#my mom has banned criminal minds from the house

[cxremedy]

it appears i've mentally illed a little too close to the sun this time

[susiephone]

@imdefnotvanessa thank you for giving me indirect permission to talk more <3

Fred: He has never been in trouble before in his life, he's every teacher's favorite and an all-around Very Nice Boy. He got detention for fighting and everyone is SHOCKED... until they find out that Fred was trying to stand up for a younger student who was getting bullied. Fred wanted to resolve things with words, things escalated, and Fred punched the bully in the face... and broke his own hand doing so. He instantly started apologizing and confessed the minute a teacher turned up to ask what was happening. He then started crying. Everyone who hears the full story is like, "Yeah, that makes more sense." Technically he should've gotten suspended for punching someone, but because he's such a nice, well-liked kid and it was a first time offense and he WAS defending someone, he got off with a week's worth of detention and a call home. He's in detention like "oh God I'm a CRIMINAL who has brought SHAME upon my WHOLE FAMILY" and everyone else is like, "First time?"

Shaggy: He's generally good at gym class, he doesn't mind the running or the team building games, but when he found out he'd have to play dodgeball, he said, with all due respect to the coach, he was Not Doing That Shit. He cut a week's worth of gym class and got two weeks' worth of detention in exchange.

Velma: She's pretty much singlehandedly pulling up the school's collective GPA, but cannot resist contradicting her teachers. This can range from "I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of Arthur Miller" to "You realize you are literally teaching us white supremacist rhetoric, right?" The latter tends to land her in trouble. Also has a habit of sneaking banned books into the school library where she volunteers, but no one can prove it's her and even if they could, no one's sure how to go about punishing someone for GIVING the school stuff. The librarian really likes her but can't do much to protect her from the less progressive members of the faculty.

Daphne: Her family's incredibly influential in politics and donates a lot to the school, so Daphne can usually skate consequences for texting in class, skipping class, showing up late, and turning in her work late. She's very friendly and charming but a lousy student. However, there's one very persistent first-year teacher who recognizes how smart she is and thinks someone needs to push her to actually do something with her intelligence and skills. This teacher is the one who likes Daphne best, but is also the hardest on her and the only one to give her detention, her parents be dammed. Daphne respects them for it and is usually willing to take it in stride, even as her mom threatens to make a stink about it.

Other ideas for this concept:

None of the kids like to say they "own" Scooby as he's obviously his own person, but legally he's Shaggy's dog and lives with him. (Fred lives in an apartment that doesn't allow dogs, Velma's mom is allergic, and Daphne's parents would never let an animal in their house.) However, they all share responsibility for taking care of him; Daphne paid for his license and registration, Fred comes over to walk him a couple times a week, and Velma brings him food from her place sometimes.

The fact that Scooby can talk is the world's worst kept secret. The kids TRY to keep it under wraps for his safety but it's not going well.

The kids gradually come to accept that something supernatural is going on, in this order: Shaggy, Daphne, Fred, and then finally Velma, who is still not convinced Scoob isn't an alien.

Daphne's father is a local politician now running for governor and it sucks, she's actively praying he'll lose. Her mom is a very successful lobbyist and spends a lot of time in DC. Daphne barely tells them anything about her personal life.

Fred's family is working class, his mom teaches at the school and his dad is a mechanic at a local garage. Fred works there too on weekends. His parents are super sweet and supportive.

Shaggy's parents are super chill, one of his moms is a mildly successful author who waits tables during the day, his other mom works as a dentist and is always on his case about flossing.

Velma's parents are both college professors, her mom is a lauded physicist and her dad's a historian currently on sabbatical to write a book. They love that Velma wants to follow them into academia but also encourage her to make friends.

The Mystery Machine is this ANCIENT RV Fred's uncle gave him for his birthday, Fred has been fixing it for ages and ages and it's finally in working condition again.

Daphne has a credit card but her parents can see everything she buys so the gang treats it as an "emergencies only" thing because Mr. and Mrs. Blake would NOT approve of her solving mysteries.

Only villains call Shaggy "Norville."

(Villains, and Fred's grandma.)

a scooby-doo origin story where Daphne, Fred, Velma, and Shaggy are all serving detention together and none of them (save for maybe Fred and Daphne) have ever really talked before, but they talk in detention. they have fun, they're bonding, it's a real Breakfast Club situation, and as detention ends they're walking home and they see a dog digging through the garbage of a local restaurant

he's big, but he seems sweet and he's obviously hungry, so the gang approaches him to see if he has a collar. Shaggy manages to get to him first, and the dog immediately takes to him, giving him a big dog kiss and cuddling up to him, but the dog seems to like all of them

upon finding he doesn't have a collar, Shaggy, scratching behind his ears, rhetorically asks, "What's your name, buddy?"

and the dog answers, "Scooby-Dooby-Doo!"

after a minute of freaking the FUCK out and asking each other "y'all heard that, right?" the kids decide to take the dog (who they immediately start calling Scooby-Doo, Scoob, or Scooby for short) home, and find that not only can the dog talk, he displays human-level intelligence and is easily frightened. when they ask where he came from, he doesn't seem to know, but when they walk past an old, abandoned shopping complex on the edge of town, he completely freaks out...and there are weird noises coming from that complex at night....and some suspicious sightings....

the first mystery they investigate together is the mystery of what in God's name is going on here

[ks-dreams-fantasies]

Rio smut?! Where the reader is married with 3 kids but she is currently going through a separation. She is in friend group with Beth,Annie, and Ruby. They all work for Rio and reader calls Rio over one day to talk about “business” and he’s confused on why she wants to talk and when he comes over to her house she asks him to fuck her and Rio delivers🙂🥵. Please

*GIF NOT MINE*

As you wish boss -Rio (Good Girls)

Hey love ! Thanks for your request, hope you like what I wrote ☺️ Enjoy some smut 👅 This is a longer one and I wrote it late at night , it’s not proofread sorry in advance 

Also this takes place in season 2 before Ben transitionned so that’s why there is mention of Sadie

Warning: Language, Smut

Word Count : 3k

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“I need to get Stan out of there” Ruby said panicking as you and Annie tried to comfort her.  Turner had arrested him Tuesday morning and Ruby couldn’t stop crying.

“I know we said we were out, but it’s the fastest way to get the money to bail him out” You called out looking at the both of them

“We could do it!” Annie said confidently “Plus we could all use the money, my sister doesn’t have to know” she continued

“We can’t go behind her back Annie” Ruby replied shaking her head disapproving of the idea. She didn’t want to do that to her bestfriend, but part of her was in need of the cash. “We need to tell Beth”

“We can’t, she’s an addict Ruby, it would be like giving a drink to an alcoholic. She’s trying her best and it wouldn’t be fair of us to bring her back in after all the effort she has done. It would only be one time, enough to get Stan out, enough to help (Y/N) with the divorce and enough for me and Sadie”Annie said trying to convince her.

“I mean, how would we even do it? Did you forget about the fact that we’ve been banned for every wholesale store? Beth’s the one who came up with the idea”

“As much as I love my sister, we don’t need her for that, we all have brains, let’s use them and find a way, it’s shouldn’t be too hard” Annie answered

“And how do we even find this guy, I mean Beth’s always been the one contacting him. Do you even know how to get to the man?” Ruby couldn’t believe she was even thinking about it

“I’ll do it” you said, finally speaking “I’ll get in contact with him”

“And how will you do that?” Ruby said finishing her coffee

“Let me take care of it” you replied, taking her mug to fill it in.

“Don’t” she said motioning to your hands “I have to go get the kids from school, we’ll catch up later”she continued standing up, picking up her purse before leaving

“Ok, so we’re really doing this?” Annie said excitedly

“I guess so, it’s going to help all of us, especially Ruby” you sighed “Anyway, anything to take my mind off of my stupid ex” you said rolling your eyes

“How are you doing by the way, with this whole situation?”

“I’m fine, the kids are starting to get used to it slowly, they’re often talking about his new girlfriend though, it’s kinda pissing me off. I mean he’s the one who fucked up and he gets to be happy with someone else? Like don’t get me wrong, I’m good without him, I wasn’t happy anymore, I was staying with him for the kids. It’s not like we had sex often, but it’s the only thing I miss, you know?” You asked shrugging your shoulders. Of course, you were taking care of yourself when you felt the need to, but you couldn’t help but admit you were missing the touch of a man.  

“I get it” she chuckled

You talked for a bit before she left, leaving you all alone as you washed the dishes. When the kids came back from school, you prepared their bags for the weekend as they were going on a camping trip with their father and his new bimbo. He was coming to get the two little ones while you were going to your eldest’s baseball game.

“You have everything? Don’t forget I’m dropping you off at your dads after the game and he won’t be happy if you’re missing something” You said to him as you both hopped in the car, fastening your seatbelt.

“Don’t worry mom, I have everything. Can we go now? I don’t want to be late, Marcus said we could practice together before the game” He said as you drove off.

You never told the girls before, but your son was on the same team as Rio’s son. You didn’t see each other often, most of the time, Rhea was taking him to his games, but when you did see him, you would glance at each other from across the bleachers. He was a totally different person when Marcus was around. He still looked intimidating, but you could see his softer side when he would smile and clap as his son made a good play, encouraging him.

As you arrived at the field, your son went running to Marcus as you looked through the bleachers trying to find a familiar figure. Today was just your luck, as you saw Marcus’s dad sitting there, typing on his phone, probably taking care of business as he waited for the game to start. You made your way towards him, while other women stared at you as you sat next to the man dressed in black. He lifted his eyes from his phone, watching you, as you played with your own fingers.

“How you doing mama?” he said, his voice deep, hearing a gasp coming from a lady behind you. Rio was attractive and you weren’t the only one agreeing to that. Maybe it was the confidence, the danger, the relationship he had with his kid or even the neck tattoo, but you were not the only mom swooning over him. The difference with you, was that you didn’t let it show. They were always trying to get his attention, by sitting next him or trying to make conversation. Some of them even brought juice boxes and snacks for Marcus, trying to make him like them by gaining his son’s appreciation. You, on the other hand, never sat close to him or even spoke to him. Your relationship was strictly business related but it didn’t stop you from thinking about him in a different aspect. You didn’t want to admit it, but you sometimes happened to be thinking about him while pleasuring yourself. You couldn’t help but think about his dark seductive eyes or even his plump lips, and the fact that a man hadn’t touched you for what felt like years made you wish he would roam your body with his strong veiny hands.

You coughed softly “We need to talk” you said looking towards the field

“Yeah? About what” he replied smirking down at you

“Not here” you answered, not wanting to meet his amused eyes “Tonight, my house” you whispered as the game started. You didn’t talk after that you could feel his eyes on you from time to time and you could hear the bickering from behind you making you roll your eyes internally. As the kids won their game, Marcus and your son came running towards you two, looking happier than ever.

“Dad did you see that?” Marcus asked his dad, jumping around excitedly

“I did pap, you did great, who’s your friend?” he said looking at your son

“That’s Lucas, we always practice together”

“Well nice to meet you little man” Rio said smiling at Lucas “We have to go, but I guess I’ll see you around yeah?” He semi asked diverting his gaze towards you, winking, before leaving

You proceeded to go back to your car, heading towards your ex’s house, dropping off Lucas for the weekend

You later got ready as you opted for a more revealing but still classy outfit, waiting for Rio to come over. You were coming down the stairs as you heard a knock, taking a deep breath before opening the door, surprised to meet your ex’s figure.

“Are you going somewhere? You look hot” he said eyeing up and down as you scoffed, rolling your eyes

“What do you want David?”

“Lucas forgot his headphone, he needs them for the ride”

You sighed “Wait here” you got to your son’s room, picking what he needed before going back downstairs, shoving them on his chest “Goodbye David” You said slamming the door to his face. You walked through the kitchen as you grabbed a glass pouring some gin into it. You took a sip as you heard the door open again

“Ok David, what do you want now I told you I-“ you stopped dead in your track as your eyes laid on the tall criminal that stood in front of you.

“That’s not a very nice welcome mama” Rio smirked, his voice thick and croaky, sending shivers down your spine

“You could’ve knocked” You responded your voice laced with attitude as you tried to sound unfazed by his actions

“That’s no fun though” Rio threw back avoiding your remark, stepping closer to the kitchen island as you stood on the other side, fixing him a glass. As you made it slide across the countertop. He took it, nodding at you, before taking a sip himself

“Why did you want to see me (Y/N)?” he questioned you as you tried your best not to look surprised that he actually knew your name. It was the first time you heard him say it and it made you quiver slightly. “We want to do business” You said trying to sound confident as you took another sip of your drink

“I thought you said you were out” he looked amused as he gazed at your fidgeting fingers

“Well, you see, Beth is out, that doesn’t mean we need to stop doing business with you” you swallowed the remaining of your drink, hoping it would give you a boost of confidence. “Of course, no need to mention, it would stay between us” You said stepping a few feet closer to him but not close enough to reach him

“And how would you wash the money” he asked downing his glass, looking deeply into your eyes, a grin plastered on his face

“Why don’t you let me take care of that, you just need to provide the money, and we’ll do the rest for you” You managed to say with a pleasant smile, proud by your assurance

“Ok so 500 g’s to start, and we’ll see how it goes” He shrugged, his voice filled with pure enjoyment as he watched your eyes grow slightly bigger

“500 grand?” You gulped. How would you do that in a week, you didn’t even know how you would proceed to wash all the money

“If you can’t handle it, I can find someone else for the job” he said stepping closer to you

“We’ll handle it” You responded immediately, almost cutting him off. You turned around as you filled both of your drinks, taking a sip right after you put the bottle back on the kitchen counter.

He stared at you, an amused smile on his lips as you almost gulp down the entirety of its content

“Good” he said looking at his glass, now full. “Was there anything else you wanted from me?” he said as he took in your outfit. You were dressed in all black, his favorite color and he couldn’t help but admit that you looked amazing. Beth was good looking, but he always found you breath taking. He took another step forward, facing you completely, your chest almost touching as you hold in a gasp, now feeling nervous. You breathed threw your nose, processing the words that would next come out of your mouth before looking straight at him.

“I want you to fuck me” you said trying to sound confident and demanding. He looked at you closely trying to find one thing that would indicate that you were messing with him

“Don’t joke around mama” He stated raising his left eyebrow, eyes filled with lust, licking his lips softly.

“If you’re not the man for the job, I can always find someone else” you managed to say, surprising yourself with your boldness, as you rephrased the words he said earlier. A smirk appeared on his lips as you went to take a step back to get away from him. He decided otherwise, grabbing your arm, pulling your body to him as you slammed against his firm chest, crashing his mouth to yours, almost gasping startled by his actions. His lips were soft and sweet but at the same time so rough. Your hand moved to the back of his neck wanting more, as you felt him smirk withing the kiss. You had been fantasizing about this for a moment now, and by the looks of it he had been too. His touches were hungry and intense, his hands grasping your waist tightly as you let a muffled moan past your lips. You both pulled away to catch your breath as you diverted your kisses to his neck. You’d always dreamed of putting your mouth on the dark ink covering his throat and you were finally being able to do it.

“Fuck” he murmured as your hands moved up his back, taking his shirt off interrupting your kisses on his neck for a few seconds. Your lips went right back to it, now having more skin to touch. Your hands made their way to his belt, undoing it, looking up at him biting your bottom lip. His eyes were filled with lust and desire, his hand grabbed your neck slightly as you let out a small gasp

“Do I need to remind you who I am sweetheart?” he asked, not liking that you questioned his competence

“Maybe you do” you said with a devilish grin. Your words were enough for Rio to turn you around and to bend you over the counter. His hands found the waistband of your jeans pulling them down, growling at the sight of your almost bare ass. Rio yanked your underwear leaving the bottom half of your body completely naked.  You could feel the warm fluid slowly leaking out from your fold as you anticipated his next move.

“Never question my abilities mama” he said in a husky tone as he slapped your ass hard. You let out a loud moan already feeling the sting his hands left behind. He pressed his growing crotch against you lowering his mouth to your ear whispering.

“Am I clear?” He slapped your ass once again when you didn’t answer, making you whimper. You felt him take a step back as he dropped his pants coming back to press his erection against your bare skin. You pushed your body back to get even closer to him, but his hands steadied your figure, grabbing your hips firmly.

“Did you forget who’s in charge here?” He said teasing your slit with his erected member. “Let me show you” he continued as he pushed his tip inside of you slowly stretching you out making you moan. He groaned lowly as he rammed into you making you shriek in pleasure. It felt better than anything you’d ever imagined before. His tip was brushing your deep spot and you couldn’t contain yourself anymore, screaming as he pushed in and out of you at a fast pace. The pleasure was immaculate as you stood on your tiptoes giving him an even better access to your aching core. He slapped your ass one more time before grabbing a fistful of your hair, bringing you to him as he started kissing bellow your ear.

“Fuck, you’re soaking wet for me” He stated, moving his hand to rub your needy clit. The way he was playing with the bundle of nerves between your shaky legs, brought you closer to the edge.

“Is that what you wanted mama? Am I fucking you good enough?” He asked as your eyes rolled back making you see stars from the pleasure he was giving you. Each stroke was getting deeper and deeper as you grabbed the kitchen counter, moaning loudly, encouraging him to keep pleasuring you like he was doing. He rubbed your clit a little bit faster and before you could even comprehend what was happening, you were coming undone, clenching around him.

“Yes! Oh my- fuck Rio” you moaned, tears welling in your eyes as your orgasm took over you. He didn’t stop, but you could feel his thrusts getting sloppier indicating he was close to his release. The sight of your ass bouncing back against him was all it took for him to spill his loads into you, letting out a throaty groan. He pulled out of you slowly taking a step back pulling up his pants. You stood up, making your way to the bathroom, cleaning yourself as you put on a pair of shorts. As you came back in the kitchen, Rio was still there, finishing his drink, staring at you with a slight smirk on his face

“What’s with the smirk?” You asked trying to sound like someone who didn’t just get railed on the kitchen countertop. He downed his drink, putting it back on the island as he walked forward, standing in front of you. He looked you up and down, meeting your gaze, pulling a piece of your hair back from your face

“I got the job done, didn’t I?” he smiled cockily as you rolled your eyes

“Whatever” he laughed at the way you tried to ignore his previous question. You both knew you were satisfied with what had just happened moments ago even if you tried to hide it.

“I’ll contact you for the drop off” he said as you smiled content that the deal was still on

“As you wish, boss” you answered teasingly as he slapped your ass one last time before exiting throught the front door, leaving you shocked and alone. You liked it and you were scared to admit that you would like for it to happen again. That night, as you got into bed, your mind couldn’t help but wander to the man always dressed in all black. You couldn’t help but to think about his eyes, his hands, his mouth, his cock… Oh how he made you feel so good was not even understandable. Why would you even question his ability to please you? How was he so good at it? Everything he did was just … perfect.

The real question was: was there something he wasn’t good at?

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Thanks for reading

Hope you liked it, let me know what you think

-K

[sharperthewriter]

Chapter 12 of Possible-y Utah

Chapter 12 - The Agreement II

(2:18 pm)

A pink convertible pulled up into the driveway of Richard's house and two girls, both seniors, got out of the car.

The girl who was driving the car was Genna Majenta. She, whom had recently graduated from MHS, had long shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes and was slightly taller than Kim. She was dressed in a blue croptop shirt, a silver star necklace, Club Banana dark baggy denim overalls with the bib folded down and straps hooked and a belt to hold them up and white sneakers. She was co-captain of the Middleton Golden Dancers dance team in her senior and the girlfriend of Richard.

The other girl whom was the passenger of the car was Jeanna Montana, the girlfriend of Jack. Like Genna, she was approaching her senior year at Middleton High and was also on the Golden Dancers. They were also of the same height. But whereas Genna had brown eyes and black hair, Jeanna had blonde hair and blue eyes and had a tattoo of two starts on her midriff. She was wearing a pink tubetop, silver hoop earrings, black carpenter jeans, and pink sneakers.

"Ugh...do you wonder why Richard called us here, Gen?" Jeanna asked while popping her strawberry bubblegum.

"Dunno. Maybe both he and Jack could get lucky with us tonight!" Genna replied, texting away on her phone.

"You wanna take Jack upstairs or in the basement?" Jenna asked, popping a medium-sized bubble.

"Since I went upstairs with Jack last time, I'll take the basement for a little 'extra-session' with him!" Genna replied with a very vapid grin, licking her lips. "I am wearing my 'special' panties for him!"

She opened the door to the house and saw that, to her surprise, that Bonnie and Rebecca were sitting on the couch.

Jeanna reacted with disgust at the sight of a cheerleader in her boyfriend's house.

"What is this...?" she asked with a slight growl.

Richard gasped in horror at his girlfriend appearing. "It's not what it looks like, Jeanna! They were the ones who called us up to come here.

Jeanna stomped to the living room with her left hand clenched in a fist.

"I am going to give Miss Rockwaller a piece of my mind!" she exclaimed.

Bonnie saw the approaching, and very POed, Jeanna but she stood her ground. She jumped out of the couch right in front of her.

Rebecca exclaimed, "B! Please!"

"If you even dare come closer to me..." Bonnie insisted, her shoes digging deep in the carpet, "...I will make sure that my mom will give you a good paddling with her Swatter!"

Genna also intervened, "Jenna...I'd hate to say this, but Bonnie's right! You do NOT want to cross paths with her!"

Jeanna stopped herself in her tracks. She knew all about the reputation of Veronica Rockwaller and her infamous wooden paddle.

"You're lucky that your mom is the head disciplinarian of the entire school district, Rockwaller! I would've given you a black eye if I had the chance!" Jeanna sneered.

Richard tried to intervene.

"Ladies! Ladies! Let's chillax!" he nervously chuckled, "Let's not fight here! Let's be reasonable before someone calls the police on any of us!"

Jenna unclenched her fists but turned her anger to her football-playing boyfriend.

"Richard, I am going to have a very long talk with you after this..."

"You know, this may be just be a mistake...just like what you two losers did with 'The Incident'!"

Rebecca, however, was still confused.

"Okay, I'm totes mixed up."

"What is it now, R?" Bonnie asked.

"Why do you have beef with the Golden Dancers?" Rebecca questioned.

"It all started about six months ago. We were about to hit the showers after cheer practice one day." Bonnie began to explain "The Incident."

Jenna then smirked, "Oh yeah, now I remember! One of our Dancers turned off the hot waters to the showers!"

"I have never taken a shower that cold in my life...about as bad as the time Possible pulled that same trick on me last year at Wannaweep." Bonnie muttered. "Good thing we had our towels on."

"That was only Part 1 of our little 'fun' against you cheerleaders!" Genna giggled.

"Oh yes, the other part of their prank against us!" Bonnie continued, "Another one of your little Dancers poured Stoppable's Mad Dog banana cream foam down our cheer skirts!"

"We had a very good laugh after that!" Jenna grinned. "Celebrated at Mr. Swirley's that night."

"I, along with the rest of the squad, had to wash my uniform thoroughly to get rid of Stoppable's gunk!" Bonnie bitterly complained.

"He should have stored the foam in a more...secure...place!" Genna cackled.

Bonnie huffed before saying, "I wish if I had punched you in the face right then and there...but Possible, being the Miss Goody-Two-Shoes she is, banned the squad from ever engaging in violence or any criminal acts against you Dancers. And your little Dancer who poured the foam in our skirts got kicked off!"

Genna sighed, "Yet, a couple weeks after that, someone on your squad disobeyed Kim's orders! Stole our hairsprays for an upcoming dance competish! To my recollection, didn't Kim kick her off the team?"

"Truth be told, yes!" Bonnie replied, while darting her eyes around.

Jenna then turned to Rebecca. "So you see, due to 'The Incident' , a brawl was inevitable between the Dancers and the Cheer Squad."

She then continued on the aftermath.

"A few days after that, me and Kim agreed for the Cheer Squad and the Dancers to set up a truce that we won't carry our rivalry on the school grounds during school hours. It's now pretty much limited to mean glares and taunting. No practical jokes or physical contact that would draw the ire of the school board."

"It's a controlled rivalry, then?" Rebecca asked.

Jeanna, Genna, and Bonnie all nodded their heads.

Genna then intervened on Rebecca and Bonnie's intent of visiting.

"So now that we've got the deets of 'The Incident' out of the way, I am going to ask again, Rockwaller. Why are you and..."

Jeanna then whispered in Genna's ear on who the other girl was with Bonnie.

Genna gasped, "That so can't be! That's Rebecca Starlet, the billionaire heiress to the Starlet family oil fortune!"

"OMG! I totally loved your reality show about what's it's like being rich and all..." Jeanna exclaimed breathlessly before having a forgetful moment. "Oh man...what's that show called again?"

"Being Rich with a Starlett?" Rebecca guessed with a smirk.

"That's the one!" Genna said in between breaths. "Oh man...I'm so amazed that we have a celeb here that I forgot what we were talking about!"

"You were about to say, 'Why are you here', Genna!" Richard corrected his girlfriend.

"Oh right!" Genna replied before taking a deep breath. "Forgive my fangirling, but why exactly are you and Miss Starlet here for, Rockwaller?"

"We're here because we need your BF's help to not only humiliate Possible, but also break the loser couple up for good!" Bonnie replied on their real intent of their visit. "Since he has already graduated from Middleton High, he won't have the threat of Barkin dangling over his head."

"Yeah, before I met this lovely lady here..." Richard said, turning his head towards Genna, "...I did have a blind date with Kim last year...only to be rejected by her dad, all because I was 18 months older than she was!"

"And I also only had one date with that redhead around that same time..." Jack snarled, "Just because I made a pass at Jeanna does not mean that she has the right to splash water in my face!"

"So we have at least something in common...hatred against the wannabe for at least something" Bonnie grinned, "Well...except for Rebecca because she's not on Possible's radar...yet."

"Yes, but what is in it for me and Jeanna if we go along with your little plot of breaking up the couple?" Genna asked.

Bonnie shifted her teal eyes to Rebecca.

"R, would you like to demonstrate?"

"I sure can, B!" Rebecca grinned as she took out two credit cards with a $100,000 limit on each to Country Club Banana.

Jeanna gasped, "That is genuine Country CB?"

Rebecca nodded her head.

"You would have to pass a credit card check just to even get in the place!" Genna exclaimed, her jaw dropping.

Rebecca continued, "My daddy gave it to me last Christmas, but I still haven't figured out to do with them. So may as well put them to good use!"

"Rebecca will give you the Country CB credit cards IF the plan to break up Possible and Stupidable is successful." Bonnie explained. "If you fail, you get nothing!"

"In exchange, me and my Dancers will not play any practical jokes on you or any of your cheerleaders for the rest of summer except for the intended target of Miss Possible!" Jeanna replied.

"Do we have a deal?" Bonnie asked grinning, extending out her hand.

Jeanna also extended her hand and shook hers with Bonnie's, sealing the agreement.

"Now..." she began, "...here's the plan."

And the six teens began to discuss at length Bonnie's vile plan to break up Team Possible.

[ironwoman18]

We found love in a hopeless place part 7.

Chapter 7: The Brenner Family

After that date, Spencer and Max did not have time to see each other again. She will start at her work in a week so she had to go to school to decorate her classroom and helped her co-workers with a banner for the first day of school.

They wanted something fun and colorful so she was the right one for it. Meanwhile Spencer spent his days reading and learning about the phone Max gave him.

At night they talked on the phone and she even asked for some advice about some activities she wanted to do.

"What are you going to do tomorrow?" She asked while cleaning her dishes.

"I have an appointment with the phycologist. I still have to go for a few more sessions before they say I can return to work"

"Oh, I understand. But don't worry everything will be alright and she will send then a good review about you"

"Thank you" he smiled at that "I'm feeling better and my mind is relaxed so I think the experience I had to deal with didn't affect me as deeply as I thought"

"Good. And I know it must be from your work but I hope I can earn your thrust and know what happened"

"You are earning it but it's something I prefer to keep to myself for now" he looked down at the book he was rereading for the thousandth time.

"Of course and it's ok to keep things to ourselves" she turned off the water and dried her hands "hey... Um... Spencer... I was wondering if you would like to watch a movie? My dad brought an old movie, I can't remember it's name but he said it's pretty cool" she bit her lip "and he said we can invite someone to go to watch it and I thought you might like it..." Max continue to ramble about the movie which made him to held a laugh.

"Max?" She continued to talk without listening "Max..." He said a little louder but she didn't stop it "Maxine!" She stopped and he could swear she was blushing either because she was ashamed for her rambling or because of anger for her full name "I would love to go"

"Oh I underst... Wait did you said...?"

He laughed "I said yes Max. I will go" she laughed softly "when? And where?"

"This Friday at his house" she said sitting on her couch "we can meet somewhere else and go to his house"

"Sounds good. Maybe after my appointment we can meet" said Spencer to her.

"Ok see you tomorrow" he smiled.

"See you" and they hung up then she texted her father to let him know she will bring Spencer, which made him smile.

He knew Max and she was keeping her dates in secret so maybe something changed or she just wanted to introduce him to her family.

The next day Spencer went to the phycologist's office and wait there until it was his turn.

When he walked in she could see something different in him and she made mental connections with Max, who never asked for a second appointment.

She had must found what she was looking for and apparently it was with Spencer.

"Hello Spencer. Nice to see you again" she said kindly at him.

"Same doctor. I'm glad to see you again" he said back politely.

She smiled "Tell me how was your week?"

"It was great. I saw my godsons again and I met someone who is becoming someone special" she smiled and nodded.

"That's amazing. As a fellow phycologist you must know that having someone close helps us to heal quickly, right?" He nodded and was about to ramble about it but she spoke first "ok Spencer tell me the reason you are here. Why the FBI sent you with me"

He told her everything, since the problems with his mother to him going to Mexico and how Catherine Adams planned to sent him to jail to try to make him a bad person like her.

The doctor took notes and let him talk. Then he told her his experience in jail and his voice cracked a little talking about it, especially when he talked about Luis.

The things he did to survive in there and when he figured out his mother was with a hitwoman and how his team managed to get him out of jail.

"You managed to survive and that's what matter. Sadly this experiences may cause a good man to broke but you seem good"

"I think it's because I'm getting someone who help me move on" she nodded and smiled.

"Ok continue" he kept telling her about that day when he got out of jail and how he had to face Cat "wait you were just out of jail and they put you in that situation?'

"Yes... She just drop information with me and she just wanted me"

"I understand but you were in a wrong state of mind"

"And it was shown with my reactions when I thought her partner killed my mom" he looked down "I almost choked her and she was pregnant at that moment" the doctor showed a poke face but he still managed to read a micro expression of shock.

"I see. But you stopped"

"JJ, my best friend and coworker, stopped me" she nodded and took notes, then let him to continue. He told her how they finally find out her plan and they stopped her partner before she killed his mother.

Then he started to what Mr. Scratch did to his team and the anger he felt, the blurred vision and that his mind was not working as it used to.

"You had the beginning of a Post traumatic stress desorder, which is normal" he nodded "what happened?" He told her they found their lastly most wanted criminal.

He told her how he wanted to kill him himself but Emily, his boss, asked him to stay while Luke and Matt ran after him.

"Maybe in her mind she could see your tension and asked you to stay. Her intrusion told her to keep you there" he nodded looking down.

"Maybe. Emily knows me very well, just like JJ" he smiled.

"That's good because there's always someone to lean on after this kind of troubles"

"True" he smiled at her.

"Spencer it's almost time to finish this session but I would like to see you next week. I think you are better but still need to come one more time" he nodded "but I think this "someone" is helping you so keep talking to this person"

"Do you really think it's helping?"

"Of course. Your eyes are brighter and you smiles more" he blushed softly and thought that if the doctor who just saw him twice noticed it then maybe JJ noticed that too.

"See you next week Spencer" he nodded and stood up shaking her hand softly and left the office.

He walked out of the building and went to the coffee shop they decided to meet after his appointment and her work.

He walked in and saw her drinking a coffee so he walked to her "hey Max" she looked up and smiled then hugged him softly.

"Hey you. I just arrived" she said smiling "want something? Maybe we can eat something before we go to my dad's house"

"Sure I would like it" he nodded "I'm starving" she laughed and they walked to the counter to order something. This time Max did not accept him to pay. She paid for everything and he just let her.

They ate and she told him about her day. And how they designed the banner, the next day they will paint it and wait until it dried for the beginning of the school year.

Then they walked to her car and she drove to her father's house. She told him about her family "ok I have two sisters as I told you. The older is Michelle and the younger is Eloise. Michelle has a kid called Samuel but we all call him Sammy" he nodded "he is almost ten and I'm sure you will like him. He is curious and I'm sure he will ask you awkward things"

He laughed "like most kids"

"Oh he's more curious than most kids" she laughed "and make awkward comments about you" he nodded "just be prepared"

"Ok" he looked at her then they arrived to her dad's house and she parked the car next to another car. Maybe one of her sister's.

They got out and walked to the door when they arrived there were all her family. Her sister Eloise with her best friend Andrea, Michelle with her family and their father with a few friends drinking a whiskey.

"Max! You are here" said her father walking to then "And you are...?" Asked the old man to Spencer.

"I'm Spencer Reid sir. Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you kid. I'm Dominic Brenner" he shook his hand gently "you are dating my daughter right?"

"Dad!" Said Max blushing deeply.

"Um... Well we had some dates... Nothing too serious" he said blushing too.

The sisters of Max held a laugh watching the awkward situation and Michelle said "Dad stop it. You will make them die of embarrassment"

"Fine fine... I was just asking" he patted his shoulder "welcome to my house kid. I'm glad Max met a nice guy like you"

Then let them walk in the living room and sat down after Max introduced them to Spencer, when she asked about Sammy, her sister said that he had a sleepover at his best friend before classes started.

Then her father asked her to help him with the snacks. She looked at him like saying 'are you serious?' but still went with him.

She gave Spencer a last look and walked in the kitchen. Immediately the two sisters jumped to him and started to ask him about his relationship with her, about him, where they met and Michelle took the opportunity to show some photos of her as a kid.

Spencer smiled and then the two men that were with Max's dad walked to him "Spencer, right?" He nodded "do you play poker?"

"Yes" said he looking at them.

"Good cause Michelle's husband doesn't and our friend Santiago can't play this Saturday so why don't you come?"

"Yeah and don't worry Johnny, a professional poker player will go easy on you" said him pointing at the other man.

Spencer raised an eyebrow and nodded "I'm sure I can handle him" Spencer said with confidence.

The other man smirked "I like that attitude. Hope you can keep it up this Saturday" Spencer smirked and Max and Dom walked towards them.

"Andrew and Johnny what are you talking about with Spencer?" She instinctively held his arm.

"Relax Maxie. I was asking him if he plays poker and invited him to play with us" he said and Max looked at Spencer.

"And what did you say?"

"I accepted. I like to play poker" he said looking at her in a way that made her understand to not mention he is from Vegas or was banned from every casino.

She just smirked and looked at them "good I'm glad you both got along with him. You will have fun with them Spence"

"Ok everyone let's go... We will watch Casablanca" said Dom calling then to go to take a seat. The younger girls made an annoyed sound.

"Oh come on...." Dom continue to talking with them about the wonderful things this movie had.

Spencer and Max walked far behind them and took the furthest seats from the others.

"Are you sure?" She asked him in a whisper as they sat down.

"Yeah. I could bet anything they bullied your dad" she nodded "so it's their time to lose" Max does not know why, maybe his confidence or just their proximity as they speak but she felt the need to kiss him but she held herself. It was too soon for them. She was not an easy woman but Spencer was different than her other dates.

They watched movie and had a good time. They laughed and Spencer suddenly held her hand almost at the end. She smiled but did not say anything.

After that they ate dinner and commented the movie like a forum. The girls liked it but still did not like it in black and white.

Spencer rambled about details of the production, the actors and fin facts of it. Dom was impressed and winked at Max which made her blushed.

After that all the people in his house left to their houses. Dom confirmed Spencer for the poker night and he promised to be there.

Then she drove him to his apartment. He gave her the address and she just followed it on with her GPS.

"Did you have fun?"

"Yes I did. I loved that movie and I'm glad your dad found it"

"He is an old movies lover" she laughed "so maybe he will invite you more often"

"I would love to" he smiled and she smiled back.

"Good. I will let you know when he has another movie night" she laughed as they arrived to the building when he lived "ok you reached your home safe" he laughed.

"Good I'm happy you brought me safe" he smiled "I hope we can see again" she smiled.

"Of course you won't get me out of your life so easily" she smirked.

"I wouldn't try to" he looked at her and smirked back.

She felt that need to kiss him again but she held herself again repeating in her mind that it was too soon.

"I will call you" he held her hand softly and kissed her cheek.

"Ok I will wait" he got out and walked to the building. She looked at him until he walked in and sighed.

"Jeez Max.... You just met him and you want to kiss him..." She said to herself as she ran her hand through her hair and drove to her apartment.

OOooOOooOO

Hope you enjoyed this one. It's long and I need to set an specific day to force me to update more regularly. Maybe every Wednesday? Sounds good.

What do you think? Should Max and Spencer kiss at the next date or wait?

Thank you for read.

[universal-kitty]

   It’s Thanksgiving, but I’m...not really feeling it this year. If anything, I feel worse today. And that’s....really the only reason I came back. I wanted to give an update on my situation. Especially because I might have to ask for help soon; I need to get a storage space for my things until Cam and I can get an apartment....and I don’t know if I will reliably have help with that.

   Anyways, update time.

   TW for...mentions of parental death? Sickness that could cause death? idk Paranoia.

   TL;DR: My dad is sick and not getting better. He’s worried he might not make it, so I might not be able to get therapy or see blood relatives basically ever again. My “family” turns on me left and right. I’m severely depressed and just trying to live day by day while my heart breaks and money gets scary for me.

   So... We’ll start from last time. I deleted that post on FB. I haven’t been on in a long, long time. I have plans to delete it that I haven’t put forth yet... I likely will today, though. Today has really been the final straw for me.

   Um, Dad’s been emailing me. I try to keep him updated...but he hasn’t responded in a few days. I’m worried about him, for the reasons I put in the TL;DR.... He wants me to work things out with Laura, but I don’t have a phone and he hasn’t said anything about talking to people, so I don’t know what’s going on, really.

   He wants me to go to therapy and offered to pay for it. Hoping that my mom could go with me. Stay with her for the short term, I think? “Work this out for the short term,” sounds enough like it, but... Again. It’s not worth trying to do if Marshal is around. Like, no matter how much she improves, she let herself choose him over me and while I get it, I really do, my mental health is NOT anywhere near okay with being around him.

   I’d rather be homeless than be around him.

   ...but yeah, in his words, something is “really wrong with [him]” and he’s not physically doing well. It’s all so vague. I don’t even know if he’s seen a doctor yet....and because of my distance from everyone, I don’t know if....I’ll know if he passes away. I don’t know if I’ll get notified of that.

   It terrifies me to think my Dad could die and I would never know. I literally can’t cope with the thought.

   Um.... Right, I heard that Dad tried to talk to his mom about all of this, but that my aunt- his sister, actually- called her up, too, and “corrected” things....so now I don’t know if my own grandmother supports me or thinks I’ve lost my mind, too. I don’t think the stress is going to help Dad any, and that’s what makes this all so, so much worse...

   ....I know for certain that my “family” isn’t home right now. It sounds like my mom changed the locks after I left, though; I can’t enter the home on my own and get my own damn things without having to deal with them, like I originally wanted to. (Yeah, I’m basically being treated like a criminal now... Which, fine, whatever. Added salt to the wound.) But that’s also why I’ve been freaking out today...because right now, they’re with Marshal’s family.

   So I know in my heart of hearts, that they’re talking about me behind my back. Mourning the loss of a “girl” and not caring about how I feel. Justifying my mom’s actions to me. Probably agreeing that there’s something wrong with me and- even if things get worse- Laura will just keep her mouth shut, cause it’s not worth it.

   .......I get to be vilified, but it’s such a crime that my mom and aunt get called out for being performative activists, that Cam- my boyfriend- can no longer enter the house. At all. My friends have also been shamed for supporting me and rightfully calling her out.

   So... That’s what I get, I guess. I ask to have my personhood respected and I get vilified, have my boyfriend banned from the house from “slamming the door too hard and scaring the girls upstairs”, and continuously called a girl behind my back.

   ...But no, their feelings matter, here. They’re more important than my feelings... what a fucking joke.

[lblb-actuallywrites]

Over A Cherry Cosmos, Part 1

I wrote this as part of the Edens Zero Fic Exchange for @indraaas​. Hope you like it! (Part 1 of 3)

“Here,” the voice of Lieutenant Justice, Rebecca’s direct supervisor, spoke as a file smacked down on her desk.

“What’s this?” Rebecca asked, reaching for the file.

“Your next bounty. You said you wanted a challenge; Weisz Steiner, high-ranking member of Sibir’s gang, and a thief wanted across nearly half the country. Every bounty hunter that went looking for him couldn’t catch him.”

“Every bounty hunter so far,” she corrected. “I’m on it, sir.”

Lt. Justice only nodded and returned to his office.

Rebecca opened the file to see Weisz Steiner’s mugshot: blond hair coiffed to the side, a half-amused, half-annoyed smirk on his face, and a flirty glare thrown at the camera with steel gray eyes. From the angle of his head, she could just barely see enough to guess that he was leaning against the wall as if he were leaning against a tree in the park.

‘He’s pretty cute.’

Her eyes scrolled down to the section about his family background, muttering quietly to herself as she read.

“Mm.. Only child… Mom is.. Maria Steiner, deceased…”

When Rebecca first caught the father’s name out of the corner of her eye, she nearly gave herself whiplash with how fast she did a double take.

“Doctor… Weiss Steiner… No way...”

‘The old Doctor has a son?’ she thought.

Memories came flooding to the surface of her mind: running into the street after her little blue cat Happy, the swerving car with screeching tires that seemed to come out of nowhere just as she caught up to him. Then, she was weightless, flying through the air for what felt like forever.

She didn’t remember hitting the ground. Only waking up in the hospital the next day.

“Where’s Happy?” a seven-year-old Rebecca demanded of the old doctor in front of her.

“Happy?” Doctor Steiner asked.

“M-my kitty. We were playing and he ran away from me, so I chased him. And-” she paused, tearing up, though she pretended she wasn’t. “I-I don’t remember what happened after that.”

The look that came over Doctor Steiner’s face was one Rebecca had seen from a lot of adults: a tight smile, slight tilt to the head, squinted eyes. It usually meant something she couldn’t name, but definitely didn’t like. And it always left her feeling frustrated and small.

Except this time, Doctor Steiner looked sad, too.

But in a flash, that awful, hated, and now confusing look was gone, replaced with a wide smile.

“Well, I sure don’t know, little one, but I can ask the nice people that brought you in if you want?”

Rebecca blinked in shock as his offer sunk in. Then, grinning from ear to ear and practically vibrating in her hospital bed, she shouted, “Yes, please!”

She quickly covered her mouth when she realized how loud she’d been on accident. She looked at Doctor Steiner, eyes wide and half curled in a ball, waiting for him to scold her for yelling.

Instead, he gave her a kind smile, one she couldn’t remember ever seeing before, especially not from an adult.

“Sure thing, kiddo,” the Doctor said, patting her gently on the head.

Rebecca smiled at the memory.

‘How can I arrest the son of the man who saved my life?’ she thought, her smile faltering. ‘I know it’s my job, but…’

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, stretching her neck in the process.

‘First thing’s first. I need more information.’

Rebecca stood up, grabbing her messenger bag from the back of her chair. She slung it over her shoulder and tossed Weisz Steiner’s file inside as she left the precinct.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What’cha got for me, Quinn?” Rebecca asked her friend and professional hacker.

“Well, he’s old fashioned,” Quinn said without looking up from her deep dive into Weisz Steiner.

Rebecca shook her head in confusion. “What?”

“No social media whatsoever. Even eighty-year-olds have Twitter these days.”

Quinn turned her chair around to face Rebecca, grabbing a coffee mug as she spun. Rebecca could tell that it was the hacker’s “Special Hot Chocolate” by the smell, the secrets of which she kept hidden behind a firewall the NSA itself couldn’t crack.

“Seriously, who doesn’t use social media these days? Even if it’s for no other reason than to keep up with the news?” Quinn shook her head in disbelief as she sipped on her drink.

“Not important. What did you find?”

Quinn raised her eyebrows. “Mm! Right.” She spun back around to face her main monitor. “So, I think I found a place where he likes to hang out. Edens Bar. Only two of the multiple credit cards he’s stolen in the last six months have turned up charges there, as opposed to him crawling over half of the bars in Norma.”

“So what makes you think he’s there? Maybe he just got kicked out or something.”

Quinn shook her head. “Nah. I hacked into their security cameras and found footage of him at the bar.”

“Of course,” Rebecca sighed. “Look, I know it’s not a big deal to you, but can you at least not openly mention the illegal hacking you’re doing for me directly to me? I need plausible deniability!”

Quinn waved off her concerns. “Don’t worry. Even if they could catch me, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you from my new seat at the NSA. Anyway, he seems on good terms with the staff, so he wasn’t banned.”

Rebecca groaned, but let it slide. Even if she gave Quinn trouble for it, she knew that she’d never be caught.

“Plus, I found footage of him there that doesn’t line up with any cards he’s been linked to, so it’s more likely that he’s just trying to keep people from tracking him there. Which is backed up by the fact that I tracked him with traffic cams before he showed up to Edens Bar and he’s checking for tails two miles out. And he takes the scenic route there.”

“Pretty solid plan,” Rebecca admitted.

“Yeah, until someone smarter came along,” Quinn said smugly.

Rebecca laughed. “Thanks, Quinn. Can you keep an eye on the bar and let me know when Weisz shows up again?”

“Of course.”

“Awesome,” she said. “Oh, and can you do one more thing for me?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca flexed her fingers in an attempt to shake away the anxiety. ‘This is research,’ she told herself. ‘In order to find a wanted criminal… Who is the son of the doctor who saved my life..’

“Damn it,” she muttered to herself, dropping her head on her steering wheel. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of her car.

‘It’s not too late to turn around and drive away,’ her thoughts taunted her.

Chants of ‘it would be easy,’ ‘no one would ever know,’ and ‘Quinn can probably find out all you need’ stayed glued in Rebecca’s mind as she stalked forward. Instead, she tried to focus on anything else, her eyes fixating on the row of expensive houses in front of her.

They were all wide two-stories, mostly white or off-beige, occasionally lined with light hints of pastels for what Rebecca assumed these rich idiots called “flavor.” It was simultaneously extravagant and so boringly tasteless that she wondered how anyone could think it was nice to look at.

‘Exactly like the rich owners. All style, no substance. It feels like I’m looking at the wall of a padded cell.’

She finally reached the end of Doctor Steiner’s walkway and stopped, looking again at the house in front of her.

Compared to the rest of the nearly-identical houses on the street, his was easily the nicest to look at. The house itself was a very subtle off-yellow color, almost impossible to tell from a distance, accented with a light pastel baby blue color that outlined the windows and covered the pillars in the front. As she got closer, she noticed the front door was also the same shade of blue.

Rebecca tapped her leg as she stood in front of Doctor-turned-Professor Steiner’s door, working up the courage to knock. After nearly a minute of frantic leg-tapping, she finally forced herself to.

‘No backing out now,’ she thought. Her fingers were starting to get tired from tapping so much.

A few seconds later, the lock turned and the door opened.

“Can I help you, Miss?”

“Um, yeah,” she took a slow breath. “Are you Doctor Weiss Steiner?”

“Yes.” His eyes narrowed slightly, but didn’t say anything else.

“I’m Rebecca Blue-Garden. I’m a Bail Enforcer and I’m tracking your son, Weisz.” She had to fight to keep her voice even as she spoke. “I was hoping there might be something you could tell me about him.”

He blinked. “Such as?”

“Anything you think might be useful in bringing him in safely would be a good start.” Rebecca realized she’d been twisting her fingers together and forced herself to stop.

Doctor Steiner smiled kindly, and it matched up almost perfectly with the smile in her memory. “I don’t think I know anything that could help you.”

“A-are you sure? Nothing at all comes to mind?”

‘I read that Weisz ran away when he was fifteen in his file, but I thought that I’d at least get something useful from his dad.’

“I wish I could help you, Miss Blue-Garden, but I’m afraid not. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more use.”

He started to close the door. “G-”

“Wait!”

Doctor Steiner raised an eyebrow.

Rebecca sighed. “Y-you saved my life when I was a kid. And I’ve always wanted to thank you in some way, but I didn’t know how I could. I didn’t want or expect this..” She waved her hand around. “.. situation.”

“I.. operated on you?” he asked after a moment of silence.

“Yeah. I was playing with my little blue cat Happy when a drunk driver hit me. You even offered to ask the paramedics that brought me in if they saw him. Looking back now, it’s obvious that he… but it meant a lot to me back then.”

“You were the little girl with the blue cat? … Now that I think about it, your name does sound familiar..”

She tried to contain her rush of excitement.

“Come in,” he said, smiling with warmth and opening the door wider.

Rebecca blinked as she processed the offer. It’d been more or less what she wanted, but it surprised her that she actually got it. Then, she returned his smile and stepped through the door.

“So, you’re a Bail Enforcer?”

“Yep.”

Rebecca tried to calm her nerves. ‘What was my plan again?’ she thought, flexing her fingers at her sides. ‘Did I even have a plan?’

“And you’re looking for my son?”

“... Yep.”

‘This was a bad idea.’

Doctor Steiner chuckled sadly before speaking again. “Well, I wish I could help you, but I haven’t seen, much less spoken to my son in… almost ten years.”

“I see..”

‘He never once tried to contact his dad? I mean, I know I kinda assumed that was the case, but… hearing it confirmed makes me a little sad for the Doctor.’

“Weisz left when he was still a teenager, but even before then he wasn’t very talkative.”

Rebecca nodded slowly, following silently as he led the way to the living room. Doctor Steiner gestured to the couch as he sat down in a recliner chair a few feet away.

“So, how long have you been a Bail Enforcer?”

“Huh? Oh, about three years, now. Why do you ask?”

Doctor Steiner hesitated. “About how many of the people you’ve arrested ran away from home when they were younger?”

Rebecca paused. Broken homes weren’t exactly an uncommon denominator across all of the bounties she’s hunted down, but she didn’t want to sound like she was accusing the Doctor of being the reason his son ran away.

‘Maybe their relationship sucks and he doesn’t care about his son getting arrested.. That would make me feel less like a complete ass about doing my job…’

“Um.. Well, I don’t know numbers, but there’s been a few. It’s not rare.”

Doctor Steiner only hummed in response, eyes narrowed and slightly hunched over. Looking at him now, Rebecca could barely see the jovial doctor that saved her life; instead, all she saw was a worn down and sad old man.

‘Ugh, crap! I can’t do anything right today, can I?’

“Hm. I wonder why they felt the need to leave.”

The quiet, contemplative look on his face pulled at Rebecca’s heartstrings.

“Weisz was headstrong, stubborn… and full of hot air.”

She chuckled. “Aren’t all teenagers full of hot air?”

“Usually. But… I just wonder what was going through his head. I’ve always wondered why he left in the first place.” Doctor Steiner’s hard gaze at the floor became unfocused, distracted by his thoughts. “Or maybe I kind of already know. We couldn’t seem to see eye-to-eye. And I know that Maria’s family didn’t make it any easier. Maria was my wife, and Weisz’s mother,” he added.

Rebecca swallowed hard, nodding slowly. She didn’t know what she could say in response. Doctor Steiner’s entire being seemed steeped in sadness; the kind of bone-deep sadness that never truly goes away.

“Sorry, I’m not sure why I’m telling you this.”

She shook her head. “It’s okay.”

“You’re wondering what happened.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Well…” she trailed off. ‘Yeah, sort of.’

Doctor Steiner hummed. “Well, Weisz was always a troublemaker. He got into it a lot as a kid, and evidently, that’s never changed.. But Maria was always patient with him. Much more so than the rest of her family.”

Rebecca tried to hide her grimace, but the corner of her mouth still twitched.

“I don’t mean to sound like I’m judging. But they were… notoriously difficult to deal with. Any time Weisz got in a fight or let his grades slip, someone had something to say about it. Of course, never to us. But Weisz took notice.”

Doctor Steiner heaved a tired sigh.

“One day, he overheard a… particularly nasty comment from Maria’s sister. But before anyone could say anything else, he decided he’d finally had enough, I suppose, and he started yelling at them. When he finished, he said that… everyone would be happier if he left. And then he did.”

Rebecca bit the inside of her lip. She could practically hear him blaming himself.

‘People like that are impossible to please. They didn’t want Weisz to be a person, they wanted him to be a puppet.’

“I hoped he was just blowing off steam. He left before anyone could say anything to him. So I waited for him to come back, but… he didn’t,” Doctor Steiner sighed again. “And then, about eight months later… Maria died. I had hoped he’d go to the funeral, although it was probably for the best that he didn’t, in the end.”

She nodded. ‘His mom’s family are a bunch of judgmental dicks. I feel for him on that.’

A vibrating in her back pocket brought Rebecca to reality. Pulling out her phone, she saw Quinn’s name flash on the screen.

“My friend’s calling, I should take this,” she said, smiling politely as she stepped away. “Hello?”

“Hey, your criminal’s on his way to Edens.”

“Okay, thanks. Keep an eye on it.”

“I will. Want me to call Shiki and Homura?” Quinn offered, followed by the distant sound of her sipping on a drink.

“No, it’s fine,” Rebecca said, uttering a quick goodbye before hanging up. She walked back to the couch. “Okay,” she muttered. “Well, I should get going. It was nice talking to you.”

“Wait. Before you go,” Doctor Steiner said, standing quickly. “I was hoping you might be able to do me a small favor.” He walked to a nearby desk and pulled a pen and a pad of sticky notes from it, scribbling something.

“What is it?” she asked.

“If it’s at all possible, I was hoping…” he pulled the top sticky note off. “I might be able to see my son. I don’t know if you can do that, but I just want to talk to him again, and tell him something.”

Rebecca took the sticky note from him to see a phone number on it. She folded it carefully and stuck it in her phone case.

“I’ll do my best,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you, Miss Blue-Garden.” He walked with her back to the front door.

She nodded at him as she stepped outside.

‘Okay, Weisz Steiner. I am gonna get you into a conversation with your dad, even if I have to drag you by your pompous hair to do it.’

~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca adjusted the rose barrette in her hair and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. Before going to Edens Bar, she changed into a black mini skirt, over the knee boots, and a blue halter top. Now, she made her final subtle adjustments before walking up to the empty seat next to her bounty.

“This seat taken?” she asked, with a sweet smile on her face. Rebecca made sure to throw a subtle, yet impossible-to-miss flirty glance his way.

“No. Go ahead.”

“Thanks,” she said as she slid into the bar chair. “What’s your name?”

“Weisz.”

“I’m Rebecca.”

Weisz flashed her a flirty smirk reminiscent of the one in his mugshot, and she had to correct an earlier thought.

‘Shit. He’s not cute, he’s hot.’

“Just a Cherry Cosmos, please.”

“So, what are you doing in this little bar?” Weisz asked, taking a sip of beer.

“I’m.. expanding my horizons. I’ve been in Norma for a while, but I haven’t really been a whole lot of places.”

Weisz leaned in. “If you want, I can give you a few places to check out.”

Rebecca mimicked him, leaning forward and slowly pulling her handcuffs out of her bag and under the bar. “Are you offering to show me these places yourself?” she flirted as she slid her hand closer to his.

“Well, if you want-”

The click of the cuffs closing around his wrist cut him off. Rebecca closed the other cuff around part of the underside of the bar.

“Well that’s not exactly how I prefer to be asked out on a date, but…”

Rebecca chuckled. “Funny.”

“I assume these aren’t for fun?” Weisz asked.

“Nope.”

“Too bad,” he sighed. “Will you at least let me finish my drink?”

Rebecca eyed the beer bottle in front of him. ‘Less than half full,’ she thought.

She sighed. “I guess.”

He sipped his beer calmly.

“Y’know, for someone who’s as high up in Sibir’s gang as you, I gotta say, you’re taking this whole ‘getting arrested’ thing pretty well.”

Weisz’s easy going smile faltered, fixing Rebecca with a cold stare. “I’m not with Sibir anymore.”

“Fine. You’re still under arrest,” she said flippantly. “I don’t know why so many other bounty hunters couldn’t catch you before, this was pretty easy.”

Weisz finished his beer, setting the empty bottle on the bar as he leaned towards her again. “If I may, Rebecca, I just have one question for you: how are you going to arrest me when you’re the one in handcuffs?”

Rebecca looked down at the space between them just in time to watch Weisz clasp the handcuff, previously on him, around her wrist.

“What-?”

She looked up at him, stunned. He winked at her, then leaned in.

“Drive safe, Rebecca.”

And then he was slipping out the door.

Rebecca sighed, turning back towards the bar to unlock herself when she noticed that Weisz had left enough money for both of their drinks.

‘He’s a thief, but he left money for the tab? A little “Robin Hood,” if you ask me.’

Her phone vibrated in her bag as she finished unlocking the handcuffs. Rebecca had barely put the phone up to her ear when Quinn started talking.

“Y’know, you never realize how much easier social media makes my job until you find that rare specimen without it and I have to actually try a little.”

“Meaning?” Rebecca asked, too annoyed for pleasantries as she stood and walked out of the bar.

“I was looking into Sibir’s gang, trying to see if there was something you might be able to use, and I just found out that-”

“That Weisz and Sibir aren’t ‘buddy-buddy’ anymore? Yeah, he just told me.”

“Okay, but did he say why?” Quinn asked.

Rebecca paused just outside the door. “No. Do you know?”

“Yeah. It’s messed up stuff, Becca. You know his mom died, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s all his file said about her.” She set out towards the small parking lot next to the bar.

“Well, I hacked the text messages of a few of Sibir’s guys and found out that, apparently, after Doc Junior joined up with Sibir, it was Sibir who did the hit and run that killed his mom, but he tagged the place with Rogue Out’s logo. Guess he wanted to cut off Weisz’s escape route. But when Weisz found out...”

“That’s… awful.” Rebecca’s hand hovered over her heart.

“Anyway, what’s happening at Edens?”

The hand over her heart tightened into a fist. “He got away,” Rebecca grumbled as she unlocked her car. “We’re gonna need to come up with a new plan.”

[quicksilversquared]

There’s No Camembert in Tibet: Ch. 1

The Plagg and the Butterfly Costume sequel!

With Hawkmoth defeated and school out for the summer, it’s time for Ladybug and Chat Noir plus their newly-assembled team of superheroes to head to Tibet to try to rescue Mrs. Agreste. Hiking, magic, and adventures await them, and hopefully at the end, they’ll be returning to Paris with Mrs. Agreste in tow.

(AO3) (FF.net)

"Are you sure you have enough clothes packed? That's really not a lot. I thought that we were going to be gone for weeks."

Marinette laughed and tossed a pair of socks at her boyfriend instead of putting them in her suitcase. They sailed past his head and hit one of her mannequins instead. "We're not planning on being gone forever, kitty. And we can wash stuff in a stream or something while we're in Tibet. I think I have enough."

"Besides, if you're successful, you guys will probably spend the whole trip back to the airport transformed," Tikki pointed out from where she was perched on Marinette's desk. "To keep your identities safe and all that. And you might spend part of the trip out to the temple ruins transformed, too, if we can pack enough food. So you wouldn't have to change clothes as often if you do that. Outer clothes, that is."

"I've just never really traveled much before," Adrien admitted, settling down on Marinette's chair and watching as she rearranged the clothes in her suitcase so they would fit better. "I don't know if I packed enough, or too much, or what. Plagg isn't any help."

Plagg made a rather half-hearted noise of protest from where he was lounging in the remains of a bowl of cheesy popcorn. Marinette laughed again.

"We can go check on your packing after I finish up here, okay? We can use the packing list Maman gave me to make sure you have everything you need." Marinette glanced at the list again and then set it aside so she could zip up her backpack. "And to make sure you didn't over-pack. We're going to be carrying everything for a while, you know. Anything too bulky will cause problems."

Adrien nodded. "Yeah, I know. And Nino's already been sure to remind me that I'm not going to be able to shower as often as normal." He let out a huff. "And his definition of my 'normal' is several times a day, and nothing I say can change his mind- and now my girlfriend is laughing at me again!"

Marinette was cackling. "Oh, it's your own fault!" she managed. "You and your habit of hopping into the shower whenever akumas were after you!"

Adrien was still trying to protest that that wasn't fair, she knew that he hadn't actually been in the shower those times, what other choice had he had when Marinette's mom popped up into her room to check on them, Nooroo perched on her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow at the socks draped over the base of one of the mannequins and Marinette scrambled to pick them up.

"I rather thought you were packing," her mother said placidly as Marinette stuffed the socks back into their drawer. "That didn't look like packing to me."

"I'm done," Marinette said quickly, pointing to the suitcase. "We were just talking about going over to Adrien's house so I could make sure that he hasn't packed too much. Or too little, we don't know what to expect."

"Nathalie hasn't insisted on doing a check herself?" Mrs. Cheng looked surprised. "I would have thought that she would. She seems the type."

Adrien just shook his head. "She doesn't actually know where we're going, so she would be suspicious if she looked through and didn't see, like, dress shoes or something. She wouldn't see a problem with having a lot of weight because I overpacked. And she already has enough to take care of right now without supervising me too much."

"Okay, then maybe you should go over right away and get that done," Mrs. Cheng told them. "After all, Alya and Nino will be coming over later, and you know you won't want to leave once they're here. I know you could do it a little later in the week since we still have a few days yet, but it's better to be ready early."

"Yes, Mom," Marinette said immediately, and Adrien echoed with a "Yes, Mrs. Cheng."

Five minutes later, Ladybug and Chat Noir were racing over the rooftops towards Adrien's house. There were a lot of crowds below as kids milled around, enjoying the summer sun. Some pointed up at the superheroes, but most only spared them a glance. Now that Hawkmoth was in jail- well, on trial and being held in jail in the meantime- and there was barely any need for the superheroes, people didn't pay quite as much attention to them as they had before. Besides, they had become quite the common sight over the last year, and the novelty of the superheroes had finally started to wear off a bit.

It wasn't long before the two of them reached Adrien's house and slipped inside, unseen by a few lingering reporters by the front gate. Despite laws that had passed banning harassment of family members of criminals especially when those family members were minors, some reporters still seemed to think that those laws didn't apply to them and hung out near the mansion walls in hopes of a scoop in the form of an interview with Hawkmoth's son. Adrien wasn't sure if they just wanted a tearful story of betrayal or if they were hoping to trick him into 'confessing' that he had actually worked alongside his father, even though the police had already long since cleared him of all suspicion.

(It had helped Adrien's case greatly that he had been targeted by akumas several times and almost died, and it also helped to have both Ladybug and Chat Noir vouch for him, though of course Chat Noir had had mysterious family obligations to attend whenever Adrien had to show up. Still, that didn't dissuade some people on the prowl for a scandalous story.)

The two superheroes dropped in through Adrien's open window and detransformed. Plagg and Tikki made a beeline for the combination cabinet/fridge under Adrien's desk while Adrien led Marinette towards his suitcase and the piles of clothes set up in and around it on his bed. He hadn't been quite sure what to pack (other than not fancy clothes, which was pretty obvious), so there was a bit of everything set out. Marinette groaned at him and dove into the piles, packing some things into the suitcase and shoving other piles into Adrien's arms so he could put them away later on. Adrien did as he was told, happy to have the guidance.

"Part of me wishes that there weren't so many of us going on this trip," Adrien said as he put away the set of hand towels that he had gotten out just in case, Marinette, I didn't know if they might come in handy for something, stop rolling your eyes at me. "I mean, it'll be fun to spend time with the other Miraculous holders, and I know we need all of us to free my mom, but I'd love to be able to go on a vacation with just you and your family."

"It's not exactly a vacation," Marinette pointed out, tossing a jean jacket towards him. "It's a trip, yeah, but think more business trip than vacation even though we'll be doing a lot of hiking. And it'll be fun to hang out with Nino and Alya."

"I know. I think I'm just worried about having to spend so much time with Chloe while we're out in the wilderness. She doesn't do wilderness, and I'm worried that she might get really prickly after the first few hours." It had been a surprise when Master Fu had picked Chloe of all people to be a Miraculous holder for the bee, but she really did come through for Adrien after Mr. Agreste was arrested. Instead of pestering her father for a larger allowance or new dresses like she normally did, she tried to persuade her father to up the enforcement of a law that was supposed to keep reporters following Adrien around at all. She also pestered him to pass a law that kept anyone from cornering Ladybug and Chat Noir in search of more information than they had already given the police, even before knowing that Adrien was Chat Noir and that he was in no mood to be hounded for any information.

Pollen had been pleased- she liked her holders complicated and prickly, and it was probably the best match in centuries since the temple monks always weeded out people who weren't nice all the time. She had been working with Chloe to redirect the snark and the rudeness towards people who actually deserved it and while the two of them hadn't been together terribly long, only for a couple weeks before the end of the school year, Adrien had already seen some change- actual permanent, consistent change, not the little bits of improvement that vanished immediately afterwards like Chloe had been showing earlier in the school year. She had even apologized to people on her own accord, without throwing in any backhand insults.

Still, bad habits were hard to break, and it would be all too easy to fall back on those bad habits when they were tired and footsore and out in the middle of nowhere. If Chloe went bratty and spiteful on their journey, she would make it very, very unpleasant for the rest of them.

"Ooh, do you think we should stop over there to make sure her packing isn't as ridiculous as yours?" Marinette asked, pausing partway through re-folding a shirt. "If she ruins her expensive shoes or stains some designer shirt on our hike, we'll never hear the end of it."

Adrien winced at the thought. "Oh, yeah. That's probably a good idea."

"What did she tell her father about the trip, do you know?"

Adrien could only shrug helplessly. Chloe hadn't told him exactly what she had told her father, she just turned up at the bakery one morning waving seven plane tickets and telling him and Marinette that her father would be paying for the plane tickets and for any hotels that they would be staying at. Adrien would have argued and insisted that his family pay, since his parents were the reason that the seven of them even had to go to Tibet in the first place, but his father's accounts had been largely frozen and any large spending would be questioned and examined, both by Nathalie and the police.

On top of that, as far as Nathalie was concerned, Adrien was tagging along with Marinette and Sabine and only Marinette and Sabine on their trip to visit Sabine's parents. She would seriously question any other expenses, especially when he was supposedly staying with Marinette's extended family. They didn't want to tip her off about Adrien and Marinette and the others being Miraculous holders, just to be safe.

"We'll go over to visit and check on her packing after I've gotten you straightened out," Marinette decided. "And speaking of which- Adrien, why on earth would you need a winter jacket like this? It's summer! And if we go through any cold areas, we can just transform and speed through. It's too bulky"

Adrien just shrugged and took the jacket so he could set it aside.

"And- Adrien! Do they never teach rich people how to pack? You are not bringing your entire pillow!"

  "I come bearing gifts," Alya droned as she and Nino pushed their way through the trapdoor into Marinette's room. She was carrying what looked like a duffel bag attached to her back and was carrying another. Nino was carrying another one- and on second glance, the bags looked more like a hybrid between a duffel bag and a backpack. "Come over here and help, you two."

Adrien rolled off of Marinette's lap and onto the floor so he could push himself up and head over. He took Alya's second backpack and hauled it over to where Marinette was still sitting.

"Are those backpacking bags?" Marinette asked, leaning forward to get a better look. "Oh, sweet! Those will be easier to carry than suitcases, for sure. Especially if we can't get everything to fit in Master Fu's shield."

"My family has five," Alya reported, shrugging her backpack off. Nino did the same. "One that's mine, my parents' current backpacks, and then their old ones. I figured Nino and I could use two of them, and then you two and Marinette's mom could use the other three. I was going to offer one to Chloe, but she said that she was going to get a new one instead of using a ratty old thing." She paused. "But she said thanks for the idea, so there's that."

Adrien hastily muffled a laugh.

"I just wish I had one for Master Fu," Alya added on. "But I think they would all be too big for him anyway."

"He'll be transformed most of the time," Marinette reminded her. "And he can just carry bags in his shell, too. But it'll be nice to not be piling seven suitcases into the shell behind him."

"And the bags will vanish if you're wearing them when you transform," Duusu piped up, flying up to perch on Nino's head. "Which it wouldn't do with a suitcase, because you can't wear those. So this is definitely a better solution."

Adrien let out a sigh. "And just when I had gotten my suitcase packed up nice and pretty, too," he said, pretending to be mournful. "Now I gotta go and rearrange everything again."

Marinette poked his side. "You mean just when I had just gotten your suitcase all arranged nice and pretty, kitty," she teased. "I'm not sure that you had all that much to do with it!"

"I put things that you said I wouldn't need away!"

"And who took those things out in the first place, I wonder?" Nino joked. He grinned when Adrien made a face at him.

"Wait, when did you tell Chloe about the backpacks?" Marinette asked Alya as the two boys made faces at each other. "Adrien and I were just there!"

"Really? When?" Alya exclaimed. "We didn't see you at all! We were there maybe half an hour ago."

"We left an hour and a half ago," Adrien piped up. "After making sure that Chloe wasn't going overboard with her packing." He grinned. "All we learned was that she took the opportunity to go shopping and ran with it. I swear everything she has for the trip is both new and top of the line hiking stuff, and she'll probably only use it this once." Some of the things that she had bought made sense, because she hadn't owned anything that she could use instead- new hiking boots and a tent, mostly- while everything else was just cute outfits made with hardy fabric that would be easy to hike and climb in but wouldn't tear or stain as easily as normal stuff, and that also had sun protection worked in. Chloe had spent most of their visit modeling the pieces she had bought, arranging her stylish yellow sun hat on her head as she spun around on an imaginary catwalk.

He was glad that she was having fun with it now. Somehow he suspected that Chloe wouldn't be so cheery once they got to the actual hiking part of the trip, but that was a problem for later.

"Did she tell you what she's told Sabrina about why she'll be gone?" Alya asked. "Or has she pulled another thing where she doesn't tell anyone anything and yet everyone just accepts it?"

"The latter, I think," Adrien said with a laugh. Chloe had a talent for that, as annoying and pushy as it could be sometimes. She didn't ask for permission, she told people something and made it very clear that she would be giving out no further information, so clear that people often didn't bother asking for clarification because they knew they wouldn't get it.

Nino let out a huff. "Man, I wish I could do that. My parents almost didn't let me go, and that would have sucked."

Alya just shook her head. "As much as I wish that I could get away with that, I think I prefer having to deal with my parents wanting to know where I'm going to be and why."

Adrien had to nod in agreement. Chloe got away with things because her father was too busy to pay her much attention. It wasn't something to be jealous of.

"I can't wait until we go," Alya said after a few moments of silence. "I've spent a chunk of my allowance on portable battery rechargers and extra batteries for my camera, so that I won't run out at all on the trip. I've looked up photos from the region, and they're all gorgeous."

"I've been telling her what I remember!" Trixx piped up, popping out of Alya's hair and grinning when they all jumped. "About how pretty everything is, and all of the mountains. It'll be nice to go back and see everything again, but it'll be sad to see the temples all smashed."

"I'm glad it was smashed," Plagg grumbled from the desk. He burped loudly. "That wasn't how the Miraculous were meant to be used. They weren't meant to all be collected and kept in one place."

Tikki gave him a reproachful look. "It would have been better if they just disbanded on their own like we were telling them to do, instead of being attacked and destroyed. There was some good information that they were discovering, and a lot of the research was lost. And there were a lot of deaths."

"A sign from the universe, then."

Tikki looked like she was about to explode.

"I'm looking forward to it, too," Marinette said a little loudly before the kwamis could start arguing. "Until we found out who Hawkmoth was, I was thinking that the fights might go on for years and I wouldn't be able to leave Paris at all until it was all over, so it's nice to do a trip like this now even if we were only tied to the city for less than a year. Besides, Master Fu keeps telling us more stories about what it was like, and I bet he'll tell more once we're actually in Tibet."

"That's going to be great," Alya said, grinning. "Ooh, I know I'm going to record it all, but I so wish that I could put it on my blog. But I can't, and I know I can't, and not just because my parents think that I'm going with you to visit your family and would wonder when I had the time to wander off and find an old Miraculous holder."

"I'm officially jealous that you don't have to lie to your parents, Marinette," Nino told her. "We're all going to have to make up stories except for you."

Marinette raised an eyebrow at her friends. "You forget that I had to lie to my parents for a year. At least for you it's going to be a one-time thing."

"But a big one-time thing," Alya countered.

"Hey, at least you have a cover story in place now. And you're getting out of babysitting." Adrien grinned when Alya pumped her fist in victory. "And you aren't missing class and getting in trouble like Mari and I did."

"I just really hope that my parents don't talk to Nathalie at all," Alya said after a moment at all. "Or Nino's parents. That could make things really difficult."

They all cringed at the thought of what Nathalie might do if it came out that Adrien wasn't the only one traveling with Marinette and Mrs. Cheng. She would probably interrogate whatever poor parent had made the mistake of talking to her, and then storm right over to the bakery and demand to speak with Marinette's dad. She was sharp enough that she would be able to figure out that the extra people on the trip probably wasn't the only thing that they were hiding from her.

"Well, Nathalie will probably be pretty busy," Adrien pointed out after a moment. "There's all sorts of paperwork for the business that she's trying to go through. My dad isn't in charge anymore but since he was the founder, she has to figure out what parts of it we might still have. I think there's shareholder stock or something like that, and my mom had a higher-up position there as well, but..." Adrien shrugged. He hadn't really been interested in the details, and Nathalie hadn't really given him more information than that anyway. "She trusts Marinette's parents, so I doubt that she would actively go looking for you or Nino. Or your parents."

"Is that a very long-winded way of saying that Nathalie won't be out and about to run into our families anyway?" Nino joked. "I'm not surprised. She was always busy before, and everything with your father has got to be an absolute pile of paperwork."

Adrien just made a bit of a face and nodded. No one missed how Adrien shifted slightly closer to Marinette, brushing his fingers against Marinette's hand. She took his hand at once, twining her fingers with his.

The whole topic of his father could still be a bit touchy, but he was slowly getting over it. Slowly.

"Speaking of being busy, what if your dad doing with you mom on the trip?" Nino asked Marinette. "He's not trying to run the bakery by himself, is he?"

Marinette snorted with laughter. "He never runs the bakery by himself- or with just him and my mom, either. They have helpers in the back to prep in the morning and early afternoon every day. But yeah, he's hiring someone to cover the counter for the summer. Once we get back, then my mom will just work in the back. Or she'll do the decorating out front, but just not cover the counter unless the worker needs a break."

From there, the four of them settled down to play some board games before dinner. Conversation jumped from topic to topic as they talked about the end of the school year and what their other friends were up to. Nino talked excitedly about some new music that had come out that he just couldn't wait to mix, but it would have to wait until after their trip. Alya showed them all her camera and all of the settings it had. The kwamis chimed in, bringing the number of players from four up to seven (Plagg had decided not to play, instead spending the time savoring a chunk of Gouda that Adrien had handed him).

It was normal and it was fun and relaxing and best of all, Adrien wasn't going to get called away for a photoshoot or some other activity that he didn't really want to attend.

  The day before the seven of them left for Tibet and their Mrs. Agreste rescue mission, Mr. Agreste was finally formally sentenced. He got fifteen to twenty years in prison, which Adrien didn't think was entirely enough, considering that he had engaged in magical domestic terrorism and, had Ladybug not been there, people- a lot of people- would have died in the attacks.

But Ladybug had been there and there was no lasting damage from the attacks, and the public didn't know about the "equivalent exchange" that would have occurred had Ladybug and Chat Noir failed to win. The people in charge of the sentencing had been swayed a bit by the fact that the attacks had been fueled by love- Mr. Agreste was just missing his wife, some people had said. And while yes, most people dealing with loss and grief didn't resort to terrorizing a city in an attempt to get magical artifacts to recover their lost family members, the changed timeline, had he achieved that, would have resulted in the erasing of the akuma attacks entirely.

Adrien was sour about that, just a bit. After all, he knew about the exchange that would have been required and so had his father, which meant that he knew that someone would have died or at least been trapped like Adrien's mother had in her place. Adrien knew that his father had deliberately provoked people to get upset so that he could akumatize them, knew that he had endangered people and hadn't cared, even if Ladybug's Cure would fix it if she won and that the altered timeline would make it never happen if Hawkmoth had come out on top.

But at least his father would be locked up until well after when Adrien would have moved out and gotten a job and established his own life well enough that his father wouldn't be able to ruin it. That was a positive, at least.

"I won't tell your father that you're out of the country," Nathalie promised Adrien as she helped him carry his stuffed backpack out to the car, where the Gorilla was waiting to bring him over to the Dupain-Cheng house. "If he even tries to contact us at all, which I'm not entirely sure that he'll be allowed to. I'll just tell him that you aren't interested in being in contact with him at the moment."

That much was true, at least. Grinning, Adrien thanked Nathalie, gave her a hug (she had gotten better at not stiffening up when hugged over the past few months), said good-bye and promised to give her at least a little heads up before coming home, and then hopped in the car. The Gorilla pulled away smoothly, giving the reporters lingering near the gate a glare. Several hastily beat a retreat- Nathalie had called the police on them before, and it was an experience that none of them would really want to repeat- while others brazenly surged forward, lifting cameras to snap a photo of Adrien for whatever story they were going to run.

Adrien ignored them, making sure that he looked unbothered as he leaned one arm against the window and checked his phone. Chloe had sent a picture of her new backpacking bag and was showing it off along with one of her hiking outfits. The pack was so very Chloe- how she had managed to get a yellow and black backpack on such short notice, he had no idea- and it definitely went with her outfit. He sent back a text telling her so before leaning back and watching as they drew closer to the bakery, where he would be staying overnight with Marinette and Nino and Alya before leaving for the airport bright and early.

They pulled up to the curb, and Adrien hopped out. The Gorilla handed him his backpack and escorted him to the steps, staying there like a protective, looming shadow until Marinette answered the door and ushered Adrien in. His stern expression brightened when Marinette gifted him with a box of assorted pastries from the bakery. With one last wave to Adrien, the Gorilla hopped back in the car and left.

"Nino and Alya are coming over after dinner," Marinette told Adrien as they headed upstairs. "Because their families wanted to have a few more hours with them. And Chloe is just going to meet us at the airport."

"And Master Fu?"

"We'll pick him up on our way to the airport tomorrow."

Upstairs, Adrien spotted Tikki and Nooroo perched in front of the TV, watching a cooking show. They each had a bowl of snacks set out for them, and there was a third bowl filled with cheesy popcorn for Plagg. Plagg zipped off with a squeal, and Adrien and Marinette continued up to Marinette's room.

"I'd set up my sleeping bag up, but I think we all know that I wouldn't use it," Adrien joked. He grinned at Marinette's blush. "So shy, buginette! It's like we haven't been sharing a bed most nights for a couple months now."

"It's different when Nino and Alya are going to be in the same room!" Marinette protested. "And it was only most nights at first."

Adrien was trying not to laugh. "How does Alya and Nino being here change anything? Your parents always know when I'm sleeping over."

"It just does! You know that they're going to take pictures of us sleeping."

Adrien stretched out across Marinette's lounger while she sketched out a few designs at her desk. It was a bit warm in Marinette's house- a side effect of being located above a bakery- but not yet unbearable. He watched his girlfriend sketch, occasionally muttering to herself as she changed something or came up with a new idea. There were periods of silence as Marinette regarded a design, and occasional periods where her pencil scribbled frantically.

"You're bringing sketchbooks on the trip, right?" Adrien asked during one of Marinette's longer pauses. "You'll probably get inspired by the scenery."

"I am, but I don't know if I'll actually have the time to design." Marinette regarded her notebook again. "We'll be hiking pretty much all day, and then once we stop, it'll be too dark to sketch."

"I could carry you while you design," Adrien offered. "I mean, I would transform first," he added quickly when Marinette shot him a dubious look. "Or I suppose you could hop into Master Fu's shell for a few minutes if he's transformed and just float along with the rest of us while you get your ideas down."

"But if I got into the shell to ride for a bit, I don't know if I would want to get back out and walk," Marinette said with a laugh. "And I don't know how well I'd be able to draw if you were just carrying me along. My drawing might come out a bit bumpy."

Adrien grinned, wide enough that he was sure Marinette could see it. "Aw, but Princess. Don't you know that I have a catlike stride? Purr-fectly smooth."

Marinette laughed.

By the time Marinette's mother called them down for lunch, the two of them had long since abandoned the designing and lounging in favor of playing Ultimate Mega Strike 3. The two of them fought together in the game world as seamlessly and effectively as they had during akuma fights, meaning that they defeated their online opponents every single time. Marinette had taught Adrien her attacks, so now Adrien could do more than frantically mash buttons at the speed of light and hope to win.

Now, he strategically button-mashed. It made a world of difference.

"Has Nathalie let your instructors for all of your activities know that you'll be out of town?" Mrs. Cheng asked Adrien as she handed him a sandwich.

Adrien nodded. "Mr. D'Argencourt wasn't happy about it," he added. "I've never been out of town before. Sometimes I've had to miss a day or two of class here and there, but never weeks. And he's also not thrilled that I'll be missing a couple fencing matches. Thankfully none of them are qualifiers, so it doesn't really matter, but it's nice to get the practice in with people I don't fight with every week."

"And your other instructors?"

"Well, Nathalie is in the middle of trying to find a new Mandarin instructor for me. The last one quit." His former instructor had quit only shortly after Mr. Agreste was arrested, and it had come as a bit of a shock to Adrien. The man had been the first person to treat Adrien as though it were somehow his fault that his father was an ass and a criminal to boot (and unfortunately, had not been the last). Nathalie had told Adrien that if the instructor were going to be that stupid, Adrien would be better off without that man anyway. Now Nathalie was looking for a new instructor, one that would stand up to the quality that Adrien needed. "And my piano teacher always goes on vacation for a month in the summer anyway, since she has kids in school and they go to see her husband's family in southern France."

"And your basketball coach?"

Adrien laughed. "He's used to people running off during the summer. We would have had fewer practices anyway."

Mrs. Cheng returned to the stove to retrieve Marinette's sandwich. Nooroo flitted to her shoulder as she did, settling down happily and accepting a bit of fruit as a snack. Adrien grinned at the sight.

Nooroo definitely deserved to have a nice holder like Mrs. Cheng after having to deal with his father for so long.

"I don't know how you keep on top of all of that during the school year," Mrs. Cheng told Adrien as he and Marinette settled down at the table to eat. "Plus photoshoots and being a superhero! Utter insanity. You must be very good at juggling everything."

"Well, basketball and fencing and Mandarin and piano were only one lesson each per week during the school year," Adrien told her. "And Mandarin and piano were only an hour each, not counting homework and practice. It wasn't that bad, but it'll definitely be easier next year without having to run off for attacks. I might try to cut back on some of my other lessons too, but... I mean, what I'm allowed to drop depends on who I have to persuade." Nathalie would probably allow him to drop an activity or cut back on how often he had a teacher come over for lessons, but his mother might not.

"What would you drop?" Mrs. Cheng asked. She looked interested, as did Nooroo. "Anything in particular?"

Adrien gave it a couple seconds' thought. "Well, I might cut back on piano lessons, because I'm already pretty good. And I want to change my Mandarin lessons to be more conversational and less homework, because I'm pretty good on paper. I don't think that several hours of homework per week is going to help me grow that much at this point."

Mrs. Cheng perked up. "Oh, if you wanted to come over and help me behind the corner some days, we could practice conversational Mandarin. Or perhaps Master Fu would be willing to practice with you. He knows Mandarin as well, after all."

"So I could do that instead of lessons?" Adrien considered it. He really liked that idea. "I like that. I might text Nathalie and tell her, so she can stop looking for a replacement instructor."

"It would be more fun than homework for sure." Mrs. Cheng snuck an impish look at Marinette. "And perhaps Marinette will pick something up. I tried teaching her Mandarin when she was younger, but I don't think she remembers much."

Marinette pouted. Adrien grinned. His girlfriend's expressiveness was the best and never failed to amuse him.

As the two teens ate, Mrs. Cheng bustled around the kitchen. Nooroo zipped after her, sneaking bites of whatever she was working on. Tikki and Plagg floated over to join their Chosens, and Plagg tried to steal the cheese from Adrien's sandwich when he wasn't looking. Adrien swatted him away.

"Can Marinette make me a cheese bread bowl today?" Plagg asked, undeterred. "I know it's not Thursday, but we're going to be gone for weeks and I'll be getting stupid mushrooms for most of the trip. Dried mushrooms and Cheddar and Parmesan, at best."

"Or Gouda and Gruyere," Adrien added. "If we can find all of that at the grocery stores. It really depends on what's available, so... it might just be all Cheddar. We can't bring cheese across the border, so we can't just stock up here."

Marinette giggled. "We're going to be the weirdest shoppers ever, between all of the kwamis' foods. Chocolate and sugar cubes for Tikki, cheese and dried mushrooms for Plagg, honey for Pollen, dried fruit for Trixx-"

"But can I get a cheese bread bowl today?" Plagg interrupted. "Pretty please?"

Mrs. Cheng glanced over at them. "Are you two all packed and ready to go?" They nodded. "Then I think it would be nice if you make the bread bowl. And then you could make white chocolate-lavender cookies while that's baking."

Tikki perked up. Plagg cheered.

"So that's the rest of the afternoon for us, then," Marinette said with a laugh. "Adrien?"

Adrien was sitting up eagerly. "Yeah! I love learning how to bake."

"I'd say that we can take any leftovers on the plane, but..." Mrs. Cheng glanced over at Plagg. "I'm not sure anything will be left."

Plagg looked like he was thinking about making a rude noise. Thankfully, he reconsidered.

"I need to get back downstairs to check up on our summer counter worker," Mrs. Cheng said once they were partway through their lunch. "But you know where the recipes are, Marinette. Just make sure that everything gets cleaned up, okay?"

"Of course, Maman," Marinette promised.

"And Tikki- I'd like at least a couple cookies left over for the trip tomorrow."

Tikki giggled. "Of course, Madam Cheng!"

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Banned for Discord Crimes on Main

Here’s a dose of Bullshit Defense AU nonsense no one asked for: Athena and Trucy’s Discord chat. I’m sorry for the length. Mostly I regret what scrolling down through my blog on mobile will look like with this.

[The server is named “The Dumpster”. There are seven text channels: general, space is gay, cat memes, all other memes, complaining about work that isn’t gay space, cryptids, and hell tier memes.]

August 17 6:27 pm [The Dumpster] [general]

Apollo has joined the server. Say hi! 

GRAMARYE FFFYEAH Polly! Polly!! P O L L Y P O L L Y 

Apollo this was a mistake 

GRAMARYE FFFYEAH Nooooo Polly 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend This is Uncle Ray’s new employee? 

GRAMARYE FFFYEAH Yep!! 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Dope

Apollo so uh who are any of you Trucy did not tell me about who is in this chat when she explained it 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes No introductions. Hell has no easy guide. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Woah calm down Edgelord 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes No. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend I made this server and am your god You live and die as I see fit And so do your usernames 

Apollo uh 

16 plants in a trenchcoat Thena why 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend I am your god 

Back-Alley Dealer of Vintage Cat Memes Hi Apollo! I’m Pearl. Trucy’s told me about you. I hope Athena doesn’t scare you away. She’s Nessie’s girlfriend. Trenchcoat Plants is Juniper. 

Apollo oh thanks who’s edgelord 

Back-Alley Dealer of Vintage Cat Memes As best as I understand him, Batman. 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes Yes. 

Apollo also does she mean nessie like the loch ness monster or 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes Yes. 

Apollo uh ok 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend She’s REAL and she’s MY GIRLFRIEND!! 

Apollo ok 

10:32 pm [general]

Dirt puns all day holy shit dude dude @Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend why didnt u tell me u know apollo @GRAMARYEFFFYEAH EXPLAIN YOURSELF EXPLAIN WHO ARE YOU HOW HOW DID YOU GET APOLLO HERE 

A Polly … ……. Clay? 

Dirt puns all day Y E E T 

A Polly wtf also what is my name 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend It’s you 

A Polly it’s reall ynot Clay what the fuck 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend My mom works at the space center Holy shit I can’t believe you two know each other My entire social circle is just an increasingly overlapping venn diagram 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes So you mean it is simply one circle. A social one, if you will. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend I am coming over to your house to kick your ass 

10:46 pm [space is gay]

Dirt puns all day @Arrested for Light Theme Crimes ur sister threw a robot at my head today 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes She does that. 

11:15 pm [general] 

GRAMARYE FFFYEAH It’s ~magic 

Dirt puns all day u cant answer every question w that 

It’s Magic~! Oh yeah?

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Now look what you’ve done Also how have I never met Apollo before if you used to drag him to the center all the time Like How did our paths not cross 

Dirt puns all day It’s a mystery 

A Polly I was confused enough about how everyone knows each other even before this happened 

It’s Magic~! Me and @Back-Alley Dealer of Vintage Cat memes are cousins I think Wait no My grandpa is married to her aunt So that’s like Uh What is that 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes First cousins, once removed, I believe. 

It’s Magic~! Oh cool thanks I didn’t know if it was still cousins or ended up at something complex like whatever the hell you and Thena are now 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes I’m her uncle. It’s very simple. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend You’re like annoying brother material at best “Uncle” sounds like Real 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes And I am just a figment of your imagination I presume. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Ye No it sounds like Authoritative A position of respect But all it means is that your sis married my mom And you’re still just my shitty loser bff “““Uncle””” Lmao 

Arrested for Light Theme Crimes I thought Juniper was your best friend. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Yeah she is my best friend You’re my Shitty Loser Best Friend It’s different titles

18 plants in a trenchcoat Aw thanks Thena 

A Polly this does not help me understand how everyone knows each other 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Junie and I have been bffs for ages And Trucy and I met bc her aunt works with my Shitty Loser Best Friend Whose sis married my mom And Clay and I are Space Center Bros And Trucy and Pearly are cousins It’s all pretty simple see 

A Polly I mean I guess Does anyone else lurk in here @everyone 

Surrounded by Fools No. 

A Polly uh ok cool 

August 18 9:22 am [general]

It’s Magic~! People Park an hour and a half be there or don’t get to see cool magic and get noodles later 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Dope 

.

August 29 12:49 pm [complaining about work that isn’t gay space]

Shitty Loser Best Friend @Surrounded By Fools Get down to my office. I need to speak with you. … @Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Seriously?

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Yeet 

Escaped Prison for Light Theme Crimes No. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Dude why do you want to stay a light theme heathen/convict 

Escaped Prison for Light Theme Crimes It is preferable to “Shitty Loser.” 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Noooo but the best friend part is good Is it still preferable now Is it Huh Is it Huh Answer me you coward 

Surrounded by Fools @Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes I have an office phone. You have an office phone. We also have office computers and office emails. You do not need to get my attention in this foolish chat with these foolish names.

Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes You could uninstall the app from your phone anytime, yet you continue to respond. Also yes Athena it is still preferable. 

Surrounded by Fools You come up to my office. 

Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes I cannot. Taka is asleep on my shoulder. Moving would wake him. 

Surrounded by Fools It is your choice whether he be woken now with your movement or soon when I arrive to yell at you. 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Noooo Taka is an innocent 

A Polly who the hell is taka 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Bird 

A Polly never mind 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend No really bird 

[Attached is an image of a brown hawk wearing a yellow bandana.]

A Polly what 

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend Bird 

.

September 9 9:16 am [general]

Dirt puns all day @everyone  GUESS WHOS GOING TO SPACE GUESS SPACE SPACE IS GAY AND IM GONNA BE GAY IN SPACE

Nessie is real and she’s my girlfriend !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

23 plants in a trenchcoat Congratulations! That must be exciting! 

SPACEMAN SPACE GONNA BE IN SPACE 

It’s Magic~! Congrats but also Polly is killing my eardrums I hear you screaming on the phone 

SPACEMAN PERISH THEN 

It’s Magic~! Are you talking to him while texting this chat Is that what’s happening 

SPACEMAN SPACE SPAAAAAAAAACE 

Back-Alley Dealer of Vintage Cat Memes Wow! That’s amazing! Space! 

SPACEMAN SPACE 

Back-Alley Dealer of Vintage Cat Memes Space!! 

SPACE! Space! 

SPACE Space 

SPACEMAN THIS IS HAPPENING MY DUDES SPAAAACE 

SPACE~ Space!!! 

11:41 am [general] 

A Polly what the hell have I come back to

SPACEMAN THE SPACE SINGULARITY 

SPACE We are legion. 

Space! We have become as one in our excitement about space! 

SPACE! Space!! 

SPACE SPACE 

SPACE! SPAAACE

SPACE!!! I guess I have no choice 

SPACEMAN JOIN US 

SPACE~ ONE OF US ONE OF US 

Space! One of us! One of us! 

SPACE! Has “space” stopped looking like a word to anyone else or is it just me? 

Space! Oh I thought I was losing my mind. It’s not just you! 

SPACEMAN SPACE 

SPACE!!! space 

SPACE~ S P A C E S  P A  C  E 

SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE SPACE 

SPACEMAN WE ARE ALL SPACE GAYS EVERY DAY BUT ESPECIALLY ON THIS FINE DAY 

Space! Space! 

SPACE! SPAAAACE 

1:27 pm [general]

Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes What, perchance, the fuck. 

SPACE SPACE 

SPACEMAN JOIN US 

Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes I will make of my sister a request to throw more robots at your head. 

SPACEMAN Oh god please don’t

5:43 pm [general] 

A Polly @SPACEMAN  I can’t believe you’re actually going to space 

Remorseful for Space Crimes Bring me back a moon rock I mean I have a moon rock earring from my mom But I want more moon rock Because moon rock 

A Polly wouldn’t the samples be heavily regulated in their use and not be allowed to like take a part of it and yknow 

Remorseful for Space Crimes Ask not questions ye not want the answer to 

Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes Do not speak like that ever again. 

29.5 plants in a trenchcoat Thena is your mom a criminal? 

Remorseful for Space Crimes NO!!!! 

It’s Magic~! Your name would be fitting for that too 

Remorseful for Space Crimes No!! 

SPACEMAN SPACE 

It’s Magic~! SPACE 

29.5 plants in a trenchcoat SPACE! 

Back-Alley Dealer of Vintage Cat Memes Space! 

A Polly SPACE

Recaptured and Executed for Light Theme Crimes Enough.

Remorseful for Space Crimes Wow you’re really no fun allowed guy huh 

Unrepentant for Stopping Space Crimes Yes. 

.

October 9 3:02 pm [general]

Spacedude hey uh apollo apollo whatthe fuck is up with kristoph gavin what the fuck 

A Polly I will be asking that question for the rest of my life 

It’s Magic~! fuck 

4:34 pm [general] 

Widget Shut Up Challenge @It’s Magic~! @A Polly Are you guys okay 

It’s Magic~! yeah 

A Polly nop 

Widget Shut Up Challenge I’m coming over 

It’s Magic~! I’m fine 

Widget Shut Up Challenge I’m calling your dads and asking if that’s true 

It’s Magic~! Athena seriously 

Widget Shut Up Challenge Shit I don’t have your dads numbers I’m calling Uncle Ray

Legitimate Antique Cat Meme Appraiser I’m getting a train ticket. 

October 10 1:23 pm [general]

Kristoph Gavin Perish Challenge No one human was meant to eat that much Eldoons I think I’m dying

Gee Simon How Come You’re Allowed to Have TWO Katanas I am surprised. I wasn’t aware that you are human and bound by such limitations. 

Gramarye Yeet Three bowls. 

Surrounded by Fools Dunk her in a tank of water and that may help sustain her long enough to begin an infusion of water to flush the salt out. 

Kristoph Gavin Perish Challenge I’m not a frog I don’t drink through my skin I don’t think it would work like that anyway I’m fine 

Legitimate Antique Cat Meme Appraiser She’s lying facedown in the grass. Don’t believe her when she claims to be fine. 

127 plants in a trenchcoat Thena why

.

November 30 2:37 pm [general]

The Gavinner has arrived.

Suffering t trucy @Glam Gramarye trucy explain yourself trucy explain how how this has happened and why trucy i didnt want this name to be this appropriate 

The Gavinner Hello Forehead~ :D 

Suffering I’m abandoning this server effective immediately 

The Gavinner D: 

Spacedudeman apollo apollo u coward u can’t leave apollo @Suffering

Suffering we are literally in the same room don’t @ me 

Spacedudeman @Suffering

 One Very Small Very Angry Penguin O shit looks like we have to clean this place up Got a legit celeb in here now Uh Welcome to the dumpster @The Gavinner

The Gavinner You are right, space is gay 

Spacedudeman I’m screenshotting that and hanging it on my wall “space is gay” -- klavier gavin 

One Very Small Very Angry Penguin Hey I said it first 

Subscribe for Free Penguin Facts Actually, I believe I did. 

The Gavinner Can I have a penguin fact? 

Subscribe for Free Penguin Facts The majority of penguin species do not actually live in the Antarctic or cold climates.

One Very Small Very Angry Penguin Wait didn’t your sister say it first 

Subscribe for Free Penguin Facts No; I believe I said it in reference to her, however. 

Glam Gramarye @Suffering >:3c 

Suffering Trucy explain this to me 

Glam Gramarye >>:3c 

Do not make 3-mouth at me Trucy

>:3c >>>>:3c 

Surrounded by Fools @>:3c What have you done.

Do not make 3-mouth at me TRUCY EXPLAIN 

>:3c >>>>>>>>>>:3cc

The Gavinner I feel very unloved right now, Forehead :( Do you not love me?

Suffering no 

The Gavinner >:( 

3:08 pm [direct message: Earth Earth and Apollo]

Earth Earth dude i cant believe klavier gavin uses emoticons like a 15 year old girl

3:10 pm [The Dumpster] [general]

Suffering @Spacedudeman is dming me when we’re in the same room

One Very Small Very Angry Penguin Lmao 

Spacedudeman dude let me live 

Suffering perish 

Spacedudeman WHATRE U GONNA DO, STAB ME 

Subscribe for Free Penguin Facts I will should he choose not to. 

Spacedudeman why do u do this to me simon 

3:13 pm [direct message: Earth Earth and Apollo] 

Apollo Trucy is a 15 yo girl and she doesnt use emoticons like that just >:3c

Earth Earth tru if klavier gavin kittyfaces at you ever i am gonna drop dead on the spot

[thelastspeecher]

Help - A Superhero/villain AU ficlet

A couple days ago, I made a post about the development of Stan and Angie’s relationship in this AU, and came up with a moment in which they have their first breakthrough.  Naturally, I had to write said moment.  Enjoy.

              Stan increased the velocity of the windshield wipers and drummed his fingers against the steering wheel.

              “Singin’ the driving song…radio’s broke, and I don’t have the dough to fix it…” he hummed to himself.  As the Stanleymobile cruised past a bench, Stan saw a flash of bright color out of the corner of his eye.  He looked back.  The color had been a bright yellow raincoat, worn by a lone woman sitting on the bench.

              Wait.  She looks familiar.  Stan looped around the block again, this time paying attention to the person waiting for the bus.  Angie?  He pulled up in front of the bench and rolled down the window.

              “Angie!” he called.  Angie looked up at him.  “What the hell are you doing?”

              “Waitin’ fer the bus,” Angie replied.

              “In the rain?  Without an umbrella?”

              “Forgot it at home.”

              “Why are you waiting for the bus in the first place?” Stan asked, turning off the car.  “You have a truck.”

              “I share a truck with Lute,” Angie corrected.  “He dropped me off this mornin’ at my day job, but got called into work, so he can’t pick me up.”  She huffed irritably.  “Not that ya need to know that.”

              “Actually, maybe I shoulda known that,” Stan said.

              “Why?”

              “That way I coulda been here sooner to give you a ride.”  Stan unlocked the doors.  “Hop in.  I’ll take you home.”

              “No.”

              “Why not?”

              “I don’t need yer help.”

              “I watched that video Lute gave me.  Your immune system is weaker when you’re pregnant.”

              “So?”

              “You’re gonna get sick if you sit out in the rain and the cold,” Stan said. Angie scowled.  “You wanna be stubborn when it only hurts feelings, be my guest.  But don’t be stubborn if it’s gonna physically hurt you or the babies.”  Angie’s scowl deepened, but she got up from the bench and approached the car.

              “Fine,” she muttered darkly, getting into the passenger seat.  Stan frowned at her.

              “You look like a drowned rat.”

              “Gee, thanks.”  Angie grabbed a fistful of her soaked hair and began to wring it out.  “Hope ya don’t mind gettin’ water on the upholstery.”

              “Eh.  Worse things have gotten on the seats in this old girl.”  Stan turned on the car again.  He pulled away from the bus stop.  “Angie, you have my number.  Why didn’t you call me when you knew you didn’t have a ride home?”

              “It weren’t related to the pregnancy nor the babies,” Angie said. Stan sighed.

              “Yeah, but still.  You needed help.”

              “I was fine.”

              “You’re pregnant with twins, and you were sitting on a bench in the rain for who knows how long,” Stan snapped.  “You weren’t fine.”

              “Okay, maybe I could’ve used some assistance,” Angie said.  “But why would I ask you fer it?  We’re archenemies!  You wouldn’t have helped me before all this happened.”

              “No, I wouldn’t have,” Stan agreed.  “But we’re not archenemies anymore.  You can ask me for help.”

              “…What the heck are we, then?” Angie mumbled after a moment.

              “Fuck if I know,” Stan said.  Angie let out a small chuckle.  A few moments passed in silence.  Stan glanced over at Angie.  She was shivering intensely.  “Cold?”

              “Always.”

              “Really?” Stan asked.  He increased his body temperature; not enough to actively burst into flames, but enough to warm up the car.  Angie nodded.

              “I’m small and used to warmth.”  She peered at the controls for the A/C.  “Yer car has dif’rent buttons than Lute’s truck.”

              “Don’t bother messing with it.  It’s broken.  But you should start warming up pretty soon.”

              “Why?”

              “I can do more than burst into flames.”  Stan eyed Angie.  “Just like I’m sure you can do more than fly and make it windy out.”

              “Of course I can!” Angie protested.  “Where do ya think my codename comes from?”

              “Sirocco?  Wasn’t it your mom’s?”

              “Yes.  But I weren’t referrin’ to that.  I meant the one I share with Lute.  Twister Twins.”  Stan’s eyes widened.

              “Wait, can you actually make tornadoes?”

              “When Lute and I work together, we can make any kind of meteorological natural disaster, really,” Angie said proudly.  She grinned.  “We got our nickname when we were tots, playin’ with our powers.  Accidentally made a bunch of lil twisters ‘fore Harper ‘n Ma shut it down.”

              “Who’s Harper?”

              “My older brother.”

              “You have an older brother?” Stan asked.  Angie fell silent.  “Oh. Are we done sharing things now?”

              “Yes.”

              “You don’t even wanna tell me about my kids’ uncle?”

              “No.”

              “Why?  Is he a villain, too?”

              “My whole fam’ly is, Stan.  That’s the point!” Angie burst out.  “Why didn’t I call ya?  ‘Cause yer literally the person who could throw me and everyone I care about into jail.  Heck, a few months ago, the only ride you would’ve given me was a ride to the police station!  I can’t ask a hero fer help when it can endanger myself and my friends ‘n fam’ly.”

              “But you’re not actively breaking the law right now.  You’re not putting on your mask.”

              “I’ve been doin’ some paperwork fer my crew, since I can’t join ‘em in the field,” Angie said.  “What if- what if I ask fer yer help, and ya show up and see evidence of law-breakin’?”

              “I can turn a blind eye.”

              “I highly doubt yer ‘heroic moral compass’ would allow that,” Angie scoffed, making air quotes around the phrase “heroic moral compass”.

              “Heroic moral compass,” Stan snorted.  “I’ve done worse than pretend I didn’t see the woman carrying my kids commit a crime.”

              “…Really?”

              “Yeah.”  Stan glanced at Angie.  “I never told you?”  Angie shook her head.  “I got kicked outta my home when I was seventeen.  While I was busy trying to survive, I fell in with some bad crowds, got banned from a couple states, committed some felonies.  Your basic bottoming out.”

              “How are ya a hero, then?”

              “Ford got hold of me and convinced me to turn my life around.  Stop being a criminal, do something with my life, and make our mom proud.  She’s a retired hero, y’know.”

              “I didn’t know that.”

              “Well, I’m not surprised.  We don’t know a lot about each other, for people about to have two kids.”  A minute passed.

              “…I have four older brothers,” Angie said quietly.  “Harper, Basstian, Fiddleford, and Lute.”  Stan opened his mouth.  “Yes, Lute’s my twin.  But he’s also two minutes older ‘n me, and he don’t let me forget it.”

              “Ford’s fifteen minutes older than me.  I know what you mean.”

              “I- I have an older sister, too.  Violynn.”  Angie looked out the window.

              “You done?”

              “Fer now.”

              “Fair enough.”  Stan took a deep breath.  “Look, Angie-”

              “Next time, I’ll call you,” Angie interrupted.

              “I thought you were done.”

              “Talkin’ ‘bout my fam’ly, yes.  But not- not done talkin’ to you.”  Angie rubbed her thumb against the window, tracing the rain streaking the glass. “I’ll- I’ll call ya, if I need help.”

              “I’ll be there.”

              “You better,” Angie said softly.  Stan pulled up in front of her house.

              “Your stop, madam,” Stan said.  Angie rolled her eyes, but didn’t hide her small smile.

              “Yer a bit of a dork, ain’t ya?”

              “Only if I don’t come across as suave.”

              “Heh.”  Angie opened the door.  She paused. “Y’know, Stanley, it’s an awful shame ya didn’t continue down the road of villainy.  We would’ve been great partners.”  She winked at him, and with that, exited the car.  Stan watched her walk inside, then drove away.  He glanced in the rearview mirror at the unassuming house of two supervillains.  

              Great partners, huh?

[newstfionline]

Americans in Blended Families Cope With Toll of Deportation

Associated Press, July 23, 2018

BOCA DEL RÍO, Mexico--It’s almost as if Letty Stegall is there, back home in the United States, beside her daughter to prod her awake for school. When her husband goes to the grocery store, she fusses over the list with him. At the bar she helped run, she still gives regulars a warm welcome, and around the dinner table at night, she beams when she sees what her family managed to cook.

But Stegall’s face only appears on a screen, and her words come in unreliable cell connections and a barrage of texts. Lives once lived together are divided by some 1,600 miles. A woman who married an American and gave birth to an American and who came to think of herself as American, too, is now deported to her native Mexico.

“I wish I was there. That’s all that I want,” she says of her life in Kansas City, Missouri. “I want my family back.”

As the United States takes a harder line on immigration, thousands who called the country home are being forced to go. Often, they leave behind spouses and children with American citizenship and must figure out how to go on with families fractured apart. Studies have found an estimated 8 million to 9 million Americans--the majority of them children--live with at least one relative who is in the country illegally, and so each action to deport an immigrant is just as likely to entangle a citizen or legal U.S. resident.

Stegall’s deportation means she could be banned from the U.S. for a decade. She prays paperwork seeking to validate her return through her marriage could wind through the system within two years, but there is no guarantee.

For now, she is a stranger in the vaguely familiar land she left as a 21-year-old in 1999, her phone and laptop the only windows to a life that’s no longer hers. When her 17-year-old daughter, Jennifer Tadeo-Uscanga, arrives home from school, Stegall is there on FaceTime to greet her. She watches streaming feeds from 16 cameras at the bar she manages remotely. She gives Steve Stegall, her husband of six years, a goodnight kiss by pressing her lips to her cellphone screen.

The four-dimensional, analog world she loved has been flattened and digitized. She recognizes how odd it all may seem, but she wonders what other choice she has. Should she pull Jennifer from the only country she’s ever known, where her dreams of college and career seem so achievable? Should she ask Steve--born and bred in Kansas City--to abandon their business and home and come to a place where he can’t speak the language and his safety might be jeopardized by drug cartels?

“I lost everything,” she says. “It’s just me.”

Stegall walks down streets of modest, brightly painted homes, past a tree dangling with yellow guavas and beside a butcher shop where red sausages are strung up like Christmas garland. Palms splash against clear blue skies, and swaths of purple flowers hold court below.

Beauty can be found everywhere in Boca del Río, a small city along the Gulf of Mexico, but it’s hard for Stegall to see. Even as she rounds the bend and a striking panorama of blue sea appears before her, it does little to lift her. This would be a nice vacation, she says, but it’s all a cheap copy of the life she had a few months ago.

Stegall grew up two hours from here in Cosamaloapan, a flat, crop-dotted part of Veracruz, the state that hugs a broad chunk of Mexico’s eastern coast. Her parents’ furniture business afforded a comfortable existence, but drawn by the stories of a cousin who settled in Overland Park, Kansas, Stegall was convinced there was greater opportunity for her in the U.S. She paid a smuggler $3,000 to lead her across the Rio Grande.

She was caught and returned to Mexico but crossed successfully a day later. When she made it to the Kansas City area, she found a job busing tables, working her way up through a string of restaurants to become a server and bartender and manager.

She got married and had Jennifer, but later divorced. Then she fell in love with Steve, who came to see Jennifer as his own. Stegall mastered the language and watched her paychecks grow. She and Steve bought a home, and soon Stegall became the heart of The Blue Line, the bar they ran together. When the Olympics aired, she’d drape herself in red, white and blue, and when the national anthem sounded, she’d nudge her husband to remove his hat as she stood solemnly, goose bumps covering her body.

All the while, her parents told of kidnappings and decapitations back in Cosamaloapan, of the cartel taking over and the family being forced out. They deserted their home and business, and fled for Boca del Río. She thanked God she had escaped. She didn’t think she’d ever return.

In Kansas City, the fear of being caught that Stegall had when she first arrived receded with each passing year. Donald Trump’s campaign and his tough rhetoric on illegal immigration piqued her attention and stirred a little worry, but he talked about catching rapists and murderers and gang members, and that wasn’t her. She carried her Social Security card, obtained through her marriage, work permit and driver’s license everywhere just in case.

She had just started backing out of the driveway to head to the gym on the morning of Feb. 26 when three cars careened in. Agents hopped out, opened her door and told her she was under arrest. She urged them to look at her paperwork and thought it was all a mistake.

“I’m married to an American citizen,” she pleaded. “I have a citizen daughter.”

Six years earlier, police had pulled her over a few blocks from her house and charged her with misdemeanor drunken driving. The arrest made authorities aware that she was in the U.S. illegally. Stegall spent a month in jail and her case went into the immigration system.

She cries as she recounts the incident, mindful she might not be in this situation had she not gotten behind the wheel. She sees that she is paying the price for her mistake but is also convinced that her deportation was unfair.

She wonders why the government’s crackdown efforts seem to focus on her and other low-level criminals instead of the “bad hombres” that Trump said he’d banish. Don’t her daughter and husband have a right to keep their family intact? Don’t her years of paying taxes, of learning English, of living an otherwise pristine life count for anything?

“They didn’t take out the people who are dangerous,” says Stegall, who is 41. “The murderers are still there. The gangsters are still there. The rapists are still there.”

While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement often touts the criminal convictions of those rounded up, arrests of migrants with convictions for offenses such as driving under the influence (59,985 in fiscal year 2017) outnumber those of immigrants previously convicted for homicide, sexual assault or kidnapping. (Those collectively totaled 6,553 in 2017.) Meantime, arrests of immigrants without criminal convictions have increased significantly since Trump took office.

Officially, Stegall’s deportation process began under President Barack Obama. He became known as the “deporter in chief” for presiding over so many removals but changed tactics in the final two years of his presidency, when ICE was directed to exercise discretion to defer action on certain migrants with standing removal orders, including those with citizen children and living in the U.S. prior to 2010.

A DUI arrest was generally seen as “a midlevel priority,” says Randy Capps, an expert on deportation at the Migration Policy Institute , and people like Stegall often were allowed to stay in the latter part of Obama’s presidency if they had regular check-ins with ICE, paid processing fees, were fingerprinted and stayed out of trouble.

An executive order issued by Trump changed that, effectively declaring any immigrant without legal status subject to arrest. Even the path once seen as simplest to legal status--a legitimate marriage to a citizen--no longer is always enough to stave off deportation.

Stegall didn’t apply for a green card after getting married because her former attorney told her she had little to worry about with a citizen husband and daughter and because, under U.S. law, she likely would have had to return to Mexico and wait out the process there.

Four days after her February arrest, Stegall won a stay of deportation in court pending a hearing. But ICE already had her shackled aboard a flight to Brownsville, Texas, where she was directed to cross by foot back into Mexico. Her family, relieved by the victory in court, didn’t even know she was gone.

“The new normal, really, is rush and push people out of the country, regardless of what’s going on,” says Stegall’s current attorney, Rekha Sharma-Crawford.

In a split-level house on a neat, tree-shadowed street in Kansas City, every wall, table and shelf is covered with photos, but one of the smiling faces is absent. In that absence, plants wilted and died, and clothes came out of the wash tinged in blue. Dinnertime, once an ever-changing parade of feasts that charmed the palates of Steve and Jennifer, has become a spartan affair of the easily achievable. Family celebrations now typically include tears.

“She’s not dead,” Jennifer, a native of the Kansas City area, says of her mother. “But she’s not here.”

Stegall’s husband is depressed and has taken to clutching a pink teddy bear in bed, when he’s not hustling to maintain their business. Stegall’s in-laws, who built lives in Kansas City like their parents before them, have put off retiring to their lake house because they’re needed at the bar to fill in for the woman they consider a daughter.

Most of all, though, a teen who thinks of her mom as her best friend has been left without her confidante.

When Jennifer’s birthday came, just after Stegall was deported, the teen got her favorite dish of fettuccine alfredo at Olive Garden and the Versace perfume she wanted as a present. Her mom appeared on FaceTime to sing “Happy Birthday,” but it wasn’t enough to soothe the sadness.

As prom approached, she wished her mom was around to shop with, and on the big night, when she needed a last-minute hem, there was no one to come to the rescue.

Each momentous occasion that awaits Jennifer--senior year, Christmas, graduation, college--is tainted because the person closest to her won’t be there to share in them.

“My God,” Jennifer wrote to the immigration judge handling her mother’s case, “my own country has been the one that has caused me pain.”

At The Blue Line, where the ceiling is hammered tin and the walls are covered in hockey skates, jerseys and sticks, the bartender this night is wearing a white T-shirt that says “#BringLettyHome” and a flag-festooned box at the end of the bar is labeled “Letters for Letty.”

“Life here is incomplete without you,” reads one. “A couple tacos and a few drinks at happy hour isn’t the same without your smile,” says another. “You don’t know me but I was sick when I heard your story,” goes a third.

Many in the bar this night, including Steve’s parents, gave their vote to Trump. They liked his promise to bring jobs back to the U.S. and the vow to make trade with China fairer. And they supported him when he said criminal immigrants would be deported. They just didn’t consider Stegall one, even if she came to the country illegally.

“I’ve always been proud to be an American,” says Shirley Stegall, Steve’s mom. “But now I’m ashamed.”

“He’s destroying American lives,” Steve says of the president. “How can you do this? How can you do this to your own American people?”

[sharperthewriter]

Chapter 12 of Possible-y Utah

Chapter 12 - The Agreement II

(2:18 pm)

A pink convertible pulled up into the driveway of Richard's house and two girls, both seniors, got out of the car.

The girl who was driving the car was Genna Majenta. She, whom had recently graduated from MHS, had long shoulder-length black hair, brown eyes and was slightly taller than Kim. She was dressed in a blue croptop shirt, a silver star necklace, Club Banana dark baggy denim overalls with the bib folded down and straps hooked and a belt to hold them up and white sneakers. She was co-captain of the Middleton Golden Dancers dance team in her senior and the girlfriend of Richard.

The other girl whom was the passenger of the car was Jeanna Montana, the girlfriend of Jack. Like Genna, she was approaching her senior year at Middleton High and was also on the Golden Dancers. They were also of the same height. But whereas Genna had brown eyes and black hair, Jeanna had blonde hair and blue eyes and had a tatoo of two starts on her midriff. She was wearing a pink tubetop, silver hoop earrings, black carpenter jeans, and pink sneakers.

"Ugh...do you wonder why Richard called us here, Gen?" Jeanna asked while popping her strawberry bubblegum.

"Dunno. Maybe both he and Jack could get lucky with us tonight!" Genna replied, texting away on her phone.

"You wanna take Jack upstairs or in the basement?" Jenna asked, popping a medium-sized bubble.

"Since I went upstairs with Jack last time, I'll take the basement for a little 'extra-session' with him!" Genna replied with a very vapid grin, licking her lips. "I am wearing my 'special' panties for him!"

She opened the door to the house and saw that, to her surprise, that Bonnie and Rebecca were sitting on the couch.

Jeanna reacted with disgust at the sight of a cheerleader in her boyfriend's house.

"What is this...?" she asked with a slight growl.

Richard gasped in horror at his girlfriend appearing. "It's not what it looks like, Jeanna! They were the ones who called us up to come here.

Jeanna stomped to the living room with her left hand clenched in a fist.

"I am going to give Miss Rockwaller a piece of my mind!" she exclaimed.

Bonnie saw the approaching, and very POed, Jeanna but she stood her ground. She jumped out of the couch right in front of her.

Rebecca exclaimed, "B! Please!"

"If you even dare come closer to me..." Bonnie insisted, her shoes digging deep in the carpet, "...I will make sure that my mom will give you a good paddling with her Swatter!"

Genna also intervened, "Jenna...I'd hate to say this, but Bonnie's right! You do NOT want to cross paths with her!"

Jeanna stopped herself in her tracks. She knew all about the reputation of Veronica Rockwaller and her infamous wooden paddle.

"You're lucky that your mom is the head disciplinarian of the entire school district, Rockwaller! I would've given you a black eye if I had the chance!" Jeanna sneered.

Richard tried to intervene.

"Ladies! Ladies! Let's chillax!" he nervously chuckled, "Let's not fight here! Let's be reasonable before someone calls the police on any of us!"

Jenna unclenched her fists but turned her anger to her football-playing boyfriend.

"Richard, I am going to have a very long talk with you after this..."

"You know, this may be just be a mistake...just like what you two losers did with 'The Incident'!"

Rebecca, however, was still confused.

"Okay, I'm totes mixed up."

"What is it now, R?" Bonnie asked.

"Why do you have beef with the Golden Dancers?" Rebecca questioned.

"It all started about six months ago. We were about to hit the showers after cheer practice one day." Bonnie began to explain "The Incident."

Jenna then smirked, "Oh yeah, now I remember! One of our Dancers turned off the hot waters to the showers!"

"I have never taken a shower that cold in my life...about as bad as the time Possible pulled that same trick on me last year at Wannaweep." Bonnie muttered. "Good thing we had our towels on."

"That was only Part 1 of our little 'fun' against you cheerleaders!" Genna giggled.

"Oh yes, the other part of their prank against us!" Bonnie continued, "Another one of your little Dancers poured Stoppable's Mad Dog banana cream foam down our cheer skirts!"

"We had a very good laugh after that!" Jenna grinned. "Celebrated at Mr. Swirley's that night."

"I, along with the rest of the squad, had to wash my uniform thoroughly to get rid of Stoppable's gunk!" Bonnie bitterly complained.

"He should have stored the foam in a more...secure...place!" Genna cackled.

Bonnie huffed before saying, "I wish if I had punched you in the face right then and there...but Possible, being the Miss Goody-Two-Shoes she is, banned the squad from ever engaging in violence or any criminal acts against you Dancers. And your little Dancer who poured the foam in our skirts got kicked off!"

Genna sighed, "Yet, a couple weeks after that, someone on your squad disobeyed Kim's orders! Stole our hairsprays for an upcoming dance competish! To my recollection, didn't Kim kick her off the team?"

"Truth be told, yes!" Bonnie replied, while darting her eyes around.

Jenna then turned to Rebecca. "So you see, due to 'The Incident' , a brawl was inevitable between the Dancers and the Cheer Squad."

She then continued on the aftermath.

"A few days after that, me and Kim agreed for the Cheer Squad and the Dancers to set up a truce that we won't carry our rivalry on the school grounds during school hours. It's now pretty much limited to mean glares and taunting. No practical jokes or physical contact that would draw the ire of the school board."

"It's a controlled rivalry, then?" Rebecca asked.

Jeanna, Genna, and Bonnie all nodded their heads.

Genna then intervened on Rebecca and Bonnie's intent of visiting.

"So now that we've got the deets of 'The Incident' out of the way, I am going to ask again, Rockwaller. Why are you and..."

Jeanna then whispered in Genna's ear on who the other girl was with Bonnie.

Genna gasped, "That so can't be! That's Rebecca Starlet, the billionaire heiress to the Starlet family oil fortune!"

"OMG! I totally loved your reality show about what's it's like being rich and all..." Jeanna exclaimed breathlessly before having a forgetful moment. "Oh man...what's that show called again?"

"Being Rich with a Starlett?" Rebecca guessed with a smirk.

"That's the one!" Genna said in between breaths. "Oh man...I'm so amazed that we have a celeb here that I forgot what we were talking about!"

"You were about to say, 'Why are you here', Genna!" Richard corrected his girlfriend.

"Oh right!" Genna replied before taking a deep breath. "Forgive my fangirling, but why exactly are you and Miss Starlet here for, Rockwaller?"

"We're here because we need your BF's help to not only humiliate Possible, but also break the loser couple up for good!" Bonnie replied on their real intent of their visit. "Since he has already graduated from Middleton High, he won't have the threat of Barkin dangling over his head."

"Yeah, before I met this lovely lady here..." Richard said, turning his head towards Genna, "...I did have a blind date with Kim last year...only to be rejected by her dad, all because I was 18 months older than she was!"

"And I also only had one date with that redhead around that same time..." Jack snarled, "Just because I made a pass at Jeanna does not mean that she has the right to splash water in my face!"

"So we have at least something in common...hatred against the wannabe for at least something" Bonnie grinned, "Well...except for Rebecca because she's not on Possible's radar...yet."

"Yes, but what is in it for me and Jeanna if we go along with your little plot of breaking up the couple?" Genna asked.

Bonnie shifted her teal eyes to Rebecca.

"R, would you like to demonstrate?"

"I sure can, B!" Rebecca grinned as she took out two credit cards with a $100,000 limit on each to Country Club Banana.

Jeanna gasped, "That is genuine Country CB?"

Rebecca nodded her head.

"You would have to pass a credit card check just to even get in the place!" Genna exclaimed, her jaw droppping.

Rebecca continued, "My daddy gave it to me last Christmas, but I still haven't figured out to do with them. So may as well put them to good use!"

"Rebecca will give you the Country CB credit cards IF the plan to break up Possible and Stupidable is successful." Bonnie explained. "If you fail, you get nothing!"

"In exchange, me and my Dancers will not play any practical jokes on you or any of your cheerleaders for the rest of summer except for the intended target of Miss Possible!" Jeanna replied.

"Do we have a deal?" Bonnie asked grinning, extending out her hand.

Jeanna also extended her hand and shook hers with Bonnie's, sealing the agreement.

"Now..." she began, "...here's the plan."

And the six teens began to discuss at length Bonnie's vile plan to break up Team Possible.

[caroltheman]

Read at your own risk. These are MY thoughts and MY feelings and they do not cater to the leftist idealism, so if you are afraid of getting your feelings hurt, STOP HERE.

--------

Today is a big day. I’ve never been so involved with politics EVER in my life than this year. In 2016, I was with the Democrats, the left, and whatever ideas were pushed towards me to stop Donald Trump from winning. I hated him. I hated the way he spoke. I was against my husband’s political stance (yes, the hubby and I can have different opinions and get along PERFECTLY). I thought he was a terrible example of what our nations leader should resemble. I was ANTI-Trump. 

When he won, I didn’t care too much. I got over it. But... I kept an eye out on events after his election. I never really understood what was happening but I did hear whispers of what was going on in the white house every so often. As issues kept coming up... Build the Wall, ending of DACA, Large amounts of people running from other countries (mainly Latin American countries) trying to get into our southern border, Individuals from the cabinet slowly being replaced or resigning, impeachment, school shootings, banning of firearms, court cases (don’t really know much of that, but now I know its about individuals getting seats on the Supreme Court), etc. etc. etc. BLM, Antifa, more civil unrest, shooting of cops, burning of poor democratic cities, etc etc etc.. I started to wonder.... WTF is going on?? And demos still crying about the same shit...

I started to do research. I don’t really care to listen to local news and big news stations like Fox or CNN or whatever. Yes, sometimes I tune in to both sides, but seriously, I was sick of watching things set on fire. American flags burning. Looting. Violence. I was searching for perspectives outside of my overly democratic run social media feed. I’ve watched probably hundreds of videos of different people of all different walks of life. I started discourse with more right-winged individuals. I started to become more open minded about things on the right. And when I think about my only personal values, I kept finding myself more and more on the right side of things. 

Today, this is where I stand:

1. I stand for strong border protection. I do not support shouting “Build the Wall” out loud, but I do support what that message means. To me, the wall is analogous to our house door. For all the people against strong borders, I challenge you to keep your door unlocked at night. Would you feel safe knowing that anyone can come in at any time? Anyone, as in people we don’t know. Any sane person with rationale would say NO. We must lock our doors at night. We must secure our house (just think of all the tech we buy to keep out houses secure) to keep people outside and keep our families safe. An open border sounds like chaos and the most unsafe place to stay. People are confused that building a wall means no immigration. That’s not what that means. It means that we are against ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. I am an immigrant for heavens sake. I naturalized. I was not born an American Citizen and in order for me to receive benefits of an American Citizen, first, my dad served 12 years of his life in the United States Navy. He brought over my mom, my kuya, and myself to start a new life in a country with opportunity. I am thankful for his service and my moms sacrifice and bravery for leaving everything she knows and loves behind in order for my siblings and I have to an opportunity to be successful. People don’t understand that you cannot have a country as successful as the U.S. without protecting our land from outside forces. I do believe that we desperately need immigration reform. I would like all people of all different backgrounds and economic status to have a chance at being able to immigrate to our land, but I believe there is a right way to do it... and it definitely isn’t let everyone in anytime they want. I have kept my mouth shut about my stance on border protection because I am aware of my audience. I know that I have hundreds of students watching me. I know that a lot of them are low income. I know some of them are illegal. But as a teacher, it was never my mission to out undocumented students or families. I sympathize with my students who’s families face deportation, but I stand my ground that illegally penetrating our borders is not the way to do things. I don’t have a full on answer on how the country should handle it (obviously, I have my own life and I am not a politician - although I do have some ideas) but I know the difference between wrong and right. Entering this country illegally, to me, is not the right way... AND ESPECIALLY with the thought of my own family in the Philippines who also face the same struggles that others who flee their country face. It is unfair that due to physical proximity, some can just come through while others from PI and countries from all over the world are waiting for their turn. To me, that is unfair. Moving to Hawaii and having spoke to Aunties who have immigrated from PI has added even more support to my stance. I spoke to an Auntie that said she waiting 21 years to get her Visa. She is petitioning over her son who may wait about a decade before being looked at. I stand my ground on illegal immigration for people who are in line waiting patiently, yet desperately, to come here for their opportunity. I stand my ground for all the other people in the world who are also waiting for a way in to this country the legal way.

2. Law and Order. I mean, how is this even a topic of confusion? like WTF? This is one of the reasons that literally pushed me away from the left. You’ve got Antifa and BLM rioters burning cities and businesses down. (and yes, I know, I know.. the response is, “but that’s not ALL of BLM” or “those people are not even BLM”, or blah blah blah. BULLfuckingSHIT. They are all ANTI-trump and some of them (actually most that I’ve seen) do wear BLM shit. They tag BLM shit everywhere and they don’t care about who they hurt or what they bring down with their anger.) I’ve seen videos of these groups harassing people who are minding their own business and eating lunch as protestors are yelling in their faces and forcing them to leave. They surround elderly who are merely walking down the street by blocking their way and yelling at their faces. I’ve watched countless videos of small business owners trying to protect their property and life’s work by getting jumped or die trying to protect their store fronts. And you know what gets me ever more riled up, SOME (if not most) OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE BLACK!!!!!!! Black owned business burned down. Black business owners crying about their life’s work totally gone at the expense of the anger of the wrongful death of another black person (who happens to be criminal). I empathize with the anger and sadness of the wrongful death of George Floyd. I agree that justice for his life should be served. I agree that Police Brutality needs to be addressed and police accountability and training needs reform... but how the left handles their emotions of anger is un-excusable. I’ve seen posts from my liberal friends, “Let them show their anger the way they want.” WTF? Seriously? So, if I’m mad, I can just go burn shit down? go beat somebody up? Go shoot cops? Like every field, I believe there are bad apples. Any one who denies that, I’d be very cautious to believe, but I have faith that the majority of our police officers are not racist. I believe that the majority of them are trying to do the right thing. I hate to admit that police presence is probably more prevalent in communities with higher numbers of people of color, but I’m curious to know WHY are communities with high numbers of POC are more prone to gangs, violence, drugs, and inevitably higher presence of law enforcement. I wonder why? ...and that leads me to the next reason:

3. Accountability. Leaders like Candice Owens, the Real MAGA Hulk, Kingface, and many many many many many many more Black Americans talk about it all the time. They talk about why nothing has changed in our Black American Communities. They have been voting Democrat for YEARS... and its still the same! Biden and Kamala Harris have been in politics for soooo long, but whats going on in these democratic cities? More tents of homelessness. More criminal activity. More drugs. More human trafficking. But instead of acknowledging the issues that minorities face and holding ourselves accountable for the changes we want to see, what do we do? BLAME TRUMP. The guy has been in office for less than 4 years and everything is his fault. Trump this, Trump that. Trump is the reason everything is going wrong. Trump divides us. Trump makes me mad. Trump, Trump, Trump. Jesus Fuck. Sooo OVER IT. People want to blame him for their shortcomings, for the racial tension, for every single challenge we face as a nation. As an individual I hold myself accountable for where I am today. Every accomplishment I’ve successfully completed has all been to holding myself accountable for making goals, whether for my career or for romantic relationships, and making sure I make no excuse to meet these goals. Yes, I grew up disadvantaged! I’m a victim of living in low-income housing and a victim of an unstable household to include divorce, domestic violence, and exposure to gang life. Yes, we had Section 8. Yes, my mom used food stamps when we were young. Yes, my dad was not around due to the military and my mom practically having to hold shit down with three children in a country she knows nothing about with a language she barely knew with NO HELP as all her family is in the PI and my paternal side being pretty much evil and hated her. Yes, we moved a million times as a child -  from an apartment near Kimball Park... to Meadow Brook Apartments... to my uncle’s house... to my other uncle’s garage...to the same uncles house... to a rent a room near where Joann/Erika used to live... to a house on M street... to the apartment on 2nd street (in the front)... to the same apartment complex but another apartment in the back... to an apartment behind Suhi... to an apartment on Highland Ave bordering Chula Vista... to the apartment on 1st Street... with pockets of staying in Welfare housing to staying at Rvy’s house to staying at Apryl’s house to staying at Josie’s house. Schools: from Kimball to John Otis to Daniel Boone to Las Palmas to El Toyon and finally, Granger Jr. High and Sweetwater. I remember having to use candles because we had no electricity. I remember no christmas tree during the holidays and instead using a sorry ass fake plant to replace it. I remember going on our show choir weekend trip to SF where my kuya and I literally exchanged looks as we decided which meal at McDonald’s we should share keeping in mind we have to budget for the rest of the meals we have to pay because thats all the money my mom gave us - while everyone around us could order much more than what we had. I remember hanging out with gang affiliated individuals and realizing how lucky I am to have separated from that lifestyle. Recently, I’ve been challenged to remember my upbringing, yes, my dear friend, I remember. I remember sitting outside your front door, peeking into the black metal screen door as my siblings and I watched you play the coolest and latest console gaming. I remember you hanging out after school at the Boys and Girls club while I hung out with the Mexicans and Samoans and the other crips whom were my neighbors. We can sit here and compare our sad stories and struggles but for people to ask me to reflect on the shit I’ve been through, brother you have no fucking clue. Have you watched your mom beat to colors black and blue? And I whole-heartedly am not trying to discount the struggles you’ve faced, but please don’t lecture me on why I should be angry or sad about my upbringing, because you have no clue what I’ve had to endure. My story is sad. If I had let that this shit bring me down and cry “Woe is me,” I have no doubt I wouldn’t be where I am today. Ever since I can remember, I’ve volunteered to be part of the change. Any positive change. I’ve dedicated my high school career trying to make school life as enjoyable as possible - but what happens? - the majority is still upset and hated the ASB (People have NO idea how many hours I’ve spent on the Suhi campus as a student trying to make things better). I’ve dedicated my post secondary life to become a teacher in the community I grew up in to affect change for the future generations. I stand as living proof that despite all the shit we all go through in life, we can be successful. WHY? Because we live in the land of opportunity. America is probably one of the only places (I can’t think of no other, but sure, lets pretend there are other countries like ours), where you can be poor and go through tons of shit and despite all of it, can still come out and be successful. But blaming others and being upset is not the key. It’s about HARD WORK and PERSEVERANCE, not blame or bull shit. This is the same kind of accountability that haunts communities with majority POC and I will not support the “Woe is me” or the “Endless Circles of Victimhood” mindset. I want out of that shit and into something better. 

4. National Security and all its benefits. This is the only country that I’ve seen where there are people who hate it and refuse to leave. Like damn, you hate our country so much, you want to burn it down, and you REFUSE to get the fuck out. Must not be that bad? Our borders are closed for random people to be able to come in without a Visa or Citizenship, yet we do not stop people from leaving this country if they really wanted to. The fact that everyone is trying to come in proves that people would die to be here. The scariest part of this election (to me) is losing our freedoms. I’ve watched a video of a testimony from a Cuban guy who risked his life to wind surf from Cuba to land on the Keys of Miami to seek asylum. Thats how great Socialism is. He says, socialism sounds great in text book. It may even feel great the first few years, but after a while, it starts to suck when you realize the government controls what you eat, when you eat, when to shop, where to shop, where to go for medical, etc. etc. He says, he wakes up very early in the morning to line up for food for his family to receive some mediocre bread, rice, and beans or whatever he said was the glamorous meal of the day. He says, when he finally got to America, he cried at the sight of being able to eat steak because he never had an opportunity to do so in his home country. He says medical attention sucks because since everyone gets treated the same, everyone must wait in line. Anyway, if socialism was so great, why’d he risk his life to leave it? They say Socialism is the step before Communism (places like China). You’ll never find anyone in China burning Chinese flags because if you do, you’re dead. I think at this point in the election, everyone has already chosen their sides. You’re either left or right. I don’t care to change Leftist perspectives but this is the side I chose for myself. Trump didn’t need to become president. Why the fuck would he want to do that? He had it all. He doesn’t even take a salary. He’s been attacked for the last 3-4 years, event after event. He’s attacked for being a racist, yet Dems support Joe Biden who LITERALLY said, “If you don’t know who you are voting for, me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.” That is literally the most racist shit I’ve ever heard and if we flip the script and Trump was the one who said that exact same line, the media will be having a field day!!!! But it was Biden who said it, so let’s forgive him, blame trump, and sweep it under the rug. Trump is not the best speaker, I’ll give you that. I can barely stand his voice sometimes. I too, need to take a break from his rallies of screaming and shit lol, but I admire that the guy is NOT a politician. He doesn’t need to listen to lobbyists who want him to do things because he doesn’t need money. He cannot be bought. On the other hand you have long time politicians like Biden and his family who have made money through and through by running for political spots promising things he’s never delivered. Black people look to him for some deranged idea of “hope” like he’s going to affect change when he himself wrote the 1994 Crime Bill which incriminated many people for petty crimes, primarily POC. Kamala Harris did the same thing according to many black testimonies I’ve seen - they are LITERALLY running away from her. Trump stands for America and its values. As a so-called racist, he signed a bill giving Historic Black Universities funding for not one year, but many years! I think 10, is it? (i’ll leave the dems to fact check it). He has created opportunity zones in democratically ran cities. He has pardoned POC to finally escape from prison for non-violent crimes. I mean, you have to wonder.. yes there are black people that hate him in the spark of BLM when they come out, but there are a lot of black people who love him too. Trump stands up to other nations and his “bad-ass” attitude may not be attractive to our soft demo’s who prefer to vote personality over policy, but it’s the same attitude that demands more from other countries in terms of financials and their fair share in world-wide peace. Trump is not a political puppet that can be swayed and pressured into selling out our country’s soul at the hands of other countries who are so called out performing us in every possible way - military strength, education, and financials. No one wants to talk about Biden’s ties with China but that shit is literally scary. It’s not that “impossible” to believe that we could be attacked at anytime (Hawaii and SD would be huge targets). Trump expects more from other countries and only makes deals that will benefit our country, not theirs. As the demos look up to Biden/Harris for whatever they are crying about, others are looking to Trump/Pence to literally MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. I have never been so proud and patriotic as a proud Republican Female Immigrant voting for Donald Trump. A long time ago, I let my teacher know (Mrs. Hall or Mrs. Rose) know that I was agnostic and asked, "Will I ever find my reasoning to believe?”. She said, “One day, you will find one. Some day. Just Wait.” I think it’s today, lol. If Biden wins, I’ll start praying our nation doesn’t get sold along with it. I thank my husband and Josie for helping me keep it together through this ever emotional year of 2020. I pray that all this is in my head. I look to House of Cards for a reminder that maybe... all this political shit is exactly that - just politics. I pray there is nothing to fear and that our national security is at no risk if Biden wins. I pray that if Biden wins, my  demo friends or ex-friends are right - that he’s gonna do the right thing for the our nation and it’s citizens. 

5. Hatred FROM the left. Honestly, I started to secretly doubt the left, but kept my mouth shut about it especially on social media - knowing that more than 90% of my feed were leftists. I only spoke to people I trusted who would help me create logical thought processes on how to absorb the things I was seeing realtime. Little did I know that my social media silence bothered a black person and he called me out for not saying anything. So I pursued research. I watched videos of the cries of BLM and found that besides George Floyd’s death (and a few others), I don’t see the same things other Demos see in these cases. Breonna Taylor died in the hallway of her own home, not in her bed when she was sleeping, unless she sleeps in the hallway, but idk her so who really knows? Coming to find that her bf is the one that shot at the cops first and shot a cop in the leg to be answered my gun shots leading to Breonna Taylors death but not the BF who hid behind her. Ya’ll want to protest that?? What about the cops that are trying to do their jobs? They were there due to continuous investigations of drugs that BT’s bf was involved in. What about the families of the cops? Are they expected to just come home dead? I would NEVER allow my husband to be a police officer. It is a bad time to be one. They risk their lives everyday to do what’s right and yet they get shit thrown at them, deal with rioters that hate them, etc etc. If my husband had to chokehold someone (IDGAF if he or she was white, black, asian, mexican, WHATEVER race bait you want to bring up), I authorize my husband to throw it down however the fuck he felt necessary to come back home to me and my future family. I stand with the spouses and families of all service members that sacrifice everything for the common good and safety for the people and their communities. AND I KNOW, that there are BAD COPS out there. I agree with you that they should be addressed and be pushed to resign, but I believe that the majority of our service men and women are here to do the job the right way. I back the blue 100%. If you don’t, I better not hear or see of any demos calling cops when you need help. I hope you win your battles with your pitchforks cause ya’ll won’t even have weapons to defend yourself if ever you had to because Demos are trying to take your guns away. lol Yea yea, pretty dramatic, but not “impossible” in my eyes. *DEEP BREATH* After sporadic days of emotional wreck, I made a decision on where I stand, I posted, “TRUMP 2020″ and here they come!!!! “If you vote for Trump, you are a racist” Really bro? All of a sudden, I’m a racist? “How can you vote for him? You are a female, asian immigrant!” What does that even mean???? Because I am a female, or because I am Asian, or because I am an immigrant, are you telling me that I only have ONE WAY TO VOTE?! That is the most UN-FREE-ING thing anyone has every told me. There’s only one way. Sounds like a fucking trap. The left made it clear to me - that is not the side I want to be on. Easy choice. AND EVEN THEN... My black ex-friend, says... “Ohhhh, your husband is white and in the miltary. Makes sense.” MOTTTHEEERRRRFUCCCKKKERRR. Did you just discredit my position because my husband is a white man in the Navy? Pffft. I’ve walked away from the left with no intent to return. I’ve learned that I need to have thicker skin when it comes to losing friends because we can’t see eye to eye with politics. I won’t initiate separation but I’ve spent plenty of time thinking about the kinds of people and ideology I’m leaving behind in 2020 and looking forward to cultivating relationships with those who still accept me despite our differences and especially those who share the same ideology. 

6. Hate for America and Disrespect for our Armed Forces. I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I see American flags burning or football/basketball players kneeling during our National Anthem, it doesn’t make me want to join you. I asked my husband, “How do you feel when people kneel during the National Anthem?” He said, “I joined the military so they have the freedom to do what they want.” WTF?! My dearest hubby, I love you for your humble stance because you are right.. Americans are free to do what they want... and this freedom is protected by the men and women who sacrifice their lives to defend this country from outside forces! Don’t you guys fucking remember World War II??? We barely won this war. Some say by luck of the creation of the atomic bomb from someone from our side. If we had lost that war, we would probably be owned by Japan? maybe Germany? (Seriously, I wished I paid more attention when I was enrolled in history classes. lol) In my eyes, we wouldn’t have our current freedoms or our current lives if the brave men and women of our armed forces didn’t sacrifice their lives to preserve it... and ya’ll have the balls to kneel for what???? racial injustice for criminals?? GET. THE. FUCK. OUT. OF. HERE. There are plenty of mothers who give birth to babies who’s dads can’t be there because they are overseas. We’ve got people crying about COVID? << (don’t even get me started on that shit) Countless fathers miss their babies births, birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc. etc. to protect our great nation so that you can, in turn, burn the flag and disrespect what it stands for. People can’t be with their friends and families during COVID?? I sympathize with you but now you’ve had a small  taste of what military families go through. Then you got people who respond with, “But that’s your choice. Your choice to join the military. Your choice to marry someone in the military.” FUCK YOU. Are you telling me that people like my husband don’t deserve to be loved and supported in fear that we will be separated for months at a time while he is over seas?? Fuck you. I’m actually VERY LUCKY that I met a man that has worked his way up that I didn’t have to feel ALL the sacrifices that other families have made. Do you know what military families have to go through to keep their families together?? There are plenty of families broken because spouses are not together, and to say - “oh that’s their choice” is the most selfish thing EVER... and I don’t (completely) blame the family members that are left behind when they can’t hack it, because seriously, it’s hard. Countless nights alone and separated from loved ones. Trying to do a two person job alone ALL THE TIME, not just a couple days, but MONTHS. Sometimes YEARS altogether. My husband may not care about the donk donks that disrespect our military and everything they’ve done and to all the lives sacrificed, and to all the service members who come back with no families, no love, and no one to support them, I STAND WITH YOU. Oh! Oh! Don’t even get me started with the VA and the medical that is provided to our service members. People want Free Healthcare?! Veterans have Free HealthCare and its one of the worst! We provide our service members with maybe “par” sometimes SUBPAR healthcare. I technically have free healthcare, but in fear that I won’t be seen on time or seen with proper care when I get pregnant, we have opted to pay the extra fees for better care.

7. Personal Health and Sanity. To discuss all the controversial things that the right vs left argue about sounds mundane and tiresome. It really is. I’ve invested so much time and emotions deciphering where I stand to include conversations with handfuls of people who say, “I respect your opinion and I’ve always respected you as a person and am curious to know why you’re voting for Trump.” I’ve questioned my position many times. I’ve watched and read (although, I’ll admit, I hate reading and it was never something I was strong in. I am a visual person and I prefer to hear and watch videos of other’s personal thoughts and experiences.”  I appreciate my friend, Cassie, who reminded me, it doesn’t always have to be about policies. It is okay to vote for Trump based on my own experiences - just like how she see’s things. She a Mexican trump supporter who legally immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico and attended SYH. She watched her school cater to undocumented students putting their needs before hers when she is an Mexican-American who’s single mom pays taxes and wanted to learn curriculum in English, not Spanish, but was taught in Spanish because the other kids didn’t know English. Cassie, you literally lifted tons of weight off my shoulders. Thank you! I thank my long time friend Paulos, who responded to my recent post of me wearing a Trump hat with, “You’re about to piss off ALL your friends. Good job though. Fuck em lol” I responded with, “I fucking love you!!” Always have and always will. I’ve never in my life felt like I couldn’t be myself out loud until 2020, a time where leftists shame you for having a different opinion and basically delete you if you support Trump. But I thought to myself, this is the WORST TIME to stay quiet. I am worried that our youngsters who live in democratic cities like National City are only exposed to what the left exposes them to, triggering hate and fear that may or may not be real, and despite my very democratic social media feed, I figured, I’ll be the first to stand for what I believe in with pride and without shame. I have always done what I believe is right, even if its not the most popular opinion, and even if that meant standing my ground against people I thought loved me - especially coming from California, and especially coming from National City. I have ALWAYS told the hubby that after he retires from the Navy, I only see us living in SD. This is the first time in my life where I did not want to come back to CA. In fact, CA was third on my list after Texas and Tennessee. I want to thank my bf Jo, for reminding me of why I should reconsider and remember where my roots are. To remember our upbringing and remember that the people we are most close with today are those in proximity to us. Thank you for taking me out of my very emotional mental state and bringing me back to rationale about why it is important to me to live near my closest friends and family and I truly thank you for investing time to make sure I am always considering all my options rationally and not emotionally. I thank my family, although we are 3vs2 lol we still love each other despite what we value politically. I thank my husband who protects me, my thoughts, and my values. I thank you for being patient with ALL my emotions throughout this year. You have NEVER EVER EVER pushed me to be one way or another. You have ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS let me decide things on my own and in my own time, including the move to Hawaii and my recent change in political views. You truly are the BEST person I know and I will love you FOREVER!!!!! Lastly, Thank You Donald J. Trump for ruffling feathers everywhere and shedding light on the bull shit going on with politicians. Thank you for sacrificing your life as well as your families’ lives and businesses for the sake of preserving American values and American Life. GOD BLESS AMERICA. 

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

News ‘I will shoot you’: Los Angeles DA sorry after her husband pulls gun on Black Lives Matter protesters at their home - Washington Post

News

Los Angeles County District Prison expert Jackie Lacey and her husband wakened factual after 5: 30 a.m. Monday and heard a neighborhood of protesters gathering exterior their home.

The neighborhood of about 30 Dim Lives Topic activists soon rang the doorbell, and heard a gun being cocked from within the abet of the door.

A person emerged — the district attorney’s husband. “And the first thing we leer is a gun in our faces,” Melina Abdullah, a Dim Lives Topic organizer, steered The Washington Put up.

Lacey’s husband yelled, “Procure off of my porch!”

Abdullah stated, “Supreme morning,” after which, “Are you gonna shoot me?”

“I will shoot you,” he spoke back firmly. “Procure off of my porch.”

The dramatic stumble on was as soon as captured in a video considered bigger than 380,000 times on the eve of California’s principal election, as Lacey targets to dangle onto her seat within the face of criticism of her going through of police shootings of folks of color and situations engaging high-profile political figures. Abdullah stated Dim Lives Topic had been attempting to fulfill with Lacey for months to talk about those points, but that Lacey saved warding off them.

“So this morning, what we made up our minds to scheme was as soon as own the assembly,” she stated.

The neighborhood carpooled over to Lacey’s home in Granada Hills from South Los Angeles sooner than dawn, constructing lawn chairs on the sidewalk sooner than ringing the doorbell. After greeting three of the protesters on his porch with a gun, Lacey’s husband, David, within the waste slammed the door on the neighborhood, asserting he was as soon as calling the police. The police arrived but no arrests were made, and Lacey within the waste left for work with a police escort without acknowledging the neighborhood, Abdullah stated.

She acknowledged them later, at an emotional news conference by which she both apologized for her husband’s actions whereas condemning the protesters’ decision to disturb her at home. David Lacey is a retired investigative auditor for the district attorney’s set apart of enterprise, a spokeswoman steered the Los Angeles Instances.

“His response was as soon as in awe, and now that he realizes what came about, he wished me to recount to the protesters … that he was as soon as sorry, that’s he’s profoundly sorry,” stated Lacey (D). “It was as soon as factual him and I in our residence, and we in fact didn’t know what was as soon as about to happen. I too am sorry if someone was as soon as harmed. It’s never my intent to damage any protester. I factual must are living in peace and scheme my job.”

Lacey, who stated she had been receiving threats from unspecified folks, wondered why protesters in Los Angeles and beyond own continued showing up at public servants’ or political figures’ properties to criticize them.

In most modern weeks, as an instance, supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential contender, own gathered exterior the properties of the Democratic Occasion chairmen in Nevada and California with a bullhorn to quiz there be no “shenanigans” all over the election. Final month, a person armed with a semiautomatic rifle stood exterior the home of Virginia Del. Sign H. Levine (D-Alexandria) to philosophize an assault weapons ban he sponsored.

“We ask that folk will exercise their First Amendment factual, but our house is our sanctuary, and we scheme no longer imagine — I scheme no longer imagine — it's a ways dazzling or factual for protesters to conceal up at the properties of oldsters that commit their lives to public service,” Lacey stated.

Lacey claimed she had supplied to fulfill with Dim Lives Topic but insisted on one-on-one meetings or a diminutive neighborhood, claiming the neighborhood rejected her offers. “It appears love what they love is to embarrass me, and to intimidate me,” she stated.

But Abdullah pushed abet on Lacey’s claims that she has supplied to fulfill, asserting the reason Lacey won’t meet with them is on myth of “she doesn’t must be yelled at by the moms of oldsters which own been killed.”

Lacey, the county’s first unlit district attorney and first girl to assist the self-discipline, has filed criminal fees towards police in two officer-eager shootings out of bigger than 500 since she was as soon as elected in 2012, fixed with a January article in Los Angeles journal. That file has made her unpopular amongst progressive activist teams resembling Dim Lives Topic.

Abdullah, who's furthermore a professor in Pan-African experiences at California Negate College at Los Angeles, stated Dim Lives Topic created a checklist of Lacey’s “seven lethal sins.” Chief amongst them is the dearth of prosecution in police shootings but furthermore her disasters within the case of Ed Buck, a high-profile Democratic donor and LGBT activist in California who had allegedly been preying on males at risk of addiction or homelessness for years without penalties.

Police say at the least three males overdosed in his house, where Buck had allegedly brought them for drug-fueled sexual encounters. Two unlit males died, in July 2017 and January 2019. But despite strain from social justice teams to prosecute Buck following both deaths, Lacey declined to prosecute him in both situations until after a third man overdosed in September.

Abdullah stated that, after months of failed meetings with Lacey, they felt they “didn’t own a range” but to lumber to her home to confront her. She stated she discovered Lacey’s Monday take care of to the news media “vulgar.”

“I judge it’s vulgar how she solid herself as the victim when we were the ones who had a gun pointed at us by her husband,” Abdullah stated.

Lacey, a occupation prosecutor in Los Angeles, will face off Tuesday towards George Gascón, the mature San Francisco district attorney, and Rachel Rossi, a mature Los Angeles County public defender. The Los Angeles Instances has described the speed as “reform vs. custom,” with both of Lacey’s challengers positioning themselves as the extra progressive candidates better positioned to manufacture criminal justice reform.

[manuelvmiv713]

Is Medical Cannabis Legal In The Golden State?

"From the old Egyptians to 20th-century medicine throughout Prohibition, there has actually constantly been an idea that alcohol has medical impacts. Even today they declare that consuming a glass of red wine will reduce your opportunity of cardiovascular disease. Certainly, a glass of regular grape juice would certainly achieve the very same. Currently, for the very first cbd cape oil time, right here in the 21st century, there are major attempts to legalize and also provide authenticity to the favorable medical results of cannabis.

Using marijuana has significant social as well as lawful impacts on culture as a whole. Socially, is utilizing cannabis acceptable? It is absolutely coming to be more so as 14 states and also the District of Columbia (our country's funding) have actually legalized the drug for medical usage. The city of Breckenridge, Colorado has actually legalized it for leisure usage. It is not uncommon to see people smoking cannabis joints on the Pearl Road Shopping Mall in Rock. Is this socially acceptable actions? In November, The golden state, hopeless to stabilize its budget plan, has a proposal to legalize the entertainment use cannabis by adults!

Currently, I am not a prude or an irritable old man (perhaps a crotchety middle-aged male), but as a moms and dad of two young, impressionable kids, I absolutely do not desire my children revealed to marijuana use in public. I additionally would certainly agree to bet that a lot of that smoking cigarettes cannabis would not want their kids to develop an addiction to cannabis when they grew up.

Legally, exactly how does police respond to individuals making use of or having marijuana? This inquiry is the origin of all that is basically incorrect with present regulations concerning medicinal marijuana. President Barack Obama's Administration has actually specified fairly plainly in March 2009 that they will certainly not go after representatives of medical marijuana. That generally put the enforcement policies into the states themselves.

The golden state and Colorado are the two most popular states managing the repercussions of their voters legalizing cannabis for medicinal use. Among the basic problems that all states that have actually legislated the use of cannabis for medical objectives encounter is that no one prepared when these suggestions passed. By that I mean, the propositions did not outline just how the state would set about refining and also settling this brand-new industry. There were no procedures for that might come to be a medical cannabis dispensary, how to categorize business, where they could open up shop or even exactly how to strain the sector.

It is interesting to keep in mind that after California became the initial state to pass a regulation legislating medical marijuana in 1996, nothing actually occurred. Consider the current ""pot store"" phenomenon in California for a moment. Physicians, clients, and also owners took very cautionary courses. Couple of physicians would risk their clinical licenses by recommending marijuana, couple of endure entrepreneurs would take the chance of opening a store that could be robbed by government agents at any moment. Just those that the regulation was created for, patients experiencing glaucoma, cancer cells, as well as AIDS looked for suggestions for medical cannabis.

What took place? Why the exponential growth in applications to make use of and offer medical cannabis? While the change in presidential managements and lawful settings concerning the enforcement of government marijuana legislations from Shrub to Obama favors the ""pot store"" community, there is no question that the massive surge occurred well prior to Bush moved back to Texas.

The number of medical marijuana dispensaries has actually taken off in all states where it has come to be lawful. According to a story in UNITED STATES Today (March 8, 2007), the variety of dispensaries in Los Angeles enhanced from 4 in late 2005 to 98 less than a year later. In June 2010 there were 186 ""pot stores"" running within the Los Angeles city limitations. Ironically, an approximated 50 similar stores were forced out of business as a result of market over-saturation. With 186 ""pot shops"" open up the City of Los Angeles had greater than 400 authorized applications for dispensaries within the city limitations that had yet to open their doors.

Law enforcement agencies and also city board were completely unprepared for the legalization of marijuana. With the number of shops as well as individuals increasing at incredible rates the legal cannabis sector is essentially running itself, with lawmakers attempting ever-so-hard to catch up to the giant snowball that is collecting size and rate daily. The pharmaceutical sector has actually not seen such an extreme rise in the requirement for medication because Jonas Salk created the polio vaccine.

According to a neighborhood news channel in Denver, the state was obtaining more than 1,000 applications for a medical marijuana permit every day. According to the station, as of August 26, 2010, the state had a backlog of between 60,000 and also 70,000 applications.

What were every one of these inadequate suffering spirits taking in the past medical marijuana ended up being lawful therefore available? When you have your ""clinical marijuana card"" there are numerous places you can most likely to find your ""medicine"". If a dispensary such as ""CannaMart"", ""Selection Organics"", Nature's Wonder"", ""Flower Power Botanicals"", ""Premier Health Center"" or ""Hashish Depot"" is not within a brief drive, simply examine on-line through Google.

With the federal government making a decision to go back and also specifies totally not really prepared and also unclear just how to control this industry, it has come under the hands of individual communities. Many city board like those in Aurora and also Broomfield, Colorado has actually banned dispensaries from their towns. Certainly, these cities will encounter suits from would-be proprietors and needy people who discover it tough to drive 10 miles to obtain their ""medication"".

The cities are starting to get even more aid from the state level. In Colorado, those with a criminal record are no more allowed to possess a dispensary. The attorney general of the United States are beginning to take an active check out how to regulate the shops. While this is a good idea and also has forced numerous locations to shut, the market still appears to be spiraling out of control.

Controling the sale of this sector is crucial. It is wise to begin with the people that have the stores and work their means down. After that, probably the most significant difficulty of all will be to deal with those how and who obtain prescriptions for medical cannabis. That is a subject for the future.

It is necessary to note that like alcohol as well as tobacco, cannabis is a drug. If you or somebody you know might be addicted to cannabis or other medicines, it is important to seek assistance. There are numerous alcohol as well as medication understanding programs one can attend, in addition to a range of support system like Twelve step programs (AA). For those who would certainly prefer to take a program in the personal privacy of their very own house, there are likewise on the internet alcohol classes and alcohol and medication courses."

[marymosley]

Mueller’s Cat: How The Special Counsel Left Obstruction On the Roof

Below is my column in BBC on the Mueller findings.

Here is the column:

Even after two years of preparation, many Americans were not prepared to hear that President Donald Trump would not only complete his term in office but might not even be charged with a single crime in the Russian investigation.

Mr Mueller himself seemed to sense the shock that would come with his findings.

After finding categorically that no crime of collusion occurred, he hedged on the question of obstruction by saying that while he did not conclude the president committed a crime, he also did “not exonerate him.”

Mr Mueller seemed to be following an old joke about a man who calls his brother who has been house sitting during a long trip. The brother immediately says “Fluffy is dead.”

The man yells at his brother that this is not how you tell someone their cat is dead – rather you build it up by first saying the cat is “stuck on the roof and then call back to say she fell”.

After the brother apologised, the man asked how their mom is doing, and the brother paused and replied: “Mom’s stuck on the roof…”

The best day of Trump’s presidency

The Trump-Russia saga in 350 words

The slight roundabout way of clearing President Trump had about the same effect – it was little comfort.

People had invested Mr Mueller with their hopes for a premature termination of the Trump administration.

After Attorney General William Barr concluded that Mr Trump had not committed criminal obstruction, the inescapable fact was that he is likely to finish his term of office. There, I said it.

In reality, we never really needed the “roof” build-up.

1. Collusion

Let’s start with collusion. For two years, I have written that the theories of collusion crimes were factually and legally flawed. Nevertheless, people tuned into channels like CNN and MSNBC where they heard legal experts assure them that collusion was clear and criminal charges imminent.

This echo-chamber viewing actually convinced millions that Trump would be frog-walked to a federal penitentiary with his Russian handlers. It was all part of the collusion delusion.

The grand collusion conspiracy was never particularly convincing. It would have Trump or his family or aides helping to hack computer systems and then arrange for the leaking of the information through WikiLeaks.

Media captionMueller report: One summary, two interpretations

There was never any explanation on why Russian intelligence would take such a risk and place itself at the mercy of a serial social media user. Then there is the implausible meeting of this secret cell in Trump Tower with half of the world’s media downstairs.

The Russians in the meeting did not even know who would attend. It lasted roughly 15 minutes and focused virtually entirely on the ban on Russian adoptions (an issue that the Russian lawyer had long lobbied against). While evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton was promised, nothing was disclosed.

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Then there was the interest in Trump and people like Roger Stone in obtaining the WikiLeaks emails. The question is why such efforts were necessary for co-conspirators. Virtually every reporter and political operative in Washington was trying to get access to the same material.

Yet legal experts still proclaimed that crimes from collusion to conspiracy to treason were already established. None of that changed as Mueller filed numerous indictments and memorandums with courts that conspicuously omitted any evidence supporting collusion.

Collusion was the crime of hope over experience and a wide array of pundits and politicians kept hope alive until Mueller dispatched the theory in his report in roughly two dozen words: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

2. Obstruction

Obstruction was always a closer question. Some of us opposed the appointment of a special counsel before Mr Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

When he took that self-defeating step, the situation changed – many of us called for a special counsel because now there was a possible crime of obstruction. It did not make it a strong claim and I questioned its viability, but it deserved to be investigated.

The problem was that Mr Trump never fired Mr Mueller. He was never accused of destroying evidence. He never forced the investigation to a premature end.

To be sure, he acted in a highly inappropriate and objectionable way. Indeed, he almost counterpunched his way into an obstruction case. Yet, despite his best efforts, he failed.

Obstruction is based on a state of mind. When Mr Mueller found that there was no evidence of collusion, it undermined such an obstruction case.

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It could still occur but Mr Trump needed to intend to obstruct the investigation. The problem is that Mr Trump’s irresponsible and self-defeating tweets on the investigation were consistent with such statements in a myriad of other areas from immigration to North Korea. He maintained that the investigation was not only based on a false allegation but the result of a Deep State conspiracy.

Indeed, a federal appellate court in February just reaffirmed what many of us (including Barr himself) have been trying to point out – obstruction crimes are narrowly construed by the courts to establish a close “nexus” between the alleged misconduct and an official proceeding.

The Fourth Circuit was the latest court to throw out a conviction on that basis in United States v Young last month. Notably, the court cited the case of Arthur Anderson v United States, which two of Mr Mueller’s top aides lost before the Supreme Court by overextending such language.

The fact that Mr Trump refused to be interviewed on obstruction was not likely determinative. Most targets do not give testimony before a grand jury and prosecutors base their decision on the rest of the record.

If Mr Trump’s testimony was determinative, Mr Mueller could have sought to force it or he could have stated that the absence of the testimony was the reason why he could not reach a final decision.

However, all the president had to do is continue to repeat that he fired Mr Comey because of his poor record and attacked the investigation because it was launched in the absence of a crime (which Mr Mueller himself confirmed could not be established).

Image captionThe firing of James Comey was scrutinised by Mueller

Ultimately, Mr Mueller punted on the ultimate question. Mr Barr explained that Mr Mueller did “not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” However, both the attorney general and his deputy took just two days to say the obvious – there was no obstruction case to be made. In other words, the obstruction indictment was stuck on the roof.

In the end, everyone but the public came out ahead.

The president was not charged and used the investigation to rally his base. The Democrats used the investigation to help retake the House of Representatives. The media enjoyed massive ratings in pushing the collusion allegations.

Everyone had windfall benefits except the public, which was left feeling like chumps or victims or both.

Yes, Mr Trump will finish his term. But the distemper – and the investigations – will continue up to the 2020 elections.

Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and served as the last lead defence counsel in an impeachment in the US Senate

Mueller’s Cat: How The Special Counsel Left Obstruction On the Roof published first on https://immigrationlawyerto.tumblr.com/