING A SLAVE, A CITIZEN.

ONS…………

THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL STATISTICS HAS RELEASED COVID-19 SEVERITY CASES INTO ETHNICITIES. BLACK MEN ARE FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DIE FROM COVID AS CAUCASIAN. THEY LIST OTHER ETHNICITIES AS WELL THAT HAVE A HIGHER RISK RATE. I HOPE SOMEONE INVESTIGATES AND RESEARCHES THOSE DATA FINDINGS.

“ bubble bubble- toil and trouble” ………

AGAIN AT LAST WE RETURN TO THE BARD, THIS IS THE SCENE WHERE THE THREE WITCHES PREDICTING THE HORRORS THAT WILL UNFOLD IN “THE PLAY” ITS VERY BAD LUCK,ACCORDING TO THEATRE FOLK TO SAY THE NAME, MACBETH. HOWEVER, THE CORRECT LINE IS DOUBLE DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE……HERE IT IS BUBBLE. IS THIS TO MEANING THAT THE SOCIAL BUBBLE THAT STARTED IN THE U.K. LAST WEEKEND I THINK, AND THE AIR CORRIDORS, BRIDGES BUBBLES WHATEVER MAY NOT BE WORKING AS PLANNED. THE PM IS PROPOSING, MAYBE STATING THAT CLASS SIZES OF 30 STUDENTS IS A PUPIL BUBBLE. THERE IS PENDING RISK OF COURSE BUT MUCH MUCH LESS THAN PREVIOUSLY. I LOVE THE PHOTO IF HIM WITH THE WEE ONES DEMONSTRATING THE NEW DISTANCE.

🎼teach your children well🎼…………

I LOVE THIS SONG, I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT. CROSBY STILLS AND NASH, GRAHAM NASH WEOTE. MAN I FORGOT ABOUT THEM, THEY ARE SO GOOD. CHILDREN WILL RESUME NORMAL LEARNING IN THE FALL BARRING ANYTHING MAJOR, I BELIEVE IN CANADA AS WELL.

I THINK THIS HAS A DEEPER MEANING, THE SONG WAS WRITTEN IN THE 1960’s. A TIME OF GREAT TURMOIL AND UNREST IN AMERICA, ESPECIALLY THE SOUTHERN REGION. DR KING WAS SPEAKING AND WORKING HARD AT RACIAL EQUALITY. HIS, I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH IS EPIC. IF YOU BY CHANCE HAVE NEVER HEARD AND SEEN IT, I SUGGEST IT HIGHLY. THE PROTESTING, FRUSTRATION OF RACIAL ISSUES WORLDWIDE AND THEN OF COURSE THE TROUBLEMAKERS JOIN IN, WREAK HAVOC AND TAKE AWAY THE MEANING. BUT I DO NOT SEE THIS GOING AWAY. THINGS ARE CHANGING AND THEY MUST. IF WE DO NOT EVOLVE AND LEARN , WE GROW STAGNANT. HUMAN BEINGS ARE MEANT TO LEARN , GROW, LIVE LIFE FULLY. OTHERWISE WHATS THE POINT RIGHT?

🎼swing low,sweet chariot 🎼…………

IN REALLY OLD FASHIONED TERMS THIS IS A NEGRO SPIRITUAL, NO OFFENCE INTENDED. THE SPIRITUALS HAD MEANING BEYOND THE RELIGIOUS. THE LYRICS SERVED AS A GUIDEPOST TO ESCAPED SLAVES. WHERE TO GO, HOW TO FIND SAFETY, HOW TO FIND ABOLITIONISTS WHO WILL HELP THEM TOWARDS FREEDOM. THEY ARE EXTREMELY POWERFUL. THE RUGBY LEAGUE , REPORTEDLY HAS TAKEN THIS SONG FOR MANY YEARS SND AS WE KNOW IN ENGLISH SPORT LIKE FOOTBALL OR RUGBY, THE CROWD SINGS THE SAME SONGS, THEME SONGS IF YOU LIKE. WITH THE CURRENT CLIMATE OF RACIAL ISSUES THEY ARE GOING TO CONSIDER STOPPING SINGING THIS. ALTHOUGH HOW DO YOU STOP 40,000 DRUNK FANS FROM SINGING ONCE THE STADIUMS OPEN UP? THE PM HAS COME OUT AGAINST THIS BAN.

“ get packed Philip we’re orf soon” “ Sydney ‘ don’t forget my tigger PJs”……… “ Cabbage ‘ it’s tic-toc time”.

BACK AT MY MOST FAVOURITE TIME. FIRESIDE VISIT AT WINDSOR CASTLE. TIME TP HEAD UP TO BALMORAL, THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS AS USUAL. HMTQ REMINDING HIMSELF IT HOLIDAY TIME. SHE MUST BE FEELING PRETTY GOOD TO USE THE CHEEKY ENGLISH ORF FOR OFF.🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂NOW HIMSELF WEARING TIGGER PYJAMAS I WOULD PAY SERIOUS MONEY TO SEE. BUT WE DO KNOW WELL THAT AT CHRISTMASTIME , THEY LOVE TO GIVE EACH OTHER WACKY FUNNY GIFTS. MY SUSPICION IS THAT THESE ARE ONE SUCH GIFT.😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣. TWO BELOVED NICKNAMES CABBAGE 🥬 AND SAUSAGE , HIMSELF HAS FOR HMTQ. HE IS QUITE SWEETLY ACTUALLY, REMINDING HER ITS TIME FOR “THE CAMBRIDGE SHOW ON TIK TOK”.

I WOUKD LOVE IT TO BE THE RACHEL SHOW WITH AN ⏳COUNTING DOWN TIME TO JUSTICE. ⚖️ 🕰 TICK TOCK RACHEL, SOON THE BELL TOLLETH FOR THEE 🔔

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

——————

53. July 1

💟💟🌈🌈✝️✝️ PG AUDIOSPEAK INTERPRETATION OF MM ANON💟💟🌈🌈✝️✝️

MM ANON ……… Hong gone ………… Melbourne hellbourn……… Britain made a wedding profit ??? …………… 4 th July closed. …………… Independent’s bug. …………Maple Kate forever……… George is upset…………… 🎼follow er of fashion 🎼………………… MM, a legend in her own lunchtime ……………… Wigan bin in ……………………air Bridge of size.

Entertainment purposes

JULY 1/2020 HAPPY CANADA DAY🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

RIDDLE #53 FOR ME BUT I THINK I MISSED FOUR OR FIVE RIDDLES SORRY. I WILL ATTEMPT THIS ONE. THANK YOU MM ANON FOR YOUR KIND MESSAGE✝️✝️✝️🌈🌈🌈💟💟💟PG💟💟💟💟🌈🌈🌈✝️✝️✝️🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥

Hi kids this is my very very very first riddle using this software where I don’t have to type so I just speak so if I come across differently it’ll be just my pattern of speech but hopefully you’ll still get the whole wonderful marvellous experience of PG😁💜💜💜✝️✝️✝️🦥🦥🦥✝️✝️✝️🌈🌈🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜

Hong gone …………

Well kids I am going to attempt using dictation no no no attempt dictation anyhow I can’t go back in and erase what does called so anyways I’m going to attempt dictation of audio of my riddle interpretation and this one hung gone makes me very sad. The British handover her to China of Hong Kong 20 years ago or so was with the understanding that Hong Kong ,The Hong Kong ,would maintain its independence and it’s free market and all that and it’s all changed. Hong Kong is gone. China has invaded they have made free speech and any mention relating to Hong Kong illegal and many people have been arrested and this is absolutely dire situation it’s just terrible. We need to pray for all those people there’s a lot of people from all over the world that have lived there for a long time doing business and I know a lot of Canadians have left already but I do know many are still there and sentence

Melbourne hellbourn……

This phrase goes back a number of years some when there was a lot of racial attacks on I,migrants from India. however that is Old news and what we have is a major major spike in again the coronavirus across Melbourne there’s been any many more cases actually Austra different parts of Australia and it’s resulted in a lot of serious oh I don’t need to go onto all that you guys know the whole what happens when the case is spike. They have been saying for a while with this coronavirus COVID-19, is more virulence in warmer weather no that’s interesting because here where I am it’s we’re pushing 40°C and Australia is on the bottom of the world are on the other side of the world anyways and they’re technically in there autumn so I don’t know how that theory holds I although I haven’t myself checked with the temperature is there so I could be wrong it could be out there. Anyway it is very serious and we just need to keep all of everyone in prayer our Australian friends in prayer or New Zealand Friends in prayer.

Britain made a wedding profit ??? ……………

Ha Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah Hah oh kids when I speak you will get more of a conversation for me then just information and I had to laugh reading this because Madam is now claiming 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂she’s claiming 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂knock knock do now knock knock , who’s there, ha ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ha ha. OK serious now Madam is claiming that her 32,000,000 pound wedding which was paid for by whoever brought in $1 billion pounds worth of tourism to the UK ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha ha I am sorry but this is just insanity run amok in the mire of Sea hag soup yuck liar Rachel Rachel Rachel Rachel Rachel liar.

4 th July closed. …………… Independent’s bug. …………

Today is Canada day so I wish my fellow Canadians a happy Canada Day🇨🇦. July 4 in America is usually their day to celebrate America day in the American land as Pluto living would say, if you’ve ever watched Pluto living on YouTube, with our Canadian superstore talking dog talks about the Canada land and the America land and the England seriously. So July 4 is Independence Day in America. It is a holiday it’s usually a picnic day a parade day or day of national pride a lot of people out and about with music and film and live music and fireworks 💥 and that sort of thing do you to the increase again in corona Coronavirus seems to be spiking in various cities and of course the “friendly gatherings” that have been happening all over the country “to redecorate public landscapes”, have led to the cancellation of many July 4 celebrations which is very sad and again then indication of where things are at.

Maple Kate forever………

🍁 The maple leaf forever with the original song of Canada before we have to celebrate dominion day but we are when we got our flag I think in 1967 it’s been since then has been called Canada day. When William and Catherine visited Canada in 2011 they were here on Canada Day and she’s all she’s beautiful in red and she was wearing the Maple 🍁 leaf brooch that a HMTQ loaned to her. It was a gift from Canada. I am blessed enough to own a copy of that brooch that my sister brought back for me from one of her trips to London which unfortunately she could not take this year she has missed several trips that she’s not happy bunny 🐰 about.

George is upset……………

Now I know this is not recent but there have been cute reports that our George is not happy with the schoolwork he’s getting because Charlotte has much cooler stuff to learn and to work on. That was reported back in May mid May end of May so I don’t know if she’s doing cooler summer projects or maybe taking swimming lessons or something else maybe she’s got some thing that he thinks is cooler I couldn’t find anything recently anyways more recent than that but George is such a sensitive soul don’t you just love them.

🎼follow er of fashion 🎼…………………

OK here we have a song and it’s follower of fashion or follow ER a fashion let’s talk about the ER could be emergency room or a variation of the British way of saying her which would be ‘er, although they do say that in some parts of America I believe are pronounce it thusly. The song follower and fashions with the in from the 1960s by the band The Kinks and it totally made fun of British fashion and style at that time And just as you do you can make fun of your own but don’t let anybody else try. No when I see ER, it obviously her Majesty’s signature, however here we have ER in lowercase,er. This is a woman who is a legend in her own mind Madam part of the billion £1,000,000,000 that was supposed to have been earned by the government of England or Britain or the England land or whatever amount of calls it a part of the billion £of that was to be earned by her wedding was from her and her brilliant fashion choices none of which were British with the exception of I believe and Stella McCartney. The dress for the reception dinner after the happy gathering of unhappy people are rumours abound whether a reception occurred or not. There are no pictures and yeah so whether there was an actual reception or not I’ll leave that for you to decide whether madams fashion choices have been British is obvious know whether her fashion choices have raised money probably whether they have been good no and so this song with kind of fit because it’s making direct funding of fashion British fashion of the time but now the fashion that Madame has employed guys the threat of the stuff is totally different doing talking then doing typing so please bear with me.

MM, a legend in her own lunchtime ………………

Oh this is too funny I just use the word the word the first phrase in the above paragraph she’s a legend in her own mind MM ANON, you have A legend in her own lunchtime. I think the same explanation applies she is just the cats miaow in her own eyes and she just can do anything and do no wrong wonder if she’s preparing for now at lunchtime chat show or what’s going on the meaning of lunchtime I should just worry about her court and her five so-called friends that she has no named not public leave it to the court and my goodness the chips are going to fall the chips are going to fall the 🔔 tolling I can hear it off in the distance the bell 🔔 is towing can you hear the bell 🔔 Rachel it is starting to toll for thee!

Wigan bin in ……………………

Sad news for the Wigand athletic club it’s been announced that they’ve gone into administration. They have been in the champions club and this closure administration is due to the effects of the coronavirus yet another victim of the coronavirus. The club has been given a 12 point suspension which could remove them from the current leak there in and relegate some to a lower league which should be absolutely disastrous and devastating of course for all the fans never mind the players and all the staff people in their jobs just it’s just devastating. The coronavirus has just weird we haven’t even begin to see The extreme damage which has been done and all the ripple effects of the lockdown the many deaths the illness is the lot real lockdown on the entire effectiveness of just it’s just it’s so massive that my mind at least at this point cannot even grasp.

air Bridge of size.

An air bridge is the cross platform right from your desktop to your mobile phone communication system for quick to dial phone numbers it’ll text you you are a nearest transfers from any desktop to your mobile device which is very convenient.

I don’t believe MM ANON, is referring to this type of air because I do believe she’s she’s really referring to the air bridge in terms of travel. I’ve actually found a newspaper article here it’s in titled air bridge of sighs SIGHS,, and it’s talking about the rules of the UK regarding travel the quarantine for those travelling into the country will still be remain in effect and people will be compelled to wear facemasks in public transport. Seems to be some challenges with regards to individual countries. Currently I emergency tops are in the way between our Nicola Sturgeon a Scottish national party and the Boris Johnson he made the statement that the air is no border between Scotland and England it that that was absurd and as we knowScots🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿are proud and they were many want their independence and a great umbrage at the comment made by the PM Johnson. This is quite important because as you know her Majesty always goes to Balmoral in Scotland for her summer break and if they are not allowing travel that would not be a good thing so guys get it resolved she wants to go she needs to go they need the holiday get it resolved please for her Majesty thank you.

OK kids I’d like some feedback on how this went using the microphone and having me talk instead of typing. It’s definitely been a lot easier for me and I hope it makes the riddle still enjoyable and helpful I am missed about four orfive of them that week when I took a break there and I feel badly about that but I can’t go back and do them now so I don’t know what riddle l am on now I am really don’t know but anyways thanks kids thanks a lot bye-bye

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

—————-

54. July 3.

HEY KIDS, I AM GETTING THE HANG OF DOING THE AUDIO NOW. IT SWITHCHES FROM ALL CAPS TO REGUSO BEAR WITH ME✝️✝️✝️PG💟💟💟

MM ANON

MM ANON ………OMG your under arrest………… video link………… across the border Scotland ……………surprise George …………… Charlotte leads………… Kate&William on top again ………… MM pathetic and mendacious ………… fakency lies……………… “ nice to be going soon cabbage“………… “ yes , I’m looking forward to a drive around the grounds” ………… “ shooting party’s this year” ……… “ doctors approval Philip “ …………” we’ll bring Sydney “……… “ Ahhh, that reminds me,Sydney!!”……… “Philip, it’s tic toc.”

Entertainment purposes

✝️✝️🌈🌈💟💟 THANK YOU MM ANON 💟💟🌈🌈✝️✝️

JULY 3/2020 0425 hrs RIDDLE FROM JULY 2/2020

RIDDLE #54

Sorry kids I ended up crashing to sleep yesterday and the riddle came up so I missed it but here at four in the morning I’m awake and

OMG your under arrest………… video link…………

WELL GHISLAINE MAXWELL WAS ARRESTED yESTERDAY ACTUALLY BY NOW IT WILL BE THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY SHE WAS ARRESTED ON WEDNESDAY THURSDAY. THURSDAY IN THE TINY STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE IN AMERICA. SHE WAS NOT THOUGHT TO BE IN AMERICA BY MANY. OTHERS THOUGHT MAYBE SHE WAS HIDING IN SOUTH AMERICA OR SOMEWHERE ELSE BUT NOPE THERE SHE WAS IN THAT LITTLE STATE. SHE HAS BEEN BEING BEING MONITORED BY THE FBI FOR QUITE SOME TIME AND SO THEY WERE WAITING, HOW WAS IT, PHRASE THEY SAID THEY WERE WAITING FOR WHEN IT WAS THE RIGHT TIME, SO OBVIOUSLY THERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT THEY NEEDED TO HAVE IN PLACE before they arrested her. THE FBI WANT MISS MAXWELL TO FLIP OVER ON PRINCE ANDREW AND SOME OTHER WELL HEELED MEN BECAUSE SHE HERSELF IS BEING ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING ARE THOSE THOSE WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS, SHE MAY BE LOOKING TO MAKE A DEAL. ON THE PHRASE THAT JEFFREY HAD A BLACK BOOK BAG, IN HER, BY ARRESTING HER, THEY’VE GOT THE LIVING BLACK BOOK! SO THEY USE THE “THEY KNOW WHERE SHE KNOWS WERE ALL THE BODIES ARE BURIED WHICH MEANING MAY MEAN LITERAL BODIES I DON’T KNOW BUT IT’S JUST USUALLY MEANS THAT SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYONE AND EVERY HORRIBLE THING THAT WAS DONE.OK kids all IS WORKING NOW OR ISN’T IT IF IT’S WORKING BUT IT WORKS HERE AT WORK AND EMAIL BUT IT DOESN’T WORK IN A TUMBLR WHEN I WANT TO DO A MESSAGE TO SOMEBODY SO ANYHOW WE’RE STILL LEARNING THIS WHOLE GAME. NEW SENTENCE SO SHE WAS TO APPEAR YESTERDAY VIA VIDEO LINK TO FACE THE JUDGE THE BIGGEST HURDLE WAS BAIL. She was mandated to the custody of the US marshals and will be transferred to the courthouse I see the jail in Manhattan. Ironically it’s the same jail where Jeffrey Epstein was held until his death.OF COURSE SHE WANTED BAIL BUT DO IT TO HER NOW THERE’S SOME SOME PEOPLE SAYING YOU SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH AS MUCH MONEY AS THE RUMORS ARE BUT I THINK SHE’S A PRETTY WEALTHY LADY SO NEEDLESS TO SAY BAIL WAS DENIED BECAUSE SHE IS A FLIGHT RISK. She is being held without bond on child charges of child sex trafficking part of it is for Jeffrey Epstein and part of it is for herself oh I see now I’ve gone on all caps off again anyways whatever I’ll just keep talking. SHE’S JUST ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING HUMAN BEING AND THEY WANT HER TO FLIP ON PRINCE ANDREW AND SO THEY’RE GONNA BE PUTTING PRESSURE ON HER AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN I REALLY DON’T.

across the border Scotland ……………

WELL THINGS HAVE GOTTEN GONE FROM BAD TO WORSE SO YESTERDAY THEY WERE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH NICOLA STURGEON IN THE FIRST MINISTER OF SCOTLAND AND THINGS HAVE JUST FALLEN APART AND THE BORDER WILL REMAIN CLOSED. SO ANYONE WANTING TO TRAVEL TO SCOTLAND I THINK WOULD BE “SOL”, OR, BLANK OUT OF LUCK AS WE SAY HERE I WON’T SAY THE FIRST WORD. I am finding conflicting information here on whether her Majesty will be able to go to Balmoral or not due to the border being closed. I said I am but it comes up as I’ll caps on so this whatever you’ll just have to bear with me and with the with the system sometimes it’ll be capital letters sometimes not. So I don’t know what’s gonna happen with her vacation does she have the power and authority to override the law seems like Dominic Cummings and then a lot of local politicians to so I I don’t know what’s gonna happen I really don’t. I just feel really bad for her they just been through so much loss so much and now this and with what’s going on with Ghislaine Maxwell oh my goodness.

surprise George …………… Charlotte leads…………

All caps on one of Prince Georges godmothers Julia Samuel has just come out with what she gives him for gifts. SHE SPOKE ABOUT HOW GEORGE’S PERSONALITY IS SO SIMILAR TO DIANA’S HOW IT’S FUN AND CHEEKY AND LIKES JUST TO HAVE A LOT OF FUN.SHE WAS SPEAKING ON A PODCAST AND THE LADY WHO IS DOING THE PODCAST HER NAME WAS ELIZABETH DAY, AND A FEW RIDDLES AGO MAYBE TWO WEEKS AGO WE HAD A CLUE FROM YOU MM ANON THAT SAID NICE SCOOP BETH KNOW I THOUGHT AT THE TIME IT WAS ELIZABETH HOLMES AND I WAS STICKING TO MY STORY BUT HERE WE HAVE ELIZABETH DAY WHO HAS SCORED AN INTERVIEW. PRINCE GEORGE ‘S GODMOTHER SO I WOULD SAY THAT WOULD BE A NICE SCOOP BETH.

THE CAMBRIDGE CHILDREN ARE A BUSY BUSY BUSY AS USUAL THEY ARE HAVING A GARDEN THAT THEY’RE ALL WORKING ON. NO OF COURSE ALL EVERYTHING BECOMES A COMPETITION WITH CHILDREN AND I THINK GEORGE IS A LITTLE SUNFLOWER IS NOT GROWING AS FAST AS FIRST LOUIS SO HE’S A LITTLE BIT NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT OR UPSET.

Kate&William on top again …………

I don’t have Instagram but what I’m finding here and I don’t know if it’s correct but the Sussex is have 11.2 and the Cambridge and have 11.9 million so if that’s accurate and correct they are on top again with the Instagram followers. It’s just me something else that’s not surprising either because we love them everybody loves them.

MM pathetic and mendacious ………… fakency lies………………

Madam is continuing with a boatload of PR lies this week. It is just been unbelievable all the lies and the the scraping of the barrel and again crying make up lad has appeared that little that man that acts like a little lad and cries and oh my goodness. The she is pregnant rumours are out and so are rumours she is seeing the top OB/GYN in LA and the scan revealed it’s a baby girl. Blah blah blah more lies lies lies she’s more pathetic as the days go by and I didn’t even think that was possible for her.

Now with Ms. Maxwell being arrested she knows all the Names and she knows everything about everybody who is involved with everything. So if there is any connection I would be quaking in my boots and I think it’s really interesting that President Trump had a conversation with her Majesty the Queen just before the arrest so the FBI saying they’re waiting for the right time for the arrest this is a long game kids this is not just a general in a play and it’s got a touchdown and we’re done with it so it’s a wow I would just love to know all the details that are happening in the background.

With regards to her lawsuit against MOS she now has come forward in the sealed document named who the five friends are that she had not given permission to tell her story to via People magazine. She still denies giving permission. So it’s gonna be really interesting when and if we find out who those five friends are and all my my my my my my we are getting near the end I can just hear the tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock on the clock. justice is awaiting definitely the scales of justice our O waving and many of us are as well not waiving the waiting.

“ nice to be going soon cabbage“………… “ yes , I’m looking forward to a drive around the grounds” ………… “ shooting party’s this year” ……… “ doctors approval Philip “ …………” we’ll bring Sydney “……… “ Ahhh, that reminds me,Sydney!!”……… “Philip, it’s tic toc.”

Now we are back at Windsor Castle. Her Majesty and Prince Philip are discussing the pending trip to Balmoral, via helicopter, and one of his sweetheart words for her is cabbage or sausage and so we’re having cabbage today and they’re speaking of it. HMTQ is saying how nice it is to be going for a drive around the grounds. And as per usual there will be hunting parties and that’s anything outdoor at Balmoral fishing picnicking hunting it’s just absolutely the delight and love of the royal family. Sounds like they’ve both had their medical checks and they’re all clear no signs of fever or any other health issues so they’re clear to go over to Scotland and I’m certain with her being the Queen that that she can make that decision and I wholeheartedly support that. Her Majesty is saying you still need to bring Sydney along I don’t know how himself would get along without Sydney in and he saying all Sydney yes and I think he’s wanting to make sure that Sydney has enough of his Boddington‘s to last for the entire they are at Balmoral, and then some🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂😂.

They are getting an alert or some sort of tone on their device indicating that it’s the Tic Toc time and the Cambridge kids are on and ready to perform forget again and himself oh I’d love to see that it’s not so awesome I just I just have pictures of what this time as you know with them together the two of them and Sydney and the dynamics going back-and-forth and after knowing and being together for so long I just think it’s so so darn special.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

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55. July 3

MM ANON ………… 0600 hr. ……………… build,build,build, drink ,drink,drink …………… 🎼Braaaaaazil🎼……………… business as unusual …………… speak to the Guinness ………… TSDONY………… Subpoena ad testomonium…… theatre/ no theatre ……………… but not America ………… Lone Ranger……………… Mt, Rushmore ………… a bad day in LA ………… still hiding

✝️✝️🌈🌈💟💟THANK YOU MM ANON💟💟🌈🌈✝️✝️

JULY 3/2020. RIDDLE #55

0600 hr. ……………… build,build,build, drink ,drink,drink ……………

Well tomorrow or in the UK it’s ready today there will be one massive as the paper says pub Mageddon to get a riff on the word Armageddon. Starting at 06:00 the pubs will be open and there will be so many people queued up and waiting to get in. There will be drinking like we have not seen probably since the end of prohibition in the United States it will be on an epic level. There will be so much alcohol consumed because people have not had their locals for so long now. I sure would not want to be anywhere near any any place near where there is the level of rage needing to be let loose.

Yesterday PM Boris Johnson was a really given the charge that they needed to get the economy going and they will start building and refurbishing and adding a lot to London for sure and the Country. Needing to get the economy going after it being stalled for so long and having the Bank of England flood more money into the market, just people need to get back to work.

However it will be a drinking marathon and literally that will be the Thomas like round song do you remember round songs when you were a kid? you would like the wheels on the bus it all take turns than the song would go around and around. Anyways it will be like that drink drink drink build build build drink and drink beer I’ll be like two opposite sides working at the same time it’s going to be a gong show.

🎼Braaaaaazil🎼………………

MM ANON I just love you. This song by Xavier Cugat Is entitled Brazil. It was used in many movies and many lounges at the time when in many old movies of which I am a great fan of any of you know. Most of you would recognize the melody instantly as it was played but not know the name of it or who the performer was. It is a great Latin music song.There’s a movie called Sitting Pretty one of my favourite movies of all time with Maureen O’Hara and Robert Young,it is saying her husband they’re still there they’re name are Stacy and Henry King hang out what’s his name it’s gonna bug me and it’ll come back to me anyways this song plays prominently in a scene with that movie with her and Clifton Webb were doing a dance as the town gossips about them. This is one of the great Mr. Belvedere movies if you have not seen any of them oh you must. As you can see I remembered his name I am I thought I added it but above there his name is Robert Young.

Brazil is exploding with cases of COVID-19 is anyone else having COVID-19 fatigue like or is it just me? Anyhow they have decided to reopen the many businesses and they have not even hit the peak of their their cases yet. It’s it’s a dire thing for the economy and balancing lockdown and and finances and it’s just an absolute nightmare. One of the newspaper links here is saying that it’s a tragedy that is foretold is it inevitably going to happen and get my chores as things reopen the virus will spread even more. So it’s absolutely disastrous and so sad which is it just makes me so sad that this is happening.

business as unusual ……………

Everything has changed but since Covid in this clue could apply to anything from the social distancing and restaurants are the plastic that’s not the right word but you know the clear plastic for up in front of the cash registers are between tables. The business is re-open but with limits and the levels of disease spread will be monitored very closely any increase will result in what’s happened in Leicester were so been locked down again on people I’m sure are not obeying the the rules.

speak to the Guinness …………

One of my favourite beverages when I was able to drink before I’ve been on all this medication with Guinness extra cold oh my times in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 all my good memories good memories. The way this is worded it almost reminds me of the saying talk to the hand when you didn’t want to hear something you put your hand up and you say talk to the hand. So this is like speak to the Guinness.I don’t know if there’s not enough supply or if they’re thinking they’re not having enough obviously then you talk to you to the Guinness. That is about it I don’t know if that’s for certain it off but that sounds possible to me.Given that they have been ramping up production of their famous beverage in anticipation of this weekends drink fest and they want to make sure they have enough on hand. Bars were supposed to open originally at midnight but they were had to be delayed until 6 AM so I’m sure the crowd will be just raring to go.

TSDONY…………

No what is this I have heard of SDNY the Southern District of New York. Geoffrey Berman he was head prosecutor of this very aggressive arm of the criminal justice system in the United States was fired a few days ago. I am not sure who is who will replace them I haven’t looked it up yet. So what what what what does B out of New York the Southern District well I guess you know what MM ANON in on you you’re using a different abbreviation I know it is SDNY and so I think you’re doing it as TSDONY which means the Southern District of New York I’m gonna go with that. This is a court that also prosecuted Michael Cohen, President Trump‘s I think they called him his fixer anyways he’s in jail now he’s been convicted of all sorts of things he’s in jail prison.

This is the office of which out of which Ghislaine Maxwell will be prosecuted. She was arrested in New Hampshire and she was turned over to the US Sheriffs for transport to taking her to Manhattan to the same jail where Jeffrey Epstein was kept. I certainly hope they have better security and supervision of her other than they did have Jeffrey. From the way the papers are talking it sounds like she’s going to be flipping over and cooperating and giving up all sorts of names and she knows a lot about a lot of people that they would not want known. Continues to be as this does laser focus on Prince Andrew from something way back when with someone who was an adult. There are so many politicians and stars will start is that an old word stars were like in the 1940s those movies to me those are stars so it was considered a star today is somebody who’s got PR. There’s a lot of people political people wealthy people people we probably can’t even imagine that are in her little mental black book that she could flip over on but yet they seem to be banging away at Prince Andrew. So it seems like this attack at our monarchy it’s just it’s continuing and it’s just I am not saying that I think he’s innocent but I do think he’s innocent until it’s proven guilty right it’s not how the world works? They just seem to be laser focussed on getting him to testify or getting something on him and were the backers are going full speed on this I’m not saying that office is corrupt but it’s very interesting that that the president had to add Bill Barr get rid of the head prosecutor there I don’t know I I don’t know anymore what what is true and what is fake news I really don’t.

Subpoena ad testomonium……

So I was just looking up the meaning of the word testomonium and it means at the end of a contract or a clause that says in witness there of any person would he say that they were in witness of some incident and they will be signing their name. Subpoena I think we all know what that means that’s a pay for you to get from the prosecutors office or the defence that you need to come in and give testimony. The FBI have been going on and on how uncooperative Prince Andrew and for him his side he said he would but he’s made himself available at any point for them to come to England to interview him,. So at some point This is going to happen but I highly highly highly doubt that I’ll believe it if I sought in person that Prince Andrew would go to United States. That would be the stupidest move he could ever do because he would never get out of that country. I don’t think his lawyers would let him nor would her Majesty, that was just very foolish. Anyhow I just think I just I know I am on about this but this this this attack against our monarchy is continuing and it’s escalating and we are ramping up and we thought we reaching a tipping point last summer and we thought we were reaching a tipping point the previous summer and remember the clue we had that was the “lift off “and we thought oh wow finally things will come out, and that’s like two years ago. so we know when the Lord Geidt has been playing The long game as has her Majesty. Will you say things have been happening in the background I know that’s been kind of like a broken record that we’ve been saying here but this is this is all coming together now with the the social unrest in the race issues and this was all planned a very long time ago and it’s financed by pick who you choose there’s a list of backers that we all know who it could be and in combination so they’re just sitting back laughing and watching that the horror unfold. I am on the other hand I am praying for our Queen and our monarchy and our faith that we can keep our faith open and seems to be attack on everything I hold dear, Christian faith, historic statues be the popular or not they tell our history and of course some thing I hold very dear to my heart is her majesty and the monarchy.

theatre/ no theatre ………………

I saw an interview with a Piers Morgan and the other lady on good morning Britain were interviewing John Barrowman. And he was born in Scotland but he’s was moved to the states with his family when his dad got a I think a big factory manager job I think at caterpillar anyways he was talking about the death of the theatre regarding Covid. Now if you’re not English and you’re not aware as fall approaches in winter approaches pantomime or Panto is huge and it’s a big money raiser for theatre and local theatre and They have no idea if it’s going to go on or not he said he is scheduled to be in Bristol in some I forget would play I forget anyway she scheduled to be there but he has no idea if it’s if it’s going to be going on or not and he’s not getting any word from anybody nobody knows anything. But then he he’s also been on the stage is a very well-known stage actor and he has been for years and he went on to talk about the West End in the theatre in the end if if those things don’t resume soon he said the theatre will die he said 75% of it is already gone and if the Panto season doesn’t go ahead that he said could be will be the death of the British theatre. I won’t say that too loud with my sister might hear that and that be devastating for her she likes to go to London to see several plays quite often. It really is quite devastating this whole it’s like I don’t even know it’s the whole world is changed and what we will look like on the other side of this I I just don’t know. I’ve I think I say, l just don’t know a lot eh? and I use the word anyhow different than when I’m typing.

but not America …………

I think MM ANON here is referring to the air bridges is where the countries that the Brits will be able to travel to given the Covid situation. What I’m reading is that America, Russia and Brazil are definitely off the list of places where Britons can travel to. So unfortunately they won’t be able to go to those places for holiday.

Lone Ranger………………

Way back I think in the 1950s there was a show called the lone ranger a hero riding his horse wearing a mask and a side kick Tonto. Well given the fact that title is Native American and with the half way the world is now I’m sure that show will be banned and will never be allowed to be played again. But it’s interesting that Trump is not wanting to wear a mask for a while but you change your mind on that I guess he’s looking for staff and who do you like to joke so silly he says he looks like the Lone Ranger when he wears a mask that’s so funny you know we need to laugh months all of this sadness right so he gave me a laugh anyways I thought that was pretty funny.

Mt, Rushmore …………

Tomorrow’s July 4 in the United States it’s called their lndependence Day and it’s usually filled with fun and barbeques in fireworks and people getting together watching parades and that’s her thing. A lot of places it’s all been cancelled due to the Covid. President Trump and his family will be going to Mount Rushmore and having a celebration there and fireworks. This is somewhat controversial as other places it’s been cancelled but he feels it’s very important that this go on. There has been talk of getting rid of some of the faces on mount Rushmore if you’re not familiar mount Rushmore is a massive Massive not statue but it’s carved into the side of the mountain four presidents I’m going to go from memory here I think it’s Teddy Roosevelt George Washington oh dear I’m not American I think those are two of them and there’s two more I can look it up if you’re interested in. There has been talk with all these statues being pulled down and destroyed there has been talk of some talk about getting rid of the part of Mount Rushmore because somebody doesn’t like the face of one of the presidents I am not sure the logic but that would be one major task to get up there and deface that so I hope they don’t do that. I hope everything goes well tomorrow I hope it’s televised at least people will get to see the fireworks which is so important I remember as a kid we always drove down my parents always drove us down across the border and we would go to different places and watch the fireworks and have hotdogs in and we would enjoy the day even though we were Canadian we would always drive down there and we always had loads of fun it was awesome. I just think it’s so sad somethings so sacred it is destroyed for so many millions of people after all the work over the last couple of hundred years of developing this beautiful country I just think it’s so sad. And I’m sure there will be protests tomorrow and even though all they can’t get together for parades and all this other stuff to celebrate they could certainly will be allowed their first amendment right to protest and possibly would very likely burn the flag we seen that quite often at these protests so anyways from my American friends my heart aches for you it really does I’ve been praying for you and I I just it it’s my heart just aches it really does.

a bad day in LA …………

Well well well, I am doing my best Angelina Jolie voice from Maleficent where she says well well well. Gil Garcetti was the DA in Los Angeles during the whole OJ trial thing and now his little boy is the mayor of Los Angeles.He has been all gung ho on the protests ,you know the first amendment right and it’s all good outside there’s fresh air and some people have masks and there’s no risk whatsoever as to COVID-19 that’s been his mantra. Well today ,as I say well well well ,there’s been a big spike in COVID-19 cases and well well well Mr. Little Eric Garcetti was forced to tell the truth today when previously when he said that the spike in Covid cases had nothing to do with the protests he had to eat some crow today and acknowledge that it was due to the protests.

still hiding

Who is still hiding? We know Madam has been hiding we know certainly that her main squeeze has been hard hiding ,Marcus and he’s either hiding or he’s in custody and he’s flipped on her I think he might have a sleazy enough to to look after his own self and everyone else be damned.. We’re not stupid though we know LG and his men know exactly where she is what she’s doing and even though she think she may be pulling something over on somebody, oh no way, the powers that be know exactly where she is and what she’s up to.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

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56. July 5

Kids this audio software is just working out great for me may not give me better answers to the riddle but poetry makes my working on it a whole lot easier on my hands I’m so thankful so so thankful.

MM Anon

MM ANON ……… formula sprog………… madness will spill………… stupid father………… no she wont’ yes she will……… Nigel’s illegal pint………… Williams cider………… Spain’s pain……………… ahhhhhh, blonde bits …………… 🎼only the lonely🎼……………… for love or MONEY …………… HMTQ ( NENC) ………… with the contempt she deserves …………… it’s all a gamble , Arrrrrr!!

Entertainment purposes

July 4/20

✝️✝️🌈🌈💟💟 THANK YOU MM ANON. 💟💟🌈🌈✝️✝️

July 5/2020

I don’t believe there was a riddle for Sunday. Sorry l have been off this weekends kids. Going to do my best here.

a RIDDLE #56

formula sprog…………

HOW LONG HAS BERNIE ECCLESTONE BEEN THE HEAD OF F1 RACING?? SEEMS FOREVER. HE HAS ALOT OF CHILDREN AND HAS HAD MORE THAN HIS SHARE OF SUPERMODEL GIRLFRIENDS, HEIDI KLUM TO NAMONI CAMPBELL. WELL THE RIPE AGE OF 89 GENT HAS DONE IT AGAIN. A NEW BABY BOY WITH A WOMAN HALF HIS AGE, BABES INITIALS SPELL ACE, ALEXANDER CHARLES, WITH HIS THIRD WIFE FABRIANA FLOSI. CONGRATULATIONS.

madness will spill…………

There used to be an unwritten agreement that anybody who is caught with in any area of the Palace illegally without permission breaking in whatever would not be arrested it would not be made public but they will be quietly and quickly locked away in a psychiatric facility for quite some time. For some reason this change just before the gentleman broke into her Majesty‘s bedroom oh I can’t remember what year that was. Madam is known to have been attempting to do this and also attempting to take pictures of the Cambridge children and various areas of which Christmas time at Sandringham when she would go to the bathroom whenever she would attempt to take the long way around. And take some pictures. We do know that Prince Charles had her summarily shipped back and escorted back to the United States after being discovered trying that serve trick.This MOS lawsuit that she’s got her self into of her own choice and whatever comes out when that is made public I don’t know if it’s going to drive her mad she may already be mad but she’s going to stick with her narcissism till the end of the road. I think what we have here is GM going mad at the loss of her fancy lifestyle and having everything in anything the way she wants it and she will be spilling her guts completely to get a deal and who knows what that will look like. All I know is they better keep a better eye on her than they did on her partner JE there.

stupid father…………

There are several stupid fathers here to choose from and I’m not sure which one it would be it would be daddy Thomas. GM’s father she’s she’s the youngest daughter and was always said to be his favourite and I think there’s a lot of nefarious activities going on there from day one. So I think he would be a good person in the running for this description that’s for sure. I’m not sure if that’s who you’re looking for an MM ANONI think he could be an option so could daddy Thomas so could several people that I can think of .

no she wont’ yes she will………

No she won’t yes she will know she won’t yes she will back-and-forth game will GM talk won’t GM talk won’t GM talk.I’m sure it has many people sitting on the edge of the edge of their seats.

Nigel’s illegal pint…………

Rumours abound that Nigel Farage has just returned from the United States and he did not do any quarantining or self isolating, but instead he went out to to have a drink.. Again we see another example of one rule for the upper ups and one rule for the regular people.

Williams cider…………

On July 3 Prince William visit at the Rose and Crown pub talking about how the business has been affected with Covid and that sort of thing. And he looked he looked like he was enjoying his Aspalls cider.Try saying the name of that cider into a speaker audio software and you’ll see what comes out and you say I had to manually fix that that was not appropriate.

Spain’s pain………………

Spain has been been hit particularly hard by the Covid virus both in Numbers and in deaths. On the Catalonia region on July 4 went back into lockdown due to a spike in cases. I think we’re going to continue to see this happen globally places will start to unlock down in the more people move around it’s gonna go up again.

ahhhhhh, blonde bits ……………

When I see the term blonde bits it can refer to several things. But I think man this thing of people sitting on the throne I don’t know other than the queen or princess Philip. Prince Andrew was dating Caprice, a well-known socialite. L believe she’s American but she sure has done the rounds in London. In fact when the real housewives kind of version tv show Ladies in London their first season Caprice was actually on there. I’m ashamed to actually admit that I watch the first two seasons of Ladies in London.I think she was pregnant with twins at the time it was so dramatic. The rumour goes and I don’t know if it’s true or not but the prince Andrew let her sit on his mothers throne so I don’t know if that’s what this is referring to but it just might be.

🎼only the lonely🎼………………

GREAT ROY ORBISON SONG, IF YOU LIKE HIS VOICE MANNER. Roy Orbison had a really wobbly kind of singing voice it was very very distinct. I have a feeling that this is Madam and she’s feeling very sorry for herself she’s a lonely even though she’s PR ‘edup the wazoo that she’s happier than ever with her hairy and her Archie in her wonderful life in Los Angeles.

for love or MONEY ……………

Definitely for the money that’s why everybody is out for in this whole scenario love has nothing to do with it. All these doctors and gave makers in dealmakers and oh icky people. Somebody is buying that dossier from the DM I’m certain of it to get that information out and I don’t know who that would be and I don’t know who would have that kind of money but it’s definitely going to come out and it’s going to be as far removed from the royal family as possible so they cannot even be the appearance of propriety or impropriety that they are involved in any way shape or form. I think this is gonna happen in the near future because with GM and in custody now I am I think things are gonna start to roll if she starts to to flap her lips.

HMTQ ( NENC) …………

HER STANDARD, NEVER EXPLAIN NEVER COMPLAIN. (SHE GOT THAT FROM HER MUM HMTQM, THROUGHOUT THE REIGN OF HER HUSBAND.)Well everything has been going on for the last couple of years with Harry and the backers and everything else we have not heard a word of complaint from HMTQ. If there were ever a time to complain seeing that photo of a GM and KS sitting on the throne and it’s just makes me absolutely sick.

with the contempt she deserves ……………

This could be referring to Madam or to GM. Since there has been such a long contempt in this sphere for Madam I am going to go with GM. I have no doubt that she is going to try and save her scrawny butt and she knows a lot of information about a lot of people and she should be very very nervous I think at this point I can’t even imagine. And I know that she will be treated with all the respect that a court allows but she will be treated with as much contempt as she deserves because she certainly deserves as much or more contempt of the men because she has a female recruited young girls it’s just absolutely beyond the pale of disgusting.

it’s all a gamble , Arrrrrr!!

When I read this l think of a pirate so I do.I don’t think this refers to pirates though. I think this has to do with the long game that has been played now between the royal family the backers the whole political movement to get rid of the Monarchy. We have in the background the attempt to get a princess Andrew who is a friend of GM and JE was that in fact the first attempt to infiltrate the royal family? The back is hiring Madam to go at our Harry I was at the second attempt? This is all one long game of poker got to have a good poker face to stay in this game for as long as the Lord Geidt has and it’s her long is Her Majesty has and this is not at the end I don’t think I think there’s a lot to happen yet. And the arrrrrr is just the utter frustration for everybody imagine being directly involved!

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

————-

57. July 8

MM ANON ……… girl up the creek………hostage man. ………… half free meal………… drug exposure …………… …staff redundancy at HMTQ …………… boarding rules …………… most popular royal ……………… mines a cider……… ( where’s pg 💜💜) ……………”it’s Balmoral Philip, but not as we know it) …… out of his Depp-th… “ more 🎼Braziiiiil🎼…………… Spanish flu?? ……… 🎼we’re all going on a summer holiday 🎼

Entertainment Purposes

✝️✝️✝️🌈🌈🌈💟💟💟 THANK YOU MM ANON💟💟💟🌈🌈🌈✝️✝️✝️

July 8/2020. RIDDLE#57

girl up the creek………

There’s a saying here that if you’re up the creek it usually involves a four letter word starting with S and ending in T , but if you’re up the creek it means the jig is up, your days are numbered, the game is over, the police are coming and don’t bother fighting just cooperate, basically. Madam has been up the creek for quite some time! She’s been up the creek since before the gathering of unhappy people when she was using PR to keep this fake relationship alive she used to use PR for the last four years, at least, to keep Prince Harry as part of her inner circle, her partner and her husband, her beloved all that other garbage that comes out of her mouth!! I know there have been points for the past two years where we’ve had the clue at a tipping point or we have felt we’ve been at a tipping point, but I think we’ve tipped over to be quite honest with you. I think we have tipped and we’re sliding down like in the movie Titanic. You know how that scene, where the whole ship goes from horizontal to vertical and it starts just sink into the water? I think that’s exactly where we’re at Madam is at the top of that boat clingning on for her dear life. It is sinking Rachel, your ship is sinking. I don’t know what’s what your future holds but good luck with that all I care about is getting our Harry back and getting him rehabilitated and free of your claws and clutches!

The other girl at the creek is GM and it’s going to be very interesting all the tributaries that she takes us along as she Is brought to justice! I hope for her Majesty safe the truth comes out that this is all been a plot to entrap prince Andrew and all these years of rumours an end innuendos and whatever other adjective you want to use has all been part of this whole plot to bring down the monarchy!

hostage man. …………

That video that was released for the Queen’s trust the zoom zoom zoom zoom zoom zoom with Madam and the ‘ hostage man’, Harry. I am not jesting that’s what many of the comments were saying, Harry looks like he was held hostage. I don’t know, that whole video from start of my couldn’t even watch the whole thing to be honest with you! It’s just I just feel evil oozing through that screen and and the look on his face and the weather does Harry or are Fhairy or a robot or a hologram or whatever she’s putting it out there as if it is Prince Harry and I just find it so flipping disturbing!! It is so upsetting and I just wish I just wish this would end. The comments on many of the papers the daily mail, people were actually frightened for Harry he looked frightened he looked walked over, he was relegated to ¼ of the screen even if that wasn’t Harry still she’s portraying that and the public is believing that that Fhairy and she’s talking over him none of this is new but seeing it on on that weird pixelated zoom call that was live streamed! They were all pixelated she was clearer than him and the other people on the zoom were not pixelated! It was just all weird and they all left me feeling like there was evil I cannot put it in any other way it’s just pure and utter evil and vile presence.

half free meal…………

Rishi Sinak has a program that for £10off A meal in a restaurant is called Eat Out to Help Out. It is his pitch in his attempt to help the flourishing businesses get some money into the coffers after this devastating Covid lockdown.Diners will receive up to a discount of 10 pounds per head on Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays trying to get people out and show the restaurants and bars. I hope it works anything for a free pint right! There have been lots of comments and rumours already that their people already trying to scam this a program. Also 5% VAT.

drug exposure …………… …

This comment could apply to almost every person on the planet. However I am going to go with Johnny Depp because that just a massive do wall-to-wall new news coverage at least the daily mail.. The female that is that he is involved with I’m not gonna mention her name again took a picture of his lunch I think she called it with his large glass of whiskey has four lines of cocaine and music and cigarettes and whatever else. I think there was a lot of drug use,that was a very very dysfunctional relationship and yes people do what they need to do to cope right. If you keep your head numbed then you don’t have to deal with the fact at this beautiful gorgeous woman is a beating you up all the time.

I do have a feeling that this is not the right answer is a drug exposure I don’t know is it going to be in this dossier that comes out will it be exposed how much hi Madam like to indulge in her hobbies? The word exposure has my head but my Spidey sense is going exposure do you know if something has been kept hidden will be revealed and I wonder if that is not part of it just a thought.

staff redundancy at HMTQ ……………

Was announced, today is Wednesday it was announced late Monday l think, that there would be layoffs will you it is called redundancies in the UK. These redundancies are to be within within the staff of the royal household. This is very very sad news on top of many other people losing their employment I’m sure it’s in credibly difficult for her Majesty to kind of pick and choose who goes and I’m sure that’s left up to other people but it must be just incredibly heartbreaking to see people of been given is giving their work and service to the crown and I’ll being made redundant my heart really truly breaks for both her Majesty and and those being made redundant!

Again due to this whole Covid thing there does set her Majesty will return to Buckingham palace at all she’ll remain at Windsor and maybe Balmoral. As a result sadly it sounding like 250 staff are going to be made redundant I am in tears reading talking to I’m not typing what I’m tears telling you telling you this. What does means for the royal family going forward I don’t know that’s just complete unknown I think another part of the riddle says that it’s Balmoral but not like we do it and that is the truth.

boarding rules ……………

There’s been talk a couple of weeks now I’ve been hearing and reading bags of it about both George and Charlotte being sent off to boarding school as they are arriving at that age when children historically were sent away. The concern about George is “” sensitive nature at least in the media is is giving his parents pause as to what’s best for him however charlottes outgoing nature according to the media think she would do very well at boarding school. I’m doing believe that we should leave this decision up to William and Catherine they are the ones who are the parents and this is A whole New World. A world with tear a world with pandemic Covid a world with riots in the world just full of security concerns and I truly do not know how in 2020 security could be safely manage for those children studying away from home I’m sure I’m sure the boys and gray could do it I have no doubt I have no doubt at all but I think it would just be so invasive and so pervasive that it would just be so, too much too much. Again that’s my opinion the world has change so much in 2020 I never thought in my short lifetime 53 years that things things would ever go this direction and I was just chatting with a friend that was here she came to visit I had a visitor I had a visitor I’m so happy oh is it so long since I’ve had a visitor is commenting on how glad I am my parents have past and they’re not here to see what’s happening to the world.

most popular royal ………………

Back in 2018 Prince Harry was voted most popular Royal. He has slipped from that pedestal due to Madam’s efforts. In April of this year her Majesty the Queen was voted as most popular Royal. I must say I cannot disagree with that at all. I would give it two thumbs up to that and if I had four thumbs, I would have four thumbs up to that. Although I think if there’s room for a little person standing next to HMTQ, I might like to see Charlotte. She could squeeze right in next to her because she’s so cute. I think she is going to be, well she is already in the stratosphere of popularity! Can you just imagine as she continues to grow up? We have lots of blessings! Thank God for the Cambridge family! Thank you God for the Cambridge family and I am not saying that pejoratively I am saying that with all my heart with all my heart and soul.

mines a cider………

I don’t know if this is what you’re referring to but I’m reading about a lady named Kelly Brook I have been looked up to see who she is. She said she’s been drinking apple cider vinegar to avoid getting COVID-19.

I just has more to do with the economy the sales of cider have plummeted £20,000,000 😳😳😳😳that’s a a lot of money. Part of the reason is obviously Covid lockdown, at people not going out and also my brain just shut down. Sorry kids I can’t remember what I was gonna say I’m just apologize for that. I think it was interesting the other day when Prince William had some Aspalls cider! don’t make me stress my brain I could look it up but you didn’t you know he was at something in the rose …..just a minute I’m gonna look it up hold on pause. Back I checked it was the Rose and Crown pub that he was like that was in yesterday’s riddle or at least read all that I have in my folder here is the one I did yesterday. good to see William supporting the cider 🍻🍻🍻🍻industry I’m sure they were very happy to see that as well! High five William 🤚🏻five down low🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂👋🏼

( where’s pg 💜💜) ……………”🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥

Well if this is referring to me I think it might be given the purple hearts, but who is asking about me is my question?💜💜💜☺️💜💜😊💜💜💜, ‘tis great honour to be asked about, I assure you….thank you….I took her a week off about a week ago I needed a break from social media.. Since I have returned I have with the help of several here, I have learned how to use audio so I don’t have to type. So I can save my hands , they don’t get sore and numb anymore, it’s marvellous. I talk, it types. Of course corrections are needed, not all caps but so lovely. It will do ALL CAPS ON, in Apple and in some things , but most things on Tumblr it won’t do SO if you’re looking for me AND you’re looking for me you’re going to miss me so I’m been trying to put his much purple emoji‘s in there so people will catch us as as as the catch it easier but yeah that’s why it’s gonna look A little different. I also haven’t been on as much I was just this summer he really even with air-conditioning really really exhausted me and exacerbates how I struggle. So I’m ok but too, it’s nice to be missed!! I appreciate that very much brings me to tears actually.💜💜💜💜😢😢😢🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜💜🦥🦥🦥🦥🦥I GOT THE SLOTH MESSAGE, ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️😊😊😊

“it’s Balmoral Philip, but not as we know it)

With the likelihood that her Majesty will not return to Buckingham palace oh ma’am ma’am I am just heartbroken for you I just want her to continue here I’m just heartbroken. So Windsor Castle has been where they have been self isolating and from everywhere I can read and see they’re still plan to go ahead with going to Balmoral for summer vacation. It will be a vacation unlike any other because it may become her parents second home going back there between Balmoral and Windsor Castle whole life has a funny way of turning a road eh? There’s a saying God laughs while we make plans and I think I think we best leave things in God’s hands and thank goodness He is there for us.💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜

…… out of his Depp-th…

During my career I don’t with a lot of women who are victims of domestic violence and a precious few brave men who came forward as victims of domestic violence. What we are witnessing in in the courage the public courage of such a public person Johnny Depp coming forward and telling his truth of the violence he experienced at the hands of Amber heard I just applaud him I applaud him and I hope he’s getting all the love and support in the world and I hope that narcissistic woman gets jail time serious jail time. I also hope there’s a civil suit wherever he can take her for every penny that she has! The details are continue to come out our horrific and I’m sure there’s more just terrible.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻for Johnny🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

“ more 🎼Braziiiiil🎼……………

I could not believe my eyes yesterday when the president for a sign of appraisal told the media that he had tested positive covert COVID-19 COVID-19 yeah I’ll 19 Covid yeah exactly! Then he proceeded to summarily yank off his mask and continue talking and walking backwards away from the reporters it was like something out of out of a nightmare! Just bizarre! Personally I would prefer to dance to Xavier Cugat and his wonderful orchestra Brasil more than this situation. 🎶 🎼 🎶

Spanish flu?? ………

The last pandemic that the world so I was a 1918 and that was indeed the Spanish flu that killed millions and millions and millions of people. Are we questioning hear that COVID-19 is going to also result in that? Seems every day on the news there’s a different story or explanation. Yesterday I read Covid has been found in old soil from way back when in parts of Europe…… who’s doing that research? I also read that Covid will be with us forever and that wearing masks will become the new normal. The things that everybody used to laugh at the people in China wearing masks will now become ask and I think it is amazing how easily we have gotten used to that.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻✝️✝️✝️

I also think this might be a reference to the fact that your bridges air border air bubbles whatever people from England when they go to Spain and come back they don’t have to quarantine but people from Scotland when they come back they have to self isolate for 14 days so I think there’s a lot of people quite unhappy about that.

🎼we’re all going on a summer holiday 🎼

Great song by Sir Cliff Richard, and greatly needed. Cliff Richard is massive in the U.K. and l will say nothing negative about him!!! I hope the Cambridges just have a wonderful holiday wherever they go. Before they go I hope and pray the divorce is done and dusted and they can take her a long with them and have a fabulous family vacation that is my most fervent prayer that Harry is released from the closet and clutches of that sea hag evil woman and back into the loving arms of his family. No more hiding out no more games playing just back to his life that is my prayer.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜💜🌈🌈🌈🦥🦥🦥🦥

Praying Her Majesty and Prince Philip have a wonderful time at Balmoral.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿 My fervent loyalty to HMTQ and the Crown and Commonwealth.

GSTQAOBC 🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿

——————

[thatmultifandomhoe]

Strawberry Cream and BBQ - 10

Pairing: Hybrid Hoseok and Human Reader

Overview: Your best friend knows she can count on you for anything, so when she asks you to watch her hybrid while she’s gone for a study abroad trip for four months, you can’t say no. But when these four months are over, things have changed in a way no one expected.

Word Count: 2,676

Valentine’s Day Surprise Update

Genre: Hybrid AU, Fluff, Future smut, Angst, Best friends to Lovers

Warning: Tissues should be on stand by, Angst, Hoseok’s backstory, our lovely Joonie, and an appearance by Mr. World Wide Handsome himself.

Master List

Sneak Peak - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14 - Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21 - Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 (Final) - Move in Day: A SC&BBQ Drabble

©thatmultifandomhoe Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without permission.

“What am I doing?” Hoseok asked himself.

Running a hand across his face, he leaned his cheek on his closed fist, elbow propped up on the black high table he was sitting at with his back to the door.

Shortly after you left, he had been running around to clean up the kitchen. There wasn’t much to do really, but he didn’t want you to come home and see the dirty dishes incase you got back before him.

By the time he reached the café he had five minutes to spare. Dressed in ripped denim blue jeans and a black tee-shirt tucked in at the front, he had his trusty acorn pouch attached at the hip. Usually he would be bundled up, but the café he had asked Namjoon to meet him at was kept warm during the winter, making jackets a pain to carry or wear.

A ding echoed throughout the café and with his ears perking up, Hoseok straightened up and turned to watch Namjoon. Upon inspection, the wolf hybrid’s face relaxed when he saw that the only other people here, including the staff, were hybrids.

That was the other reason Hoseok picked this café, not just because some of the best pastries he ever tasted came from here, but because the owner, Seokjin, was a good friend and a hybrid himself. A Siamese cat hybrid to be specific. While the laws had changed over the last twenty years to make it easier for hybrids to live like everyone else, there were still humans out there who thought hybrids were just fancy pets.

“Hey,” Namjoon greeted Hoseok, taking the empty seat in front of him. “I didn’t know Jin owned a café.”

That was right, sometimes Hoseok forgot the Namjoon was still somewhat new to their group of friends. It had been a year since Namjoon joined them, but it had taken the majority of that time for him to become comfortable with everyone. Hoseok felt like he knew him longer though because they had bonded easier and quicker. He liked to joke and say it was because of the dog genetics that they shared.

“Yeah, it’s kinda where us hybrids meet up for some time without the girls,” Hoseok said, leaning back in his seat.

“I was wondering why he kept saying we needed to get together at Kim Seokjin’s. I just thought he liked talking in third person occasionally.”

Hoseok laughed at Joon’s explanation, having to set his coffee back down so he wouldn’t spill it on himself. “Nope. He’s just really confident.”

Namjoon smiled, taking off the knitted hat he wore, allowing his wolf ears to straighten up again. He left the grey fingerless gloves on as well as the green jacket.

“Did Katie knit the hat?” He asked, noticing the way it looked hand made instead of store bought.

“Yeah, and the sweater I’m wearing too. She likes being able to make me things, and it’s sweet that she does it. Plus, they’re warm too.” Namjoon’s eyes had brightened at the mention of Katie, his owner, even going so far to take off his jacket for a moment so Hoseok could see the cream-colored sweater.

It made Hoseok smile, his mind wandering back to you for a moment. The thought of you wielding two knitting needles made him nervous.

Namjoon had been watching Hoseok’s face though, the corner of his lips lifting as he put his jacket back on. He knew what was happening, had gone through it himself even. Before he could question Hoseok about it, Jin appeared at their table then with a smile.

“Looks like you finally decided to come to Kim Seokjin’s,” he said to Namjoon, setting a clear glass mug down in front of him on a blue saucer.

A chuckle escaped Namjoon as he nodded in agreement. “Yeah, figured I’d come down and see the place.” His eyes glanced around at the small, but homey, café.

The counter was made out of dark oak wood, and the display case had an array of pastries and treats that had everyone’s mouthwatering due to the smells. Behind the counter were all different types of coffee and espresso machines that looked too complicated for someone who didn’t make a living selling coffee. There was a couch on the left side of the building with a few armchairs around a coffee table, the rest of the furniture being high tables. Jin even had floor to ceiling windows with the name, Kim Seokjin’s Café, written in black cursive paint on one of them.

“It’s amazing,” he complimented Jin.

The Siamese Cat hybrid beamed at the compliment, grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you! By the way Joon, that’s Devil’s Blueberry Chocolate Mocha. I have to get back to baking. Enjoy the coffee you two.”

Hoseok waved his hand as Jin walked behind the counter and went through a door, disappearing from sight. Sighing, he wrapped his hand back around his own mug and took a sip of the steaming dark roast, taking a few minutes to collect his thoughts.

Namjoon took advantage of the silence to try the, bizarre coffee Jin had brought him. The name alone had him nervous. At first glance, it looked like a plain black coffee. But when he tilted the mug, the sunlight managed to hit the drink and he was able to see the purple hues. When it finally touched his lips, he was able to taste the dark chocolate. It wasn’t rich or creamy like some mochas tended to be, and upon taking another sip, he could taste the sweetness of the blueberries. Despite its name, it was borderline angelic.

“Jin likes to experiment with his coffees,” Hoseok explained. He had the same thing happen to him when he first came to the café. “To see what works and what doesn’t.”

Namjoon nodded, wrapping the mug in his hand as he sat up. “So, what exactly happened.” He didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore, especially when he was fairly certain he knew what Hoseok was going to ask him.

Hoseok stared down at his caramel colored coffee, chewing on his lip as he wondered if this was some mistake. Maybe he was wrong and was overthinking everything. But as soon as he thought that it died off like a shriveled-up raisin. No, that wasn’t possible either. You couldn’t not be his mate. Your smile alone sent his heart racing while calming him. And every time he had you in his arms, it was like he had the key to understanding everything.

Fuck, he just needed to know. “Is it…is it possible, to know someone for years, and only recent discover that they’re your mate?” He slowly asked, only meeting Namjoon’s gaze at the end.

Only, Namjoon’s face was neutral. It was neither happy or upset and surprisingly, that helped Hoseok to relax. If Namjoon had seemed excited, then Hoseok would start to get his hopes up. If he had looked upset though, Hoseok could only imagine what would happen then.

“Well…it all depends,” Namjoon thoughtfully spoke, shifting back in his seat. “Is it possible though? Yes. Common? Not really. But when it does happen, it usually occurs because the hybrid was going through a traumatic event. It’s like when someone gets hurt really bad and their body goes in to shock, they don’t feel the pain as much until they’re in a safe place and can relax. But once they’ve calmed down and the adrenaline has left the body, they get hit full force with exactly how much pain they’re in.”

Hoseok blinked and was immediately back in the past, more specifically, three years ago. He had been homeless and starving. The Shelters that were created to help hybrids had been overfilled, and it was his fifth shelter in twelve years. Prior to that, he had been left at an Adoption Center when he was twelve years old. And if he went even further back, when he was still a pup, he had been ripped away from his parents and sold to a rich family who wanted a hybrid for their daughter.

Her name was Carly, and she truly was a sweet girl. They had grown and played together, she snuck him sweets when her parents told her not to, and they were as close as possible. Then one night, she mentioned wanting a cat and the next day he was dropped off at a shelter with his backpack hurriedly filled with his belongings. Hoseok didn’t blame Carly though, not once did he think it was her fault. Back then, the two of them had talk about wanting a real pet cat, not a hybrid, but her parents must have thought otherwise.

He stayed at the Adoption Centers until he was eighteen. By then he was an adult and was done with it all. Yes, they provided food and warm rooms, but he was older and known for being transferred multiple times. People didn’t want to adopt a hybrid who seemed to be more of a hassle then he was worth.

For a year, he was on his own. Everything he owned was in the small backpack that had been worn thin over the years. He had slept in parks, ate whatever food he found, and in an effort to blend in with the humans so as to not get sent back to a shelter, he wore hats to cover his ears and tucked his tail either under his shirts or down his pant legs, which hurt like hell at times. Rain or shine, he suffered through it all.

When he wasn’t able to find a bridge or tunnel, he was stuck in the elements. Even after three years, he still dislikes the rain. He hated the memories that were associated with it. Like how it used to soak through his clothes, and the way the wind cut through his body all the way down to the bones. He lost track of all the times his tears mingled with the rain dripping down his cheeks.

Then one day, he woke up to find himself sleeping on a cot in an open room, surrounded by other cots with hybrids on them. One of them had been reading when he woke up and explained everything.

Apparently, he had been found passed out and unresponsive and when they took off his hat, his ears were a dead giveaway. They brought him to the Homeless Center for Hybrids, but they didn’t stick around to see if he was okay. Cold, exhausted, and hungry, Hoseok accepted his fate. This was the life he meant to live.

The Homeless Center for Hybrids not only gave a place for hybrids to stay, but also worked on trying to find new and safe homes for them. It was hard, especially with how so many of them had been mistreated, but the staff only wanted was best for the hybrids. They worked long hours, doing extensive background checks on the new possible owners, and often bought things when the Homeless Center was low on funding.

Hoseok lived there for a year. He watched friends come and go as they got adopted or found ways to support themselves. To take his mind off of his own circumstance, he tended to spend his time over at the Dance Studio that was nearby.

The Dance Studio was extremely inclusive. While they offered classes that required a payment, they waived the fee for those that were unable to afford it, or sometimes even offered the same class but for free if there was a large group of people interested. They didn’t stop there. If the rooms weren’t being used to teach classes, the public was welcomed to come in and use them for their own practice. As long as you shared the same love and passion for dancing and didn’t break anything, it was fine.

That was exactly what Hoseok did. He took the free classes and eventually joined an unofficial street dance group that practiced there. It was the only thing that took his mind off of being homeless.

Then…then Sue came in to the shelter on his twenty first birthday. She was twenty and her parents had recently passed away in the accident. The staff had told him that she was looking for a friend, someone who could help fill up the silence that came with the now empty house. By accident, he saw her. The door opened just as he looked over someone’s shoulder, allowing him to see her for a split second.

She was in the waiting area sitting on one of the green chairs, her head down as she stared at her feet, arms wrapped around her stomach. She had looked so alone and scared, everything he had felt way back when he was twelve years old. It brought out a protective instinct from within that he had obviously pushed down for years.

Hoseok went home with Sue that afternoon. It took a couple months, but once he was comfortable around her, she brought him around to meet her friends and their hybrids. He remembered that day, especially when he met you. The minute he smelled your strawberry cream scent he was hugging you. At the time, you had a boyfriend and he was still adjusting to his new life. Everything was still raw for him back then.

“Hoseok?” Namjoon called out. When the hybrid didn’t answer him, he reached over and shook his shoulder.

Startled from his memories, Hoseok blinked several times in an attempt to refocus his attention. He wasn’t homeless or bouncing around in the Adoption Centers anymore. He most certainly wasn’t abandoned either.

“Are you alright?” Namjoon asked, taking a napkin out of the holder and handing it to Hoseok. “You looked really lost in thought and well… you started crying.”

Silently, Hoseok touched his cheek, surprised to find that his skin was wet with tears. Looking around, he spotted several hybrids uncomfortable shifting in their seats, glancing in his direction every now and then with their ears pulled flat against their heads. “Shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

Namjoon just shook his head, this time placing the napkin in Hoseok’s hand. “It’s okay Hoseok. Really, it is. You just need to take a deep breath.”

“I need Strawberry,” Hoseok automatically corrected, his hand stopping on his cheek as he paused.

The wolf hybrid merely raised an eyebrow at his friend, not surprised with how quick he was to fill in your special nickname for what he wanted. “She’s single now.” He quietly said, watching Hoseok for a reaction. “It’s been three years for you Hoseok. Life has settled down for you. I’m not saying that what happened is in the past, three years isn’t that much time, but it was enough for you to be ready for the next chapter of your life. And this time, it involves her.”

Hoseok held the crumpled-up napkin his lap, trying to think of some happy thoughts to relieve the sadness he had unconsciously projected out to everyone else.

“Take it from a wolf hybrid,” Namjoon gently said, a faint smirk appearing. “We believe our mates were created from Destiny. Sue just so happened be going to study abroad for four months, and you get to stay with your best friend, who’s single. The entire scenario screams Destiny.”

Hoseok scoffed at that, but the edges of his mouth were curling up in a smile. Lifting his head, he licked his lips and looked out the window for a moment. It was still early and you wouldn’t be back from classes for at least another two hours. He drank some of his warm coffee as he sat up. “Well,” he asked, “how do I tell her she’s my mate?”

Namjoon smirked, his features looking more wolfish by the second. When their gazes met, the male hybrids shared a knowing grin. “By making her see that you’re the man she’s always wanted.”

[purplesurveys]

916

What Rhymes With “AIR”?

1. Are the walls of your room bare or do you have things hanging up there? I have some things on the wall, yes. A few paintings, Audrey Hepburn wall decors, and a poster of Nam Joo Hyuk. I used to have wrestling posters but my mom, ever the control freak, removed them because she didn’t like them. Sigh.

2. When’s the last time you went outside to enjoy the fresh air? I went out this morning to take Cooper to the vet for his anti-rabies shot. I didn’t necessarily do it to enjoy the fresh air, but that came along with the experience as well anyway.

3. Do you watch the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air? I started watching it this month actually! It’s super fun and Will Smith’s physical comedy is hilarious, but it isn’t really the type of show I’d binge-watch given how old the jokes and some of the tropes already are. I definitely don’t dislike it, but I just take longer to watch the episodes.

4. When’s the last time it felt like you were walking on air? Sunday, when I had my virtual grad and found out my parents and aunt and uncle got all my favorite food delivered to the house :) We had baked sushi, baked samgyeopsal, Pancit Malabon, and pichi-pichi that day, aaaaahhhhhh.

5. Have you ever been on air, on a radio station? Very briefly. One of our field trips in high school was a visit to a major broadcasting network, and we we were brought to their AM radio studio. The broadcaster on air at the time – one of my favorites of all time – welcomed us and gave us a chance to say hi on air.

6. Have you ever felt like all of the air was coming out of your lungs? Sure, but I guess it’s more accurate to say that I’ve occasionally felt the sensation of my chest increasingly tightening.

7. Has it seemed as though anything has ever disappeared into thin air? Have you ever pulled an idea out of thin air? The first one, yes. I have this stupid ability to drop a certain thing and have it disappear forever; I hate that it happens to me all the time lol. 

I can relate with the second situation as well; when I was still in school and had to write essays, reaction papers, anything of the sort, I’d wait till the last possible minute to start working on it since it’s by then that the good ideas start pouring in.

8. Have you ever wanted to be on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”? Sure. I’ve enjoyed trivia for as long as I can remember, so the show has always been right up my alley.

9. Do you know a billionaire in real life? No. I know a loooot of CEO kids, kids of MNC owners/executives, and kids of political dynasties though...comes with the environment I grew up in and the schools I went to.

10. Would you like to be an heir or heiress to a fortune? I wouldn’t say no to that.

11. Would you be able to successfully get away if you ever came across a bear? The one thing I keep hearing is to stay very still, so I’d be doing my best to do just that. I got no other survival skills though and if there’s apparently anything more that needs to be done during a bear encounter, then I don’t know of them.

12. Where’s your favorite place to go? How long does it take to get there? Hmm I’ve loved going to many places. My favorite vacation spots so far have been Sagada - that’s a 15, 16-hour road trip from Manila; Vigan - 8-hour road trip; and Palawan - an hour or so plane ride from Manila. If we’re taking nearby places, I like going to coffee shops to unwind and have a pastry or two. I don’t have a favorite one; I just go to whichever one’s the nearest to me at the moment.

13. How often do you err on the side of caution? I keep it at a healthy 50/50. There are times I’m okay with taking a big leap, but if I’m not super invested in something anyway and/or if there’s not a lot in it for me, I play it safe.

14. How often do people say they’re angry with you? My life revolves around being a (very cautious) people pleaser and making sure I don’t piss off people. The only people who have told me they’re angry with me are my mom and girlfriend.

15. Do you own any long underwear? I have never heard of these until today. I’d love to live somewhere so cold I need to wear clothes specifically meant to be worn underneath my actual outfit lol

16. How much Tupperware do you own? I’m Filipino, man. Filipino moms practically make it their life’s mission to collect as many Tupperware containers as they can. I’m pretty sure we have a bunch that we didn’t even own to begin with - just magically ended up in our cupboard after all the parties and gatherings we’ve had hahaha.

17. What color is your underwear right now? Green.

18. Do you still sleep with a teddy bear? I never slept with stuffed animals; I preferred pillows.

19. What pair of your shoes has the most wear and tear? In my first year of college the only shoes I owned was a pair of Keds. Used it for everything and it unsurprisingly ended up being super worn out - soles got detached from the shoe and all that. I think we still have it here at home – still destroyed – but it’s been untouched for a while.

20. Do you like to play Solitaire? It was a great boredom buster game for me for a time, especially when phone apps weren’t all that expansive yet. I haven’t played it in many months though.

21. Do you or your family own a full set of silverware? We do.

22. What do you have to take everywhere with you? Phone, wallet, car and house keys. Because of school I’ve also developed a habit of accidentally bringing my laptop nearly everywhere I go – I brought it to the vet once, lol

23. Would you like to visit Delaware? Yes. Delaware actually stands out in my memory because I remember reading in a kids’ almanac many years ago that it was the first to become a US state. Ever since then I’ve kinda bookmarked the place in my head.

24. Last time you received dental care? December. My tooth had been hurting for a couple of months but it became absolutely unbearable by that month so I had to book an emergency appointment days before Christmas. I felt super bad for the hassled dentist (who doubles as a family friend, which made it more embarrassing)... but at that point I was crying myself to sleep every night and would wake up at 3 AM crying in pain, and I would’ve done anything for the toothache to go away. 

25. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? Somewhere brutally cold.

26. Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? I’ve never been able to relate to this question, lol soz.

27. Are you satisfied sitting here, taking this survey, or would you rather be elsewhere? I’m satisfied for now. I found more potential leads when it came to job-hunting and I’m not feeling too anxious anymore. I’ve been so focused on looking for corporate communications/PR jobs in the private sector that I forgot about the possibility of applying my skills in something I’m even more passionate about - museums! We have a few government agencies focused on museums, culture, and the arts and I definitely see myself performing in the jobs they offer. It’s even better because it’ll help me get my foot in the door in government positions, and as someone who’s indecisive about law it’ll be a great bridge to start with. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

28. Last time you sat in a barber’s chair? Early March.

29. Do you own any cans of compressed air? I’m not sure...had to look that up. Maybe we do? Idk. Dad will sometimes hoard random grownup stuff from the hardware store so I’m not ruling this one out.

30. Do you have a swivel chair at your desk? Nope.

31. Do you prefer an armchair or a rocking chair? Rocking chair.

32. Would you rather have a beanbag chair or a hanging swing chair in your room? Hanging swing chair sounds so hipster and awesome lol. I’ve had my time with a beanbag chair anyway.

33. What’s the last non-survey related questionnaire that you had to fill out? SSS form.

34. Are there any crimes that you feel make someone deserving of the electric chair? Not really a death penalty kinda gal, but if anyone had to sit in the electronic chair it’ll be people torturing and abusing animals for fun.

35. Do you know anyone who uses a wheelchair? Yes.

36. Do you know anyone who is on welfare? I probably do.

37. Do you play Modern Warfare? Nopes.

38.   Do you ever feel like life is unfair? It is, objectively. I’m a little pessimistic when it comes to this.

39.   Have you ever visited Times Square? No. I dunno if I wanna go there...it seems so crowded and claustrophobic, not to mention super tourist-y haha. I’d love to visit once just to see the bright lights and the giant ads, but I’d much rather be at museums and historical sites.

40.   Do you tell people to “take care” at the end of a conversation with them? Sometimes. I’ve been saying it a lot more often these days, for obvious reasons.

41.   Where is somewhere that you would like to move to? Canada. But I also feel like if I moved there immediately it would be such a culture shock in terms of the weather, culture, how far away I am from family, etc. and I doubt I would cope well. I suppose I can move to either Vietnam or Singapore first, as kind of like a baby step.

42.   What is something in your home that needs to be repaired? One of the stovetop burners stopped working last night and my dad’s determined to fix that.

43.   What kind of sleepwear do you own? I go to bed in just my normal home clothes; I don’t change to anything else.

44.   What skin care products do you use? Water. ;) I’m one of the lucky ones lol.

45.   Do you have any spyware on your computer? Nope.

46.   Do you own any sportswear? What sports? I have athletic shorts from when I played table tennis.

47.   Do you like Fred Astaire? Sure. I’ve only seen one movie of his (Funny Face) and he was a delight in that.

48.   How long does it take you to prepare a meal? I only ever make instant meals, oops.

49.   Do you know anyone named Pierre? Yes, Eva’s youngest sister is a Pierre. I’m just not sure if it’s also the same spelling.

50.   Are you going nowhere fast? I hope not. I’m giving myself a quick break for now after studying for 18 years straight but like I’m not out of ambition or anything like that at all.

51.   How often do you have a nightmare? Not very. They only show up when I’m going through a depression. My last nightmare was two or so years ago.

52.   How often are you able to catch something in mid-air? It’s unpredictable with me. Some days my reflexes are great but sometimes I’ll just be so clumsy.

53.   What do your lawn chairs look like? Brown and wooden.

54.   How many chairs are at your dining/kitchen table? Six; just right for our family of five.

55.   Favorite type of footwear? Sneakersssssss.

56.   When’s the last time one of your senses were impaired? From what? My left eye still gets irritated from time to time. We never really found out what’s wrong with it; my first checkup happened on the day before lockdown, so we never got to go back. When it starts to act up, I usually have no choice but to wait for it to go away.

57.   Have you ever been in a hot air balloon before? No. I’ve been to hot air balloon festivals though. That’s enough for me haha; I’m not desiring to be in one and be up in the sky.

58.   Do you have a good health care plan? My parents do for us kids.

59.   Last time you went to the hardware store? Months ago.

60.   Have you ever played foursquare before? No. I thought that was just a website. Oops.

61.   Do you own any types of eyewear? I’ve worn a pair of glasses since I was 11. I had needed them much earlier but my mom always thought I was being a sissy and just ‘wanted’ glasses to fit in with other kids. It was such a stupid mindset, and it was so stupid of her to not believe her kid WHO WAS STARTING TO NOT SEE. It was only when I took an eye exam at the school clinic and the school wrote her a letter that she finally believed me, but I had been suffering for a while and could barely read the chalkboard for like two years, which definitely affected my grades. 

62.   What brand of cookware do you have a lot of? Not sure about brands.

63.   Nothing can compare to: Having a complete, loving, and supportive family.

64.   Have you ever worked in a childcare center? I haven’t.

65.   Do you have a “beware of dog” sign on your gate? Nah. I usually say it myself. Kimi never got used to strangers.

66.   Have you ever attended daycare as a child? I guess you can say that? It wasn’t daycare per se but some malls used to have play areas/centers and my mom used to drop me off in those while she ran errands for a few hours. Those aren’t too common nowadays because I guess it’s more dangerous to leave your kids now, even with attendants, but they were a fun part of my childhood.

67.   Are you very aware of your surroundings? I’m honestly a little ditzy so no. I always need a more responsible, more street smart friend by my side especially when I’m going somewhere unfamiliar.

68. Have you ever had an au pair or a nanny before? We used to have househelp, but we never saw them as nannies. A vast majority of them never met my mom’s (extremely high) expectations and quit in a few weeks or months, sometimes even days; the few ones who did eventually wanted better lives for themselves and resigned after a few years, which we didn’t stop them from doing. At some point my mom gave up having help around and realized that ultimately, she’d rather clean up and do chores her way.

69. Do you know anyone who has had an affair? Yes.

70. How much are you willing to spend on airfare? I’ve never bought my own ticket so I don’t know how much they’re supposed to be on average...but I imagine I’m willing to pay a lot of money if it means going to the destinations of my dreams.

71. Who do you care about the most? The friends that I count as family.

72. Are you more likely to choose truth or dare? Truth. I’m too shy to do dares and I’ve never had a problem telling the truth anyway.

73. Have you ever seen the Blair Witch Project before? Yes, a few times.

74. Do you like the name Claire? Would you spell it with or without the I? I love it, it sounds elegant and graceful and it’s one of my favorite names. I prefer it with an I – I don’t know any Clares, actually.

75. Last time you went to a fair? Last week of January.

76. What can be done to make life more fair? Ending world hunger and poverty and making education accessible for all. 

77. How much are you willing to spend on cab fare? Not much. Cab fares should be fair after all.

78. Do you have a lot of flair? To some extent, I guess. I’m certainly not dragging myself down haha.

79. Do you own flare jeans? Nopes.

80. Is there a glare on your computer screen right now? There isn’t.

81. When’s the last time someone glared at you? Sometime in the last week would be a safe guess. My mom will sometimes communicate through glares and I’ve picked up the habit from her as well.

82. What type of hair do you have? (color, length, texture, etc) How often do you wash it? It’s black, quite thick, a bit on the wavy side, and has a tendency to get frizzy when it’s humid. Length-wise, it currently reaches just my collarbones. After a rebonding disaster around a decade ago my hair got a bit dry and it never really recovered from that, so I need to wash my hair with a giant blob of conditioner every time I take a shower otherwise it would get dry and hard.

83. Do you know the difference between a rabbit and a hare? I know hares are larger, but that’s about it.

84. Do you like to eat eclairs? LOVE them.

85. What do you consider to be your lair? My car has served as my safety bubble for so many depressing days in college. That’s why I got a little heartbroken when my dad told me he might have plans to sell it to my aunt (his sister).

86. A female horse is called a mare. What is a male horse called? A baby horse? Stallion; foal. Thank you, kid’s almanacs haha.

87. Have you ever used Nair before? Did it work? I used Veet in middle school when razors still scared me. It worked, but it took a whiiiiile and sometimes it wouldn’t even take all the hair off, so eventually I just started shaving. 

88. Has anyone ever told you to “grow a pair”? No, and no thanks.

89. What is something that you own a pair of? Dogs. 

90. What is a rare quality that you have? Other people will have to answer that. They’re the ones who see me and get to decide what’s rare about me.

91. Last food you pared? I don’t think I’ve done that.

92. Do you know someone who is a debonair? Sure.

93. Do you like to scare others for fun? No.

94. What is something that scares you? The idea of being in a plane crash, for one.

95. Do you like Sonny and Cher? Can’t say I’m a fan or that I’ve listened to anything of theirs.

96. Do you know how to share? Do you like to share? Sure. The only thing I’m a little selfish about is my food lol.

97. Have you ever played a snare drum before? A few times before, yes.

98. What do you do with your spare change? I give them to the tambays who help me get out of parking spots. That or I use it to buy food in school, since everything in UP’s cheap enough to pay with coins.

99. Do you know how to put on a spare tire? No. I’m interested to learn though.

100. Have you ever gotten a spare while bowling before? Yep, it’s happened a few times.

101. When’s the last time you wished someone would spare you the details? A week ago.

102. Do you win games fair and square? Sure. I’ve only cheated once and that was on an exam.

103. Do you know how to find the square root of something? Not anymore. I do have a bunch of perfect squares still memorized, though.

104. What are the characteristics of a square shape? Four equal sides that are also right angles.

105. Have you ever been called a square before? No. I don’t know what that means either, so if I got called that I wouldn’t know how to react.

106. Do you prefer the elevator or the stairs? Elevator.

107. Do you ever stare at other people? Only if it’s a bizarre situation. Once when this drunk guy got arrested in BGC and was being physical with the police, I stared and watched the whole thing. I do try to look away for most scenarios though.

108. How often do you swear? A few times a day.

109. Do you ever “swear on your life”? It’s not a saying that I commonly use, no.

110. What do you like to “tear up”? Eh, I don’t really like tearing up things.

111. What type of wares would you sell? Not interested in sales or business, so that’s a pass for me haha.

112. What kinds of clothing do you like to wear? I like wearing whatever’s trendy, as long as I genuinely like the look.

113. Have you ever had a pregnancy scare before? Never. [a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

[hallucinosims]

Hiya! For all the new people reading your story, and unable to go back to the beginning, could you possibly tell us what’s happened so far to where you are now?:) Thankyou in advance if you can!

yeah, totally! First things first, if it’s more of a time thing then I totally understand reading stories takes up a lot of time, but if you ever do get the chance to check out the beginning you can find it right here! Each post has links back to the beginning, the post before and the post after! Now, into the summary. Under Read more for your convenience.

In Short: Play the Game is a story about Love (come to), Loss (Never is an awfully long time), and Found Family told (Hide me safe away) throughout three intertwining stories.

The story “technically” begins shortly after Marion Galere (Rowan and Reid’s biological mother) and Damon Benj (Reagan’s biological father) get married. This is marion’s second marraige and Damon’s first technical marriage even though he was in two long term relationships before hand that he would consider being life partners with but whatever. These two getting married basically fulfills this on going fate/prophecy/curse that hundreds of years ago was made that established the two families. One with a long long history of being monstrous and like the first of the leviathans/ first monsters (Benj, the current iteration of the line goes by that last name even though the majority of the rest of the family has a different last name). The other side spun into something of a culty, no way in no way out sort of idealogy (Galeres. I know this is technically mispelled but I don’t have a steady enough internet connection to copy and paste accent a cute) The Galeres, ever paranoid throughout their human existence, ends up cursing the lines in such ways that when they join again (which they inevitably will) it’ll be a fight to take over the line that supposedly got the better half of the deal. The Benjs are pushing a solid Zero in the wins department so far but their own side started to grow in prominence and power as time continued on so they were pretty solid without the winning thing.

Anyway, their grandfather (a Galere) tells them all these things and they end up finding proof of that in the form of these chess piece totems. Life continues on poorly. Marion and Damon are married but unhappily. Reid has already lost his other mother (Annabeth, worked as a drug mule and tough guy basically but that’s more All that matters today stuff) to a huge fire incident. Reagan is put on a pedestal due to Damon’s fear of loosing her to the game/curse. Rowan is almost forgotten about by his mother and step father so he kinda gets identity crises and doesn’t have a strong sense of self (mood). There’s an incident with Reid in which he almost gets killed at school for kissing a boy and before he can get officially expelled (not because he’s gay but for other stuff he did) they move across the country and try to start over. Well, not start over more like run towards their past because act 1 and 2 ends with all the kids learning this story about their identies that were bestowed upon them. They learn about their totems and what they represent (Reid = Knight: leader, determined, stubborn, headstrong. Rowan = Rook: dedicated, loyal but to a fault, always has walls up. Reagan = Bishop: Spiritual, follower, personality depends on what they believe in) And uh... then the stories kinda split. Reagan and vampires is a big plot point. Rowan and finding his sense of self (ie Maren Goodall his best friend who disappeared one day) and Reid trying to find comfort in himself by the means of other people Wahoo.

Reid and Dorian start dating (i forgot to mention he has a girlfriend who’s basically his beard that his mom told him to get but they’re still dating even though Reid and Dorian are also kinda together) More and more of their past keeps brings itself forward in ways such as visions headaches and other things whenever they are in the old house that they moved to in Mass (that Marion grew up in) and the connections to their totems beginning to click more into place. Come To and the knight because knights and doomed romance. Reid falls for Dorian sort of even though he feels he isn’t good enough for him and is still dating Makenna. Never is an Awfully long time and the rook and Loss. Rowan starts almost spiraling from person to person as he attempts to find someone to fill the whole in the walls he had built up for himself and ends up finding Evie Del Gato who is almost the antithesis of Maren and they decide to become good friends and she even helps him look for Maren as well as a few other friends. The Bishop and Hide me safe away and the idea of spirituality and family. Reagan has a hard time finding where she stands in the middle of things because she begins having visions about Vladislaus Straud, who is revealed in this act to be apart of her family line. She is also connected to the Vatores who are basically in resistence to Straud and the leviathan order (the name hasn’t been revealed technically in story yet but it’s not a spoiler so) which is a power heirarchy of all the humaniod creatures that walk the earth. But vampires wrote it so they put themselves pretty high on the list.The siblings don’t really interact heavily in this act as they got their own arcs going on. 

This act ends around a little after the winter holidays

Rowan starts dating someone a lot more like the best friend he lost (Kyle jackubus) Reid and Dorian are getting rockier as more people begin to find out their little secret. Reagan is...still trying her best. She learns about her bio mom (Harper Bridges) from Damon but then decides to leave and stay more often with the Vatores for her own safety as whenever she isn’t there she feels like Straud could just pop up and ruin her life whenever. Which begins to happen more and more as nightmares of him hurting people she love start to become more frequent. Reid has visions of his mom (Annabeth Holtz) more frequently as well in a sense of guilt and stuff about her death. Rowan starts seeing Maren in a paranoid frenzy after her dissapearance. So they’re all having a generally pretty bad time on the mental front but they keep trying to put that on the back burner to lead normal lives and disregard the stuff their siblings are going through because “I’m dealing with stuff too damnit” Even though in this chapter they are beginnig to find more trust in each other because they are the only other people who would genuinely get it. Marion and Damon are often in and out of Massachusetts right now because as the game continues on they want less and less involvement because they’ve done all they can do to save their kids and now nothing they do would make a difference anyway so they decide it best to stay away and not watch their family turn against each other. And this act isn’t done yet so that’s pretty much all I can say

Sorry this ended up being long and unintelligble at some moments, this is a WIP and will be in my ptg extras tab so it can be checked up on if you want to speed through the story.

[wazowskiofthemikevariety]

mike + identity

1. Wazowski: So for this category I’m going to encompass everything that’s within his name because that’s like the biggest piece of him that made him who he is.

a. Son: Mike holds his parents on Hero Status. He looks up to them and what they’ve done for him. One of his biggest goals in life is to be a dad himself, because he wants that relationship, he craves his people, to have someone to devote himself to. They’ve inspired him to be the person he is because he’s seen his mom and dad sacrifice a lot for him and his siblings, even for their other family members like Mike’s aunts and uncles, grandparents, etc. BUT being a son is a lot more than that, obviously. It’s more of an identity that’s important to him because he finds great pride whenever his parents introduce him as their son. Like, “Oh, Georgia! This is my son, Michael!” and he likes being known as one of the Wazowski’s children. His parents, while they do have their problems and aren’t perfect and are human, are important to him and he is very happy and proud to be their son. He finds it a very integral part of who he is, being their son and being a part of this family.  

b. Middle Child: Mike is the middle child of five and that means he was forgotten a lot of the time. Several times his parents forgot to get him from school, so he got himself a bike with his own money. Several times they forgot about taking him to practice for band or whatever sport he was trying to join that year, so he would arrange a ride himself or put the pedal to the meddle. Several times they forgot to sign him up for something, pay this, pay that, tell him what was going on so he would get home to the family being gone and him not knowing why, or them expecting him to have been packed and ready for trip everyone had failed to mention so all of a sudden he has to get his suitcase together while panicking about not having enough time and crying in his room under the stress as someone yells at him to hurry or they’ll miss their flight. This, although kind of disheartening to him, turned him very independent. It made him have to rely on himself. So he identifies with the stereotype of the Middle Child because oof, he knows that pain, but it played its part in making him who he is.

c. Younger Brother/Older Brother: He’s got different relationships to all of his siblings, as one does, and esp since he is that bridge from the olders to the youngers. He’s the middle, smack dab. Two above, two below. And he loves all his siblings. He’s sort of the second mom tbh because while his two older siblings are the kind that would die for the others or throw down where needed, they aren’t as responsible and put together as Mike is. And the younger siblings, there was sort of a disconnect with them to the older to because by the time they were Humans who could Hold A Conversation the older siblings had shipped off to college and weren’t around the house all the time. Where Mike became the oldest of the house all of a sudden, taking the younger two around. It’s a weird, interesting dynamic but he is very much a loving and supportive brother. He’s not the smartest, but he always worked the hardest. And his siblings were always his best friends when he didn’t have anyone. He was always ALWAYS there for them, even if they weren’t for him sometimes, but that’s okay. That’s what family it for, yah know. Talking shit, getting hit, but coming together to make sure the house is clean before their parents got home to kill them all should they see the state of the kitchen. Being a brother to four very different human beings is very important to him. He loves being a brother and he loves his sibling and is very grateful to them because while he didn’t have friends growing up he did have them. And they will always have him.

d. Ethnicity: This falls within this category, too, and IS important to him because he is kind of ethnically ambiguous. He is of mixed race and he’s proud of that. He identifies with it because his parents didn’t shy away from telling their kids about where they came from or who their families are. Though he may not seem to take to traditions of his heritage, he does, of course he does. And he knows the history of his family, and that’s another motivator for him. As a minority he’s always had that extra stretch he’s had to sprint through in order to make it to the finish line, that extra little bit of weight society puts on him. He does identify with his ethnicity and is proud of it and wouldn’t change it if he could because it is so integrated into who he is as a person since his parents didn’t shy away from telling their kids about where they come from.  

2. The Demonologist: This is, of course, second because he has always wanted to be a Demonologist. It was his lot in life. It was his calling. It was the only thing that got him out of bed in the morning sometimes, that motivation to go to school in order to be called a Demonologist someday. He wanted it so fucking badly as a kid, as a teenager, as an adult. He worked his ASS off to get that title to call his own. But that’s sort of where the irony stands with him because while he might self-identify as A Demonologist he isn’t really. He’s just starting to do things within the field that matter. Like, he never faced a demon until the August of 2018 and even then he got his ass beat by them before passing out and missing the end of the fight and exorcism completely. He hasn’t made any major headway in the field, he is a year out of school, teaching, and really has nothing to show for himself. WHICH IS FINE LMAO, you don’t have to have that jesus Christ, but Mike is an over achiever who thought he would have the world by now. It’s important to him to tell people that’s what he does, he’ll say he’s a Demonologist first and that he teaches at the university second because he doesn’t think he’s going to stay there of course. He thinks he’s just biding his time, using the resources, and soon enough he’s going to make it big. He’s book smart. He is the kind of person who could read a book and be able to regurgitate the information for you later on. But...I think it’s the difference between someone who can cook and a cook. He can cook, sure, he can follow the recipe and it will be good, but he isn’t going to be able to make something that’s great or anything like that because he lacks the instincts to improvise or think, oh well this needs some garlic lemme just add some in real quick. No, he’s the person waving around the menu like, IT SAYS TWO CLOVES. NO MORE NO LESS!! Even though he COULD be that person, he could improvise, he just doesn’t have the brain that would think of the situation like that. ANYWAYS OFF TOPIC, basically what I’m saying here is that Mike thinks of himself as a Demonologist and in a way he is because he got the degree, he’s earned the title on a technical level, but he doesn’t have it in the way that he’s proven any of that to be worthy. MAYBE HE WILL, maybe he won’t, I dunno where his journey will take him. 

3. College Graduate: This is also something very important to him because academics is fucking brutal, and it wasn’t any easier for him. He didn’t come from privilege, he didn’t have the name that would help him, people didn’t like him. College was lonelier than high school for him because at least there he would make surface level buddies within classes because he saw them five times a week and would help them on their homework and cracked a good joke for them to laugh at so they would be civil towards him. And he also lived with his family, his two younger siblings were still there. He had people around him. In college? He had no one. And I think we all know how lonely college can be, how isolated it can make someone feel despite being surrounded by people. That was Mike. And then you have everyone in his classes shitting on him for being enthusiastic! Wanting to talk about what they learned in class! That kid who kept up with the readings, who always raised his hand, who debated, who asked those questions everyone is thinking but didn’t want to say, and who’s presentations were almost spotless. Which is fair, he was a goodie goodie try hard, but he also was that way because he wanted to prove himself to these people who rolled their eyes at him, not knowing that the reason they did was BECAUSE he was showing off. But he went on, he got good grades, a good GPA, did his papers and went to his labs, got a job in between, and did it all on his own. It was one of, if not the, hardest things he had ever had to do in his life. Because Mike is not one of those people who can glance at the notes and get a good grade, he has to study for hours, he has to go to the library until hell o’clock in the morning, he has to make flash cards and pretend to teach the lamp what’s what before he can get that good grade. So! Yes! He loves being a college graduate. He loves his degrees, and he loves when his parents tell people about him having a PhD. It FUELS HIM. !!!

4. Friend: This has been a long time coming, baby. MIKE WAZOWSKI HAS FRIENDS BITCH. I’m telling you, he loVES having friends. He loves BEING a friend. It makes him so! fucking! happy! He was a lonely soul with so much love to give and nOW that he finally gets to give it, oof. I know I’m supposed to be a writer or whAtEveR but I can’t articulate how warm it makes him feel, how fulfilled. There was always this hollow ache inside of him, wanting and waiting for someone, anyone, to just want to be around him for a change. I’ve probably said this before, but since he watched a lot of movies growing up he accumulated that rose tinted glasses way of looking at life. He wanted that best friend he could call/text at any time and know they would reply. He wanted someone to drive around with, to have movie marathons with, to have feels sessions with, or to just hang out and take a nap together. He had high hopes of finding that person. But he never did. 28 years and he still couldn’t say he had a friend. NOW LOOK AT HIM. HE IS THRIVING. And I would say this identity is of the utmost importance to him because he has always wanted to be a Friend to someone. Like?? Being able to be the person people call because they know he’ll be there for them without a second thought, or being that person who makes them laugh and be happy and not think about their worries for a minute, or if they WANT to think about their worries he is the person they call to talk about them with. He likes being there for people, he loves it so much. He loves being in people’s lives and making them happy and smile and laugh and ugh. Being a friend is his favorite thing, connecting on that level to someone just makes him feel fulfilled. If he hears people calling him their friend he will DIE. If he is introduced as, “this is my friend, mike!” he will DIE. It’s his favorite thing in the whole wide world and he constantly gets emotional about it. 

5. Professor: This is lower on the list for obvious reasons but is apart of who he is now. To Mike it’s just a starting point, though, he doesn’t think it will be where he will stay or a long term position. But he loves being a professor because he loVEs demonology! So being able to teach it is kinda like the second best thing to be doing, plus it gives him a place to do research and have access to resources and all that jazz. He likes academia so it’s not like it’s a hard ship to be there reading over essays or listening to the debates kiddos have in class. It’s also just REALLY nice to have a job, especially one as good as being a professor. He’s not proud of it yet, is the thing. It’s not what he leads with when people ask him what he does, he is a Demonologist. And then he is a professor.

  6. Nerd: I mean, I think he identifies as a nerd because. Well. He is. And he doesn’t see that as a bad thing. He is both a Nerd in the sense that he likes to study and read and learn and excel within those things and that he likes to watch tv, movies, play video games, read comics, spend hours on the internet reading Fan theories, and laughing at memes. And to the people who are like, “well fuck you that stuff is for kids, grow up!” he genuinely doesn’t understand why other people feel like they have the right to put other people down? Why must people tell big jokes to make other people feel so small? It’s STUPID and he is soooo far passed calling everything he enjoys ‘guilty pleasures.’ nah. They’re just things he loves and will die on that hill. Worrying about shit like that is just lost on him now cause, shit, liking superhero movies isn’t embarrassing, unless you take it too far then lmfao okay calm down fam no need to set fire to someone over a MOVIE, and thinking it is isn’t about embarrassment, it’s about being insecure. And as much as Mike IS insecure, that’s one of the things he ain’t. If people want to make fun of him for that, fine, yes, it will hurt him and his ego, but he’ll also be the one getting to watch Logan (2017) and weeping into the pillow or having a really interesting conversation over the what preference of Star Trek generation people have. He loves all that nerdy shit, he loves getting excited about movies! and new games! and watching panels and actors and b-roll and listening to podcasts and reading about media news, it makes him happy, gets him excited! And disappointed! Makes him angry and happy and sad beyond belief sometimes, but that’s what he loves about it, too!

[softmoxymuffin]

Tellin’ the Folks...

I can’t believe I’m writing so much again. It’s been so long since I’ve been this inspired. I hope I can keep the momentum up

Chapter 1: Check Please

Chapter 2: Airplanes and Automobiles

Chapter 3: Tellin’ the Folks

Chapter 4: Hot Cocoa and Surprise Hugs

Chapter 5: Breakfast Sandwiches

Chapter 6: Learning Experience

Chapter 7: Keeping up Defenses

Chapter 8: Confessions in the Bitter Cold

sidenote: I don’t think i have to spell it out for anyone but fanfiction is just fanfiction. it’s fiction. when i write fiction i don’t really like involving real life romantic partners (maybe depending on the angle) but generally no so in the universe of this story seth does not have a girl friend and dean is not married to renee (who i adore) almost everything else is the same

i hope you guys enjoy... 

***

Seth finally got to calling his mom and step dad. He had first tried to convince them to not bother picking him up, but they insisted to meeting him at the airport personally even though it was 3am. It took a couple of minutes waiting but the giant hugs Seth got once they arrived was so worth the wait.

They talked excited in the car. They had asked about how things were in the company. They asked how everyone else was doing. They had even asked about Roman and his treatment. Seth’s parents had been nothing but supportive of him and his choices, and he knows how blessed he is to have that. His heart felt full whenever he sees them proud of him. As much as he loves the business, there was nothing like coming home for the holidays to be with his family.

It wasn’t until they had actually gotten home when he had finally remembered about his phone call with Dean at the airport. Seth’s mom had mentioned that his room was good and ready for him and should at least take a nap before having late breakfast later.

“Hey mom,” he stalls in the kitchen. His bags still in his hands. Though he had only called to her, he noticed her and his stepdad Hector had looked at him expectantly at the same time. He always thought that was cute. “Is the guest room ok?”

“Might need a bit of freshening up, but nothing major,” she explained and even looked at her husband for confirmation and he nodded accordingly. “Why, you expecting anyone?”

“Think Dean might be coming over.” He casually, as if the other man was basically driving 20 hours to just to get to his place. “Is that ok?”

“Dean? Of course. That’s perfectly fine. We love dean.” She said in such a motherly sweet tone with Hector nodding in agreement as he prepared coffee for the both of them. “But isn’t he spending time with his family in the holidays?”

“Don’t think so…” he voice kind of faded, sounding unsure.

Holly, as the excellent mom as she was, seemed to have noticed her son’s apprehension walked towards him to ask, “Is everything alright with Dean?”

For split second Seth was almost ready to confess to the weeks of confusing feelings he had been having for his bestfriend. The story of their night in Cincinnati on the tip of his tongue. But with a sigh and a shrug he left the story untold and just answered. “I’m not sure, but I hope he is…” his mom nods knowing the answer didn’t really satisfy her but knew pressing more about it wouldn’t really help her son.

“But he can stay in the guest room right?” Seth making sure. “Dd’s dumb boyfriend isn’t staying over is he?” he cocked his brow.

Holly shook her head with a angry little frown. “No, Ryan is not staying with us. He and Dd had actually broken up.” She said the last two words in a hushed but still trite tone.

“Well, I mean, they’ve broken up before.” Seth couldn’t help but pointed out.

“Yes, well I’m pretty sure this one is final.” His mother still had a bit of anger in her voice, but in an oddly triumphant way, then she walked to the sink to clean her mug.

Seth, being an excellent son, also knew when to not pry when things seemed tense with his mom. He did the next best thing and looked to his dependable stepfather and silently mouthed the words ‘what happened?’. Hector, without missing a beat, answered by mouthing the word ‘cheater’, right before he took his last sip of coffee. His dark hands growing white with the force of his grip, a sign Seth knew it meant his stepdad was just as mad about the situation as his mom.

He had only scowled at the revelation, but bit his tongue to ask anything more. He made his way to his room. His childhood bedroom that still housed so many of his toys and posters growing up. Everything kept as best as it could be over the years. The only new addition was the fancy mattress that made sleeping like a dream unto itself.

Unfortunately, that dream seemed to have been out of reach for the young man. As he put his things away and made himself comfortable as possible, he realized he really couldn’t find the comfort need for the nap his mom had suggested.

His mind had wandered back to Dean. This time not really about the confusion he had over the weeks, but more for the conversation they had just had. He wracked his brain trying to figure out what had prompted the other man to drive all this way out of the blue. Last they had seen each other Dean had actually looked excited to go back to Vegas. He was more than ready for the warm weather and the dessert and sand and the mountains. He said he was ready to be back in his element, and yet here he was driving a grueling 20 hours to snowy and cold Iowa for the holidays.

‘What happened Dean?’ Seth silently asked to himself.

He pushed himself onto his elbows before he reached for his bag. He may not be able to answer that question right now, but he knew someone who might have some idea. He dialed a familiar number into his phone and lay back down waiting for the phone on the other line to pick up.

“Gggrrhhh.. ello?” the other line had grumbled tiredly.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry Roman. I forgot how early it was.” Seth apologized the Samoan forgetting it was still pretty much too early in the morning for anyone else but his overthinking mind.

“hmm no worry…” Roman replied sounding a little bit more coherent than he did a few seconds ago. “I should be up anyway-” he yawned. “-need to start the day.”

“Hey, how are you man?” Seth asked with genuine concern.

“I’m good.” He replied, the ‘m’ I’m sounding a longer than it should, but again, Seth couldn’t fault the other man. “What’s up? You got home ok?” he asked the younger man.

Seth smiled, knowing fully well how much the bigger man valued his sleep, but also how much he valued them being the oldest (by a couple of months) and therefore the ‘dad’ of the group.

“Just got home actually.” He answered with a smile. “Landed like an hour ago.”

“Glad your home. Bet Holly misses her little drama king.” Roman teased.

Seth chuckled. He knew they would never let that down. “How about you man? How are you?”

Roman took a deep breath, and from what Seth could guess from the rustling of sheets, man on the phone must just be getting up form bed. “I’m ok, all things considered.”

“Treatment’s going well?” he asked, not really knowing the specifics but wanting to ask.

“It’s ok.” The other man replied. “I mean it some part suck. Like the hospitals and the needles here and there, but overall, it’s nothing too bad.”

“Good.. that’s good.” Seth replied not really knowing anything else.

“Seth, I’m glad you called and all but I got a feeling you’re not calling me this early in the morning just to have a chat.” Roman guessed.

‘What is it with parents?’ Seth jokingly thought. Realizing how similar Roman and his mom had approached the situation with him.

“Just wanted to ask you about something actually,” Seth fessed up. “Have you heard from Dean lately?”

“Hmm.. not as much as I’d like.” Roman joked. “Last I talked to him was yesterday before his flight. Sound pretty excited to get back home to the dessert and Mel.”

‘Oh, right Mel,’ Seth though feeling his insides deflate. Melanie was a girl Dean had met months ago back in Vegas. They had kept in touch over the months of travelling. Dean had even opened up about having her move into his place since her lease for the her own apartment was ending. He had never met the woman, but he had seen pictures of her. Just Dean’s type; blonde, perky, athletic. She seemed to make the other man happy, from what Seth could guess.

“Yo Seth!” Roman called for the younger man’s attention.

“Huh?” Seth replied intelligently. “I’m sorry what was that?” he asked.

“What happened man? You kinda just got quiet there and your nose started to hum in that way when you get kinda pissy over something.” He teased.

“My nose does not hum.” Seth denied at the same time pinching the bridge of his nose to check if it really did indeed hum or not.

“Whatever you say man,” Roman laughed quietly. “So, what about Dean?”

“What about him?” the younger man asked in a slight panicked.

“I don’t know man, you’re the one calling about him out of the blue.” Roman pointed out.

“Hmm yeah, It’s nothing really. I mean I don’t know exactly but-” Seth made a move to explain, but was doing his best try and not reveal too much of his feelings over the situation. “Dean’s coming over.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I talked to him once I landed and he told me he was like half way here already.”

“To Iowa?”

“Yeah”

“You know what happened?” Roman asked, his concern for their third partner thick in his voice.

“I don’t know yet. He wouldn’t say much.” Seth explained. “Was hoping he called you too or something.”

“No, nothing like that man.” Roman replied. Somewhere in the background one could hear the voice of a young girl calling for her dad. “Coming sweetie-“ Roman yelled out away from the phone’s receiver. “Listen Seth, Jojo’s up and I promised to make pancakes, but keep me up to speed about Dean ok?”

“Will do,” Seth replied, quite serious about the task.

“Oh and Seth?”

“Yeah?”

“Merry Christmas”

“Happy Holidays to you too Roman,”

[miss-musings]

My List of Top 10 Blacklisters

Let me say right off the bat that it was really difficult to compile this list. Because while I feel a lot of one-off Blacklisters are pretty much throwaways, especially all the different cults and kooky people that the show likes to keep introducing, many of the better ones (IMO) were bad guys who had been around for multiple episodes, maybe even entire arcs or seasons.

So, picking out my Top 10 -- based on how unique they were, how memorable they were, how intimidating, how threatening they were to the main cast, etc. -- was relatively easy, but ranking them was difficult. Because, again, a lot of them get way more screentime than others.

So, I'll try to rank them based on a combination of how much I personally liked them, how much of an overall impact to the story/characters the Blacklister had relative to their screentime and build-up, how well the actor did with the role, how unique and memorable they were, etc.

You'll notice that people like Laurel Hitchen, who was an antagonist but not technically a Blacklister, isn't on the list; and you'll notice that "good guys" like Dembe or Marvin Gerard who were technically Blacklisters, but weren't antagonists for Red or the Task Force aren't on here either. Tom, who flip-flopped between good guy and bad guy as the show progressed, isn't on here either; but that's because there's so much material to judge from as he was a main cast member for at least three seasons, which is unfair.

Anyway, without further ado: my list. Again, feel free to disagree and make your own lists if you like.

(EDIT: I’ve done a follow-up list of ‘Top 10 Best One-Off Blacklisters’, because so many of the below entries had multiple episodes in which to be menacing.)

Note for future reference: this list only includes Blacklisters up through the end of S5.

###

HONORABLE MENTION: MR. KAPLAN

I really wanted to put Mr. Kaplan on this list, and I had at one point, but then I realized I forgot one of the more imposing Blacklisters and had to slide him into the spot where I had Mr. Kaplan. The only reason I took her off completely rather knocking every lower-numbered entry down a spot, was because while I really liked Mr. Kaplan up until S3c, I hated how the showrunners forced the storyline where she had once been Liz's nanny and hated Red for doing her and the Keen family wrong. I love Susan Bloomaert and think she's a very talented actress who's incredibly underrated; but I loved her character more when she was on Red's team -- his cleaner, his friend, his confidant. Granted, there were some really good episodes with her as an antagonist, but I hated the way she died -- throwing herself off a bridge.

Anyway, again, I want to emphasize that this list is purely subjective. So, if you think I've done Mr. Kaplan a disservice, feel free to make your own list to give her to honor you believe she deserves. As I said: I loved Mr. Kaplan, but I felt the whole S4b storyline completely assassinated her character as we knew it up to that point.

P.S. I also feel like GREGORY DEVRY should get a shout-out, but I’ll probably include him in my list of Best One-Off Blacklisters.

10. LEONARD CAUL

This is one of those entries where I guess I kind of cheated. Caul didn’t really end up being an antagonist for Red, Liz or the Task Force. But he was introduced to us a little ambiguously with him developing photos of Liz and Red, listening to the police scanner -- and then holding Liz at gunpoint (briefly) in Red's Bethesda apartment... I really liked all of that and how it was kind of vague from the beginning whether he was on their side or not. Granted, he doesn't get much screentime even in his own episode, and honestly, after S2, I'm not really sure what happened to him. I know he was hanging around with Red up until the S2 finale or thereabouts, but yeah, whatever happened to that guy?

Anyway, it was a really tense episode, and I felt like Caul brought a level of adrenaline and urgency to the situation with Red and the Cabal, as well as the show in general.

9. IAN GARVEY

You'd think Garvey would be higher on this list, but I was never really a big fan of him. Granted, he did pose a pretty serious threat for our main crew, after he stole the Real Reddington’s bones, killed Tom and his goons knocked Liz into a coma. And the actor did a fine job. But, I just felt that -- up until his connection to the Reddington family was revealed -- he was just kind of cartoonish. A dirty cop who runs a drug cartel? Yeah, I don't care.

But, again, while I don't really like Garvey, I felt like he had such an impact on the show and the characters that he deserved a spot -- even if it was a low one.

8. MADELINE PRATT

The only female Blacklister to formally make it onto the list. (Sorry, Mr. Kaplan.) I thought her character and this episode was incredibly well-done. It was a little bit of a heist storyline, and Pratt was a good foil for Liz and Red, forcing both of them to open up in ways we hadn't seen before (up to that point). Liz became more comfortable doing criminal-type things, using her slight-of-hand, infiltrating locations and lying/manipulating people; while Red, conversely, became more human and opened up about why he has been so distant with people and the hurt he has experienced in the past.

Also, Madeline is one of the few past/current love interests of Red that we see on the show, and I really like Jennifer Ehle (mostly because of the 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice). I felt like she matched well with Spader and wasn't overpowered by his always-charismatic performance. And, while we only ever saw her in this episode and briefly in 2x14, I felt like she deserved a spot because she was such a unique character and that episode introduced a lot of character details and traits that became important later.

7. THE STEWMAKER

I really, really liked the Stewmaker -- both the bad guy and the episode. The only reason I didn't put him higher on this list is because I feel everyone else is too good (or bad, depending on how you want to look at it) to be displaced.

So, I remember reading on one of those TV-watching websites that if you weren't entirely sure about a show but you wanted to give it a chance, you should watch at least four episodes to see whether it was any good. By the fourth episode, the show should have established its characters, its dynamic, its continuing plot points, its feel, etc. Pilots, of course, always feel a little different than the shows themselves because they're filmed months before any other episode; so you have to give shows a chance to establish themselves and walk on their own two feet.

So... when THIS was the show's fourth episode... oh, buddy.

The Stewmaker posed a serious threat as he was the first person to ever hold Liz captive and feel the wrath of Red for such an offense. The episode gave us the infamous Parable of the Farmer; and continued the then-mystery of Liz finding out about Tom's shady past.

But, as for the character himself, he was just really weird. Walking around naked while he was working, but having that mask on; disintegrating bodies; having his dog with him; actually being a family man but having this criminal work on the side. And, also, we had a little bit of interaction where Liz was actually trying to do her job (for once) and profile him and use that info to her advantage.

He was a character that I feel the show has tried to redo several times -- the kooky weirdo who's very calm, apologetic and doesn't like violence but who is also fascinated by death, bodies, etc. But, of course, this was the FIRST time the show had used such a character, so it was much more memorable then and not so watered-down.

In any case, I really liked the Stewmaker and thought he was a fantastic Blacklister for the show to have in its fourth episode of the entire series.

6. MATIAS SOLOMON

So, this is actually the spot where I had Mr. Kaplan. But, while I was doing some background research on my #1 choice, I ran across Edi Gathegi's name and remembered that I left Solomon completely off the list. He had been an antagonist throughout the whole of S3a and then came back for his namesake episodes where he and his crew attack Liz and Tom's wedding, Liz gives birth to Agnes, and later she "dies" with Red by her side.

Solomon is either directly or indirectly responsible for a lot of major shit that happened on this show -- hell, just in those two episodes. And, I really like Gathegi's performance, especially considering how Solomon was a little Extra™. So he had to play him as dramatic with a penchant for flair and style ... but without him becoming cartoonish. He was just a little bit eccentric but could still hold himself and lead a team of goons in shooting up a church.

Again, I hated to leave Mr. Kaplan off the list but I felt it was a greater disservice to not put Solomon on it, considering how much of a threat he posed to our main cast throughout various points of S3.

5. THE DECEMBRIST (A.K.A. ALAN FITCH)

This is basically just an outlet for me to talk about how amazing Alan Alda is and how much I love him and wish the show hadn't killed his character off. Seriously, he's just so adorable, and it was hilarious to see him partly playing against type here. Fitch was intimidating, but I also kept wanting to give him a hug.

And, I felt like that was how Red felt toward him. He hated Fitch for the whole bullshit in that raid on the Post Office, but yet, he also respected him. That look on his face when he's having that last conversation before the bomb on Fitch's neck goes off... just heartbreaking.

And while so many actors seem to bow under the weight of Spader's performances, Alda is also one of the few actors who I felt like was on-par with him in terms of charisma and acting chops. It seems he just strolls onto the set and does whatever is required of him without a care in the world. "Need me to be gruff and menacing? I can do that. Need me to be sad and fearful? I can do that. Need me to look bored and indifferent? I can do that." God, I just love Alan Alda, and I want to give him a hug. 

But, seriously, Fitch was a Blacklister who's impact on the story goes all the way back to setting Berlin on Red decades before S2 takes place, and he was one of the few people (at that time) who seemed to know Reddington from the pre-Night of the Fire era. (It's unclear now whether that was actually true; he probably knew the REAL Reddington, but never knew our guy was an imposter.)

Anyway, Fitch had a major impact on the story because he was the one person/thing who had a connection to the raid on the Post Office, the Cabal and Berlin. So, he definitely deserves a spot on this list. And also, ALAN ALDA!

4. BERLIN

This is a weird entry, because Berlin is hardly in either of his two namesake episodes; and even when he is, his identity is obscured until the very end of "Berlin: Conclusion."

Berlin had been built up for a long time, and while I still am so frustrated that it was never addressed how he organized a giant criminal syndicate from inside a Russian prison. Honestly, for as much as for as long as he was built up, I feel like the pay-off was a little bit disappointing. Which is why he’s at number four for me.

Still, when he came back in the first half of S2, he was such a good baddie. I absolutely love when he and Red meet on Coney Island, and that weird, dynamic and layered conversation that they have. And overall, Peter Stormare's performance is fantastic. He's mustache-twirling, sure, but he was so intimidating at the same time... threatening Liz, capturing Naomi, being responsible for the attacks on Cooper and Meera, etc.

He had a tremendous impact on both S1 and S2a, so he definitely has to have a spot.

3. ALEXANDER KIRK (A.K.A. CONSTANTIN ROSTOV)

Like Berlin, Kirk is hardly in either of his namesake episodes, but we get to see him more fleshed out as a character/villain in S4a.

Unlike most villains, we actually got to see quiet moments of Kirk, where he was caring, respectful, loving and just ... generally not villainous. Most of these other Blacklisters never got those opportunities, and Kirk -- in hindsight -- was built up as a kind of hero out of a Greek tragedy. Odette tells Liz that he was a kind, caring and gentle man up until he found out about Liz’s identity as Masha and her connection to Red. Then, he flipped his shit and did whatever it took to get his (step)daughter away from him. And, honestly, I really liked his little farewell speech to Liz about how she would only ever remember him as a villain who kidnapped and threatened her and her child; and she would never remember him as the young, happy father who held her in her arms, excited at what the future would hold for their family.

God, just thinking back to that speech makes me feel such sympathy for the man... not the one he became but the one he used to be. Kirk was hurt and betrayed multiple times by Katarina, the Real Reddington, the Fake Reddington, and all these other people who played him like a puppet for their own ends. Really thinking back on it, it’s no wonder he became the broken man he is, so desperately trying to cling to this frayed prospect of happiness with the family he once had. Yes, he was hoping that Liz or Agnes would help cure him of his disease, but I truly believe that was only a bonus in his mind and he was really hoping to piece his family back together -- to have a second chance in his (step)daughter’s life and help her with her newborn.

He’s also one of the few villains with his own arc who WASN’T killed off at the end of said arc, so I REALLY hope he comes back. I doubt it, but I would really like to see it. Maybe he could help Liz understand what all happened with Katarina, Real Reddington, Fake Reddington, and everything on the Night of the Fire.

And, again, like with Fitch, he was a really important Blacklister as he was connected to both Red’s past and Liz’s. And, that scene where he’s about to kill Red, and the two stop to reminisce about Katarina, who she was, and how important she was to them ... that’s the kind of depth we don’t get out of most Blacklisters.

Honestly, even though his introduction to the audience was a little too Darth Vader/Alias-esque, I still really enjoyed the range of emotions Ulrich Thomsen got to run through in his portrayal, especially in that final episode. And while he doesn’t really have a lasting effect on the story once his arc is resolved, he was a major threat to everyone, including Liz, and the main characters to make major decisions in the latter half of S3 and the first part of S4 that showed us who they really are.

So, yeah. IMO, he deserves to be this high on the list.

2. ANSLO GARRICK

It might seem a little weird to have a one-off villain this high on the list, but Anslo Garrick -- both the character and his namesake episodes -- was an actual game-changer. Here we were, skipping along through S1, pretty complacent and chill. And then all of a sudden, Anslo Garrick shows up and turns everything on its head. The Post Office is under attack; Ressler gets seriously injured and he and Red have to make due hanging out together inside the box; Cooper et al is captured; Liz and Aram, who have little field experience between them, have to team up to try to get to safety. Luli is killed; Dembe is almost killed; Liz is threatened; Red is captured and later escapes.

God, so much happened in those episodes, and I still think “Anslo Garrick: Part One” might be the best episode of the show to date. Seriously. Even though Red and Liz have zero screentime together, that episode is just SO GOOD. Intense, dark, with high-stakes and important character moments -- and there have been very few episodes like it since.

But, anyway, as for Anslo Garrick himself... he isn’t really all that much. He was a rabid dog sent by Fitch to bring Red in. He was intimidating, coarse, violent and gave zero shits about his actions.

This entry doesn’t really celebrate who the character of Anslo Garrick was, but more of what he represented and the major impact he had on the show at that point in time. He introduced us to Fitch, who first brought up the whole “Cabal” storyline, which was responsible for a lot of shit in S2 and S3a.

Again, Garrick woke us viewers out of our little complacency that Red & co. were just going to glide through their Blacklisters with only a few cuts and bruises and no real stakes (outside of the Tom/mystery storyline that was going on at the time). This was a good kick in the pants to make us realize that we were wrong.

So, yeah. I feel like he deserves to be Number 2.

1. THE DIRECTOR

So, you’re sitting there, wondering who the hell could be sitting at Number 1... above Garvey, above Kirk and Garrick and Fitch and everyone else?

It’s the man who if I could push a button and bring any of the show’s dead character back to life, he would be the one I’d pick:

Peter Kotsiopulos, The Director ... played by the amazing David Strathairn.

Even though he appeared in 12 episodes over what amounted to an entire season of the show (from 2x09 to 3x10), I really wish The Director hadn’t been killed off. Seriously, I have no idea how much money TPTB had to throw at Strathairn to get him to appear for as long and as many times as he did, but it wasn’t enough. I've always said that this show deserves a Big Bad (assuming that Red isn’t it), and he would’ve been great as the Big Bad for The Blacklist.

While Strathairn's basically just reprising his role as "Unethical and Shady AF Government Official and Resident Mustache-Twirler" from The Bourne Series, it's a role he's REALLY good at. And even though he didn’t get a lot of quiet moments to be humanized or come across as sympathetic, like Kirk did, I still feel like it was such a bitch move for Red and his crew to play on The Director’s feelings for/obligation to his wife as their opportunity to abduct him. I know that Liz was facing trial for murder and desperate times called for desperate measures, but I can just imagine that poor lady sitting in her therapist’s office, wondering where her husband was only to find out that he was a villain who had ditched her and fled the country, when that wasn’t the case AT ALL.

Yeah, I know The Director’s an absolute piece of shit who’s responsible for threatening the entire Task Force, publicly demonizing Liz and almost killing Red... but he was so good at being bad that I wanted him to stick around long-term. I wanted to see him and Liz have more interactions; and again, Stathairn was one of the few actors who held his own in scenes with Spader without any effort.

He was also the first one, as I recall, to set Liz on this path toward Katarina Rostova’s backstory and finding out how alike the two of them were. Remember in 2x19, he remarks how much Liz looks like her mom, and I feel like that sends Liz down a road to get answers from Red about who she was and what his connection was to her mom and her family.

But, anyway, yeah. I just love David Strathairn; I loved him in this role, on this show; and I loved how diabolical, manipulative, and just conniving his character was. I also just absolutely love the look on his face in 3x10 when he and Red are watching Laurel Hitchen on the TV and Hitchen just outs The Director as a member of the Cabal. He just goes from angry and staring daggers at Red to flustered and “oh shit” in an instant.

So, just like my Fitch entry was my opportunity to celebrate how amazing Alan Alda was, this is my chance to celebrate how underrated David Strathairn is as an actor and how much I wish he was still on the show.

But, putting all of that aside, why should The Director as a character be ranked above all those other people as a better Blacklister?

Because, The Director represented the Cabal, which was an entity that had been built up from 1x09 as a major force that had power to easily destroy everything Red, Liz and their crew was trying to work toward. They sent Braxton after info about the Fulcrum, they sent Karakurt to frame Liz, they sent that team of commandos to attack Red. They were a force that seemingly could not be stopped, and the Director was at the head of it all.

And, while I can’t find it anywhere (so help me out if you know what I’m talking about), I know there’s a saying about how the worst man is the one who does evil in the name of good. And that’s The Director. He is the embodiment of all the worst parts of The Blacklist’s villains, actual real life government officials and humanity at large. He has dozens of people killed without batting an eye because it’s all in the interest of “national security.” Or so he tells others. But, deep down, we all know that he’s only really concerned about his own self-interest.

Now that the show has killed him off, obviously, there’s no way for Strathairn to return as The Director; but perhaps, if/once the show delves more into Katarina and Red’s backstory, maybe we will see a Young Director in a flashback so that we can see exactly how he was connected to Katarina, the Cabal, and that whole mess with the Fulcrum.

Plus, I can’t get over how awesome his interactions with Liz were, and Strathairn’s delivery of the now infamous line, “I know who you really are, Raymond -- who you are TO HER.”

###

Again, if you disagree, feel free to reblog with your comments or your own list. This is all purely subjective, but -- because we’re on this crazy-long hiatus until January -- I felt like it was good to fill the time with SOMETHING. My goal with this isn’t to give a definitive list and that’s it; but rather, to prompt discussion about the topic.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end and cheers! ~mm

[thisdaynews]

JUST IN:Why Ekweremadu Belongs to Hall of Shame -- SKC Ogbonnia

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/just-inwhy-ekweremadu-belongs-to-hall-of-shame-skc-ogbonnia/

JUST IN:Why Ekweremadu Belongs to Hall of Shame -- SKC Ogbonnia

The recent protest in Germany in which former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, was harassed, chased around, subdued, and beaten like a palace pickpocket brought big shame to Nigeria, and the senator must own full blame. Even a novice could have discerned that the popularity of the #RevolutionNow, led by Omoyele Sowore, shows that the Nigerian masses are not fools and will not endure abject injustice forever.

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They are gradually recognizing their true problems and real enemies. The masses are keenly aware that Ekweremadu has been a recurring decimal in the gross misrule of the country in the 4th Republic, particularly the South-East zone.

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A fifth-term term senator, Mr. Ike Ekweremadu is a malignant narcissist masked by a boy-scout persona, yet any dig into his record readily exhumes mess and miasma to boot. He has only managed to sustain power through fake popularity, buoyed by a montage of propaganda, mass deceit, political bribery and brigandage and, of course, a vicious army of well-educated and well-paid bootlickers, made possible by an overflowing wealth accumulated without a sweat.

I must admit that I was once gullible to the propaganda and consequently became one of Ekweremadu’s biggest boosters.

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The trust dramatically waned after I penned him a letter following the election of 2011. Since he was the political leader of the South-East to the centre, I specified important projects in the zone that could mold his name into gold, namely, Enugu Airport; Enugu/Port-Harcourt, Enugu/Onitsha, and Onitsha/Owerri highways; 2nd River Niger Bridge; and an additional Igbo state.

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I have yet to recover from the shock I felt when Senator Ekweremadu thundered back, suggesting that I was an ingrate.

To him, instead of worrying about public projects, I should be grateful for life that he hired my brother as his adviser, supported my cousin’s election to the federal parliament, and graded the pavement leading into my country home.

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But Ekweremadu forgot that we both must first pass through the roads plied by the masses before striding into our mansions. Lo and behold, yet very, unfortunately, the senator would lose his beloved brother, Chukwuemeka, to a motor accident caused by potholes on the same Enugu/PH highway on December 23, 2012.

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This experience contributed to my piece, “Every Nigerian Blood Is On The Line”.

The last straw took place in 2013 at Houston, Texas. I had organized a meeting between Ekweremadu and the leaders of Igbo Peoples’ Congress while he was in the city on the invitation of Greater Awgu Leadership Forum (GALF).

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When confronted why he had not shown up at the Igbo meeting, he retorted that the size of the crowd was not large enough to deserve his presence, and he never showed up. Ekweremadu’ apparent insult on the Igbo made me furious, obviously, but that is nothing compared to what follows.

A night before the aborted Igbo meeting, the senator was kind to have presented the Awgu people copies of a fat pamphlet titled, “Accomplishments & Constituency Projects Attracted by His Excellency Senator Ike Ekweremadu, CFR”.

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Interestingly, the number one on the list (S/N. 1) was a library he claimed to have attracted in the year 2009 to my town, Ugbo, under MDGs Quickwin. I quickly called the town union to inquire about the library and other projects on the list—only to find out that no such things existed and still do not exist.

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I made similar inquiries around the constituency and other parts of South-East where projects were supposedly attracted. I received a similar result—phantom. Even in some cases with traces of such projects, they were uncompleted and totally abandoned. After his tawdry refusal to explain the contradictions, I made my findings public.

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Since then, I have been a marked man. He not only unleashed a global campaign of calumny against my person and businesses, but he is also on record to have threatened my life. I will never wish my worst enemy the most immoral sight of Ike Ekweremadu laughing and jeering while my dear mother, a septuagenarian, knelt in full glare of a national TV, appealing to the senator not to hurt her son—for daring to question his representative in government.

The date was December 27, 2013. As if that lacked in folly, Ekweremadu commanded his toadies in the district, including some “autonomous” royal fathers, such as Igwe Lawrence Chime of Ugbonabor and Igwe Jerome Okeke of Ngene Ugbo to publicly denounce me for daring to oppose their Excellency.

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This last election season, obviously rattled that my presidential bid could inspire opposition in the constituency and threaten his ageless grip on the people, Ekweremadu sponsored his aides to tear down my posters around Enugu State. They even had the audacity to invade my country home on August 10, 2018, beating up my campaign officials, as well as some family members. It took the timely intervention of Ugbo youths to avert counterattack and bloodshed.

Of course, I alerted the senator and some relevant authorities in the state. Besides the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Nnia Nwodo; and Ogbuagu Anikwe, the spokesman for Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who registered strong displeasure, Ike Ekweremadu neither apologized nor condemned the thuggery.

But this pattern of do-or-die, remember, is how he has sustained power.

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The bigger problem, however, is that no part of the South-East has seen any tangible development the 12 years Ekweremadu has held power. Today, the only major public attraction in his entire local government is his mansion at Mpu, being one of his 32 choice properties currently under criminal investigation.

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Today, the three major roads that traverse his constituency, namely, Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt, and Awgu-Oji-River highways are among the 10 worst highways in the country.

Today, most major projects in Igboland have only been good for election propaganda and money-spinning by the area politicians through a series of funded but abandoned contracts. Needless to mention that Part II of this essay will demonstrate how Ekweremadu used and dumped the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for his personal interest.

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Ekweremadu’s imprint at the national level does not need to be retold here. Consider, for instance, his ignorable role as a ringleader in the third-term plot to derail our democracy and elongate Obasanjo’s tenure. Combine the subversive act with the fact that Ekweremadu was one of the brains behind the jumbo salary for senators, as well as the Constituency Project scheme, which has cost the country trillions without any meaningful project to show.

Further, despite being palm handed N10 billion under President Jonathan to influence the amendment of the constitution towards restructuring, including the additional states and local governments, the only result Nigerians have seen is tale after tale.

It is clear the grievances against Ekweremadu by IPOB are profoundly justified.

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But physical assault must be condemned as well. Petitions, picketing, booing, jeering, and heckling are proper. In fact, the nature of the German protest remains at risk of turning Ekweremadu, the villain, into a victim. Notice how he quickly resorted back to his familiar mélange of propaganda and profligacy upon arrival in Nigeria, shamelessly chartering aircrafts, renting ever-ready crowds, and portraying himself as a hero—for being disgraced on his plot to remain Deputy Senate President for life and later flogged naked at a fake New Yam Festival in faraway Germany while his direct constituency is under siege by terror herdsmen.

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The Nigerian masses, particularly the Igbo, have suffered massive neglect the last 12 years Ike Ekweremadu held sway as the de facto Senate President. But the senator is not alone. The Diaspora Nigerians should, therefore, unite and quickly initiate a Hall of SHAME where the likes of Ike Ekweremadu deserve a permanent place. Yes, it portends a crime against the humanity to continue to allow Nigerian corrupt leaders to enjoy freedom in foreign lands if they cannot guarantee freedom for the masses in their homeland.

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SKC Ogbonnia, a 2019 APC presidential aspirant, is the author of the Effective Leadership Formula.