#saw a post that was like 'it is absolutely SHOCKING that england has no predators. the british are barbaric for having hunted them out'

[saintcarrionn]

.

[ratfuck]

I have absolutely no clue why I'm bothering to even post this and I really hate being negative, but really everyone should just prepare for another term under Trump and join some orgs and just fucking help each other out. People who think Biden has the ability to rally up people and grow a strong following that can beat Trump in places that aren't the fucking Pacific coast or New England are naive at best, incredibly fucking stupid at worst.

Trump galvanized and attracted America's republican party voters, conspiracy nuts, the christian right, racist extremists, and generally white men age 20-54 through populist appeal, appealing to their distrust of the American government after years of being economically fucked with constitutional rights being taken away following post-9/11 national security bills. Trump offered them liberty, economic and social change, and now his followers and the rest of conservative America are fanatically obsessed with the idea that the Democratic party is involved in some invisible war against them, and that a Trump loss would mean the end of their world, with the christian right taking it a step further and believing that he is a key figure in end time prophecy.

Biden has none of this. His line-treading of careful centrism and offering the bare-fucking-minimum of health care, justice and energy reform policies to appease his corporate donors while trying to appeal to America's growing disenfranchised left does nothing but leave people confused and question why the Democrats have told them universal healthcare is absolutely impossible, but they're now desperately tossing scraps to grab Bernie's and Warren's supporters, especially when the current pandemic has shown that we could have had M4A for a long time.

He lacks any of the performative charisma that Hillary Clinton had. He frequently gets aggressive and tries to physically intimidate any voter who tries to question some of his past policies. His mental state is deteriorating rapidly to the point that he cannot finish simple sentences and cannot respond to basic questions without trailing off into nonsense.

While criticisms against Clinton bordered on conspiracy theories, her hypocricies and the scandals of her husband's presidency- Joe Biden is an outed sexual predator, who supported the disasterous Iraq and Afghan war, supported mass surveillance bills and the Obama administration's bombing of civilians, including American civilians, has supported legislation that incarcerated Black and Brown folk for petty nonviolent drug crimes, opposed same-sex marriage and child custody rights until it was politically convenient, and is connected to the American-Russian proxy war over Ukraine with his son having a part in Ukraine's financial dealings with the US.

Every single one of these things will be used against him by Trump and republican proxies. Biden will be eaten alive and humiliated in the debates, as Trump will not only target his scandals but will actively go after Biden's failing mental acuity and memory loss. He will do it in the debates, he will do it on national TV, he will do it on twitter, he will do it on ads that make it into every American household. Confused white moderates and shocked liberals will jump from Biden like rats on a sinking ship and vote third party, probably green party or libertarian or just write in whatever animal celebrity fits, exactly like what happened in 2016 when Trump verbally tore Clinton apart on stage. The Republicans will restrict voter movements and move polling stations away from urban and diverse communities towards rural and wealthier white communities, as they did in 2016 (and the DNC did during Super Tuesday this year).

Realistically, Bernie Sanders was the only rational choice to take down Trump. Creating a working class movement that attracted not only leftist and center-left people, but even drew in people who were staunch conservatives united under reform for a fairer system, promising social change and a better quality of life for everyone was what could've defeated Trump's cult of personality. The DNC actively sabotaged Bernie Sanders and pitted the rest of the country against him, throwing up juvenile Red Scare baiting tactics for wanting universal health care and applauding socialist leaders for doing so in their countries, and calling him, a Jewish man who's family survived the Holocaust, an antisemite for wanting the Israeli government to stop murdering the Palestinian people.

"Blue no matter who" and "at least he's not Trump" doesn't cut it when the candidate we're forced to vote for is just as bad as him, and has virtually no chance of success in the Midwest and South.

I'm not telling you to not vote, vote for fucking whoever you goddamn want to as long as you think it'll help, but you had better not fucking blame Biden's failure in November on leftists who want better, on people of color who picked up on his obvious racism, on working class people who saw through his lying teeth and know he doesn't represent him, on rape survivors like me who would rather die than vote for a rapist.

It's not the fault of your fellow people, nor is it the fault of fucking "Russian chaos agent bots" or whatever fucking scapegost you pull out of your ass to deflect blame onto others, it's the Democratic party's absolute refusal to represent anyone besides the wealthy.

[the-fahc-golden-boy]

“You’re Shorter Than I Imagined” Chapter 2

Since it looks like I’m getting good reviews from here and on AO3, I’ll post this second chapter!

Pairing(s): Jeremy/Gavin Michael/Ryan Geoff/Jack

Read it on AO3 if you’d like: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008159

~~~~~

“You can’t keep avoiding him forever, sooner or later you’ll have to stop being a pussy and just say hi.” Michael crossed his arms, the beer he’d been nursing was sitting on the coffee table.

“But Micooool,” Gavin dragged out the ooo as much as possible. “He’s new, and you know I don’t like new people. New people are weeeeeeeird.”

Michael reached for his beer and knocked it all back in one shot, never really wanting to be sober while dealing with a drunk Gavin. (Gavin wasn’t actually drunk, just slightly buzzed, but he was just always this annoying)

“You whine too much, y’know that?” He playfully smacked Gavin across the shoulder, startling Gavin enough that he spilled his drink all over his lap. “Want a little cheese with all that wine?” He broke out laughing, just enjoying the pout on Gavin’s face.

“You don’t know anything about this “Jeremy” so why are you so relaxed around him?” Gavin set his drink down on the table, then went on a search for napkins. 

“Actually I do know him,”

That got Gavin’s attention; he paused where he was dapping away at the spill on the couch cushions. “You wot?”

“We went to high school together, he was on the wrestling team and I hung out with him a couple times at some parties. Nothing big,” Michael just shrugged and attempted to drink again from his empty bottle, scowling at the offending object.

At this new information Gavin just gawked. Everyone seemed to know Jeremy well enough now that they weren’t afraid of anything he could do. Ryan said he was feisty, Jack said he was brave, Geoff said he was stupid, and Matt just said he was a person. (Some help Matt was, for supposedly being his best friend he didn’t have much dirt on him.)

“He’s just a guy who has horrible fashion taste and like monster trucks maybe a little too much. Just talk to him and get it over with.” Michael’s phone suddenly went off, blaring out Viva La Vida, which Gavin knew to be the ringtone he had set for Ryan.

“I’ll let you take that call, boi.” Michael gave Gavin a quick nod in thanks before he got up and left the room.

As far as Gavin knew, Jeremy had never seen him in person yet, and all Gavin had seen of his was the purple and orange blurs from security footage he was watching during their missions and heists. (Actually that was a lie, Gavin had done some digging online to learn more about Jeremy and had seen the warrant out for his arrest online for stealing a monster truck from a rally of all things).

Gavin had decided that maybe getting up the courage to talk to him might not be such a bad idea. In fact, Gavin decided that he was going to invite Jeremy out for drinks and get to know him!

The only downside to this brilliant idea, was that Gavin had no idea how to contact Jeremy about this offer. Sure he had easily figured out Jeremy’s phone number, but even he wasn’t dense enough to know you don’t just text a stranger asking them out for drinks.

The only thing Gav could do was the one thing he was afraid of, actually talking to Jeremy in person.

It’s one thing for drunk Gavin to talk to strangers. Drunk Gavin was mouthy and smooth, and had little to no filter. Drunk Gavin had too much confidence and ended up picking fights with guys twice his size all because he could.

The other thing that terrified Gavin about meeting new people, was that one first phrase they’d say to each other. That one first phrase that could turn out matching the writing on his arm.

He had seen Michael’s, the words Not on my watch Mogar splayed out on his forearm. When Michael had first shown him, it was long before Ryan had joined the crew, long before they had even considered that the Vagabond had human feelings.

Michael had explained that when he left New England he had used Mogar as a cover name all because of how he liked the sound of it after he read the word on his arm. Mogar was the name of a warrior, and that’s all Michael ever wanted to be.

It wasn’t until two years later when Gavin was able to witness firsthand the meeting between two soulmates. 

He had been watching through a series of security cameras on his double monitor setup. Keeping an eye on Geoff, Jack, and Michael. Every now and then he’d feed directions through the comms, helping his crew out when they needed it.

But Gavin had noticed something dark following Michael; had watched this almost shadow stalk him through the alleyways and side streets. He watched as Michael passed under a street light, and just as he was about to change cameras, he noticed the shadow pass under that same light. Watched in horror as he realized that Michael, his boi, was being made prey to the biggest predator of the city, The Vagabond.

“MICHAEL WATCH OUT”

But it was too late, Michael had turned around too slow, had been knocked upside the head by the Vagabond. Gavin looked on in horror, a silent observer to his friend’s fate.

“So this is how I go.” Micheal’s voice was stoic; and to anyone who didn’t know him, they’d have said he was even brave. Gavin knew better though, knew that Michael’s voice had a hint of resignation in it.

He watched as Michael closed his eyes, accepting his fate. But the finishing blow never came, in fact the Vagabond seemed to be shocked.

Gavin could only barely hear the Vagabond’s voice as he spoke out in a pained, and slightly guilt riddled whisper, “Not on my watch Mogar” 

Michael looked relieved, and Gavin watched as the Vagabond picked him up and carefully slung him over his shoulder. The Vagabond turned around and looked directly up at the security camera Gavin had hacked into. He gave a slight wave and mumbled into Michael’s comm, “Sorry ‘bout your friend, pick him up at the docks tomorrow morning. I promise he’ll be alive.”

Gavin watched as he walked off, struggling slightly under Michael’s weight.

The next morning Geoff, Jack, and Gavin were all at the docks waiting. Gavin had explained what happened, even telling them that the Vagabond had said the words that were printed on Michael’s arm.

An hour later Ryan pulled up with a slightly battered, but alive, Michael, and Jack and Geoff made their choice. They offered him a spot in the crew, and the Vagabond was shocked, but Michael had given him a nudge and that was all it took.

Gavin wasn’t really afraid of meeting his soulmate, he was just afraid of his soulmate not actually liking him.

He had been told several times that he wasn’t exactly likeable, that he was hard to get along with, that he was just an asshole that they all put up with. The crew told him they were joking, but it was hard to take it to heart when the words on his arm read “So you’re the fucker I’m stuck with”

Those words had always been a stab to his heart, knowing that his soulmate wouldn’t like him, knowing that whatever he’s going to say to his soulmate is going to trigger such a painful reaction. That was the real reason he didn’t like meeting new people.

He never wanted to see the look of hurt and anger cross over the face of the person he was supposed to be perfect for. It made him jealous of everyone else, that they all had some kind of heroic first meeting, or something sweet and simple.

Matt’s arm read “The best hacker? Clever” And that had made him even more jealous, obviously someone admired Matt’s skills enough that it was how they even knew him before they met!

“Thanks for the offer Jeremy, but you know I don’t drink.” Gavin sat up abruptly, not even realizing he was still sat on the couch in the penthouse. A wave of panic hit him as he realized that the Jeremy Ryan was talking to was the same Jeremy that Gavin had been avoiding meeting yet.

The same Jeremy Gavin was planning on asking if he wanted to go get absolutely hammered with him tonight.

He watched as Ryan rounded the corner with his usual “duffel bag of doom” slung over his shoulder. Gavin gave him a small wave that Ryan returned with a middle finger. Yep, just the usual greeting.

He held his breath as he saw Jeremy round the corner. His purple and orange ensemble a much worse eye sore in person than on camera. His cowboy hat had been forgotten at the door and he was carrying a similar bag to Ryan’s, only a different color scheme that matched his whole “Rimmy Tim” persona.

Jeremy apparently hadn’t seen him since he just kept on trucking down the hallway after Ryan, and at this Gavin let out a sigh of relief.

At least he could keep putting this off until the last minute.