#but if you get a real handshake from him? like Clark does?

[frownyalfred]

Bruce Wayne, in public as Brucie, has a weak and tepid handshake in order to both evoke dislike in the handshake partner and to lessen chances of someone detecting his calluses and above-average grip strength. in this essay I will—

[pepperf]

wip meme: t100 002 *chinhands*

lol. Oh jeez, okay... oh! This is my The 100 canon universe soulmate AU. I wrote a lot of this one, and I was pretty pleased with it, which is why it’s still on my WIP list. A long snippet, just because.

---

He's still not totally convinced that Lincoln isn't planning to carry Octavia off, but he finally agrees to release him because Octavia insists that it's her risk to take, that she doesn't care, that she trusts this Grounder she barely even knows—and, honestly, a part of him wishes that Lincoln would carry her off and save him a whole heap of trouble. Not being responsible for his sister: what a concept.

But Lincoln stays. He doesn't run back to the Grounders, and he doesn't massacre them all single-handedly. He might be scoping them out, but honestly, Bellamy doesn't have much illusion about the strength and complexity of their fortifications. If Lincoln was watching them from the trees, he probably knows everything that's worth knowing by now. Which means he's staying for Octavia.

So Bellamy is trying to bond with him, god help them both.

"She's my... I don't know what you call it." Then Lincoln says something that sounds like gibberish to Bellamy's untrained ears. Soulmate marks started appearing during the first years on the Ark, so there's no shared origin word.

"Say it again?"

Lincoln sounds it out slowly. "Tom... bom... houmon. Tombom, like heart." He pats his chest, where Octavia's name hides under his shirt. "Houmon, like... people united with promises?"

"Spouse," Bellamy translates. Lincoln speaks fluent English, but on Earth it's a warrior's tongue; some words don't get used as often.

Lincoln nods. "Spouse, yes. Tombom-houmon."

"Tombom-houmon." It's a pleasant word. Bouncy. "We say soulmate."

"Soulmate." Lincoln turns the word over, thoughtfully. "It's easier to say," he concedes, eventually. Bellamy's lips twitch. "Have you met yours?"

He doesn't know what makes him pause. Lincoln should probably be the last person he'd trust with his secrets. But there's something about this quiet, thoughtful Grounder—no, this quiet, thoughtful man, he corrects himself—that he instinctively trusts. And if this is Octavia's soulmate, he needs to start somewhere.

"Octavia doesn't know," he begins, heart tripping nervously. "I always told her I didn't get a name. On the Ark, it was—I didn't think it would be fair."

Lincoln just looks at him.

"I know I've got to tell her the truth, but I just... I need time, okay? You can't tell her."

Lincoln considers this. "You will tell her?"

Bellamy sighs. "Soon," he finds himself promising.

Lincoln nods. "Then I'll keep your secret."

Bellamy stares the other man in the eyes. Lincoln looks back steadily, but honestly, he doesn't even need to do that: somehow, Bellamy already trusts him with this. He nods his thanks.

Then he lets his control slip, allowing his eyes drift where they always seem to want to go: to wherever Clarke is located. At the moment she's just across the camp from them, in their direct eye-line, going through the stores with Monty to head off any further incidents with hallucinogenic flora. But he always knows where she is, can always find her in a crowd, unerringly. Like his body just knows.

When he turns back to Lincoln, he doesn't need to say anything. "I see," says Lincoln. And Bellamy is pretty sure that he does see, too—that meeting his soulmate wasn't some defining romantic moment in Bellamy's life, that he can't just walk up to her and stake a claim or whatever, that it's hard and complicated, with precious little likelihood of a happy ending. That whatever happens, it's going to bring him trouble.

It's such a fucking relief to tell someone at last. He rests his elbows on his knees and lets his head slump between his shoulders for a moment, just breathing.

"You're well matched."

Bellamy's head snaps up so fast he's going to hurt himself. "What?"

Lincoln just looks at him. "You and Clarke. Don't you think?"

"Uh, no."

Lincoln—who is rapidly on his way to being the second biggest pain in Bellamy's ass—raises his eyebrows. "You're both strong. Wily. Mistrustful. Ruthless."

Bellamy winces, but Lincoln is saying these things as though they're compliments.

"You don't hesitate to do what must be done to protect your people."

"I hesitate," objects Bellamy, not particularly appreciating this assessment.

Lincoln ponders it, and then tips his head. "And yet, in the end, you'll still do it. You were both born to lead your people."

Bellamy scoffs slightly at this. "I was born about as far as you can get from leadership. I took it down here because I had to, to protect my sister."

Lincoln nods, as if he understands. "I see. And if not for her, you would willingly have followed someone else."

"Well..."

"That one, perhaps." He points out Miller. "Or her." Fox. "Or him." Jasper.

Bellamy's entire soul revolts at the idea, and it shows on his face, apparently, because Lincoln looks smug. "Not just anyone," he mutters. His eyes light on Clarke again.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter," says Lincoln. "Whatever traits you do or don't share, she's your soulmate. You fit together. You are made for each other."

He blinks at Lincoln in shock. "What? No we're not."

"That's what this means," says Lincoln, gesturing to where his soulmark rests. "Do your people not understand this?"

"No, we—we do," he croaks. "But that's—Clarke and I aren't—it's not like that with us."

"Yes it is," says Lincoln, inexorably. "It is like that for all soulmates, whether or not they wish to acknowledge it."

He ducks his head and stares at the floor.

"You don't really think you can ignore it, do you?"

But Bellamy doesn't answer, because he's in the middle of an unwelcome epiphany. "Fuuuuuuuck," he mutters, dropping his face into his hands. Lincoln chooses now to fall silent, leaving Bellamy with his churning thoughts. It's not just the way he's drawn to Clarke—he's given up pretending that feeling doesn't exist. It's the sudden realisation that he wants this—he wants her. He doesn't want to fight this attraction, this sense of connection with her. He wants it to be real, for him to be part of her life. He wants to know that this isn't some fluke or the result of necessity, that it's not going to end as soon as the rest of the Ark comes down. He wants... he wants everything.

So now here he is, trying to go to pieces quietly because he's in the middle of camp, in the middle of the day, and he doesn't need a fucking audience for this.

"Ah," says Lincoln, catching on.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Lincoln pats his shoulder awkwardly. He seems to have been knocked off balance at last, and Bellamy would find some satisfaction in that, under any other circumstances.

They sit quietly, and Bellamy tries to get himself under control, and not be so obviously in crisis.

"How?" says Lincoln, at last. Bellamy glances at him, and the other man gestures helplessly. "How did you not know?" He sounds baffled.

"It's less than three weeks since we first met," says Bellamy. "And most of that time we've been busy trying not to die."

Lincoln winces, and looks away. "Sorry," he says.

Bellamy huffs a quiet laugh, staring down at his boots again. All this bloodshed, and Lincoln is sorry that it messed with his love life? Abruptly, he remembers Roma, and loses any inclination to find any of this amusing. "Yeah, well."

When he looks up, Lincoln is staring across the camp at Clarke. She's laughing with Monty, and Jasper has come over to join them, and Lincoln looks... conflicted. He's making connections, Bellamy realises. They're becoming people in his eyes. He was already protecting Octavia, but now there's Octavia's brother, and Octavia's brother's soulmate, and all their friends...

In a way, he can understand Lincoln's position. Now he's getting to know Lincoln, the Grounders don't feel so distant and unknowable, so threatening. Well, okay, still pretty threatening, he thinks, remembering how fucking built the guy sitting next to him is, how hard he was to take down. But he also remembers Lincoln's face when he looked at Octavia, and as hard as he fights it, how much he hates that this strange and terrifyingly competent Grounder is his baby sister's soulmate (why couldn't it have been Atom? He could control Atom), he still—with the greatest reluctance—understands how he felt in that moment.

He looks across the camp at Clarke, just as she rolls her eyes and smacks Jasper with the back of her hand, sending him packing with a sharp word. Jasper and Monty exchange their dumb handshake thing, and Clarke turns back to the table, hiding a fond smile. And Bellamy feels his heart clench.

He's so fucked.

[plainvanillapotato]

the 100 diaries S1 E8

quarantine diaries: may 24 2020

season 1 episode 8: “Day Trip”

i did not know that the actor that played bellamy is half-filipino. that made my day! pinoy pride!

that headbutt. btw miller and the grounder i laughed out loud

WINTER IS COMING! any other GoT fans out there? 

clarke a gamer? she out here with a headset and gaming chair? she’s using discord isnt she lol no wait she using the master of online video communication not skype but zoom.

dax really looks like the actor that plays luke in that horrid percy jackson live-action movie. (i pray to god that this new live-action with disney+ does not fuck up this beautiful story like they did with the films) that’s a pretty compelling deal tho. i would take it. i would do anything for my mom. but i know that bellamy has plot armor so im not to worried about this guy

the camp is really coming along these little stations are cute. also monty and jasper’s handshake is everything to me. very good for social distancing :) does anyone have a gif of that?

finn really does not deserve raven. why is he still so caught up on clarke? because like clarke said they barely know each other :| those longing glances between clarke and finn oooof and with raven in close proximity :| i cringe. ive never felt so uncomfortable in my live expect while watching scott’s tots. somebody tell me how much longer of this misery i have to endure..

when bellamy said “a lot can happen in a day” really this shows a lot within one episode. its a lot to take in. like i thought weeks had past but when raven mentioned in the other episode how only 10 days had passed i spit out my drink. bitch waht. like so much shit happened like jasper gets speared (thought it was an instant kill but miraculously it was not and he got better real quick), atom dies, charlotte kills wells, charlotte kills herself (tho we don’t see her body and you know how tv shows and movies love to pull that shit about you can’t be sure someone is dead unless you see their dead body), murphy is almost hanged but then is just banished...just to mention a few things.

LINCOLN. the grounders name is lincoln like the president? this is a lot to unpack. of all the names. he really don’t look like a lincoln tho. but I can’t believe that octavia really apologized to him for how she reacted when he chained her up. seriously that was not okay. listen to the guy when he says that he is the enemy 

also what is the deal between jasper and octavia is that ship just gone now?

octavia why you gotta stir the pot like that bringing up clarke and finn to raven. that was dirty but good for raven taking the high ground. did not expect that.

woah ‘day trip’ has more than one meaning. i did not expect a high episode from this show at all. the whole group is trippin balls. WOW i love this show.

the glowsticks (found when clarke and bellamy go to that place where they find the guns) ok you know its gonna be a good scene when they break out those glow sticks. reminds me of that one scene in spy kids

GuNs! bellamy’s smile at 16:45 he’s a little too happy. like a kid on a sugar rush

bellamy is definitely catching feelings for clarke. that shoulder touch. that head shake/hair flip. and she definitely checked him out too

bellamy’s hallucination *sad face* 

go octavia! saves yours mans even tho i really don’t think you should. way to take initiative and have some agency for once in your life. this drug thing is very convenient

THEY KISS! ummmmm i do not ship it. the guy literally chained her up and she instantly forgave him. i don’t even like octavia but i think she deserves better

*intense stares between finn and lincoln* did finn really not recognize him as the grounder or did he assume he be another kid trippin

bellamy and clarke saving each other. protecting each other. that talk after bellamy killed dax. ok i kind of see that as a zutara moment.

also did bellamy use a bullet shell to stab the guy in the neck. resourceful king. but i dont think that bullet shells are sharp enough to do that

can we also talk about how majority of on screen death we see are not because of gun shots but neck wounds: wells, atom, and now dax. literally jasper had a spear go through him. now he is fine. jaha was shot. now he is fine. i guess dwight really wasn’t lying when he said that necks are the greatest weakness of people

GUNS GUNS GUNS! bellamy and clarke really came back to camp slinging guns and said fuck it let the grounders come. I love this american trope where having a gun = invincibility/safety 

oooh yes clarke you tell finn off! you deserve better. how much longer is this ship gonna last because its annoying me.

they really killed off another POC (jeff epstien style) smh. fuck ok. and i called it! did not trust diana at all.

[arysafics]

you remind me of where i come from

Summary:  Clarke takes Bellamy to her hometown to meet her family for the first time.

Prompt:  Bellamy using a vibrator on Clarke, preferably in an established relationship but whatever I just love the idea of him being so happy and excited about having a new way to make her come.

Rated E, ~4.9k words

Clarke isn’t freaking out at all. At least, she doesn’t think her freaking out is noticeable to Bellamy. She hopes it isn’t, because if he thinks she’s freaking out, then he might freak out too and there’s nothing to freak out about. Probably. It’s just, she hasn’t brought anyone home to meet her parents since Lexa, and that hadn’t turned out so well. For anyone.

“Dad is going to make us sleep in separate bedrooms, just so you know,” Clarke says. They’ve been driving for four hours, and Clarke has only now realised what she needs to prepare Bellamy for. She’d been calm until five minutes ago, when she started recognising the familiar landmarks that indicate they’re close to her hometown. Now she’s a mix of excitement and nerves, knowing her parents are going to love Bellamy, desperate to show him this part of her he’s heard about but not seen. And yet there’s also a little ball of anxiety in her stomach that she can’t quite shake.

“And he’ll probably get all weird and protective, but that means he likes you. And if Mom cooks, you don’t have to pretend to like it. She likes to experiment, but she’s not very good at it. And she might get all weirdly emotional when she meets you. But don’t worry—”

“Clarke,” Bellamy interrupts, gently. “Stop.”

“Sorry,” she grimaces. “I’m scaring you off.”

Bellamy laughs. “You’re not scaring me off,” he assures her. “You’re just freaking out. It’s going to be fine.”

“I’m not freaking out,” Clarke lies. Okay, so maybe she’s not being as subtle about her emotional state as she thought.

“Then why are you gripping the steering wheel so tightly?” Bellamy points out. Clarke loosens her grip, and Bellamy reaches out to grab her hand.

“Sorry,” Clarke sighs. “It’s not that I don’t think they’re going to love you. I know they’re going to love you. And I’m really excited to show you where I’m from, but—”

“You’re nervous.”

“Yeah,” Clarke whispers.

“It’s okay, I get it,” he says. “It’s a big step.”

Clarke looks over at him, swallowing. It’s not just that it’s a big step. It doesn’t even really feel like a big step. It feels completely natural, bringing him home to meet her parents. But there’s this part of her that knows that if she fucks things up somehow, or if he leaves her, then this is all for nothing. She’s letting him into her life, really letting him in. Trusting him not to break her heart.

He knows about Lexa, of course. He knows about all her exes. Knows so much more about her than almost anyone else, and they’ve only been dating six months. How anyone could learn her so fast, she doesn’t know. Only knows that with him, everything feels right. And that’s why she desperately needs this to work out.

He strokes the back of her hand with his thumb, and she feels some semblance of relief. She’s so lucky to have him.

“Thank you,” she whispers. I love you, she thinks. She hasn’t quite got to saying it out loud yet, but she thinks he knows. Just as she knows he loves her too. But he won’t say it until she does. He doesn’t want to pressure her.

Still, this trip is a pretty big clue to how she feels about him. She’s been imagining him meeting her parents since day one, like some part of her just knew he was it. She’s probably been in love with him that long too. She’s pretty sure the words are going to slip off her tongue at any moment. Her feelings are too tremendous, too forceful to be able to hold back much longer. It’s terrifying.

They pass a sign that reads Welcome to Franklin, and Clarke feels Bellamy squeeze her hand. She knows these roads like the back of her hand, used to drive around with Wells in the passenger seat, acting like they were so fucking cool. Every little detail of this town is a familiar, comforting sight.

“That’s where I went to high school,” Clarke points out as they drive past.

“I’m imagining you walking around in your little cheerleading outfit,” Bellamy says, giving her a wink.

“Stop it,” Clarke says affectionately. “You’re not allowed to get horny, because I can’t do anything about it while we’re here.”

“Right, separate bedrooms,” Bellamy remembers. “We’re going to have a lot of catching up to do when we get home.”

Clarke grins. “That can be arranged.”

She idles around the streets a little more, pointing out places of interest, thrilled with Bellamy’s rapt attention as he drinks in every little piece of information about her.

She’s more relaxed when she finally pulls up in her parents’ driveway. She glances at Bellamy, and he’s gazing up at the house. He swallows. Now he seems nervous.

“Are you okay?” Clarke asks.

“Uh huh,” Bellamy says. “Just—seems a lot more real than it did five minutes ago. I don’t think I’ve ever been so worried about someone’s opinion of me.” He looks to Clarke. “Apart from you.”

“They’re a lot easier to please than I am,” Clarke assures him.

They get out of the car, and Clarke takes Bellamy’s hand as they ascend the front steps. Clarke turns the front door handle.

“Shouldn’t we ring the doorbell?” Bellamy whispers. Clarke raises an eyebrow at him, amused, and he grimaces, realising he’s being ridiculous.

“Mom!” Clarke calls, as they step inside. “Dad! I’m home!”

They appear, seemingly out of nowhere. Clarke has no doubt they’ve been lurking, waiting for her to arrive.

“You made it,” Abby says, pulling her daughter into a hug, forcing her to let go of Bellamy’s hand.

“I was just showing Bellamy around town a bit,” Clarke says as Abby pulls away. “Hi, Dad,” she says, turning to her father, who also gives her a hug.

“Hey, Sweetie,” says Jake.

“And this must be the famous Bellamy,” Abby says, and both parents turn to him, standing a little awkwardly in their front foyer. Clarke stifles a laugh at Bellamy’s bemused expression as Abby pulls him into a hug as well. “We’ve heard so much about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs Griffin,” Bellamy says. Clarke has already told him a hundred times to call her parents by their first names, but he stubbornly disagreed. “Mr Griffin.” Jake holds out his hand and Bellamy shakes it firmly. Jake gives him a nod, and Clarke supposes her dad approves of her boyfriend’s handshake.

“You too, Bellamy.”

“And it’s Abby and Jake, please,” Abby adds.

Clarke gives Bellamy a triumphant I told you so look, and he rolls his eyes.

“Jake, why don’t you go and grab their bags, and I’ll show Bellamy his room?”

Jake gives Bellamy a grin. “Be careful, these Griffin women only marry so they can use their husbands for manual labour.”

Abby gives Jake a playful slap, while Clarke feels her face turning the colour of beetroot. Leave it to her father to bring up marriage at the first opportunity. Bellamy doesn’t seem to notice.

“Trust me, I know,” Bellamy grins back. “Clarke bought all her new furniture from Ikea, then conveniently wasn’t around to build it herself.”

Clarke pouts, looking at her mom for back up, but Abby just shrugs. “Shall we go upstairs?”

She leads them to the guest bedroom, well, one of them. The bigger of the two.

“Bellamy, this is your room,” Abby says, opening the door. She glances at him. “Sorry you and Clarke can’t share. Jake just feels weird about it. It’s not that he’s against sex before marriage or anything, I think he just doesn’t like the idea of his daughter doing it.”

“It’s okay,” Bellamy says. He’s taking all this remarkably well. In fact, Clarke thinks he finds the whole thing amusing.

“Jake will be up in a minute with your bags. We thought we’d go out for dinner tonight, is that alright?”

“Fine, Mom,” Clarke says. She’s just thankful they won’t be subjected to one of her mother’s weird concoctions.

“I was asking Bellamy.”

Bellamy chuckles. “Sounds great,” he agrees. Abby nods, pleased, then leaves them to it.

“Come on, I’ll show you my room,” Clarke says, as soon as her mother is out of earshot. It’s the room next to his.

Her room hasn’t changed at all since she was a teenager. Almost everything in it is pink, and Clarke can tell Bellamy thinks it’s hilarious from the grin on his face. He wanders around, studying the trinkets on the vanity, the books on the shelves, the posters and photos on the walls. He stops by the fourposter bed, fingering the gauzy pink curtains.

“Your bedroom looks like a princess’s bedroom,” he says. “A ten-year-old princess.”

“I liked pink,” Clarke says defensively.

“I can see that.” He eyes her, and Clarke tilts her head, wondering what’s going through his mind. “You know what would be really fun?” he says, reaching for her. Clarke takes his hand, and he pulls her close.

“What?” Clarke asks.

Bellamy presses his lips to her ear. “Fucking you in this princess bed. In your childhood bedroom.”

Clarke’s breath hitches, and she instinctively presses herself closer to him. Bellamy’s lips trails down her ear and across her jawline, until he reaches her mouth. His grips her in his arms tightly.

“We can’t,” Clarke whispers against his kiss, though her pussy is telling her they can, and should, right now.

Bellamy pulls his lips away from hers. “Does your dad seriously think you’re still a virgin?”

“I don’t think he wants to think about it.”

“Do you think we’ll be allowed to sleep in the same bed once we’re married?” Bellamy jokes. Clarke’s eyes widen, and she gapes at him. Bellamy’s grin drops as he realises what he’s said. “Sorry,” he says quickly. “I didn’t mean—I meant, you know. If—”

“Here’s your bag, pumpkin,” Jake’s voice interrupts. Clarke whips her head around. Her heart is beating even faster than when Bellamy was whispering in her ear how he’d like to fuck her in her childhood bed. He wants to marry her. He’s thought about it. Clarke can’t stop the smile that spreads across her face.

“Thanks,” she says.

“Bellamy, I put your bag in your room,” Jake continues. “You guys can freshen up and get changed before we go out, if you like.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Thanks, Jake.”

Jake leaves the room, but Clarke notices he keeps the door wide open. She can only be glad he hadn’t walked in thirty seconds earlier.

“Clarke, what I said before—” Bellamy says, anxious.

“It’s okay,” Clarke cuts him off. She beams up at his wary expression.

“It is?”

Clarke nods. She surges up to kiss him, feeling giddy. When she pulls away, Bellamy looks a little dazed.

“Go get ready to go out,” Clarke says, pushing him towards the door.

“Okay,” Bellamy says, he looks back at her, a bewildered smile on his face as he shuts the door behind him.

 -

 When they arrive at the restaurant, a server leads them to their table, and sitting there already are Wells and Thelonius Jaha.

“Wells!” Clarke exclaims, as her best friend stands up to hug her. “Mom didn’t say you guys were coming.”

“We wanted it to be a surprise,” Wells grins, pulling away. He glances over her shoulder at Bellamy. “This is the boyfriend, huh?”

“Bellamy,” Bellamy offers, holding out his hand. Wells ignores Bellamy’s outstretched arm and pulls him into a hug instead.

“This is Wells,” Clarke tells Bellamy. “My best friend.”

“I’ve heard all about you,” Wells teases.

Bellamy glances at Clarke, amused, before looking back to Wells. “And I’ve heard all about you.”

“Sit down, you three,” Abby scolds.

The three of them take their places, and the waiter brings them water and tells them about the specials. Thelonius launches into some long, boring anecdote, and Clarke takes the opportunity to peruse the menu. Out the corner of her eye, she sees Bellamy slip his hand under the table, holding his palm open, and she does the same without a second thought, taking his hand in hers.

When Thelonius is finally finished his tale, the entire table takes to questioning Bellamy. It’s not mean-spirited, it’s genuine questions about his life, about wanting to get to know him better. But at the same time, it’s a lot. Clarke squeezes his hand, letting him know he’s handling the onslaught well. He smiles at her, glancing down at their joined hands. Wells notices.

“Are you guys holding hands?” he says. “Cute.”

They both blush, as Wells laughs at them, but neither of them let go until the food comes and they have to.

After dinner, Jake drags Bellamy to the bar, and Wells tags along, leaving Abby, Clarke and Thelonius at the table. Clarke watches the men at the bar nervously, though Bellamy doesn’t look like he’s in any trouble. He glances over at her and gives her a smile to show he’s okay.

“What do you think they’re saying to him?” Clarke asks her mom.

“They’re probably trying to determine if his taste in whiskey is adequate,” Abby says. “I wouldn’t worry. They aren’t going to do anything to try and sabotage your relationship.”

“Hold on to that one,” Thelonius advises. “You’re lucky to have him. What you two have is rare.”

Clarke rolls her eyes, and Abby bites back a laugh. Thelonius and his sage advice to the rescue as usual.

Bellamy, Jake, and Wells eventually return to the table, and Bellamy is grinning from ear to ear. Which is a good sign, Clarke supposes. She wants to grill him about what her Dad and her best friend said to him, but it will probably have to wait until the drive home. They’re unlikely to get a proper moment alone together while they’re here.

Abby, Jake, and Thelonius argue about who is going to pay for dinner, and Abby ends up winning. Wells grabs Clarke by the arm as they exit the restaurant, while Bellamy is distracted by another of Thelonius’s pieces of wisdom.

“I think you got a good one this time,” Wells whispers.

Clarke glances at Bellamy. “I know.”

“Okay, we really should get going, Thelonius,” Abby hints, and Wells drops Clarke’s arm.

“I’m really happy for you,” he says, stepping over to stand by his father.

“Of course,” Thelonius says in response to Abby. “Goodnight all. Good to see you all again. Nice to meet you, Bellamy.”

In the car on the way home, Clarke leans up against Bellamy in the backseat, his hand on her knee. She feels like she could doze off on his shoulder, her eyelids are so heavy. The long drive, the big dinner, and all the excitement of introducing Bellamy to her parents has finally gotten to her.

Jake pulls the car into the driveway, and Bellamy presses a kiss to the top of Clarke’s head.

“You want me to carry you inside?” he whispers.

Clarke shakes her head. She does want him to carry her inside, but not in front of her parents. They’ve already been affectionate enough with each other, much more so than Clarke ever was with Lexa in public. In private, even. But Clarke just can’t seem to stop herself with Bellamy. It’s like she just needs to be touching him in some way at all times. Not necessarily in a sexual way, but his touch always makes her feel better, more at ease.

He helps her out of the car, and they follow Abby and Jake into the house. It’s late, and Abby and Jake head straight to their room after a quick goodnight. Clarke hovers outside Bellamy’s room. She hates having to leave him. She wants to whisper in the dark with him about her family, and Wells, and how ridiculous Thelonius is. She wants to ask him what Wells and her dad said to him at the bar. And most of all she wants him to fuck her nice and slow, then spoon her until they fall asleep.

Instead she says, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Bellamy returns. He crowds her against the wall next to the guestroom door, takes her face in his hands, then slips his tongue into her mouth, kissing her until her head spins with desire. He pulls away, and Clarke rubs a finger across her bottom lip subconsciously. “Something to think about,” he winks, then retreats into his bedroom.

Clarke slinks off to her own room, lips still swollen from his kiss. She gets into her pyjamas, brushes her teeth, then slides into bed. Though she’d been seconds from sleep only twenty minutes earlier, now she feels wide awake. She can’t stop thinking about the kiss Bellamy just gave her, and how she wishes they could have kept going. Her thoughts stray to the things he’d said earlier, about fucking her in this bed, in her childhood bedroom. She’s never had sex in here before, hadn’t lost her virginity until her first year of college.

Her cunt throbs, and she pushes her hand into her pyjama shorts, then slips a finger into her slit. Fuck, she’s soaking wet. She groans, burying her head into her pillow. Stupid Bellamy, making her all horny at the worst possible times. Part of her wants to sneak into his room and beg him to fuck her, screw what her Dad says. Her parents never have to know.

Instead, she rolls out of bed and rummages around in her overnight bag, pulling out her little bullet vibrator that she’d brought with her, just in case. She’s had plenty of practice keeping quiet in this house while she masturbates. It won’t take her long, and then she’ll be able to sleep.

She hops back into bed, and just as she does, the door to her bedroom opens. Instinctively, her hand curls around the vibrator under the covers. It’s small enough that it’s hidden in her fist.

Bellamy closes the door behind him, and pads over to her bed, getting in beside her. He has the look of a naughty schoolboy on his face.

“What are you doing?” Clarke asks him. “I told you, we can’t have sex.”

“I just want to talk to you,” he says. “I missed you. We haven’t talked properly since we got here.”

Clarke smiles. Her heart swells at the knowledge that he feels the same way she does.

They lie face to face in the dark, Clarke still hiding the vibrator in her palm. If he finds out she brought it, and was about to use it, he’ll tease her about it until the end of eternity.

“Do you like my parents?” Clarke asks.

“Yeah,” Bellamy says. “And I think they like me, right?”

“Yes,” Clarke grins. Their voices are hushed, their face lit only by the moonlight streaming in through Clarke’s bedroom window.

“They kind of feel like family already. Like I’ve known them forever. Wells too.”

“Not Thelonius?”

“He’s, uh—”

Clarke bursts into laughter and Bellamy snorts. It goes without saying that Thelonius is one of the weirdest guys on the planet.

“What did Dad and Wells say to you? When they dragged you off to the bar?”

“That’s top-secret men’s business.”

“Bellamy! I’m your girlfriend. Your loyalty is to me.”

“What about the bro code?”

“I know you don’t believe in the bro code.”

Bellamy smiles. “They basically told me if I ever broke your heart, they would hunt me down and kill me, if you didn’t do it first.”

Clarke rolls her eyes. “Talk about toxic masculinity.”

Bellamy pauses, brushing her hair from her face. “They also said they’d never seen you so happy,” he says, his voice dropping even lower. “And your dad was crying a bit.”

“You’re making that up.”

“I’m not.”

Clarke bites her lip. “They’re right, you know,” she admits. “I’ve never been so happy.”

“Me too,” Bellamy murmurs. He leans forward to press a kiss on the bridge of her nose. “I love you,” he says quietly, brushing his nose against hers.

Clarke’s stomach flips over, and her heart skitters. She swallows. “I thought you were waiting for me to say it first.”

“I was,” he says. “But I couldn’t help it any longer. It’s okay if you don’t say it back. I just wanted you to know that.”

Tears brim in her eyes. She’s been in love before, of course. But not like this. Not in a way that feels so hopeful, so good, so pure. She thought her love for Lexa would drown her, but Bellamy’s love is her fucking lifeboat. Lexa was like the moon, dark, and mysterious and captivating. Bellamy is the sun, and she wants to bask in his glow forever.

“I love you too,” she says, and it’s so much easier to say than she thought it would be.

“Yeah?” Bellamy grins.

“Yeah,” Clarke says. “I love you so much, it terrified me. That’s why I didn’t say it. But I don’t want to be scared anymore.”

“I’m not scared either,” Bellamy says. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”  He kisses her, and Clarke is pretty sure she’s crying, or maybe the tears she can taste are his. Bellamy reaches for her, and he grabs her hand in his, forcing her to open her fist. He pauses and pulls away from her.

“What’s this?” he asks, taking the vibrator from her hand and pulling it out from under the covers. “Did you bring a toy?” he asks, teasing.

“Maybe.”

“So much for not getting horny, huh?”

“Shut up, it’s your fault,” Clarke says, slapping him playfully.

“Oh yeah?” he teases. “You’ve been thinking about me, have you? You all wet for me?”

Clarke nods. “Can’t stop thinking about you fucking me in this bed.”

Bellamy rolls over so he’s on top of her, and he kisses her, making her forget for a moment why he’s not supposed to be in here, why they’re not supposed to do this. “Bellamy, we can’t,” she whimpers against his mouth. It’s one thing to be quiet when she’s only pleasuring herself, but if Bellamy is involved, she knows she’ll have no control over what comes out of her mouth.

“We’re not going to,” Bellamy whispers back. “It doesn’t count if I just use this,” he says with a wolfish grin, holding up her vibrator. He slips his hand into her pyjama shorts and slides the vibrator between her wet folds, slicking it up with her arousal, before her presses the button on the end to turn it on. Clarke jumps at the sudden buzz between her legs.

Bellamy throws back the covers and shimmies down, so he’s eye-level with her crotch, edging her shorts down as he goes, keeping the vibrator softly buzzing just inside her pussy lips. It’s not enough to make her feel much yet, other than anticipation for what’s to come.

“How many settings does this thing have?” Bellamy asks.

“I think six.”

“You think?”

“Definitely six.”

Bellamy presses the button again, and the buzzing gets a little more intense. The vibrator glides between her folds as he drags it up towards her clit. He circles the sensitive bud, and Clarke squirms as the vibration pulses through her. He presses the tip of the vibrator to her clit, just for a moment and she gasps. He pulls away again, chuckling.

He holds the vibrator up in his hand, clicking the button, testing each of the settings. The first three just get more intense, while the next three change it up a little, alternating pulsing and buzzing in three different ways.

“This is fun, why haven’t we done this before?” Bellamy says, putting it back on the second highest setting, then sinking it into her cunt. It’s too small to do much, but she moans anyway. “Shh,” he hushes her. “You have to be quiet. Or your parents will hear you.”

Clarke shakes her head. “I can’t.” Bellamy turns the vibrator up, then edges it back up her slit towards her clit. She whimpers. He holds the vibrator to her clit, and her orgasm builds fast. She pants as she gets close, right to the edge, then he pulls away again. She whines, and he laughs.

“You’re such an asshole,” Clarke says, on the verge of tears. Her cunt is throbbing, her thighs and his fingers coated in her arousal.

“Don’t be like that, baby,” Bellamy coos. “I’m only teasing.”

“I need to come, Bell. Please.”

“Only if you’re quiet.”

Clarke nods. “I’ll try.”

Bellamy circles her clit with the vibrator again, once, twice, then a third time, winding her up again. She already knows she’s failing at being quiet. It feels too good, and she’s too desperate. The vibrator hits her clit again.

“Bellamy,” she moans. “Please. Oh my god. I’m so close. Don’t stop, Bell, please don’t stop.”

“Shh,” he says, half laughing. He puts his big hand over her mouth, covering half her face, just as she comes, muffling the cry that escapes her mouth. He keeps the vibrator against her clit as she comes, until she shoves his hand away, the sensation too much for her sensitive clit.

“You okay?” he whispers.

Clarke nods. “Do you think they heard?” she asks. God, she doesn’t know if she could bear it if her parents heard her screaming her boyfriend’s name in pleasure.

“No,” Bellamy says. “I would have been chased out of here with a pitchfork by now.”

Clarke laughs, and Bellamy kisses her, swallowing her laugh. “You have to get out of here and go back to your own room.”

“I seriously need to jerk off after that,” he mutters.

“No masturbating in my parents’ house.”

“Oh, but you’re allowed to?”

“I can’t risk you getting come all over the guest bedroom sheets.”

“Fuck,” Bellamy groans. “I’m so fucking hard.”

“I know,” Clarke whispers, stroking his cock through his boxers. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. On the way home. I’ll suck you off while you drive.”

Bellamy groans again. “You’re driving me crazy.”

“I’m sorry,” Clarke laughs, only a tiny bit apologetic.

“It’s okay,” Bellamy says, kissing her again. “It was worth it.”

Clarke smiles. “Get out of here before my dad catches you.”

Bellamy scrambles to his feet, and tucks her back into bed. He kisses her on the head.

“I love you,” Clarke whispers as he leaves.

“I love you too.”

 -

 Clarke creeps into Bellamy’s room the next morning, knowing her parents are probably already up. Bellamy is awake already, reading the book he brought with him.

“Good morning,” Clarke says, crawling onto the bed beside him. She gives him a quick peck.

“Morning,” Bellamy murmurs back.

“We better get up or Mom will come looking for us.”

Bellamy puts on a shirt and some pants before heading downstairs, but Clarke doesn’t bother to change out of her pyjamas. Abby is in the kitchen, an array of breads, spreads, and cereals on the counter in front of her.

“Good morning, you two,” she says. “What would you like for breakfast?”

“She’s just doing this for your benefit, you know,” Clarke says to Bellamy. “Even as a teenager if I asked what was for breakfast, she would just tell me it was whatever I made for myself.”

“I’ll enjoy in while it lasts then,” Bellamy grins.

“Where’s Dad?” Clarke asks, looking around the kitchen like he might appear at any minute.

“Uh—” Abby hesitates. She glances between Clarke and Bellamy, as if deciding whether to tell them or not. “I think he just needs—a little time.”

“A little time?” Clarke swallows, dread pooling in her stomach. She had thought her dad loved Bellamy. And now he doesn’t want to be in the same room as him? “What happened? Doesn’t Dad like Bellamy?”

“Oh no, sweetie, it’s not that,” Abby hurries to explain. “Jake thinks Bellamy is great. It’s just—well—” she grimaces. “We heard you last night. He’s very embarrassed. I don’t think he knows how to act around you at the moment.”

“Oh my god,” Clarke says, cringing. She can feel her face growing hot.

Bellamy just laughs, and Abby joins in, while Clarke gives them dirty looks. Obviously she got her sense of shame from her father.

“Stop it, this is so embarrassing,” Clarke huffs.

“Well, now he definitely won’t want us sleeping in the same bed,” Bellamy says, still grinning like the whole thing is hilarious.

“I think the illusion is shattered now,” Abby says. “He’ll get over it.”  

“But will I?” Clarke groans. How is she ever going to look her dad in the eye again?

“Just have some breakfast, Clarke,” Abby sighs. “It’s not the end of the world.” She leaves the room after that, probably to give them some space while Clarke comes to terms with the fact that her parents heard her orgasm.

They make their own breakfasts, Clarke replaying last night over in her mind, wondering exactly what her dad heard. She can see Bellamy smirking to himself out the corner of her eye, and she bumps her hip against his.

“Seriously, what is so funny?” she asks.

“Nothing,” he says. He glances at her, still smirking. “I was just thinking. Now your dad knows why you’re happier than he’s ever seen you.”

[aspiringauthorintraining]

Partners in Crime #3

After spending some needed girl time, the pair headed back to STAR Labs.

(Y/N) could hear Caitlin, in the passenger seat, talking on the phone in hushed whispers. She didn't think much of it, not wanting to be nosy. The whispering conversation continued, when the car pulled into the lab parking lot. She waited patiently, turning off the ignition, for her friend to finish the phone conversation.

Caitlin's face lit up all of a sudden. "Alright, I'll bring her in then." Hanging up, she turned to her friend with a big smile.

"What are you so happy about? You're starting to freak me out." (Y/N) leaned against the door, distancing herself from her creepily smiling friend.

"Well, Cisco just told me that our fifth team member is present in the lab, and to bring you in to meet him!"

"Why were you being so secretive on the phone, then?" she asked.

"You'll see when we get there!"

Caitlin managed to get out of the car in record time, flinging open the driver's door, grabbing (Y/N)'s hand, and dragging her into the lab.

"Cait, Caitlin, c-can we slow down a bit?" (Y/N) wheezed, out of breath. But she couldn't help but smile, seeing how giddy Caitlin was. She hadn't seen her friend this happy, since Ronnie died.

"There you guys are! What took you so long?" The resident tech-genius whined. "Was there a shoe sale on the way here that you had to stop by?" He was still munching a Twizzler when they entered the room.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with wanting to drive safe. Slow and steady wins the race, or in this case, stay alive." (Y/N) thought of herself to have superb driving skills, especially better than Cisco, who thought the speed limit sign was more of a suggestion for drivers, and Caitlin, who drove extremely slow in case she accidentally hit a butterfly.

"And where is this important person I need to meet?" Frankly, she was a little annoyed at the mystery of the fifth person. It had been bugging her all day, and having impatience as a personality trait was not helping the situation. Who was this secretive person who she had practically had to set an appointment to meet?

"Well, the need to wait is no more. Here he is!" Cisco stepped to his right, wiggling his fingers at the ground behind him.. "TA-DA!"

"A dog?! We have a team mascot? Oh my goodness, he is so adorable!" She half-whispered, half-screamed because the little puppy was sleeping, adorably, on the floor. (Y/N) was literally jumping up and down, unable to contain her excitement on the news of the unmasked fifth member.

So worth the wait.

"Dang it, I thought you would be mad, or at least a little annoyed." Cisco was disappointed at her reaction, thinking she would be mad that the mysterious fifth person wasn't even a person. "I completely forgot that you loved dogs."

Caitlin rolled her eyes at his attempt to annoy (Y/N) and turned her attention to trying to calm down her best friend. "(Y/N). (Y/N). (Y/N)!!" Her attempts failed, however, as her friend now kneeled on the floor, cooing at the sleeping puppy. "(Y/N), can you listen to me for five seconds, please?"

(Y/N) stopped her fawning, and stared at her friend, who was cutting into her time of cooing at the puppy.

"Yes?"

"Cisco was just kidding. We actually have someone, a real person, we want you to meet, before you lose your mind again over the puppy." Caitlin gestured her hand over to the area behind (Y/N), where a figure dressed in, what appeared to be, scarlet red spandex stood.  

"That cannot be comfortable," she commented, under her breath.

She focused her attention on his face, which she couldn't see very clearly. Standing up, she brushed off her knees and walked over to the red figure with her hand extended out.

"Hello sir! I'm (Y/N)! Pleasure to meet you!"

Even as she got closer, she couldn't make out his face very well. It seemed as though it was vibrating or something. She rubbed her eyes, thinking her vision was messing with her.

The red figure took her hand, and shook it, but didn't do anything else. He just continued to look at her.

"Umm, this would be the part where you tell me your name?" Immediately, the handshaking stopped.

"Wait, (Y/N). You don't know who this?" Caitlin voiced from behind.

"Of course I know who this is. You're 'The Flash'! But I meant, what's your real name? You must have a real name right? Or am I supposed to guess? Is it Clark? Bruce? Bart? Wilson? Wait no, you don't really give off the vibe of a Wilson…" She continued rattling off names off, already lost in her own world.

Caitlin sighed, not liking to have to raise her voice. "(Y/N). (Y/N). (Y/N)!!"

"Bernie? Stewar-" She looked at her friends' faces. They didn't seem as excited as she was.

"What?"

"We can't really tell you his identity…"

"Yeah, Dr. Wells told us that we shouldn't, or can't, tell you for your safety."

She gave her friends an 'are you kidding me' look.

"Well, WE aren't allowed to tell you, but if you found out for yourself, we couldn't stop you," the voice behind the vibrating face reasoned. (Y/N) turned back to the source of the voice, the man in the spandex suit. She gave him the same look she gave her friends.

"For all I know, you could be the guy selling hot dogs on the street. How would I even find out? Actually, the better question is, why should I even try?"

"The answer is closer than you think," the superhero hinted.

"At least give me a better hint." She pleaded the Flash and her friends, with the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. But to her friends, it just looked like she was trying to imitate bug eyes, so it didn't help her cause.

"So until I find out who he really is, he has to walk around in that costume whenever I'm here?"

"Yup. And it's not a costume, it's a superhero suit. There's a difference," Cisco insisted.

"Well, I do love a man in uniform." she said jokingly. "I think I'll take my time on this case."

"It's true, she does." Caitlin laughed at her friend's antics.

The Flash, on the other hand, seemed flustered at her words, making him stutter. "I-uh-um. Well, nice meeting you Ms-"

"Call me (Y/N)."

"Right. Um, well, I'll be leaving now. Let me know if anything happens or if you need me."

With an awkward wave, the Flash sped out of the room, making any loose papers fly about in the air.

"You know, you guys should really buy some paperweights." (Y/N) suggested to her friends. "Where's he going by the way?"

"Probably off to another rendezvous with his crush." Cisco informed, with raising his eyebrows up and down, in a suggestive manner.

"Huh, interesting. I wonder who she is?"

"Cisco, don't you dare." Seeing him about to answer her question, Caitlin hurried to interrupt him.

"Any-who, back to the real important matter at hand." (Y/N) gestured to the puppy on the floor. "Who's puppy is she?" The puppy of the matter was still sleeping, not even bothered by the previous events in the room.

"It's yours actually."

"WHAT?!"

With that yell, the puppy woke up from it's nap and gave out a yawn, before running over to (Y/N) and pouncing near her feet. He took a second to sniff the new human, before reverting back to jumping up and down.

"What do you mean?" (Y/N) was on the verge of tears from the happiness, and sadness that this whole thing might be a dream. She pinched herself to check. "Ow.. Yup, definitely not a dream."

"We got you a puppy as a welcome gift! I know how much you've wanted one but couldn't when you were in Starling." Caitlin exclaimed.

Her previous land lord didn't allow her to keep dogs in her apartment because of his allergies, so she had to hold off on her dream of becoming a dog lady (similar idea to 'cat lady', but instead with dogs). Well, she wasn't serious on the dog lady thing, but was devastated upon finding out that she wouldn't be able to get a dog. But now, with her changed living spaces, she could.

"You guys, you are the best friends that anyone could ever have." Caitlin's eyes got teary at her words, and Cisco was already a sobbing mess. "What's his name?"

Wiping away her tears, Caitlin responded. "We were waiting for you to name him, since he's yours."

Laughing, (Y/N) looked at the dog closely, through her watering eyes. "Hmm. I think I'm going to call you Chewy. Short for Chewbaca the Third."

The dog barked at his name. "Good! I'm glad you like the name! You're gonna be our new mascot!" Smiling , she picked him up in her arms gently.

"Well, if he's our new mascot, you better be ready to bring him in to the lab everyday. He's as much part of the team as anyone of us." Cisco said.

"Of course! And I hereby decree, Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow, the godfather and godmother of my child Chewy. If anything were to happen to me, I entrust him in your care." (Y/N) announced dramatically, sniffling through her stuffed nose.

"And the moment's over." Caitlin sighed again at her overly dramatic best friend.

(A/N) I really want a dog. I really want a dog. I really want a dog. I think if I say this enough times, maybe one will appear.

[thepringlesofblood]

thoughts on stranger things three  (spoilers. so many.)

this is just me yellin into the void as usual, but I like recording my opinions on things even if no one will read them 

good:

- every single scene w/ the robin, steve, erica, dustin gang, especially!!! the coming out scene. scoops?? iconic. steve and dustin’s secret handshake? transcendent. the drugged out back to the future scene? perfect. 

- eleven and max say fuck the patriarchy. love el’s new look 

- more competent women is always a win

- funhouse fight!!! carnival fight!!!FIREWORKS??!??!

- the destruction of the mall (sadly the only anticapitalist symbolism I could find)

- the scene after jonathan and nancy get fired where they’re angry about their separate marginalized identities making this loss worse. I really liked how it went into the ways it will impact both of them, and I especially liked when nancy got home and talked to her mom. 

- joyce going buckwild and getting shit done. 

- the portrayal of hypervigilance as a symptom of PTSD. All of these characters have seen some shit, and all of them pick up on the littlest things the second they present themselves because subconsciously, they’re always on edge, always aware of bad it could break. 

- most of will’s character arc. not all, but most of it. the queer experience of watching all your friends get dates and feeling like you’re missing out on something? trying to regain their interest because you feel lost and left behind? worrying that you’re not “growing up” because you don’t recognize romantic interest in yourself? not realizing you’re falling for your best friend until they get a romantic partner and suddenly you hate the partner even though they haven’t done anything wrong? a poignant, beautiful, very painful portrayal of queer teenhood. I really, really wish there was a moment that the audience realized will was in love with mike though. Like, it’s been building for a very long time. Also, a more thorough confirmation of will’s queerness would’ve been nice. I think they meant mike saying “you don’t understand bc you don’t like girls” to be that confirmation, but I want to hear it from will. Robin’s moment is so so so good though. 

- domestic fuckery 

- getting someone on the inside to help them/alexei as a character. not the symbolism or larger ramifications of his character arc, but how his knowledge and personality interacted. 

- mr clarke!!!!

- el going into someone’s memories again

- how prepared everyone is to fight because they’ve seen this shit before and robin and erica are just like ‘this might as well happen’ 

- keeping with the stranger things pattern of having a bunch of different groups of people all in different genres and then together they all meet up and go ?????

- I know every says billy didn’t get enough of a redemption arc but tbh I did not see his character development as redeeming in any way and I liked that. It didn’t excuse his abusive actions, it just explained them. There was no “oh he was secretly good all along”, no dramatic total character reversal on his death bed, just him deciding that he had enough of being controlled. Max didn’t get full closure with him, he didn’t say some big speech about being wrong or realizing the ramifications of his actions bc he hadn’t reached that point yet. he just said “I’m sorry” and died. that could mean “i’m sorry for how I’ve treated you”, “I’m sorry for how many people I’ve killed”, “I’m sorry for not being able to stop the monster”, anything. we don’t know what it means. we don’t get an explanation. It speaks to how survivors of abuse often don’t get to know why, don’t get closure, don’t get all the answers. 

- steve finally won a fight before getting the shit kicked out of him

- the whole no one knowing anything about each other bc no cell phones and/or wasnt there when It Happened. 

- Erica getting the DND set was poetic cinema 

- when joyce sees will on the firetruck and they run towards each other because finally, for once, will is completely unscathed, will isn’t the one who got hurt/possessed. I was already crying but this is the part where i had to get tissues bc I was sobbing. 

Bad:

- the red scare bullshit and glorification of capitalism. this show started out as “the US govt is doing shady shit” and now the big climatic “everything’s alright” is the army getting there?? what the fuck. There’s being accurate to the time period and then there’s sending a message. they could’ve subverted that trope in so many ways, but they just went for straight up “capitalism is great! fuck russia!” and I hated that. also, talk about one-note villainry. there weren’t even any dramatic monologues to make up for it, it just kinda sucked. 

- Hopper’s character in the beginning of the season. the scene where he gets wasted after getting stood up? shitty. not talking to el about his vaguely sexist overprotective actions? shitty. blowing up at joyce for no reason? shitty. he pulls it together in the end but it was OOC for a bit there. Plus I would kill for more “hopper and el work through their trauma together”, rather than “friend group splinters bc hopper did a yell” 

- I don’t know what to think about hopper’s death. It just hurts, and not in a satisfying, last harry potter book way. 

- why the fuck are the byers and el moving?????? did they ever give a reason???? WHY?????? WILL AND EL’S ENTIRE SUPPORT NETWORK, THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO KNOW WHAT THEY’VE BEEN THROUGH AND CAN HELP THEM, IS IN HAWKINS!!!!!

- the ads. omg the ads. lucas idc about your fucking coke. there’s so much goddamn product placement. christ on a goddamn bicycle. 

- previous seasons have had body horror, but it was all black goo so it was removed from reality and conveyed a psychological, otherworldly horror. and I liked that. WHY WAS THERE SO MUCH FUCJING MEAT IN THIS ONE??? THE MIND FLAYER LOOKED LIKE IT WAS MADE OF BBQ SAUCE AND I HATED IT!!! STOP!!!THE MEATS!!!!!

- can el not be injured......for oNCE?????

- also can people stop standing around staring at shit so much? theyve seen it before. it’s not like it’s a huge shock. people stand around for like 5 minutes before Doing Things and it annoys me. with the New Kids like erica and robin it makes sense but like....whenever theres a monster mike just sits there like :o cOME ON DUDE YOU’VE DONE THIS SO MANY TIMES GET A KNIFE OR SOMETHIN!!!

- WHAT. WAS. THE GREEN STUFF?????????????????? IS IT FUCKING PLUTONIUM OR SOMETHING???? WHAT THE FUCK!!! IF YOU NEED A MACGUFFIN BE LESS OBVIOUS ABOUT IT!!!

- idk about you but murray yelling at them about sex kinda rubbed me the wrong way. 

- speaking of, you caNNOT convince me that murray, 4 locks on the front door lives in a bunker murray, would take a goddamn enemy of the state to a carnival and leave him alone for any period of time. seriously????????

- look.....it was adorable.....i’ll give you that.....but.....the song dustin and suzy sang slapped me with secondhand embarrassment and genre disconnect so hard I found it impossible to enjoy. also...planck’s constant??? you could/......idk........call mr clarke????????? you’ve interrupted the man’s life for less!!!! I was also half expecting it to be joyce who remembered it from all the studying she did on the magnets. I did enjoy the whole “i met a girl at camp” story being unbelievable until it was but like I was expecting the thing she wanted him to say to be like a famous star wars love quote or something not an entire song jesus christ 

- if hopper turns out to be alive I will face god and walk backwards into hell. I suffered through supernatural, I will not be caught in a cycle of fake deaths again. 

- i get the whole “we’re growing up now” thing but aren’t they like 13? theyre still so young??? also like i dont rly care for the vague soap-opera-y vibes the core squad gave off. 

- the only people who got flayed were either a. already pretty shitty or b. completely unknown. like. it just made it less scary????

- hopper just fucking standing by the machine looking at joyce instead of running the 5 seconds up the steps into the room. seriously? was that supposed to be slow motion or was that real time??? 

- the whole thing with cerebro not working at the beginning sucked ass. 

- hey does mrs wheeler have eyes??? like??? there were exactly two (2) scenes she had with mike and nancy and both were Big Conversations like they live there right/????tbh i forgot she was their mom until those scenes bc of the whole billy thing, which i decidedly do not have an opinion on but like....do they eat breakfast there??? 

[sometimesrosy]

I was wondering what your thoughts are on what Clarke was hoping for when Spacekru, specifically Bellamy, returned? Poor babygirl deserves better :(

I think a major part of the story of Clarke and Madi AND spacekru (and wonkru) was that Clarke had told Madi so many stories of her friends, made them such amazing heroes, who saved the world, were total badasses, and fought monsters, that when they came back, it was supposed to be a joyous reunion. 

But it was a war, right away. 

Yes it was still Clarke and Bellamy against the bad guys, but this time, Bellamy used negotiation instead of guns. A mug instead of annihilation. Right? So right away, Bellamy did live up to her expectations. He was keeping Madi safe. Everyone was saved. He was home. 

Then things start to get tricky. Bellamy’s plans work perfectly, until they open the bunker and find horrifying death cults and ¾ of the survivors already dead. Bellamy doesn’t see it yet, he gets his joyous reunion with Octavia, but Octavia is not the same, and instead of reuniting with Clarke with a hug, it is a handshake, the greeting between leaders/rivals/warriors. 

They fairy tale that was told has gotten complicated. Diyoza who never expected a fairytale immediately gets that and puts Wonkru into “danger” category. Oh she put them all into danger category already, but she was willing to see what happened next. And what happened next was, nope, steal the doctor, kill the hostage taker and his girlfriend, and kill wonkru. 

So here’s Clarke tryin to figure out what’s going on with Wonkru, and Bellamy is with her, and they are working together. Only Octavia seems to be against Bellamy. Wonkru is irrationally devoted to Octavia. This is NOT a fairy tale, the only thing living up to her imagination is Bellamy… and THEN the revelation of Echo. In which she learns that Bellamy is all she dreamed he would be… BUT HE IS NOT HERS. 

So she is gutted. 

But let me ask you this…. why does she deserve Bellamy? Does anyone DESERVE the relationship they want? She spent 6 years alone and�� her relationship with him was all in her head. She had a relationship with him, in her head, and he was NOT a part of it. This is called an UNREQUITED love. It doesn’t matter that it was requited 6 years ago. She “died” and he moved on. This is a healthy way to live, and if you think that Bellamy should have been miserable and grieving for six years and unable to move on from losing Clarke, because Clarke DESERVED Bellamy, then what you are saying is that Bellamy DESERVED to suffer without hope of happiness for six years.

I can’t agree with that.

Do you mean “deserve” that way? Probably not. But people in fandom use it ALL the time to say that their faves deserve some sort of storyline in which all good things come to them.

I guess there’s definitely a type of story where the heroes always get their just rewards, where they WIN everything they want because they are the good guys.

This is not that type of story. The “good guys” are often just as bad as the bad guys. Or maybe the bad guys are just as good as the good guys. 

I mean, Clarke sacrificed herself for spacekru. But Dante sacrificed himself for MW. Does that make him a good guy? Clarke wanted to save her people against the unjust Mount Weather… but so did Diana Sydney. Clarke did what she had to for a better, more peaceful life for her people, but so did ALIE. 

People say that this show is advocating moral relativity, and says that doing evil in the name of good is GOOD, but I actually argue that it says the opposite. It PRESENTS characters who believe in moral relativity, who EXPLICITLY say that as long as your motives are pure, the evil you does won’t stain you, but when we follow their path to its end, those people are always not only destroyed, but ALSO lead to the destruction of their own people. Diana Sydney. Dante Wallace. Lxa. Pike. Jaha. MAYBE Octavia, we’ll see if she can pull it out, or if her people WERE destroyed, but saved at the last minute by BELLAMY, who has IN CANON broken the cycle of violence and chosen a different way.

This is the SAME Bellamy who, in season 1, told Clarke that what they did to survive didn’t define them. WHICH IS MORAL RELATIVITY. BELLAMY was nearly destroyed by this concept…. which is connected to the idea of DESERVING. “I mean well, so I am good, so I deserve to win and be rewarded.” By season 5, BECAUSE of Clarke’s influence on his life, Bellamy has grown to be the hero she always saw in him, and learned to do what was right, not JUST what was best for his people. 

But, no. I do not believe Clarke deserves better. Do I WANT her to be accepted and loved? Yes. Does she deserve it? No more than Echo does. She’s actually caused MORE harm than Echo, even while wanting to save people. I don’t think the intentions matter.

Clarke is living in a world that she created. It’s a world that happened because of her choices. It isn’t always good. A lot of people were harmed. Sometimes when she chose “the right thing” she hurt the people closest to her. A lot actually. Did they deserve that pain? Did Monty and Harper deserve to get left off that list? Did Octavia deserve to have the door closed on her? Did Raven deserve to have her love destroyed? No. But she did all those things because she thought they were the right thing to do. And then when she betrayed them in season 5, no, she was not even thinking about what the right thing to do was, just about saving Madi, and so she sacrificed them ALL. So you might think she deserves to be forgiven for the pain she causes people while she’s out saving the world. But where does that leave the people she hurt along the way? 

What do they deserve?

Here’s the problem with “Deserving.” It generally always means that someone else DOESN’T deserve something. I am good. I am the hero. I deserve good things. Therefore, whoever is not good/hero/me doesn’t get it. We see the same thing in stanning and fandom, demanding our character/ship/storyline because we deserve it.

This is the basis of entitlement. In a simple story of good and evil, it works, because the world is simple and there are no gray areas. In the real world, and this show, it doesn’t work. 

Clarke being deserving of forgiveness without WORKING to make up for how she’s hurt people means that those people she hurt don’t deserve to be respected.

You saw that with Bellamy and Octavia. Octavia thought she was entitled to what she wanted, and to hurt Bellamy because he hurt her. And Bellamy agreed. This created a dysfunctional relationship. That’s what you’re saying you want when you say Clarke deserves better. You’re saying Clarke is entitled to things going her way, and no one else is. 

Sorry. I went off, because I’ve got a problem with the word “deserve.” Because unless we’re talking about human rights or an agreement that you make ahead of time, like a marriage or contract or job, I don’t think the world owes us anything. And in the story, if good people got what they deserved, there wouldn’t have been an apocalypse at all. 

[tenaciousarcadeexpert]

Criminal Minds-The Good Ol’ Days

Chapter 4-The First Case

@marvelfanlife, @itsmeedee, @stunudo, @veroinnumera​, @derekmorgansoffice, @dontshootmespence, @cynbx, @jaqren, @literallyprentissstwin, @gabriellewritermua, @blitzz11, @beenthroughalot, @princesswagger14​

Special Thanks for @princesswagger14 for helping me

The twelve students and Rossi all got on to a van where they would head to the airport. However, rather than stop at the front, the teens were rather surprised when the van stops at a special hangar. Once everyone got out, they look to see a very beautiful jet.

“Wow, this pretty.” Says Garcia as she practically squeals.

“Thank you.” Rossi responds. He then noticed Emily with her arms crossed as she scoffs at the jet, though he didn’t mind it, seeing that she had a hell of a long day. Then again, Emily was use to traveling on private jets, so this was nothing new. She couldn’t help but watch everyone being all dumbfounded by the jet.

     “Well if everyone can just pick up their jaws on the way in the jet please.” Rossi laughed as he walked in.

Everyone soon hurried in as they sat down and buckled up with their seatbelts. Ashley seemed to feel a little anxious as she looks out the window and heard the engine start up. Matt took a deep breath once he heard the engines start up and rest his head against the seat. He then saw Luke offer him a piece of gum.

“Uh thanks.” Matt replies as he grabs the gum.

“You’re welcome. My dad said that it helps.”

“Really? How?”

Luke points to his head. “It stops your ears from popping due to difference in air pressure.”

“Wow.” “I know. I didn’t think it actually work, till I tried it.”

“Cool.” “Yeah.” Matt smiled back at Luke and the two along with everyone else settled down as the plane starts to move and take off. Garcia couldn’t help but clench onto Derek’s arm just as the jet takes off.

Once the plane was still and steady, Rossi then called everyone over to a table.

“Gentlemen, ladies. Will you all gather around at the table?” The teens got up and gather around Rossi as he passed out a couple of folders to them.

“What’s this?” Kate asked. “This looks so…...real.” “Because it is real.” He then stares to the twelve different faces. “Listen, the truth is…….about this trip, we’re going to a crime scene.” “A crime scene, like a real, crime scene with an actual murder?” Ashley asked.

Rossi nods. “Mm hmph.” “B-but why? What does this have to do with us, let alone only 12 of us?” Reid asked.

“Yeah, shouldn’t the entire class join us?” Ashley adds.

“Maybe he wouldn’t be able to fit everyone on this jet if he did.” Elle sassed, only to get a gentle slap on the arm by JJ.

“Well, to answer your question, the whole class isn’t with us because half of the class doesn’t want to be in the damn class to begin with and even have the grades to prove it.” “Well, how do you know that we do care about the class and that we are trying at all?” Derek asked. He gave a wry smirk and pulls out a pile of paper, spreading them out on the table.

“What the hell are those?”

“You remember the questions I gave you during the first day of class?” “Yes….and?”

“All of your answers were different, yes. But, there was something special they all have in common. Deep down, I knew that based on your responses, you all have an interesting sense of character in you. It’s not about picking the right or wrong answer, but finding an answer that suits you. That’s why I chose all twelve of you, cause you all bring out something different, and who knows, maybe you can all combine your skills and help solve this case, this one case. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir. Sorry.” Elle apologized.

He then turns to everyone else, who nodded in agreement, though they were still confused to why Rossi picked them. Nevertheless, they decided to go over the case Rossi has given them.

“So professor Rossi?” Tara asked. “What kind of case do you have for us?”

“Well, if you open the folder, you’ll know what’s there.” The teens open up their folders as they saw a worded document and a photo of a dead man, which grossed out a couple of people, especially Garcia.

“25 year old Riley Clark and 24 John Hail were both murdered on Wednesday 17th and Wednesday 24th at approximately 7:00 pm. They were both strangled to death with a leather belt. They were also both restrained, and tortured. Both families reported them missing after they didn’t come home two nights in a row.” Rossi explained as the rest of the students looked on in horror and confusion.

“They look like they took one hell of a beating.” Emily said as she looked at the file.

Hotch looked down on the photos and squint his eyes, while everyone else discuss over the case.

“So based the cuts and beating, I’d say our suspect is a man.” Derek pitched in.

“Looks like it.” Luke adds.

“Or possibly a woman.” Elle responds. “I mean look at where they were. It looks like both of them were killed in an alley, each lying near a dumpster.” She scratched her head. “This could be me, but it’s possible that this suspect is leaving out a message of some sort.” “What, like in ‘All men are trash’ or something like that?” Kate adds.

“Something like that, but it’s just an assumption, it’s not really correct or anything like that.”

“Well, I think that was a really good assumption, Elle.” “Thank you, professor.”

“You’re welcome, and this goes out to all of you. This is what criminal profiling is, you analyze and make assumptions on what goes on in a crime scene.”

“So now we’re about to land so the first place we go is Clark’s crime scene. They’re we’ll find out a bit more about the situation. See how this unsub lured these men in the allies.” Everyone head back to their seats as the plane lands. Not long after, they were all driving to the scene with half of everyone in two SUV’s. Rossi had called the rest of the team in the SUV behind him.

“Now please everyone remember, please, don’t touch anything at the scene without gloves, listen to whoever is supervising you, and most importantly, don’t and I repeat, don’t separate from the group. I don’t have to remind you that like a parent lecturing a 13 year old, but god forbid that something happens to one of you. I don’t want us to head back and leave someone behind, do you?”

“No sir.”

“Good. Now does anyone have any questions?”

Rossi saw as Reid raised his hand, only to pick on Garcia, who nervously lift her hand up.

“Yes Garcia?” “Uh…..professor? I don’t know how to put this but blood and guts and gore isn’t really my cup of decaf tea. Do you catch my drift?”

‘“I do.” “Oh okay, does tha-” “I still can’t let you sit this one out.”

“Oh, okay.” “But, I can assign you somewhere where you won’t have to analyze corpses.”

“That works for me.” “Good, anyone else?”

“No sir.”

“Alright is everyone ready? We’re almost there.”

The two vans drive off as they head to the police station. Once inside, they saw several policemen, along with a couple of men and women in business attire. Garcia cringed as she saw all the boring colors, hoping to god she didn’t have stuff like that while in the field. Everyone else, felt intimidated by the presence of business-looking like people approach them.

“They all look so serious.” Emily whispered to JJ and Elle.

Reid whispered to Hotch “Who are these guys?”

“I have no idea, but they mean business.” “You don’t think they’re lawyers or anything?” Matt asked.

“It’s possible.”

They froze as the same people approach them, only for them to smile and welcome the students with open arms.

“Hello students.” One of the men said. “Uh…...hi.” The teens reluctantly wave.

“Um, who are you, if I may ask?” Ashley asked.

“I’m Agent Phillip Branch, this is Agent Mark Powell and Agent Kiera Skye.”

“Ooo Agents. Are you guys from the FBI?”

“Yes miss we are. We’re here to help you guys and keep an eye you.” Agent Skye said.

“Is it just the three of you?” Matt asked.

“It’s been like this for three years.” Agent Powell laughed.

“Oh.” “Anyway, it’s nice to see you all. Though I’m sorry but we haven’t gotten any of your names.”

“Shouldn’t you guys already know who we are since you’re from the FBI?” Emily snarked, only to get elbowed by JJ and a couple of angry murmurs from the others, only for the three agents to chuckle in amusement.

“Oh no, but do you mind telling us your names please?” Asked Agent Branch.

“Oh, well, I guess I’ll go first. I’m Emily……..Prentiss.” “I see. Well, it’s nice to know you, Miss Prentiss.” Branch then turned to the other students. “What about the rest of you?”

“I’m Jennifer Jareau, but my friends call me JJ.”

“Um, I’m Matthew Simmons. But you can just call me Matt.”

“Will do, Matt.” Branch responds.

“Hi, I’m Aaron Hotchner.”

“I’m uh Elle, Greenaway.” “Ashley…..Seaver.” “I’m a...a...Luke Alvez.”

“Tara Lewis.”

“Kate Callahan.”

“Hi there! I’m Penelope Garcia! Aka your bottle of constant sunshine!”

“Oh wow!” Branch and the other agents smiled as he turns to Rossi. “Quite the girl I see!”

“She is.” Rossi responds.

Branch then turns to Derek.

“I’m uh Derek Morgan.” “Nice to meet you Morgan.” “Thanks.” He then turns to Reid, who was rubbing his hands. “And you are?” “Oh, I-I’m, uh, Spencer Reid. But you can call me Reid.”

“Will do.”

“Okay, is that everyone?” Brach asked after he and his peers exchange greetings and handshakes to the teens.

“It looks like it.” Rossi responds.

“Alrighty then, down to business.”

The agents then escort the teens to a large room while Rossi chats with the Police chief.

The teens were surprised to see a large board filled with different writings, and photos, whom some resemble just like the ones Rossi gave them.

“I see that your professor gave you an insight on the case we’re currently working on.”

“Yes he has, we have theories.”

“Oh really? Tell us. It’s better than anything we have now.”

Just then, Kate elbows Elle in the back, knowing that she has a theory. When she turns, all Kate did was smile.

“Greenaway, it seems like you have something. Do you want to share it?” She chuckled lightly. “I don’t know.” “Hey, it’s okay. We’ll take any answer, there is no wrong or right in this.” Skye responds.

“Well, I did say that the suspect could possibly be a woman, given how the bodies were left.”

“So based on how the bodies were left and where they were left, what’s she saying?” Skye asked.

“Uh….” Elle rubbed her head. “I guess, that men were trash? It seems a bit too much, but that’s all I could think of.”

“Like Skye said they’re no right or wrongs in this. But that is good. So if this is a woman, who’s the man who hurt her?” Agent Branch asked facing the board.

“Maybe an ex of some sort? Like a jilted lover?” Tara asked.

“Or maybe a father figure or brother?” Reid asked.

“We should write this down.” Branch said

Emily goes for her notepad and pen and starts making notes.

If this woman is trying to get revenge on the man that hurt her, why hasn’t she gone after him?” Tara asked.

“Well Tara, if we go by Elle’s theory, we can assume that these two men are simply surrogates.” Skye responds.

“Surrogates?” “In some crimes, victims are not usually killed randomly. The suspect would use them a surrogates, to prepare for his or her endgame, the real target.”

“Is it too typical to say she’s a victim of sexual assault?” Asked Luke.

“No, not typical. It’s fine if you assume the obvious.”

“So these guys are pretty young.” Emily says.

“Yeah, what’s your point?” Asked Elle.

“Well wouldn’t that be a little to young for a father figure? My gut is saying that this her brother.”

“Well, there’s always the ex-lover.” Tara adds.

 Just then, an officer enters the room, whom Powell exits out just to speak to him. Not long after, he re enters the room.

“What is it Powell?” “Clark’s parents and Hail’s fiancee are here.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Oh goodness.” Matt says staring at Clark’s family.

“Uh, who’s going to talk to them?”

“Well, fortunately, your professor gave us this chart. Seeing that there’s twelve of you, and only three of us, that means we each get four of you.”

“So…..how does this work?” Ashley ask. “Which one of us gets to work with either of you?” “Hmm, let’s see….” Branch said, looking at the students. “Aaron, Emily, Matt and Luke. You’re with me. We’ll go to the first crime scene.” The four nod as Branch turns to the others.

“Derek, Elle, Kate and Ashley. You’re with Powell. You’ll head to the second crime scene.” “Which means, the rest of you, stay with me.” Agent Skye adds. “You all will be talking to the victims’ loved ones.”

“What do we say to his family?” Reid asked.

“I guess we’ll figure it out once we meet with them.”

“Okay.” “Well, that seems about it, any questions?” Branch asked, only to see no response. He then clapped his hands. “Okay, let’s roll out.”

[ladynightsorrow]

Decriminalizing Drugs

Drug use is everywhere, legal, or not. You may not notice it, but I do. You walk down the street, the subtle handshake then a slip into the pocket. It is a quick interchange between two people. Everybody knows there are drug dealers and drug addicts. They could be our neighbors, or even the people we work with. These people have families. These people could have been born with a drug addiction. You never know a person’s real reasoning for something they do. Even if they do, you still do not know what they are going through. We should not be punishing people for something they cannot help. Addiction is a very dangerous thing. You can get addicted to anything. Alcohol, for example, is legal and socially accepted. You can get addicted to it, but not sent to jail. I have seen people struggle to get off an addiction to heroin and sent to jail. Their family torn apart and their kids in the foster system. Those people are sent to jail to die from withdrawal. Yet, an alcohol addiction, which is just as bad, they get all the support they need for rehabilitation.  

Ron Clark, age sixty, was a heroin addict. He was never sent to jail, but he was kicked out of two different rehabilitation centers. Clark was a laborer and when jobs were available, he would miss his drug rehab appointments and the clinics refused to give him refills. He relapsed and returned to using heroin without his medications (The Marshall Project).

The United States began to look at drug use and sales as a huge issue in the late 1880s, early 1910s. The Supreme Court ruled that the state governments could not regulate interstate trade in 1886. The responsibility was left to the federal government, and they did not do anything about it (ThoughtCo). Drug use is still a huge problem to this day. To help people like Mr. Clark, the United States must treat drug use as an issue of public health rather than a crime because there should be alternative options to drug addiction, drug laws criminalize users, recreational use is the person’s choice, people believe all drugs cause violent behavior, and decriminalization will help with drug regulation.

Opponents to treating drug use as a mental illness rather than a crime argue that decriminalization will cause violent crime and convince people to do drugs. They claim that Studies have shown that long-term users of amphetamine, methamphetamine, and especially cocaine tend to exhibit hostile and aggressive behavior. Psychotropic substance abuse may also be the result of the so-called "cocaine psychosis." As the dose and duration of cocaine use increase, the development of psychopathology associated with cocaine is common. Cocaine psychosis usually occurs before the transition period, which is characterized by suspicion, compulsive behavior, and delusions. People can experience visual and auditory hallucinations through distressing sounds they often hear. Many people think that they are being monitored by the police or that family, friends, and others are acting against them (Inciardi and Saum). Opposers also believe that decriminalizing drugs will push people to take drugs. However, recreational drug use is a person’s choice. The government does not have a say in what people do in their everyday lives. The government can push for a drug free country, but they cannot enforce it. Opponents also argue that the law enforcement is already effective in lowering the availability of drugs to the public.

One reason the United States should treat drug use as a mental illness rather than a crime is that there are alternative options to drug addiction that are more helpful than prison time. There are many treatment facilities that are cheaper than jail. According to The Marshall Project, there are about forty thousand people (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) each year who die from opioid-related overdoses and about a million or more-need access for treatment and most are not getting it. The Marshall Project states, “In a half-dozen studies, when researchers compared patients taking the medications to those receiving counseling alongside the medications, both groups refrained from opioids at similar rates.” With drug decriminalization, more people will be able to get the help they need instead of going to prison. When a person is thrown into prison for drug possession and use, they are not seen as a mental health issue. They are seen as a bad person who is a bad influence on other people.

Another reason that drug use should be treated like a mental illness is that drug laws criminalize users. According to the article “Drug Legalization”, “To earn the money needed to afford more drugs, addicts often resort to prostitution, larceny, or violent crimes such as assault or arson.” The effects or criminalization is very subtle. If a person is criminalized for drug use, they cannot get something as simple as a job. According to Barnett, “This increases still further the likelihood that the artificially high prices of illicit drugs will lead drug users to engage in criminal conduct to obtain income...Once this threshold is crossed, there is often no return. Such a choice would not be nearly so compelling if prohibited substances were legal.” Drug users are also held as a way law enforcement can get more information on other drug sellers and users. The law enforcement will illegally bribe them with money to be an informant (Barnett). This is more dangerous to that person than taking drugs. The informant’s potential life and family could be in danger.  

Not only drug laws criminalize users, but recreational drug use is also a person’s choice. The government should not have a say in what people do in their everyday lives. If the government cared about drug use, our illegal drug use laws would not be outdated. In the 1970s, drug abuse was seen primarily as a social disease and was addressed with treatment. After the 1970s, drug abuse was seen instead as a law enforcement and was addressed with aggressive criminal justice policies (ThoughtCo). This shows that the government has failed on treating illegal drug use after the 1970s. The government just got lazy with trying to fix the issue.

Non-drug users believe drug use causes violent behavior. This however, is untrue. According to Husak, “Dr Jekyll consumed a potion that transformed him into the homicidal Mr. Hyde. The psychopharmacological effects of this potion caused an otherwise law-abiding physician to become a violent monster. Of course, this story is purely fictitious. If any existing drug resembled the potion in this story, we would have excellent reasons to criminalize its use.” People compare drug use to this story. They compare drug use to a fiction story that is used to scare people. This proves that people are more paranoid about drugs. Another point Husak states is that people under the influence of heroin are more passive than violent due to their psychopharmacological properties. People are more likely to commit a psychopharmacological crime when they drink alcohol.

In addition, we should treat drug use as a mental illness because decriminalization would help with drug regulation. When a person is prescribed an illegal drug, the federal government will target the prescribed medication as illegal and arrest the person instead of the doctor who prescribed the medication. Legalizing drugs will help the problems linked to drug use. According to the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), “Drug legalization presents the opportunity to regulate production and distribution of these substances, resulting in a more effective and ethical way to deal with drug abuse than laws that encourage black market activity.” When drugs are illegal, trade is forced underground and controlled by cartels. Trade being underground leads to more crimes than preventing it.

Ron Clark claims that the use of buprenorphine has slowed his use of heroin (The Marshall Project). Decriminalizing drugs, people, like Ron Clark, will get the same kind of help. Drug use should be treated as a mental illness because rehab is a choice, laws criminalize users, we would be able to regulate the drugs better, drugs do not cause violent behavior, and drug use is a person’s choice. Every day, people are being arrested and sent to jail for drug use. This is causing overcrowding. People should all come together and push for the decriminalization of drugs. It is important to fight for the people who cannot.

Works Cited

Barnett, Randy E. "Legalizing Drugs Would Benefit Addicts and Society." Addiction, edited by Jennifer A. Hurley, Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010103230/OVIC?u=23870&sid=OVIC&xid=72e6cc0a. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. Originally published as "Curing the Drug-Law Addiction: The Harmful Side Effects of Legal Prohibition," Dealing with Drugs: Consequences of Government Control, edited by Ronald Hamowy, Pacific Research Institute, 1997.

"Drug Legalization." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2021. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/PC3010999286/OVIC?u=23870&sid=OVIC&xid=257efa81. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.

Head, Tom. "A Short History of the 20th Century War on Drugs." ThoughtCo, 22 Jan. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-war-on-drugs-721152.

Husak, Douglas N. "Legalizing Drugs Would Reduce Crime." Legalizing Drugs, edited by Stuart A. Kallen, Greenhaven Press, 2006. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010018216/OVIC?u=23870&sid=OVIC&xid=50a50789. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. Originally published in Legalize This! The Case for Decriminalizing Drugs, Verso, 2002.

Inciardi, James A., and Christine A. Saum. "Legalization of Drugs Would Increase Violent Crime." Legalizing Drugs, edited by Louise I. Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2001. At Issue. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link.gale.com/apps/doc/EJ3010018206/OVIC?u=23870&sid=OVIC&xid=54be2a0d. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021. Originally published as "Legalization Madness," The Public Interest, Spring 1996.

Schwartzapfel, Beth. "Treatment for Opioid Addiction, With No Strings Attached." The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 10 May 2019, www.themarshallproject.org/2019/05/10/treatment-for-opioid-addiction-with-no-strings-attached.

[bigyack-com]

DealBook: Is This the Next Leader of the Fed?

Good morning. Fears about the spread of the coronavirus whacked stock futures this morning — and led to the cancellation of Mobile World Congress. More on that below. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.)

The race to be the next Fed chair is getting interesting

Judy Shelton, who has been nominated to the central bank’s board of governors, is scheduled to testify before the Senate today.She is a contentious choice for the job, Jeanna Smialek of the NYT notes:• Ms. Shelton has questioned whether America needs the Fed at all.• She favors pegging the value of the dollar to something like gold, an idea the U.S. abandoned decades ago.• She’s seen as open to bending her ideological positions to please President Trump, eroding the Fed’s political independence.But she appears to be moving into a prime position to become the next Fed chair if Mr. Trump wins re-election, Ms. Smialek adds. The president has openly derided the current chairman, Jay Powell, and could well pick someone more in tune with him ideologically when Mr. Powell’s term is up in 2022. Washington speculation had focused on a different candidate for Fed chair: Kevin Warsh, who was on the central bank’s board during the financial crisis. Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Warsh before, but some wonder whether a strong performance by Ms. Shelton today would give her the inside track.____________________________Today’s DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced and Jason Karaian in London.____________________________

Is ‘Beyond Petroleum’ for real this time?

BP announced yesterday that it plans to be carbon-neutral by 2050, an ambitious target for one of the world’s biggest energy companies. What that actually means, however, is up for interpretation.The oil giant’s proposal is its latest climate-minded initiative, with a twist. Not only is the company seeking to reduce its own carbon emissions, it said, but it also wants to offset the emissions from use of the oil and gas that it produces.The proposal is more complicated than it looks. It has to do with the “scope” of emissions targeted by the plan: The bulk of pollution created by BP’s products are generated when customers burn the fuels, which are called Scope 3 emissions. BP’s net-zero pledge covers only its more direct operations, although the company plans to reduce Scope 3 emissions significantly.

U.K. regulators investigate Barclays C.E.O.’s ties to Epstein

Barclays disclosed this morning that British financial regulators have opened an investigation into ties between its chief, Jes Staley, and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.The context: The two men had known each other since at least 1999, when Mr. Staley led JPMorgan Chase’s private bank, where Mr. Epstein was a client. The financier had helped funnel dozens of wealthy clients to Mr. Staley, and the two men stayed in touch even after Mr. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing scores of women.Mr. Staley has the backing of the Barclays board, for now. The bank said he had been “sufficiently transparent” about the nature of his ties to Mr. Epstein, and the C.E.O. said that he hadn’t had any contact with the disgraced financier since taking up his post in December 2015.

Mobile World Congress was canceled. Does anybody care?

Mobile World Congress, the annual jamboree for the telecom industry in Barcelona, was canceled yesterday over fears about the coronavirus outbreak. It raises an interesting question: Do these kinds of conferences matter?Last year, MWC drew around 110,000 attendees (including 7,900 C.E.O.s) from 200 countries. Cancellation of this month’s edition was inevitable, after major exhibitors like Nokia, Ericsson and Amazon pulled out over the past week or so.This presents a natural experiment in the value of industry events, seen by some as essential for networking and deal making and by others as price-gouging junkets. Thousands of meetings that would’ve taken place at MWC this year now won’t happen, which could have knock-on effects later in the year. (Or not.)The view from a veteran: We spoke with Ben Wood, a telecom analyst at CCS Insight in London who would have made his 23rd consecutive appearance at MWC this year.• For the companies that blow huge portions of their marketing budgets on MWC, “if you find that you can cope without going, and the costs associated with it, you may choose to deploy your resources in different ways,” he told DealBook.• That’s harder for small companies that rely on “serendipitous moments” with big buyers or potential partners wandering the halls of events like MWC, he added.No touching. In the meantime, conference etiquette will change. The organizers of a big tech event in Amsterdam now underway praised attendees for “safe greeting practices such as fist or elbow bumps.” Generally speaking, it must be said, handshakes are incredibly unhygienic.

Credit Suisse’s chief leaves on a defiant, awkward note

Tidjane Thiam delivered his final earnings call as the Swiss bank’s chief this morning, after being pressured to resign amid controversy over a spying scandal.He presented the growth in net income of 69 percent as the result of his changes in the structure and strategy at the company. “We’ve built something of quality, the numbers are coming through,” he said at a press conference.There was a notable moment of reflection on his uneasy tenure at the bank, notes the NYT’s Amie Tsang, who was listening in on the call. “There are differences within Switzerland in how people feel about me,” Mr. Thiam said. “Every second I’ve done the best I could. I am who I am, I cannot change who I am.”

How Marc Benioff sold Trump the trillion-tree idea

President Trump has openly dismissed climate change activists as “prophets of doom.” But Marc Benioff of Salesforce managed to win him over on one particular environmental initiative, Lisa Friedman of the NYT writes.Mr. Benioff pitched Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, about the initiative to plant one trillion trees to help offset carbon emissions. The idea eventually — and unexpectedly — wound its way into Mr. Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.“Trees are the ultimate bipartisan issue,” Mr. Benioff told the NYT. “Everyone is pro-tree.”There are two lessons to draw from this:• Successfully lobbying Mr. Trump is an unconventional process that involves back-channeling with trusted advisers.• The idea of one trillion trees appears to have taken hold with the president because, as Ms. Friedman notes, “it was practically sacrifice-free.”

Jeff Bezos’ latest takeover: David Geffen’s L.A. mansion

The Amazon chief has continued his real estate splurge with two new acquisitions, according to Katy McLaughlin and Katherine Clarke of the WSJ:• David Geffen’s palatial Los Angeles home, which Mr. Bezos bought for $165 million — setting a record for the city in the process.• A plot of undeveloped land in the L.A. area, purchased from the estate of the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.They follow Mr. Bezos’ $80 million purchase of the top four floors of a Manhattan apartment building last year, reportedly with the goal of turning them into a gigantic pied-à-terre.It’s a windfall for Mr. Geffen, who bought the L.A. mansion — the former estate of the movie mogul Jack Warner — for $47.5 million in 1990.

The speed read

Deals• The parent company of T-Mobile reportedly wants to renegotiate the price of its takeover of Sprint. (FT)• The venture capital firm Battery Ventures has raised $2 billion for its two latest funds, which will focus on investments in enterprise software companies. (Bloomberg)• Meet the Korean hedge fund that scored big by backing “Parasite,” the movie that won the Academy Award for best picture. (Bloomberg)Politics and policy• Moderate Democratic leaders are slowly warming up to Mike Bloomberg as Senator Bernie Sanders becomes the front-runner in the party’s presidential race. (NYT)• Larry Ellison of Oracle is doing a rare thing in Silicon Valley: hosting a fund-raiser for President Trump. (Recode)• The Education Department is reportedly investigating Harvard and Yale over their sources of foreign funding. (WSJ)Tech• The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, has reportedly said in private conversations that he expects a criminal antitrust case in Silicon Valley in the next few months. (Hollywood Reporter)• Read up on Mark Zuckerberg’s approach to crisis management. (Wired)• Britain plans to give its media regulator additional oversight over internet content. (NYT)• Huawei of China is said to be in talks to fund research into 5G wireless technology at the London School of Economics — for £105,000, or $136,000. (FT)Best of the rest• Massachusetts’ attorney general sued Juul yesterday, accusing the vaping company of buying ads on youth-focused websites to target young nonsmokers. (NYT)• The coronavirus outbreak cost Bernard Arnault his title of world’s richest man. (Fortune)• Charlie Munger on the world today: “There’s too much wretched excess.” (CNBC)Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow.We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to business@nytimes.com. Read the full article

[cidnangarlond]

like. we know by the end of Metal Gear ('87) that Big Boss is a villain. he orchestrated EVERYTHING Snake had gone through at Outer Heaven but Big Boss failed because he severely underestimated rookie Snake. and while Big Boss's double/Venom Snake - though we didn't know it was a double at the time and that was given to us in 2015 - died at the hands of Snake, who also told him they'd meet again, the REAL Big Boss was most likely watching from the shadows. because after Snake escapes, Outer Heaven self-destructs and the surrounding area bombed by NATO, Big Boss finds and helps save the survivors, probably moreso for Zanzibar Land as former resistance member Schneider shows up in Metal Gear 2 as an antagonist and that's not to mention Gray Fox, who also becomes an antagonist that Snake fights against and seemingly kills in Metal Gear 2 before he comes back in Metal Gear Solid. and Big Boss does everything he does because they - himself, Snake, every soldier and mercenary, etc - will be needed if there's always war and are "dead weight" as he says back home during peacetime.

Big Boss says in Metal Gear 2: "You saw those children, didn't you? Every one is a victim of a war somewhere in the world. And they'll make fine soldiers in the next war. Start a war, fan its flames, create victims... Then save them, train them... And feed them back onto the battlefield."

From his own mouth he tells us that like, he is absolutely not above using child soldiers, or hell, MAKING THEM for that matter. Create war, push it, fight in it and for it, take the survivors, no matter who, train them yourself and then... back into war that destroyed everything for them in the first place. To create a world of perpetual, never-ending war has become Big Boss's dream, and it's something he actively fights for, whether on-screen in the games or off-screen between them.

And we get Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, and we learn about how Solid Snake and Liquid Snake were the clone "sons" of Big Boss representing his inferior and superior qualities, and that Solidus - aka George Sears, President of the United States - was the perfect balance of Big Boss's traits and thus the one the Patriots used to push everything they did afterwards, with the Les Enfants Terribles project was the reason Big Boss left the Patriots, so on and so on. But then we get Metal Gear Solid 3, where we play as Big Boss BEFORE he was Big Boss: codenamed Naked Snake.

Here we get to see how many characters started and how a good amount of the story in the Metal Gear series originated, especially and specifically with the rise and creation of Big Boss as the perfect soldier; and FOXHOUND and The Patriots/Cipher. Then there's Donald Anderson aka Sigint, and Dr. Clark aka Para-Medic, whose futures and outcomes we also already know. And then there's Ocelot, famed triple-agent and interrogation specialist, whose fascination (moreso an obsession) with Big Boss leads him to work with him years down the line and pretty much do everything he does from helping with Mother Base 2.0 in the Seychelles and helping to support Big Boss's phantom, so on and so on.

But even though we are all fully well-aware Big Boss is a villain (if you know the events of Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2), he is put in our hands to play as, to help survive and fight the bad guys and we watch as over the course of the game how he lost his eye, him falling in love, his being absolutely clueless to anything film-related and being MORE than willing to eat what he gets his hands on in the jungle. We come to care for him and his wellbeing, what he's about, his motivations, his feelings over having to complete his mission like the good little soldier he is and knowing his mission is to kill The Boss, his mentor and the closest thing he had to a mother, who betrayed not only him, but their country. And he does this, no matter how much internalized and external conflict he faces, and goes back home, gets his handshake from the President and an award, receives the title of Big Boss, and leaves.

After Metal Gear Solid 4 where it's revealed he's alive and he tells Snake everything before (finally) dying, we get Peace Walker, where Big Boss has formed his mercenary group MSF with the help of Kazuhira Miller. Throughout everything Big Boss is still haunted by the death of The Boss a decade earlier, but after the AI for Peace Walker sinks itself and Big Boss lets his, formerly The Boss's, bandana go, he fully embraces the title of Big Boss; he has shed (no pun intended) his name of Snake, and embraced the title that's been passed to him. Following Zadornov's seven escapes and the Metal Gear ZEKE fight, he doubles down on how MSF is on the side of whoever hires them, that the times are against them and they're absolutely not wanted, everything that we saw of Big Boss prior is fully taking foot and taking form HERE. Especially in the second post-credits monologue:

"We will forsake our countries. We will leave our motherlands behind us and become one with this earth. We have no nation, no philosophy, no ideology. We go where we're needed, fighting not for country, not for government, but for ourselves. We need no reason to fight. We fight because we are needed. We will be the deterrent for those with no other recourse. We are soldiers without borders, our purpose defined by the era we live in. We will sometimes have to sell ourselves and services. If the times demand it we'll be revolutionaries, criminals, terrorists. And yes, we may all be headed straight to hell. But what better place for us than this? It's our only home. Our heaven and our hell. This is Outer Heaven."

Now, we have Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain. The fall and rise of Big Boss and his phantom, and everything else around him. People are there because they either know Big Boss from the past - like Kaz and Ocelot - or have come to respect him, in the case of Quiet and, literally all the Diamond Dogs recruited throughout the game. I've been writing this for like two hours now and on my phone too so obviously I'm tired and out of steam but like, everyone has united under Big Boss because they believe in HIM. They aren't friends; they just work together. They all coexist with each other in this bizarre micronation that he has created because he's made them feel like they BELONG there.

Big Boss propaganda was alive and well when he was part of the Patriots and the "Big Boss Is Watching You" posters around Mother Base certainly don't help in pushing the notion that Big Boss is this, supreme figure that has loads of soldiers under his command. People who can make weapons, collect intel, fight, defend, patrol, do anything Big Boss so wishes. Or rather, his phantom, because the REAL Big Boss is off creating the REAL Outer Heaven, and when this gets revealed to Kaz, he feels so betrayed by all of this that he says "Big Boss can go to hell" and vows to make Venom Snake, the phantom, and Big Boss's sons stronger to send him there. Ocelot says that should Kaz return to Cipher that he (Ocelot) will play his own role, support the other son of Big Boss, and then he and Kaz will be enemies, too.

Anyway, Ocelot talks about how - since he's been in on it from the very beginning - Big Boss is creating: "A military nation above and apart from all... Something created to maintain world balance. Independent of the struggles for supremacy, for personal profit, the cycles of revenge between countries. It'll be an army all right, but more. Big Boss is building a nation." But, Big Boss in Metal Gear 2 having Zanzibar Land soldiers/forces kidnap Dr. Marv to get OILIX and hold the world's oil supply hostage, invading neighboring countries and territories, and raiding nuclear weapons dump sites across the globe to become a global power, everything he's said and done here just, contradicts whatever it was he told Ocelot. His actions in Phantom Pain don't, however, as he does still treat the children there, despite being refugees, as small soldiers in the making, especially saying to "never draw a weapon on your fellow soldier" implying he, ALREADY SEES THEM as soldiers. Children, sure, he'll treat them that way and make sure they're treated just like anyone else, but still soldiers.

And the villainization of Big Boss, the backtracking to his prime in 1964 as OUR PROTAGONIST and THE GOOD GUY, the escalation to how we got him in Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 throughout Peace Walker - leaving behind The Boss, his Snake moniker and fully embracing the title of Big Boss and everything that comes with it - and into Phantom Pain and throughout it before we're told everything we've BEEN told was a giant lie formulated by Big Boss HIMSELF to create the "true" Outer Heaven - the one we got in Metal Gear - before we get the full truth and in the form of tapes. The layers this all has drives me bonkers. He's a villain until he isn't. Then he's our protagonist. Then we the player make him into the villain OURSELVES which was part of the whole plan. I will not stop thinking about this or talking about thanks for coming to my TED Talk

the progression of big boss from hero to villain even though we knew he'd become a bad guy since metal gear but putting that progression into our hands I- (crumbles into dust)

[ginalou16]

UNITY DAYS: The week I was a fangirl......

Okay guys! Let's dive deep into this past weekend at unity days. I arrived on Wednesday with my best friend Kelsey & we got to hangout & sight see with some of my new favorite humans! We went to Granville island, ate delicious food. Shopped etc. but I know what you really wanna hear about so let's start with

Unity Days: Day 1  Friday night registration, auction & party: Registration was a bit long & disorganized at first but it turned out great! I was in line with several CL's and we all chatted & no one brought up ships it was glorious :) I bid on & won a tote bag from the cancer get lost silent auction, it was fun! Some of the fan art & writers room art sold for like $200! People were competitive with their bids! It was a great way to start the con :) The cocktail party/ dance party was fun & We all mingled! Bellarkes,CLs,kabbys,non shippers, it was refreshing! Later on in the evening things got really fun when Sachin, Jessica, Chelsey & Katie popped in to take pictures & talk with us. Sachin & Jessica are wildly fun & love mingling so much. We ended the night tired & happy 

  Day two : Saturday aka the day I needed two of me lol Saturday was Jam packed of awesome moments & stress because there was so much to do & so little time, also the elevators at the hotel were possessed. We started with the welcome panel & Bob & Jarod came out to the audience & shook hands etc. they are two total sweethearts! After the welcome panel we started with the "Arkadia boys panel" and it was fun here's some nuggets of s4:  

* Bob said we would get more Kane & Bellamy scenes right out of the gate * Richard said Murphy & Raven have an interesting relationship now that he's "back" with the delinquents (sort of) * Bob said that Pike & Bellamy had a trust & respect for each other because Bellamy was a devoted student before he had to stop his education After the  panel I grabbed my photo with Richard (he gives good hugs)   Then it was off to my meet & greet with Jarod & basically the rest of the bellarke fam that came lol He was so kind & easy to talk too! He loved questions that weren't about the show. He likes that he can be good rep on TV by playing a black gay man. He actually doesn't like Vancouver (except for the food) but he says it's where his work & his best friends are so he's staying put for now. He said he was always the "serial extra" in tv shows & it's so great to now be a series regular on a show. He loved the key chain Erin made for him & suggested we get a picture with him holding it for her lol we ended up getting several great pictures.

After that it was time for Eliza's panel, I ended up alone in the elevator with Jarod & his dog Sosa he was just as warm & chatty and asked me if I wanted to pet Sosa I caught the last half of Eliza's panel including the question about "all of clarkes loves die. What does that mean for Any future loves *cough* Bellamy *cough*" this was almost the exact question & Eliza replied "that has yet to be seen" or "that had yet to be determined" I honestly cant remember lol She said Clarke will get to grieve Wells, & Jake & Lxa & also pick herself back up & move on. After that was a quick break & meet up with the fam then onto my pic with BOB! Bob was delightful! He gives great hugs & his handshake is super strong but also warm? Lol he asked me my name & I said "Gina" and he replied "Gina was real"   "I was like OMG he actually said that!!"When we posed for the picture he rested his Head against mine & I was close to needing a fainting couch! 

Then we did a Group photo with Him & it was so fun! (I personally think they all prefer group photos lol they are a lot more fun & are less awkward) I'm gonna stop on that happy note & do a second post later, with the last half of Saturday & all of Sunday :)

@forgivenessishardforus @iam-dollparts @bellamyblakesprotectionsquad2k17 @allisoneuph @sarahkomskaikru @the-ships-to-rule-them-all I CAN’T FIND JENNY ON MY TUMBLR! 

[mastcomm]

Is This the Next Leader of the Fed?

Good morning. Fears about the spread of the coronavirus whacked stock futures this morning — and led to the cancellation of Mobile World Congress. More on that below. (Want this in your inbox each morning? Sign up here.)

The race to be the next Fed chair is getting interesting

Judy Shelton, who has been nominated to the central bank’s board of governors, is scheduled to testify before the Senate today.

She is a contentious choice for the job, Jeanna Smialek of the NYT notes:

• Ms. Shelton has questioned whether America needs the Fed at all.

• She favors pegging the value of the dollar to something like gold, an idea the U.S. abandoned decades ago.

• She’s seen as open to bending her ideological positions to please President Trump, eroding the Fed’s political independence.

But she appears to be moving into a prime position to become the next Fed chair if Mr. Trump wins re-election, Ms. Smialek adds. The president has openly derided the current chairman, Jay Powell, and could well pick someone more in tune with him ideologically when Mr. Powell’s term is up in 2022.

Washington speculation had focused on a different candidate for Fed chair: Kevin Warsh, who was on the central bank’s board during the financial crisis. Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Warsh before, but some wonder whether a strong performance by Ms. Shelton today would give her the inside track.

Is ‘Beyond Petroleum’ for real this time?

BP announced yesterday that it plans to be carbon-neutral by 2050, an ambitious target for one of the world’s biggest energy companies. What that actually means, however, is up for interpretation.

The oil giant’s proposal is its latest climate-minded initiative, with a twist. Not only is the company seeking to reduce its own carbon emissions, it said, but it also wants to offset the emissions from use of the oil and gas that it produces.

The proposal is more complicated than it looks. It has to do with the “scope” of emissions targeted by the plan: The bulk of pollution created by BP’s products are generated when customers burn the fuels, which are called Scope 3 emissions. BP’s net-zero pledge covers only its more direct operations, although the company plans to reduce Scope 3 emissions significantly.

U.K. regulators investigate Barclays C.E.O.’s ties to Epstein

Barclays disclosed this morning that British financial regulators have opened an investigation into ties between its chief, Jes Staley, and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The context: The two men had known each other since at least 1999, when Mr. Staley led JPMorgan Chase’s private bank, where Mr. Epstein was a client. The financier had helped funnel dozens of wealthy clients to Mr. Staley, and the two men stayed in touch even after Mr. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing scores of women.

Mr. Staley has the backing of the Barclays board, for now. The bank said he had been “sufficiently transparent” about the nature of his ties to Mr. Epstein, and the C.E.O. said that he hadn’t had any contact with the disgraced financier since taking up his post in December 2015.

Mobile World Congress was canceled. Does anybody care?

Mobile World Congress, the annual jamboree for the telecom industry in Barcelona, was canceled yesterday over fears about the coronavirus outbreak. It raises an interesting question: Do these kinds of conferences matter?

Last year, MWC drew around 110,000 attendees (including 7,900 C.E.O.s) from 200 countries. Cancellation of this month’s edition was inevitable, after major exhibitors like Nokia, Ericsson and Amazon pulled out over the past week or so.

This presents a natural experiment in the value of industry events, seen by some as essential for networking and deal making and by others as price-gouging junkets. Thousands of meetings that would’ve taken place at MWC this year now won’t happen, which could have knock-on effects later in the year. (Or not.)

The view from a veteran: We spoke with Ben Wood, a telecom analyst at CCS Insight in London who would have made his 23rd consecutive appearance at MWC this year.

• For the companies that blow huge portions of their marketing budgets on MWC, “if you find that you can cope without going, and the costs associated with it, you may choose to deploy your resources in different ways,” he told DealBook.

• That’s harder for small companies that rely on “serendipitous moments” with big buyers or potential partners wandering the halls of events like MWC, he added.

No touching. In the meantime, conference etiquette will change. The organizers of a big tech event in Amsterdam now underway praised attendees for “safe greeting practices such as fist or elbow bumps.” Generally speaking, it must be said, handshakes are incredibly unhygienic.

Credit Suisse’s chief leaves on a defiant, awkward note

Tidjane Thiam delivered his final earnings call as the Swiss bank’s chief this morning, after being pressured to resign amid controversy over a spying scandal.

He presented the growth in net income of 69 percent as the result of his changes in the structure and strategy at the company. “We’ve built something of quality, the numbers are coming through,” he said at a press conference.

There was a notable moment of reflection on his uneasy tenure at the bank, notes the NYT’s Amie Tsang, who was listening in on the call. “There are differences within Switzerland in how people feel about me,” Mr. Thiam said. “Every second I’ve done the best I could. I am who I am, I cannot change who I am.”

How Marc Benioff sold Trump the trillion-tree idea

President Trump has openly dismissed climate change activists as “prophets of doom.” But Marc Benioff of Salesforce managed to win him over on one particular environmental initiative, Lisa Friedman of the NYT writes.

Mr. Benioff pitched Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, about the initiative to plant one trillion trees to help offset carbon emissions. The idea eventually — and unexpectedly — wound its way into Mr. Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.

“Trees are the ultimate bipartisan issue,” Mr. Benioff told the NYT. “Everyone is pro-tree.”

There are two lessons to draw from this:

• Successfully lobbying Mr. Trump is an unconventional process that involves back-channeling with trusted advisers.

• The idea of one trillion trees appears to have taken hold with the president because, as Ms. Friedman notes, “it was practically sacrifice-free.”

Jeff Bezos’ latest takeover: David Geffen’s L.A. mansion

The Amazon chief has continued his real estate splurge with two new acquisitions, according to Katy McLaughlin and Katherine Clarke of the WSJ:

• David Geffen’s palatial Los Angeles home, which Mr. Bezos bought for $165 million — setting a record for the city in the process.

• A plot of undeveloped land in the L.A. area, purchased from the estate of the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

They follow Mr. Bezos’ $80 million purchase of the top four floors of a Manhattan apartment building last year, reportedly with the goal of turning them into a gigantic pied-à-terre.

It’s a windfall for Mr. Geffen, who bought the L.A. mansion — the former estate of the movie mogul Jack Warner — for $47.5 million in 1990.

The speed read

Deals

• The parent company of T-Mobile reportedly wants to renegotiate the price of its takeover of Sprint. (FT)

• The venture capital firm Battery Ventures has raised $2 billion for its two latest funds, which will focus on investments in enterprise software companies. (Bloomberg)

• Meet the Korean hedge fund that scored big by backing “Parasite,” the movie that won the Academy Award for best picture. (Bloomberg)

Politics and policy

• Moderate Democratic leaders are slowly warming up to Mike Bloomberg as Senator Bernie Sanders becomes the front-runner in the party’s presidential race. (NYT)

• Larry Ellison of Oracle is doing a rare thing in Silicon Valley: hosting a fund-raiser for President Trump. (Recode)

• The Education Department is reportedly investigating Harvard and Yale over their sources of foreign funding. (WSJ)

Tech

• The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, has reportedly said in private conversations that he expects a criminal antitrust case in Silicon Valley in the next few months. (Hollywood Reporter)

• Read up on Mark Zuckerberg’s approach to crisis management. (Wired)

• Britain plans to give its media regulator additional oversight over internet content. (NYT)

• Huawei of China is said to be in talks to fund research into 5G wireless technology at the London School of Economics — for £105,000, or $136,000. (FT)

Best of the rest

• Massachusetts’ attorney general sued Juul yesterday, accusing the vaping company of buying ads on youth-focused websites to target young nonsmokers. (NYT)

• The coronavirus outbreak cost Bernard Arnault his title of world’s richest man. (Fortune)

• Charlie Munger on the world today: “There’s too much wretched excess.” (CNBC)

We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to business@nytimes.com.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/business/is-this-the-next-leader-of-the-fed-2/

[mastcomm]

Is This the Next Leader of the Fed?

Good morning. Fears about the spread of the coronavirus whacked stock futures this morning — and led to the cancellation of Mobile World Congress. More on that below. (Want this in your inbox each morning? Sign up here.)

The race to be the next Fed chair is getting interesting

Judy Shelton, who has been nominated to the central bank’s board of governors, is scheduled to testify before the Senate today.

She is a contentious choice for the job, Jeanna Smialek of the NYT notes:

• Ms. Shelton has questioned whether America needs the Fed at all.

• She favors pegging the value of the dollar to something like gold, an idea the U.S. abandoned decades ago.

• She’s seen as open to bending her ideological positions to please President Trump, eroding the Fed’s political independence.

But she appears to be moving into a prime position to become the next Fed chair if Mr. Trump wins re-election, Ms. Smialek adds. The president has openly derided the current chairman, Jay Powell, and could well pick someone more in tune with him ideologically when Mr. Powell’s term is up in 2022.

Washington speculation had focused on a different candidate for Fed chair: Kevin Warsh, who was on the central bank’s board during the financial crisis. Mr. Trump has praised Mr. Warsh before, but some wonder whether a strong performance by Ms. Shelton today would give her the inside track.

Is ‘Beyond Petroleum’ for real this time?

BP announced yesterday that it plans to be carbon-neutral by 2050, an ambitious target for one of the world’s biggest energy companies. What that actually means, however, is up for interpretation.

The oil giant’s proposal is its latest climate-minded initiative, with a twist. Not only is the company seeking to reduce its own carbon emissions, it said, but it also wants to offset the emissions from use of the oil and gas that it produces.

The proposal is more complicated than it looks. It has to do with the “scope” of emissions targeted by the plan: The bulk of pollution created by BP’s products are generated when customers burn the fuels, which are called Scope 3 emissions. BP’s net-zero pledge covers only its more direct operations, although the company plans to reduce Scope 3 emissions significantly.

U.K. regulators investigate Barclays C.E.O.’s ties to Epstein

Barclays disclosed this morning that British financial regulators have opened an investigation into ties between its chief, Jes Staley, and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The context: The two men had known each other since at least 1999, when Mr. Staley led JPMorgan Chase’s private bank, where Mr. Epstein was a client. The financier had helped funnel dozens of wealthy clients to Mr. Staley, and the two men stayed in touch even after Mr. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing scores of women.

Mr. Staley has the backing of the Barclays board, for now. The bank said he had been “sufficiently transparent” about the nature of his ties to Mr. Epstein, and the C.E.O. said that he hadn’t had any contact with the disgraced financier since taking up his post in December 2015.

Mobile World Congress was canceled. Does anybody care?

Mobile World Congress, the annual jamboree for the telecom industry in Barcelona, was canceled yesterday over fears about the coronavirus outbreak. It raises an interesting question: Do these kinds of conferences matter?

Last year, MWC drew around 110,000 attendees (including 7,900 C.E.O.s) from 200 countries. Cancellation of this month’s edition was inevitable, after major exhibitors like Nokia, Ericsson and Amazon pulled out over the past week or so.

This presents a natural experiment in the value of industry events, seen by some as essential for networking and deal making and by others as price-gouging junkets. Thousands of meetings that would’ve taken place at MWC this year now won’t happen, which could have knock-on effects later in the year. (Or not.)

The view from a veteran: We spoke with Ben Wood, a telecom analyst at CCS Insight in London who would have made his 23rd consecutive appearance at MWC this year.

• For the companies that blow huge portions of their marketing budgets on MWC, “if you find that you can cope without going, and the costs associated with it, you may choose to deploy your resources in different ways,” he told DealBook.

• That’s harder for small companies that rely on “serendipitous moments” with big buyers or potential partners wandering the halls of events like MWC, he added.

No touching. In the meantime, conference etiquette will change. The organizers of a big tech event in Amsterdam now underway praised attendees for “safe greeting practices such as fist or elbow bumps.” Generally speaking, it must be said, handshakes are incredibly unhygienic.

Credit Suisse’s chief leaves on a defiant, awkward note

Tidjane Thiam delivered his final earnings call as the Swiss bank’s chief this morning, after being pressured to resign amid controversy over a spying scandal.

He presented the growth in net income of 69 percent as the result of his changes in the structure and strategy at the company. “We’ve built something of quality, the numbers are coming through,” he said at a press conference.

There was a notable moment of reflection on his uneasy tenure at the bank, notes the NYT’s Amie Tsang, who was listening in on the call. “There are differences within Switzerland in how people feel about me,” Mr. Thiam said. “Every second I’ve done the best I could. I am who I am, I cannot change who I am.”

How Marc Benioff sold Trump the trillion-tree idea

President Trump has openly dismissed climate change activists as “prophets of doom.” But Marc Benioff of Salesforce managed to win him over on one particular environmental initiative, Lisa Friedman of the NYT writes.

Mr. Benioff pitched Jared Kushner, a top White House adviser and Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, about the initiative to plant one trillion trees to help offset carbon emissions. The idea eventually — and unexpectedly — wound its way into Mr. Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.

“Trees are the ultimate bipartisan issue,” Mr. Benioff told the NYT. “Everyone is pro-tree.”

There are two lessons to draw from this:

• Successfully lobbying Mr. Trump is an unconventional process that involves back-channeling with trusted advisers.

• The idea of one trillion trees appears to have taken hold with the president because, as Ms. Friedman notes, “it was practically sacrifice-free.”

Jeff Bezos’ latest takeover: David Geffen’s L.A. mansion

The Amazon chief has continued his real estate splurge with two new acquisitions, according to Katy McLaughlin and Katherine Clarke of the WSJ:

• David Geffen’s palatial Los Angeles home, which Mr. Bezos bought for $165 million — setting a record for the city in the process.

• A plot of undeveloped land in the L.A. area, purchased from the estate of the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

They follow Mr. Bezos’ $80 million purchase of the top four floors of a Manhattan apartment building last year, reportedly with the goal of turning them into a gigantic pied-à-terre.

It’s a windfall for Mr. Geffen, who bought the L.A. mansion — the former estate of the movie mogul Jack Warner — for $47.5 million in 1990.

The speed read

Deals

• The parent company of T-Mobile reportedly wants to renegotiate the price of its takeover of Sprint. (FT)

• The venture capital firm Battery Ventures has raised $2 billion for its two latest funds, which will focus on investments in enterprise software companies. (Bloomberg)

• Meet the Korean hedge fund that scored big by backing “Parasite,” the movie that won the Academy Award for best picture. (Bloomberg)

Politics and policy

• Moderate Democratic leaders are slowly warming up to Mike Bloomberg as Senator Bernie Sanders becomes the front-runner in the party’s presidential race. (NYT)

• Larry Ellison of Oracle is doing a rare thing in Silicon Valley: hosting a fund-raiser for President Trump. (Recode)

• The Education Department is reportedly investigating Harvard and Yale over their sources of foreign funding. (WSJ)

Tech

• The Justice Department’s antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, has reportedly said in private conversations that he expects a criminal antitrust case in Silicon Valley in the next few months. (Hollywood Reporter)

• Read up on Mark Zuckerberg’s approach to crisis management. (Wired)

• Britain plans to give its media regulator additional oversight over internet content. (NYT)

• Huawei of China is said to be in talks to fund research into 5G wireless technology at the London School of Economics — for £105,000, or $136,000. (FT)

Best of the rest

• Massachusetts’ attorney general sued Juul yesterday, accusing the vaping company of buying ads on youth-focused websites to target young nonsmokers. (NYT)

• The coronavirus outbreak cost Bernard Arnault his title of world’s richest man. (Fortune)

• Charlie Munger on the world today: “There’s too much wretched excess.” (CNBC)

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