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writingpaperghost · 4 years ago

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There is a Me Who Can Become Strong (Chapter 12)

Chapter 12: Christmas Special: Targeting the Silver X-Mas!

Now knowing Gemn's identity, the CR must still cure Shuhei. Meanwhile, Kiriya's come to a dangerous conclusion about the identity of Mu. Merry Chirstmas, everyone.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32857183/chapters/83165572

Saki’s not entirely sure why she’s looking for Kiriya. She supposes, she owes him an apology, if nothing else, given he’d turned out to be right about Kuroto being Gemn. Though they still didn’t know anything about that other man they’d seen as Gemn, both after retrieving the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat and as they defeated Graphite. Regardless, she was now trying to figure out where he would be.

She’d checked the morgue, his coworker, Nishiwaka, said that he was out. When she’d asked him when he’d be back, Nishiwaka just shrugged. Still, he did offer a possible destination. Though Saki didn’t understand why Kiriya would be at a cemetery. She didn’t know everything about him, obviously – in fact she realized she didn’t know very much at all. He was prone to lying, yes, but even in some cases, he did turn out to be right, whether his claim Kuroto was Gemn had been intended to be a lie or not.

If Kiriya was at a cemetery, for whatever reason, she really oughtn’t bug him. It felt… wrong. So instead, she supposed she should wait for him, she knew that if she were visiting Hiro, she wouldn’t want to be interrupted. Though curiosity plagued her mind and her schedule was rather tight… And if nothing else, she owes him an apology.

The bright side about Kiriya’s rather… disastrous attire is that it often made him stand out. It was often hard to miss one who wore a bright red jacket such as his, or the ripped pants, or even the terrible, terrible, shirts. Thus, she was able to find Kiriya with relative ease and speed.

He stood at a grave, as one would when they are at a cemetery. For a moment, Saki wondered if she should really bug him, but she also knew that it was unlikely that she would have an opportunity to speak with him again any time soon. As much as she hated to do it, she really did need to speak with him. To apologize – not to mention there were a few things she was curious of.

She walks over towards him, stopping a few feet away, then calls out to him, “Kujo,” He looks up, slightly startled at her appearance. “I’m sorry to… disturb you.” She continued.

Kiriya blinks, “I’m surprised to see you here,” He finally says, “What brings the Genius Surgeon?”

“I came to… apologize,” She answered, choosing this time not to show her disdain for the title, “For being so… distrustful of you. You did turn out to be right about Kuroto being Gemn.”

“Oh?” He intoned, “Huh, yeah, guess I was.” The fact that he sounded so unbothered by it was off putting. Much about him was off putting, really. He was always so casual and nonchalant about everything, though she supposes there were times when he seemed serious. Not to mention, seemed so obsessed with things, like Game Disease and even Emu. While the first one was understandable from anyone, to some extent, she was curious why he wanted to know so much about Emu. Or when Emu had decided to trust him so much.

“You were,” She nods, then adds, “There is something that I’m curious about, if you don’t mind me asking.”

He laughs a little, “I can’t stop you, now can I?”

He’s right. She could ask the question anyway, regardless of how he felt. But he also was under no obligation to answer it, whether truthfully or at all. She’d have no real way of knowing whether he was telling the truth or not, unless it was something easily fact checkable. Given what she was about to ask, that wasn’t necessarily possible.

“I’ve always wondered why you’ve been so… fascinated with learning about Game Disease,”

Kiriya doesn’t seem surprised at the question, not really. Maybe he knew she’d ask it, if not now than eventually. “I had a friend die on Zero Day,”

He’d given the answer before, but Saki had checked, “Your friend died in a traffic accident,” She reminded. At that moment, she becomes painfully aware of the grave that Kiriya stood in front of. Jungo Aihara, his friend who had died that day.

“I said he died on Zero Day,” Kiriya repeats, “He’d been infected, but when I’d told him, he’d ran off. Next thing anyone knew he was dead.”

That was a harder story to corroborate, but it wouldn’t be impossible. Still… “How had a medical examiner known of Game Disease?” While Zero Day had been the first major outbreak, there had been a handful of cases of Game Disease before that. But knowledge of such a disease would not have been widely known. It still wasn’t widely known and hopefully they could keep it that way.

The look that Kiriya gave was one of the those infuriating ones where you knew right away he wouldn’t be giving a satisfactory answer, “I managed to find out about it,” As if that answered any questions.

“That’s not an answer,”

“That’s all you’ll get from me about it,” Even without his comment, Saki knew that he wouldn’t give more of an answer.

He turns to walk away, but she calls out, “One more thing, Kujo,” He turns to glance back at her, “Have you found anything out?”

With an expression that might have been a smirk but it was hard to tell from this angle, Kiriya responds, “Just theories,” He turns back to face the other direction, “Just gotta find some proof, first.”

Proof…

Sure, Saki supposed, it was believable enough. Though, she had to wonder just how true any of that was. She hadn’t wanted to immediately assume him to be lying, but with how Kiriya could be, it was always a possibility.

---

With the revelation about the existence of this so-called “Emu Dan” and all his oddities, the theory board in Nico’s room has been rearranged. Though she has her back to the doorway, she can tell by the way that the person coming to the doorway is walking that it’s Kiriya. Taiga’s boots always clunk around, making way more noise than Kiriya’s sneakers.

“Yo, N,” Nico turns to face Kiriya, who’s already standing in the doorway.

“Kiriya,” She says, placing her hands on her hips, “So about that Mu…”

“Cutting right to the chase,” Kiriya’s hands are in his pockets, he clearly wants to know what’s she’s found.

Unfortunately, Nico doesn’t have much to report, “This guy works at Gemn Corp, but I sure couldn’t tell you what he does. Doesn’t seem to really do… anything, I guess.” She taps on a blurry photo of Mu she acquired from… somewhere. “And as far as I can tell, he doesn’t exist. Not in connection to Masamune or otherwise.”

Frowning, he wonders, “So it’s probably not his actual last name?”

“Most likely,” Nico shrugged, “There’s not much more I can do from there.”

They stand in silence for a moment. Kiriya seems… thoughtful, though maybe bothered by something. It gives Nico an odd feeling. She doesn’t think she’s ever seem him so obviously bugged, but she can’t really figure out why.

Finally, he tells her, “You need to be careful.”

“Of course,”

“No, I’m serious,” And he does have a serious face as he speaks, “I think I’ve dug a little too far and now someone knows that I know more than they want me to.”

Nico scoffs, “Kiriya, you’re a Kamen Rider,” She rolls her eyes a little, “Who would be able to stop you? No ordinary person would be able to actually kill you.”

“Gemn,” He responds, “He might not have Shakariki Sports anymore, but he has that new Gashat he finished yesterday.”

“We don’t know what that Gashat does,” She countered, “It could do nothing.”

“Exactly. Or it could do something terrible.” He really seems to be worried. Nico wonders if she should maybe take his concern a bit more seriously. “After all, losing Shakariki Sports was clearly a calculated move. Whatever he got from it, it’s probably stronger than Level 3.”

Sighing, Nico has to admit he has a point, “Alright, alright, so you’re worried Gemn’s gonna try to kill you or something?” Kiriya nods, “Well, be careful, I guess? Don’t forget we’ll come help you in a heartbeat, even Brave.”

“I know,” He starts to turn away, before stopping, “Oh, one last thing, a very important thing.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s about Ace,”

---

Still on his quest to discover what would make Shuhei smile, Emu decides to see if he can speak with Mrs. Yamanaka again. After all, she still had a better idea about her son than he did and… well truthfully Emu thought that perhaps some answers could be found in knowing how Shuhei got hurt. It wasn’t easy to break your leg – even Emu, as clumsy as he could be, had never managed that.

Thankfully, Mrs. Yamanaka is visiting Shuhei again, however briefly. When he mentions Shuhei’s declaration of disdain for the cake, she seems surprised. Which was odd, though that confirmed that she really had thought he would enjoy it.

“My husband and I run a patisserie, Shuhei’s always liked the cake when we made it,” She notes, “Though he’s never liked how busy we get during the holidays.”

So Shuhei was probably a lonely child, at least when his parents go so busy. That wasn’t something that Emu was entirely unfamiliar with, at least. So far as trying to understand Shuhei went.

“What happened that caused him to break his leg?”

Mrs. Yamanaka frowned a little as she answered, “He was climbing a tree in the park,” She said, “Then he fell.” That could certainly result in a broken leg. But why was he climbing trees? While a perfectly fine hobby, it was a bit odd.

He thanks her, then decides he wants to check out this tree. So he makes his way to the park and it doesn’t take him long to find the tree. Logically, climbing a tree, even as an adult, is probably not the best idea. But there’s something that Emu wants to check.

So he climbs the tree and he isn’t sure what he expects to find, but he finds something. In a way, it feels like it answers at least one or two of the questions he has. Which means, he now needs to get down. He was able to get into the tree easy enough, so, in theory, it shouldn’t be that hard to get down.

Emu very much falls out of the tree on the way down.

When Emu returns to the CR, he wastes no time in making his way to the patient room. He takes a seat next to the patient bed and smile at Shuhei. Shuhei does not return in kind.

“Hey, you’re… lonely, aren’t you?” Emu begins to say, noticing the glance that Shuhei gives him, “I was lonely when I was your age too. I didn’t have any friends, so I was always just playing video games.”

“So what?” Finally, Shuhei responds, though it’s not quite what Emu was hoping for. Still, he wasn’t going to give up.

“It’s no fun being lonely, even if you manage to convince yourself that it’s okay,” The biting memories of Emu’s childhood come to mind. There was no one else there, always just… Emu. He’d learned to deal with it well enough, but it certainly made being in spaces where people were friendlyand nice, odd for a while. “I played video games, but you, you climb trees, right?”

Before Shuhei can respond, he gasps and glitching begins to appear on his body. A frown quickly forms on Emu’s face and he stands. With Poppy’s help, they bring Shuhei with them to his parent’s patisserie. It might not have been the best idea, given it was currently being attacked by Salty. Dammit Salty.

Quickly taking out the Mighty Action X Gashat, Emu decides it’s time to test out the Gashat they retrieved from Gemn the day before, Shakariki Sports.

Mighty Action X!

Shakariki Sports!

Shakariki! Shakariki! Bad Bad! Shaka to Riki to Shakariki Sports!

Much like how the armor on Gemn appeared, the Shakariki Sports Gashat caused a pink and green bicycle to fly onto his shoulders, becoming armor. Then, Salty summons some of his Bugster grunts, dressed as chefs, like when Emu first fought him.

Taddle Quest!

DoReMiFa Beat!

Do-Do-DoReMiFa-So-La-Ti-Do! Ok! DoReMiFa Beat!

Beginning to knock down the Bugster grunts, Saki arrives, quickly taking Level 3. One of the grunts goes flying into Salty, who then stumbles back and breaks one of the blocks spawned by Mighty Action X. A power up pops out of the block.

It’s different from the normal ones though. It’s seems almost… festive? Well, today was Christmas. Emu jumps and grabs the item. There’s a flash and he’s on the ground again, the bike from Shakariki Sports – Sports Gamer – down on the ground beside him. By all appearances, he’s been reverted to Level 2 except…

Why was he dressed as Santa Claus? Sports Gamer was decorated too…

It starts to snow and Emu can’t help but watch for a moment as Mrs. Yamanaka speaks with Shuhei. Earlier, Emu had found an unfinished wreath in the tree that Shuhei had climbed. Given the tree had holly berries, it was safe to assume that Shuhei had been trying to get them when he fell out of the tree. Mrs. Yamanaka shows him a cake, one decorated with what looked like their family.

Salty attacks once more, easily dodged. Poppy breaks two more of the blocks, grabbing the items from them, one of which went to Saki. Now, both Poppy and Brave were dressed as Santa Claus, in some capacity, though Saki still remained in her Level 3. Poppy jumps over to Saki, grabbing her arm and messing with the disks on her arms. Soon, a peppy rendition of Jingle Bells begins to play and…

Poppy starts singing. But instead of the actual words, it just “p” sounds. As Poppy sings, Emu and Saki use this as an opportunity to continue their fight against Salty. Somehow, they find their attacks syncing up with Poppy’s music, making it seem almost as if they were dancing.

Attacking Salty at once, they’re able to defeat him, destroying him. Together, he, Saki, and Poppy cheer, “Merry Christmas!”

Game Clear!

---

A cloud of virus cells is absorbed into the Bugvisor, formerly having been what comprised Salty. Now though, they were simply data. It was… an odd sight to see, Mu hadn’t quite seen anything like it. But Kuroto said it was necessary.

It was also odd being out with Kuroto, normally it was only ever one of them. But now with his new Gashat completed, Kuroto was far more comfortable heading out together, since they could both transform now. Though the day before, Kuroto had lost Shakariki Sports, which would definitely make it harder to fight on even ground against the Riders. Well, for Mu, since he was certain that Kuroto would have made his new Gashat so much stronger than anything the Riders had.

Mu had an idea, of course, but he wasn’t going to mention it to Kuroto, quite yet. Instead, he just wanted to confirm the purpose of collecting this data, “So now that we have Salty’s data, we’ve started the part that we need for the game? To collect Bugster data so it has data on all the strains?”

With a small smile, Kuroto nods, “Yes, once all of them are collected, the game will be complete.”

“And then once we clear the game, everyone will be cured,” Mu smiled, almost excitedly. After all, he’d spent six years preparing for this and now… now they were so close, he could almost taste it.

The ultimate game, the one that would make everything better… And it was closer than ever.

---

The CR had a Christmas party that night. Which was strange. Not that it wasn’t nice or anything, it was just strange to Emu. He’d never really gone to a Christmas party. The CR isn’t exactly big, so the any only ones there were Poppy, Director Kagami, Saki, and himself. Still, someone had gotten some cake – frankly Emu thought it had been Saki – and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

But Emu still couldn’t shake just how odd it was the way Salty had appeared. After all, they’d never had a Bugster appear, already formed and separated like that. So it had been bugging him for a while, not that he’d had time to think to much about it, between fighting Salty, Gemn, and trying to cheer Shuhei up.

“Is something bothering you?” Emu startles at Saki’s words. She continues, “You haven’t eaten of your cake.”

True, Emu held a plate with a slice of cake on it, untouched. While she was right about something bother him, the cake had nothing to do with it. He’d actually just spaced out and forgot he’d been holding it. That and he doesn’t think he’s had cake like this before, nor had he remember that when people had a plate with food on it, they generally ate it. Since he was a Bugster, it wasn’t like he needed to eat. But Saki didn’t know that.

“Well,” He began, “I was thinking about how weird it was that Salty separated from Shuhei without us having to remove him.”

Saki hummed, “Most likely, Game Disease has mutated, resulting in the Bugsters separating on their own and being stronger than before.” She takes a bite of her own slice of cake, “Diseases do it all the time to avoid vaccines.”

That made enough sense, at least to Emu, so he doesn’t question anymore on the subject. Instead, he turned his attention to the plate of cake in his hand, a fork in his other. Saki had already noticed he hadn’t touched it, it was likely someone else would if he continued not to eat it. Or Saki would notice again. The point was, it would probably benefit him to at least eat some of it.

He takes a bite of the cake, almost hesitantly. It was… sweet. Not bad, he just wasn’t used to actually eating things. But it was pretty good, so he takes another bite. He’d never really saw the need for eating food all that much. It didn’t have a functional purpose, so he didn’t often do it. Usually, he spent the time that he would have spent eating, if he were human, doing other things. Like studying or playing games.

On the white board, Poppy’s drawn some cute little pictures of them dressed up as Santa from earlier. He was honestly surprised that she managed to convey Para-DX and Brave so well, while also being cute and Santa-like. He has another bite of cake, deciding that while it tastes pretty good, it was maybe a bit too sweet for him.

Poppy pops in from the side, “What’s that face for, Emu?”

He blinks, trying to figure out what she meant. He didn’t think he was making face, “Uh, cake, I guess?”

She is clearly confused by his response, “Cake? Why would you be making that face because of cake?”

“It’s… sweet?”

Saki chimes in, walking up to the two of them, “It’s cake, of course it’s sweet.”

“I’ve… never had it before?”

The looks that the two give him are definitely surprised. They clearly hadn’t been expecting that answer. Which Emu supposed made sense, it was probably weird to say you’ve never cake before. But he hadn’t really, mostly because there had been no point.

Poppy gasped, “What?” Apparently, she was a bit more surprised than he had initially thought, “You’ve never had cake?”

“Uh, no?”

Before either Poppy or Saki can say anymore on the matter the phone rings. It’s Kiriya and he’s telling them that he wants to meet them. That there was something that he needed to tell them. So off they went, ready to meet up with him.

---

Nico was still stewing on what Kiriya had told her earlier, about Emu. She’d held off adding that to the theory board, mostly because she was trying to keep too much important information off there. Didn’t want someone waltzing in and finding out too much about all this. Not that she thought it was very likely.

She can hear footsteps coming down the hall and tries to recall if Taiga had any patients that would be near this part of the clinic. She couldn’t recall any, but it was possible that he’d just gotten one. The footsteps aren’t Kiriya’s, they’re too heavy, but they’re not quite right to be Taiga’s boots either. They sounded a little lighter footed. Probably just a patient.

At least, that’s what she thought, though she quickly sees a familiar face, one side of which was partially covered with some faded cyan hair the top of which was covered by a navy-blue hat, a pair of headphones over it. The woman outside looks though the window then quickly opens the door. Excitedly walking in, Nico can see her outfit. A bright pink scarf is wrapped around her neck, paired with a navy blue and bright green jacket with black and green sleeves, zipped up. A bright green skirt with dark blue pants beneath them, and knee-high boots.

She’s grinning at Nico when she enters, “Nico!” She exclaims, “Here you are!”

Standing, Nico greets her with equal enthusiasm, “Yuko!” The two high five, “I’d ask how you knew I was here but…”

Yuko slides her hand back into her coat pocket, now with both hands in. “You already know,” She finishes with a laugh. “Didn’t expect to find you hanging out in a shady clinic, though.”

Shrugging, Nico responds, “It’s easier. Taiga and I are help each other out.”

Nico flops on the bed while Yuko pulls up the chair in the room, “So, have you managed to find M and get your rematch?” Yuko asks, settling into the chair, “I still can’t believe you’ve gone through all this for a rematch.”

“Yeah, I beat him a while ago, actually,” Nico leans back slightly.

At her answer, Yuko frowns slightly, “Then why are you still here?”

“Because there’s a mystery I want to solve,” Nico answers, “It was brought to my attention by one of the other Riders. Now I really want answers.”

Yuko blinks, then slowly points to the theory board on the wall, “Does it have something to do with that stalker board?”

“It’s not a stalker board! It’s my theory board,” Nico protests, standing up and walking over to the board, “But yes, it does.”

Standing too, Yuko examines the board, “It’s pretty vague,”

“Don’t want anyone finding out anything too important,” Nico shrugs. She’s about to sit back down on the bed when her phone begins to ring.

Answering it, she hears Kiriya, telling her that he’s meeting with all the Riders. There’s something he wants them to know, something he presumably hasn’t told her either. She figured it was probably pretty important.

She grabs her bag and turns around, backwards walking out the door, “Sorry, Yuko, I gotta go!” As she runs down the hall, she calls out, “See ya later!”

Yuko’s only left to stand in the room and blink, unsure of what’s happened. After a few moments, the sound of clunking boots can be heard and eventually, Taiga arrives at the doorway. He looks at Yuko and stares.

He sounds exasperated when he asks, “Who are you?”

Shaking off her startlement, Yuko grins, “Yuko Morishita.”

---

It really bugged Mu how much that Lazer had been able to figure out. While he didn’t doubt that Lazer was something of an outlier in his investigative and detective skills, compared to the rest of the CR, it really bugged him. Even Kuroto seemed bothered, though he did a good job of hiding it, all things considered.

Still, Mu sort of felt that it was his fault that Lazer had figured out so much. After all, Kuroto hadn’t exactly gone out much and certainly had less direct interactions with the Riders. While Lazer had initially figured out that Kuroto had been Gemn, given how easily the others had believed him, it was possible that none of them saw it a large leap of logic.

Regardless of how Lazer found out so much, Mu really wanted to do something about it. But now that Kuroto had lost Shakariki Sports – which was perhaps a part of his plan but still a bit of a pain for Mu – he’d never stand a chance in a fight against any of the Riders. Often, he could barely keep up with Shakariki Sports, depending on who he was facing, now that they’d all gotten their Level 3s.

Kuroto’s out right now, Mu’s not sure why… But his eyes are drawn to the Gashat and Bugvisor on the table. He didn’t know what Dangerous Zombie did, but surely it was stronger than a Level 2, if nothing else. It wasn’t really designed to work with a Gamer Driver, for some reason, but it worked with the Bugvisor.

It was probably not the best idea but… Well, it couldn’t hurt to try, could it? Besides, he needed to make sure just how much Lazer knew. Mu stands, grabbing the Bugvisor, the belt it combines with, and the Gashat. Just in case.

Finding Lazer isn’t hard, mostly because he knew that Lazer would want to tell the others what he’d found out. But Lazer also didn’t like meeting in normal places, so a shady warehouse definitely seemed like somewhere he’d want to talk with people. It helped that Graphite had agreed to keep an eye on him from a distance.

Taking a breath to prepare himself, Mu calls out, “Lazer,”

Of course, Lazer spins around to face him, seeming far too casual about the whole encounter. Mu couldn’t help but notice the dark blue shirt he wore, printed with red and green mistletoe. “Well, surprised to see you here, Mu. No Kuroto?”

“He’s… busy,” Mu responds, “But you know… Way too much, obviously.”

“Do I?” Lazer shrugs, “I mean, I guess I do know what you are. Who you are.”

Mu really hoped he didn’t actually know. That made things a lot more complicated, especially because it would be hard to keep Lazer from telling others. No, he really shouldn’t know, and he really couldn’t tell the other Riders. Mu wasn’t entirely sure why, but it had been made very clear to them that no one can really know who really is. It isn’t safe, he was told.

If Lazer knew who he really was… Mu bites his lip a little, trying to decide what to do now. He couldn’t let Lazer tell the other Riders, that was for certain. He fishes the Bugvisor out of his pocket and the Dangerous Zombie Gashat. The belt that the Bugvisor attaches to turns the Bugvisor into the Buggle Driver, capable of working like the Gamer Driver. Mu didn’t really know what was different, though, other than its capability of doubling as a weapon and only having a slot for one Gashat.

Lazer hummed, “What’s that you got there?” He leans a bit to look. “That the Gashat Kuroto just finished?”

The Dangerous Zombie Gashat is snatched out of Mu’s hand – he hadn’t noticed that Lazer had come closer to him. Wide eyed, he watched as Lazer quickly moved away, examining the Gashat. Mu had only been here a few minutes and he’d already messed up. “Don’t-!”

“Well let’s see what it does,” Lazer pulls out his Gamer Driver, slotting Bakusou Bike into it. Once in Level 1, he activates Dangerous Zombie, placing it in the second slot of the Driver.

The problem here was, Mu didn’t know what all Dangerous Zombie could do, but he knew it wasn’t meant for use with a Gamer Driver, He had no clue what would happen, with Lazer trying to use it. “Please, don’t…” Mu says, though he doesn’t think that Lazer even hears him.

It might be odd to worry about what would happen, given Lazer was his enemy but… As much as Mu wanted to hate him, even his role in Graphite’s death didn’t seem like sufficient motivator. Besides, it was possible that Dangerous Zombie could do something to help Lazer and that would be a million times worse.

When Lazer tried to use Dangerous Zombie, it hurt him. The health gauge on his chest slowly went down, until the Driver ejected the Gashats, forcing him out of the transformation. Mu rushes over and grabs the Dangerous Zombie Gashat. Oh, this was a terrible idea!

Lazer pushes himself up, grabbing the Bakusou Bike Gashat. “Ugh, what the hell does that thing do?”

“I don’t-“ Mu cut himself off, not finishing his train of thought. He probably shouldn’t let Lazer know that he doesn’t know what exactly Dangerous Zombie can do. Instead, he just realizes that Lazer can still tell the other Riders, so Mu needs to do more to stop him.

Dangerous Zombie!

Slowly, Mu inserts the Gashat into Buggle Driver. Lazer watches him, pulling out the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat. It was time for a fight. Mu figures he can just beat him up like last time, knock him out for a while so they can come up with a better plan. He presses the buttons on the Buggle Driver.

Buggle Up! Danger! Danger! (Genocide!) Death the crisis! Dangerous Zombie!

Gemn Level X was weird. Mu wasn’t sure how to explain the feeling. Like… A dull sort of pain, maybe a broken limb? But also some kind of power. It’s an overwhelming feeling of cold emptiness, covering and wrapping him in an unwanted cocoon.

Mu hated it.

But he wouldn’t stand a chance against Lazer otherwise.

Bakusou Bike!

Giri Giri Chambara!

Giri-giri-giri-giri Chambara!

Lazer quickly went to his Level 3. Mu didn’t know how Level 3 would compare to Level X, given the seven level difference, but he was confident that he’d be able to defeat Lazer. Not to mention, Lazer was already weakened by his attempt to use Dangerous Zombie.

“Alright, then,” Lazer grunts, “Time for a fight.”

There’s a flash of panic in Mu’s mind when the Bugster begin to appear, dressed in torn clothing. They don’t pay Lazer any mind, though, instead going out of the warehouse. Oh right, Lazer was supposed to be meeting with the other Riders. Mu would have to be quick.

Level X was odd in that it lacked a weapon, which definitely threw Mu off for a moment. But even with Lazer having a weapon, he was too weak to even really do any damage. Besides, it wasn’t as though Mu was incapable of hand-to-hand combat.

It quickly must have become clear to Lazer that he wasn’t going to stand much of a chance in the fight, as he quickly grabs the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat and places it into the Gashacon Sparrows, separated into their sickle form.

Giri Giri Critical Finish!

Mu had attempted to dodge the attack, not that it mattered. Because he ended up taking the whole hit anyway and… it really didn’t faze him. In response, Mu grabbed the Gashacon Sparrow and swung it back at Lazer, hitting him solidly in the chest.

The way that the Gamer Drivers worked was that they were designed to limit the possibility of the death of their user. Thus, once the health bar on a Rider’s chest reached a certain low point, the Gamer Driver would eject the Gashats. Except, while that was what happened when Mu struck Lazer, Lazer was clearly far more hurt than he should have been.

For a moment, Mu stares at Lazer. Oh, he realized, oh Lazer was about to Game Over. Lazer was about to die.

As much as Mu was upset about Graphite’s death, about everything that Lazer had done with or separate from the other Riders to impede his and Kuroto’s progress on the game, he didn’t want to see Lazer die. Mu didn’t want anyone to have to die, even if they were misguided, thinking that he and Kuroto were some kind of villains.

One half of the Gashacon Sparrow still in hand, Mu hears the sound of fighting outside. Right, the other Riders were supposed to meet up with Lazer. The grunts they were fighting wouldn’t keep them occupied for much longer. He couldn’t stay around. Quietly, he walks over to Lazer, reaching down to grab the other half of the Gashacon Sparrow and the Giri Giri Chambara Gashat. It could come in handy, at least.

Lazer grabs at the sleeve of his hoodie, “Why?”

Mu blinks, eyes almost like a deer in headlights, “I’m sorry.”

---

It never bodes well when you’re trying to go somewhere and then Bugster grunts showed up. These were dressed a lot differently than the ones they fought before, these had torn clothing. Emu thinks they remind him of zombies in a video game, but he doesn’t know what Bugster could have caused them.

He, Saki, and Nico were fighting them off, finally finishing off the last of them. He just hoped that Kiriya was okay. They quickly enter the warehouse.

Kiriya was not okay.

Kiriya was on the ground, beaten up and glitching, errant pixels here and there. Emu didn’t know what was happening, but he knew two things. It wasn’t an infection, and it wasn’t good.

“Kiriya!” He rushes to Kiriya’s side, grabbing at him, “What happened?”

Grunting, Kiriya pushes his Gamer Driver and the Bakusou Bike Gashat into Emu’s hands, “Gemn,” He answers, “Ace, take your fate into your own hands.”

The Gamer Driver lets out a loud sound:

Game Over

Kiriya disappears into pixels, leaving nothing behind but his Gamer Driver and Gashat in Emu’s hands.

At first, Emu’s shocked, only able to stare at where Kiriya once was. Then, he feels something overwhelm him. A feeling he hasn’t experienced in six years. He starts to cry.

Nico and Saki can only watch in shock behind him.

---

When Mu returns, Kuroto is at his desk. “Mu-“ He begins, but Mu just makes a beeline for Kuroto’s desk. Placing the Bugvisor, Dangerous Zombie Gashat, and Lazer’s Gashacon Sparrow on the desk.

“I don’t think Lazer will be a problem anymore,” Mu says distantly, “I’m… going to go on a walk now.”

Kuroto’s only left to stare. “Mu, what did you do?”

---

Mu keeps walking until he finds Graphite. He still feels a bit numb, in disbelief of what he’s just done. It was easy enough, then, for Graphite to notice that something was wrong. Not that it would probably been hard anyway. Graphite was good at telling when something was bugging Mu.

“Kin, you’re upset,” Graphite notes, placing a hand on Mu’s shoulder, “What happened? Did Kuroto do something?”

Shaking his head, Mu whispered, “No,” then shakes his head again, “No, Graphite. I did something.”

“So what happened?”

“I… Lazer knew so much, he knew way too much!” Mu quickly said, “He said that he knew who I was, even! I didn’t know what to do but I knew he was going to tell the other Riders so I had to stop him and…”

Mu looked down, “I took Kuroto’s new Gashat to fight him and then… for some reason the Gamer Driver didn’t eject his Gashats before his health gauge was depleted and…” He pauses. He can’t bear to finish it. Because it just. It was too much. Finally, he manages to whisper, “I killed him.”

He can hear Graphite’s small but shocked gasp. Mu just repeats, “I killed him Graphite.”

You decide what’s good. You decide alone.

Graphite stares for a moment, seemingly unsure of what to say or do. Then, he hugs Mu, as Mu begins to cry. He’s glitching and he knows he shouldn’t be getting this worked up, but he’s not sure what to do.

At some point, it gets really dark. Graphite just picks up Mu and carries him back. Mu tries to protest, to say that Kuroto may find out about Graphite, but Graphite doesn’t listen. By the time they get there, Kuroto’s already asleep. So Graphite just brings Mu into the nest and holds him tightly.

---

Nico’s not sure why Saki’s following her on her way back to Taiga’s clinic. It’s out of character, as far as Nico knows. Of course, Taiga may try to say otherwise, but she wasn’t entirely convinced they were even talking about the same person.

Pausing her walking for a moment, Nico looks at Saki, “So the hospital is the other way,”

Saki blinks, “I’m worried about Emu,” She confesses, though Nico’s not really sure why. Saki continues, “He left to go home so quickly and…”

“His friend just died,” Nico groaned, “Of course he’s upset. But he’s gotta figure this out for himself and being around us wouldn’t help him.”

Surprised, Saki comments, “I hadn’t thought that Kujo and Emu were friends.”

Rolling her eyes, wondering how Saki could really miss something like that, Nico responds, “You don’t know everything about M,”

They begin to walk again and Nico’s accepted she might not get an answer as to why Saki’s coming with her. After a few minutes, Saki speaks again, “I wonder what it was that Kujo wanted to tell us.”

“I don’t know,” Nico shrugged, “Whatever it was, he hadn’t even told me. But he did mention earlier that he was worried that someone might think he knew too much. That Gemn might try to kill him. Guess he was right.”

“I… suppose so,” Saki conceded, “I still can’t believe…”

Neither could Nico, frankly. It felt almost… well she wasn’t sure. She just hadn’t considered how much any of them, as Riders, were putting themselves in danger. Some part of her wanted to give the Driver and Gashats back to Taiga, like she’d planned to before. But now… She’d stayed for the mystery, and she still wants to know, but now she also wanted to figure out what was going on so she could understand why Kiriya had been killed.

“We’ll just have to figure out why, I guess,” Nico shrugs, trying not to show just how bothered she was, “And makes sure no one else gets killed.”

#kamen rider ex aid #kamen rider exaid #kamen rider #my writing #there is a me who can become strong

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iancny · 4 years ago

Text

Can’t fix broken system from the bedside

Yesterday I was sitting in on an interview for a new oncology nurse manager at the hospital where I’ve worked as an RN the last four years. Right off the bat I thought the prospective hire was doing well. He projected sufficient confidence and humility. He seemed likable enough. After about 2 minutes I turned to my coworker and said “Yea, he’s got the job.” He had the appropriate experience, and by the time a candidate has interviewed with higher ups and is brought back to interview with us it means the offer is all but extended.

As we churned through questions about his past experience, career accomplishments, and pedantic “leadership style” questions, all his responses were appropriate and predictable. He would be hired to tow the line as a middle manager, in a successful corporate hospital, in a failing national healthcare system. A successful hospital in a failing national health system... So the job is akin to that of the conductor leading the string quartet on the deck of Titanic going down.

In our present day there isn’t a single lucid American soul that could truthfully describe our national health system as effective, let alone successful. Byzantine, kafkaesque, and inequitable are the first descriptors that come to my mind. Any healthcare provider could tell you about the inordinate amount of time they spend explaining and apologizing for a health system that’s inadequate and failing, and any patient could corroborate it. So that leaves the question: who wants the job?

I framed a question to the interviewee. “The problems that we have here: the turnover of management, turnover of staff, short staffing, inadequate training, burnout, equipment shortage, communication failures, etc — they’re not unique to us. It’s all a symptom of our greater failing national system. Is there anything you do to advocate for a more equitable, more effective health system beyond the walls of the hospital?” As I asked him this (with less skillful words), I became emotional. I could feel it swelling in my chest and head, though I don’t think my coworkers noticed. I knew how important my point was and that the only accurate answer could be: “Not enough.” (That would be my own answer too.) Rather though, the interviewee reiterated how important that question was, talked about the illusory “community” a bit, and I don’t remember much at all specifically about what he said.

Being a good nurse, going the extra mile for patients, forgoing my break to spend more time providing care at the bedside: none of that’s enough. And attending BLM rallies, supporting and donating to progressive political campaigns, writing my congressperson to receive back form responses the equivalent of a shrug: that’s not enough either. Because at the end of the week I collect a paycheck from the offal too.

By the time I was graduating high school I had enough knowledge and insight to see that our health system wasn’t working... and beyond that: our education system, our criminal justice system, our financial system — all different arms of a deformed, undeniably racist, unjust society. But eventually I became a nurse, one occupation largely beyond reprove when tracing the lines between all the systemic injustices of our society. On occasion people with no personal knowledge of my life will learn of me being a nurse (like when I’m wearing scrubs on my way to and from work,) and tell me how it’s a noble profession. Few professions are awarded the same universal regard. And I enjoy that regard too. But I also recognize myself as complicit when I spend that paycheck and weeks pass without me taking any concrete action to improve upon the status quo.

I write all this because I know I’m not alone in these thoughts; I’m hopeful for change in the future; and I know open communication is the way forward. I’m looking to keep talking and get moving!!!!!!

#healthcare #nursing #health policy #medicare

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practicalbuoyancy · 4 years ago

Text

When misery has no villain.

Long story short, it was a bad, bad time.

I am angry all the time.

Sometimes this anger manifests itself in unkind snapping at my husband. Sometimes it manifests itself with a harsh word to my toddler who just wants to play with me. Sometimes it manifests itself in passive aggressive text messages to let some steam off.

Today, I did all the things that make me happy. I spent time with wonderful friends in the sunlight. I restocked on my favorite tea. I went home and painted and listened to Harry Potter for hours. I watched a movie. I tended to my growing plant collection for another hour. It was the perfect day, sunny and warm, but never hot or unpleasant. The light breeze that smelled of blooming flowers and citrus trees made sure of that.

But after the perfect day, I laid on my bed and just. felt. angry.

My “dream job” ended up being a huge bust.

Now that I’ve turned the corner on a year and am no longer contractually obligated to pay back my relocation package, I feel more comfortable talking openly about it. Friends, I hate my job. It has actively worsened my mental health. I want to flee from Silicon Valley and never return. I have developed a physical panic response to the Slack notification sound. The amount of self-hatred I feel on a daily basis has shades of my teaching self in it.

It sucks. It still sucks. And as I told my therapist the other day, “I hate everything about everyone there. They are all the worst.”

Except, that’s not true.

My narrative wants a villain.

Friends close to me will know I have strong opinions about my coworkers. They have gotten ranting text messages, screenshots, and phone calls or Marco Polos that start with angry laughing and end up with complete mental breakdowns. One thing is true: I have never had a more challenging coworker on my team or a more challenging boss.

I am desperate to direct my anger at someone or even a group of people. And I do, believe me. Some of it is warranted, sure. But most of it is just an outpouring of devastation, helplessness, and pure misery. It’s my anger desperately latching onto the tangible as a way to justify or explain the intangible.

I can’t find the villain in this story, though.

Because the coworker who makes me mad also introduced me to my favorite tea. They have listened to me cry and they have taught me about digital marketing. They care deeply about the people our company serves and will pull long hours just to help a teammate in need. They have caused me legitimate trauma, and Lord knows, I can make them a villain if I really wanted to. But doing so would erase the complicated mixture of goodness, kindness, and helpfulness this person has brought into my life.

I could blame my boss for enabling this behavior on my team. I could blame my boss for not setting me up for success. And again, I think I have corroborated data and legitimate reasons to be angry. But my boss has also listened to me cry and helped me through an extremely troubling interaction I had with a colleague. My boss has consistently encouraged me to own my voice and speak up often and they can be incredibly empowering. They seem to deeply care about me and my wellbeing.

That’s not villain behavior. Villains could do those things with agendas, sure. But the demonstrations of true affection I have experienced from the people above are too earnest and too consistent to reasonably infer bad intentions.

I could be angry with the whole lot of people at my company, for creating a culture that is toxic and values performance and productivity over humanity and health, despite what they say they value.

But they love when my toddler hops on my Zoom calls. They deeply commended my mental health presentation. They let me talk about potty training and sing drivers license parodies More than let me, they express that they love it. They seem to truly accept - and dare I say, encourage - my personality. They are kind, intelligent, and loving people.

So then... I am left with no target for my misery. And that’s a frustrating feeling.

More than frustrating, it’s hollow. I am stuck with this persistent, nagging ache in my heart and no ugly dragon I can fight with a legendary sword. There’s no secret spy enemy to hunt down. There’s no corrupt government to overthrow. There’s no mysterious evil power to destroy.

I suppose this is where “I do the work” of therapy, medication, and general recovery from this pandemic... but my heart isn’t really behind those words. They would simply exist to ease the guilt I feel when sharing my burdens with others. We’ve all had a hard year. You don’t need to hold any more than you currently are.

I feel listless. I feel restless. I feel incomplete. I’ll wait until the next thing to rage about and rage I shall, but when that’s over, I will just feel empty and sad all over again.

I guess I don’t know where to end this. Life was simpler when I was Harry Potter and hunting horcruxes to save the world. Now I’m nearing 30, J.K. Rowling is kind of a dick, and people are nuanced and complicated in the way that this world is nuanced and complicated. Marred by sin and simultaneously bearing the image and holiness of God Himself. It’s confusing. I don’t like it.

But I like you.

Thanks for reading.

love, mi

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bellygunnr · 5 years ago

Text

you’d finally like to learn ch.7

you're 30 minutes late to work. you're not sure if that matters once you get inside your shared office because both of your esteemed colleagues are on the floor, rummaging through old files and folders. the filing cabinets that held these piles are practically disassembled-- the drawers are arranged haphazardly around Vance and Kleiner. you skirt the edges of the mess, setting your tray of apology coffee on your desk.

they don't notice you.

and you don't really... care. not right now, anyway. the sheer amount of mess on the floor makes something in your brain cringe-- where the hell did they start? where do they end? what could drive them to such urgency as to destroy the carefully ordered backlog of studies and research? had there been a memo you missed about this?

well, if you had missed it, you sure as hell weren't going to look for it. you knew what you wanted from life, and it wasn't this. besides, it wasn't like they had explicitly--

you stop yourself. there's order to everything, provided you have the wherewithal to create it yourself. you could insert yourself between them, make your presence known, but that's...

what am i willing to put up with today? you ask yourself. i don't think it's this. i have a better idea.

you take a long drag of iced coffee, letting the slightly bitter notes cauterize your decision. then, as silently as you arrived, you walk right back out of the office.

if they really need you, they'll call. you'll check back in a couple hours at the very least.

the Black Mesa ventilation system was, predictably, a labyrinth. its tunnels were narrow but sometimes opened up into larger canals or turned right into slowly whirling fan blades that pulled or pushed air. you peeked out of every grate you came across- even though you've been in here an hour, you haven't left Sector C. familiar AnMat labs and offices peer back at you.

your shoulder catches on a metal corner as you cut it too close. one shaft narrows dramatically, forcing you to tuck in your elbows and bow your head. you wonder how barney crawled his way through here-- even though you were taller, he was broader by a mile. would his shoulders even fit in the vent you entered through?

you bow your head at the thought. barney had really nice shoulders-- you had the pleasure of seeing them bare exactly once so far, whilst he was helping you with weight training. his muscle was evident, but he wasn't hard angles and flat planes. no, barney had dangerous slopes and curves, soft in appearance but firm in actuality.

well, you imagined they were firm. his hands certainly were as he corrected your form or patted you on the back. at certain angles, you could see the stretch marks patterning his upper arms. a strange pattern of old scars decorated his stomach too-- that piqued your curiosity, but it hadn't been the time to ask, nor the time to pry.

you shake your head. the vent shafts had opened back up, enough so to permit you sitting upright. that probably wasn't a good sign. you peek through the slats of a grate, one conveniently placed underneath you.

unfamiliar corridor with nonsense wall markings.

definitely not Anomalous Materials.

i should turn around, you think, now that i have the space. but i don't remember how i got here.

barney's not even here and he's still distracting me, you think despairingly. aren't i supposed to be nearly 30? what the hell am i doing?

maybe this is how all first crushes or infatuations worked. now that you were settled down, accepted (mostly), and comfortable somewhere, it was time for you to latch onto the first friendly man you met and wonder if his lips were as soft as they looked. sure, you had had flings and such in grad, but they were just that-- flings. you only ever performed touch n' go's with people in the past.

you were scared of commitment. relationships were a minefield of expectations, implications, and social rules you understood less than the standard set. besides, you had committed before and gotten hurt.

more than once, it had been a trick or a joke or misfired signals. data suggested it would happen again, but as you had considered before, barney calhoun was a brand new variable. maybe he would be the one to break the pattern.

the next grate you peek through has a face staring back at you.

it's awfully familiar.

on some stroke of luck, it's barney to find you, which you're unsure how to feel about beyond embarrassed. after all, he had been the one to occupy your thoughts for the past 30 minutes. stained mental images of his shoulders and stomach flash helpfully in your mind, causing you to blush. it takes far too long for you to catch what he's saying.

he's gotten good at sign, at least.

"I was exploring," you say, cutting him off. "You gave me the idea."

"Did I?" Barney asks, laughing a little. "What, when we met?"

you nod, scratching your beard. you forgot to trim and shave this morning.

"Do you know how to get back?"

"Probably," you say. "Where are we?"

just as you finish signing, a deep vibrating hum overtakes the corridor. it grows in volume and intensity to the point of settling in your bones, but it's over just as quickly as it began. surprised, you look at barney for answers.

he looks... uneasy.

"They call that the test chamber. No idea what's in there, but I wager it's got somethin' to do with aliens, y'know? But you ain't supposed to be here without clearance, Doc," Barney explains, his voice suddenly patient but edged. "Hey, you wanna see the HEV suits? There's a couple still in there." He jerks his thumb behind him, that phantom edge gone and replaced with a goofy, eager lilt.

oh.

you try not to react too overtly. so this is where you'd be spending your days in the next few months? you nod, slightly excited, somewhat apprehensive.

"Great! Walk with purpose, Doc. It's on this way."

and so you fall into step behind him, striding "with purpose." barney leads you directly to a slightly closed-off room that drops off a level. within its confines stands a large contraption that further contained three pods. two were lit green and full, the third empty, shining red.

the HEV suits-- Hazardous Environment suits-- seemed to float within their pods. bright orange armour, black, indeterminable material underneath, with heavy gloves, boots, and helmets to match. you fiddle with your glasses uncertainly. despite being selected, you hadn't seen one in person yet.

they were rather unassuming to some degree, nothing belying their capabilities beyond protection. they also looked far lighter than the booklet you received suggested.

briefly, you wonder if the test chamber is where you would also undergo the looming "hazard training" in a few months.

"Got a good look, Gordon? Here, you can take this vent back to AnMat. Don't worry, I won't let anyone know you were here," Barney says, grinning good-naturedly. he pries off the grate, ushering you inside.

"Before I go," you say, clasping his shoulder and bringing him around. "I want to tell you something. Can we get drinks at my place tonight?"

barney blinks in surprise, then wiggles as he grins and nods. "'Course, Gordon! Shoot, I'm off at seven tonight. That good?"

you nod. that was perfect. without saying anything else, you fold yourself up and disappear into the HVAC system once more. hopefully, no one will have noticed your absence.

the grate leading back into the office falls with a messy clatter onto the smooth tile. you flinch at the sound, it grating on your ears, but force yourself to drop down after it. the impact goes straight through the soles of your shoes and into your ankles.

it hurts, but you're rewarded with two startled shouts, then laughter.

"Gordon! Goodness, I was wondering where you were," Dr. Vance says, chuckling. he's standing behind you, so you slowly turn around, glasses still held to your face. "How long were you up there?"

"Lost track of time," you say, shrugging.

"What on earth were you doing in the vents? Do you know how dangerous that is?!"

you wince. Kleiner. carefully, you put your back to your desk so you can better face your coworkers. on some level, you note that the mess of files and folders is gone. cleaned up, vacuumed back into their cabinet home.

"Look at you. You've got dust and all sorts of muck on your coat. You didn't get hurt, did you? Did you get lost?"

Kleiner has his hands on his hips even as he frets over you with a restrained fatherly aura. you entertain throwing barney under the bus very briefly, but decide against it.

you were 27. not 12.

"I only got a little lost," you admit, smiling faintly. "I ran into Barn. I think a few more runs and I'll have the layout memorized."

"Let the man breathe, Izzy. Say, did you find the route into Kleiner's lab?" Dr. Vance steps in, smiling with that always-easy expression. at your nod, he laughs heartily. "Very good! Maybe now we won't have to wait for ol' Calhoun to rescue him from lockouts. Was that your goal?"

you shrug, rubbing the back of your neck, suddenly anxious at the attention.

"Calhoun, bless his soul, is going to lead to my early death," Kleiner laments, shaking his head.

that doesn't sound very fair on barney. you scratch at your beard, the bristles rough under your fingertips. how much did you need to explain your actions?

not really very much.

"How was work?" you ask instead. they both launch into recounts of their day, which mostly involve trying to find an old study that corroborated a present-time experiment. you don't mention that the entire database is digitized.

sometimes, even paper gets lonely.

before you leave for the night, an hour shy of your meeting with barney, Eli Vance pulls you off to the side. you worry slightly, gnawing at your lip.

"Could you let Barney know that I might need him for some babysitting soon? My wife and I are going to the cinema this weekend, and he's usually my first option," the doctor explains, looking giddy at the mere thought.

you release a relieved breath.

"Sure," you say slowly. "I'll tell him tonight."

"Great! Thanks so much, Gordon."

Barney raps his knuckles across Gordon's door, sharp and brief, then rolls back on his heels, shifting his weight with uncharacteristic uncertainty. Gordon had looked awfully serious when asking if they could get drinks. Either something terrible had occurred, this was a love confession, or something else entirely.

He wouldn't really mind if it was a confession. Gordon was cute, and he was gay.

Then again, he had no way of knowing how Gordon swung, if he swung at all. He'd hate to strain their burgeoning relationship with an errant crush, but there was always the hope it would fizzle out in time. Not that they ever did.

He was a hopeless romantic in that regard. Things always looked sweeter when you could never have them.

The door opens, squeaking slightly on its hinges. Gordon smiles down at him with shining eyes, looking far more casual and relaxed than he had earlier today.

"Sorry I'm late, Gordon," Barney says, stepping in after him. "Tram takes a bit to traverse this place, y'know?"

Gordon nods in agreement. "Don't sweat it. I got takeout and drinks for us, is that alright?"

"Always is, boss," Barney says reflexively, grinning. Already he can smell the scent of the food-- boxed up and ready on the kitchen table. He hangs back while Gordon goes about divvying up the food.

Before he hands Barney his plate, however, a booklet makes it there first. It's not very thick, stamped with the Black Mesa logo, and entirely black and white.

The table chair squeaks against the tile as he finagles it underneath him.

"Hazardous Environment Suit Introductory Manual?" Barney reads aloud, blinking. "Shit, are you gonna be doin' Hazard stuff, Gordon?"

That was big. Had to be, right? Gordon was already impressive with his PhD and decisive career at 27, but this was like icing on the cake. All he knew about HEV guys were rumors and hearsay, but this suddenly made them feel very real.

"I might be," Gordon says, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "I have to pass some tests first. It's supposed to be secret, but..."

Well, then.

Barney picks through his food as he mulls this over.

"Then it's our secret," he says, pointing his chopsticks at Gordon. "And we're gonna keep trainin' that hot bod so you won't fail."

At that, Gordon's pale face goes entirely too red and he chokes on his latest morsel of food. Barney claps him on the back while trying to repress laughter, mussing up his hair once the danger is clear.

"Don't die on me yet, Gord," Barney teases, his own face dusted pink. God, he really just said that out loud.

#half life #freehoun #barney calhoun #gordon freeman #posting this because i cant get out ch18

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silenceandpatiencepining · 5 years ago

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1/5 There are a few “personal/private/intimate” moments which make Taylor and Joe relationship very believable to me. One of those moments is the surprise song at the rep stadium tour in Toronto (august 4), which was Come back... be here. She had NEVER performed that song live before and, most importantly, in the last chorus she sang “I guess you’re in London today” instead of “I guess you’re in New York today”, which are the original lyrics.

2/5 It’s one of her lesser-known songs and nobody was gonna talk about that specific performance. There weren’t any possible PR reasons behind it, she didn’t need to sing that song and she didn’t need to change the lyrics to fit her story with Joe, but she did. Another thing is that video of Joe on Taylor’s tennis court. That was a private video which got leaked. It wasn’t meant to be seen by anyone beside the person the video was made for.

3/5 He didn’t have any PR reason to be on her tennis court, and yet he was. Sure, you can think that he was there to talk with Taylor about bearding strategies... but there’s the (more) probable option that he was on her court because they’re together. There’s also the screenshot from the zoom call that Joe had with some friends/coworkers a couple weeks ago (it’s important to note that he wasn’t the one to share the screenshot).

4/5 The room he was in was filled with daylight (sorry, I couldn’t resist), while the rooms of his friends who are based in London were in the dark. That’s the only “proof” that we have that he’s quarantining with Taylor, but it’s a pretty strong one, I think. I mean, for sure he isn’t in London. Maybe he’s in Costa Rica or in Argentina, we don’t know ahahah. My point is that every time something more private happens/gets out, it ALWAYS corroborates the fact that they’re together.

5/5 About the rugs/Benji debate: he posted another pic of Benji under a rug a couple of weeks ago. I honestly don’t think there was any malice in his intentions. He simply liked those pics of him and of Benji, that was all there probably was to it. I mean, those who believe that they’re dating aren’t gonna stop because of a rug, and those who believe that they aren’t have better arguments than a rug anyway. (I hope this whole thing sounded nice and respectful because that’s how I meant it!).

——————————

Hi hello thank you so much for sharing these! Absolutely sounded very nice and kind—I really appreciate that! I didn’t know about several of these so it’s nice to hear that there are some more personal moments to the Joe/Taylor story.

In regards to CBBH being the surprise song, the first night in Toronto was on Karlie’s 26th birthday. I’ve seen some speculate that Taylor sang that song for Karlie since they couldn’t be together on her birthday and that it was a big deal precisely because she never performs it and it’s not as popular, being a slower track on the deluxe edition of red. I’m not saying that the lyric was changed to London to be about Joe to distract from that, but as a Kaylor, we would absolutely be on alert for anything happening on Karlie’s b-day especially since New York is their city. Some might think it was too obvious if the original was kept. Just a thought.

The tennis court and zoom call thing I’ve not heard anything about though—honestly didn’t even know Taylor had a tennis court. But I’ve heard Tyler Swift does some half-assed performative charity tennis (lol sorry I couldn’t resist). If there’s a post(s) that has these, could you send them my way? I’m curious if you can tell anything about where Joe is from the call, aside from it being a different time zone from his friends. And also just want to check out Taylor’s tennis court, I don’t know anything about here place in LA aside from the spiral staircase by the piano and the mural wall.

As for benji and the rug—I will literally never turn down cute cat content. I think the rug thing is mostly about fans who already think they’re together getting some easy confirmation/suggestion that Joe and Taylor are quarantining with each other, but kaylors obviously don’t think so and that’s why we pointed it out.

Thanks again for sharing! This kind of stuff is definitely more my speed :) Stop by and interact anything!!

#about joe #whats in evidence #with a personal touch #sapp ask

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shannsleeve · 5 years ago

Text

Have you ever wanted something so much that you've felt guilty for desiring it? That you're embarrassed for indulging in longing and hope? That you believe you're ridiculous for even thinking it might happen one day?

Well, that's me and love.

My whole life I've been told not to want. Or, if I do break that rule, not to want too much. "When you're not looking for it, it will show up." "There's more to love than that." "It's not all it's cracked up to be."

Clearly, there's truth to these things. And I'm no stranger to heartbreak. Despair and I are old friends. Pain and I take long walks at twilight. Disgust and I share conversations over dinner. At this point, I'm quite sure Invalidation and I moved in together without even noticing.

For me, love is synonymous with grief. And yet, I want. I yearn. I ache. And it fucking hurts.

Why? Because I truly, honestly, don't believe I'm worthy of love.

Now, as a mental health professional and an intelligent human being, I logically know this is bullshit. (Although, even thinking that feels like a farce.) As a social worker and therapist, I am inclined to disregard such nonsense and try to focus on all the reasons the opposite is true.

As a person who suffers with major depressive disorder, I accept this as blindly and as fully as a reborn Christian clings to their Savior. (Bit of irony there, really.)

I've realized that hating myself is easy. The evidence in support of why I am so horrid is organized, alphabetically in my mind. "Attention-Seeking. Desperate. Dramatic. Emotional. Intimidating. Reckless. Ugly. (Emphasis on ugly.) Weak." There's more but you can always check out a copy of my archives to see for yourself. No fees for a lack of returns.

Now, you may disagree. You may be indignant, even. How could I say these things, you wonder. How could I believe them to the core of my being? Because these aren't just things I've told myself. Other people have corroborated them -- friends, family, supervisors, coworkers, classmates, teachers, lovers. People I trusted and admired. People I respected and adored. People I looked to for validation and support. All in the name of love, of wanting what was best for me.

Rebuilding myself is harder. Years of breaking down walls only to find fortresses with steel barricades behind them tends to weigh on my resolve. I'm exhausted. I've swung the sword until it's slipped out of my blistered hands. It isn't enough to contradict the dark thoughts and self-deprication. It isn't enough to put distance between myself and the toxic fiends whose voices I still hear in the background. It isn't enough to force my heart to beat for myself, even just a little bit, rather than completely for others.

I need proof. I need proof that I am worth it, that someone, other than myself, other than my confidants, would be willing to choose me. That someone could make this decision rationally, wholeheartedly, and devotedly. That I could be seen, (really seen!) and not cast away the moment things are difficult or inconvenient.

I want what so many others seem to come by so easily. It is so natural for me to love others. Why does it seem so arduous for others to love me? To hear me? To understand me?

I already know this declaration is outrageous, but I couldn't hold back the longing anymore. I want so much but, I suppose, do too little. I yearn and reach but do not grasp. Perhaps this is an end of my own making. Perhaps not. This could just be the ramblings of a sleep-deprived idiot at 4am. Perhaps not.

I just want someone to hear me. To see me. To comfort me. To love me that way. Just this once. For more than a moment.

#personal #god i am so full of it #what several weeks of ruminating on the same shit gets you #i know it sounds ridiculous #but i mean it #i really do #still probably going to be alone forever #but at least i put it out there i guess

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truthbeetoldmedia · 6 years ago

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6x08 “He Said, She Said” Review

The detectives of Brooklyn’s 99th precinct have solved plenty of gory murders, drug rings, B&Es, and cases of identity theft, but one area the show has steered clear of — until now — was the subject of sexual assault. And with good reason: how does a comedy find the humour in a situation that is all too distressingly real for the majority of women?

In the wake of the #MeToo movement (it’s worth mentioning that Terry Crews, who plays Terry Jeffords, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the movement since the beginning, sharing his own story of sexual assault), it seemed it would only be a matter of time before Brooklyn Nine-Nine turned its attention to the sensitive subject; and, in the same vein as episodes such as “Moo Moo” and “Game Night”, manages to make its point authentically and succinctly, while still providing laughs.

During the morning briefing, Captain Holt tells the squad about their newest case: Seth Haggerty, who has had his penis broken by a golf club. Jake’s game of guessing how such an injury could possibly occur is ruined when Holt somberly informs them that Seth was attacked by a female coworker who claims he had sexually assaulted her.

Jake is assigned to the case and Amy, who is somehow three weeks ahead in her paperwork, offers to jump on with him. As we learn later, Amy has ulterior motives for wanting to work the case, outside of getting back in the field: it hits close to home for her, as she, like many, has also suffered through workplace harassment.

First, Jake and Amy interrogate Seth, who is wearing a comedic diaper cast. Predictably, he claims that he did nothing wrong. Next, they bring in Keri, who tells her side of the story: Seth had been drinking, he got her alone and tried to take her clothes off, so she took his golf club and hit him in the “cookie monster” with it.

Right away, this episode did something I was impressed by: it would have been easy for Jake or someone else to want to take Seth at his word, to question Keri’s version of events, or to suggest that her response was the wrong one; but no one does. (In fact, the show sends Hitchcock, perhaps the one most likely to make any such comments, home for the week in the cold open, perhaps realizing that such a storyline is one Hitchcock can’t live in genuinely.)

It’s one thing to say the woman needs to be believed; it’s another to show it, and show it without saying that that’s what you’re doing.

After discussing it, Jake and Amy decide that Keri should file charges against Seth for sexual assault. But she refuses, because her company has already offered her a $2.5 million hush money payment and a promotion in exchange for her silence.

It seems like an easy decision to make: $2.5 million to pretend nothing ever happened; or open an investigation which has little chance of finding any damning evidence, relive the assault, and open yourself up to being disbelieved, ostracized, and punished for telling the truth.

Except.

Assaulters don’t deserve to walk free.

This is the crux of Me Too: it takes an inordinate amount of courage to make oneself so vulnerable in order to stop the same thing from happening again, to someone else, when there seems to be so little possibility of success.

After some encouragement from Amy, Keri decides to press charges and an investigation is officially opened, but it doesn’t get off to the most auspicious start: Jake and Amy arrive at Keri’s workplace to conduct interviews with her coworkers, hoping someone else will corroborate her story, but everyone seems intent on toeing the company line and insist that Seth is a “great guy” and the company is a “very professional place.” (This, while some employees are openly drunk.)

Not only do Jake and Amy not get the evidence they need, they find out that Keri has been fired and her settlement retracted because acts of violence won’t be tolerated. Distressed, Amy throws herself into the case, desperate to find evidence so that Keri doesn’t lose her job because of Amy’s advice.

Later, Amy comes clean to Jake about why exactly this case hits so close to home for her: at her first precinct, she was approached by her commanding officer after being promoted to detective, because he seemed to think she owed him something in return for her career. Amy never told anyone about the incident, in which her boss tried to kiss her, because she felt that maybe her promotion hadn’t been earned in the first place and that any future promotions wouldn’t be offered to her. (This particular backstory seems to be lifted right from the Harvey Weinstein scandal that started the whole Me Too movement in the first place.)

Another thing this episode did very well — as it did in the aforementioned “Game Night” episode, also — was let Jake sit back and be a comforting presence and ally rather than an active participant. As “Game Night” was Rosa’s episode, “He Said, She Said” is Amy’s. (Jake himself brings attention to the role of men in this topic while Rosa and Amy are having a back-and-forth about the merits of pursuing a sexual assault charge: should he leave the room, or should he be a part of the conversation? In the end, he decides to be an active listener and stop interjecting, which is exactly the right call.)

Because this is Brooklyn Nine-Nine and, above all, it’s a show that’s meant to make you feel good, Amy and Jake do end up with the evidence they need: one of the employees at the firm comes forward with a text chain in which Seth tells the same story Keri did. However, even with the conviction, Keri still quits her job because she knows she’s being isolated from her other coworkers and that will have ramifications of her career.

Two step forward and one step back. As the show is sure to iterate, doing the right thing isn’t always easy.

It’s not all bittersweet, though; the episode ends with Rosa revealing that another female employee from the same firm has come forward to share her story, which leads to my favourite line of the episode: “Two steps forward and one step back is still one step forward.”

If this plotline does all the heavy lifting of the episode, the B-plot works hard to add in some levity: Captain Holt learns that one of his greatest-ever collars, the Disco Strangler, has died when his transport van flipped and caught on fire. (This is a reference that goes waaaaaay back: the Disco Strangler was mentioned in the show’s pilot episode, when Terry uses the story of his capture to convince Jake that their new captain is the Real Deal.)

Although all evidence — including a charred body and the word of a badly injured van driver — points to his old nemesis actually being dead, Captain Holt refuses to believe it, thinking instead that this is the Disco Strangler’s great escape.

Is this a case of Captain Holt’s detective senses being right despite having no evidence to go on, or is he making up a case because accepting that the Disco Strangler is dead would also mean accepting that his best years are behind him?

Terry and Charles seem to think it’s the latter, and as Holt investigates and the evidence mounts against him, it seems they’re right: Holt’s main clue, a piece of string that he believes belonged to a yo-yo, turns out to be part of the sign the Strangler had to wear that declared him a fall risk, and seeing the van driver badly injured in the hospital makes it seem ridiculous to think that she could be in cahoots with the criminal.

Just as Holt is ready to admit that he’s wrong and he is no longer the young cop he used to be, he receives aerial footage from a helicopter of the Disco Strangler walking along a highway. Holt orders a team be dispatched to pick him up. The thirty-odd intervening years since Holt last caught the Disco Strangler make themselves known though, as Holt’s triumphant moment is somewhat ruined by the fact that the old Strangler is too deaf to hear what he’s saying.

Working off a reduced cast for this episode (as previously mentioned, Hitchcock is sent home in the cold open, Scully only has a minor role to play, and Stephanie Beatriz, who directed the episode, only appears as Rosa a couple of times) works in the show’s favour: the two main plots balance each other nicely, and each is given room to breathe, with especial attention given to Amy’s story in a way that doesn’t feel rushed or overbearing. As usual, the show handles delicate subject matter with deftness and finesse, and I’m grateful for it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Thursdays on NBC at 9/8c.

Sam’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝.5

#Brooklyn Nine-Nine #He Said She Said #Me Too

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corneliusreignallen · 5 years ago

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The execution of Rodney Reed has been stopped

Rodney Reed listens during a hearing at the Bastrop County Criminal Justice Center in 2014. | AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner

Amid a growing movement to #FreeRodneyReed, an appeals court has ruled that new evidence must be considered.

An appeals court has stayed the execution of Rodney Reed, who was scheduled to be executed next week for a murder he says he did not commit.

On Friday, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously to delay Reed’s execution by 120 days; shortly after that, Court of Criminal Appeals in Texas ruled to also halt the execution and ordered that new evidence be considered by the court in which Reed was originally tried.

“At every turn we have asked for a hearing at which we can present the evidence, in full, of Rodney Reed’s innocence,” one of Reed’s lawyers, Bryce Benjet, told the New York Times. “So it is extremely rewarding that we can finally have a chance to fully present his case in court, so it can be determined that he did not commit this crime.”

In October, a new witness came forward claiming that it was not Reed who killed Stacy Stites in 1996, but her fiancé at the time, a former police officer named Jimmy Fennell. Reed’s lawyers and the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization for criminal justice reform, filed an application for clemency with the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles following the sworn affidavit of Arthur Snow, who said Fennell confessed to the murder of Stites when the two men were in prison together. In addition to Snow’s testimony, several other witnesses have come forward with similar stories around Fennell and his disdain for his fiancé, a white woman who he suspected was sleeping with Reed, a black man, behind his back.

Reed, 51, has long admitted to having been in a romantic relationship with Stites, but at the time of the trial, no witness would corroborate the affair. Now, Stites’s cousin and a former coworker have both said the two were involved, according to the Innocence Project. Reed’s lawyers told the Times that other witnesses could still come forward and they may even subpoena Fennell. (Fennell’s attorney told the Times that his client maintains his innocence.)

National attention to Reed’s case — and the call to reexamine it — had grown in recent weeks. A petition on Change.org has garnered over half-a-million signatures asking for the execution to be stopped and a new trial ordered. Nearly 100 supporters of Reed also showed up to the capitol building in Austin, Texas, earlier this month to urge Gov. Greg Abbott to show clemency. Celebrities like Rihanna and Meek Mill have also urged the governor to free Reed.

16 days left and he will be executed for a crime he didn’t commit .. get more info here! #freerodneyreed https://t.co/Njm7QsTNtx pic.twitter.com/ifSGk6ssqg

— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) November 4, 2019

”Please @GovAbbott How can you execute a man when since his trial, substantial evidence that would exonerate Rodney Reed has come forward and even implicates the other person of interest. I URGE YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING,” tweeted Kim Kardashian West, who also notably used her influence in the clemency cases of Alice Johnson and Cyntoia Brown in recent years.

Even Republicans, like Sen. Ted Cruz, stepped in to advocate for Reed, writing a letter to Gov. Abbott and the parole board asking to stay his execution, which was scheduled for Wednesday. With the court’s late-minute reprieve, the attention and advocacy seemed to have paid off.

Reed wasn’t the first suspect in Stites’s murder. It was her fiancé, Fennell.

In 1996, the body of 19-year-old Stacey Stites was found in a wooded area in Bastrop, Texas, having been assaulted, raped, and strangled. When the case was first opened, police initially questioned and suspected Fennell of committing the crime. Fennell went on to fail two lie detector tests administered by the police, but the DNA found on Stites’s body didn’t match Fennell’s.

That’s when the investigation shifted to Rodney Reed — his DNA was a match, according to police. Reed admitted that he and Stites were having a sexual relationship behind Fennell’s back but maintained that he was innocent and was not involved her in death. Despite having another viable suspect in Fennell, police arrested Reed. He was tried, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death.

Now nearly 21 years since the verdict, much is in question following the new evidence obtained by Reed’s attorneys and the Innocence Project. On October 30, Snow filed a sworn affidavit stating that in 2010, Fennell admitted to killing Stites while the two men were both serving time at a DeWitt County, Texas, prison. According to the affidavit, Fennell, who was there on a rape conviction, was in need of protection from the Aryan Brotherhood, so he went to Snow, who was a brotherhood member, and confessed to the crime as a way to build trust.

“Toward the end of the conversation, Jimmy said confidently, ‘I had to kill my n*****-loving fiancé,’” Snow wrote in the affidavit. Snow said he later realized that Reed was serving time for Stites’s murder after reading an article about him; he has only come forward now after seeing a more recent story about Reed, he said.

Fennell’s attorney responded to Snow’s allegation by calling Snow a career criminal, according to CNN, and that following Fennell’s release for rape, his client has converted to Christianity and begun helping people with drug addictions.

However, others have also claimed in recent weeks that it was Fennell who killed Stites. Heather Stobbs, a cousin of Stites’s, now feels that Reed was wrongly convicted and even possibly framed. She told the Fox affiliate in Austin that she has no doubt in her mind that Fennell did it.

The movement to #FreeRobertReed spread wide

Even before Snow came forward, a social media movement started putting pressure on Gov. Abbott to release Reed. Kardashian West’s tweet plea came about a month ago. Meanwhile, Black-ish star Yara Shahidi quoted Audre Lorde in a tweet: “Without community there is no liberation,” urging people to sign the petition. Cyntoia Brown, who was granted clemency earlier this year for killing a man who had allegedly solicited her for sex as a teen, also tweeted out the petition for Reed’s clemency.

I just signed this petition to tell @GovAbbott to stop the execution of Rodney Reed. You should too! #FreeRodneyReed https://t.co/qOhsaEJGbH

— Cyntoia Brown Long (@cyntoia_brown) November 4, 2019

The biggest surprise, though, came from Republicans who also asked the governor to delay the execution. Sen. Cruz, along with seven fellow Republican state senators and eight Democrats, wrote Abbott and the parole board a letter on Wednesday asking them to look at the new evidence and witness testimony.

“If there’s a real question of innocence, the system needs to stop and look at the evidence, because an innocent man should be set free,” said Cruz.

While the pressure to stay Reed’s execution ultimately worked, cases like his have not historically ended in the inmate’s favor. According to a 2014 study, one in every 25 people with a death sentence is innocent. Between 1973 and 2014, 144 people on death row have been exonerated, or 1.6 percent of all death sentences. That means that many innocent people — over twice the number of those who’ve been spared — have likely been executed.

In a case similar to Reed’s, Troy Davis was executed in 2011 for killing a cop in the state of Georgia. According to the Innocence Project, the organization sent a letter to commute Davis’s sentence “due to serious questions about his guilt,” along with a petition with more than 660,000 signatures, shortly before his death. But in a 3-2 vote, the members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles ultimately rejected the clemency bid.

In Davis’s case, seven out of nine witnesses who aided in the guilty verdict all recanted their statements. Kimberly Davis, sister to Troy, told the Guardian, “If those seven witnesses were credible enough to put my brother on death row, then why weren’t they credible when they recanted?”

She added, “My brother was murdered by the state of Georgia. For the Troy Davises who came before him and the Troy Davises who will come after him, we want to stop the killing of innocent men.”

In recent years, lawmakers and the public have been forced to reckon with the harsh sentences and convictions of black people caught up in a biased justice system. A few of those cases have even ended redemption, like that of Brown and Alice Johnson, a great-grandmother who was serving a life sentence for drug-trafficking. The power of social media, protest, and petition created enough pressure to sway those in power to grant those women clemency. While Abbott hasn’t done the same for Reed, the courts have at least opened the doors, once again, to allow him to prove his innocence.

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#Vox - All

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shanedakotamuir · 5 years ago

Text

The execution of Rodney Reed has been stopped

Rodney Reed listens during a hearing at the Bastrop County Criminal Justice Center in 2014. | AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner

Amid a growing movement to #FreeRodneyReed, an appeals court has ruled that new evidence must be considered.

An appeals court has stayed the execution of Rodney Reed, who was scheduled to be executed next week for a murder he says he did not commit.

16 days left and he will be executed for a crime he didn’t commit .. get more info here! #freerodneyreed https://t.co/Njm7QsTNtx pic.twitter.com/ifSGk6ssqg

— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) November 4, 2019

Reed wasn’t the first suspect in Stites’s murder. It was her fiancé, Fennell.

The movement to #FreeRobertReed spread wide

I just signed this petition to tell @GovAbbott to stop the execution of Rodney Reed. You should too! #FreeRodneyReed https://t.co/qOhsaEJGbH

— Cyntoia Brown Long (@cyntoia_brown) November 4, 2019

“If there’s a real question of innocence, the system needs to stop and look at the evidence, because an innocent man should be set free,” said Cruz.

She added, “My brother was murdered by the state of Georgia. For the Troy Davises who came before him and the Troy Davises who will come after him, we want to stop the killing of innocent men.”

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2qoIDzN

#Vox - All

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timalexanderdollery · 5 years ago

Text

The execution of Rodney Reed has been stopped

Rodney Reed listens during a hearing at the Bastrop County Criminal Justice Center in 2014. | AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner

Amid a growing movement to #FreeRodneyReed, an appeals court has ruled that new evidence must be considered.

An appeals court has stayed the execution of Rodney Reed, who was scheduled to be executed next week for a murder he says he did not commit.

16 days left and he will be executed for a crime he didn’t commit .. get more info here! #freerodneyreed https://t.co/Njm7QsTNtx pic.twitter.com/ifSGk6ssqg

— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) November 4, 2019

Reed wasn’t the first suspect in Stites’s murder. It was her fiancé, Fennell.

The movement to #FreeRobertReed spread wide

I just signed this petition to tell @GovAbbott to stop the execution of Rodney Reed. You should too! #FreeRodneyReed https://t.co/qOhsaEJGbH

— Cyntoia Brown Long (@cyntoia_brown) November 4, 2019

“If there’s a real question of innocence, the system needs to stop and look at the evidence, because an innocent man should be set free,” said Cruz.

She added, “My brother was murdered by the state of Georgia. For the Troy Davises who came before him and the Troy Davises who will come after him, we want to stop the killing of innocent men.”

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2qoIDzN

#Vox - All

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gracieyvonnehunter · 5 years ago

Text

The execution of Rodney Reed has been stopped

Rodney Reed listens during a hearing at the Bastrop County Criminal Justice Center in 2014. | AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner

Amid a growing movement to #FreeRodneyReed, an appeals court has ruled that new evidence must be considered.

An appeals court has stayed the execution of Rodney Reed, who was scheduled to be executed next week for a murder he says he did not commit.

16 days left and he will be executed for a crime he didn’t commit .. get more info here! #freerodneyreed https://t.co/Njm7QsTNtx pic.twitter.com/ifSGk6ssqg

— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) November 4, 2019

Reed wasn’t the first suspect in Stites’s murder. It was her fiancé, Fennell.

The movement to #FreeRobertReed spread wide

I just signed this petition to tell @GovAbbott to stop the execution of Rodney Reed. You should too! #FreeRodneyReed https://t.co/qOhsaEJGbH

— Cyntoia Brown Long (@cyntoia_brown) November 4, 2019

“If there’s a real question of innocence, the system needs to stop and look at the evidence, because an innocent man should be set free,” said Cruz.

She added, “My brother was murdered by the state of Georgia. For the Troy Davises who came before him and the Troy Davises who will come after him, we want to stop the killing of innocent men.”

from Vox - All https://ift.tt/2qoIDzN

#Vox - All

0 notes