#i don���t go to that town very much so i have absolutely no idea how to get around there

[takeyourcyanide]

Oscillation, Teeteration; Running From Subjugation!

AO3

Fandom: Soul Eater

Characters: Franken Stein, Marie Mjolnir

Word Count: 1 651

Tags: hotels, (more accurately motels), fluff and hurt/comfort, hurt/comfort, tooth-rotting fluff, madness, age regression/de-aging, (eventual agere), another little idea I had, meisters (soul eater), weapons (soul eater), during canon, canon related

Summary: -Manga Spoilers-

Stein and Marie are staying at a motel whilst out of town and on the hunt for the real perpetrator of Joe’s homicide. Though, there happens to be a little bump in the road, and that would be Stein’s madness. Marie is awoken to a struggling Stein.

Notes: per the usual not quite sure how much I like this as of right now but here goes

they’ve been dashing around me and such the entire time I wrote this and after it’s so fitting

“What? …Shh!”

A disoriented grimace plastered itself onto Marie’s visage, having been thrusted out of her rather deep slumber by the intermingling sounds of soft creaking and shaky whispering.

“Stein?” She rolled over onto her back, pawing the sleep out of her dry eyes. Kicking away the motel’s cheap, thin comforter in which she was entangled, she crawled over to the very edge of the bed, squinting her eyes on all fours at the source of all the noise, vision bleary.

Stein was frantically rocking himself, his face, save for his batting eyes, wholly covered by his hands. He repeatedly whipped his head around, from side to side, up and down, and behind himself. He was still murmuring something under his breath, something that sounded more melodic than the former, though she couldn’t make out more than the occasional whimper.

“Stein? What’s wrong?”

She looked over at the alarm clock sitting at a slant on the nightstand, the red string of numbers possessing a luminosity which stretched outward, albeit in a blurry manner. The clock read ‘02:56 AM.’

“Stein!” And finally, he peeked out from behind his twitching fingers, sneaking a glance at her, though not without jumping; startled theatrics.

“Ma-Marie? I-It’s you and you’re awake, y-yes?”

Her gaze softened upon hearing the rattled stuttering in his speech, as she shifted to cross her legs. “Yes, it’s me and I’m awake, Stein. What’s wrong? It’s three in the morning, did you have a nightmare again?”

“Never fell asleep, unless this is one? They.. uhm.. uh…… crawling and they stare. The i-i-a.. shit. No. The i-i-i-individual, Marie, t-they likely are aware of our arrival, yes? They know of our search. And they wo-won’t go away.. on the walls and on the floor and on the skin and in the corners. All over- everywhere!” He rubbed his hands up into his hair, tugging for a moment before caressing his own cheekbones.

“How about-“

He, then, leapt abruptly off of the bed, fidgeting in excess. He continuously flapped his hands, yanked on his pants, and smoothed his fingers over his collarbones, swaying on his feet like the basic motor function of balance went unlearned for him, as he began pacing circles around the room, every once in awhile jerking away from what she’d perceived to be absolutely nothing. There was a thick layer of glossy tears painted over his eyes, two swirling vortexes unable to plummet and relieve themselves in gradual dissipation.

The only word that came to mind, the only word that seemed befitting whilst she patiently sat and observed him was ‘erratic.’

“The eyes and awareness - they know something I don’t, Marie,” he continued his rambling. “I don-don’t like the walls here, they’ve an air about them.. an air, an air, an air, indeed. Do you feel it, too? I don’t know what to do, feel that it is all off course. What am I even doing here- oh, yes. Yes. Yes. I remember now. I remember nothing. Why want- why them- why do they want me? In a past life, given karmatic formalities, something I’ve did within- I- did I done- did I do something wrong? What I’ve done, what am I being punished for? Nothing. I did nothing, I don’t believe in it. …What knocking clock-of-lone quoth of the rising tension, you know… Bottomless red oceans of madness, is it, yes? Give me something to dissect, please, therapeutic value. I don’t need therapy- not from them, but rather from organic volumes of.. I…”

Mjolnir stood, quietly approaching the male once he’d stilled. Before he’d encased his face in his hands anew, his countenance oscillated rapidly between various expressions - he himself was alternating between various expressions, emotions. It was evident he was a dead horse beaten tirelessly with confusion, the threading of the patchwork splitting and fraying, being torn apart. Despite the tears spilling and rolling over his bitten knuckles, bursts of giggles would barrel out of him at random. He was stuck between bolting violently away and leaning into the sensation of a tender hand in his hair; a brutalizing agitation and a furious, aching desire for comfort were being pitted against one another in an all out war.

Marie found herself glad she wasn’t a meister, for to be able to witness well the teetering of his soul and horrified jumping of his wavelength would only make her feel all the worse for him.

She placed her hand carefully on his back, testing the waters. “How about we go sit down, hm? Try to relax a little?”

“Restless, Marie.. in the limbs, it…”

“I know, I know,” she shushed, leading him back to his bed. Despite his latter comment, he silently obeyed, a little overstimulated. He’d wave her off and mumble “don’t touch me,” only to latch onto her wrist and plead with what was his version of puppy dog eyes for just a little more affection, even just a scrap.

She positioned him back down onto the bed, his back leaning against the headboard. He bounced his leg underneath the covers, biting sores into his cheek and finding solace in the metallic taste of blood he’d garnered. “Where you going?” The questioning words left his mouth in an undeniably childish manner, the anxious grip he had on her sleeve not helping.

“I just figured I’d get you a glass of water,” flashing him a reassuring smile, she ceased any and all movement momentarily.

Stein threw the blanket off of himself, inching closer to her on his knees. “Don’t leave. No-Not while they’re here, please. Leave after? Don’ put nothing in the water, please.”

He folded his aforementioned knees as to cram his face into the warm space between her clavicle and neck, holding onto fistfuls of her t-shirt.

“Are you maybe feeling just a tad bit small now, Franken?” She rested her cheek against the top of his head, hand patting delicately against the small of his back.

It appeared his need for comfort was winning, even if only for a second.

“I can’t tell.. how I feel. Don’t know.”

“I think you might be regressing, honey.” Given how he was swiftly becoming simple putty in her hands over a sappy title, he likely was. “…Do you know how long everything’s been all really.. static-y for?”

“Hours.”

‘Then he definitely is.’

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

His lips ever so slightly pursed, he fussed, “No more questions.”

“All right, all right,” she placated. “…………I haven’t seen you drink anything in a while, Franken,” drawling, Marie gently nudged him from out of his hiding spot, to which he whined a petulant “no”, more than a little unhappy with having to come face-to-face with his weapon.

“The sink’s right over there, see? I’ll be right back. And then I’m making sure you actually sleep this time.”

“…Fine. But, uh.. les’ they… uhm.. su’ceed, it’ll be your fault.”

She couldn’t stifle the chuckle that escaped her. “They won’t, I promise.”

Stein had his gaze utterly transfixed on her for the entire time she was but a yard or two away, suckling and gnawing on his already tattered bottom lip.

…Perhaps he was regressing.

He felt something within him perk up at the sound of the pouring water ebbing into mere drops, and the shrieking of the faucet’s handle turning. “W-warm o’ co’d?” He stared at the sloshing liquid presented before him with a suspicion-filled curiosity.

“On the warmer side. It’s already pretty cold in here, so I figured you’d appreciate it.”

He reached up towards the cup with grabby hands, muttering, “Thank you.”

“Woah, woah, woah there,” she seized the glass quickly away from him. “I don’t trust those shaky hands of yours to hold this right now. We don’t want to break this, do we?”

Apathetically, he shrugged. “‘Kay.”

She slotted the glass in between his lips, pausing before situating her hand on the back of his head to clarify, “You’re still okay with me touching you?”

Stein hummed in agreement. “Tryna be.”

He leaned back into the soft texture of her palm, attempting to focus his scribble-teeming mind on the balmy sparks of electricity shooting and pulsating from her flesh.

“All right, then.” Marie tilted the cup, buttom up, and listened for the sound of her meister swallowing. She proudly beamed at the bobbing of his Adam’s apple, a stream of encouraging coos and sickeningly sweet sentences billowing from her mouth and hanging in the air - or, at the very least, in the scientist’s fuzzily swelling chest.

“Good… There you go, sweetie. I only want you to finish this cup, okay? Then you can try and sleep. I know you must be really tired, huh? But I can’t let you dehydrate on me.”

“‘M not sweet,” he playfully argued upon taking his final sip, the weapon clanking the glass down carefully onto the bedside table.

“Ohhh.. I see what you’re doing,” she shuffled into bed next to him with a smirk on her countenance and a nodding head. “Fishing for compliments, are we?”

“No. Jus’ sayin’ the truth,” the corners of his mouth twitched repetitiously from their usual state into a mischievous grin, back and forth and back and forth, as he huffed out a single awkward giggle.

“Well, maybe you’re not all that sweet technically, but you’re still pretty sweet to me. …Now lay down, sweetheart, it’s bed time.”

Stein complied, scanning the room again before fully enfolding himself in the mound. “Was bed time long time ago.”

She embraced him, wrapping her arms around his torso and administering a touchy-feely kiss to his temple. He responded with a confused expression, his brows pinching in pensivity. She could see the cogs physically turning within his skull as he tried desperately to wrap his brain around the gesture.

She giggled, touching the tip of her finger to the tip of his nose. “Smartass. …You’re lucky you’re cute.”

[ratcandy]

CoGR Abridged/Summarized

Hello hello! My name is Clam, otherwise known as Squeakyclam on Ao3, and this is a heavily summarized/shortened version of my HK fic Camouflage of Great Renown. For anyone somehow finding this that doesn't know what it's about, CoGR focuses on Zote and his story through the game and what preceded it. He recounts his entire life up until the end of what's known in canon, and this includes a whole lot of angst, growth, realizations, and Trauma Revelations.

Oh, and he's a nosk. Zote is a nosk. Yep.

I've had a few requests for a summary, as the work is super long and reading through 130k+ words of Zote dialogue may not be for everyone, hehehe so I've compiled all the important plot points and wrote them out here in order of his story, rather than the plotline CoGR goes through specifically (in which big events in his history are revealed later on).

If I had to recommend reading the fic for anything, it'd be the... impact, I suppose? 'Cause reading the summarized events here will NOT be anything like reading it in CoGR. Seeing as the fic is all in Zote's pov and he actually has to force himself to admit all of this aloud. But I digress!!

Here's a summary of Zote's life according to CoGR.

THIS IS A VERY, VERY LONG POST DESPITE BEING A SUMMARY. I'm sorry, CoGR just has a lot happening! T/W for mentions of death.

A lot more heavy stuff happens in CoGR, but in this summary I do my best to step around those subjects. If you think more T/Ws should be added, let me know, and I'll put them here

Nosks were a species that inhabited Deepnest, specifically living in a den towards the nest's depths. It split off into lots of tunnels and caverns that each nosk lived in. "Society" there was very hostile and unwelcoming, as nosks valued brute strength over just about anything else. Caring for another nosk - be it kin or otherwise - was considered weak. "Burdens" to the den, such as nosks that were badly wounded, would/could not hunt, or were simply getting too old would be killed off. Death in and of itself was very common and hardly anyone would bat an eye at it.

Think the Mantis Tribe but largely feral and without a shred of decency of morals.

Runt donning mask of citizen was born into the nosk den alongside his brother, who would become hunter donning hide of tiktik.

(Before anyone asks, these are just the naming conventions that nosks have. No one but the nosk superiors - the leaders of the den - are granted actual names.)

A third egg was among them, but the brother broke it open and ate the younger sibling not long after hatching.

The two were born under a superior (their mother) and her chosen mate (their father). They were expected to grow up strong and eventually overtake their mother and become superiors. Or, one of them would, maybe.

The runt (Zote) was immediately scorned by the mother, as he was extremely frail and useless, and she just about killed him off right after he hatched - but his father stepped in, and the runt was left alive.

Zote grew up to be a weak nosk who could barely defend himself in a den full of beasts that would gladly kill him if doing so wouldn't be a direct offense to a superior. His brother was cruel to him, his father berated him constantly, and his mother was hardly in the picture at all. Only ever watching him distastefully from afar.

His father did, however, train him, if only sparingly. The least he could do to keep Zote alive. (Doing so would be a death wish were any other nosks to find out about it...)

However, an elder in the den - hunter donning mask of weaver - gained Zote's attention as she told him fantastical stories from outside the den. This elder had spent a good portion of her life among the Weavers, initially being sent to learn about them (to make them easier to hunt) but growing interested in their culture and choosing to stay. Until she did something to get her chased out.

At any rate, she told the stories from the Weavers to Zote, alongside news of what was happening outside of Deepnest. This caused the runt to become obsessed with the idea of being a knight, as the stories just sounded!! So amazing and heroic and awesome and!!! :D Yea!! He wanted to be just like that!

To the point where he even carved a sword out of the shellwood... with the den elder's help. He named it Life-Ender eventually.

At some point, however, his father found out about all this. His father figured that the only way to eliminate this problem - as wishing to be something heroic that saved lives or whatever was SO unnosk-like (and would get him killed) - was to kill the den elder.

Before she died, the elder told Zote to run away from the den, and not to return no matter what. The idiot did not run, and because of this, he witnessed the Den Elder's death at the hands of his father and some other nosks.

Man! this does, however, cause Zote to be more... "open" about his ideas. By this I mean he begins carrying Life-Ender around instead of hiding it in his nest. what do you mean it's a comfort item what! no he's just rebelliously showing off how much he wants to be a knight. totally. 100% /s

well, anyway, not long after this, the idiot's father dies at the claws of his mother. Zote unfortunately witnesses this as well. When he tries to run, his mother catches him, nearly killing him as well. Luckily(?), this attempt is thwarted by Zote's brother, who was very distraught over their father's death. The brother swears to kill the mother before storming off. Zote runs into hiding (still in the nosk den), and begins devising his plan so to get the hell out of there.

Of the few times that Zote leaves his nest after his father's death, 90% of them ended with him getting pummeled by his brother. The latter was livid, blaming the father's death on Zote and frequently bursting into fits of emotional rage. Rage is great for nosks, other emotions not so much.

On one occasion in particular, the brother goes too far, nearly killing Zote. In the scuffle, Life-Ender is shattered, and that sends Zote into a blind anger (mixed with survival instinct as he's About to Die). Zote then kills his brother.

A crowd had gathered around them during the fight. In that crowd was Zote's mother, who looked to him approvingly after he'd killed off his brother. This terrified Zote, so he gathered the pieces of Life-Ender and fled the den forever.

Stopping at the hot spring in Deepnest, he made a disguise for himself based on the vessels that nosks would often capture. He made a new name for himself, took on an entirely new identity, and decided to abandon the idea that he was ever a nosk. He would just go to the City, be knighted by the King (who he'd heard of from the stories the Den Elder would tell him), and live out his life as a knight. Just like he always wanted. Not as a nosk. because he's not that.

The events that follow now are just very short summaries of things that happen throughout cogr.

- He breaks a statue in the Queen's station on accident after a bug finds him there. as a nosk. oops

- He obliterates the entire uoma population /j and burns himself in the process

- He repairs Life-Ender originally using mushrooms in the Fungal Wastes. Fungal adhesion is real I checked I swear

- He makes it to the City of Tears! and while there, he

Gets caught by Hegemol who mistakes him as a vessel

Drowns in the City's gutters

Purchases a cloth to wrap around Life-Ender

Hears the Pale King talk one (1) time and immediately decides he hates him

- While leaving the City, he finds a grub. That grub never really gets named, but as he frequented calling the little thing "Fiend," and the grub eventually began responding to that title, he just considers it a name for them now.

- Zote travels with the grub throughout the Crossroads until he drops them off with the Grubfather, being rewarded for reuniting them but overall feelings pretty :( about it.

- He then goes to the. So you know the houses that are underneath the Gruzz Mother's lil arena? Yea that place. he goes there and "guards" it, becoming that place's self-proclaimed knight.

- then he starts being paranoid about the grub and returns to the grubfather only to see all the grubs have been stolen. he presumes Fiend is dead from this point on (and dodges around ever using the word).

- Then he goes back to the lil town place only to see everyone's infected :(

- We then spend TEN CHAPTERS!! in Greenpath. In which he

eats a plant and dies

Stands in No Eyes's tomb.

Visits the Lake of Unn (and nothing bad happens)

Sees a nosk at the entrance to Fog Canyon and proceeds to have a panic attack

Kills everything

Gets caught by the Vengefly king

Gets saved!

has a breakdown

Yells at Ghost and then Leaves

- Canon starts!

- He stops in Dirtmouth, listens to Elderbug talk, gets told the Myth of the Great old Nosks who are now all Extinct. The news that nosks are now extinct freaks Zote out a little, but he absolutely refuses to return to Deepnest. He doesn't need to make sure. It's fine.

- In an effort to convince himself not to go to Deepnest, he goes to the City again, thinking it can't possibly be all that ba-- oh no everyone's dead!

- he inadvertently steals a map marker from Ghost and decides to use that as a pin for his cloak

- Zote returns to Deepnest. He's very upset with himself for this, but he just has to know if all the nosks are actually extinct now.

The answer is yes

but before that he gets caught by dirtcarvers and put in a web and has to be saved. this makes him angry

Upon seeing all the dead nosks once he gets to the den, and noticing that the last nosk was mimicking Ghost (evidenced by the mask left behind) before it died, he decides that he's gotta Kill Everything again

- more specifically we're going to the Colosseum now.

- Zote's fear of water evaporates as he goes through the secret passage in the King's Station to get to Kingdom's Edge. He only found it because he saw Ghost go that way

- While at the Kingdom's Edge, he gets caught by the Fools, who he stupidly challenges and then immediately gets caught by.

- sits in dumb baby jail for a while. mean to tiso

- Then the colosseum battle happens! He does not win he then gets dropped down into kingdom's edge with little regard toward whether he's dead or alive

- He grabs a Fool's helmet before leaving, going back to Dirtmouth, and intending to bury that thing

- this goes wrong as he bumps into Bretta. He then sits and talks with her for God Only Knows how Long, spacing out while doing so, and not even noticing when she eventually gets up and leaves him.

- He buries the helmet, shuts himself away in his house, and gets stuck repeating his precepts to himself. At the end of CoGR it is revealed that he hasn't been talking to anyone, and is instead talking to himself endlessly as no one is left to listen to him

and that's it! that's cogr. yeah

[wetalkedaboutthisshinji]

More Jojolion Long ass texts

TOTAL SPOLERS TO THE LAST CHAPTER

I just have lots of thoughts about recent Jojolion revelations.

It took me a while but I think I´m finally at peace with the fact that the Calamity Arc was 90% sure the climactic Jojolion arc and that Tooru is Part 8´s entrance to the Jojo Big Bad Gallery TM, a supervillain group truly on the level of the Disney Villains. I´m only half joking lol.

It hurts bc I was (and still am) a strong believer on Big Bad Kaato. I LOVED the idea of a female Big Bad, especially one that gray and I was very curious about seeing her stand in a Stand Battle.I love evil ladies and that blinded me  I don´t even think Araki chickened out or anything, but that Big Bad Kaato clearly was never the idea for the story he had. Still, Kaato´s scenes, while too short, were damm cool, and Space Truckin´is a damm cool stand, but I still wish we had seen it more. I wonder if it could be used offensively? It at least can trap people from a distance, which is very useful. Im so angry bc its power was sooooo good for some JJBA weird moves, but alas.

One thing I love about Jojolion is that it completely goes against the normal tropes of a shonen/seinen battle manga in that most of the characters are just....people. It really is a Twin Peaks TM plot with more fighting. With the exception of the Rock Humans and Jousuke most of the characters are, like, some guy from town, at worst kinda shady and mean. We have housewives, a model, a divorcee, local businessowners, some doctors and an oddly viscious agriculture university student. Of couse Part 4, which Jojolion mirrors, had some of that, but IMO you really get more of a sense of normalcy on Jojolion, maybe bc Araki changed his way of writing a lot, maybe because Jojolion is more of an ensemble story, maybe because it´s less episodic. So you take these randos and give them superpowers and involve them in fights against supernatural beings and I think that´s part of the reason why the fights are so quick and to the point. Characters like Mitsuba or Kaato are really just normal people that happen to have stands so it makes sense for them not to do the whole strategic Stand Battle. And it bought us some awesome moments. Looking back maybe there were a bit too many “this character looked helpless but NO” but damm if it didn´t hype me up when reading it.

So, yeah, Kaato had her role, did her thing, and got Kei’d. And she was never evil, but rather, like Jobin, more morally gray and she died a martyr. And I wish both had more to do, but the part is long and Araki clearly wanted it to be a 3-way conflict with a clearer villain.....

evil twink Tooru.

Ngl I was at first really against Tooru and wanted him to be just a big antagonist and not THE big bad. After I calmed down and reread some past chapters I feel much more appreciative. I like how he really has a different dynamic, being a "mistery villain" but in a different way to Pucci or Diavolo. He really looks harmless and Araki clearly worked HARD with the misdirections. Theres a reason there were some fools (like me) still arguing against him being tbe antagonist. I checked his intro again back on the Doctor Wu fight and I really like how totally whatever the scene is the first time around. He absolutely could have been a minor character. Rereading it the whole thing is SO ominous AND everything Tooru says has a double meaning. I also like that his oddness can be chalked up to being a romantic rival to Jousuke, which threw off lots of folk (likeAs for WOU I'm also starting to like the fight more and more. The power over causality def is on the same level as power over time or space and I like how the characters are forced to think of loopholes and try out different ways to hurt him, playing with his "kill list" and such. I also like that WOU has limitations and that the Dr. and Tooru have to work with them to be deadlier, which makes them both so much smarter. I KINDA dislike how at the end he turned out to be so stupidly poweful that only Go Beyond can hurt him, which is not the worst Deus Ex Machina (Jousuke had to "figure" out his own stand --thats kinda symbolic for someone with duch a complex identity) but its a bit cheap for a 20+ fight.

Of course the real insanity is how unique of a stand WOU is. I dont think we had ever seen a stand this autonomous and smart? In my opinion thats what makes the fight so unique and Tooru so powerful. Its only balanced stat-wise in that neither Tooru or his stand buddy looks particularly powerful offensive or defensive wise in a conventional fight. Not that they needed it. Cant help but wonder how the hell could they add Tooru as a fighter if theres another JJBA fighting game. Maybe a double fighter?

Finally you gotta love the Magritte (hope im spelling it right) references with the doctor. Araki clearly was having fun and it added some "classic art" thing to the part. Kaato's attack and all of calamity also looked great, if we ever see Jojolion animated Im sure it will be a feast for the eyes.

Ofc maybe all this bs means nothing if Araki does pull a 180° next chapter. But thats the Jojo experience.

If anyone´s interested in this, how do you feel Tooru and WOU stack up against the other Jojo Big Bads?

[a-dorin]

first meeting - kylo ren

word count: 3,482

warnings: language, sexual tension, some innuendos

this is just a little something that i wrote over winter break, after seeing the rise of skywalker. it’s the potential of something that is going to be more than one part. i don’t have all of the star wars universe terminology quite yet, so sorry if i got something wrong! hope you guys like it :)) 

you crouched under a table in your home, sweat beading on your forehead. all you could hear were explosions, screaming, and the sounds of the blasters as the storm troopers fired them. the explosions made your home shudder, groaning as your ceiling fell to the ground in pieces. 

fear and adrenaline overwhelmed you, coursing through your veins. the troopers had already taken most of your neighbors. who knew if you were next. you had no idea why they were here. why they were attacking your beloved city. why they were taking your friends and neighbors, killing them so swiftly. it made no sense to you; why there were all of these casualties for a pointless war.

however, the dark side had been battling with the light for eons. ever since you could remember, you heard stories and tales of the ongoing war. much of your town was in favor of the new first order, which made you question the attack further.

however, your main focus was to get out alive. it didn’t matter the cost. you needed to survive.

suddenly, your door was flung open. you could hear the shouts of the troopers, their boots echoing in your home. you squeezed your eyes shut, preparing for a quick death.

yet, there was only the sound of one pair of thick boots on your floor. they stopped in front of you, your eyes remaining closed. who knew what was in front of you. rather, who was standing in front of you. did they have a gun? a blaster?

“i am not here to hurt you,” the voice was deep, thick with authority, “you are to come with me.”

snapping your eyes open, your breath hitched in your throat. standing in front of you was none other than supreme leader himself, kylo ren.

he towered over you, his built frame covered in dark gear and robes. his robe billowed from behind him, swaying gently as wind entered the space through the open door. his mask, once intact, was scored with red marks. you assumed it was broken, then welded together once more. you swallowed, unsure of his next move. you could see the lightsaber hanging on his hip. you shivered, realizing how many lives he’d taken with that single weapon. yours could be next.

“you’re going to t-take me?” your voice trembled with fear.

kylo did not move, “yes. you are to come with me. i am not going to harm you.”

“do you promise?” you suddenly felt very small as you crept out from underneath the table.

“you have my word,” the supreme leader responded, “come. my men will escort you.”

“w-why are you taking me?” you stuttered, the adrenaline wearing off. now, shock overwhelmed you, along with confusion.

“we will inform you later,” kylo marched ahead of you. he stopped, motioning for troopers, “escort the girl to the ship. if she is harmed, i will have you all executed. do you understand?”

“yes supreme leader,” the troopers echoed back, forming a protective barrier around you.

“s-supreme leader,” you began, your voice small.

he turned, “yes?”

“my droid is missing,” you could feel his eyes boring into you, “he went to help the others. he’s a small one. he hasn’t returned. i need him, he’s my companion.”

“find the droid,” kylo ordered to a pair of troopers, “if you do not find him, intact, both of you will die as well. i will just take the girl to the ship myself. the others, search for the droid.”

“yes supreme leader,” the troopers chorused, jogging off to search for your beloved droid.

“thank you,” you murmured.

kylo only grunted. he walked beside you, leading the way to his own small ship, which you assumed lead to the flagship of the first order. kylo got into the ship, awaiting for you to follow him. you realized very quickly that it was meant to be only one seat, and you would have to sit on the supreme leader’s lap.

heat filled your cheeks, your face burning a bright red. kylo huffed, “don’t act like a juvenile about this. it’s for a few seconds.”

“s-sorry,” you felt like such an idiot for stumbling over your words. you climbed into the ship, settling yourself onto the supreme leader’s open lap.

kylo ren started the pod, and you sat patiently on his lap as it ascended towards the ominous black ship in the atmosphere. you swallowed, feeling a cold sweat form.

to say you were terrified was an understatement. you had no idea where you going, when you would be able to go back home, if ever. there was a large possibility that the first order would wipe out the planet entirely. you bit your lip, taking in the sight of the ground beneath you. there was an odd beauty as fire engulfed your town. it was winter, so the snow glowed a bright orange. it was horrifying yet beautiful.

“calm down,” his voice was quiet, “your thoughts are loud.”

the blush on your cheeks only burned brighter, “sorry.”

“stop apologizing,” kylo rumbled, “once we get on board, i will assign two guards for you at all times. from there, they will escort you to your designated quarters. after my briefing with general hux, i will explain everything to you myself. are we clear, (y/n) (l/n)?”

“crystal,” you mumbled.

even though kylo ren had his mask on, you could feel his eyes staring into you as you gazed in awe at the massive flagship. he approached a loading dock, and landed softly. the pod opened, and kylo gently placed a gloved hand on the small of your back. you flinched, recognizing it was his way of informing you to get out.

you stood up from his lap, feeling the dozens of stares from troopers, generals, and other captains. kylo could almost feel your nervous energy, as it was static. he placed his hand on the small of your back once more, and you felt your anxiety subside slightly.

“i see the mission was a success, supreme leader,” general hux boomed.

“indeed,” kylo responded, his tone cold, “i need two troopers at her side at all times. she needs protection.”

“i don’t need protection,” you mumbled. your voice was so low you weren’t sure if the two men in front of you heard it.

“i don’t care,” kylo snarled, “you are extremely important to the first order. i don’t care if you need protection or not, you’re getting it.”

“your orders will be fulfilled,” hux nodded curtly, “i will have our finest soldiers at her side.”

“my time here is done,” kylo announced, “general hux, follow me. we have a briefing to discuss.”

kylo ren stormed off, his boots thudding against the black tile. you glanced down at your boots, unsure of what was to come next. you could almost feel your thoughts buzzing in your mind. why did the supreme leader of the first order spare your life? why did you need protection? where was your droid?

general hux motioned for two troopers to step forward. you could tell that the two were higher ranked, as they were donned in shiny, silver, armor, “these are your guards, ms. (l/n). they are trained assassins under our best leaders. i hope you never feel as if you’re in danger, as we are here to protect you.”

“such a big hooplah over a civilian,” you rolled your eyes.

general hux raised a brow, but kept his cool composure, “you sure have a pleasant attitude, don’t you? escort her to her quarters. the supreme leader will be with her shortly.”

he turned, walking away towards a gate. a trooper stepped forward, a red band on his right bicep, “i am yo-988, but i am known as phoenix.”

“and i am yw-382, also referred to as bubba,” the other chipped in, donned with a red cape.

“so ‘yo’ and you’re welcome?” you stifled a giggled.

“i knew she’d fucking say that,” phoenix sighed, “listen, i hope you realize that we’re not going to harm you, or run super painful experiments on you.”

“you’re actually really important to the supreme leader,” bubba nodded, “that’s why we have blasters on us at all times. who knows what kind of dipshit could come in and try to kill you.”

“you guys are scaring me more,” you huffed, pouting slightly.

“don’t be worried,” phoenix reassured you, his voice calm, “let’s get you to your quarters before the supreme leader throws a temper tantrum.”

“you guys can talk about him like that?” you couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

bubba chuckled, “we’re his best shooters. we can say whatever the fuck we want.”

“he’s kind of intimidating,” you mumbled, following your escorts.

a part of you felt safer as phoenix and bubba escorted you to your quarters. having two friendly soldiers as your guards eased your anxiety. they were obviously close friends, as they cracked jokes about one another to make you laugh. you could tell they were younger, just by the way they talked. another part of you wondered how old they both were, and how long they had been working under the first order. had they been originally resistance turned evil? did they truly know why there was a war?

as you continued walking, you couldn’t help but notice how oddly beautiful the first order ship was. it was so much more sleek than the ships you had seen in your life. the floor was a black marble tile, the walls a space grey. the corridors were full of white troopers. captains, admirals, medics, and engineers buzzed around, busy with tasks. everything was just so organized and neat. you couldn’t help but gaze around in awe.

“m’lady,” phoenix cleared his throat, we have arrived at your quarters. now, if you need anything, feel free to holler. bubba and i will be outside, guarding the door. once kylo ren arrives from his briefing however, we will be dismissed for dinner.”

bubba opened the door for you, and you let out a gasp. the room designated as your quarters was absolutely beautiful. the walls were a black, matching the marble floor. your bed was large, almost too big. there was a fully operable kitchenette, complete with a small, cozy nook. the nook was inside a wall, as shelves surrounded it. however, the aspect that took your breath away was the view. your room possessed viewports, with a full view of the galaxy and planets surrounding the ship.

“this is mine?” you breathed, stepping several feet into the room.

“it is,” bubba confirmed, “the supreme leader requested this room for you specifically.”

“is he in love with me or something?” you turned, raising a brow.

“everyone falls in love with you at first sight darlin’,” phoenix flirted, “you’re just a beautiful woman, and that personality of yours is very charm-.”

“i see you’ve found your quarters due to your guards’ help,” kylo’s voice rang through the room. he stood at the door, his aura full of irritation.

“we fulfilled the assignment sir,” bubba’s tone was courteous.

“good,” kylo was cold, “yo-988, and yw-382, both of you are dismissed.”

“yes, supreme leader,” bubba and phoenix saluted kylo, then marched out of the room. once they were gone, kylo waved his hand at the doors, closing them. you shivered, feeling the room grow colder.

“you can sit on your bed, (y/n),” kylo’s tone was softer, “or do i frighten you?”

“you don’t,” you responded.

then why are you so tense? kylo’s voice rang through your thoughts, making you freeze.

“how can you do that?” you demanded.

“i have been trained,” he responded, “please, sit.”

“take off that mask,” you snorted, “then maybe i will.”

kylo sighed, and placed his hands under his mask. he pulled it off, setting it on a desk beside him. once you got a good look at him, your breathing hitched in your throat.

kylo ren was extremely handsome, with a pale complexion, thick black hair, and rich brown eyes. his skin had red undertones, and they were apparent as he looked at you. his jawline was prominent, and a thick scar ran down a side of his face. he looked no older than twenty-five.

“were you expecting someone older?” his voice was deep, but slightly higher without the mask.

“honestly,” you murmured, “a little bit. maybe a man in his later thirties, early forties.”

you couldn’t help but feel drawn towards him as you both stood there, gazing at one another. you took a few steps closer to him, reaching to touch his cheek. he complied, allowing you to cup your right hand on his face. your thumb traced his cheekbone, and his eyes searched yours.

“supreme leader,” you began.

“kylo,” he cut you off, “you’re allowed to call me kylo.”

“am i the only one?” biting your lip, you couldn’t help but ask the question. this special treatment was making you wonder his true intentions. along with the fact that you had so many other questions. you wanted to ask questions but you knew you needed answers.

“yes,” he answered, “you’re the only one who can call me kylo. the others, it’s kylo ren, supreme leader, or supreme leader kylo ren.”  

“why am i here?” the question tumbled out of your mouth.

“many reasons,” kylo replied, taking your hand off his cheek. he walked towards the viewport, facing the outside.

“can you at least tell me one?” your voice was soft.

“i had a vision,” kylo admitted, his reflection gazing at you, “it was an extremely vivid vision.”

“so you kidnapped me because you had a vision?” you couldn’t help but pry. you were finally gaining some answers.

“we are destined to rule together,” kylo stated, his tone cool, “(y/n), you may not realize it, but you are very important. you have some abilities that enable you to utilize the force. there is another girl, a plain scavenger. however, she is not tied to the first order like you. i feel such a stronger connection with you. i knew once i had my vision, that it was imperative that i find you.”

you swallowed, “is that why i dreamt of you the other night?”

that was in fact true. a few nights ago, before the attack on your town, you had a dream about the supreme leader. you didn’t know his face, but it was a dream foretelling your encounter. you suddenly realized that you dreamt about it the other night.

“i may have crept into your thoughts that night,” kylo admitted. you could tell he was slightly embarrassed, “i wanted you to have an idea of me in your mind.”

“that’s a sure fire way to get with a lady,” you joked, rolling your eyes playfully.

in the viewport, you could see kylo’s lips curve into a smile, “it worked.”

“i am shocked,” you teased, “the supreme leader, the man who is feared by all, has a sense of humor.”

“i am human,” kylo scoffed, “however, this temperament is only around you. i have an image to uphold. i need the others to fear me.”

“they do,” you nodded, “they really do.”

“if general hux, yo-988, or yw-382 ever get out of line,” kylo began, “i need to know. immediately.”

“oh come on,” you groaned, “phoenix was just flirting, kylo. it was innocent.”

“i don’t want every man flirting with you. in fact, i don’t want any man on this ship, or woman, flirting with you,” kylo was solemn, “they are aware of what will happen if they do not obey my orders.”

“i will be fine,” you sat on your bed, “besides, it’s not like i’m some princess or anything.”

he started to walk towards your doors, “you don’t understand. if anything happens to you, i don’t know what i would do.”

“we just met.” you couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by all of the information that was just thrown at you. all you wanted was to just be by yourself for a moment.

“and we have a connection,” kylo retorted, his eyes ablaze, “and it’s stronger than i thought.”

“oh come on, spare me that bullshit-“

“no, you feel it too,” he retaliated, “when i came across you, i couldn’t help but know that we have a bond that nothing in this universe can break. if you really didn’t want this, you would have resisted.”

“kylo,” you began, feeling tears brim your eyes, “i just don’t know what to do or how to feel with all of this new information. this isn’t my home. you destroyed my home. how am i really supposed to feel right now? i don’t even have the one thing that’s closest to me right now.”

kylo sensed the shift in your emotion, his facial features softening. he ran a hand through his hair, feeling sympathy for you. he understood your anger, your hurt. you had your home ripped away from you, and you had no idea how to cope.

“i am going to check on the status of your droid,” kylo murmured, “alert yo-988 or yw-382 if you need anything. i will report back promptly.”

he picked up his mask, sliding it over his face. you felt a slight flash of sadness, as you didn’t get a chance to memorize his face before it was gone. the only sound made was the thud of his boots against the floor as he exited the room. some words were exchanged between him and your guards, as you sat on your bed, tears spilling down your cheeks.

“(y/n)?” phoenix coughed, knocking on the doors, “we just got word. we found your droid.”

immediately, you sat up on your bed, “bring him to me, please!”

“i will have a captain bring him to you,” phoenix responded, radioing who you assumed to be a captain.

as you waited for your droid, you could feel hope wash over you. you didn’t care about your home, as long as you had your droid, jet. he was a small one, with one wheel and a cone shaped head, paired with a large attitude. you were sure he was just as frightened as you were.

getting out of the bed, you waiting patiently beside bubba and phoenix, awaiting the arrival of jet. boots thudded in the hallway, and you recognized them immediately. kylo ren emerged from the corridor, jet trailing after him.

“jet!” you cried, opening your arms. once jet realized you were there, he sped past kylo, embracing you with his body.

“she can speak droid?” bubba chuckled.

jet whistled at bubba angrily. you laughed, “they’re my body guards. we get special treatment on this ship. did any of those troopers handle you roughly?”

jet shook his head no, “no.”

“did that bad, mean, man over there give you any trouble?” you cooed, fixing jet’s antennae.

don’t make me punish you. kylo’s voice rang through your head. you swallowed, blushing slightly.

and no, i am not joking. you could almost see kylo smirking underneath his mask. he knew you were starting to become flustered.

“it’s getting late,” phoenix stated, “and you’ve have a long day, ms. (l/n). tomorrow, the supreme leader wishes to have a meal with you, at first sunlight.”

“at first sunlight?” you glanced up at kylo, who was watching over you and jet.

“sunrise,” bubba repeated, “that is when we are going to be relieved for our duties until noon. we have to sleep too ya know.”

“do not speak to her-“ kylo began, his voice menacingly quiet.

“they have a right to joke with me,” you retorted, “they are stationed with me practically twenty-four seven, because of your orders. now, i am going to go into my quarters, where i am going to catch up with my droid. goodnight,

phoenix, and goodnight bubba.”

“goodnight, (y/n),” bubba and phoenix chorused back, happy to be called by their nicknames.

without saying a goodnight to kylo, you whisked jet into your arms, slamming the doors shut behind you. it was about midnight, approximately four hours since you had been kidnapped. well, not kidnapped. more like taken against your will, but it’s not like you had a choice.

kylo was right. you two had a bond that was extremely strong. even though you were mad at him for being so rude to bubba, you wanted nothing more to see his face again.

with jet on the edge of your bed, you stared at the ceiling, thinking about kylo. who knew the secrets you’d find out tomorrow. maybe if you were lucky, the two of you would spend time alone, where you’d see his more vulnerable side.

i forgot to tell you, you heard kylo in your thoughts, his deep voice soothing. you’re extremely beautiful, (y/n). sleep well.

you fell asleep, with a small smile on your face.

[laceymorganwrites]

Sundress

Word count: 1,437

Pairing: Osamu x fem!reader, former Kuroo x fem!reader

Warnings: swearing, bad plot, VERY ooc Kuroo, SLIGHT MANGA SPOILERS

Song: Sundress - ASAP Rocky

A/N: I like the idea I had with this, the execution...not so much (Also I blame @miyaniacs for being in Osamu hell. Like damn, I thought liking Atsumu was enough, but no, they´re a package deal. Gotta love both of em)

Fuckin' with the wrong man Said she fuckin' with the wrong man Ever since she left me

Every person in your life left a mark on you, whether that be bad or good. No matter how small of a role they played, they always left something within of you. That was just how it worked.

Sure, nobody ever really thought about that, it was a natural part of growing and learning, making friends, them leaving, you develop and find new ones, you make new acquaintances every day.

Of course the same applies to relationships, only in a greater scale.

I guess she fell into the wrong hands, yeah And now you're f-in' with the wrong man, man For you that meant getting immense trust issues and insecurities. Even during the last moments of your last relationship.

You always wondered how you ended up like this when it started so beautifully.

Kuroo and you were friends back in high school, never thinking that anything more could happen. But it came naturally, if Kuroo Tetsuro was your close friend it would almost be a crime not to fall for him.

And he did too, or so you thought.

After you broke up you realized that he never cared about you in that way and didn´t want to hurt you. Your relationship was built from lies from the beginning and it hurt ever since you realized that, it never stopped hurting even though Kuroo has long since vanished from your life.

The whole time you were together, it left you craving more. It was like nothing changed, he never made any efforts with you, having to either study or work. You were the only one who suggested date nights he then stood you up on.

Maybe you were doomed from the start.

You took some time away from me, I see you made your mind Just read the signs, it's clear to see, I'm tryna make you mine 'Cause love is blind, your hurt is fine, to heal, it takes some time

You hated still thinking about Kuroo after all these years, after you found love again in another man.

When Osamu first came into your life, you were wrecked. Absolutely. Kuroo left his marks on you, clear to see for Osamu.

But that wasn´t why he was with you, he didn´t pity you at all, didn´t feel sorry for you. Instead he could see the wonderful lively traits in you that you had long since forgotten. You were so strong and he wanted to make you see that again.

Wounds from past relationships heal slowly, but never completely vanish. Osamu wanted to be there for you through it all.

Something inside of you inspired him, you were the first person who showed him that marks left by others don´t always have to be bad. I guess she fell into the wrong hands, yeah And now you're f-in' with the wrong man, man

Kuroo still thought about you, about all the mistakes he made and how badly he wanted to make it right. He should´ve never dated you, so everyone told him. But he knew better. He did feel a lot for you at the time and you did for him as well. So where was the problem? Sure, he never told you anything about himself, but that was private. You should´ve understood that. And yeah, maybe you didn´t go on dates, but he was busy. Didn´t you support him? Wasn´t it supposed be the way that you´d give each other space? You were just too clingy for him, maybe you just weren´t ready for a serious relationship yet.

Oh well, he couldn´t really change that. At least he tried. He did try to think about where it all went wrong, but he couldn´t pinpoint it. You even refused to stay friends with him as you broke up with him. That hurt a lot and Kuroo never understood why.

Tokyo trips, shoppin' sprees full of gifts I remember we would dream about kids Tryna get that V with that crib Back when you used to be's with that Crip Gotta give a little to get A little bit in return now, tables turn now And you heard 'bout me and my bitch I'm just tryna chill 'Cause lately I've been thinkin' bout you and rebuildin' Walking round like you lost feelings I can tell he not fulfilling You in love with me still They say only if looks could kill, for real You walk around town with that guy When you pass by, I just laugh like

“Oh, (Y/N), it´s been a while. Who´s your friend?” Kuroo approached you while you were still in shock seeing him again. At Osamu´s shop out of all places. You and him were eating together like always in his break when he just waltzed in. Osamu looked at you in concern, holding your hand and squeezing it tight. It wasn´t just that you were reunited again, that was inevitable. But for him to actually come up and talk to you? It was too much.

Especially since he made it seem as if everything was fine between the two of you.

“Boyfriend actually” Osamu said sternly, glaring down Kuroo. You felt your chest swell with pride. You knew that no matter what Kuroo was going to say, it wouldn´t matter. Osamu was here for you, protecting and caring for you. He was the kindest and gentlest soul in private, but when you told him about Kuroo and the marks he left on you, he was fuming. Osamu didn´t understand how anyone could treat you like that, taking you for granted like that, like a bother. It made him angry beyond anything else.

“Ah, so you´re my replacement” Kuroo chuckled, coming even closer, making you snuggle close to Osamu who put an arm around you.

“I´d rather call it an improvement, so why don´t yer tell me what the fuck you want from my girl and fuck right off, would ya?” Osmau stood his ground, glaring daggers at Kuroo who only laughed.

“Aw, we´re just having a friendly chat here, isn´t that right, (Y/N)?” he said in a cold tone that made shivers run down your spine.

“It´s alright, babe” you said and caressed Osamu´s arm.

“She used to call me that too, miss me that much?” Kuroo grinned, making Osamu grit his teeth. What the hell was his problem? Was he only here to taunt you? “Do ya really think she´d miss the guy who broke her heart? Who´s the reason she´s got trust issues? Do ya even know what a wreck she was after what you´ve done to her?” Osamu spoke up, almost growling.

Somehow even though this situation made you beyond uncomfortable, you felt safe in Osamu´s embrace.

“What I did to her? Come on, it wasn´t that bad. She broke up with me because I was busy with work. Not my fault, I just didn´t have any time. It´s kind of her own fault for trying even though she knew that” he nonchalantly explained and it was in this moment that Osamu lost his composure.

“What the fuck is wrong with ya? You don´t treat a girl like her like shit! You make time for her because she´s worth every fucking second. I´d never put anything above her, that´s just a fucking dick move and she was right to break up with you. You´re selfish and entitled and honestly just a prick. So do us three a favor and leave us the hell alone” he raised his voice at Kuroo who sighed.

“Damn, you´re petty. That´s not a cute look. But if that clingy chain makes you happy, good for you I guess” he scoffed and left the restaurant.

Osamu pulled you close to him and pressed a kiss to your forehead.

“What an ass… glad yer not with him anymore” he commented, making you chuckle just a bit.

“Naw, is my princess smiling again?” Osmau gently placed a hand on your cheek, stroking it and smiled at you, his eyes full of adoration.

You nodded, giggling a bit as you hugged him.

“I love you, thanks for being there for me all the time. I don´t wanna do this without you” you mumbled into his chest, feeling his warm hands stroking your back.

“I love you too, don´t ever worry about that jerk again. I´ll show you how you deserve to be treated” he stated, determined to make you forget all about your ex. I guess she fell into the wrong hands, yeah And now you're f-in' with the wrong man, man

[quakerjoe]

"Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that 1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and 2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

A.) He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying”

B.) He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

H.) He is damaging our relationships with our best international friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests in mind. To his question “Wouldn't’ it be great to have better relations with Russia?” The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.

I.) He has never seen a shortcut he didn't like, and you can’t take shortcuts in government. “Nuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I’ll change the Constitution by Executive Order…Don…what happens when you remove the filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate? Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the next election?

J.) He behaves and has always behaved as an unabashed racist. Yes, I’ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was never accused of racism before the Democrats…Absolutely false. Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial groups of people as monoliths.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

L.) He speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who are saying negative things about him

M.) His choices for top positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her hired as a small town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy who didn't know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General who thinks pot is “nearly as bad as heroin” and asked Congress for permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal. (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right? *Crickets*) An Interim AG after Firing his First AG who’s appointment is probably unconstitutional.

N.) He denies scientific fact. Ever notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

P.) He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ol’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.

Q.) He’s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more if he’d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index Funds and left it alone.

R.) He is President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone’s President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters matter.

S.) He’s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching Obama out for his family trips, or golfing, or any time he took for himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for the military, yet can’t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)

T.) He’s a misogynist. It's not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist, but it’s not a huge deal if you’re a private citizen. It’s a pretty big deal if you hate half the people you’re elected to lead. The disdain for women seeps out of his …whatever…. and he just can’t hide it.

U.) Face it. In any other election “Grab Em’ By the Pussy” would have been the end of that candidate’s chances. Back in the 90’s I used to marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics in this country right now.

V.) He has one response to a differing opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta.

W.) He takes credit for everything positive while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the Stock Market. He’s been bragging about it since day one, and to give credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it’s all him, that we’re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey! Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?

X.) He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.

Y.) He seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th through executive order, to thinking The free exercise clause in the first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he’s read them, he does not understand Articles 1–3, and that’s something he really should have before he took the job, because they’re not going away.

Z.) I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years older than I may remember how it was in the late 60’s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? "

[divine-motion]

don’t fucking interact if you ship t/cest and minor/adult ships

more shitty phone photos of sketchbook sketches for my tmnt fan incarnation/tmnt 2012 rewrite bc i have no shame and i’m having fun with it! pictures should have captions since i spent time writing them out, but tumblr might mess it up, so in case captions doesn’t work: 1. left to right: leo, donatello up, raphael down, michelangelo 2. Casey Jones up top, April O’Neil to the right, donatello in the middle and karai at the bottom 3. casey and don again, raphael to the left, mikey at the bottom just bc i liked how their their expressions turned out and didn’t want a bunch of negative space so don and case appear again 4. size chart featuring turtles. left to right: leo, don, mikey, raph 5. sketchy Slash design. big boy.

general thoughts character stuff below the Keep Reading. A Lot of rambling below so beware!!

April: 15 years old, trans and bi. local fifteen year old telepath finds out that not everyone is able to feel what other people are feeling, something she’s been able to do since she was six after she played in that one weirdly glowy puddle (early Kraang mutagen attempt that only managed to mutate April in the sense that it gave her telepathy, was originally intended to make humans become part of the Kraang hivemind). she’s largely unfazed by the existence of mutants and aliens, taking it in stride, and finds out about the Kraang - and meets the turtles - while snooping around TCRI business (aspiring journalist that she is) and accidentally witnessing the mutation of Snakeweed. her telepathy, which later as she grows in power alongside the turtles extends to telekinesis and basically possession, is very useful whenever she gets into a scrap since she can predict what moves her opponent will make, thus letting her dodge their blows effectively. personality wise she is a very determined and driven young girl, incredibly curious (and cannot mind her own business, she wants to know all the drama while not having to be part of it... which makes her very fortunate to be a telepath. listen she’s 15 she’s allowed to misuse her powers a little bit. as a treat.), playful, and cheerful, and she’s an extroverted autistic. in her spare time between her studies, she likes to play bass, sing, read, and write. that, and investigating whatever shady business is going on in town, and she makes it very clear to the turtles that even if they weren’t going to deal with the Kraang, she’d continue to try to stop them herself. she would like to not live under the threat of her or her loved ones getting mutated, thank you very much! and, you know, it’s kind of exciting. kind of.

i know it’s bc i have brain issues when it comes to parent figures but i am very much leaning towards Splinter not being... a good dad. i don’t think 2012 Splinter is a good dad anyways but i’d probably amp it up, make him a mix of 2012 and idw probably. i’m still mulling it over but like, remember in the season 1 finale when leo is watching his show and thinks the captain guy making a totally unnecessary sacrifice is a heroic move, and then Splinter tells leo (his fifteen year old child) that leo should know what or who to sacrifice, more or less telling him to sacrifice his brothers’ lives, potentially?? i know there was a lot at stake but hello??? i remember watching it and being like me: ah i see, this is showing that splinter is wrong and there is no need for any sacrifices as seen in the show when the captain Goes Down With His Ship for no reason other than just sacrificing himself, and leo will see that- leo: *tries to sacrifice himself twice in the finale, both times being kind of unnecessary/seemed like if he had just hurried or done something slightly different there would be no need to stay behind, and he gets out fine with no consequences, seemingly no injuries, and does Not learn anything, his brothers don’t even get sad when they think he died or get mad at him for pulling such a dumb move) me: surprised_pikachu.jpeg

like that moment haunts me. has any other splinter told their sons to sacrifice himself or his brothers? has any other splinter put that on them??? idw doesn’t count if he has bc he’s more explicitly supposed to be bad so???

sometimes writers think they’ve made an uncle iroh but they really, really, really haven’t. also his backstory is the same as in the show

anyways. Donatello: 15 years old, bog turtle, nonbinary (he/they, doesn’t mind being called brother but doesn’t like to be called “boy” or “girl” or whatever), bi. he isn’t in love with April. no creepy incel shit here. donnie is instead more like a mix between his Rise and 2003 self. he has trouble expressing himself and is pretty introverted, but he is very altruistic, kind, and compassionate. a lot of his inventions are made to help people and he was driven to learn about science and engineering because he wants to find a way to reverse splinter’s mutation, to give splinter his life and humanity back. he feels like he needs to know if splinter would just abandon them if he wasn’t a huge rat man, needs to know if there’s any part of splinter that blames them for being constant reminders of his mutation. other than that, he also likes to make inventions because he’s a dreamer and wants to experiment to see how much of the unknown he can push beyond. also, the best liar out of the turtles. also fairly good at compromising and prefers to solve conflicts without violence he can get a little... “obnoxious 15 year old genius” at times. even when he’s helpful it can come off as a bit “poor dear isn’t as smart as me”, and while he usually gets along well with Raph, he doesn’t handle Raph’s temper well at all (calls him “Wrathael/Wrath” and thinks he’s being super clever) and gets really dismissive of Raph’s “outbursts”.

Michelangelo: 13 years old, diamondback terrapin, unsure about the gender and sexuality thing but he doesn’t think he’s exactly cis and definitely not straight. a bouncy ball of sunshine and surprising emotional maturity and emotional intelligence! more so than his emotionally constipated brothers, at least. it’s on his thirteenth birthday (it was leo’s idea for them to pick dates that would let them have their own birthdays instead of sharing the “Mutation Day”, Mutation Day being another special “holiday”) that the Plot would be set in motion, as he’s finally allowed to go to the surface same as his brothers, and on this first night out they meet April and the Kraang and other mutants. he is a goof still, but he’s capable in his own right and gets frustrated when people treat him like a baby or an idiot because he’s not. he doesn’t always treat everything with the seriousness it should but like. he’s thirteen, he’s having fun. even so, he’s very insistent of taking responsibility whenever he does do something wrong and gets mad if someone tries to take the blame for something he’s done. definitely the most compassionate and empathetic out of the turtles, he’s quick to make friends and is very persuasive due to his earnest nature and good heart. much like donnie, he prefers to solve conflict without violence but does enjoy knocking skulls a lot more than donnie. unlike donnie, though, he is almost overly forgiving and not petty at all. he’s well aware that his kindness and forgiveness may be taken advantage of, but he still likes to approach people with an open hand, even if he knows that it may end up getting bitten. oh, and his hobbies include drawing, cooking, singing, and dancing. he likes to express himself!

Raphael: 14 years old, mississippi map turtle, trans, bi. all his fury is compressed within his tiny body, that’s why he’s so angry all the time! no, he’s not angry all the time, but he does have a short fuse. he absolutely hates his anger issues which leads to a lot of self-loathing, and a lot of frustration as his family members either don’t take his anger seriously or don’t have the tools to help him with it. he’s the physically strongest out of the bunch and the least agile. he loves animals and plants a lot and keeps a lot of flowers in his room, hoping that he can one day become a gardener. as his idw self, he wants to watch things grow, but no matter what he does he seems to be best at destroying things. he’s also the one most self-conscious about how the human world perceives them, as he greatly fears rejection, and is the first one to see something positive with people getting mutated - namely, that maybe this way mutants will be more well known and finally accepted by society, so he’ll no longer be trapped in the sewer until the end of his days. so yeah, he’s a huge optimist, in truth. also he’s great at knitting - great at creating and taking care of things in general - and there’s no leo and raph rivalry this time around. he can get mad at leo but not really more than he gets with his other brothers.

Casey: 15 years old, nonbinary (they/them), bi. teen vigilante who gets inspired to fight mutants and the big time criminals (no beating up pickpockets or shoplifters or whatever, just the ones that are really hurting people) and gets roped into the turtle fam after meeting raph and becoming unexpected friends (everyone was expecting it, once Casey realized that mutants are people and not weird monsters. well, not all the time, anyways). they struggle a bit in school not because of a lack of trying but a lack of time, as their parents work full time jobs and someone has to take care of casey’s little sister. their parents are very loving, but they only have so much time, so casey takes it upon themselves to take care of their little sister when their parents are busy and/or burned out from work. that, and they run into the classic dilemma of vigilante work clashing with school work. as always, they have a short fuse, they’re pretty cocky, they like beating ass, and they like hockey a whole lot. hockey, vigilante work, school, and taking care of their little sister... yeah, they have a lot on their plate. oh, and making their little inventions like the taser glove and their puck bombs, something that they bond with donnie over.

Leonardo: 17 years old, Central American wood turtle, trans, gay. he doesn’t fall in love with his sister oh my god. ahem. so, leo is raised from the start to be a Leader and has to mature very quickly, learning to be an adult way earlier than he should’ve, and as such he is very stoic and quiet, and doesn’t seem to have any hobbies, instead just doing chores and training almost constantly, and when he’s not doing that he’s reading or sleeping in his free time. he’s incredibly protective of his younger brothers and his other allies/friends, even if he acts distant and detached most of the time, and removes himself from situations where they’re having fun to not be the stick in the mud. he loves his brothers and admires them greatly, believing they could be So Much if the surface world would just accept them, and as a result he tries to be The Soldier so his brothers won’t have to. alas, they still get caught up in the Kraang and Shredder business, which frustrates him internally. he is the best fighter out of the turtles on account of having more years to train (and convincing Splinter to wait a few more years before they got Real training bc Come On Dude They’re Kids) but it’s the Only thing he’s good at, along with stealth and his sharp eyes. he absolutely sucks at talking when it isn’t about a mission or something he can script easily in his head. in his mind, he’s supposed to be more of a weapon than a person, an idea that isn’t exactly encouraged by Splinter... but not exactly discouraged either. his arc would be very paralleled with Karai’s, as they would both learn to hate their dads... also, absolutely down for murder, and a lawful neutral at best, putting his family and friends’ safety above all other things and following a strict personal code. doesn’t care too much for society’s laws, though.

Karai: 16 years old, demigirl, lesbian. same backstory as in the show, she’s born as Miwa but gets taken by Oroku Saki and raised as his daughter. however, she doesn’t exactly want revenge against Hamato Yoshi because she believes that he killed her mother. she never knew her mother, so it’s much more difficult to hate someone for taking her mother away, even if it does mean that she never got to know her mother. especially since her father rarely spoke of what her mother was like, and much more about how much he hates Yoshi. instead, her need for revenge is more for the possibly idyllic life she was robbed of, since she believes that maybe, just maybe, her father Saki would’ve been a kind father that would’ve let her have a normal childhood and not be molded into a warrior from the start if her mother still lived. and hey, maybe Tang Shen would be a nice mom too. being trained in the art of deception, Karai has a tendency to talk a lot and say very little, or at least very little that is true. she is rarely ever sincere and acts as if she’s taking nothing seriously, which is part of her defense mechanism to never let anyone close or see her true self. she mocks pretty much everyone, ally and enemy alike, but especially likes to make fun of her father’s henchmen and is always the first to point out their failures. while she does value honor to some extent, she is a bit “flimsy” when it comes to loyalty, especially after the truth about her father is revealed. when that is revealed, she at first just feels very numb, learning that not only has she been nothing but a tool and a weapon for the Shredder from the very start, but also that the idyllic fantasy where her mother still lived, perhaps her life wouldn’t be so different after all. she looks at leonardo and sees a reflection of herself, that her “real” father chose to train his sons the same way the Shredder trained her. she feels stupid for feeling like she’s been robbed of even a fantasy, but it still enrages her. of course, this also inspires her to stay with the Foot Clan... just to get the kill on Shredder.

... yeah. that got long. ahem. i’m very passionate about this unfortunately!! anyways i might draw/write more for it because no one can stop me and i’m having fun

[sadaboutniall]

something about you;

introduction | masterlist | tag | wattpad

Five. October, 2008. 

Niall’s barely spoken to Mully in three weeks. They were meant to be the Blues Brothers for Halloween—he’d be Jake, and Mully would be Elwood—but Niall can’t say he’s surprised, on the Wednesday before Halloween, when Mully texts to say he’s going to be Michael Cera in Juno instead. Emilia—who is very much not pregnant, but Niall doesn’t bother bringing that up—is going to be Juno. 

Niall can’t blame Emilia—she’s sweet, and fun, and she’s made Mully stupidly happy since they started going out a month ago. The moronic costume is probably Mully’s idea anyway, Niall tells himself. Emilia’s done nothing wrong—apart from move 5,000 miles across the fucking planet from Vancouver to Mullingar and make his best friend fall in love with her.

What Niall is surprised about, though, is the rest of Mully’s text. He’s kind of accepted the fact that he’s going to lose Mully to love for a few months—Da had told him as much when he brought it up—so he figured he’d probably end up spending Halloween with Deo, Martin, and Willie, drinking Buckfast and gorging on Snickers bars while Mully gets his hands up Emilia’s shirt on the other side of town. But Mully says he wants Niall to come over on Halloween night, to hang out with him and Emilia and a couple of her friends. He says he can bring Deo if he wants, and that there’ll be cider. 

Niall shoves the suit jacket he’d pulled out for his Blues Brothers costume back into the closet, and gets to work.

-- 

Niall doesn’t bring Deo in the end. He says something vague and cagey about being grounded that Niall doesn’t fully believe, even if he has no reason not to, so he shows up to Mully’s alone, dressed in the tightest light wash jeans he could find and one of his dad’s old shirts from the 70s, the top four buttons undone. Mully looks at him like he’s a lunatic when he opens the front door. 

‘What the fuck are you wearing?’ Mully’s got a yellow sweatband around his head, like he’s one to talk. 

‘I’m Don Henley,’ Niall says, letting himself in. Mully’s already making his way down to the basement, and Niall follows. ‘In the 70s.’

‘You’re who?’

‘Don Henley. From The Eagles. In the 70s.’

‘I don’t think you’re supposed to be a real person for Halloween, mate,’ says Mully, as they finally descend the stairs and let themselves into the Mulholland’s finished basement. It’s chilly down here, and Emilia is cuddled up on the couch in her Juno costume like Niall expected, but she’s not alone. Isla’s next to her. Dressed like a witch. 

‘Heya, Niall,’ Emilia lights up when the boys walk in, and Isla does too. Mully and Emilia give each other a weighted look that Niall doesn’t fully understand, and he suddenly feels stupid in his acid wash jeans and white socks, his exposed chest flushing red with embarrassment. He’s finding it hard to look anywhere other than Isla—her black lipstick, her flowy dress, the star-shaped pendant attached to her silver necklace resting against the cut of her collarbone. The contrast of her skin and the silver is impossible to force his eyes away from, impossible for Niall to imagine ever getting used to. In a flash, he’s desperate for his long lost Blues Brothers costume, for a pair of dark sunglasses to hide behind. Belatedly, he realizes Emilia is still talking. 

‘So, anyway, I was thinking we could either watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Paranormal Activity,’ There’s a pillow shoved under Emilia’s t-shirt, like Juno’s baby bump, and she’s balancing a bowl of crisps on top of it. ‘I saw Paranormal Activity in Vancouver when it came out, and it’s, like, fucking terrifying. What do you guys think?’

Niall ignores Mully’s unhelpful ‘whatever you prefer, Mia,’ and focuses on Isla instead. He can tell she’s trying to say something.

‘I just,’ says Isla, left hand coming up to fiddle with her necklace. ‘Ghosts kind of freak me out. I don’t think I want to watch Paranormal Activity.’

‘How can ghosts freak you out when you’re dressed as a witch?’ Mully leans forward to take a crisp out of the bowl balanced on Emilia’s pillow belly. Niall catches Isla’s eye, and shakes his head.

‘I prefer Texas Chainsaw Massacre too,’ Niall says, even though he doesn’t, actually. He’d prefer neither of these movies if the choice was up to him, but there’s a look of relief on Isla’s face as soon as he says it, and Niall knows he’s made the right decision. 

-- 

As it turns out, Niall’s made the wrong decision. 

The movie is disgusting, Mully and Emilia are making out so loud Niall can hardly hear the chainsaw, and they’re out of cider. Mully’s got his back to Niall and he keeps moving in ways that push him, seemingly on purpose, closer and closer to Isla—but, next to him on the couch, Isla has her hands covering her mouth in horror, and Niall is clinging to sobriety just enough to be too much of a coward to do anything about it. The feelings that have been curling in his stomach since the first day of term are stronger than ever, and he’s itching to reach over, to wrap his arm around her shoulders and bring her body against his. He feels like his body is on fire. 

On the screen, Leatherface jumps out of the darkness, bearing his chainsaw. Isla lets out a full, genuine scream, and without warning she’s pressed up against Niall, her face buried in his shoulder, her hand clutching at his chest. He lets his arm wrap around her and she melts against him even more, readjusting to tuck her head under his chin, her soft cheek against the bare skin of his chest. His heart is hammering, and he hopes she thinks it’s from the film. 

‘Sorry,’ Isla whispers, peering up at Niall through her lashes. ‘It’s just bloody terrifying.’

‘S’alright,’ Niall keeps his voice low too, though he doesn’t think Mully and Emilia would even notice if one of them fired a shotgun right now. Still, this feels like a moment just for him and Isla—quiet, between them. ‘Just a film.’

‘It’s based on a true story, though,’ Isla tightens her hand around the fabric of Niall’s shirt.  

‘Yeah, but they caught the guy,’ Niall says, though he has absolutely no clue if they did. ‘Besides, we’re so far away from Texas.’

‘Right,’ Isla nods, eyes wide, and turns back to face the telly, still settled comfortably against Niall. ‘Thank God.’

And as it turns out, Niall thinks, letting his free hand wander down to rest against Isla’s waist, he’s absolutely made the right decision. 

####

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[reading-writing-revolution]

A person asked the question, "Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that 1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and 2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

A.) He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying”

B.) He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

H.) He is damaging our relationships with our best international friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests in mind. To his question “Wouldn't’ it be great to have better relations with Russia?” The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.

I.) He has never seen a shortcut he didn't like, and you can’t take shortcuts in government. “Nuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I’ll change the Constitution by Executive Order…Don…what happens when you remove the filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate? Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the next election?

J.) He behaves and has always behaved as an unabashed racist. Yes, I’ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was never accused of racism before the Democrats…Absolutely false. Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial groups of people as monoliths.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

L.) He speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who are saying negative things about him

M.) His choices for top positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her hired as a small town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy who didn't know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General who thinks pot is “nearly as bad as heroin” and asked Congress for permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal. (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right? *Crickets*) An Interim AG after Firing his First AG who’s appointment is probably unconstitutional.

N.) He denies scientific fact. Ever notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

P.) He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ol’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.

Q.) He’s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more if he’d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index Funds and left it alone.

R.) He is President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone’s President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters matter.

S.) He’s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching Obama out for his family trips, or golfing, or any time he took for himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for the military, yet can’t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)

T.) He’s a misogynist. It's not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist, but it’s not a huge deal if you’re a private citizen. It’s a pretty big deal if you hate half the people you’re elected to lead. The disdain for women seeps out of his …whatever…. and he just can’t hide it.

U.) Face it. In any other election “Grab Em’ By the Pussy” would have been the end of that candidate’s chances. Back in the 90’s I used to marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics in this country right now.

V.) He has one response to a differing opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta.

W.) He takes credit for everything positive while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the Stock Market. He’s been bragging about it since day one, and to give credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it’s all him, that we’re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey! Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?

X.) He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.

Y.) He seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th through executive order, to thinking The free exercise clause in the first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he’s read them, he does not understand Articles 1–3, and that’s something he really should have before he took the job, because they’re not going away.

Z.) I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years older than I may remember how it was in the late 60’s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? "

//Meanwhile, I’m not a Liberal either, and I’m a veteran of 20 years with 13 deployments to combat zones.//

[chonisbestmistake]

Missed opportunities and second chances

Lisa x Female!Reader

Warnings: fluff, angst

Word count: 1,545

Summary: You broke up with Lisa almost three years ago. Then you met Jennie at the store and this is not something she expected. At all.

NOTE: There`s no interaction between Lisa and the reader, it`s more of a platonic!Jennie x reader. BUT we`ll get there in part 2. Oh, and in this universe Lisa is ... extraordinary. 

A squeal behind your back caught your attention and you turned around to see your little girl grab a huge teddy bear from a lower shelf and hug it tightly. Some people eyed her curiously, startled by the noise, and you sighed, stepping back from the shelves with dairy products.

"Mommy I want that!" She huffed intensely when you came closer and you couldn't help but smile at her.

"Baby, we've talked about this. We don't scream in supermarkets, do we?" You lowered to her level and patted her head slightly. "And no, you've got tons of bears at home, you don't need this one, Vanessa."

Her eyes instantly widened and she shook her head quickly.

"I'm sorry I forgot, mommy. But Johnny and Nick need a new friend! And Julie too!" She pouted dramatically, referring to her old teddy bears and you winced, affected by her puppy eyes, knowing too well you already lost this battle.

"Uh, but not this one, honey. He's too big, he can't fit into Johnny's house, can he?" You reached out to take the bear away and your girl already went off to choosing the smaller toy with sparkling eyes, happy with that alternative.

"This one?" She asked, showing a little bear with brown fur and blue-ish eyes.

"Okay, but only one." She nodded in a hurry. 

"Then let's go". You took her hand and made your way to the line. The new bear was already cuddled by your daughter and safely brought to the cashier. You paid for everything quickly and made your way out, Nessie already engaged in the conversation with her new fluffy friend.

While leaving the store, you suddenly collided with the body and nearly fell on the ground. You groaned, biting back a curse, knowing full well Vanessa would remember it if you`re not careful.

"Y/N?" 

Your eyes widened dramatically at the sight of the woman in front of you. She looked just as startled, mouth agape.

“Jennie?”

“It`s been like... two years? Oh my God.”

“Three actually. But, yeah.” You replied, your mind finally started to process things. 

She was just the same - chubby cheeks, cute smile, in all black. And...alone? She was indeed without any managers breathing down her neck and that was just as unexpected as seeing her in the middle of Seoul at the grocery store.

“I`m so happy to see you! We have so much to talk about, I swear.” She hugged you tightly and you returned it without feeling any awkwardness as you thought you would have.

The first year without the familiar four girls was the hardest, but you managed to do it. You were stubborn enough to prove yourself you could live your life without them. Without her. Without Lisa. She was the love of your life, but this same life was too cruel to let you stay in each other`s arms. She was an idol, after all. All of them were and you, an ordinary person, just couldn't fit into her busy world. You had too different paces of living and it all exploded at some point, as it was expected. You couldn`t go on like that, feeling empty and alone most of the time, so you let her be, even if she didn`t want to go at first. Constant bickering turned into full-on arguments with screaming and flying plates and you two fell out like it was nothing, erasing everything that was connecting you to each other. Memories, phone numbers, even your friends. You didn`t want them to choose, to suffer, so you let them go too. That was easier. Of course, you still loved her. But now this love was like a shadow of something you had back then, a distant memory. And it was okay. You grew older, you had your own little family. You moved on. The only thing you couldn`t move on from - is being with somebody else, not her. You told yourself it was just a period, a phase that was lasting for too long now, but who could ever replace Lisa?

You came back from your thoughts and glanced at your child. Nessie was still in her own little world, talking quietly with the stuffed animal right by your side.

“It`s a miracle we met here. But why are you alone? What if someone sees you?” You asked, worried about unnecessary attention from the fans -  an old habit of yours you got back when all five of you would sneak out of the dorm for unexpected walks.

“Ah, that`s okay, we`ve got much more freedom since our fifth anniversary, so no more managers around me all the time. Finally. And fans think I`m still in Greece on a vacation, so don`t worry.” She sighed, showing her famous gummy smile, and you felt like these three years without seeing each other weren't really there. After all this time you still considered yourself as her friend, even if you lost touch almost two years ago.

“No, you`ll love Johnny, he`s a sweetheart, I'm telling you!” Vanessa was still in a deep conversation with her new stuffed toy and you couldn`t help but giggle at the scene.

“Oh my God, Y/N, who`s your little friend?” Jennie crouched down and looked at her with wide eyes. She absolutely loved children and couldn't help talking to each and everyone she met. “Are you babysitting this cutie pie?”

“I, actually..uh-”

“Mommy, Nicki`s tired, let`s go home!” Nessie held up her teddy bear and pointed at it, pouting. Only then she noticed Jennie and clenched the toy close to her chest, smiling shyly. The woman in front of you gasped visibly and you chuckled at her reaction.

“This is your kid? When did you? How? Oh my God, you`re such a cutie!” Jennie`s eyes were flying from yourself to your daughter and back again. She was surprised, yet seemed happy at the idea.

“Yeah. Nessie, this is Jennie, my old friend. Can you say hi?” You caught your daughter`s uncertain look and smiled reassuringly. She stepped forward, letting go of your hand and grinned sweetly.

“Hi, aunty Jennie, I'm Vanessa. Nice to meet you!” And just like that, she held her little fist up in anticipation. Jennie`s eyes widened for a second and her eyes sparkled with joy. They fist-bumped each other (Nessie’s habit of greeting new people) and you smiled affectionately. “I like your hair!”

“Why thank you! And nice to meet you too, sweetie. You`re so cute!” Jennie was practically beaming.

“This is Nicky! We just bought her there. Now she`s gonna live with us too.” Vanessa showed her the stuffed toy, pointing at the store behind you. “But she is little, that`s why she`s sleepy.”

“I see. She`s beautiful!” Nessie showed her toothy smile and Jennie returned it in a second. “How old are you, cutie?”

“I`m..two!” She counted her little fingers and lifted them up to Jennie`s face enthusiastically. Then Vanessa yawned, rubbing her eyes and Jennie cooed. Brunette's eyes found yours. 

“Who`s the lucky person?” She asked, referring to your love life.

“Uh... no one. There`s no one.” You averted your eyes, biting your tongue. “I haven`t... No one could replace her, Jennie.” You looked in her eyes again and there was the same guilty expression you had seen on her face years ago.

“We have a lot to talk about, Y/N. I’ve missed you. ” She said quietly as if being afraid of breaking you. But you were too strong for that now. You moved on, you were happy and you were going to show her that. 

You nodded your head, biting back a smile.

“And we will. But someone`s a little sleepy so we better go now.” You answered, rolling your eyes playfully at Nessie`s ‘Yeah, Nicky is very sleepy, mommy!’

“Sure, honey. Then we better hurry up, right?” Nessie went straight for a hug and Jennie nearly fell back, surprised by the sudden action.

“Bye-bye, auntie Jennie!” She stepped back and held up her arms, rubbing her eyes and silently asking for you to carry her. You did just that, lifting her up and feeling her head find your shoulder.

“You have the same number, right?” Jennie asked, standing up with the same gummy smile on her face, touched by the scene in front of her.

“Nope, but you have, right? I`ll text you.” You whispered, not wanting to wake up your already sleeping daughter.

“Sure. See you, Y/N.” She hugged you, careful not to wake Nessie up and made her way to the store. You sighed, not sure about your own feelings, and went to find your car.

*

You were already putting Vanessa to sleep at home, while on the other side of the town Jennie was sitting on a couch, deep in thought, revising your conversation in her head. You fell out with Lisa almost three years ago, you had a two-year-old daughter, but you were single, you said it yourself, right? But what if there still was someone and you didn`t want to tell Jennie about it? Someone you were hiding? But why? The whole image just couldn't get together in her head.

Her jaw almost hit the floor when the craziest idea came into her mind. What if...? Could Lisa be...?

[adrischrv]

REGNUM. [L.H] - Chapter 9

Summary: In a dystopian future, a tragedy leads Prince Luke to become King of Gardenstone. From her neighboring kingdom Maredale, our protagonist Amberly must choose between King Luke and King Ashton of Lauxwell to close the alliance that the three kingdoms are destined to make. In the process and after, Amberly will encounter mysteries, a love triangle, and betrayals that will define her future. (Basically, enemies to lovers)

Word Count:  2,822

MASTERLIST.

I hid my head under my pillow as I heard knock after knock on the door. The sound became so tired that I had to wake up.

I picked up the sheets I had thrown on the floor during the night, the only window the room had was stuck, I could not open it to get rid of the awful heat that enveloped the room. I looked around in search of the gown that matched my pink silk nightgown, between the sleep and the incessant knocking, I left it behind and opened the door.

“Princess, forgive me... “Luke's gaze studied my silhouette in front of him, instinctively I covered my cleavage, embracing my arms. Annoyed.

“I rather don´t forgive you, thank you very much. What's wrong... “ I tried to correct my tone “... your majesty?” and I failed.

Luke ran a hand through his shiny blonde hair, I had barely had time to look at it in the sunshine coming through the windows in the hallway.

“I didn't know the disrespect started so early, or I would have asked someone else to come and wake you up, princess," he said mockingly, I grimaced. “We leave the palace in an hour, wear something comfortable, and pack lightly.”

He turned around, I stopped him holding his shirt.

“Where are we going?” I asked, quickly covering myself again, he laughed at my action. “Tell me.”

“It is a Gardenstone tradition to share a little trip to the town of Mudtry when welcoming Maredale, now that Queen Elizabeth is coming back here we must leave," he explained. In a moment of distraction, he took my hands gently, letting them fall to my side. “Even though you look better like this, I recommend a coat. It's cold over there, Princess.”

I covered myself again, he laughed again and walked down the corridor.

“Idiot," I muttered.

“Pain in the ass!” he shouted around the corner.

¥

I don't remember ever having been so solicited as this morning, even the instructions came out with little energy and no firmness, it probably wasn't the lack of being needed that made me feel this way, it was the sour taste in my mouth since Ashton decided not to speak to me.

I relived the scene as I watched the blue decorations glow everywhere; I had looked for him when I returned from a few good hours in the greenhouse, knocked on his door, waited patiently outside believing that he would come out at any moment, he did not. Instead, he turned off the lights. I wanted to apologize for my reaction, I had ruined the beautiful atmosphere we had arranged and I longed for his forgiveness perhaps more than I should have. I also didn't know how we were going to talk without mentioning his proposal. I still didn't tell my mother.

“Princess, do you consider it appropriate to roll out the red carpet for the arrival of Queen Elizabeth?” Calum asked, for the third time this morning.

“No, Calum, like the two previous times I do not consider it appropriate since she is only returning from Maredale.”

I replied wearily that it did not go unnoticed, his brown eyes searching for a sign of sarcasm.

“I'm sorry," he corrected himself as he noticed the presence of servants around us, "-Your Highness, for the insistence. His Majesty, King Luke, wishes everything to be in order for your mother's arrival.”

Luke showed - with his attention to detail and investment in perfecting the palace - his clear interest in my mother's return. After all, my mother was the only leader who could bestow real knowledge of value on Luke... even on Ashton, but she wouldn't just do that. Compared to me, the great Queen Elizabeth always has backup plans, analyzes her moves, and lays her cards on the table with all the elegance and authority that can exist in a single human being.

Therefore, my mother's return was important to Luke. An opportunity to learn that he should exploit. And he knew it, his majesty knew it. So he had relieved me of my greenhouse duties and put servants to work in the greenhouse during my mother's stay at the palace, at last, a decent decision.

“Speaking of which, His Majesty the King asked me to give you this portfolio” Calum's arms managed to swing samples of cloth and other paperwork and extend a somewhat thick grey portfolio to me. “It contains your first official cases to be dealt with as Maredale's ambassador.”

I took it with fear that the emotion would shoot out of my fingertips.

“Thank you.”

Calum knew I was serious. Even if it was a bribe to keep quiet about the work I had been doing in the greenhouse or organizing the picnic, the words "official cases" made me smile broadly.

“There is an office available... in the east wing one floor up from his room in case you´d  like to look at documents away from this mess.”

I nodded excitedly. I turned around and started my way to the office.

Every step, every step I took was done without my absolute concentration. My mind was distracted by the real actions I could perform during these days, the happy face of the Maredan people who wanted to settle in the capital at the moment of telling them that it was a possibility and that it was going to happen filled me with happiness. It was time to contact the people who had asked, maybe persuade Luke to finance some of the cases now was something I could do.

“Amberly," Michael's voice cut through my step, "What are you doing here?”

He was just a few feet away from me coming out of his room, I guessed. Dressed in his typical casual attire of a loose black shirt and comfortable pants.

“Calum gave me this," I happily shook my portfolio and said the following in a shriek: "This is real work!”

Michael laughed nervously at my gesture.

“I'm going to the office two floors up, are you coming?” I invited him, he opened his mouth and babbled out. “What's going on?”

“There's an unoccupied one in the west wing..." he spoke quickly without fear of getting stuck. “I have to go but I'll see you there, okay?”

He closed the door behind him after struggling with the handle, each action more clumsy than the last.

“Of course... “

He pointed to the stairs in a gesture to indicate the change of direction. I nodded, watching his sudden change of... stability.

Without arguing, I walked up the stairs for the remaining two floors. I looked down the long hallway leading to the west wing, diving into the east. A couple of steps joined me a short distance from the door that I assumed was the office. I stopped short and turned, bumping into a figure taller and stronger than me. The portfolio crumpled up against me.

“It's okay- Oh.”

Ashton spoke in front of me. I felt my tongue entangled in my mouth, all the things I wanted to say were trapped in my mouth and I couldn't get them out.

His eyes still had a certain glow in them, he wasn't going to be rude now, I hoped he would be willing to talk... watching his posture and the fact that he didn't bother to increase the distance between us, he even seemed ready to do so.

“I..." I said, at last. “I did not expect to find you here.”

“I come from the other wing... I called my sister in the office, they have a good reception there.”

His voice came out flat, I felt a hand squeeze my heart as I remembered that same voice asking to be his queen under the moonlight...

“I want to apologize” I waited, closing my eyes for a moment to put my words in order. “It was not my intention to answer you like that, I was unprepared and I... did not know that the subject needed an immediate answer…”

I placed the hand that held the portfolio at my side and the other hand slowly approached his, I caressed it waiting for an answer. His glance saw something behind me and fixed on my face gently.

“I understand if you're upset with me, I thought that-”

He joined our lips in a fast and firm movement, passing a hand to my waist. The one I previously caressed closed with mine. I breathed in his essence; masculine and with traces of vanilla; before breaking the kiss.

“Everything's fine, Amberly..." he said in a sensual whisper brushing our noses. “We are fine.”

I nodded and we shared a smile, my cheeks felt warm which made me move away from him amicably.

“Wow, a reconciliation of pathetic lovebirds. Your bags for Mudtry won't be packed alone.”

We both turned around, finding Luke leaning against the door he should have entered, forcing a smile. He had a book in his hands and grabbed it tightly, judging by his white knuckles.

More steps joined in, Michael looked at all of us as he continued walking, stopping between Luke and us. Calum came up behind him practically running.

“What happened?” Luke asked, his blue eyes traveling between Michael and Calum to Ashton and me, who clearly had no idea. “Speak up, that's an order.”

Calum stepped forward, barely catching his breath.

“Your Majesty, there was a problem with... the horses, you see.”

While Calum and Michael were talking to Luke about a problem they had pulled out of their sleeves, Ashton approached them to hear the same. He probably knew it was made up, but knowing him, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to see them humiliate themselves.

I looked at the four of them: two kings, a duke, and a royal advisor. I remembered the time Ashton told me that they used to play together, or rather fight, the simple image of those four figures living together innocently made me laugh out loud. Who knows how much trouble they would have gotten into together, the universe wasn't ready for that... maybe that's why they were now separated in some way.

¥

“Lidia, it's very important that you take the portfolio to Duke Clifford," I pouted without moving from the mirror. “Please.”

We laughed at the same time, Lidia shook her head and patted my right shoulder.

When I finished my work in the office, I thought it was not a bad option to ask Lidia to take the portfolio to Michael, something could come out of that contact the maid wanted so much.

“Okay.”

I jumped up with euphoria and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight and then looking at her with emotion.

“Your outfit!” she exclaimed, making me stop. “I'll take the briefcase, but I'm not promising anything, that's enough for now.”

I took some fabric samples from the chest of drawers and pretended to give them to her in a seductive voice, "Oh, Duke, take the portfolio... and my heart!”

She burst out laughing, snatching the samples from me and leaving them in their place.

Lidia took me by the shoulders and positioned me in front of the mirror again. “I hope her majesty Queen Elizabeth will like my choice.”

“Queen Elizabeth loves your choice. It captures the comfort and the countryside to perfection.”

Hearing my mother's voice standing at the door, I jumped up to her in an embrace. After that, she insisted on having things to talk to me about before the trip and we walked with our arms intertwined through the gardens.

“It is strange to be here without Robert and Susan, may they rest in peace.”

The desire to know more about the life of the kings fell silent on its own as I remembered the incident - the murder. They had been my mother's friends, as far as I knew, but I couldn't reveal to her what Michael and Calum had discovered, even Luke didn't know.

“You look a little lost, daughter," my mother said, nudging me sideways. “Tell me about your work, is it everything you wanted?”

Memories of my work in the greenhouse crossed my mind. The effort took to make some progress in the first few days, including my day in the barn. But that wasn't my job at the end of the day, helping out was. On the sly or just for blackmail, there was 'my grain of sand' as we used to say in Maredale.

“It's been... satisfying," I sighed. “I understand why you like being a queen, you can help people and you have the power to do it in your hands.”

“Oh, little one... the power is there when you have the intention. There is nothing to stop you if you have your aim clear.”

The voice of reason had returned and I was very grateful for it. I squeezed her hand lightly and she gestured back to me.

Two young girls passed in front of us carrying their instruments in a cart to transport them to Mudtry and began to play typical Maredale music given by a harp and a violin. Calum who was passing by approached us as he heard the music and rushed to the girls, surely.

“What a marvel! “exclaimed my mother. She let go of my arm and linked hers with Calum's." Young Hood, you must grant me this piece.”

Calum fired an alarmed look before being dragged into the middle of the garden by my mother.

“Poor Calum, he hasn't danced in a good six months.”

Michael stood next to me, watching the queen and the political advisor dance around each other with humor.

“And apparently the Queen didn't either," we laughed. He came a little closer to me, speaking at the level of my left ear.

“ You didn't say anything to her majesty, did you? About what I showed you?”

I shook my head.

“Not at all. But I won't be able to keep silent any longer, you have to tell Luke.”

He laughed softly, neither of them had turned their eyes away from Calum and my mother.

“Oh, no. You will, Amberly.”

No, it wasn't my business. No. A resounding "no".

“Very funny, Duke. -Do I have to laugh now?” I asked with growing anger, he rolled his eyes hesitantly. “I won't do it, I have nothing to do with it.”

“You were there, weren't you?”

“So? YOU found it," I frowned and folded my arms in front of him. “Tell me one good reason why I should do it and I'll go right now.”

Michael crossed his arms as I did, we were terrifyingly close to each other, he opened his mouth a couple of times to talk but nothing came out.

“See?”

I smiled in victory mode with my lips closed. He imitated my gesture.

“It's a direct order from your boss, honey.”

I took a breath to respond when a hand-pulled Michael's shirt abruptly, causing him to stumble backward. Ashton's body came between Michael and my mother's view of the garden, preventing anyone from seeing the scene.

“What are you doing?!” I exclaimed quietly, helping Michael get up from the grass. He shook off the dirt and tried to grab Ashton by the collar of his shirt, so I held his hand. Michael took a step back and I stood between the two of them. “Quiet, both of you!”

Ashton raised an accusing finger near Michael's face, who was still behind me.

“You better keep those compliments to yourself, Clifford. Just because you need them doesn't mean Amberly needs them. Excuse me.”

“Ash... “I muttered walking behind him, he adjusted his grip on my wrist. “Ashton, you're hurting me!”

I exclaimed, releasing my wrist with a strong tug, rubbed it with my other hand, and stopped short. We were closer to the greenhouse than to the celebration, the sun giving the last of its rays announcing nightfall.

“What happened to you? You shouldn't have-”

His arms were wrapped securely around my waist, he approached me with a strong kiss... no, possessive, it felt like he owned me.

We walked away after a few seconds, his face at a distance where his words were barely understandable, nothing more in my field of vision than his glowing eyes overflowing with intensity.

“I don't like it. Both of you spending time together... not since you  were found in the office alone.”

I placed both hands on his chest, asking for some space to think.

“I explained that nothing happened-”

“-Unless it's for work, I don't want you anywhere near Michael.”

I was silent for a moment, it didn't seem like a favor, a recommendation... it was an order.

He kissed the corner of my mouth with exasperating slowness.

“Understood, Amberly?”

I nodded.

The next voice heard was Luke interrupting the music, my mother's dancing, and the closeness between Ashton and me.

“Let the journey begin.”

[sexcoffeeandkellynickelsfics]

Sun Sea & Two Holiday Romances? - Part One

Author’s Note; So I’ve had this sat in my drafts since like January and didn’t post it because I didn’t know how to end it nor did I think it was any good! Thank you Karen @slashscowboyboots for reading this before I uploaded it and helping breath some new ideas and ending into it with me and encouraging me that It wasn’t shit without your help it would still be sat in my drafts 😂❤️(also if you don’t please go read her writing because it’s amazing and my favourite!)

Amy and Karen had met online on a blogging site in which they had become friends over their thirst for rhythm guitarists and bass players and this weekend Karen was coming to visit Amy from the US for a friends weekend getaway. They’d booked a cottage by the sea and had every intention of taking full advantage of the good weather, walks along the cliffs and several bottles of wine!

Amy had picked Karen up at the airport and they were on the way for some fresh sea air.

“You know I was expecting the U.K. to be wetter and colder” Karen said to Amy.

Amy looked over at her and laughed.

“I mean it is always wet and cold this is just a good day” She shrugged.

“What do you wanna do first? Drop our luggage and go eat or drop our luggage and do the beach?” Amy asked her.

“I really don’t mind, it’s totally up to you”

“Are you tired?”

“A little, but not to the point where I desperately need to go to sleep” Karen shrugged.

The girls decided the beach to breathe in some of the fresh sea air and stretch their legs was going to be the first stop that afternoon.

“Shit, it’s windy!” Amy cried.

“Just a bit, all I can taste is my shampoo and sand” Karen shouted over the wind.

“I totally should of not worn a skirt!” A large gust of wind whipping up Amy’s skirt flashing her knickers to every man and his dog that walked by.

Karen was trying to hold her blouse down to stop the wind from billowing up it.

“Usually it takes a lot more to see the goods than that” a voice laughed behind them.

The girls turned to face the voices and both their jaws dropped. They stood face to face with two of the most gorgeous guys they’d ever seen. The taller of the two flicked his fluffy blonde hair from his eyes and smiled at the girls. Karen glanced over at Amy who’s mouth was agape and knowing her was probably drooling. The blonde extended his hand to them.

“I’m Duff, this is Izzy” he said gesturing at the raven haired man stood next to him, who waved and smiled.

Amy heard Karen gasp as if the air has been knocked from her lungs and snickered.

“A…Amy”She squeaked her voice cracking red rising up in her cheeks in embarrassment. This time it was Karen’s turn to snicker.

“And this is Karen” Amy told them gesturing to her blonde friend. Her voice a little less squeaky and crackly than before but face still just as crimson.

“We saw you ladies struggling a bit trying to urmm… stay clothed and we were wondering if you wanted to join us for a drink and get out of the wind?” Izzy asked the both of them.

“Umm…I dunno..” Karen started but then received a vicious elbow in the ribs from Amy before she could finish.

“We’d loved to!” Amy chirped side eyeing her blonde friend. Karen opted for the safer option of nodding her head in fear Amy would elbow her again.

Karen, Amy, Duff and Izzy ended up in a small pub along the sea front listening the wind whistle against the windows.

“What can we get you ladies to drink?” Duff asked.

“Oh you don’t have to do that” they blurted at the same time.

“No, no we insist” Izzy told them.

“Fine, I’ll take a BlackBerry Margarita” Karen told him.

“Amy?” He asked.

“G&T with extra ice if that’s okay?”

“Anything for a pretty girl like you” Duff said nudging her gently and smirking.

“If you’ll excuse us, we need to go and freshen up real quick don’t we Karen?” Amy said grabbing her friends hand to drag her to the toilets.

“I don….” She was cut off my Amy’s death glare and willingly went with her to the toilets.

“God I look like shit” Amy cried slamming her hands on the counter the hundreds of bangles she wore jingling up her wrists.

“You look absolutely fine” Karen reassured her.

“Give over” Amy argued back as she dragged a brush through her hair.

“Karen are you deaf?”

“No Amy, I’m not deaf”

“Well didn’t you hear them?! Duff called me pretty and if we weren’t in a pub full of people I’m pretty sure his smile alone would of made me drop my knickers and ask him to take me on the bar” she whispered through gritted teeth.

Karen nodded and giggled.

“It’s not like you to be this nervous over men” she said to her dark haired friend.

“I’m meant to be the forward, flirty one and him being like it has really put me out and made ME nervous!” She cried.

Karen laughed. “I never thought I’d see the day”

“And I’m not sure if you noticed but I think Izzy’s really into you Karen! I’ve seen the way he steals glances at you when he thinks no one is looking and I saw the way you looked at him on the beach and gasped” Amy told her friend.

“I-I- fine yes I think he’s bloody gorgeous! Is that more to your liking?” Karen stuttered.

“Much better” Amy snickered puckering her lips and applying a shade of red lipstick to them.

The two woman waltzed out the bathroom and scanned the pub for Izzy and Duff and spotted them in the corner. They weren’t exactly hard to miss Duff the giant 6ft whatever he was with his fluffy blonde hair, zebra leather jacket and cowboy boots and Izzy with his raven locks and bold choice of shirt that saw him leave a few of the buttons undone revealing the milky skin on his chest and several necklaces made up of wooden beads and bone. Karen and Amy didn’t exactly blend in either, Karen’s aesthetic could be likened to a Stevie Nicks love child and Amy was crossing the line between looking like a rockstar from the 80s and looking like she was planning to bang a rockstar. Between the four of them they certainly stuck out like a sore thumb in the peaceful seaside town.

The girls made their way to the table and looked at each other when they realised Duff and Izzy had moved to sit opposite each other instead of next to each other.

“Go on then get in” Amy whispered to Karen giving her nudge.

“You too” Karen nudged her back.

Amy dropped in the seat next to Duff, Karen likewise with the seat next to Izzy.

“So what brings you two lovely woman here then?” Duff asked slinging his arm around Amy’s shoulder.

Her pupils widened and she grabbed her drink taking a large gulp and slamming it back down on the table.

Izzy laughed and Duff shot an eyebrow up at him.

Duff continued “Anyway where was I, because you sound very very British” he smiled at Amy.

“And you certainly aren’t British” he titled his head back, smiled and pointed at Karen.

“Online friends” Karen spat out.

“Yeah we met online through our love of our favourite bands” Amy added on.

They spend the afternoon and into the evening drinking and getting to know each other. The girls having probably drank one too many alcoholic beverages were sat giggling and hanging off every word Duff and Izzy had to say.

Amy declared she was going to the bathroom however when she stood she lost her footing and ended up falling back down completely missing the seat and landing in Duff’s lap, sending her into a laughing fit. The other 3 snorted then Duff leaned in tucking her hair behind her ear and whispered to her. Amy cackled loudly turning a couple of heads in the pub.

“Oh my god that’s so funny” she wheezed.

“What did he do?” Karen asked Izzy confused.

“He told her a joke, some of Duff’s jokes are so dumb they are actually sorta funny” Izzy rolled his eyes and shrugged.

“Are you not funny?” Karen whispered to Izzy.

“Huh?” He asked.

“Or are you just the hot one?” She whispered back running her index finger gently along his black denim clad leg. Dutch courage from the alcohol fuelling her actions.

He shifted in his seat as the bright red blush rose up his neck into his cheeks.

Karen sipped on her margarita still idly running her finger along Izzy’s leg smirking everytime she felt him shift around.

When she’d had enough she yawned and turned to Amy.

“Can we go back now? I’m a bit tired and jet lagged” she asked her friend.

Izzy looked almost disappointed when she stopped and stood up. He quickly stood up too, discreetly adjusting his jeans to accommodate the small problem she had created.

Amy nodded in response standing up too and slung her bag over shoulder and sqealed when Duff grabbed her around the waist from behind and pressed a sloppy kiss on her cheek making her blush.

As Duff and Amy were having a lovey dovey moment Karen extended her hand to Izzy and when he went to grab grab it she pulled him in close causing him to blush again.

“It was lovely meeting you” he choked out.

“and you” she grinned.

As her and Amy left she turned and blew him a kiss and then winked at him rendering him speechless, jaw wide open as he watched Karen leave.

“You’ve got it bad dude” Duff said to Izzy bringing him crashing back down from his little bubble.

“Yeah I think you’re right” Izzy ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

[laceymorganwrites]

Adulting

Word Count: 2,030

Pairing: Keishin x reader

Warnings: swearing

Summary: Keishin and (Y/N) are both busy in their Jobs but get set up on a blind date nonetheless

Keishin was used to questions regarding his love life, when he´d finally get married, if he was still single, how he felt about that at his age and so on. After all those years it still annoyed him, what was so wrong about a man just wanting to enjoy his Jump and live an easy life? Okay, his life wasn´t exactly easy, coaching the Karasuno boys took quite a toll on his nerves.

Maybe that was why he agreed to go on this blind date, to get just a small break from them. Not that they were that bad, but he told himself he deserved some time off. Besides, if even Takeda told him to go, he could only imagine how tired he must look.

Honestly he didn´t mind the idea of dating or having someone by his side, what annoyed him though were the expectations everyone held. When you were dating someone you immediately had to marry and start a family. That thought scared him, he didn´t achieve anything in his life and now he had to marry? How on earth should he make someone fall in love with him?

His neighbor told him not to worry about, she was also the one who set up the date, stating her daughter knew you.

Keishin had to admit he was curious to meet you, to see what kind of person you were. He expected the worst, expected you to pity him and leave right away.

But you didn´t.

His neighbor told him to just wait outside of his store for you.

You were quite out of breath when you arrived, only having moved here a while ago you still got lost sometimes. You really hated the idea of dating, you didn´t have time for this. And yet everyone pressured you, it was none of their business. You only gave in because it got too much to handle.

But honestly, once you arrived, you didn´t regret a thing. Well, maybe you regretted not putting much effort into your appearance, but what were you supposed to do? You didn´t have time to change after work, you were lucky to have even made it.

“I´m so sorry I´m late! I got lost a bit and had to call one of my students to explain the way” you announced when you finally could breathe again.

Being the coach of a cheerleader team you had quite a bit of stamina, but even that ended when you were running around town like a mad woman trying to find that one particular convenience store.

“Don´t worry about it. I´m Keishin, you must be (Y/N) then?” he was at a loss for words, you were absolutely stunning. He had to thank his neighbor later.

“Yup, that´s me! Nice to meet you” you chirped, shaking his hand. He noticed how firm your grip was and had to smile to himself.

“So...um...there´s this restaurant near by where me and my team go quite often” he stated, realizing that there indeed was a reason he was single and it was his inability to properly speak whenever there was a beautiful woman nearby.

“That sounds lovely, lead the way?” you smiled brightly and you two started walking.

“Eh...you´re new around here, aren´t you?” he awkwardly asked, not being able to think of anything better.

“Yeah, I just moved here, so my orientation is still a bit bad, but I´m glad that I have people like who help me out with that” you said.

“No problem, I´m always glad to help” he answered, holding the door open for you when you arrived at the restaurant.

“Ooh, Keishin-san, to see you with a beautiful woman by your side, I never thought the day would come” the owner laughed, making him blush.

“Oh shut up” he mumbled.

The interior was very nice, so was the food.

“You mentioned earlier that you come here often with your team, can you tell me more about that?” you asked.

“Sure! I´m the coach of the Karasuno boys´ volleyball club, only recently though. My grandpa used to coach them but he´s getting too old so the teacher reached out to me. I didn´t want to coach them at first because I didn´t think I could do it, but I´m glad I gave it a shot, it´s really fun” he smiled.

Your eyes went wide, you loved watching their games in the past, back when you were in high school they were really good and you did your best to attend every game you could. You didn´t care if they weren´t as good anymore, you still wanted to support them.

“No way! That´s so amazing, I´m a big fan of your team. Well, of the club...I have yet to see your team in particular” you told him excitedly.

“I´m glad to hear it, even though you´re definitely in the minority these days. But that will change. This year´s team is great, we have outstanding players and quite a few surprises. If you don´t mind we could exchange numbers and I could tell you when the next game is” he explained and boldly asked.

“That´d be nice!” you two exchanged numbers and continued your conversation.

“So are you a teacher? You said something about your students earlier” he asked you.

“Yeah, I got a job offer from (Y/S/N) and now I´m teaching there. But I also teach cheerleading outside of school” you told him and you talked a bit about your jobs.

Everything was going great, you even joked about all sorts of things.

Needless to say this was just your first date of many. Finding a time where both of you were free was quite difficult with your busy schedules but it was definitely worth the effort.

You looked forward to seeing Keishin every time, even if you weren´t doing something spectacular, just spending time with him was more than enough for you. You had to admit in the time you knew him you found yourself very attracted to him and he felt the same.

Every time you were with him, you were laughing wholeheartedly, but not only that, he somehow managed to make you laugh and blush at the same time. You missed the warm feeling in your chest when he was gone and you couldn´t stop thinking about him no matter where you were and what you did.

Even your students noticed you were out of it.

As if it wasn´t already embarrassing enough that you, a grown up woman, could´t confess to your crush, your students had to tease you about it too.

“You know, it wouldn´t even go anywhere, I mean we´re both busy and he´s gone quite a bit with his team, I mean so are we… but bottom line is: it wouldn´t work out” you told them.

It wasn´t like back in high school where you had to worry about your crush not liking you back, you were adults now and very aware of your feelings for each other, the problem was just that a relationship didn´t always work out because of time and jobs, that was just the sad truth of being and adult.

That was the reason why you didn´t want to date in the first place, because it wasn´t worth it and you didn´t want to break the heart of someone who could possibly fall for you.

You hated that you had to choose between love and career, it was unfair that you couldn´t combine those two things, well, not the way you wanted it.

But who said that? Were you really someone who obliged to the rules of society? Who bent her back just to please and fulfill expectations? Your students were right, you were never like that. You were a fighter, when you found out your school didn´t have a cheerleader team, you founded your own one. You didn´t know the word stop in that regard.

So why should you let yourself be unhappy and say no to Keishin? To a possible future with him, the mere thought of that made you weak in the knees.

After your students encouraged you to confess to him, you determinedly walked to his shop, hoping he´d be there. But he had to be, at this time the training would already be over. If it wasn´t, it´d be incredibly awkward for you, but you could think about that later.

When you arrived, he luckily was there, looking at you in surprise but then he flashed you a smile.

“(Y/N), what are you doing here? I didn´t expect you” he stood up to greet you.

“Well, it´s a surprise visit! Are you hungry? I have some leftover cake, one of my students celebrated her birthday today and I sneaked you some cake, cause I thought you haven´t eaten yet” you pulled out the bento box from your bag and handed it to him.

You watched his eyes go wide and his grin as he pulled you in for a hug suddenly, making you giggle and hug him back. Honestly, you wouldn´t mind if you stayed like this forever, he was so tall and warm and hugging him just felt right.

You sighed contently as he let you go. “Sorry, I interrupted you. Something on your mind? I guess you wouldn´t just come here to bring me cake, even though I really appreciate it” he smiled at you, making your heart flutter.

“Oh yeah, I realized something and wanted to share it with you, actually. So, um, you know how I told you that I didn´t date because of my job? And that having a relationship would be pretty stressful and impossible? Well, I kind of changed my mind ever since we started going out. I don´t want to let you go because of my job, I want to make this work, I want to be with you. And it´d be amazing if you´d be willing to give it a try too, but you don´t have to, of course...I know you barely have time as it is...so. But I just wanted to tell you! That I like you, I mean” you rambled a bit towards the end, but you couldn´t help it when Keishin was maintaining eye contact the whole time, this man made you so weak in the knees…

“We´ll figure something out, we´ll definitely make it work! I like you too, (Y/N), a lot and I won´t let out jobs get in between that.” he confessed and it felt like a weight has been lifted off your body.

You couldn´t contain your smile and basically jumped onto him to hug him, making him laugh.

He held you by the waist, cradling your back.

When Keishin pulled away, he rested his hand on your cheek to stroke it before slowly leaning in and closing the distance between you in a deep kiss.

It´s been a month since you officially were together and you two worked hard on the combination of your jobs, which after hours and hours of calls finally worked. Thanks to your team and his.

Now your team were the cheerleaders for Karasuno´s boys´ volleyball team and you could see each other more often, you were so happy that everything worked out and today was the day you would finally meet his team for the first time.

Your students led you to the gymnasium since you wanted to be on time and you entered it to see absolute chaos going on.

It reminded you of your own students who you looked at knowingly, they at least had the decency to look away embarrassed.

“Guys, they´re here! At least pretend like you know how to behave” Keishin called them out and came over to you to kiss your cheek, making your students groan.

You shot them a glance to shut them up.

“Same goes for you, you little troublemakers” you warned them.

“I´m glad you could make it, honey” he said and showed you around a bit. All of you sat down and got to know each other.

From now on you would train together, or at least in the same time to have everything ready for their next game, it was exciting.

[joemuggs]

DO YOU SUFFER FROM SPYMANIA?

It’s the 25th anniversary of the Spymania label, and to celebrate it they have released a record of unreleased tracks. It’s brilliant, you should buy it. In 2016 I wrote a history of the messy, messed-up, but brilliant Brighton scene that they found their feet in. Sadly it got lost in the archiving of the Red Bull Music Academy site, but I’ve still got the text, so here it is. And to prove I was there, here is me, in an inexplicably bad shirt, with the Spymania crew and friends:

Some Spymanians - far left is Hardy Spymania, next to him in blue t-shirt is Paddington Breaks, third from right leaning forward is MDK and that’s me in the bad shirt on the right.

25th Anniversary EP by SONGBIRD & WAFTA

From the town's 18th century genesis as a playground for aristocrats, Brighton has always been a space for outrageous hedonism. Being the closest point to London on the English south coast makes it an obvious place for escape and misbehaviour. With that has always come something grittier and grottier though. It's no coincidence that the best known fictional depictions of Brighton feature razor-carrying petty gangsters (Brighton Rock) and running street battles and hurried back-alley knee-tremblers (Quadrophenia). The novelist Keith Waterhouse famously said “Brighton always looks like a town helping police with their enquiries” – and it still does. Behind its facade of homeopaths, holidaymakers, students and media folk, it hides rampant corruption and organised crime, a heroin economy to match any British city, and sprawling estates that are among the country's poorest.

In the heat of the 1990s rave fervour when the world and its dog came down to Brighton to party their way through untold seven-day weekends, all of this ambiguity was expressed via a rather different electronic scene. While the superclubs along the seafront pumped to the sounds of handbag house, trance and big beat, hidden away in the nooks and crannies a techno style formed that became known on the European underground simply as “the Brighton sound” – and around it sprouted odd rave and electronica mutations that, though they might have seemed pisstakey or bloody-minded at the time, would alter the course of electronic music for a long time to come. All of this was surrounded by a dense web of art, theory, satire, in-jokes and meat-flinging cabaret, that could be perplexing, even off-putting, but has left a huge creative legacy from a tiny scene that punched way, way above its weight.

This scene of malcontents and squarepegs was by definition loose-knit – but if there was a centre to it, it was Cristian Vogel. Originally from the south Midlands, he and his friend Si Begg already had experience putting out cassette releases and primitive music software hacks (with the Cabbage Head Collective) before he came to Sussex University to study 20th Century Music in 1992. With a head full of Stockhausen and rave tapes, he was boshing out the techno, and by the end of 1994 had two releases on Dave Clarke's Magnetic North label and was resident at the Acid Box club nights in a little sticky-floored upstairs venue in Brighton's North Lanes.

This was the period when techno and hardcore were still part-fused, and along with headliners like Carl Cox and Luke Slater you could expect to hear Belgian hoover noises full-pelt gabber rolled into the more “intelligent” beats, all with nothing but relentless strobes and smoke to intensify the experience. It's a sign of how intense it was that the “chillout” in the backroom consisted of Richie Hawtin tunes playing and Tetsuo: Iron Man being shown on a couple of TVs, and felt genuinely laid back in comparison to the dancefloor. It could be shoulder-to-shoulder packed, or have ten people raving away, but it was pretty much always guaranteed to deliver mental obliteration. It's precisely this delirium you can hear in key early releases like Vogel's “Ninjah” or Tobias Schmidt's “Minus One”.

Si Begg and friends

Cristian, together with Si Begg founded Mosquito Records around this point, around which a motley crew of producers of monstrously banging but sonically razor sharp techno gathered. Neil Landstrumm, Tobias Schmidt (an ingenious pseudonym for one Toby Smith), Ibrahim Alfa and Russ Gabriel, as well as Begg and Vogel themselves, all released in the first couple of years. They were closely allied with the Scottish techno scene, notably through Landstrum but also the Sativae label run by Dave Tarrida and Steve Glenncross, and played to seething crowds north of the border, as well as absolutely huge ones in Germany, Poland and further afield. Yet even though the audiences were tiny back on the south coast, the local brand was inescapable: indeed Si Begg, who lived in London right through the nineties, recalls with some bafflement seeing untold German flyers with “BRIGHTON TECHNO” in big letters under his name.

All of this was great, but taken alone could simply have been another local flavour on the international techno scene. The four-to-the-floor certainly remained the heartbeat of the scene as The Acid Box became The Box, which became Defunkt, which became Freekin' The Frame, and the techno dons kept coming through: Blake Baxter, Shake Shakir, Claude Young, Beltram, Weatherall, Surgeon, Bandulu... but very quickly, things became about more than just that. There was a strongly disruptive element from the beginning in the form of a close alliance with the Brighton “clench” of the Church Of The SubGenius. If you don't know about the Church, that's a whole other rabbit hole to fall down, but for our purposes it's enough to know that the local bunch existed on the fringes of freeparty soundsystem culture and subverted its tendencies to crypto-mystical bollocks, and were big on collage and stencil graffiti, heavy punning streams of consciousness (“Bulldada” in the SubGenius parlance), mischief disguised as culture and vice versa.

Heavily influenced by this SubGenius mischief was Mat Consume, in-house designer, computer animator and frequent back-room DJ for the Vogel-related axis. His art, brain-bent ranting and noisily experimental sets became a vital part of the identity of the scene, helping coalesce obsessions with punk and Situationism and ambivalent embrace of digital progress among Vogel and compadres to the point where when they formed an umbrella organisation for their activities it was natural to call it No Future. Held loosely together by Vogel's partner and manager Emma Sola this acted as a booking agency for various acts, but just as much felt like a chaotic but fiercely independent joint art project between Vogel, Sola and Consume, throwing ideas and aesthetic forms out into the underground and forging alliances with equally bloody-minded creators.

Emma Sola

These included the likes of Canadian filmmaker and stencil artist Pablo Fiasco; animators and sound artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt aka Semiconductor; non-techno eclecticist club collectives Mufflewuffle and Slack; the combative cabaret night That Stupid Club which would feature subcultural saboteurs like Stewart Home, Dennis Cooper and The Divine David; and another more rave-influenced cabaret night called Monkey's Lounge full of spoken word, off-colour comedy, offal-flinging and pints-of-piss-drinking, run and compered by... um... me (under the names Rimmington Snuffporn Esq and DJ Dead, with help from my music production and DJ partner Jeffrey Disastronaut). It was at a Monkey's Lounge session that Consume physically pushed Jamie Lidell – already widely known as a wildly innovative techno producer via the Subhead collective and their Growth parties – on stage with the house band Balzac, immediately kickstarting a long running residency as their singer and marking the beginning of a performing career that still continues.

Tom “Squarepusher” Jenkinson and Hardy Spymania

Possibly the most important alliance of all, though, was with the Spymania crew. Their social circle was a motley bunch of Londoners, Midlanders and most notably a large contingent from Chelmsford, Essex. Many of the latter had been to school with Tom Jenkinson, a musician known originally as Stereotype and then, when the Spymania label itself was formed by Paul Fowler and brighton-based Hardy Finn, as Squarepusher. Their ethos was preposterous in all ways, fuelled by unstable fusions of questing intellects and Essex swagger. As teenagers they first congregated around a Chelmsford club night called Club Trout, run by future scene mainstay Jane Mitchell (and later exported to Brighton as Smooth But Halibut); they smoked themselves sarcastic to early tapes made by their friends Cassetteboy; everything they did was shot through with skater-stoner-hardcore-raver pisstake attitude. Their rickety old website, which remains live today, still gives a hint of all this. http://www.spymania.com/pgs/hardcore.html

Yet these were musical connoisseurs too, assiduously collecting hip hop, acid, Detroit techno, British electronica, and especially in the case of Martin “MDK” Wood, death metal, gindcore and anarcho punk. This pile-up of musical expertise and sarky dicking about was there from the first release, Squarepusher's Conumber EP – which featured everything from a track that was nothing more than a timestretched Jenkinson asking “can anyone lend me a fiver” to the jungle-acid fusions that would literally redefine how electronica was made from the Aphex Twin on down for the rest of the 1990s. The Spymania records that followed touched on illbient mismatched time signatures, Drexciyan electro-funk, Deicide samples, eerily blissed out atmospherics, Cassetteboy's peurile genius (via offshoot label Barry's Bootlegs), and a dozen more awkward twists and turns besides, always brain-frying, always funny, never settling on any sound that offered the casual listener an easy handle on what was going on.

A standardly Dada Spymania cover

This added up to a refreshing antidote to the chin-fondling seriousness and purism of much of the electronica scene. And when Finn, Wood and friends went raving at the Acid Box, they naturally found a kindred spirit in Mat Consume who would design almost all the Spymania sleeves, their grainy photocopy style a counterpoint to the garish clashing computer images and animated dancing baby skeletons of his No Future work. They in turn helped inspire Consume, with the urbane Lynton Million (a university friend of Jamie Lidell's), to set up Trash Records.

Trash was a label that would take the horrible and confrontational side of the scene to extremes, with anger and ugliness from label mainstays including DJ Paedofile, Chuck Shite and Shit & Cheap (aka Consume & Landstrumm – sample track name: “SuckingCocksForFishheads”), as well as impossibly intricate turns from the likes of Liddell and another Chelmsfordian Squarepusher contemporary and Rephlex recording artist, Matt Yee-King. Si Begg, too, was close to the Spymania team, and launched the rather more good-natured but equally ridiculous Noodles family of labels, featuring a slew of collaborations and AKAs (including Hardy Spymania's pleasingly literal Barry Pseudonym) from the No Future and Spymania families.

It was a messy and disparate little scene. The bulk of the rave action took place in the big clubs of Germany and the rest of Europe, but the creative processes were at least as much about what happened in smoky shared flats and workshops in Brighton's tatty backstreets as they were about big dancefloors. Vogel once described his metier as “the drug pub rant”, and a lot of work sprung from precisely these. Continually, though, the bulk of Brighton club culture, from the seafront clubs to the free parties on the beaches and Downs, tended to look askance at the belligerence and deliberate obfuscations of the No Future axis, or more often simply ignore it all. Perhaps the glorious cresting of the first wave of activity, and probably this scene's peak visibility in Brighton full stop, was at the Brighton Dance Parade of 1997. This attempt to replicate Berlin's Love Parade was never to be repeated – hippie mismanagement and Brighton's endemic corruption saw to that – but for one day only the ravers had their literal day in the sun.

The Trash crew: top - Consume, Hunter & Million / middle - Million & Consume / bottom - Cristian Vogel & Million

There, among floats pumping out free party trance and funky house, the No Future bus – stencilled all over by Pablo Fiasco with pictures of dead rock stars, and with a stunningly crsip rig playing weaponised techno whose angles and curves were a thousand times sharper and more present than any other music on the day – stood out like a septic thumb. This was also the year that Vogel's musical partnership with Lidell began in earnest – with Lidell's furious remix of Vogel's “(Don't) Take More”, which remains a brain-damage anthem to this day in some quarters, and their first release as the mutant electronic funk duo Super_Collider, “Darn (Cold Way O Loving)”. The latter track, amazingly, emerged on a major label, thanks to it being signed by Skint parent label Loaded, in turn licensed through Sony. It was a year to wave the freak flag high.

Despite untold hard drugs, fights and the incestuous nature of a town as small as Brighton, the scene and the various record labels involved remained vigorous and continued to diversify right through the last years of the nineties and into the new millennium. Super_Collider released one album on Loaded, and another on Rise Robots Rise, the label created by Vogel and Sola for ever more varied output including Catalan girl-punk and German dancehall. Lidell's ultra-experimental first solo album, Muddlin Gear, came out as a joint venture between Spymania and WARP in 2000, accompanied by deranged artwork and live films by Pablo Fiasco. Bands increasingly became part of the mix: whispering neo-Krautrockers Fujiya & Miyagi (on Paul Spymania's Massive Advance imprint), the terrifying Wevie Stonder (who he managed) and space-pop group Chungking (which I was in for a couple of years, and whose multi-instrumentalist James Stephenson played bass for Super_Collider live, creating a Chelmsford rhythm section with Matt Yee-King on drums - both of these two had also been in the aforementioned Balzac too).

No Future’s logo, designed with typical aggression by Consume

There were prominent fans too. John Peel asked the Trash collective to open Meltdown Festival in 1998. Thom Yorke and Radiohead's resident artist Stanley Donwood designed t-shirts for No Future. Vogel is namechecked on the Sabres Of Paradise Haunted Dancehall album, and Andrew Weatherall would frequently call him up, dumbfounded at his latest sonic advances. One memorable 1999 awayday for the Freekin' The Frame club to The End in London saw Róisín Murphy jumping on stage after the live Super_Collider show to duet with Lidell on an impromptu version of “Once in a Lifetime”, a very young Kieran Hebden repping UK garage, Chicks On Speed shouting their hearts out, and Chris Cunningham playing long segments of white noise to puzzled ravers, as well as sets from various No Future / Spymania stalwarts.

Inevitably, like all but the very biggest musical scenes, the micro-one in Brighton dissipated as people grew up, fucked up, or moved on – but its echoes continue. Vogel and Landstrumm continue to be significant forces in electronic music, both as influences on the post-Blawan generation and as musicians in their own right. Si Begg is a respected sound designer and composer. Matt Yee-King runs the computer music course at Goldsmiths college, and is a big noise on the “Algorave” scene. Paul Spymania is an artist manager and agent, and along with Scuba, brought dubstep to Berlin in the legendary Sub:Stance sessions. Semiconductor became artists in residence for NASA, among many other extraordinary commissions. Jamie Lidell supported Elton John. Consume is in Bristol, currently working on a giant mural of DJ Derek. Lynton Million lives on a small island, selling whisky. Ibrahim Alfa took several sharp diversions that are an epic tale in their own right, and is only now picking up where he left off with a Workshop issue of his “lost” album Once Upon a Time in Brighton. And so it goes on...

Unlike some electronic scenes, the one in Brighton was never particularly chic (although it certainly had massive cultural cachet in a few countries if not at home), and its records don't necessarily fetch silly money on discogs (like that's a measure of value, right?). But out of a tiny techno club and its committed few regulars grew something that filled an entire decade with utterly extraordinary art, music, humour and ideas, and which still has relevance and resonance for smart creative minds many years on. Those messy, aggro, awkward bunch of ravers and jokers somehow managed to hold it together just enough to build a creative world entirely of their own, with its own rules and its own distinctive identity: what more can artists hope for?

This history is dedicated to James Phillips, a vital part of this scene and always 100% one of the good guys. RIP

Some tunes:

Cristian Vogel: Ninjah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ydOFHo9JtI

Tobias Schmidt: Minus One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YjozNVF7_I

MDK: Sound of Saturday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV3KQHGxmcg

Subhead: Ruction (produced by Jamie Lidell) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5vNX_ylRQM

Squarepusher: Sarcacid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IY6cvGnVCA

Cristian Vogel: Bite & Scratch (Blake Baxter Detroit Mix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXIB7I3D7ss

DJ Paedofile: I was Rise in Clouds https://youtu.be/WcyrrAwqaQY

Buckfunk 3000 (Si Begg): Future Shock Planet Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4b6PE0FkY

Cristian Vogel: Sarcastically Tempered Powers http://youtu.be/Q2G3204pfkY

Yee King: Goodnight Toby https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbnZuv3xHog

Super_Collider: Darn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh2kauFcGpw

No Future at Brighton Love Parade: https://vimeo.com/119001501

[allezyshirt]

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How is this considered ju the Trash Animal Wtf Wine Tasting Friends Vintage T Shirt cyntoniabrown we riding with you this shit disgusting we must do all we can to free this young lady. Our home before and after the devastating woolsleyfire please donate anything you can to the malibu foundation in hopes to restore malibu s magic malibufoundation gvng org. Brandy Jutte We are just worried about the spread of this virus to the US The CDC is saying it s not a matter of if but when What kind of policies and steps are being put into place to protect the American people I m sure you and your administration is doing a great job when it comes to dealing with this virus but that doesn t help to settle our fears about this spreading like the plague Emily Troy I don’t believe this I believe this was started chemically to try andstop our Presidents good economy so people will think that Pres Trump caused this That’s what they want you to think It is done by countries who want to hurt the economy and is The Dems want us to take a shot to make us sick or kill us No Way no shot will I be taking Marcia Wilson Thank you very much for your heart felt response concerning our country Thank you for you determination in continuing to take the correct actions as you have been blessed with such discernment over MANY situations and and Leading our country back ont Xem thêm Marilyn Folz Mr President we know the dems Most of America loves you Rural America loves you because you have brought back jobs We can rebuild our small towns with some more help We need you We have your back TRUMP 2020 Doug Milliken We know you will provide the best possible protection for our great country Thank you Your doing the right thing and a great job of it Gina Mac Yes and the 15 in the US are reported to be concerned about lost luggage aka they are doing well and the hype surrounding this is being blown out of proportion Doing a great job Mr president Gregg W Jones I know you cannot read every comment but I still want to say that you and your Administration are doing a great job period Thank you for your leadership and for your service You sacrificed so much to be our President and you and your family has been in the target view of the Dems since your one Keep up the excellent work Sir This DAV is proud and thankful Shawn Stroh Bernie said you can’t predict when the virus will end but they have predicted when the world would end due to climate change 1000 times and were wrong every time TRUMP 2020 Firras Garada So are we going to ignore the CDC s warning today I m a doctor here in Michigan and believe the coronavirus is coming to wreak havoc in America Both for businesses and an overall health crisis Great job Mr President keep making this Country great The fact is just like the hurricanes and all the other emergencies we have had you have done your very best to take care of it and keep things at a minimal Through your Presidency you have absolutely done the best job possible in taking care of Americans And look at all the trolls on here Heather Lynn DeAnna President Trump you and your administration are excellent Nobody believes the liars on the other side This is a horrible disease that may cause harm but you have done your job Thank you Beth Jenks Thank you Mr President I don’t care what party what color young or old people we need to just believe Trump the CDC and let him make the decisions You better here me the Dems could have let that crap in here So don’t panic Trumps proved everything hes done on this Damn Dems wanted to let them all in Trump 2020 When you came to India we liked it very much But now after you leave there seems to be something deserted here Because my sister also lived there Good luck on reaching your country Rajkumar sahiba Raja Bhaiya State Genral Secretary LJP Uttar Pradesh INDIA Rem Rem Keep on doing what you do best running the country The dem debates tonight are a laughing stock A complete clown show LMAO They will always blame you It’s all they have but we know better they’re the do nothing dems just like you’ve said all along Kristin Valencia Aguiar Keep up the great work president Trump The Chinese government isn t being forthcoming and honest with this virus Put our best doctors and scientist on this to formulate a vaccine This looks like an orchestrated attack to bring our booming and prosperous economy to a halt Let s not let it happen Kimberley Reasor I trust you 2 do what you need 2 do You are doing a wonderful job in trying 2 keep this country which is should be your number one concern in both keeping us safe healthy Keep up the good work Trump2020 Travis Spada Not one death in the US What are the dems talking about Beat Trump that is their platform even if he made the right decision they are going to do the opposite Looks like an old folks home up there Tamara Stolzenthaler You are not communicating the truth You only care about stocks staying high so you can win the election Plus you need to be in quartentine after your travels David Brown I generally don t mind political gamesmanship but honestly this is the time to just come together and shut the borders till we get a handle on this before we end up like Italy Allen Stewart CV is a joke Spoke to a doctor who said it does not even compare to the Flu 30 000 affected in China So what There are 1 386 Billion people in China 20 30 cases in US 315 Million people in US Pure sensationalism Carol Hartford Howard You said it President Trump The DemoRATS complain criticize no matter what you do but I don’t see them coming up w any plan at all much less a better one IIn fact this is the party that supports open borders and sanctuary cities Hey Dems if you’re not part of the solution shut your pie hole stop the criticism Carol Hartford Howard You said it President Trump The DemoRATS complain criticize no matter what you do but I don’t see them coming up w any plan at all much less a better one IIn fact this is the party that supports open borders and sanctuary cities Hey Dems if you’re not part of the solution shut your pie hole stop the criticism Lauren Smith Nothing you do will please some of these people Just do the best you can most of us appreciate you and the efforts you make By what we have seen we have an idea of what you have to deal with to get anything done No one knows the shoes you walk in except you Trump2020 Judith Lacari I do not care about parties now my concern is the health and safety of US Citizens I trust you will add funding to the CDC and put additional medical staff to come up with a vaccine or preventive measures just in case the Corona virus spreads into the US Closing boarders is one measure we need medical prevention Kristie Newby Please consider an address to the nation to calm everyone down Everybody is panicking and the stock market shows their irrational fears A public address on what you are doing to protect us will reassure them Thank you for all that you do President Trump Donna Fell 8 200 people in the US died from the flu last year and millions fell ill The CDC told us to wash our hands stay away from those who are ill and that the flu is deadly and spreading Cody Buck So the CDC it’s basically saying that there is no solution for this coronavirus but to wash your hands several times a day and do not touch your face or nose And if you’re sick stay at home Period Damn all these new news updates give me anxiety I think I’m just going to stay away from people and enjoy my animals company Constance Williams The minute they announced Chelsea Clinton was on the board of WHO The World Health Organization Then Chuck Schumer said this administration wasn’t doing enough about the virus Joey Scott My daughter is a nurse and it’s not even a fear at their hospital 14 000 people have died in the United States from the flu this year is that a pandemic Is everyone running scared We’re all still working still living our daily lives and society I Xem thêm Paul Cochran Thank you President Trump but I see the Socialist Democrats and Biased Socialist Media turning this situation into another very UGLY ATTACK ON YOU I say stay strong and keep the heat on because scare tactics by the left will not work Stephanie Coleman People please This is just a cold on steroids Lysol has a list of pathogens it kills on the can Coronavirus is one of them This is not new Get a freaking grip If Trump cured cancer y’all would find something to complain about Steve Boyd Mr President I know you’re doing everything thing that can be done to protect the United States of America because you love the country The Dems lie I wish everyone had ears to hear them حسين عماد شنان I find it ironic that we have a drug pandemic in this country from drugs flooding this country through open borders yet the DEMS ARE DOING NOTHING TO HELP THIS I also find it interesting how they are pushing this flu causing panic They did this with the bird flu swine flu ebola virus etc and here we are during an election they must be running out of crap to blame you for Bonnie Kennington We have third world conditions in our Democratic run cities causing disease we have thousands of people dying from drugs we have thousands dying for lack of health care and we lose thousands to the flu every year even with vaccines think this new vi Xem thêm Wendy Clayton Hall You made great decisions closing the border and keeping Americans safe Keep on making good decisions and use your power of ignore with people who don’t agree with the good decisions you make for our country Trump2020 cant wait to vote Lauren Hartnett Thank you for cutting their budget funds last year and this year It should put us in a great position to beat this horrible virus Great job Vivian Warner The Dems will never like you their whole platform is based on hate Trump And they say conservatives are haters You can’t change the mind of someone running on passion and not facts David Rodriguez This country has a huge infrastructure of researchers physicians and professionals whose sole purpose is to protect Americans from situations like this There is little any one person even the president can do about it other than speak to the people Those who criticize the president are either ignorant or terribly misinformed or maybe both Carrie Crawford CDC needs to be held accountable for all the unsafe vaccines Please let Robert Kennedy Jr Start up the safety program to actually test vaccines Since 1986 they have not tested them 1out of 35 kids has Autism It’s not a coincidence vaccines sho Xem thêm Eutana Evans No matter what you say or do will never be acknowledged as being good for our country according to the Democrats They have their own agenda which is all about getting rid of you Period Keep up with what you are doing for us By the way I AM AN EX DEMOCRAT Jennifer Hastings So I have a family member currently in china and from what we ve been told everyone there is quarantined in their homes they are only allowed to leave to buy food and home supplies children are doing school from home online and they cost of flying in a Xem thêm Salam Raed You cut the funds on CDC to pay for the wall and now you blame the Dems Instead of stupid tweets try to find why medical face masks are out of stock almost everywhere Linda Sears The schizophrenia of the Dems First they say the President’s plan is DOA THEN they say he has no plan What it really is is the DEMS have no plan and no plan to have a plan except they don’t like Trump’s plan Bill Roudabush President Trump you’re first priority is to the safety of the American people You’re doing great Democrats and their Democrat activist journalists will condemn you know matter what you do Ignore them you have the majority of Americans behind you Cynthia Besson Fergusson We trust your doing an awesome job and protecting us We know you have our best interest at heart The Dems are just ruining it by whinning about everything and then we will believe nothing As Bill O Reilly noticed Biden just said 150 million people have been killed by gun violence Nobody says a word Insane Or did I hear it wrong My thoughts as a professional nurse He makes so many gAfs I really get worried for his mental well being Like him saying recently he was running for the US Senate or not identifying the correct name of a state he was in And many others My concern is does he have eArly dementia Voncile Stone The dems would much rather the virus take over the country if that made Trump look bad People dyeing means nithing to Schumer or Pelosi Trashing Trump is much more important they are truly mentially Ill Marilyn Demby Caulder You are doing a great job we don’t believe one word that comes out of the mouth of those lying Democrats the debate tonight was more like a circus They are scared of you that’s for sure and they better be afraid very afraid Trump 2020 Mike Perry The Democratic party actually loves the prospect of a pandemic that effectively destroys the economic prosperity of every country in the WORLD these people have NO limitations of who ever needs to Die for their agenda to be put into place and fo Xem thêm Michael Stovall On the Democrat Debate Stage tonight all the Circus Clowns said you President are not doing enough to protect the United States from the Coronavirus I am sure the Fake News Media will be repeating what the Debate Clowns said Jeremy Church It just occurred to me The fact that we don t live in a third world communist country where we are forced to work relentlessly for little to no pay That we have access to healthcare The fact that our government doesn t view us as subjects Kathy Doering Leyba LOVE YOU BIG D Dems need to stop using the COVID 19 to further their political gains Shameful Real Americans know how to help themselves Stop whining and get your house straight for a bumpy ride thru this potentially difficult journey Snowflakes Kay Chaney America Thanks You Mr President and the majority of it is very pleased with You as our Commander Chief We all are very aware of the Dems their fake media every one of their crooked schemes Where by they are nailing their own feet to the floor Laura Murphy Taylor Americans always know when you do the right thing by the level of outrage the Democrats have So if their faces are melting and their hair is in fire We know you did it right Janice Smith You can do no right in the Dems eyes but who cares Your Patriots have your back Jennifer Bishop And I don’t care if a DEMOCRAT’S post negative crap on my post Anyone that thinks the way Sander’s Boomer Obama Clinton and all them think is ok then there is definitely some screws missing BobDebra Lee Thank you Sir Thank you for the continued success off the wall and thank you for closing the gates to those coming in that could possibly be exposed Democrats are just really unhappy people They would crucify Jesus again if he were here Amazingly sad Frances Willden got to be 5 steps ahead the dems must be all on crack or your hitting to close to home or their pockets what both I do why ahead where does it hurt your ready to face it on meaning a storm comes flash lights generators if it dont work propane and m Xem thêm Matthew Perry Thank you President Trump for protecting our boarders and health The Dems will never give you a fair evaluation You do what is right for the American people and we all know it Richard Griswold By the way Mr President Rod Rosenstein’s sister Nancy Messonnier is trying to instill fear chaos with press releases to the public Scott Kimrey Unfortunately it only takes one self actualized individual who gets the chance to skirt quarantine and start infecting what is now a national and global community Odds are in favor of the virus spreading here and again unfortunately the Dems are sit Xem thêm Richard Shallenberg all americans know we at CDC have a handle on what we have been allowed too handle but just like WHO was a weel late on knowing nothing we were already ahead of them and china but the dems don’t care about world health they are a bunch of abortionists’ the more deaths the better they just want there money Rhonda Schneider Thank u Mr president if the dems had it their way we the american people would b suffering greatly they don’t care about us the lower hard working class like me needs someone to help us we can’t continue living with such low wages high price of living n expensive health care Lindy Frady The Dems keep fighting among themselves So much BS going on had to turn it off It s ok the more they talk the more votes we get People are coming to the light side daily They have lost there minds and it keeps getting worse No the lead candidate is a socialist Winning Trump 2020 Claire Fish Yes it is a boo hoo for Democrats because they didnt take the virus seriously They only care about trying to ruin Trump more than the people of this Country Congress voted against closing a part of the border It was the smart thing to do Allicyn Raymond Your the biggest reason I have faith this planet wont capsize into a big ball of fire into space Thank you for never letting the nay sayers break you down The dems and any other politician could learn a thing or two from your administration Thank you for your selfless service You got my vote for the rest of history please save our vaping industry as well please Kristofor Gullickson The Dems are just tryin’ to get the last bit of their investments from just before Obamacare It is likely any Republicans are not in Government anymore or sold their shares long ago Mary Schmidt Kern Steyer wants reparations for slavery for those who never experienced It Wtf the Republican Party was started to end slavery and somehow the dems are twisting it because red voters believe in making your own living and not depending on the government for handouts unless you really need it Uhhhg Carole Tewell what about the man you just appointed who knows absolutely nothing you can really pick them and the wonderful betsy devoss who also know nothing about education were her donations worth childrens education as long as you can fill a spot with one of your wealthy friends it doesnt matter you have to pay them back for their support Jerry Aggson Keep it up Mr President you’re doing a great job There’s only one thing more ignorant than a democrat poo pooing a good thing Someone voting for that democrat Never the less we love the job you are doing and couldn’t be more proud of the man that Xem thêm Eliz Ann Maybe you should reasure the American people that you are working with CDC because as usual the Dems are saying you are doing nothing about the corona virus William M LeBleu It doesn t matter what you do Mr President the media and the Democrats will try to twist it to try to make a negative out of it Just remember Sir when it comes to these clowns that is all they have to offer America a big NEGATIVE They have run Xem thêm Jill Lanpher Those who vote for Bernie Sanders are voting for socialism leading to communism think money grows on trees that student debt should be paid by tax payers support open borders and sanctuary cities free Medicare for all feel nothing is wrong with Xem thêm Curt Green Most of us know your level of commitment and appreciate it Wouldn’t even be surprised at all if the Dems manufactured yet another crisis simply to affect an election Wouldn’t be the first time they sacrificed American lives for their cause Desperate times call for desperate measures Go ahead shoot holes in it if you can but it doesn’t matter because even if it were true it will never be reported Vincent Anthony One sign that the Dems were serious about this is that they would not politicize the situation As it is they have positioned themselves for victory only as American bodies pile up DISGUSTING Kathy Ream Just saw the demo debate None of them would shut up when their time was done Birney wouldn’t shut up even when it was some one else turn It was a mess up there on stage I can’t imagine ANY of them as President They all have a plan but never say what it is Trump2020 Adam Lindley Dems just throw money at something to fix it Still not working Throw more money at it That s their way Trump doesn t give enough money and they throw him under the bus The democrat way Sandra Bates The dems are trying to use this now as a political tool We know you have a handle on this situation Please keep us informed Some of the media are trying to put fear into America Fake News Really Fake News and definitely biased news to say the least They don’t know how to report real news anymore Your administration is doing a great job Deslor Emberga Vanhees Why will American vote for Democratic they all ready show how they are in 3 years nothing they ve done but to Harass their own President it should be nothing but President Trump 2020 GoD Bless America in Jesus name we trust not the Democrat Atlas Holduup Just registered to vote for trump didnt like the iran situation but other then that hes proven himself worthy of presidency and I swore id never vote until a candidate presented himself worthy of my vote Michael Davis Every Demoncrat is a sore loser Most are clueless to the fact that the globalists want to control their very lives by tyrannical rule Trump is our last hope I for one have confidence in you and your Administration Mr President Also I am fed up with the Dems who would not be happy with any thing you do Thank goodness we the people know them well And if anyone out there is not sure just go look at the behavior of Nancy Pelosi and her dressed in white clan s behavior during our President s SOTU address That behavior Is the worst that I have EVER seen from elected leaders I felt terrible discomfort knowing that that behavior was being seen all over the world Just think about that Let that sink in people please God help this country if THOSE people ever make up the majority of our Leaders Carmelo Consiglio Trumps been cutting funding for the CDC since taking office If there’s not an outbreak in the USA it will be a miracle Hell today he’s trying to put a bunch of patients in a condemned building in the OC instead of a FEMA facility Maxx Alexander It’s ok nobody with a decent brain and a clue has missed the media being completely negative and dishonestly so No better President we could ever ask for than you Especially when times are challenging Christine Ward Roe I think the media isn’t helping by blowing this up in the news remember China delayed by 6 weeks and let the virus spread but the US has acted very quickly to contain it especially by Trump imposing travel restrictions and quarantines otherwise we would look like Italy but the dumbard Dems are upset with the his travel ban what the heck Trash Animal Wtf Wine Tasting Friends Vintage T Shirt

[illogicalhusbands]

The Game is Afoot - pt. 4

Bill Masters x Alec Hardy Masters of Sex / Broadchurch Crossover Link to Part 3

So sorry for the long wait! Both my co-mod and I have been extremely busy with our personal lives. I’ve come down with the flu and also had to deal with an emergency that led me to move homes so I’ve had my hands very full. But this update became unexpectedly long, so there actually will be one more part to follow! (Though I feel I’ve been saying that for the past two updates already). Also, wow 300 FOLLOWERS! I am FLOORED. Thanks everyone for the support! I hope the newcomers are all enjoying the content here. I’ll also be putting up a navigation page for the blog soon so it’ll be easier to find the fanfics and fanart that we make.

-

Everyone was staring.

It was one of those rare days that Masters had gotten him to agree to get something that vaguely resembled a complete meal for breakfast, yet by the time they had sat down Alec was quickly losing his appetite.

Pushing thin-rimmed spectacles up the bridge of his nose, he pointedly ignored the sticky feeling of several pairs of eyes on him as he perused through the list of fifty or so names and phone numbers in his hand, taunting him.

“Holmes.”

Alec groaned. He was nowhere near cracking this case than he had been a week ago. There had to be something that he was missing!

“Holmes.” A hand shot out to grab his forearm. Alec looked up to Masters’ steel blue eyes lit up with… worry? “I know this serial burglary case has been driving you mad, but you look horrifying. Just, please, eat something.”

Alec blinked blearily at him. “I’m fine, Watson,” he said, mustering up all the vitriol that he could onto that last word.

“That’s doctor Watson to you,” said Masters, on the slight edge of teasing once again. “But in all seriousness, I am an actual doctor, so you better listen to me when I say you need to take better care of yourself.”

Alec snarled. “I bloody hate doctors.”

“And I’m sure they find you an absolute delight to be with.” Masters took a sandwich from Alec’s plate and held it up to his face. “Now, eat.”

There was something about the doctor’s tone that was so commanding, in a way that never failed to grab Alec’s attention. It was always paired by those cold blue eyes and set jaw. Alec could tell he wielded this weapon on more than one occasion. He could picture Masters talking down rivals or even superiors, looking every bit like the prim and proper man that he presented himself to be, the presence of danger in his eyes the only indicator of his vicious intent. Masters probably never had much difficulty in getting anything he wanted.

Damn, Alec thought, And why did this bastard have to be so bloody attractive?

Alec was able to hold down half of his sandwich. He managed to convince Masters that he would finish the rest at a later time at work. Masters looked doubtful, but that seemed to satisfy him enough.

The whispers restarted when they got up from their seats. Alec grit his teeth. Did this town have nothing better to talk about than what other people got up to? He took a deep breath and nearly prayed that Masters hadn’t noticed at all that the entire bloody town thought of them as an item and could not seem to shut up about it.

Masters walked a step ahead of him and opened the door. “Pleasure as always, Mr. Holmes,” he said with a smooth grin. Please, please please don’t notice how other people have been talking about us. Above all, please don’t notice how much I want them to be right.

Alec startled at the hand on his lower back, gently pushing him out the door. He tried to look more relaxed, but he could see Masters had taken note of it.

They stepped out onto the pavement. Alec lingered, not wanting to leave things awkward between them. They spoke at the same time.

“Look—”

“I’m—”

“You first,” Alec said.

“Holmes…” the doctor started, eyes darting around nervously. “You know what? It’s nothing. I enjoyed breakfast today. And your company, um… thank… you for that.”

Alec felt his cheeks warming. “Y-yeah? I mean, alright. It-it’s fine, I—” he could see Masters slightly pursing his lips. “You know people talk, right?”

“I imagine they do little else,” said Masters flatly.

Alec scratched the back of his head. How can he get his message across without sounding too presumptuous? “I mean they—ah, they seem to think that we… are together.”

Masters blinked. “But we are together.”

The blood in Alec’s veins turned to ice. “W-what do you—”

“Right now, we’re here. Standing. Together. Is there something so scandalous about that?”

Alec tried to look for any signs on Masters’ face that he was kidding, but there was none. His brow was furrowed in concentration, mulling over the oddity in Alec’s statement.

“O-oh, you meant—I mean, yes! Yes, we are indeed, um, together.” Crap! He’d completely misread the situation. He scolded himself. Don’t look any more like a bumbling idiot in front of him! What was he even doing? Bringing this up with Masters was a surefire way of sending him running for the hills. Alec internally sighed. What kind of respectable man would want to be associated with a “shitface” disgraced detective? If Masters had any idea that the people of Broadchurch had branded them as the town’s Couple of the Year, he’d never want to see Alec again, much less be seen with him. “I suppose I’m just worried about your um, privacy.”

“My… privacy.”

“Yes! You know how it is in here. Everyone’s always up in other people’s business and—oh, would you look at the time!” He raised his wrist and realized a bit too late that he’d forgotten his watch. “I best get going. This was…” There was no reason to look like a flustered schoolgirl, he told himself. “Great, uh… mate.” And before he could stop himself, his fist bumped dejectedly onto Masters’ arm.

For Christ’s sake.

Masters looked at his miserable excuse for social communication and thankfully said nothing.

“I’ll see you around.” Masters gave his arm a firm squeeze that sent electric jolts straight to his chest cavity and left.

Alec kicked the pavement—and inhaled sharply at the contact and the stabs of pain that coursed up his foot.

 -

Just to add a cherry on top of his already messy, bloody cake, a whole bag of bad news greeted him at work. Cold leads, no new suspects, and inconsistent witness statements. Alec spent the next six hours bent over files and data cards, shutting off all his bodily functions and channeling his energy into coming up with anything that might be able to make sense of this increasingly complex case.

“CCTV brought up nothing, sir,” said Miller, looking not much better than he did. “I searched all night-”

“But that’s impossible!” Alec rifled through his own notes, skimming across messily scrawled witness accounts. “You should able to find that red van on the corner of Ivy and Hodges. Without that, our entire case is just mere speculation!”

“I don’t know what to do, sir. I’m just astounded as you are.”

Alec groaned, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. “We can’t be caught theorising, Miller! We need evidence.”

“Hang on, I’m working on it!” Miller put her hands on her hips, indignant. “Don’t have to make it look like you’ve been doing all the bloody work. You know how many all nighters I’ve put on in this office?”

“I’m not accusing you,” said Alec, rubbing his entire face, trying to keep himself awake. He could feel his mind floating off elsewhere and that was not good.

“All the while you were off gallivanting with Doctor Masters—”

“Do not bring him into this, Miller. He’s got nothing-”

“Oh don’t put that ‘we’re strictly acquaintances’ bullshit on me! I’m happy for you, really I am. And you definitely need to unwind more than all of us here.”

“It’s not bullshit. We’re barely even friends.”

Miller rolled her eyes. Her expression shifted drastically from the hopeless look she sported before. “At this point, it’s not even cute anymore. You’re just being very annoying.”

“Glad to see I haven’t lost my charm.”

Alec raked a hand through his hair, fighting through a pounding headache. “Masters has given no indication whatsoever of him… caring for… in that way. Just let it go, will you?”

A voice from the main entrance halted their conversation.

“Delivery for a… Sherlock Holmes?” The poor delivery girl was holding up a brown paper bag in her arms as she read the card with pure confusion on her face. She flushed. “Oh no. I-I think this may have been a prank. Is anyone of you actually-”

Miller shot a pointed look at Alec, who stood frozen with his mouth open.

“No, luv, not to worry! He’s right here.” said Miller, walking over to free the girl of the package.

Alec briefly snapped out of it enough to process what he was seeing. “H-how much is this?”

“Oh, no, it’s already been paid for by card, Mr. Holmes,” said the relieved girl. “Have a nice day!”

Alec still couldn’t move by the time Miller had brought the paper bag over to him.

“Go on, then. Open it! This is probably the only entertainment I’m getting today.”

Alec glared at her. “Entertainment. Really, Miller, we’re not a soap opera.”

“Hardy, I have had a very long week and things are very bleak right now with the case, so either you open this bag or I open your skull. Your choice.”

Alec opened the bag.

Inside was a box of takeout from one of his favorite Thai restaurants nearby. A sticky note taped on the top read—I’m aware we’re both busy. Consider this my way of buying you lunch. (Finish all of it.) W.

Miller had been reading over his shoulder again.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Alec said.

“I swear to god. I can’t deal with this right now.” Miller groaned loudly and cradled her head. “God, I need a coffee.” Alec heard her retreating footsteps.

Alec took out the food from the bag, staring at it as if it were on fire. What did all this mean?

The whispers came back full force. Apparently the entire office had a good view over what just occurred. It was clear the package was addressed to Alec, and they could only think of one person who it came from and they, unfortunately, were correct.

Alec grabbed the food and stomped over to his office, slamming the door behind him. He needed to put a stop to this. The situation was getting out of hand. If people got more ideas about him and Masters, it would ruin everything they had at present. Why, oh why did Alec have to always want more than he deserved? Why couldn’t he just be content with what he was given? Why did he have to develop shoddy feelings for the man?

He of course knew the answer to that. Masters was striking. He commandeered a presence in every room he entered. But more than his appearances, he was also interesting. Alec could never quite tell if he was a being a righteous asshole or just plain blunt. He’d only known Masters for five months, but the companionship between them grew with hardly any effort from either side. He was intelligent and funny, often without meaning to. Alec saw him and instantly felt the need to smoothen his suit, or fix his hair and just try his might at keeping up with the brilliance of this man, to impress him somehow. To make any sort of impression on him, really. He orbited around Masters, held in place by a natural gravitational force.

He absolutely cannot ruin this just because of some vastly exaggerated stories from the grapevine. Still, these people showed no sign of slowing down. He resolved to the one thing that was left for him to do: slam on the brakes.

He needed to avoid Dr. William Masters.

 -

The next day was barely any better. They had made no progress with the case, and both Alec and Miller were at their wits’ end trying to piece everything together. Alec hasn’t handled a case as harrowing as this in about a year. He stayed in the office all night so that Miller could go home and check up on her kids. Alec ran through more CCTV footage and transcripts from witness’ statements. He could feel the answer nearing him, almost within his grasp. He just needed to know which direction to take his hands.

Alec downed the rest of his tepid tea. He set the mug down. When did he get two mugs? It was only then that he noticed his vision spinning. He shook his head. There was no time for sleep when the truth was only millimetres away from his fingertips!

The vibrations from his phone woke him back up. He turned to look. Why was Masters calling at this hour?

“What?” His voice was gruff from disuse. He’d been alone in the headquarters for hours now.

“Ah, so you are still at work.” Masters’ voice was infuriatingly proper and formal, as always.

“Did Miller tell you that?”

“Ellie sent me a text saying you’ll be out all night. I see you’ve not had any luck on the case,”

Alec huffed. “Have you come to gloat?”

“Gloating’s not really my style. However, I will share with you the fact that I’ll be accepting an award next week for my groundbreaking research on improved strategies for in vitro fertilization.”

“That hardly sounds impressive, Watson.” It was very impressive.

“If properly adopted, they could increase IVF success rate by up to forty percent.” Alec could sense the excitement radiating off him through the phone. “Fertility treatments used to be so taboo, Holmes. But we live in an age where these conversations have been opened up in the vernacular. If these techniques—these conversations about the human body—could be made more accessible, imagine how many people can live without that social pressure burdening their shoulders, how many women would not be made to feel so-so ashamed of their bodies! This… This age is a turning point, Holmes, I can feel it. And I would like a part in it. Dabble my footsteps in it, so to say.”

“You’ll leave the most impressive footprints,” Alec found himself saying as a fond smile made its way over to his face.

“Will I?” said Masters, a little flirtatious.

There was no one around at the moment. Alec allowed himself to bask in it, his heart only a little bit broken. “Guarantee it. Be a goldmine for Forensics, I say.”

“Well, I’m glad you have so much confidence in me. Not very many people do.”

Alec took a glance at the clock. 2:17 A.M. and no signs of finishing work anytime soon. He took a deep breath—eyes opening in shock as the air rushed into his lungs like knives.

“Is everything alright?”

He clutched at his desk, making feeble attempts at normalizing his breathing, but the panic only grew stronger. His vision was blurring. Masters’ voice on the phone sounded much farther away.

The last thing he registered was the voice from the phone yelling out his name. His name. And then he blacked out.

TO BE CONTINUED