#blame the british middle school

[tonycries]

wait tony does this mean you have an aussie accent

[northlight14]

Speaking as someone who was constantly late to school, I think punishing kids/teens for being late to school is stupid. Like, I get it. When they’re older, they can’t be late to work and stuff and they need to understand that. But majority of kids/teens are getting to school via their parents or someone else driving them or hell the school bus which is also driven by an adult. So when a kid arrives late and gets punished for it, all that’s happening is a child getting punished because the adult responsible for getting them there on time wasn’t successful. That’s not teaching the kid anything, that’s just annoying. Especially when, as a kid I was always ready on time and it was my parents I was waiting on and then in detention I’d be expected to write down a “what will I do better” that didn’t apply to me because I didn’t do anything wrong

I get that sometimes it will be the kids fault but I feel like those cases are few and far between and punishing a kid for the adults in their life is just counterproductive

[aithusarosekiller]

Can't wait for when everyone stops making all the marauders American and instead focuses on the fact that Lily (+severus) was raised in an industrial midlands town in the years between WW2 and Thatcher. And then choose to think about how that may have impacted her life as someone who was raised in a lower-middle class family who likely had dangerous jobs in the industrial sector while her schoolmates for from ancient prestigious bloodlines who hated her for existing.

Or that the fact despite his parents being well-off, Remus as an outcast is a stereotype of the entire British working class and the way the government will always blame minorities or those on benefits as a way to keep them down and maintain power, ESPECIALLY when he grows up and has to scramble to keep his life together, as many council-housed Brits have to do

Or how the black brothers and James were both raised in really posh parts of the south. The black traditional family being strategically placed in a rich borough of London, only a small drive from Westminster itself to reinforce the way their family uphold and push for oppressive traditional values, mainly at the expense of those in typically poorer areas (like the midlands and north). James was likely raised in a large, wealthy rural area with a great separation from the rest of society, allowing him to form as an arrogant boy, disconnected from the rest of society until he was in school.

But that's probably never gonna happen tbf

[cookiescribble]

spencer x british!reader

as a brit i would love to see a fic of a reader with a british accent and spencer adores it and mimics her sometimes

Taking It In (Spencer Reid x British Fem!Reader)

A/N: Thank you so much for the request! This is a bit of a team effort because I’m a bit more knowledgeable about British culture (in no means an expert, I just had a hyperfixation on the Beatles and Doctor Who in middle school/ high school lmao) but Mod Angel is usually the one who writes for fem!readers. Also, we’re both American so we hope this is what you wanted! Sorry for the little wait - Mod Ghost

We also just binged season 2 of Heartstopper and tried our best to pick up on some of the language because we thought this was a really cute idea and wanted to write it as best we could! - Mod Angel

~~~

“Coffee? I thought that people from the UK drank tea?” Spencer piped up from behind as his girlfriend was pouring coffee into one of the paper cups she’d found around the canteen. 

“It heavily depends on who you’re talking to, Spencer. I feel you should know just as well as I do that everyone’s different. You didn’t profile me as soon as we started dating?” Y/N joked, to which he looked puzzled.

“Wha–no, I usually try to keep my job separate from…personal relations.” He replied sheepishly, starting to mix up his own mug of coffee. 

“That changed when we started dating, didn’t it, love?” She teased him, patting his shoulder.

It made him blush and stutter like mad, his hands waving around as he tried to scramble to find something to say. It was rare to see him speechless, but she couldn’t help but to smirk as she watched him struggle. It only lasted a few more seconds before she cut him off, reaching out and gently touching his hand.

“It’s alright, I was just being cheeky, that’s all. C’mon, let’s go back to workin’ on the case, okay?” She chuckled, leading him away from the counter with the hand that wasn’t holding her coffee resting at the small of his back as they walked. 

“I knew that!” He squealed in his own defense, which made her giggle loudly. 

*

A few weeks later, the BAU were out to dinner, taking a small break while in the middle of a case. Though, it wasn’t much of a break, considering they were still talking about the profile.

Spencer pointed to a plate in the middle of the table. “Can I have a chip?”

A confused silence fell over the table as they all looked in his direction. Spencer stared back at them, an eyebrow raised in his own confusion.

“What?” Spencer asked finally, breaking the silence.

“What did you just say?” JJ responded with a smirk, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“I asked if you could pass me a chip” he answered, pointing to the plate again.

“Where do you see chips?” Hotch chimed in, concerned for his mental stability. 

Still confused, Spencer pointed to the plate again.

“The fries?” Penelope clarified, gesturing to the same plate finally. 

“Oh.” He nodded awkwardly. “Yeah, can you pass me a fry?”

“You’re really spending too much time with that girlfriend of yours, aren’t you?” Morgan teased, grinning and playfully nudging his shoulder.

He smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said in a faux-English accent as he finally got the ‘chip’ he wanted as the rest of the table laughed. 

“Speaking of Y/N, where is she tonight?? I miss that girl.” Garcia complained from the other side of the table, 

“Oh, she went out with one of her mates–” Spencer started before Prentiss cut him off from where she was sat next to him, 

“Mates??” She asked incredulously, seconds away from giggling as he groaned and leaned back in his chair. 

“FRIENDS! Her friends.” he grumbled, finishing his food and making a mental note to not only tell but blame his girlfriend, Y/N, for everything he’d been through tonight. Not before giving her a kiss, though. The fact that she wasn’t here just made him realize how much he missed her, and it made him wonder if there was a correlation between missing her and talking like her.

The girls dropped him off at home a few hours later, where the first thing he said when he saw Y/N was ‘this is your fault’.

“Do you…want to elaborate on that or…?”

“Later.” Was all he said before he was hugging her and burying his head in her shoulder. 

She tugged him close, feeling him start breathing deeply against her shoulder as if he was falling asleep and tapped him to wake him up a bit so she could start leading him to their room. “Come along, darling, let’s get you into bed. You seem tired.” 

“I know that they’re fries but you say chips…it’s cute…” he mumbled as he walked, only adding to the confusion but she chalked it up to him being tired from a long day and let it go for now as she tucked him in with a smile at how cute he was. 

[codmw2019-2022]

Modern Warfare Character Ages [2019 + 22]

Preface: Just wanted to add before getting into this that this is my interpretation of the character ages based on information from the games, confirmed information, research into the military/CIA and collage/university course information. This is by no means meant to be a definite statement about character ages, I'm happy to discuss or change any of the information here within reason.

I would also like to credit @sleepyconfusedpotato and @oleworldblues posts with their own opinions on the character ages. Which helped base my own thoughts and provided some good information that they had found. You can find Sleepy's post here and Blue's here they are really good posts and they both explain their own reasons for how they perceive the main cast of modern warfare's ages.

Farah & Hadir Karim : 30 & 32 [2022]

Both Farah and Hadir's ages have been confirmed by Taylor Kurosaki who is one of the writers from Modern Warfare 2019. This was confirmed when a fan ask him via twitter/X about how old Farah was during the Barkov invasion.

This means in 1999 when Barkov invaded Farah was 7 and Hadir was 9. In 2009 when they escaped they are 17 and 19 respectively and in 2019 they are 27 and 29. Hadir dies in December of 2022 as discovered in the Atomgrad raids at the age of 32.

John Price : 37 [2022]

Using the information provided from his original operator bio we find that "John Price joined the infantry at the age of sixteen and has served the British Army for 18 years." and that "he was ‘Badged’ a member of SAS in 2005, spending the next ten years in the Middle East, the horn of Africa.".

With this Price's age works out to be about 34 years old, but since it only mentions serving the British army. I added 4 years for him to be able to complete basic training which is roughly 18 weeks basic training.* Followed by Special Air Service (SAS) training with is roughly a couple months, but you must serve at least 18 months in the military to be selected**, and finally his training at the Royal Military Academy to become a Lieutenant and then Captain which is 44 weeks with 2-3 weeks of leave.***

So Price would join the British army at 16 in 2001, be badged a member of SAS at 20 in 2005, become Captain at 25 in 2010. In 2019 he would be 34 and finally 37 in 2022, which to me makes the most sense based on other character's ages.

*[army.mod.uk solider training] **[eliteukforces.info SAS] [eliteukforces.info SBS&SAS] ***[army.mod.uk officer training]

Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick : 32 [2022]

We can do the same process as we did with Price for Gaz, his operator bio says "Kyle ‘Gaz’ Garrick, enlisted in the British Army in 2008. Within four years, he passed selection for Her Majesty’s elite Special Air Service where he is currently rounding out a decade of service."

Since his bio never mentions what age he joins like with Price and Soap I'm going to assume he finished school and joined the military at 18. So Gaz is 18 in 2008, 29 in 2019 when he meets Price for the first time and 32 in 2022. I am not taking into consideration the archived Activision blog posts, which say he joined in 2014 because of them being archived. I do use it for some other characters but for Gaz it changed the date he joined not just giving extra information.

Johnny 'Soap' MacTavish : 26 [2022]

You can blame Activision for why Soap is so young compared to the others. So according to his updated operator bio, "Soap has spent the last seven years carrying out both covert and overt operations around the world." this with the contents of his old operator bio before MW3 "At 16, too young to sign up, but lying about his age, MacTavish enrolled in the Special Air Service…"

Means that Soap would be 23 in 2022, which doesn't make the most sense especially considering he is a Sergeant in 2019 meaning he would be 20 in the MW3 flashback. So I gave him the same treatment as Price and added 3 years, to make up for basic and SAS training. So he would be 16 in 2012 joining the British Army have to wait 18 months to apply for SAS, be roughly 18 when he starts SAS training and finish it at 19 in 2015.*

So making him now 23 in 2019, 26 in 2022 but since he lied about his age TF 141 would think he's 28 during MW2 or 25 during 2019.

*[jobs.army.mod.uk SAS reserve]

Alex Keller : 35 [2022]

Alex is one of the last characters who have dates or years of service in their information. From his Campaign Biography it says he was a part of, "CIA's Special Activities Division," and also has surrendered "his former rank and history of special ops military service with Army Delta, Alex sacrificed traditional contact and association with family to join the SAD. He has spent the last six years living a series of assumed identities to achieve “sensitive” objectives wherever he is needed."

There's also, "Through 2017, Alex’s units played a key role in ensuring definitive victories against emerging terrorist networks." So we know Alex has been working in the military before 2017, now most SAD members are former Delta operators. There's also some reports of SAD members having Master's and law degrees.* So with that we can add roughly 6 years to his age to complete a master's degree in law.**

Now Delta force has some requirements like being over 21 to join and having two and a half years of service remaining, so if Alex joined the US military at 18 after finishing High School and getting his diploma.*** In a couple years he could join Delta Force, so by 26 he would be able to be apart of CIA's SAD. (If studying part time while in Delta Force) Then adding the another six years which is when he is apart of SAD, which is mention in his biography as the last six years. The bio is published late 2019 so Alex would be 32 years old.

So Alex would join the Military at 18 in 2005, would be 32 in 2019 when he loses the lower half of one of his legs and 35 in 2022.

*[CIA SAD] **[coursera.org law school] ***[Delta Force] [US Military Requirements]

Now for the Characters with little infomation

Alejandro & Rodolfo : both 37

We find out they've known each other for 20 years and signed up together. So they are both younger than 38 but older than 30 since Alejandro is a Colonel. Looking at Wikipedia you can/have to join 18 the Mexican military for at least 3 years, this gives them about maybe two years to get to know each other before joining together.

Ghost : 35 [2022]

Honestly just pick an age between Price and Gaz, I personally like the idea of him being the same age as Alex and having them know each other previously. Maybe even before Ghost starts wearing the skull mask.

Laswell & Nikolai : 52 & 45 [2022]

No older that 52 and 45 if we go based on their actors ages, which personally makes the most sense to me. Laswell's Campaign biography mentions her supervising a SAD program in 2008, and her having studied a Master's degree in strategic intelligence analysis and having a BA in International Affairs. This doesn't help much though with figuring out her age.

AN: Hopefully this very long post is some what helpful or at least has some good resources that people can check out, especially fanfic writers or people making their own OCs.

I'm also going to repeat what I put at the top the end here. But what I've written down is not a definitive answer for their ages (minus Farah & Hadir) it's just what I personally think makes the most sense.

Don't let my own opinions/conclusions about their ages get in the way of you having fun with how you view/interpret these characters.

[captain-mj]

You had a very short tiktok series about Gaz watch a true crime documentary about the Riley Christmas murders and one regarding ale talking about how they had a “demon” take out the Zaragoza cartel.

I’ve always wanted to see that expanded on if you could?

Hey Rose!

Gaz was politely listening to something on his phone. His earbuds had died and he couldn't find his normal headphones. He wasn't allowed to use his work ones and while normally he'd do it anyway, his phone didn't have the right adapter for it.

"And the youngest son, Tommy Riley, was found shot dead with the rest of his family. The military covered it all up. There's no evidence that wasn't redacted. What could they be hiding?"

Gaz could've swore he heard Tommy Riley before. But right now, he couldn't quite place it. He could blame it on fatigue.

Ghost walked in and stood near by. He stayed silent as he watched over Gaz's shoulder.

Gaz paused, feeling himself being watched, before relaxing immediately. "Hey, Ghost."

Ghost hummed. "What are you watching?"

"True crime documentary." Gaz answered. "Want to watch with me?”

Ghost thought about it for a minute before sinking into the chair with him. "Sure. Keep playing."

Gaz turned the captions on and raised the volume just a little. Ghost watched with him, staring impassively at the screen.

"What about his oldest brother?" The second host spoke up. "You mentioned they had two sons."

"This is all we have." A family photo of a blond woman, brunette man and their two children. She looked a bit off, almost like she hadn't been expecting to take a photo. Her hand was on a little boy's shoulder. His wide brown eyes were staring at the camera. His hand was on the slightly smaller boy's arm.

"That's it?"

"Yep. Everything about him was apparently burned. No real explanation for it."

"You keep saying him. Who is him?"

"S. Riley. It's all we have. According to the people from his home town, he was unremarkable. just... some guy. For some reason it seems, his school records were burned. His history in the military was burned. And, oh yeah, his medical records, several pages long apparently, and that's just his childhood medical records, were also burned. All different fires. All within the same week." It was clear the implication and it was now hitting Ghost that this was his fucking case.

Yikes.

Gaz laughed. "Military cover up, right Ghost? They blame everything on that."

"This one actually was."

Gaz looked unsure. "You know about this?"

"Yeah. Quite a bit." Ghost got up. "Poor bastard is dead. Died a long time ago. Military just didn't want people to know their hands were in it." He got up. "Don't listen to Ghost stories too much."

As he was leaving, he could see something in Gaz's eyes. A thought.

S. Riley.

Ghost didn't have to deal with his past for a while before he and Alejandro were staking a place out. Valeria were said to be around and that was all the excuse Alejandro needed to be there.

"You ever hear about the Zaragoza cartel?" Alejandro asked, using a hushed tone. It was clear this wasn't reverence. He was baiting Ghost into asking him to tell a cautionary tale or ghost story.

Ghost grinned under his mask. "No. Tell me."

Alejandro launched into the story with a rather good amount of showmanship. There was shockingly little embellishment, but with Roba, there wasn't much need for it. He went over the torture the men, Ghost included, endured. The drugging, the assault, the beating and fighting.

"What happened to them?" Ghost asked on cue and he could see Alejandro smiling.

"A demon. Wiped them all out. Said he wore a..." Alejandro trailed off. He glanced at Ghost. He was a smart man. But when Ghost responded by tilting his head and waving him forward to continue, he seemed to realize that the British man in front of him most likely would not have been in the middle of Mexico at the time. It made no sense. "Skull mask."

"To mock Roba?"

"Rudy thinks so. I don't."

"Why do you think he wore it?"

"I think he was a dead man." Alejandro answered. He sighed softly and his eyes closed. "Forgot how boring stake outs are."

Ghost hummed. "If you want, I could take first watch? Might be good for you to go sleep."

Alejandro nodded. "Might be a good idea." He moved his stuff and managed to lay down.

"Don't let Manuel Roba bite." Ghost grinned.

Alejandro laughed and closed his eyes. Only a moment later, his eyes fluttered open. "Did I say his first name?"

"Nah. I heard of him before. Just wanted to keep you entertained." Ghost patted Alejandro's legs and stood up. He stretched and shook his own legs out before continuing to watch out the window.

Alejandro seemed to let it go.

Soap saw the scarring on Ghost's chest where the autopsies and unnecessary surgeries had gone on. Ghost thought Soap was going to vomit when he saw the extent of it. He didn't think it was because Soap thought it was gross, his scot loved the Glasgow scars on his face and had kissed the scarring on his throat with a vigor Ghost didn't understand. But more, the fact that Ghost had clearly been tortured in such horrific ways.

Soap opened his mouth and closed it a few times before swallowing. "The people wh-"

"Dead. Killed them myself, don't worry."

"They still hurt?"

"Sometimes. I've started taking care of them more and it's not as bad."

Soap traced the mortuary scars first and then the scarring over his ribs. "This feels personal."

"He hated me because I wouldn't break. Fucking Cartel." Ghost answered softly and leaned into him. "Come on. Do you really want to spend our time together doing this?" He leaned down and kissed him.

"They also make the Glasgows?"

"Yeah. The venom scarring was my dad though."

Ghost thought Soap was going to blow up at first. Instead, he just spent the rest of their time kissing all over Ghost as if he could make up for lost time.

Ghost cheekily recommended one of his documentaries to Rodolfo. It was one of the ones that dropped part of his name in it but also insisted that he was the one to murder his family in cold blood. The documentary was one of his least favorite and Ghost had spent more than a few nights after watching it staring at his ceiling, feeling sick. But it was one of the ones that was most misleading. Rudy was smart, but the doc was mixed into several others as well so it wasn't obvious.

Rodolfo didn't call him out on it, but there was something in their eyes when they bumped into each other again. He knew. Just needed a shred of evidence before outright asking Ghost if he murdered his family.

Alejandro invited everyone to his Ranch for a celebration. There was nothing to celebrate, but they all were on leave for the first time since Los Almas.

Rodolfo thanked Ghost and Gaz for the true crime documentaries they had been sending him.

Gaz, who had started to become very suspicious about this whole thing, nodded. "Yeah, thank you for the recommendations too. The Riley Family Christmas murders were an interesting one." They both glanced at Ghost.

So did Price. He was frowning, looking almost panicked. He assumed, reasonably, that this would be a triggering topic for Ghost.

Ghost laughed. "Yeah. That's a good one. Whole family, dead and mutilated. Then they find the oldest son burned somewhere else? Fucking hell." He walked away, getting one of the spiked drinks. He also made sure to pass Price to nod at him. Price got worried and he didn't want him.

Alejandro started the tale about the Zaragoza Cartel to everyone and Soap listened to the methods of torture.

"Wait. Did you say they'd... autopsy them? While alive?"

Alejandro grinned, thinking Soap was just into the nitty gritty details. "Yeah. It was so they could put drugs directly into their organs."

"Huh... Ghost, did they do that to you? The drugging I mean."

Pause.

A pin drop could be heard.

"Yeah. Nasty hallucinogens."

"Huh. Wonder if the two groups had the same idea."

Price was catching on and he quickly glanced at Ghost who gave him The Nod. Politely, he waited until Alejandro was done before asking. "You hear about the people that escaped?"

"Yeah of course. All brainwashed though. They were half insane."

"You hear about the one that did though? Truly escaped? He was an SAS member. Vicious young Sergeant at the time. I was his Lieutenant." Price took a drink. Unlike Alejandro, there was no showmanship. No excitement. Instead, there was a string of sadness.

"S. Riley. I remember finding his patch. Right next to a bunch of bloody dog tags. Roba knew I was following him and he wanted me to know he hurt or killed some of my members. Fucking bastard."

There was a sharp moment. Everyone was putting things together.

"Riley escaped. They found him, mostly dead, wandering the border. We brought our boy home along with some of those brainwashed bastards. Didn't know they'd be targeting civilians."

Gaz gasped so loud Rodolfo jumped. "The military coverup."

"I told you not to listen to Ghost stories." Ghost smiled, taking a drink.

Price hummed. "You know, Simon. I was scared when you went missing a second time. Until I heard that cartel had been wiped off the map and I found you knee deep in bodies."

"Aye. They made one mistake that evening. Just one."

Soap asked the question, right on cue, even if he didn't know it. "Just one?"

'Yeah. Really shouldn't have killed my mom. Might've let a few of them live if they hadn't."

"Mary was a lovely lady." Price clicked their bottles together. "Raised a lovely son."

"You recommended us documentaries over your own family's murders??"

"I have to keep myself entertained somehow."

[the-horned-pyramids]

ok so!

modern au but like still in the op world so the races devil fruits and haki still exist and the whole canon story played out like,,,,400 years prior.

omega mihawk is the middle child of some royal family (think less world nobles more british royal family but they are like,,, lords or something idk less then kings and queens but still up there ya dig?)

his older brother is the perfect son, diligent and respectful alpha who is the perfect heir, he is also significantly older than mihawk and his younger sister so he is also quite distant from them. The lord and lady had their perfect heir but the lady desperately wanted a daughter and after almost a decade and a half of trying and failed attempts, they had mihawk and they were disappointed and his childhood was quite lonely up until his sister was born when he was five, she was everything they ever wanted and they spoiled her greatly, she grew up to be a bratty child and would constantly blame mihawk for everything she did wrong, whenever mihawk started to excel in something she would have to as well, she would whine and cry to their parents who would instruct mihawk to stop overshadowing your sister and they would pay off judges to help her win. this went on their entire childhood until mihawk left for college at 20.

it took him three years to convince his parents to allow him to go to college because they are asses but when they finally relent he chooses the college with a sword fighting team as he has always expressed an interest in swords, there he meets two alphas, his roommate King, and an interesting red haired man on the sword fighting team

the semester goes on and mihawk and king add ‘with benefits’ to their roommate agreement and mihawk and shanks are getting closer and closer.

and then in their third year, king asks mihawk to marry him.

king comes from a very old and traditional family that is descended from the distant lunarians however most of the traits that they were praised for had vanished, there is a program within the clan to breed those traits back into existence and King is slated to be the next head of the family and is being pressured by the clan elders to pick a wife and so, after hearing that mihawk is also descended from lunarians, king asks for his hand in marriage. so the clan elders can get off his back and so mihawk won’t have to worry about his parents deciding to not pay for their “omega sons frivolities” anymore.

mihawk agrees and they tell their families, both are in agreement however, kings family makes them sign a prenup, that a child must be conceived within ten years that must belong to both individuals, should a child be conceived by either of the couple without the inclusion of their partner, will result in the breaking of the marriage and a severe consequence upon the offending family.

this is so very clearly targeting mihawk that it’s frankly unfair but he was so desperate to get out from under his parents harsh gaze that he accepted without argument.

the wedding was large and extravagant and utterly offensive to mihawk’s senses. the ceremonial garb was itchy and too tight, the smell of the flowers was too cloying and the lights were much too bright.

the one thing mihawk did ask for was for his brother to give him away, because while they were not particularly close, he was far kinder than the rest of their family.

although most of kings family were friendly enough and he had a few pleasant conversations, the clan elders were critical of his every move and the end of the reception could not come soon enough.

they were content with each other and began working on fulfilling the requirements of the prenup quite soon. both graduated college, king in idk the one the politicians take and mihawk with a degree in history of warfare, particularly the great pirate era. during school he also kept up with his swordsmanship, he competed in competitions and won medals, he even competed in the olympics once, several years into their marriage.

it was nearing the end of the eighth year of their marriage with no child to show that king suggested that they spice things up a bit and add a third, so mihawk suggested his long time friend shanks. king agreed and they invited shanks to join them in their bed for a night, but not before mihawk made them all meet with a notary to gey it in writing for the prenup.

so they have a lovely night together and a few months later mihawk is feeling under the weather so he makes an appointment for a doctors visit but as he goes to inform king, he over hears him speaking to someone over the phone about divorcing mihawk because “its obvious that he’s broken, if i want a child i need someone who is capable of giving me one, someone like you my love.”

mihawk stops, and goes to lay down to process what he heard. he didn’t exactly fall madly in love with king over the course of their marriage, but he did grow to care for him greatly, he was a great friend and a great fuck. or so he thought. this betrayal struck him deep because mihawk really thought that king also cared for him, but now it’s obvious that the only reason he even entertained this was because he wanted a child. mihawk quickly pushed his heartbreak down and got up to finish dinner.

when they sat down to eat, mihawk told king about the appointment he had made because he had been feeling under the weather, he watched kings face closely and was able to see the distance.

the conversation carried on about their day’s and they went to bed.

the next day king announced his intention to divorce mihawk because he did not fufil the agreement of the prenup and give him a child within 10 years, mihawk did not protest and the divorce was finalized within the day.

mihawk was able to get a suite at a hotel because he is not broke thats for sure, and he called up his friend and lawyer to start planning, because if the result of this appointment was what he thought it was then either mihawk was going to be able to spread some nasty rumors about kings “ability” to produce children, or mihawk is going to squeeze that pompous family for everything they have.

sometime during the day the news of the divorce hit the tabloids and paparazzi were waiting outside the hotel when mihawk went to his appointment and he smirked to himself knowing that this will just fan the flames even higher.

the test came back positive.

mihawk was pregnant.

mihawk and crocodile took king and the family to court, which became a whole lot more dramatic when it was revealed that the woman king was speaking on the phone with had been mihawks younger sister, and that she was also pregnant, she had gotten pregnant about a month after mihawk did which started the death tolls for the family.

there was a lot of fuss that led to DNA tests being taken on king and the sisters side to prove that the child was indeed kings’ child which was proven true, but also revealed that mihawk’s sister was a result of an affair on their mother’s part.

sometime during the court case and mihawk’s pregnancy, he began spending more time with shanks, and then shanks invited mihawk to move in woth him once the baby came. he also admitted that he had a crush on mihawk since freshman year of college and didn’t find the courage to tell him until it was too late. mihawk smiled and drew him down for a kiss and called him an idiot.

the day came,mihawk was admitted into the hospital and after four hours of sitting tensly in the waiting room, a nurse came out and invited shanks and king to come look.

shanks, king and the clan elders gathered arounf the window to the baby room as the nurse wheeled one bassinet to the window, a baby with dark hair and a tanned complexion matching shanks.

the elders tittered to themselves, confident that this showed that the omega had also broken the prenup, when another bassinet was wheeled to the window, this one contained a baby with dark skin and white hair. the titterign stopped.

then a nurse came by and helped the babies onto their stomachs to allow their wings to stretch out.

needless to say, mihawk was pleased as the cat that got the cream when the court ruled that king broke the prenup, and that mihawk would be getting full custody of both children and a vast majority of the assets previously owned by kings family.

@milfhawks @blackholesun321

[moonshynecybin]

the british gp gifs have undone me. what do u mean marc looks away quickly but vale catches him and smiles and looks back. what do u mean vale always breaks away first. marc-get-up.gif

marc in 2013 was having the literal time of his life it’s so crazy he STILL says its his favorite season he’s ever ridden…. he came into the senior racing class like i hope i score some podiums :) and started fucking clearing bitches started WINNINGGGG…and his hot childhood idol is now his hot coworker slash friend slash guy who took his virginity!!! AND he’s paying attention to marc and smiling at him and doing dumb bits with him like i literally would have embarrassed myself publicly too. imagine the fattest crush you ever had in middle school is leaning into your space and translating questions from reporters and choking you in parc ferme and complimenting your riding and saying you’re the rider he sees the most of himself in. like marc couldn’t deal. its literally in his rookie documentary as a romantic montage bc that is what he was feeling !!!! i cannot blame him for being down horrendous he is simply reacting as any person would to the situation at hand

[imagines--galore]

Hello! I’ve read your rules and character list and would like to make a request for Severus Snape! Could I please have when he was attending Hogwarts as a student, probably 3rd or 4th year. He’s being bullied by James and Sirius. Reader sticks up for him. Reader is a new student from America. Severus is mean to Reader at first but he comes around. Please, no words like mudblood and absolutely no smut. Thank you very much. Take all the time you need!

Pairing: Severus Snape x Reader Rating || Genres || Warnings: T. General. Just a little bullying, though nothing drastic. A couple of curse words, but only minor ones. And a bit of reference to parental abuse, alcoholism and death. A/N: Thank you so much for the request! I hope you like my take on it! Also this would take place during their fourth year at Hogwarts.

"I didn't need your help."

Well this was certainly not the reaction you had expected from your fellow Housemate.

You stood in the middle of the corridor, hardly aware of the students as they began to scatter. The show was over now, and it looked like no one was about to stand around for the after show. You, however, stayed where you were, a look of utter confusion crossing your features as the black haired boy glared at you.

"Really? You sure you didn't need my help?" You asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Because from where I stood, being made to tap-dance against your will counts as a cry for help." The boy, Severus, as you recalled his name, flushed with embarrassment. "I had it handled. I certainly didn't need help from an outsider." The word was innocent enough, but as someone who had never had a sense of belonging, it cut deep. Deeper then you cared to admit. Outwardly, you stood up taller, jutting your chin out as your eyes flashed with anger.

"Fine. Since you had it handled, the next time Potter and his friends torment you, I won't step in." With that you pushed past him, making sure to bump his shoulder hard as you walked down the corridor and disappeared from view.

The very next week, you would be sent to your Head of House for hexing James Potter when he pointed his wand at Severus.

                                              ————————–

Your life had been one big disappointment after another.

Your father had left after he discovered that you were a witch, and that his wife was as well. Your mother had managed to conceal her heritage, but once you started to exhibit signs of having magical powers, as was the norm for any child of your age, he had confronted your mother who had told him the truth.

He had left that very night.

Your mother blamed you, and would torment you day in and day out. It wasn't until you started to fight back that she decided to back off, and turn her attention to drinking. You started attending Ilvermorny when you became of age, and thought perhaps you had finally found a place where you could belong.

That dream went up in smoke, when you received the letter, notifying you of your mother's death. Alcohol poisoning, they had said. And with no other living relatives in America, and a father who was nowhere to be found, you were sent to live with a Cousin that lived in Britain.

She was from your mother's side, so it was easy for her to take you on and become your guardian. You were shipped off to the new country, and after an assessment that would determine the level of education you had received in America, you were placed as a Fourth Year student at the British magic school. Hogwarts.

You had hated it.

Hated very minute of being in a new place. Of being the outsider. The odd one out. And being placed in a House that was considered taboo seemed to label you as even more of an outcast. Your Housemates were not thrilled at your presence, and the rest of the student body shunned you for being a Slytherin. The only person who seemed to care about you was your cousin, but of course, you hardly saw her during the school year.

There had been a point in the very beginning of your new school year, when you had been cornered by a couple of older students, looking to humiliate you. But years of living with an abusive parent had thickened your skin. When words had no effect, one of them had pulled out their wand, but you had been quicker.

Once news spread how you had managed to send three older students to the Hospital Wing with several lethal combinations of hexes and jinxes, everyone decided to give you a wide berth.

From then on, you became something of a savior to those who were tormented or bullied by others. And though the students you helped were grateful to you, no one truly approached you to become your friend. To them, you were still an outsider.

That is until the day arrived when you first helped Severus Snape.

He was in the same year as you, and since he too was a Slytherin, you two shared multiple classes. You, like every other student, knew of the bad blood that was between him and a couple of boys from Gryffindor. James Potter and Sirius Black.

                                              ————————–

This would be the first time, you would step in and help Severus, and despite his repeated claims that he did not need her help, and your promise to never help him again, neither of you seemed to hold on to their vows.

The humiliation Severus felt at being saved by you, prompted him to be extremely rude to you whenever you had the chance to run into one another. You, never being one to back down from a fight, pushed back. Whatever rude comment he threw your way, you would throw it back in his face.

However, if there was one thing you began to notice after a month or so of your interactions with Severus, was that they had begun to loose their bite. And somehow, it had become a game between the two of you. Who could come up with the most ingenious ways to be rude to the other. Neither of you made any comments about the other's parentage, or anything that would be truly hurtful. Soon your constant back and forth became almost...............teasing. The words lost their edge, and on more then one occasion the two of you would share a smile after a rather successful battle of wits. In a way you had acquired a friend. Your first friend at Hogwarts.

Since you had begun to help Severus, Potter and Black had decided to make you their target as well. And though you had been bested by them on a few occasions, you would teach them both a lesson the next time they would cross paths with you.

And after every attempt at helping Severus you would try to talk him into leaving Potter and Black alone. He had just as much of an equal hand in hexing or jinxing them as they did him. It was an endless cycle. Neither of them refused to back down.

That is until one fateful day after their O.W.L. exams.

                                              ————————–

You had been there when Lily Evans had tried to help Severus. She had also acted as his savior on more then one occasion. But in his humiliation, Severus had said the one word you had hoped would never come out of his mouth.

Once Lily Evans had departed, you had quickly stepped in. Once Potter had been disarmed and Black incapacitated with a long length of rope from your wand, you had turned your attention to Severus. He was laying on the ground now, his face red with utter shame and humiliation.

Your eyes met, and you slowly shook your head, looking completely disappointed in him.

And you left.

                                              ————————–

It was a few nights later when you finally had a chance to speak with him properly. You hadn't seen him anywhere in the Slytherin Common Room, not that you had been looking for him. At least not actively. Despite what had happened, you were worried about him. The situation must've been truly humiliating for him to have slipped up like that. You hadn't heard him say something of the sort of anyone since you had known him.

At least you hadn't been aware of it.

Sighing to yourself, you exited the Common Room to get a nice cup of hot chocolate from the Kitchens when you nearly bumped into him.

Awkward silence ensued, once you saw who it was you had bumped into. Your eyes met his for a brief second before you lowered them to the ground. Muttering an apology under your breath, you shifted to move past him.

"Y/N?"

You stopped, head whipping around to stare at him wide eyed. Never, in all the months you had known him, had he ever addressed you by your first name. You had used both his given name and surname on several occasions. He had only ever used your surname.

He was facing you, a kind of determined gleam in his eyes, one you had never seen before. His hands clenched at his sides as you spoke.

"Yes, Severus?" You asked, crossing your arms over your chest and raising an eyebrow at him. "Where're you off to?" It looked as if it physically pained him to speak so politely to you. You held back a snort at his obvious discomfort as you shrugged. "Fancied a hot chocolate. Where are you coming from? I doubt you sneaked out to snog with someone." Alright so maybe you had picked up a couple British slang words since your arrival here. But only the ones you liked.

His cheeks turned a bright red, prompting you to smirk. "At least I have snogged an actual person. You've only ever snogged a book." You couldn't help it anymore as you let out a loud laugh. "Thats the best you came up with?!" You managed to gasp out between giggles. "Shit Severus, you're loosing your touch." Finally gaining some control over your emotions, you were surprised to see him smiling softly at you.

It was your turn to blush now, as you cleared your throat and turned away from him. After a couple of steps you looked back at him and shrugged. "Well? Aren't you coming?" You asked. He stayed where he was and you turned to walk away once again.

A few seconds later hurried footsteps sounded behind you, before you saw Severus fall into step beside you. The back of his hand brushed against yours and you smiled softly.

A moment later, you had his hand in a firm grip as the two of you ventured to the kitchen for some hot chocolate.

[perrysoup]

I glad a lot of you people are not in positions of power cause some of you fuckers have no concept of rules of war, the Geneva Convention, the rights of the oppressed, and the obligations of the oppressor.

"Why would Hamas do this?"

Do what? Appear after a deal was made where Palestine agreed to a two state solution based on the 1973 lines and ISRAEL REFUSED?

"Hamas did XYZ"

And that justifies killing civilians, bombing hospitals, poisoning wells, blowing up ambulances, killing journalists?

Some of you, genuinely, are so far up your own ass and refuse to admit you were wrong even though a ton of us have shown it's fine to do so that you can't see how you're enabling.

Do you think a lot of us, fuck, MOST OF US started as a pro-Palestinian? Shit man I was raised in America, I was told OVER AND OVER AND OVER that Israel had a divine right to be there. I don't mean by parents, I mean by TEACHERS, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, CHURCH LEADERS, PEOPLE WE WERE TOLD TO TRUST! That Palestine was wrong. NO ONE told us that it was formerly Palestinian land. NO ONE told us why Palestinian was fighting back. NO ONE told us the horrors that occurred while we sang songs about how happy we should be Israel has Jerusalem. NO ONE told us Palestine has Jews and Christians, and was insanely diverse.

And when 9/11 happened they took us and used that to fuel our rage against the Muslim populace at home and abroad. They painted all of them as people who hated us, and Palestine specifically was taught to us that they were all anti-semites who hated non-Muslims. DO YOU SEE THE FUCKING ISSUE!? THE CONTEXT AND DETAIL WE WEREN'T TOLD? THE DIVERSITY CONVENIENTLY LEFT OUT!? The half truths fed to us on the news, in church, at school?

Or why entities exist. Have you wondering why Israel exists? Have you wondered why Hamas exists? Have you wondered what non-violent resistance the Palestinians have tried before? Cause if you had you'd realize that this was a decision by the British. A nation which *checks map* IS NOT EVEN IN THE GOD DAMN MIDDLE EAST! They were just a conqueror and colonizer who had bigger guns that the Palestinians. Palestinians have for decades tried JUST self defense, JUST peaceful protest, and you know what happened? THEY WERE MURDERED!

So fuck off with this "not the way to do it" shit. They tried it your way, and Israel killed them. Do you want them to just keep lining up to get shot and say "Thank you for shooting me?"

I can't believe this has to be said again and again but here we are:

There is not justification for genocide and blaming and punishing the entire Palestinian population for the actions of a terrorist group not even headquartered where Israel is destroying, literally, people lives is the sign of a genocidal maniac, and you dick riding without even taking the time to look at stuff outside of Israeli propaganda enables it.

[everything-is-crab]

:))

This is what I meant when I said both rightoids and liberals in India are equally dumb as fuck. Both are pro imperialists. She's not even lower caste and yet she's speaking on behalf of us. I have seen this trend in a lot of "anticasteist" upper caste women (who unfortunately have more voices than people like me, actually women from oppressed castes).

How are these people different from the white supremacists who say brown people are intellectually and socially inferior?

"At least the goras let us have meat" oh okay we're gonna ignore the 3 million lives lost in Bengal famine caused by Churchill's policies (after which he blamed it on us instead of his own greediness). Did he let those people eat meat then? Unhinged shit. They wouldn't let people fill their bellies cause sometimes instead of food crops they wanted our ancestors to grow cotton, indigo, spices, tea. Which also left areas prone to land disasters. Commercial stuff that they could sell at much cheaper prices in their own countries and others in the Western world as well. Also levied extremely unreasonably high taxes. Leaving us with no money. Delusional world these middle/upper class liberals live in where the British let us have meat. They didn't even let us have rice.

The British protected the caste system. Read Sharmila Rege's work about how the British introduced the process of "Brahmanisation" in colonial India.

This is the exact thing Hindu nationalists are doing rn! And have been doing forever! Protecting Western imperialists! Why do you think Modi is bootlicking the US so much? Do you think the farmers' protests and the after effects of globalization after 1991 are disconnected from Western imperialism?

Just because nationalists claim to be against white dominance doesn't mean they practice what they preach.

And this folks is why you need to incorporate class and gender in your analysis and not read about the work of only the middle class men of a community :)

Women and poor people matter too.

But unfortunately many earlier anti caste activists who were middle or upper class were anti Marxists and only later few like the Dalit Panthers and R.B More realized the importance of Marxist analysis for understanding modern caste based oppression more. Yes many Indian Marxists ignored casteism. But that does not mean we must dispose it as a useless theory.

But who tf cares about the Dalit Panthers or anyone else? Have you even heard of any other names that aren't Phule or Ambedka? Everyone followed and still follow people like Periyar, Ambedkar, Phule who were all from relatively well off family. And why will people who uncritically follow these people not think colonization was as bad? All of them attended British school and went for higher studies as well. The British was staunchly anti communist. They constantly resisted communist activists in colonial India. This is a privilege even today many people from oppressed castes cannot enjoy.

I have seen all these upper caste women, ignore people like me pointing this out. They think we're against education of oppressed castes (why would I advocate that for my own community?). But rather we take issue to these men ignoring their economic and male privilege and speaking on behalf of all of us.

A reminder that Periyar criminalized devadasis and read Ambedkar's arguments against Hindutva solutions to the Partition (hint: he cared more about the money that could be wasted in missionaries rather than the violence and human rights and unironically called Muslim people "tyrannical" and referred to "Muslim oppression" on Hindus). He was anti casteist, but he was Islamophobic.

To avoid with this kind of thinking, follow Dalit feminist theory. Dalit femininism from its inception has been pro Marxist (cause women make most of poor here). And they explain the effects of colonization on lower caste women (how the British introduced evidence act, a law that justified rape against lower caste women and let me remind you gang rape of lower caste women by upper caste men is a national issue. Ex the Manipur case, the rape of Phoolan Devi, the Hathras case etc). And how dowry (that earlier used to be a practice mainly amongst upper castes was now becoming dominant in lower castes as well due to capitalization of economy during colonial era). Maybe then you will understand why the British abolished sati but not any temple prostitution or other issues faced exclusively by women from oppressed castes. In fact they called upper caste women those who deserve to be protected but lower caste women were inherently deviant in their justification. But please go ahead and argue how imperialism brings "good things" sometimes.

Just read about caste reformation during colonial era. The choice isn't between hindutva and colonial era. The choice is between hindutva and hindutva along with colonial rule. Why do most liberals pretend the British never favored the Brahmins over everybody else?

White supremacy is so much better than Hindu supremacy for women of lower castes am I right guys?

This is so much better?

Also reminded of the "breast cloth" controversy. Do not mistake that anti caste activism is always anti caste for both Dalit men and women. Sometimes it favors Dalit men. And oppresses Dalit women further. Cause usually the colonizers never cared about oppressed castes but when they did, it was only for the men.

Ik many upper caste Marxists are not good at anti caste politics but I cannot separate Marxism from my anti caste or feminist politics. And as a Marxist from a formerly colonized country, I cannot ignore the imperial divide between the West (that is white dominated) and the global south (that includes India). You cannot separate the conditions of brown and black people today in the global south from the past dynamics of the colonizer and the colonized.

Lower caste women are obviously very poor. The poorest of all with least social protection. These upper caste women can sit on their asses and write papers and blogs on how much white supremacy was much cooler. But the ones from oppressed castes and working class? They don't have this privilege. They have the same burden of upper caste women related to marriage and domestic work and everything. But on top of that they have to do labor as well. And after globalization, when condition of "blue collar jobs" degraded (wages lowered, subsidies cut, worker protection rights gone etc) , the percentage of women in these fields increased. That's not a coincidence. Men always force women into lower earning occupations that have little job security. I am not gonna ignore this.

Fuck Hindutva. But fuck white supremacy too. For me neither is better. Both go hand in hand in fact. Look at the Hindu nationalists in France allying with white supremacists over shared conservative interests.

[hazz-a-bear]

F A M I L Y  — i see things that nobody else sees.

meet the family.

masterlist | wattpad

──── ★

SONIYA FERNANDO & JONATHON RAE » the parents

1970 // BRITISH

⊹ ࣪ ˖ company director...

Aviana's father, Jonathon Rae was born and raised in London, England. It is during his stay In Sri Lanka during the 80s that he meets Soniya. After getting married in the outskirts of the country, the two reside in Colombo along with their two children before moving back to his hometown in the UK. With his flourishing career in the field of business and logistics, Jonathon Rae is the owner of multiple tea plantations in Kenya, India, China and Sri Lanka whilst also working as a Director at Lipton Tea and Infusions™. 

1970 // SRI LANKAN

⊹ ࣪ ˖ senior proffessor...

Soniya Fernando is a woman from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She was born and raised as the middle daughter of a five-membered family. She met her spouse during a university exchange programme. Now married to Jonathon Rae and mother to Aviana and Alden, she's currently a Senior Lecturer for Business Studies and Management at the Camden School of Business.

+

Aviana's relationship with her parents is one of huge complications. Dating back to the early days of childhood, Aviana and Alden seem to have a rather distant bond with them. Soniya, always a strict and orderly woman, is much more of a teacher than a mother to any of them from what Aviana reveals. Jonathon, who's much linear in comparison, is mostly swayed by his wife's stern and unwavering decisions that aren't always great.

Soniya and Jonathon, though close to the rest of One Direction parents, have never publicly shared their happiness with Aviana's success like the rest. The two were initially so against with their daughter's choice of career that they refused to support her in the matter altogether, leading Aviana to fully depend on herself. The rift between Aviana and her parents runs deeper than any of them lets it out, hence why the first thing she did once turning eighteen was change her family name 'Rae' to her paternal grandmother's family name; Fernsby.

₊ ⊹

❝She couldn't make us happy just for once, could she?❞

+

❝I chose this career...knowing I was giving a new meaning to the word disappointment. I just hope, maybe one day, they'll be happy with what I've achieved as parents❞

played by: n/a

──── ★

ALDEN RAE » the brother

1992 // BRITISH-SRI LANKAN

⊹ ࣪ ˖ pursues automotive design...

Ruvin Alden Rae is Aviana's biological older brother. With a two-year-old age gap between them, both of them were born and raised in Sri Lanka for the early part of their childhood. Alden is a badminton player as well as a community server. Once he finishes his studies at North Hampstead High, he eventually pursues a career in the design field which leads him to be an automotive designer in the future.

[ aviana + alden ␥ mistake 1 + mistake 2 ]

Alden and Aviana have a complicated brother-sister relationship as revealed by themselves, close family and friends. thought they used to be close when they were young, the two drifted away once the Rae family moved to England. Physical fights between Aviana and Alden are normalized in a way they shouldn't be. The tense and uncomfortable atmosphere between them can't be blamed on simple sibling rivalry - there seemed to be something more than that. All differences aside, Alden and Aviana have the ability to get close when it's beneficial for them. And surprisingly, community service is something that brings the two a little closer.

Though the two are not on good terms most of the time, Alden is the only family member whom Aviana contacts consistently. Alden is also the only one who at least half-heartedly supported Aviana's career throughout the years. The older is close to her sister's bandmate Louis. With his public bond with the boys of One Direction, fans almost speculate that Alden is closer to them than her sister in some instances. Alden is also known to be the one who acquired all the 'brown genes' of their maternal family.

₊ ⊹

❝How's Aviana? Well...she's alright, I guess. I don't know. Why are you asking me that? She's just here for the holidays yall, she's not dead❞

+

❝Alden, he's my brother, yeah. But, the only thing we truly bond over is, I think, Marvel and...alcohol? Yeah, probably❞

played by: dominic fike

──── thank you.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago Itunes blocks you from sharing music with YOURSELF, on your own computer https://web.archive.org/web/20041009202513/http://www.raelity.org/computers/operating_systems/apple/mac_os_x/apps/itunes_single_instance.html

#20yrsago How fanfic makes kids into better writers (and copyright victims) https://www.technologyreview.com/2004/02/06/40304/why-heather-can-write/

#15yrsago Flashmob of ATM crooks scores $9 million in 49 cities https://web.archive.org/web/20090205214559/http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/090202_FBI_Investigates_9_Million_ATM_Scam

#15yrsago Internet not full of pedos, the statistical edition https://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2009/02/06/doing_the_math.html

#10yrsago Turks bid farewell to the Internet in the face of brutal censorship/surveillance law https://medium.com/@ahmetasabanci/saying-goodbye-to-internet-in-turkey-33d805b98f6c

#10yrsago Middle class brands collapse, 1% brands thrive https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/the-middle-class-is-steadily-eroding-just-ask-the-business-world.html

#10yrsago How UK spies committed illegal DoS attacks against Anonymous https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/war-anonymous-british-spies-attacked-hackers-snowden-docs-show-n21361

#10yrsago Toronto’s reference library gets a makerspace https://web.archive.org/web/20140209061223/http://torontoist.com/2014/02/reference-library-unveils-3d-printers-is-cooler-than-indigo/

#10yrsago Toxic Avenger’s brilliant rant about the importance of Net Neutrality https://www.techdirt.com/2014/02/05/innovation-our-better-future-depend-preserving-net-neutrality/

#5yrsago One of pharma’s most notorious gougers is going bankrupt, but 2019 is a banner year for shkreli-grade pharmaceutical price-hikes https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/infamous-pharma-company-declares-bankruptcy-after-3900-price-hike/

#5yrsago Chasing down that list of potential Predpol customers reveals dozens of cities that have secretly experimented with “predictive policing” https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3m7jq/dozens-of-cities-have-secretly-experimented-with-predictive-policing-software

#5yrsago Amazon is using purchase data to sell targeted ads, which is creepy, but not because they’ve invented a mind-control ray https://memex.craphound.com/2019/02/06/amazon-is-using-purchase-data-to-sell-targeted-ads-which-is-creepy-but-not-because-theyve-invented-a-mind-control-ray/

#5yrsago The next Firefox will block all autoplayed audio, video https://hacks.mozilla.org/2019/02/firefox-66-to-block-automatically-playing-audible-video-and-audio/

#5yrsago RIP, author Carol Emshwiller https://locusmag.com/2019/02/carol-emshwiller-1921-2019/

#5yrsago Washington State sheriff used courtroom camera to zoom in on defense attorney and juror’s private notes https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/san-juan-sheriffs-use-of-courtroom-camera-to-view-jurors-notebook-lawyers-notes-sparks-outrage-and-dismissal-of-criminal-case/

#5yrsago Lawsuit says that America’s “break even” court records website shouldn’t be making 98%+ profits https://www.techdirt.com/2019/02/06/multiple-parties-including-author-law-governing-pacer-ask-court-to-stop-pacers-screwing-taxpayers/

#5yrsago Fox News blames schools teaching “fairness” for support for a tax on the super-rich https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/annfs6/fox_news_blames_public_support_of_wealth_tax/

#1yrago Bruce Schneier's "A Hacker's Mind" https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/06/trickster-makes-the-world/#power-play

[serendertothesquad]

Seren's Studies: The Odd Squad UK Promo

Now, before reading this, I need everyone to give a middle finger to Firefox for repeatedly flashbanging me throughout this entire followup whenever I went to take a screenshot. This has never happened before. I don't know why it's happening. I do know that I am inches away from throwing that inflamed vixen in the trash and moving to SlimBrowser instead.

Okay, so now that you've done that, let's discuss this 30-second promo that someone on Discord was very polite enough to dredge up. (Since there's a lot of...sensitive stuff that happens in that server -- in an "inner workings of a television network" kind of way -- I will refrain from naming names. If you see this, you know who you are, and thank you.)

At the time of this writing, there are no teaser images, nor have all the expansive synopses been released yet. It'll take a while for TVO to get through all of them, BBC doesn't have any expansive synopses, and my other sources are...dead in the water.

I don't think I need to say this, but I'll say it anyway: there are spoilers abound in this. If you haven't seen the promo yet, it's best if you view it here before proceeding with this followup.

Let's dive in below the break!

The only reason I'm putting this here is because the plehn started in Arlington and it's goin' to the United Kingdom and to Britain.

Because PBS's Headquarters is in Arlington.

MOUNT VIRGINIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Am I fuckin' trippin' on some shit or are we inside Big Ben? Because I mean the clock to the left there is confusing my pea brain. And if we are in Big Ben, some agent is going to go clear through these doors and wind up doing the Peter Griffin death pose but...y'know...they're dead. So.

On another note, I see we're ditching Apple computers and going straight for Microsoft. I know what iMacs look like. I have Google. Those are not iMacs. Sorry, Cook, but you're not cookin' in the UK.

We can also see the breakroom that was spotted in the gadget competition briefing video, which...kinda makes all my cracks about the shitty editing age poorly. (The video editing, mind. Not the audio editing. Those cracks stay. There is no excuse.)

So there's a lot to take in here -- and I mean it's a disgusting amount; I have to go frame-by-fucking-frame -- but let's focus on Captain O and Ozzie specifically. We have Captain O holding a letter of some kind, while Ozzie himself is still in his Department of Help uniform. The letter could be something along the lines of "congrats, you're hired", but who's to say. Hard to tell from a simple zoom-in and an "attention, everyone!"

Me, I just wanna know what the knitting needles on Captain O's jacket are for. Watch it not be answered in 12 episodes and then I'll be staying up Googling when I have a car to drive and cry in.

People in the Odd Squad Discord server are, by general consensus, not happy with this British-fied Odd Squad logo. And really, I don't blame them. This is pure "graphic design is my passion and I get paid for it handsomely, motherfucker".

Look, I liked it better when it looked like a sun. The sun, at least, is symbolic from a certain standpoint. This is just making it British because we're in Britain, and it's not funny.

Pure excitement written all over that girl's face, right there. He's gonna be the poor schmuck just being dragged around everywhere in town.

Kind of like the guy who was my "boyfriend" in high school and then literally dragged me through the halls showing me off like he got the most valuable plushie in the world. (Yes, that actually happened. Yes, the quotation marks are intentional. No, you don't want me to elaborate, trust me.)

Only the guy is a tourist, I'm the poor schmuck who has to help the tourist, and the guy probably can't drag me because I outclass him by about a hundred pounds.

It took them ten years, but we finally have magic effects for when agents combine gadgets.

Oscar is shedding a tear of joy somewhere. He's never been able to make that happen, but a tourist and a Brit somehow made it work, and he's so proud of them.

I could've sworn I've seen this structure as a filming location, but I can't for the life of me figure out whether it was in the Season 3 days or if it was last year. My memory's trying to make me think the former.

Taken out of context, though, this is a monster that sees Orli and whom I have to assume is either Onom or Orwell as two fresh-blooded meals. Which ups the danger ante of the entire franchise considerably, because there is a line between "I'm going to hurt you" and "I am going to kill you".

This octopus...thing is just...more direct about the latter.

In the medical industry, that would be classified as a brain disorder.

...In the real world.

Here in the Oddverse, you can have electricity shooting out of your head and it's as much of a minor inconvenience as an item being out of stock at the store.

(Also, someone mentioned that this guy sounds like TomSka, and...I mean, I'm inclined to agree. Not exact, but it's pretty close.)

This is William Ocean's brother, who finally emerged out of the depths of Monty Python. Good for him!

I'm sorry, I just noticed this...but they have a steel rotating door?

Like...like a captain's ship...like it's...

And it's automatic...

I'm sorry, but I'm just so damn used to seeing metal doors that seeing one in a completely different color, material, and shape is sending me for a whirlwind. Holy cheesin' Jesus.

"I wanna be a cooowgiiiirl, baby!"

"Heeeell yeah!"

"I wanna be a coooowgiiiiiirl, baaaaabyyyyy!"

(Or, alternatively, Smoothest Bitch in the East.)

And finally, we get to my favorite part: the gay triangle villain. Gay villains, if you want to count the one on the left, but since they don't speak, it's hard to tell where they fall on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

I could make an entire Seren's Study on Odd Squad and LGBTQ+ representation, and I probably will one of these days, but I need you guys to understand something for a moment.

So in the aforementioned Discord server, there was talk of an episode of Season 1 of Alma's Way called "Say I Guess to the Dress". It involved Alma struggling to figure out what dress to wear to a party she's attending. It was meant to air in January of last year, but got mysteriously pulled and replaced with a different episode, and hasn't aired in the US since.

You might think this is not normal fare. You'd be right.

But in one scene of the episode, Lucas, one of Alma's friends, models a dress that -- and I am going off of the Wiki here -- was worn by Julia, his late cousin. Only for one scene. Only for a bit. Nothing more, nothing less.

This led to speculation that the episode got banned, hence why it hasn't aired yet. In Australia, it aired fine. However, we are on Season 2 of the show, and all we've gotten is pure crickets. We don't know for sure what happened, but with PBS, it's a minefield -- since they get a lot of money from donors, adding in an LGBTQ+ major character would sap up a good financial origin because people would be too pissed off to donate. So they relegate it to tiny sprinkles.

I'm not sure what the BBC's rules are on LGBTQ+ people in kids media. They could be strict, they could be lax, who knows. I still need to do some research on that. But for how much PBS is trying to make Gay Triangle Villain straight...he's not. He's really not.

Because let's be honest here: they're called the Triangle Sisters. That already says enough on its own.

Oof...didn't wanna make this super long-winded. But I'll discuss this at length later in another Seren's Study, once the episode airs.

I really might as well come out and really say it: I'm really not really a fan of the "really" gag. For a really short episode spanning really 11 minutes long, they really don't have time really for something of really this long and really painful.

...Really?

Really.

*distant ding*

Ahaha...ahaha...haha...aaaaaaah...

Mmm...

Cute. Real cute. Fuck you. But real cute.

And also, fuck PBS Kids execs for only putting out promos of new episodes of shows the day of. Remember when they used to put out promos earlier than that? Pepperidge Farm remembers, and for how much my memory sucks ass, so do I. Those were the golden days. Now we get stuff like these, because not a day goes by where they're stuck under the feet of Netflix and Hulu. Big competitors. Target and Walmart kind of rivalry.

----------------------------------------------------

Overall, not a lot of beef to this promo. I wasn't expecting anything mindblowing like, say, the trailer for the first movie (and that was epic in its own right), but it's pretty standard as far as PBS Kids promos go. I'm fairly positive CBBC will put out something far better that pulls in viewers, though I can't attest to how great their promos are because the last I saw one was...whoof, a long time ago.

But hey, look at it this way: Odd Squad UK and Pokemon Horizons will air on the same network, which means I can be an insufferable "Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon is my life" bitch all I want.

As for the contents of the promo itself...aside from gay triangle villain, there wasn't really any spark that caught my eye. Nothing to make my jaw drop or make me go "wowee kazoo". At this point, I'm watching for two reasons: curiosity, and to give them another chance at making a franchise going stale a lot better. And also the fanfic ideas. Lots of fanfic ideas.

I doubt I'll put out another Seren's Study before this one (my PBS Kids one isn't done yet), so the next one will come sometime after the first batch of episodes releases and will be an episode followup for "Odd Ones In". Once that's done, I'll work on followups for the other episodes.

Thanks for reading. Seren out.

[needtomakebetterusernames]

Headcanon of FNAF: (I got bored and decided to write something)

• Henry Emily served in the Vietnam war as a combat engineer. After his tour of duty, he vowed to build something that would bring joy and not destruction and death. Hence why he got into robotics and animatronics to create a kids restaurant. It would be in college that he met his wife and his future partner turned eventual enemy, William Afton.

• Michael Afton doesn’t speak with an English/British accent. He was raised in Utah and while I understand that his father was British, Michael was raised in American society and education system as well as the fact his mother was an American too. He does tend to use a British accent to mess with people or directly speak with his father. After being scooped and leaving his message, Michael Afton never uses the British accent again. Elizabeth speaks in a British accent because of her idolization of her own father. Evan Afton took after his brother until his demise in the hospital.

• Elizabeth Afton is actually a psychopathic and a manipulative child. She takes after William more than ever due to favoritism by her father and possible preexisting mental conditions (still debating on it). Even before becoming Circus Baby, she had tendencies to manipulate and lie to get what she want or to pin the blame on her brothers.

• Evan Afton possess the Golden Fredbear plushie rather than Fredbear due to the fact he ended up dying with the plushie in his arms rather than in Fredbears jaw. Michael found out after witnessing the plushie moving around and even calling him a jerk in the middle of the night for killing him. Needless to say, Evan did forgive Michael after realizing that Mike truly regretted what happened and the fact he was trying to do his best to atone with what happened and investigate the deaths around Freddy’s.

• Michael Afton was sixteen or seventeen when he was scooped by his own sister and the animatronics that formed Ennard. This happened in 1987 before the events of FNAF 2. He was either twelve or thirteen when the bite of 83 happened. As a result, Michael Afton never got a chance to graduate from high school, go to college or have a future family due to being scooped and turned into a tall teenaged purple zombie. (This part could change later on the more I flesh out stuff).

• Mike and Charlie were best friends and Mike often considered that they could have been more than friends in the future. However that was ruined when Charlie was murdered by William. After being scooped and trying to investigate his own home once he got back control of his own body, he discovered that William was the one responsible for her death. Mike was beyond pissed and when he encountered William in Fazbear Frights, he made it clear by using a crowbar on Springtraps kneecaps.

• Springtrap’s weakness is its knees. William Afton had sensitive knees before being springlocked into Spring Bonnie and that transferred over due to mixture of flesh and metal blending together. He learned this the hard way when Mike found him at Fazbear Frights and took a crowbar to his dad’s kneecaps on the day he first committed arson. William had managed to drag himself out of the fire but not without more damage to the suit. Even when he became ScrapTrap, his knees are always a weakness.

• Jeremy Fitzgerald is a veteran of Urgent Fury, having served in the 82nd Airborne. He’s not the same age as Michael nor knows him (sorry JereMike fans). He is the bite Victim of 87 and later on the same Jeremy in the VR department of Help Wanted.

• Mike Schmidt is actually a real person along with a fake name Michael Afton used in 1993. Mike Schmidt was the brother of Clara Schmidt who is Michael’s mom. He actually is the only member alive connected to the Afton family along with Michael (despite being a zombie). He is the one who encounters Michael and learned what the hell happened to him when they actually tried to apply around the same time at Freddy’s in 1993. In exchange for letting Michael use his name and getting this job, Mike began investigating Fazbear Entertainment and other places more easily than Michael while Michael was investigating on the inside at night due to his undead nature. Mike continued to help Michael even after the events of the Pizzeria simulator when Micheal Afton finally passed away in the flames. Mike was the one to make sure Michael was buried properly and given a place to rest.

• Gregory is not a robot or the crying child reincarnated. Rather he is the reincarnation Michael Afton given another chance at life (without realizing it) as well as in a position to stop William Afton again along with his followers. Hence why he’s a gremlin and has prior experience with certain tasks or knows stuff others don’t know.

[semper-legens]

50. Diamonds in the Mud, by Brian Reade

Owned?: No, library Page count: 343 My summary: A celebration of working-class heroes - from the Hillsborough mothers to the legends of football, here are a selection of working-class people who have made a real difference in the world, and whose legacies should be celebrated alongside people from posher backgrounds. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Now, here's a book with a definite audience, and that audience is named me. While my background is a lot more middle class than working class, I still rail against the overexposure of moneyed, posh people in our pop culture, and particularly when it comes to the 'heroes' that we 'must' celebrate. No, I don't think I particularly care about Winston Churchill, actually - the man was a horrible racist and that fact hardly ever comes up in discussions of him, the focus instead being on his efforts as Prime Minister during the Second World War, to the point where it's practically taught that he alone was responsible for the Allies winning the War, never mind all the other countries and people who were, you know, actually doing the fighting. But I digress. Reade is clearly a champion for the working class, in a very familiar, Liverpudlian way. His focus is very much on Liverpool and the North West, though not all of the people he spotlights are from here. Some might criticise him for provincialism. I wouldn't be one of them, though. I was born in Liverpool, and it's still my closest city. The North West often goes underrepresented in English media. Hell yeah, is what I'm saying here.

Anyway, the meat of this book is spotlighting a selection of working-class people who could rightfully be dubbed heroes. And all of them are interesting in themselves. One highlight is the Hillsborough mothers, the parents of those killed in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 and spent the years after searching for justice for their children and campaigning for the truth to be officially recognised. They endured so much scorn and abuse for going against the establishment in the way that they did, and their long years fighting for justice for the 96 (now 97) victims of the disaster are worthy of acknowledgement. Another highlight is Doreen Lawrence, the mother of Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered in a racist attack that was swept under the rug for years. Like the Hillsborough victims, Stephen was blamed for his own murder; like the Hillsborough mothers, Doreen rose to the occasion despite her grief and spent many long years fighting for her son's death to be recognised as a murder. She was just an ordinary person, who should not have been thrust into the public eye as she was. She's a hero, though her story isn't taught at schools. By and large, Reade's emotive reporting gives a lot to the stories presented here, though sometimes he does centre himself in the narrative. I get it, but it does come across as somewhat egotistical from time to time. Nevertheless, this is a really interesting book, subverting the common British narrative that only upper-class moneyed people did anything of note, ever. A good read!

Next, a short story collection, and a touch of magic in the air.