#she claimed the reason we call trains ‘trains’ is because they’re named after George Train

[flareguncalamity]

my toxic trait is that i saw a “fun fact” on a girl’s profile in a dating app, went this doesn’t fucking sound true, and spent over half an hour hunting through primary sources linked on wikipedia and learning the etymology and history of word-usage just to prove the very specific and meaningless thing she said was false and then tell her that through the dating app. she’s not even my type

[lizzzweasley]

Love Potion (George x Reader)

*This is a re-write of my original ‘’Love Potion’’ story, i wasn’t happy with some of the details, so i’m adding a little bit extra to it, just so it makes sense for the future of this story*

*This story takes place during The Goblet Of Fire, about a month after the attack at the quidditch attack*

————————————

You arrive at the platform. Wheeling your trunk with one hand and carrying your bag of books in the other. You take a breath in, you have gone through and back through the platform at least 10 times before, but you hated the feeling of walking through, it made you dizzy and sick, but only for a moment and then you would walk out the other side ready to board the Hogwarts Express. You also remember Neville telling you about a boy named Harry who had once walked straight into the wall, claiming the platform had sealed up. You were still sceptical about this claim, but still, you didn’t want to walk face first into a wall.

With a deep breath in, you look around to make sure there are no Muggles near by and start to jog, your jog turns into running-skip as you mentally prepare to walk straight into a wall, you squeeze your eyes tight as you feel that rollercoaster-type drop in your stomach. When you open your eyes, you are there, surrounded by crowds of people.

You see families waving their goodbyes, but you are alone, like every year, your grandmother always says goodbye outside Kings-Cross but never crossed the platform. “Bad for the skin all that fast travel” she would say, but you felt that wasn’t the reason she wouldn’t cross with you.

You see people staring to pair off in their respective house’s to get a good cabin before they all got too full. “You don’t want to be stuck in a cabin next to that Longbottom boy, or Loonie Lovegood the whole journey” you heard Penelope say one year, although you were quite fond of Neville and Luna and had spent odd journeys with the two of them and genuinely enjoyed their company, after all that’s when you were told about the “boy who lived” walking straight into a wall.

You see the Weasley family, and his mother licking her thumb and wiping the corner of Ronald Weasleys mouth, he looked embarrassed as Harry shot him a hidden laugh. You didn’t know all of the Weasleys but you knew of Ronald, Ginny, the twins of course, and Percy.

You are scoping over the platform, looking for angelica, looking quite nervous as you’re walking closer to the train, and closer to the Twins.

George taps Fred on the chest with the back of his hand and uses his head to motion in your direction.

“Too pretty for you, mate” Fred says jokingly.

You see Angelica and begin walking towards her, waving both your hands in the air, she puts up her hand and waves back. her dark hair is bouncing as she is practically skipping towards you from the other side of the platform, “sorry, oops, sorry! Sorry, ‘scuse me, sorry, thank you!, sorry” she says as she is weaving in and out of the crowds of people.

You are nearly passing the Weasley-clan now, and George is still unknowingly staring straight at you, you look up and find yourself looking straight into his brown eyes, you give him a shy smile and he cheekily gives you a wink, which made you shyly look away and back to Angelica, I suppose she thinks you were smiling so much because you were so happy to see her, which you were, but you were smiling so much because of that damn wink.

She doesn’t even stop to say hi, she just drops her bags onto the floor, and practically throws herself on to you, and into a hug, which makes you drop your bags 

‘’I’m so glad you’re okay!’’ She shouts pulling herself away to cup your face in her hands.

‘‘Why wouldn’t i be...’‘ you respond, feeling very concerned 

‘‘You...you mean you didn’t hear what happened? at the quidditch world cup?’‘ she questioned 

‘‘i’ve not been told a thing..’‘ you said, very dryly 

‘‘we, we will get on the train and i tell you, i’m shocked your Grandmother didn’t tell you anything’‘ she said 

‘‘yeah...me too’‘ you responded.

 Angelica was a little taller than you, and had a thin frame, her dark eyes always looked smokey and sultry, and her dark complexion was simply gorgeous. Sometimes you felt like a child next to her, with you being shorter than her, shorter than most. But despise the fact you two were almost totally different in every way, you always had each others backs, and she never left you for the more popular girls, even though she fitted in more with those girls than you, she still adored you, and wanted it no other way.

“Let’s go find a cabin, before the good ones get taken” she said jokingly with a wink, trying to lighten the mood

“You’re starting to sound like Penelope” you giggled.

You grabbed hold of your heavy bags and hoist them onto the train.

You wheel your bags down the carriage and straight to the back of the train

“Here will do!” She giggles, knowing damn well this is the cabin you usually sit in, because no one else would take it, it was one near the back, it was the shakiest cabin on the train, but the upside was the sweet trolley came to your cabin first.

You step up on the seats as Angelica passed you your trunks to put in the overhead storage, they were too high for you to do stood on the floor, after lifting both your trunks into the storage, you both placed your book bags on the seats next to you, and both you took a seat next to the window, opposite of each other, legs up on each others seats creating a bridge between your seat and hers.

You look out the window and see the back of the Twins, waving their mother goodbye, they then turned, you saw George’s face, thought of that wink, and smiled.

“He’s so hot” Angelica said, talking about Fred

“Yeah he is” you respond, talking about George

Neither of you took in what the other said, you were both too busy looking at the boys.

they were getting on the train and were probably getting ready to start their mini pop up shop of joke sweets and accessories. The boys always started at the opposite end of the train to the “trolley lady” (as Angelica liked to call her). They would start at the top of the train and work their way down, find themselves a cabin and use their earnings to buy themselves sweets off the trolley.

The train let out its first whistle of two. this first was a signal to any (first year) students that are not yet on the train, to wiggle themselves free of their family’s embrace and sloppy kisses and get on to that train. After a few years you learn to turn up early and get a cabin.

The second whistle indicated that you were (about 30 seconds) from setting off.

“I think we will be getting ready to set off soon!” Angelica said excitedly.

The last of the students hurried on to the train and squeezed into full cabins.

“Do anything fun for autumn break, y/n” Angelica asked, genuinely interested.

“Not really, no, muggle school you know, got to keep up with the Muggle studies as well as the Magic ones, you know my grandma” you said rather straight “what about you?” You asked Angelica.

“Oh my break was good y/n! Until what happened at the quidditch world cup’’ she responded hanging her head slightly.

‘‘What happened?’‘ you asked, feeling stupid for not knowing.

She explained the attack, and how the dark lord may be back. ‘’we’ve not seen or heard anything for about a month so i’m assuming they’re deeming Hogwarts safe to be open i guess’’

The second train whistle blew, it was 11am.

“Best get comfy” you said to Angelica, these train rides seemed to get longer the more years you had been at Hogwarts, it felt like home, and you couldn’t wait to go home.

The “trolley lady” usually started her rounds about half an hour into the journey, she liked to give people time to get settled, but more so, get hungry.

“So, did you get to talk to Fr..” you were cut off

“ANNNNNNNNYTHING OFF THE TROLLEY DEARZZZZZ” you hear a deep voice shout.

“That can’t be her” you said checking your watch “it’s not even half past yet”

“ANNNNNNNNYTHING OFF THE TROLLEY…. DEARZZZZ” you hear the voice say again, you open the cabin door and there is Fred and George Weasley, mimicking the trolley lady, with a brief case full of joke items.

You look at the full brief case and back up at George.

“What would you recommend” you ask him

“WELL FOR YOU, DEARRRR” he said still mimicking the trolley lady “HOW ABOUT A LOOOOOOOVE POTION, FIRST OF THE LINE DEARRRR, COME GIVE IT A WHIFF” still using his trolley lady voice.

“What are you trying to say to me, George Weasley, that I can’t find a date?” you joking scold him

“Looks like she’s doing just fine on her own” Fred leans and whispers to George, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

George shoots a “pack it in” look to his brother over his shoulder.

“Give it a whiff then?” George asks again “rumour has it, you smell your favourite thing”

You move close enough to George and you can smell him, he smells like black currant, citrus, dark chocolate, incense, amber, vanilla. He opens up the love potion and you go to take a smell. “Doesn’t smell like anything, must be a dud” you say

“Well, honestly, we didn’t have anyone to test it on, fancy giving it a whirl?” George asks.

“No can do! That is the most dangerous potion in the world!” You joke.

He closes up the brief case “don’t suppose you’ll let us sit in there with you? The rest of the train is packed”

“YEAH, I mean, no worries” Angelica shouted, but then tried to play cool.

You always knew she had a crush on Fred, she just never said anything to him.

Fred took a seat next to Angelica, and George opposite him next to you.

“Good business this year, boys” you ask

“Not really” Fred says

“Looks like people are either holding onto their money a bit tighter, or our products this year are crap” George said, pretending to joke, but you could tell he was a bit bummed about it.

“I’m sure your products aren’t crap” Angelica said reassuringly

“Let’s have one of those love potions then” she says to Fred.

You shoot a wide eyed look at her, a “don’t you dare use that” kind of look.

Fred quickly opens up the briefcase and hands her the love potion for 5 Galleons.

“So, you boys get up to anything good this break?” you ask, mostly directing your question to George

“Well our brothers came to visit, we went to the quidditch World Cup, unfortunately, but mostly Ginny was pestering us to teach her Quidditch, so that was pretty much it” Fred responded, despite your desperate attempts to get George to speak

“ANNNNNNYTHING OFF THE TROLLY DEARS” the Trolley Lady started

You all giggled, thinking of Fred and George’s mimic of her

“I’ll never be able to hear that the same, thanks to you” you said shooting a look at George, he winked at you again, and you melted.

You got up and opened the door, “yes, us please” you say to the trolley lady

“Same as usual?” you turned and asked Angelica

“Please” she smiled

“Two liquorice wands and a Fairy Fizz for Angelica” you say to the Lady

You turn and see Fred and George turning out their pockets, counting their money together

“We don’t have enough, mate” you heard George say and Fred looked disappointed. This hit you in the chest and you just felt so bad for them.

“Two pumpkin pasties … and two Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, two Chocolate Frogs, one Pixie Pop and another Fairy Fizz, please” you asked

“Of course dear!” The lady said as she bagged your sweets and drinks, you handed her the money, grabbed your bag, closed the door and sat back down next to George.

Fred and George were still looking disappointed with their lack of sweets, you reached into the bag, picked up a box of beans and threw it in the air towards Fred to catch, you handed the other box to George and then did the same with the Chocolate Frogs.

You then reached over the cabin and handed Fred the Fairy Fizz drink “my favourite” Fred said

You handed the Pixie Pop drink to George, “MY favourite” George looked at you.

“How did you know this was my favourite” George asked, laughing.

“Well seeing how you both drink them with your Breakfast, Dinner and Lunch I assumed they would be!” You smiled, looking dead into George’s eyes

“You can tell us apart?” George asked

“Of course I can, George” you said softly, putting your hand on his hand that was on his knee, there was a second of silence between the two of you and you looked into each others eyes. This was the first time George felt like his own person and not just “one of the twins” and he liked that the person who could tell them apart, was you.

You both snapped out of it and pulled your gaze away from eachother and moved your hands away.

He reached into his briefcase and handed you a love potion.

“What’s this for?” You asked tilting your head to the side

“Payment, for the sweets” he smiled.

You reached, grazed your hand over his, and took the love potion, knowing you wouldn’t use it, but the gesture was nice as it was the only “girly” thing these boys made, and put it in your pocket.

You spent the rest of the journey trying the different beans, throwing them in the air and catching them in your mouths. Seeing what cards they got in their Frog box. Angelica and Fred started getting closer, whispering to eachother and laughing at their own jokes together, leaving you and George to talk about Classes and what happened at the Quidditch World Cup.

The train was pulling into the station now “this has been fun, George” you said smiling at him

“It sure has, we should do it again some time … if you want” he said, this is the first time he has looked shy

“Is that a date, Mr Weasley?” You said laughing

He went red and laughed along not knowing what to say to that.

The train came to a complete stop, and you got ready to stand back up on the chair to reach your bag, George stood up, towering over you as you were still sat down, something about seeing him looking down at you lit a heat in your stomach and you felt your cheeks going pink.

He reached up in the overhead cabin and pulled your bag down for you

“Blimey y/n, what do you have in this bag, a hippogriff?” He laughed and placed your bag on the floor for you to take.

Angelica grabbed her bag off the overhead locker.

You both grabbed your bookbags and followed Fred and George off the train.

You went to take the small step off the train and George held out his hand for you to stabilise yourself with, you took it, and he winked.

When you got off the train you asked Fred and George “are you coming to the meal?”

“Afraid not y/n” said Fred

“Gonna try and flog a few of these items to the first years before we eat” said george

“okay, Freddie, well, see you ‘round” Angelica said to fred

“Freddie?” George mouthed to you, rolling his eyes and you both laughed. Fred looked very embarrassed at being called this and the fact that you and his brother noticed made it even worse and so he slightly shook his head.

You started to walk up to the boats and turned around to see George watching you walk away “See you around, Georgie” you shouted over to him, mocking Angelica, George smiled and shot you a wink, and you felt that fire again.

——————

When you got to the common room you begin to unpack all your things and when you sat on your bed you felt a clink in your pocket, and you remembered the love potion George gave you, you opened it up and took a smell of it, it smelled like black currant, citrus, dark chocolate, incense, amber, vanilla, it smelled of George. And then it hit you, you couldn’t smell the love potion because you were standing right next to him, and they smelled the same. You felt bad for calling his product a “dud”. But smiled at the smell of it. You spent the next few at nights before bed taking a smell of it, you knew you had to tell him.

[tricksters-captain]

Weasley Twins/Cedric Diggory Imagines - Accidental Meeting - Part 2

AN: I’m so glad you all are actually liking these first couple parts!!

Overall Summary: (Y/n), is a young witch who always kept her head down due to her complicated past; one day she bumps quite literally into one of the most popular boys in Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory, and that’s when (Y/n) plan of keeping her head down seems to go up into the air. Things only seem to worsen when two redheaded twins start to take notice too...

This Chapter: Wood doesn’t quite trust (Y/n) when she says that the attention Diggory gave her was nothing and sends the twins to keep an eye on her. 

(PART 1 HERE)

Pairing(s): Cedric Diggory x Reader, (Eventual) George Weasley x Reader, (Platonic) Fred Weasley x Reader, (Platonic) Oliver Wood x Reader

Word Count: 4,026

Warnings: Angst 

You walked into your first class of the day which was Potions. You weren't thrilled that Snape was your first lesson of the year but you were lucky you were quiet and gifted in Potions so Snape rarely picked on you during class. 

You found your seat toward the back of the class and that’s when you heard the noisy chatter of the Weasley twins situating itself behind you. 

“Morning (Y/n).” The twins said simultaneously. 

You turned to face them and the sheepish smiles they had on their faces. 

“Fred. George.” You greeted them back. 

“What ya gonna do, Seyler? This is Wood’s last year.” Fred winked at you, 

“You’ll have to find some other reason to come watch us play Quidditch.” George added onto Fred’s sentence. 

“Oh, I forgot I went to Quidditch matches for you two?” You leered back, rolling your eyes playfully. 

“Come on, (y/n), we know you secretly admire us. Why else would you spend all your time with Wood unless it was to secretly spend time with us!” Fred chimed. 

“It definitely has nothing to do with the fact Oliver forces me to come to matches.” Sarcasm dripped from your words which only made the twins laugh. 

“Silence!” Snape entered, slamming the door behind him. 

“He’s a ray of sunshine this morning.” George muttered, 

“Must've had a great summer.” Fred whispered back. 

You smiled and shook your head at their comments. If these two sat behind you the whole year, you weren’t going to get any work done. 

It was only a few lessons into the day and you were feeling pretty drained. 

“How’s the first proper day back?” Oliver met you in the corridor as you made your way to the back entrance for Care of Magical Creatures. 

“Piece of cake. How’s yours?” You sighed, holding your books tight to your chest. 

“All I’m gonna say is I may be able to win the cup this year unscathed but passing these exams may end it all.” Oliver slapped your hand, initiating your handshake, and ended it with a fist bump as he parted to go his own way. 

You made your way down to Hagrid’s hut where you could see the previous class leaving. 

“(Y/n)!” You soon found out Cedric was in that class as he called your name, rushing up the steep path to meet you. 

“Cedric.” You felt yourself tighten your grip on your books as surrounding students started to whisper as they passed. 

“Are you on your way to Care of Magical Creatures?” He asked you, 

“Yeah I am.” Was all you could reply. 

“It’s really great. Hey, what are you doing later?” Cedric’s energy was incorrigible, clearly Hagrid had made it an exciting lesson. 

“Um, I’m not sure. Probably studying.” You admitted honestly. 

“Ced! Come on! We’ll be late!” Boys from Cedric's class who had made it back to the castle were calling his name. 

“I’ll find you after supper then.” Cedric said as he made his way past you, rushing up to his friends. 

You didn’t know how to act or what to think. 

Why was he suddenly so interested in you?

“Were you just talking to Cedric Diggory?” Angelina approached you as you reached the hut. 

“I guess I was.” You frowned, looking back up at the castle where he had gone inside. 

“Alright! Gather round!” Hagrid’s voice cut off whatever Angelina was about to say next and you were almost thankful for it. 

The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly and soon you were sat in the Gryffindor common room with a book on your lap. 

However, the common room was busy, and the noise wasn’t letting you concentrate. 

“I’m going to the greenhouses.” You tucked your book under your arm as you got up to leave. Wood only hummed a goodbye as he gawked in confusion at whatever he was studying. 

You made your way to the greenhouses, speaking to Professor Sprout before you went into your section of the greenhouses that held the project you focused on last year. 

When Oliver was training with the quidditch team, you were often left alone and with the spare time you had last year, you focused on Herbology. 

Like Potions, it was another subject you had a good knack for and your talent of getting on Professors good sides meant that you could have your own section to raise plants you wished to study. 

“Angelina said I’d find you in here.” Cedric’s voice made you jump and you sent your watering can to the floor. 

“Merlin’s beard!” You gasped at the loud sound of the metal can. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Cedric stepped forward, picking up the can for you. 

“I just didn’t expect company.” You took the can from him and then refilled it. 

“So, what are you doing in here?” Cedric asked, looking around at the plants that surrounded you both. 

“This is my, um, private section of the greenhouses. I haven’t been here since we left for summer, Professor Sprout has been looking after my plants.” You explained, watering a small sage bush you had planted. 

“You have your own section of the greenhouses?” Cedric smirked, cocking his eyebrows at you.

“I told you. I don’t have many friends.” You placed the can down and faced the boy who was now fiddling with some ear muffs. 

“Here.” You took the earmuffs from him and placed them on his head before picking up your own. 

“I was curious about raising plants last year and one plant I managed to actually grow was Siren Silines.” You explained as you went to open a door. “Dangerous flowers really. Their song is beautiful but draws animals and young children in to their death. Once picked without gloves, you’re a goner.” You opened the door and lead him inside. 

Even with the earmuffs you could faintly hear the flowers singing. 

You reached up towards the boy and removed his earmuffs for him. 

“You shouldn’t listen for too long, you’ll get light headed but this is their song.” You let he boy listen as you knew curiosity would over take him at some point. 

“Beautiful, isn't it?” You sighed happily as you stared down at the poisonous flower. 

“Very.” Cedric was watching your face as your lips curled into a soft smile which only brought on a goofy smile of his own. 

You faced him and lifted his muffs back onto his ears in fear he may faint soon. 

You guided Cedric from that part of the greenhouse so you could remove your muffs and gloves. Cedric copied you as you locked the door behind yourselves. 

“So, I didn’t ask you...” You started as the question came to mind. 

“What?” Cedric’s eyebrow twitched at you. 

“What are you doing here?” You asked. 

“I told you I'd find you after supper.” Cedric referred to earlier. 

“But why?” The question slipped past your lips before you could stop it. 

“Why not?” Cedric shrugged, his smile as contagious as ever. “Do you not like me?” 

“I never said that––” 

“––Then we can be friends.” Cedric declared before you could say anything else. 

A couple of weeks past and you didn’t see much of Diggory besides the occasional glances during study periods where the years mixed. 

Cedric had hoped to see you in Hogsmeade on the weekends but never could seem to find you anywhere outside of school hours. He thought you might be avoiding him. 

You had in fact been avoiding spending time with him after you caught the Weasley twins peaking their red heads around the greenhouses once Cedric had returned inside the castle. 

The Weasley Twins had in fact been spending more of their attention on you in lessons now too. You were irritated they were spying at first but then you realised they wouldn’t have been spying on their own accord. 

Oliver. 

He denied it at first but a few of days of the silent treatment had him confessing the truth. 

You were in the common room studying with a cup of tea when the twins decided to bother you again.

You stirred the spoon with magic as you twirled your finger, you were deep into a paragraph on dragons when Fred and George jumped down either side of you. 

“Hello Seyler.” Fred was the first to speak. 

“Have you lost something?” George asked, 

“No? Why?” You were confused by the boys cheeky smiles and thought they must be playing some kind of game with you. 

“Because there’s something outside the common room waiting for you.” Fred tried not to laugh. 

“Asking anyone going in or out about you.” George nudged your shoulder which forced you to close your book to see what they were going on about. 

The painting opened as you left the common room and stood on the stairs was Cedric.

“Cedric?” You were surprised. He stood on the stairs in a light brown patterned jumper and dark brown trousers, his hair fluffy yet styled and his lips spread into a warm smile when his eyes met yours. 

“Have you been avoiding me by any chance?” He asked without any hesitation but with humour. 

“What makes you think that?” You asked, folding your arms over your chest as you moved aside so you weren't blocking the common room entrance. 

“The fact I haven’t seen you in almost three weeks.” Cedric raised his eyebrows  as he made his point.

“I’m a busy girl?” You tried to make an excuse. 

“How can a girl who claims she has no friends be so busy?” Cedric goaded with a cute smirk on his lips. 

“I like to study. I do have my O.W.L’s. this year you know” You defended yourself. 

“But they’re not until the end of the year. Do you have to study all week every week?” He meant the weekends and you knew it. You hadn’t really left the castle since you arrived back at Hogwarts but every time you accidentally walked into a large group you could hear the mutters about Azkaban and your parents and these were children so you couldn’t bare to see the adults in Hogsmeade join in too. 

“Ced...” You muttered, looking down at your fingers. This boy barely knew you. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t. 

“Look, I’m sorry.” Cedric apologised for his attitude about it, “Would you like to come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend? Nothing crazy, just a few butterbeers and maybe a trip to Zonkos?” 

You hesitated to answer. 

“Fine.” You gave in as his gorgeous eyes bared into you. 

“Great.” Cedric smiled, taking a step down the stairs. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.” 

You returned to the common room swiftly after Cedric jumped down the stairs, heading back to his own common room. You avoided the twins by heading up to your bedroom. 

You flopped back onto your bed and let out a deep breath. 

What on earth did he want with you? 

You had never received this much attention from anyone before. You didn’t expect Cedric to be almost chasing you in order to get a chance to speak with you. No one ever wanted to talk to you unless it was about school work. No one except for Wood of course...

You tossed and turned all night, concerned about what would you talk about, spending a whole day with someone new. Wood was the only one who has ever known everything about you but Wood was basically your big brother. Cedric, on the other hand, was almost a stranger. 

When you finally got up in the morning, you spent way longer than usual picking something to wear, the weather was getting colder as autumn took over fully and so you made sure to wrap your Gryffindor scarf around your neck before you left. 

It was early so whilst half the house was still asleep, the other half were in the great hall already devouring a breakfast. 

Cedric was stood outside the great hall, leaning against the wall with one leg cocked up against the stone as he waited for you. 

“I was getting worried I’d have to corner some poor second year Gryffindor to go get you out of bed.” Cedric didn’t shy away from teasing you as you came into view. 

“I didn’t know what to wear. I’m not used to this. My Saturday’s are usually spent in the library or the quidditch pitch after being blackmailed by Oli to come watch them train and point out the weakest links.” You mumbled quickly as you tucked your hands into your jacket pockets. 

“I’m only joking. Come on, I wanted to go for walk before we went to Hogsmeade.” Cedric offered his elbow, his own hands in his jacket pockets too. 

You took it, the nerves bubbling in your stomach, as he began to walk towards the path that headed down to the black lake. 

“How did you sleep?” Cedric asked you. 

“Not great. I haven’t sleep that well since the news that Sirius Black was sighted a couple weeks ago.” You were honest which surprised yourself. 

“Do you think he’ll really come to Hogwarts?” Cedric looked down at you as he spoke. 

“He won’t if he knows what's good for him. But if he were anything like my parents, he will.” You kept your eyes to the ground ahead of you when you brought up your parents. 

“What do you mean?” Cedric furrowed his brows, 

“My parents were... are.. so dedicated to you know who that if they were given the chance to kill Harry, they would. They’d kill him and come straight for me.” 

Cedric was silent for a moment after hearing the truth in your voice. You truly believed that is what would happen. Cedric thought it must be so nerving to know your own blood would kill your friend then drag you away from everything you knew. 

“I’m sorry. How’d this turn so dark...” You tried to chuckle weakly to lighten the mood but Cedric knew it was fake. 

“Don’t apologise. This is the most I’ve heard you talk since I met you. It’s nice, even if the topic is not.” Cedric nudged your shoulder with his as you walked along the pebbles and stones. 

“I bet there’s loads of scary things in the black lake.” You bent down and picked up a stone to skim along the water. 

“I don’t know. We can find out if you like?” Cedric watched you skim the rock as he spoke. 

“How?” You asked, facing the boy again. 

That's when Cedric ran towards you and threw you over his shoulder, jogging towards the water and stepping into the shallow water. 

“Cedric!” You screamed, “Cedric! Put me down! Cedric! Stop!” 

The boy laughed wildly as he placed your feet back onto dry ground. 

“That wasn't funny!” You pushed the boy back several times which only made him laugh harder. 

His laughter encouraged yours and soon you were laughing with your hand on your forehead as you calmed down. 

“Can we go to Hogsmeade now?” You asked him, 

“Yes, we can go now.” Cedric straightened up from laughing and took your arm once more. 

Once you arrived at Hogsmeade, you immediately went for a butterbeer. 

“Why couldn't Hogwarts be somewhere warm? Why is it Scotland? It’s getting so cold out there already.” You complained as you sat down opposite the boy. 

“I like Christmas here. The snow just makes it better.” Cedric placed your drink in front of you with his own. 

“Snow? You mean the white cold, slushy, slippery stuff that is wet and makes my plants die?” Cedric laughed at you and you just shook your head. 

“Aren’t your plants in greenhouses?” 

“What about the plants that are outside? The only good thing to come out of cold weather is snowdrops. Such little flowers but they are so pretty.” You weren't aware of the smiles that Cedric was sending you but he enjoyed listening to you speak without the nerves you had before. 

“I’m guessing Herbology is your favourite subject?” Cedric pondered, 

“No, actually. Potions is. I like Herbology but it’s because I'm good at it. I’m good at Potions too but that’s because I find it interesting minus Snape.” 

“I don’t think I’ve heard anyone admit Potions is their favourite class before.” Cedric chuckled. 

“Look, if Snape wasn’t the Potions Professor I’m certain more people would enjoy it.” You couldn’t help but laugh along with him. 

From the corner of your eye you could see something (or someone) peaking through the window. 

The flash of red then gave it away. 

It was Fred and George, spying, again!

“Oh God...” You groaned, taking a large gulp from your Butterbeer. 

“What?” Cedric glanced towards the window then back to you. “What is it?”

“Oli... He’s sent the Weasley twins to spy on me, no doubt.” You sank down in your seat as your eyes flickered to all the windows to capture a glimpse of them again. 

“What’s going on with you and Wood anyways?” Cedric soon made that transition. 

“Nothing. He's like my brother. We’ve been best friends since I was in first year, not like the rumours haven’t spread though. Got Oli into some trouble with a couple girlfriends actually.” You explained, sparing the details for a later date.

“Really?” Cedric clearly found that amusing as he let out a soft chuckle. 

You rolled your eyes and nodded your head. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Cedric jumped up from his seat and offered his hand. You took it to help you out of your chair but dropped it soon after. 

Cedric opened the door for you as you left the leaky cauldron. You sent him a shy smile as you mumbled ‘thanks’. 

You walked through Hogsmeade towards Zonko’s joke shop when you stopped outside Honeydukes. 

“Do you mind?” You asked Cedric hopefully as you eyed the sweets in the window. Cedric smiled back and got the door again. 

You rushed in and immediately picked up two bars of Honeydukes best chocolate. 

During term time, you survived off sugary treats to keep you up, especially during winter when the skies grew dark and the weather became miserable. 

You knew you’d need a good supply with your O.W.L’s coming up. 

You gathered a good stock of chocolate wands, chocolate cauldrons, chocolate skeletons and then finally came to the chocolate frogs. 

“I’m guessing chocolate is your favourite?” Cedric smiled down at you as he stepped to be by your side. 

“Is it that obvious?” You laughed lightly, 

“Stocking up because of the dementors?” Cedric asked genuinely, it was well known that you’d need something sweet to get your serotonin levels back up after an encounter with a dementor. 

“Kind of. I get low during the winter months anyway and I need the energy to actually do well on these O.W.L’s.” You admitted, taking a chocolate frog from the shelf. 

“I’m sure you’ll get outstanding in every subject. I remember how nervous I was for my O.W.L’s last year but I did alright.” Cedric moved along the shelf and took some Berties Botts every flavoured beans as he spoke. 

“Alright? Okay, Cedric ‘best student’ Diggory.” You scoffed, you knew well (like the rest of the school) that Cedric did practically perfectly on his O.W.L’s. 

“Well, with all the hours you spend studying I don’t doubt you’ll at least pass.” Cedric sent you a wink and you felt your stomach flip. 

You looked away from the boy so that you could hide your burning cheeks. 

“Just these please.” You piled your mini haul onto the cash register. 

“Here, I’ll get it.” Cedric stepped forward, opening his small bag of coins. 

“No, really, it’s okay.” You tried to stop the transaction but Cedric was quicker than you. 

“Keep the change.” Cedric took the bag as you stared at him with objection. 

“You didn’t have to do that.”  You said as you left the shop. 

“I wanted to. It’s not everyday that I actually get to spend time with (Y/n) Seyler––”

“––Will you keep your voice down!” You reached up, shushing him with your hands as you looked around at the passing wizards and witches who seemingly hadn’t heard. 

“What?” Cedric pulled back from your hands, a smile still pursed on his lips. 

“You clearly don’t know what it’s like to have a name that sends a room full of people’s eyes directly to you.” You didn’t want to sound angry but Cedric’s smile faltering slightly must've mean you failed. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to––” 

“––No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoke to you like that. It’s just... I reckon the only other person who understands what it's like is Harry Potter.” You continued walking. 

There was a moment of silence between you as you walked side by side. 

“Maybe we should head back to the castle.” You suggested, 

“Well, well, well, what do we have here then, Georgie?” Fred’s voice caught your attention as you passed Zonkos. 

“I don’t know, Freddie. Looks like Seyler and Diggory here are on a date.” George smirked back at his twin as they swaggered up to you both. 

“We were just on a walk.” You corrected them both which sent the twins eyebrows up their foreheads. 

“Is that right, (Y/n)?” Fred looked between you and Cedric with a smile. “Is that why we saw you in the leaky cauldron together?”

“We were just having a drink.” Cedric spoke up as he could see how uncomfortable you were with this conversation. 

“A drink, eh?” George winked at the boy. 

“How about it, Cedric? You ready to lose the quidditch cup this year?” Fred chimed into a different conversation as you sent him a death glare. 

“Don’t be so confident, Weasley.” Cedric chuckled, 

“We’re heading to the shrieking shack.” Fred started, 

“Meant to be the most haunted house in Britain.” George added. 

“Care to join?” Fred wiggled his eyebrows at you both. 

“Actually I think we were about to head back to the castle.” You looked between Cedric and the twins.

“Suit yourself.” Fred. shrugged before turning on his heels. “Oh, and (Y/n), Wood said that you’d be at every match this year. I suggest you find yourself a good coat ‘cause they’ll be no skiving matches just because it’s raining.” 

You groaned at the comment and all the boys just sniggered. 

When you arrived back at the castle, you could see some 4th years whispering down one of the arched corridors as they saw you and Cedric walk through the courtyard together. 

“Thank you for today.” You took the bag of sweets that Cedric was holding from him as you thanked him. 

“Look, about earlier, I really am sorry if I upset you in any way.” Cedric’s kind nature couldn’t help but apologise again. 

“Really, Cedric, water under the bridge. I didn’t mean to get so upset.” You tightened your scarf as the wind picked up. 

“Well, what are you doing this week?” He asked, 

“I’m not sure. Studying. Homework. Professor Lupin says he has a special treat  for us sometime this week or the next which I’m quite excited about. It’s refreshing having a teacher who knows what he’s talking about after Lockhart last year.” You couldn’t help but giggle at the memory of Lockhart being outted as a fraud at the end of the year. 

“He was... something else.” Cedric laughed with you.

You hadn’t smiled this much in a long time.  

“Ced! Where’ve you been?” You heard a voice behind Cedric and knew it was his oncoming friends.

Cedric peered behind before looking back down at you with an apologetic smile. 

“I better go. Don’t disappear on me now, (Y/n).” Cedric really hoped you wouldn’t avoid him for another few weeks until he is then forced to track you down again. 

“You’ll just have to use that Hufflepuff intuition and find me.” You almost didn't believe what left your mouth. Were you flirting with Cedric Diggory?!

(Next Part Here)

[seostudios]

GEEK CHARMING: MARK LEE

pairing: mark lee x fem!reader genre: rom-com, fluff, angst, comedy info: high school!au, film-club-kid!mark, diva!reader, non-idol!au, mentions of other members (principle!sicheng, car!jeno, student-body-president!doyoung,  film-club-kid!johnny, film-club-kid!jungwoo) synopsis: You are Yonsei Academy's peachy princess, having the best boyfriend, the most fashionable friends of mos, always updated with the latest trends in fashion. But you come face-to-face with your own personal creature-self-professed film nerd, Mark Lee, when you scratch your Holli crystal-embellished ROSANTICA purse. In exchange for her purse repair she let Mark film her for his high school popularity documentary. Reluctantly, you let low-class Mark into your A-list universe, and you are stunned to discover that nerds can be pretty awesome at times. However when your pro-claimed, boyfriend charming prince dumps you flat, your life and social status drops. Would you still win Spring Formal Queen at Yonsei Academy now? Will Mark win the Annual Film Festival?  Could even you put together the pieces to bring back your happy-ever-after, with Mark 's help? warnings: swearing, mention of alcohol word count: 7.5k tag-list: @count-your-shadows​ @jimjamjaemin @minaczennie @renjunvinates @pervieve @rjoonie @marksrainbow@commentgirl @rarestgrace @08skrr @bangtanismylifw @traashytae @superheros-and-others @johnnysnipple @00-baejin-05

a/n: this is the longest writing piece i’ve written yet on this blog and it’s inspired by a disney movie?! behold geek charming starring mark lee. your local film club nerd entering the school’s prissy princess’s life but did that make her finally turn back from her arogant ways or did it make her more of a bitch!! >_< i’m actually so happy

"I'm proud to announce this year's Annual Yonsei Spring Formal Queen Kang-" 

"Hello? Y/n? Snap out of it." Your train of thought quickly crashed as you direct your attention to the student body president, Kim Doyoung. "Y-Yes?" You ask, straightening your posture. "I asked if you are applying for Spring Formal Queen?" He put a question to, waiting for a response. Viewing as you turn to Sooyoung, who delivers you a pen, jerking it out her hand, you grab the clipboard from the plastic table in front of you, signing your signature on to the paper. Making sure your sign was large enough to cover most slots of the page. 

"Toodles," You sang to Doyoung before you and the girls walk away. “Next!”

The three of you strut down the narrow hallway, Sooyoung and Yuna trailing behind you, "This year is going to be our year ladies," you look over on both sides to see them smiling wide grins enveloping onto their lips, as they stopped to walk at your pace, "Once I'm crowned Queen of the Spring Formal, it's guaranteed I'm the well-liked, prettiest and just overall the best here at Yonsei," you finish halting your steps at the door frame of the cafeteria. Looking over your shoulder, you make a gagging motion with your finger to the pack of hungry students. In front of you three, you decide to walk through the tables showing the two lingering behind how you'd win the students' heart if you already haven't.

Walking by a table with miniature stage set-ups, you see three students huddled together revising a script "Drama kids," You start "They'll be an easy vote seeing how they just adore my dramatic gestures," Making your way down a couple more tables "Film club nerds..." You start to roll your eyes coming up with a reason why they would vote for you. "You're like a movie star to them," Sooyoung quickly interjected watching as your flip your head to pose.

You stride down some more, "I can't believe you used to be friends with Shin Ryunjin." Yuna throws in as you walk by the stage crew table. "I know right," Sooyoung agrees. "It's a burden I carry, but at least I traded up to you two." You say earning beaming smiles on both sides.

"Y/n!" Someone called, skipping happily towards you. It was Jisoo. "I got bangs since you said they would suit me! I couldn't agree more, thanks!" She beams, "Of course, just want the best for you!" You smile, reciprocating the energy she gave off until she walks off to her friends. "See? People know I care. This will be a piece of cake."  You said before stopping in your tracks to see, Jung Wonyoung; your biggest competition at Yonsei Academy. Yuna and Sooyoung see you as someone superior to them (right?). As a higher-ranked princess here at Yonsei you shouldn't let such a wretched thing like Jung Wonyoung get to you, especially with that tacky head-band she decided to pair with her uniform. But what good candidate for Spring Formal Queen would you be without a little competition, winning was a given but winning unopposed is an embarrassment. The girls notice your stink-eye towards the table and rather than letting yourself get angered in front of your girls, you oppose chatting in the most unaffected way you could muster up. "Whatever, we all understand who's gonna be crowned Queen, why let someone who pairs blue polka-dot headbands with navy plaid uniforms get in my way?" They hum in response as you two make your way to the popular table.

Yuna and Sooyoung took their seats in front of Jihoon, your lovely, amazing, perfect boyfriend, as you walked around to sit next to him. "Hi baby," He said, which sounded scripted but, you paid no attention to since he was your prince charming! His looks over-looking his flaws, you leave a small kiss on his cheek before digging into your meal.

You are finished your meal, getting up and walking to the bin to throw. On your way back you- BAM! Right on the chest, you are greeted with the expired milk the canteen provides having it spill all over your chest,  drenched. "Ugh!" You cry, a boy in front of you with his lunch tray now on the floor, his hair scruffed up with a school-provided bow-tie. "You- You geek!" You bark as he is taken aback with his words, but he isn't afraid. "You are so gro-oss!" You shout emphasizing the word gross he's already tired of your shit and it hasn't even been a minute since your first encounter. Without hesitating he relates "Actually gross is one syllable-", "I don't care just go- just go read a book or something, you nerd!" You argue not wanting to hear what he has to say before marching away out the cafeteria.

The boy watches as you make your way out the commissary. He kicks his tray to the side, walking back to his table with a glint of annoyance struck onto him.

"Dark Victory of course. It stars Bette Davis, George Brent and most importantly Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca." Jungwoo said swiftly to the two geeks in front of him. Johnny, the only one of the three who could properly score a date with the popular kids started a debate on which film from the late 1930s to the early '50s was le Meilleur which is French for  'the best'. "Did you forget The Great Lie? Probably one of Bette Davis's only good films since she has co-starred with the one and only Mary Astor" He argues speedily. "Hello??" Nayeon says budding in between, "A Stolen Life will remain the best film from the 40s, 50s, and possibly forever I will and could go on about-", "Looks like Film Club's assistant president finally showed up," Johnny says cutting off whatever nonsense Nayeon probably had to add to their already ridiculous conversation. "Sorry, I got stuck in traffic with Yonsei's little princess," Mark says with an obvious eye-roll.

"Watch your words Markie,"  Jungwoo quickly told him. "Her dad-"

"Who funds 75% of the school!" Johnny added, Jungwoo turned to his side giving an annoyed stare before looking back in front of him to Mark. "Her dad who funds 75% of the school. Will ruin you if he gets notice of his daughter's uniform being spoiled with the cafeteria's milk from a film geek." He finishes sipping on his water. Nayeon turned to him, "He can get our club shut down within minutes Mark, watch how you talk to her." 

"So what? Like they'll even come close to us." Mark scoffs, "They're like a whole new alien species." The two in front of them nod, but Nayeon is a little too distracted with the tuna sandwich her mom packed her. "You guys is it just me or is the tuna moving..." Nayeon says slapping Marks forearm softly to grab his, then everyone else's attention. Just before she did Mark's attention was already taken by something- or should I say someone else. "Hey Ryunjin," He quickly says waving towards the girl walking by towards the exit, she turns around to wave before heading out. That's where Johnny inquired, "Face it. You and Ryunjin" He brings his hands up and around to make an 'x' with it, "Never gonna happen." He says watching his shoulders sag slightly, "You've been crushing on her since what? 8th grade, and having numerous occasions to ask her out and not doing so. You missed your shot awhile back unless we had a time machine you and name are a no-go." He finished now invested in what Nayeon's sandwich was up to.

"I-I'd go out with you!" Nayeon says dropping the sandwich into Johnny's hands. "Look, I don't even have time for dating why would I even ask Ryunjin out? I'm cool with being known by her. Plus there's no way I'd do it now, the school board's Annual Film festival is only a little over a month away, I'm our school's candidate how do I mess up because I was distracted by some girl with purple highlights" He said flat-out ignoring Nayeon. "That's true," Johnny says leaning in, "And you are our school best shot at bringing home that huge ass trophy, what's the other prize again?" Jungwoo said agreeing before taking a bite of his pasta. "It's a summer getaway to a Hollywood film camp, I gotta win," Mark said signing the application forms he had in his pocket. "I'm supposed to be a cinematic genius, so what better to do than murder the competition and bring home a trophy after going on a getaway trip to Hollywood to better my knowledge I'm gonna be like the Frank Capra or Victor Fleming around here!"

Johnny grabs Marks's application form to read the requirements, "You have to document something and make it worthwhile..." He read aloud, "What's the documentary about?" Jungwoo asked, "I have no idea." Mark said before snatching the paper. "He has no idea...." Jungwoo whispered almost inaudible in disappointment. Mark writes down ideas on the back of the paper while discussing it with Jungwoo, "So," Johnny starts, "Wanna go out with me?" He said. "No." Nayeon answers strictly as if she was waiting to reject the boy who's attention was back onto her tuna sandwich.

"Anyway, I gotta go hand this into Principle Dong." Mark said witnessing the awkward interaction before getting up and leaving the vicinity

He was playing with the hourglass on his office desk when a knock on the door was heard. "Come in!" He chirped and in came a student. "Ah, Mark." He sang motioning the boy to sit down while he took his legs off the desk. "Came to finally hand me those application forms I've been begging your little club to hand over I see." He said noticing the paper in hand. "Haha, Yea," Mark said avoiding eye contact as he brought his hand up to hand the paper. "Can't wait to see what one of my star students has prepared for the Festival." He said opening the folded paper reading aloud, "A documentary about how lunch ladies keep old food fresh, and our bellies full," His voice started off strong going quieter word by word, looking up at him. "Yeah, you know how the lunch ladies always give us the same green looking sauce every day, or the same batch of oatmeal cookies from months back, every time we sink our teeth into it. It tastes fresh! I've always wanted to know and I think it'd be a cool thing to find out" Mark your blabbering, Is what Principle Dong wanted to tell him so he'd shut up. He didn't want a lame documentary about something to make his school look bad in to be put out in front of dozens of other schools. "Mark." He stops the boy, "Your artistic vision is lunch ladies?" He asked. "Yes, NO! But yes? I'm struggling I can't come up with a good topic that's not gonna bore students and teachers." Mark said. Mr.Dong could see how strongly Mark expressed his struggles with a mere school contest, he probably wants that prize more than anything. He knows he shouldn't help him, since it'd be unfair but he wasn't gonna let him put out something that can ruin his reputation. "Stop playing safe Mark. Challenge yourself by widening your perspective maybe instead of documenting lunch and stuff that you know will bore people and try going after something to catch their attention." Mark's eyes slowly open as he looks up to Principle Dong nodding understandingly "Alright I get it, I get it" He says before clasping his hands together. Mr.Dong sees his improvement and instead of picking another student to compete he can rely on Mark who's now being ushered out the room by him, "Now don't forget I need a new proposal by tomorrow." He said before shutting his door.

"Dude I know exactly what Mr.Dong was getting at,"  Jungwoo tells him. Their school day was over about two hours ago and now they were at their part-time job, at Yong's, a popular little cafe in the middle of a jam-packed shopping mall. "Something challenging...like I don't know maybe a certain diva you encountered during lunch?" His eyes lit up, looking over his shoulder to look at a grinning Jungwoo who flipped his non-existent long flocks of hair like he was the diva. "You're a genius!" Mark said now ecstatic, but quickly going back to his little stressed self, "No, but then how am I gonna convince her?" He said placing his hand up under his chin. 

The bell rings by the entrance, which meant there was a costumer quickly brushing off crumbs from a cupcake he snuck in he turns around to see his proposal for the Film Festival itself. You looked different, you were wearing a pair of plaid pants with a tightly fitted black turtleneck, accessorized by dangling earrings, a heart pendant necklace and a simple gold chain. Your face was quick to cringe after seeing who was about to take your order, "Ugh It's you." You spit looking him up and down, he doesn't look too bad out of school you thought before handing one of the many many bags of clothes to your father's butler. "Here Minho, get a seat for us, please," You tell him watching him rush to one of the many empty seats. "Hi, Welcome to Yong's what can I get for you today?" Mark asked, tone sounding uninterested. "Shouldn't you be happy to see me? I am a miraculous sight for sore eyes," You said getting a half-suppressed laugh from Mark. "Anyway, I would like a grande green tea latte. one pump classic, nonfat, 6 enormous scoops of matcha, 195 degrees, and ABSOLUTELY NO FOAM." You finish, right before starting back up again, "And,  I would like a venti caramel frappe with extra caramel drizzle." You finish finally reaching into your purse to pull out your (dad's) card. When you go to hand the card you see not only Mark but also Jungwoo looking at you, mouths open, jaws almost touching the floor. "Did you not get it? Do I have to repeat my order or something?" You say with a hint of irritation, "Ah- No. Sorry it'll  be 15.50" Mark said averting his gaze from you.

After paying you, tell Mark, "bring it to my table will you?" before walking off to Minho.

"Dude go," Now's Mark's time to actually shine. He makes sure the drinks are perfect knowing ruining them could ruin his entire attempt.  He strides along between the tables finally towards your booth handing you both your drinks. But Mark just stood there, you motioned with your hand as you would to stray animals. "Why are you just standing there, go do your job?" You said already bothered, "Nope, I have a proposal for you.", "Whatever it is, No." You said not even wanting to hear what he's got to say, "I'm gonna ask anyway." He said towering over you and you seated butler. "I want you to star in my movie for the Film Festival this year," You look up, surprised an obvious smile dancing over your lips. "What's it about?" You asked still not sure, "You! I'll have to document your lifestyle til the Spring Formal." Mark said. You bit your lip not knowing to go through or not, but it was a nice ego boost, having someone film your daily life, letting everyone know you got the best friends and most fashionable friends, a prince-charming and a purse worth more than your teacher's salary. Jung Wonyoung, who's also a runner up for Spring Formal Queen having the football team paint her posters and make pins but what's that compared to a freaking movie documenting your life...Winning this year is gonna be easier than expected. "Deal," You said, Mark, cheers a little too loud before bringing his hand out to shake, you reject kindly before letting him know "Don't look like a freaking weirdo at school though. We can start tomorrow at lunch," You finish before seeing him run off to Jungwoo.

Finally home being able to rest from begin outrageously gorgeous today you skip down to your bedroom, hoping into the shower then changing into a more comfortable attire. As of now you were in the middle of your bed doing some homework before the phone went off, it was a notification from Ryunjin, she tagged you in an Instagram post of you and her when you were younger. Your mom took that photo on the first day of grade school back when you and Ryunjin were inseparable. Mom died later that same year and it was heartbreaking but you were stronger than that you knew you shouldn't pity yourself, or have others pity you simply because she passed away, she wouldn't want you to be like that. 

It was a brand new day and Mark was in the principle's office, don't worry this star is nowhere near in trouble when Mark hands in his proposal. "This is marvellous, I can see the growth Mark. Please keep me updated,"  Mr.Dong said watching Mark skip away cheerfully to lunch, where he'd meet you. Fridays at Yonsei were known as the only days of the week students didn't have to wear uniforms to school which often made them pull together a swagger (Johnny's words not mine) outfit for the rest of the school to see. Mark wasn't one to dress up on these days so today he decided to wear his black and blue striped t-shirt paired with black denim jeans,  his black hair parted in the middle this time. He did not look like a film kid. He looked like he belonged to sit beside you, "Hey" you were busy opening up your lunch when he stood behind you with his camera. "Oh-" In all honesty, you thought he'd be wearing baggy trousers and a worn-out shirt but you were filled with joy to see him looking presentable to you. "Hey, sit." You said to him, "I'm gonna just cut to the chase and record..." He said fiddling with the camera for a minute too long, "A few rules before you point that thing in my face," you started as he lifted his face to see you, "Absolutely no filming my left side, no hanging a minute later after filming I need you out of my sight when I hear you say cut." You were strict but not so sure if you meant it. He gave you a thumbs up before clicking record.

"So, Y/n why are you so determined to be Queen at the annual Spring Formal" Mark asked zooming in and out for a few seconds finally focusing, "Because it ensures permanent popularity and I can't fall from my throne can I?" You ask, "Aren't you already popular?" He asked looking up from the camera confused, "Companies at the top of the list don't need to advertise but they do it because..?" , "They need to stay at the top of the list," Mark says understanding where you were getting at. "Exactly, it's not easy to be popular like me nowadays," You say placing your hair behind your ear, "So not easy being like Y/n" Yuna said, Sooyoung agreeing. "Girls not now, this is my time-" , "Actually if they wanna add something they-", "Being popular isn't something you can just fool around with, it's like royalty to us hormonal teens. It's not easy, I gotta live up to these beauty standards, and be on my A-Game whenever." You finish. Not knowing what to say next you smile at the camera hoping Mark would do something- anything but suddenly your knight in shining armor is here- Jihoon takes a seat next to you. "Oh Babe!" You say kissing his cheek; making sure it was on camera. "Only 10's can get date 10's like Jihoon, we're perfect for each other!" You express, but Mark snickers to the scene unfolding behind you watching Yuna and Sooyoung roll their eyes at that certain sentence. "Are you coming to my game today?" Jihoon asked, before noticing Mark. "Why is there a fucking geek near us," He barks but you quickly come to the save. "Ji, we went through this. Mark here is going to be making a movie on how I win Spring Formal Queen." You say, gripping his hand slightly so he could get the memo. "He better not show up to my games", "Never, just eat." You said as he glares at the boy. "Alright, and cut." Mark said before getting up, "Thank you." 

"So...you don't have a job?" Mark asked filming you going through a bunch of clothes, you shake your head no. "You just shop til' you drop huh?" He asked amused at your simple lifestyle, "Of course, now don't come in here this is a school film." You said going into the change room. "Here she comes," You cheered (for yourself) minutes after changing into a short black skirt which was most definitely breaking dress code and a tight white long sleeve which had a deep cut in the back. Mark's mouth is slightly agape seeing you, you were gorgeous indeed he thought. "So tell me what it's like to be...." He trails off trying to find a synonym for the popular " Amazing? Well, there are levels of popularity, at the top moi, and at the bottom..you." You said giving him a grisly glare."Ou! Love these!" You acclaim to a pair of black heels, "Hate these." You say to a set of hot pink ones beside them. "I have two of these!" You declare cheerfully at a pair of white heels which shimmered with sparkles; definitely your style. "How do people get popular?" Mark asked, ignoring your admiration over ridiculously cruel footwear. "Well some are just born with it," You say then go in closer, covering your mouth in a whisper action, "But some gotta follow the diva's around for it." You said, clearly talking about Sooyoung and Yuna.

"Gonna try these on, out Geek," you said to Mark who was almost walking in there with you. "Oh- right sorry!" He said now moving over to your two (deemed) friends. "So, since she's not here... " Mark started  getting the camera up to focus on the two, "Do you have anything about Y/n you can spill?" He asked, "Like, does your popularity only come from following her around," Yuna was quick to fire back, "We may not be as popular as Y/n, but we do know some secrets..." She trails off letting Sooyoung start. "Like when Y/n doesn't get her way, she has the biggest hissy fit,", "And Jihoon is only with her cause he likes the attention, you know to she makes him feel better about himself," Mark couldn't understand how your two announced friends were fundamentally spilling everything about you to an insignificant camera and film nerd. "Behold!" You squeal opening the curtains, to reveal your outfit (which admittedly, had Mark's jaw drop). You were some-what dress shopping for the Spring Formal and you saw this magnificent dress, a silk orchid dress which fell all the way down to your knees frilling at the bottom. The right amount of skin and the right about of puff! You thought; pairing it up with black heels, "God, I look fantastic. What do you think?" You ask the three in front of you, "You-I think you look great!" Mark said the camera to his side, "Film!" You shouted suddenly, as he ponderously brought the camera back up. "Ladies?" You ask the two behind Mark, "You look so good!", "Agreed." They say. The four of you voted to get smoothies before departing and you were ever so willing to pay for all four, "So popular people can't hang out with... nerds?"  He asked filming you sip on the mango smoothie, "Of course we don't," He moved on, placing the camera down to take a sip out of his smoothie thinking there wasn't too much to embellish on, although you continue. "It's better that way, no interference. Why would a dime like me hang out with a nickel?"  You asked oh so wisely which made Mark mumble a WTF. "See, if you two were to go out... The school would go mad as a hatter and it's not gonna end well on both ends." Yuna adds you look to her in the seat beside you, giving her a warning look to 'not talk this is my movie' as she sinks in her seat. Mark sees the silence as an opportunity to ask a question from his cue cards filled with questions that would have something engaging, after finding something to grab not only your attention but the audience about to watch this's attention, he springs the question on you. What if you don't win Spring Formal Queen? "What if I don't? That's not a question, of course, I will? If I don't my life will be over!" You said sliding your drink aside stressing the word over. 

It was in the late hours of the evening and Mark was confined inside his bedroom, editing and stressing. How was this a high school documentary? She only cares about herself, 'fashionable' friends, and prince charming, in which two out of the three didn't even care about her. Maybe she's like this because of what it's like at home? He thought questioning about your at-home life was. Does she have a deep heart-aching past which makes her act like such a nuisance? Nah who am I kidding this isn't some movie. His night was mostly spent, under his blanket with a laptop screen shining into his eyes (probably the reason why he has contacts). 

Saturdays were beach days. That's what Jihoon always said. You'd meet him at the beach where all the (popular) kids from school would go on Saturday mornings, not to sun-bathe but to attend the main volleyball matches would be held. The teams were unauthorized, but for the student's entertainment, our Yonsei's official volleyball team would pick Saturday mornings for a friendly event against Joongdong High. You texted Mark beforehand to meet you there which took him a minute to agree on, but only if he brought his friends, Johnny and Jungwoo. "Hey, you're late!" You tell the boy who's jogging towards you with his tiny camera, you look behind him to see a taller fellow, "And you brought  friends..." You said uninterested and rather irritated, "I'm gonna help Mark, so you look extra beautiful today Y/n!" He quickly said chiming in; his effort in pleasing you was extraordinary. You give him a small smile before nodding. You look beside Mark to see a familiar face, "Johnny!" You cheer before embracing the boy, "Hey Queen Bee" He joked, as you slap his arm jokingly. You and Johnny's dads are business partners, which often made you two spend time together growing up so, in your world, Johnny was your only nerd. Mark just awkwardly stands the before Johnny scatters away with Jungwoo for soda cans, but Mark follows you. Mark was busy filming your little interactions with Jihoon before catching a glimpse of his Ryunjin. He thinks to himself, I can put the camera down for a second, before jogging to Ryunjin, who was getting a soda from the vending machine. "Hey," He said awkwardly. "Hi Mark, didn't come across to you being a beach guy..." She responded laughing at his getup in the hot climate. "OH, I'm just filming for Y/n." He stated catching 'O' shape form on her lips before they start talking casually. You back away, momentarily from the crowd to give yourself a little break, being gorgeous is a workout, you thought, before snickering. You look to your right to see Mark in the distance talking to a brown-haired girl, noticing the purple highlights, hidden between her locks, you realize it's not some rando,  it's Ryunjin. I have to get him out of there. You don't really think before grabbing a spare volleyball to flinging it over the crowd to Mark's head. Running over you ignore the girl aiding Mark, "Are you okay? You look okay. We don't have time for breaks." You said sternly before grabbing his arm and sprinting as fast as you could in a pencil skirt and orange stilettos.

"God, your so lucky I was your knight in shining armour out there. Saved you from your utterly wretched flirting." You tell Mark posing for the camera he set. "Flirting? What, no. Why would I flirt with Ryunjin?" He demanded panicked that you might do something knowing you. "Oh please, your crush on Ryunjin is way more obvious than Wonyoung's fake gold." You said adjusting the skirt you had on. "Can't believe I used to be her friend," You mutter, which he caught onto quickly, "Wait, what?", "Yea, in elementary but look at us now, way out of her league, she's almost at the bottom of the list with her, 'I'm in a rock band' getup." You spit before posing dramatically. 

You sit at the bench in front of the now, empty parking lot. Jihoon ditched you for 'pizza with the boys' to celebrate their victory along with the two friends who just needed to tag along for the sole purpose to tell everyone they hang out with the volleyball team during their free time. "Hey," Mark said sitting down beside you, "They left me and took my car." You say recalling Jihoon asking for your keys to drive to the pizza place. "Now I'm stuck here, do you have a car Mark, let's go somewhere." You whined quietly watching as Mark put his camera away, grabbing your hand to bring you away. "This is Jeno." Mark says, pointing to his Silver 1965 Oldsmobile, "He's getting old but isn't vintage a style you princesses adore?" He asked, chuckling before telling you to get in. "Spot on Film Geek!" You praise, before hopping in. You notice from the corner of your eye a group of kids from Yonsei walking by, you duck down, hiding from them "What are you doing now?" Mark asked confused, before noticing the batch walking down and taking a turn. "Okay Miss Popular, they're gone." He said a little insecure this time giving you a dry laugh. You notice from the corner of your eye a group of kids from Yonsei walking by, you duck down, hiding from them "What are you doing now?" Mark asked confused, before noticing the batch walking down and taking a turn. "Okay Miss Popular, they're gone." He said a little insecure this time giving you a dry laugh. The car failed Mark this time, and not wanting to break the already broken car he tells you "Let's bus it, this car isn't going to start anytime soon,", "What? No way I'm going inside a jam-packed van just for it to stop a block away from my place!" You argue. "God why don't you quit this diva act and just face were gonna walk back which is probably a little over two hours I know you won't ever do or take a thirty-minute bus ride which you should consider knowing your so-called prince took.", "What did you just call me? A diva? Hello?? I'm a star in your film!" You bark, now furious at the boy, "No. You are a stuck-up, arrogant, annoying brat who's in my film." He fired-back. No remorse at all. "You're-You're fired!" You shout. "No, this is my film you don't do the firing!" He said back, "Don't care, I'm the star here and I say you're fired!" You finish before he grabs your wrist, "Oh please I'm the only one who demands are going to be valid and I say you're fired." Mark finished walking away from the bus-stop down the street, leaving you alone and forced to call a cab.

Mark thinks he hit jack-pot, finally getting rid of you. "It's not too late to change projects right?" He tells himself on that gloomy Monday morning, combing his hair with his fingers in the mirror before going downstairs to eat breakfast. Here he was, eating a bagel in Principle Dong's office. "I'm afraid you can't Mark," He said towards the boy. 

"Hello! Yonsei!! It's me your future Spring Queen! Y/n! You want to better the halls of Yonsei? Vote for me, I'm sweet just like candy!!" You shout, the crowd you have in front of you, this was your way of campaigning. "Out of my way," Wonyoung says, grabbing the mic, to advertise and get people to vote for her. As per usual, she one-ups her opponent; you. "Oh my god, Y/n thanks for the advice on flirting, I finally got Wooseok to go with me for Spring Formal," Jisoo said, from behind making you turn with a happy smile, "So I can count on your vote?" Her smile faded quick, she mumbles a little something, before stuffing her face with the homemade cookie's Wonyoung provided, quick to run away.

It was almost the end of the school day and you were stuck in literature recapping on how to write proper paragraphs before your end of the year essay. You notice a semi-familiar face, Nayeon. You know she and Johnny are friends, so she must be close to Mark, you thought. You were gonna ask her to ask Mark to meet you but you'd rather not bring more geeks into your already geek-filled life. You read her phone screen that illuminated brightly in the dim-lit classroom. 'The Fifth Element is having a showing tonight,' A group chat called 'Hollywood's Trash' sent in, Mark would definitely be there. Writing down on a sticky note the address provided thankfully you slip it into your binder focusing your attention back on the lesson, this time with a smile.

You and probably the only other person you'd allow in your bedroom with you is Minho. He's been your family's butler for a little over 25 years now and has been with since day 1. Aiding since you unintentionally fell and cut a mark after attempting to bike without training wheels to strengthening you with your mother's passing. Minho was with you when he dropped you off at the very, very empty cinema. "They're probably inside, just wait until it's over which is..." He looks at his wrist, to his watch. "Another 10 minutes," He gives you an assuring smile before reaching over to open the door. "Knock em' dead," He tells you, before driving off. You sit on the sidewalk ledge with a soda in hand, sipping on it here and there until you began to see people walk out. Standing up, you pat down your skirt and look for anyone that resembles Mark. You see a short boy, black-parted hair and a graphic t-shirt paired with baggy trousers. "Mark!" You shout, he looks behind him to see your petite figure run up to him, "Hey," He said confused. "What are you doing right now?" you asked him eagerly, seeing him turn to Nayeon, Johnny and Jungwoo. "Yong's, we are totally digging sugar cookies," Jungwoo said before Mark could open his mouth, you smile leaning in a little closer to the odd trio,  "Mind if I tag along?", "No! Feel free." Johnny said, grabbing your forearm to drag you along. 

"God how can you guys drink those dreadful things," Nayeon said watching Johnny and Jungwoo gulp down smoothies. You and Mark already finished your drinks a while back, "Nayeon you do know, smoothies have a health glow about them? They’re often a fundamental part of cleanses, and they’re ubiquitous at health food stores and health-centric restaurants. And the smoothie trend is still going strong. Workout studios serve them up post-class, dietitians preach their powers and fit celebrities tout their nutritional prowess. The fruits used at Yong's are fresh and have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits with low-sugar, employee's here have also learnt to provide fibre, calcium and vitamins A, C and K they add dark leafy greens like spinach or kale. "Y/n what the fuck??" Nayeon said. You stare at her dumbfounded... Have you said the wrong thing? Were you wrong?

It's still the early hours of twilight, and you are still wandering with Mark and his friends, roaming around the lit-up town. "So, since when did you get so smart?" Mark asked. The two of you were walking delayed to get a chance to talk after your dispute. "What do you mean I've always been like this," You said, a little offended he thought that low of your academic abilities. He mutters a 'wow' before continuing "Well I thought pretty diva's like you only cared about popularity and crowns," He said poking fun at our egotistic side. You gasp before laughing, "So you think I'm pretty?" You sneakily stated which made the boy stutter like crazy, he couldn't answer back without the rosy tint on his cheek growing so you continued on with a little heartfelt apology in hopes he'd continue the documentary. "Look I was hoping you'd let me hire you back to finish this stupid film," You started smiling eye-to-eye hopefully, "You mean, I could hire you back?" He said. "Yes, whatever. Just continuing this- whatever" you pointed at him, then back at you repeating his vigorously "whatever this is.", "Only under one condition, you being a little bossy duchess is not gonna be happening, I like the cool nerdy Y/n I saw at Yong's," He said, which you quickly fired back with 'I'm not a nerd!' You accept your mini defeat against Film Club boy, letting him know you need a ride home before anything. "Alright, get in."

"Wha-What are you doing?!" Mark asked, laughing so much he almost dropped to the floor. You invited him inside after he agreed to drop you off at home. "Making cookies duh!!" You cheer, grabbing all the chocolatey goods from the cabinet. He's quick to pull out his camera and hit record, "Welcome to my Y/n's baking show!" You sang, adding a  trumpet noise (with your mouth). "So, what's the new with you and Ryu?" You ask, sitting beside Mark diving into a very, very unhealthy mess you call a cookie, with Mark. "Nothing really, how are you and Jihoon." You sigh to look over at the spacious living room, Mark understands your silence and understands your having trouble in paradise. "How about I ask some of her band mates- who worship me. If they can ask Ryu to go on a date with you" You suggest to Mark with a soft smile. He looks at you, thoughtfully, "I got someone else on my mind nowadays..." He tells you with a crimson red colour visible on his cheeks. "I-I should get going now it's nearly ten." He says going to grab his things, you nod and walk towards the front door. Maybe some nerds are cool, you thought, before Mark went out. 

3 weeks. You've spent the last three weeks with Mark Lee. Getting to know him, documenting your- I mean our movie. He's been warming up to you, and you've been less of what he liked to call you; diva. You've started flaking out on some dates with the girls, just to film with Mark, you two have learnt more about him through the movie nights you spent over at your place after filming. He's really cool and you're grateful you stopped clowning around to know him.  Today you went over to Mark's place extra early since you wanted to give him a makeover. His dorky striped tees were getting old and you'd like to see him rock the nice clothes in his closet you knew he had. "Wear this, this and OH! Make sure to put these to use." You say handing him a pair of khaki pants, a yellow shirt, patch denim jacket and a beanie to wear. It was beautiful to see him actually clean up for once, he almost made you fall for his looks. "If Ryunjin doesn't ask you out, don't mind if I do," You said laughing "Aren't you too busy with Jihoon to look after me?" He said bluntly laughing before stopping to look for a reaction which was nowhere to be found, "Jihoon broke up with me because apparently, I'm a part of the geek team now!" You said chuckling, a hidden sadness underneath. "Hey, don't worry I've been a member of the geek squad for about my whole life I think we roll far better than rich snobs-", "Hey! Take that back I was one of them" You said punching his arm. "Don't worry you're good," He said laughing it off. To be honest his feelings for Ryunjin over the past few weeks have now shifted into distant memories after getting to know the real you. I think Mark's really been feeling lucky he's got you and he knows you're aware who he's got his eyes on now. You're parting his hand, in between his legs as he sits on the stool, his hands were sneaky to make their way to rest on your hips; you hum unaffected, but proceed to part it nice and neatly before ripping his hands from somewhere it shouldn't be.

It was D-Day. Spring Formal was no longer weeks away, it's hours. You had just recently gotten news that Mark's little documentary he's been making about and with you has won first place in the Annual Film Festival, due to this he had won the summer getaway to Hollywood film camp, which by the way, was exclusive. He was lucky, and he aspired and reached his goal like no other, you on the other hand... Let's just say Spring Formal Queen wasn't something you were looking forward to nowadays. But it did feel nice to win something at a party you didn't even bother to attend, you were too busy telling mark farewell at the airport to be at a function that was still being supervised by faculty. "Don't forget to text me, Mark," You tell the boy in front of you. Today Mark is sporting a red and black striped tee with an In The Row Leather Jacket (gifted by who else other than you!) and some dark blue jeans. "Can't believe you missed the fricken' Spring Formal to hang out with the film geek! Ah You really have evolved," He said standing in front of your hands reaching to nothing when he stuffs them in his jean pockets. "You make me sound like those Digimon characters you collect," You say ultimately making him facepalm at your words Digimon? Really Y/n? he thought before going into a fit of giggles, oh why should he correct you anyways you seem so cute."But no, I won't forget." He assures hand reaching out to rub your side. This time spent with Mark is something the old you would've retched at, but the current you? The current you are thankful, Mark helped you go back to your regular self, showing you that you didn't have to be some type of Barbie doll for some; what Mark called rich slobs. You were better than that now, and you had Mark. You've come to realize that Mark Lee isn't just that geek from the film club. He's above that. His place in your hear is indescribable. Who knew he would be the one to make your heart run laps from simple gestures. It's hilarious in a way, you'd be aggravated if he even came into your vicinity but now you'd be anticipating his visit.

"Mark," You start, watching his eyes light up at you call him. Your eyes meet, looking into one another's dark coffee bean orbs. Your gaze was sharp as if lined with shards of glass around the edges, his eyes. God, when your eyes met, you could see the glow in them, it was irresistible. That is when you finally realize, this newly discovered desire you found in yourself, is in Mark. He foresees your next moves bringing a hand up to your cheek, caressing it. "God, you're so beautiful," He whispers watching both of your arms trail up his torso to rest firmly on his shoulder. Leaning in, you finally taste his peach lips. His heart was racing, once he dipped his face down to you. He knew that once he places his soft pink lips on you, he wouldn't want to stop.  Breaking the kiss, you whisper, "Goodbye, Mark." Hand raising to ruffle his hair, "Make me proud out there," You tell him, leaving a less-heated peck on his lips. "Thank you, goodbye Y/n" He wanders off into his designated area before taking off almost immediately pulling his phone out. Is he really that addicted to elec- Oh, your phone rings. He's calling you, "I miss you already," he tells you the moment you answer. "I miss you too." You tell him. "I have to go, my Uber is here." you bit your lip, the words tangling up in the pit of your stomach, should you tell him the eight letters you've been longing to? "I love you, be safe." You look over the crowd to the seat to see him, looking for you. He brings the phone up back to his ear, "I love you too- Fuck so much," It looks like he's been waiting just as long.

Let's just say your happy ending took couple wrong turns but it looks like you finally reached your destination, in Mark's heart.

[littlemonstersau-blog]

The Feels Awaken, Part 2: The Fandom’s Menace

Written by @jkl-fff, illustrated by me

PART I - PART II [Interlude]  - PART III (you are here) - PART IV [Interlude]

———————————————————————————————-

Soos, excitedly setting up everything: Dude, I knew exactly what we should watch as soon as Stan said “movie day”. The prequel trilogy of Cosmos Conflicts! I’ve been meaning to show you them since, like, the first time you said you love the first two originals movies, and even more since we all sat down together so you could finally see Return of the Jelived, Bitch! The prequels’re actually, like, seriously three of my all-time favorite movies ever.

Ford, actually smiling: Heh. I would’ve watched them before now— especially now that I know how keen you are to share them with me— except Dipper and Mabel would never let me. They kept saying they loved me too much to let me watch them, if you can believe it.

Soos: Well, I admit they’re not the most popular with fans, yeah, but that’s just ‘cause, like, most people can’t handle this much raw, concentrated awesomeness.

Melody, deadpan on the floor: Uh huh. That’s exactly what it is.

Soos: It’s like really spicy food; some people just don’t have a— whatcha call it?—sophisticated enough palette to appreciate the awesome sauce. Y’know?

Melody, still deadpan: Most just aren’t refined enough. For sure. Yep. That explains it.

Stan, entering TV room: I got drinks for everybody!

Bill, right after him: And I got the popcorn! Let’s jump right in to this glorious madness!

Melody, mildly surprised: You like these movies?

Bill, passing around bowls of popcorn: Absolutely! They’re one of the hottest messes in cinematic history!

Stan, passing around cups of soda: Mel, you sure you don’t want my easy chair? It’s no problem, really.

Melody: Lying flat is the best thing for my back lately. Besides, I can put my feet up in my honeybear’s lap while he rubs them for me.

Soos, genuinely happy at this prospect: Sure can, honeybadger!

Stan, taking his seat: Well, if you’re sure. C’mon, gremlin! [picks up Bill]

Bill, almost giggling: Whoahoho! Careful, I’m gonna spill!

Stan, setting Bill next to him (on opposite side of Ford): There. All comfy, kiddo?

Bill, deciding to settle in like a cat: Alright, yeah, I’m okay with this. Primo seating and everything!

Ford, making himself look straight ahead: Let’s start it.

TV: George Dufasfilms Ltd. and 20th Century Foxups presents … Cosmos Conflicts, Episode 1! The Phantom Nuisance! [fanfare theme song plays, prologue crawls upward]

Ford: Wait, what? “Turmoil has engulfed the galaxy because taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute”?! This is about freaking tax policy? And that leads to galactic turmoil?

Stan: Don’t know ‘bout you, but the IRS certainly causes me turmoil. [Soos stops rubbing Melody’s feet long enough to highfive him]

Ford, incredulous: This is a prequel, right? So why is all their tech more advanced? Why are there more and better droids?

Soos: Well, the Trade Union canonically uses droids more than other species. It only makes sense they’d create more advanced—

Bill: Because George Dufas has a robot fetish. That’s seriously why. He uses the entirety of this film like normal people use hardcore porn.

TV: Master, I have a bad feeling about this. TV: Be mindful of the Living Force, my rattail-coiffed padawan.

Ford: Pada-what-now? That’s not a word. Why didn’t they go with “apprentice” or—heck!—“squire”, since they’re Jelived Knights?

Soos: Shhhhh!

TV: Gee thanks, Master, that’s certainly helpful and not at all vague. That advice will definitely help me be a diplomat, even though Jelived like us are more like killer, magic samurai-priest-cops. TV: Indeed, my superfluously-ponybobbed padawan, which is why we have openly worn our iconic bathrobes and lasercutlasses instead of even the most basic of disguises. Letting the Trade Union know the Senate sent trained killers will surely put them at ease.

Melody: Nope, they’ll try to gas you both now. Good thing they kept all that toxic gas in their air vents.

TV: My fellow crafty and greedy Trade Unionist insectoids. First, I raise a glass to our race’s abandon of our native customs and tongue in favor of caricatures of antiasian stereotypes and accents. TV: Hear hear! TV: Second, we have done well in executing our secret Shit master’s evil plan to blockade this world of minor socio-economic importance (for some reason), and to kill those two Jelived. They must surely be dead by now, so let’s send in some droids to kill them further. TV: But, sir, they’ve only been in there for fifteen seconds. TV: OPEN THE DOOR, I SAY! AND SEND IN … FIVE DROIDS! TV: Sir, predictably, they weren’t dead, and destroyed the five droids. Now they are cutting through the door to our command center. TV: IMPOSSIBLE! SEND … TWO MORE DROIDS! NO, THREE!

Ford: Wasn’t the hangar full of battle droids?

Melody: Oh, the whole ship is. They just want the fight to be fair.

Ford: … what. [watches as Trade Union leader makes a call to Queen Imdolledupa] … What. [watches as she tells her council “I won’t condone actions that could lead Planet Baboon to war, even if we have been blockaded for months at this point and they’re clearly planning an invasion”] … What. [watches as invasion lands on opposite side of planet than cities] … WHAT.

Bill, grinning: Don’t worry. It gets worse. Much, much worse. Starting … right … now.

TV: Tank yusa for saving mesa from dose bombad battle droids, yusa Jelived who escaped da main starship by sneaky-sneaky on dat transport! Mesa love you! Mesa follow you forever and ever! TV: Master, I sense that this Jerkjerk creature will bring suffering to millions. May I please cut him down for the good of the Force? TV: No, my practically mulleted padawan. We need him alive, because … reasons. Probably related to merchandising. TV: Mesa take yusa to secret, bubble city of mesa people now!

Ford, through gritted teeth: Who the fffff … fuzz is that annoying frog-lizard-man, and why do I feel a collective unconscious urge to beat him to death with my bare hands?! Why aren’t the Jelived Force Choking him, or at least Mind Tricking him into leaving?

Bill: That is Jerkjerk Kinks, a monument to Dufas’s amphibian fetish and the first reason the Twins wouldn’t let you watch this movie.

Soos, defensively: He’s not that bad! He’s got a good heart!

Melody, sighing: Oh, my sweet, innocent, naïf honeybear …

TV: Boss Gass, even though you dislike the humans who invaded and colonized your planet, and even though you live completely apart from them in your Plasmatlantis, you are symbiotic with them. TV: Mesa tinking yusa no understand what “symbiotic” means. TV: Well, if you won’t help the humans, at least don’t kill Jerkjerk—

Ford, spitting out popcorn: YES, KILL JERKJERK!

TV: —because he owes me a life debt and is now basically my slave. Your gods and laws demand that his life belongs to me. TV: Mesa tinking it racist for yusa to claim to understand oursa laws and culture, white man. And to claim ownership of a sentient being (dat isn’t a droid). But yusa hair so fabulous and mesa so bored wit dis conversation, mesa give yusa Jerkjerk and submarine so yusa go. TV: Excellent. Now, to boat through the planet’s watery core.

Ford: … That is literally impossible. Even if the core was water, the center would be denser than rock because of all the pressure. [watches as ship navigates past giant sea monsters] There would be no light, no life, no nothing down there.

Soos, patiently: Yeah, but it’s fun. That’s what matters.

Stan: I like how they just happen to pop up in the capital city, and how nobody notices them, even though it’s occupied.

Bill: I like how the people of Planet Baboon put up absolutely zero resistance to the Trade Union’s invasion, despite all the forewarning they had since the blockade and from the invasion landing clear on the wrong side of the planet. If only Imdolledupa had been Mayor of Gravity Falls, am I right? Heh heh … heh … What? Too soon?

Ford, grimacing at Bill: Mmm …

Stan, patting him: Gremlin, it’ll prob’ly always be too soon for that.

TV: Master, there’s the Queen. How fortunate we came up next to her, and that the Trade Union decided to march her through the streets instead of simply landing a shuttle outside the palace. TV: Yusa big fortunate dey only escorted by six droids even dough hersa entourage has twenty people! TV: … Master, yet again I beg you to let me kill this irritating— and you’re already gone … and the droids are already dead. TV: Majesty, I am Jelived Master Leam-Nee San. Come with me if you want to Jelive. We’ll escape this planet, take you to the Senate, and tell them how heated this tax policy dispute has gotten here. TV: You arrived at a fortunate time, Jelived, because they were about to make me sign a treaty legalizing their invasion of Baboon.

Melody: ‘cause that’d be totally legit, right? No coercion at all.

Stan, nudging Bill, whispering: Maybe you should’ve forced Mayor Cutebiker to sign a treaty, eh?

Bill: Heh! But you just said—

Ford, grimacing at Stan: Mmm … [watches as they find an unguarded ship and fly straight at blockade instead of around it; ship gets away, but with hyperdrive damage] Okay, why is that Jelived—what’s his name? Yuan-Mac Gragor?— repairing the hyperdrive instead of a pilot? Is that supposed to be standard training for Jelived, or something?

Soos, shrugging: Seems like it’d be pretty easy to pick up to me.

Melody: Well, yeah, it would be for you, honeybear. Mr. Handyman with the magic fingers! Aw, yeah, that’s the spot … Keep rubbing …

TV: We can’t land on Hallowine, it’s controlled by Pitsa-Hutts! They’re gangsters! It wouldn’t be safe for Queen Imdolledupa! TV: I’m sorry, non-Jelived person, I couldn’t hear you over how luxurious my hair is. And I don’t care what you said anyway. Now, I’m off to buy us a hyperdrive. Time and stealth are of the essence, so naturally I’m going to take with me a slow-rolling droid, my frog-lizard-man slave who is so idiotic he will step in every literal and figurative pile of doodoo, and this willful teenage girl. TV: Master Jelived, not to question your wisdom, but— TV: Good. See to it that you never question any Jelived ever again, for we are infallible and will take off your head. Tata for now.

Stan: Why take Jerkjerk? D’you think he was hopin’ to sell him? Or maybe just ditch him?

Ford: Being amphibious, it’s likely the extreme heat and dryness might’ve proved fatal to him. Perhaps the hope was he’d drop dead.

Soos, whimpering softly: Why does everyone hate him? He just wants to help!

Ford, curtly: Because he’s the worst, Soos. He’s just … the worst. [watches shadowy Shit Lord Farth Sidious bitch at Trade Union for letting the Queen get away, then dispatches Farth Maul to fix it; watches heroes wander into a desert town on Hallowine]

TV: How fortunate the first shop we enter has a hyperdrive for sale. Now to use my Mind Trick on the disgusting, pig-butterfly proprietor without once having the least of scruples about how unethical that is. TV: Ha! Mind Tricks won’t work on me, only MONEY! I’m surprised you couldn’t tell from my Yiddish accent and hooked nose, human.

Ford, eyes wide in shock: Did they really just—

Stan, shaking his head: Moses—

Soos, blanching: Oh, yeah … I, uh, k-kinda forgot about him. Sorry, dudes. I guess all the lasercutlass duels and space battles made me forget about the, um, antisemitic stereotypes.

Ford: Not … Not your fault, Soos. We’ll just—

TV: Are you an angel? I know it doesn’t make sense that angels exist as a mythological concept in our galaxy, but you’re really pretty, so … I’m a slave, by the way. So is my mom, though you’d never know it since we dress like everybody else and get to walk around freely. I saved your frog-lizard-man friend thing from a brawl, by the way. My name’s Otherkin Skyjogger. I’m 9, but that doesn’t matter, angel. TV: I’m Padmy Resume. I’ll try to forgive you for saving Jerkjerk. TV: Is your friend with the magnificent hair a Jelived, angel? He has a Jelived weapon. There’s a sandstorm coming, even though the air looks exactly the same as it did a while ago, so you should all come have dinner at my place. My mom won’t mind, even though we have very little money for food, presumably, what with being slaves. TV: Why not? Story’s not going anywhere. I’ll get Leam-Nee San.

Bill, stifling a cackle at the next scene: (My favorite dialogue!)

TV: Queen, this is a holo-transmission from Baboon, even though we have no idea where your ship is because you’re hiding. Anywho, the Trade Union is awful, the death toll is catastrophic, the weather is a little humid. Please contact us; this is not an obvious ploy. Love ya, bye! … Wait, did I just say “love ya” to the Que— TV: I know I’m just a padawan with a pointlessly stupid haircut, but I’m gonna tell your planet’s leadership what to do now. *Ahem*. That was an obvious plot to learn where the Queen is. Don’t reply.

Stan: If I was that security office, I’d bitchslap that uppity teen.

Melody, warningly: Language.

Bill: Sorry, Mel, he meant to say “teenslap that uppity bitch”. [highfives Stan]

Ford: Pffhaha! *ahem* [watches Otherkin take them home and mother is all “Sure, why not? I’ll give room and board to three strangers who’ve taken a not-at-all unsettling interest in my prepubescent son. Now for a dinner chat!”] Wait, what? Did he seriously just say he’s the only human who can rocket-chariot race? But racing is just … racing!

Bill: He just wants to impress the “angel”, so he’s exaggerating. But she believes him even though he’s 9 and obviously has a crush on her ‘cause she’s kind of a Dumasc.

Melody, more warningly: Language.

Soos, reluctantly: Actually, he’s not swearing. It’s an in-canon term for “politician” ‘cause the galactic capital is on Planet Dumascent.

Bill: And it’s very political of her—gets them free room and board. Yep, that Dumasc ain’t no dumbass.

Ford and Stan, cracking up: Pfffhahahaha!

TV: There’s a problem, my should-just-get-a-buzzcut padawan. I found a hyperdrive, but couldn’t Mind Trick the owner to give it to me for racist and plot-related reasons, and it’d be unethical to just steal it (and I just can’t be unethical). Nor could I buy it with a promise of higher repayment next week from Jelived funds. But, fortunately, there’s a rocket-chariot race soon, and if this 9-year-old Force Sensitive I just met wins … we’ll get the money to buy it!

Stan, exasperated: What, does George Dufas also have a fetish for 80s sitcom clichés? Don’t answer that question, Bill.

TV: And I’ll win the kid as a slave—Jelived apprentice, I mean— because I unironically rigged a dice toss with my powers. I had to bet the Queen’s ship, but I’m sure she won’t mind if we don’t tell her. TV: Ah, but you’re going to use Jelived powers to rig the race, right? TV: What?! Never! That would be unethical and spoil the suspense! TV: … Master, I’m concerned your gambling addiction is— TV: What? Khshh! Can’t hear you! Khshh! There’s a sandstorm! Oh, also, I’m transmitting the kid’s blood sample through our radio. TV: That’s not how radios work, Master, but okay … dum di dim … Got the results, and this kid has more midi-chlorians than Yoda.

Ford, suspicious: What … are … those?

Bill, grinning: The second reason the Twins wouldn’t let you see this movie. Heh heh heh …

TV: My 9-year-old son is meant to help you in this dangerous race. It’s destiny, and stuff. That’s why I’m so criminally permissive. Oh, did I mention his conception was immaculate?

Ford, jumping up: WHAT?! JESUS CHRIST!

Bill, grinning: Exactly. Space Jesus Christ.

Ford: Does … Does this mean … midi-chlorians …

TV: Sir, you were talking to my mom about midi-chlorians? TV: Ah, yes, the omnipresent, microscopic organisms that confer the Force randomly upon some individuals, are not at all mystical or magical, and are probably your daddy, O Chosen One of the Jelived.

Ford, apoplectic: WHAT THE FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF—

Soos, whimpering softly: Oh, no! the Angry Words™!

Melody: Don’t you dare, Stanford Pines!

Ford, like a death metal singer: —UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—

Melody: Don’t! You! Dare!

Ford: —NDAMENTALLY STUPID IDEA IS THIS CRAP?! AND HOW DOES FARTH MAUL KNOW TO CHECK THIS PLANET, BUT THE JELIVED DON’T SENSE HIS DARK PRESENCE?! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS BULLSHI—

Stan, as though his brother wasn’t screaming: Oh, look, Sixer. It’s time for the big rocket-chariot race.

Ford, breathing heavily: If this isn’t the best race ever, I swear … [watches race] Okay, yes, that was genuinely exciting.

Soos, relieved: Hooray!

Ford: Enough that I’m going to overlook the sabotage in front of a stadium of spectators, the fact it didn’t actually impede his winning, the ludicrousy of Otherkin catching up to but not passing his rival, and Java the Pitsa-Hutt being shown sleeping through the race. I mean, really? Why would you suggest your own film is boring?

Melody: To be fair, this is basically space NASCAR, and earth NASCAR is boringer than golf.

Ford, muttering to himself: More boring … Grammar …

TV: Alright, my shamefully beardless padawan, take the hyperdrive and everyone else back to the ship while I make Otherkin say goodbye to his mother forever and ever and ever. TV: About that, Master. Why don’t we just take her with us, too? I mean, slavery’s incontestably morally abhorrent, and we’re Jelived and can screw the consequences of most our actions. TV: What?! Never! TV: Because it’d be unethical to steal someone’s property, Master, even if that property is a sentient being? TV: Well, that, and we already have one major woman character for this whole trilogy. Why would we have more than one woman?

Melody: Grrrr, sexism … Makes me always hope Maul’ll kill him.

TV: Goodbye, son. Jelived, promise you’ll take care of my son? TV: What? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you over how opulent my hair is. Anyway, tata forever. Come along, Otherkin. TV: I love you, mom! I’ll never forget you!

Stan, looking sideways in surprise: Gremlin, are … are you crying?

Bill, swiping at eyes: W-what, me?! No! Not like goodbyes’re s-sad! I just got, um, some g-glitter dust in my eyes … All Mabel’s fault the stuff is freakin’ everywhere in here …

Stan, putting an arm around him: Heh. Tell me about it, kiddo.

Ford, silently glancing sideways at Bill: (… hmm …)

TV: Excuse me, Yuan-Mac, but isn’t that a Shit Lord attacking your master right outside the ship? Shouldn’t you go help him? TV: I would, but this chair’s just too comfy. If I get up, you know Imdolledupa will steal it (that bitch!). Besides, look, Leam-Nee San got aboard the ship just fine. Oh *sigh* and so did his new slave boy. Guess I should go introduce myself to that homewrecking hussy— er, kid! I meant kid … Hello, Master and filthy slave boy. TV: Ah, my worst-hair-of-the-three-of-us padawan, meet my new younger and cuter padawan, Otherkin Skyjogger. The Chosen One. I’m sure you two will be best friends and as close as brothers. TV: Hi! (I’m daddy’s new favorite. Die jealous about it.) TV: Hi! (I will throw you into a volcano the first chance I get.) TV: I knew you two would hit it off. But I wonder who that person in black with a red lightsaber was who attacked me just now … Well, I’m off to bed. Don’t stay up too late becoming best friends.

Ford: Does he really not pick up on them hating each other then?

Soos, confused: What’re you talking about? They get really close.

Ford: Pff. Yeah, which is why Farth Vaper strikes him down in the original movie, right?

Stan: Eh, what’s a little strikin’ down between brothers?

Melody: “Space is cold,” Padmy Resume says to the kid. Like, don’t they have temperature controls in their ships?

Bill: Don’t forget, this was “a long time ago”. They hadn’t invented space heaters yet.

Ford: Ha! Haha—er, *ahem* that was … that was clever. [watches them land on Dumascent, a planet-wide city] That … is also impossible. Completely unsustainable. Without trees, how do they breathe?

Bill: They export all their CO and CO2, and import … everything, pretty much. Oxygen, food, water … It’s the reason they named the planet Dumascent; they’re all—

Melody, warningly: Don’t say it.

Bill, silently mouthing at Ford: (… dumbasses.)

Ford: Heh heh … [watches Imdolledupa’s retinue go with Baboon Senator Shiv Saltine while the Jelived threesome goes to the Temple and tests Otherkin]

TV: Esteemed fellow Senators, I haven’t made a big deal about it, because I kinda suck at my job, but Baboon was invaded recently. I now introduce Queen Imdolledupa and Representative Jerkjerk—

Ford, sarcastically: Well, he certainly is qualified.

TV: —who will speak on my planet’s behalf, thereby rendering my presence here as a Senator utterly redundant. Majesty? TV: I— TV: I’M THE SENATOR FROM THE TRADE UNION, BECAUSE IT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE A COMPANY HAS EQUAL REP WITH INHABITED PLANETS, AND I NOW FORMALLY MAKE A MOTION OF “SHUT UP, BITCH”! TV: Motion is seconded. The bitch is hereby required to shut up. TV: … Okay, y’know what? Screw y’all bureaucrats. As queen, I raise my planet’s middle finger at all of you. Now, I’m going back to do what I should’ve done months ago … fight the invaders! TV: Mesa going wid you? TV: Sure, why the space heck not?! We’re out. Peace between worlds!

Melody, raising a fist: You go, girl! Better late than never!

Bill: And the moral of the story is that democracy doesn’t work.

Ford, dubious: Thank you, Farth Cipher. Anyway, if we get lucky, Jerkjerk will die painfully in the coming battle.

Soos, whimpering: He’s just doing his best!

TV: Spoken, the Jelived Council has (meaning a decision, I’ve made with Master Sa-Myul Jaxon, which abide the other masters will, if what’s good for them, they know). Your padawan, Otherkin won’t be. TV: Master Jaxon, for clarity’s sake, could you explain why not? TV: Our code forbids someone as old as he is be trained. For reasons. Our code forbids you having two padawans at once. For reasons. TV: And much fear in him, we sense. Which bad, always is. TV: But, Master Yoda, his midi-chlorians—

Ford, jumping up: RRRAAAAAARRRGHGHGHGHGHGH!

TV: —and he’s the Chosen One prophesied to bring balance—

Ford: WHO EVEN MAKES THESE PROPHECIES?!

TV: —and it’s kind of hypocritical of you to say his fear is bad even as you are all too afraid to let train him be trained. TV: Clutching my pearls, I now am! A scandal, this is! TV: The council forbids you training him, Leam-Nee San. TV: Huh? Sorry, Master Baldy, I couldn’t hear you over how sumptuous my hair is. Oh, and now my middle fingers are up for some reason. Strange … Well, better go train Otherkin. I’ll start by taking him to the soon-to-be Baboon warzone. Tata, bitches.

Bill: I guess we call that Leam-Nee San’s act of … HAIResy!

Ford and Stan: Pffhahaha!

Melody, annoyed: The prophecy (we almost never hear about again) is to bring “balance to the Force”, right? Why do none of them ever consider that might signify strengthening the Dark Side? I mean, Jelived are kinda dominating the galaxy right now, and are always trying to stomp the Shit out of existence.

Ford and Stan and Bill, uncontrollably: Hehehehehehehe!

Soos, plaintively: Why must we always question it, dudes? Why can’t we just enjoy it?

Stan: ‘cause they’re flyin’ back to the planet without any trouble. Look, the blockade is gone. Where the heck did it go?

Bill: They got sucked into a black plot hole. Lots of those in space.

Ford: And they just happen to land in the swamp right where all the frog-lizard-men are hiding?

Bill: Don’t forget George Dufas made good actors act woodenly. See?

TV: Boss Gass, I woodenly beg you to help us. To be our allies. After this, we’ll return lands and first-class citizen status to you, even though your people are slimy and inferior non-humans. TV: Hmm … Wesa live in a bloody swamp. Wesa need all the land wesa can get. Okay, wesa fight wid you, and Jerkjerk is a general.

Ford, sarcastically: Well, he certainly is qualified.

TV: The plan’s for us to sneak into the palace via secret passages that of course it has. While one team seizes the Trade Union leader, 12 pilots will take on the blockade that just barely reappeared. Well, it’s just one ship for some reason now and not a blockade. So, yeah, 12 should be enough. Meanwhile, Boss Gass’s and *snicker* General Jerkjerk’s armies’ll be a cannon fodder distraction. TV: Mesa have no qualms wid taking on a better armed force. TV: Good, because you blinked and we’re in the palace already. TV: Oh, blast. I was going to leave you on the ship, Otherkin, but the Queen scene-transitioned us here too quickly. Okay, listen. I want you to find somewhere safe to hide, alright? TV: Yes, daddy. I mean, Master Leam-Nee San. TV: Uh, daddy—I mean, Master? That Shit from Hallowine is back. Should I have the Queen’s troops gun him down? TV: No, my why-didn’t-you-get-a-haircut-on-Dumascent padawan, we will seductively slip out of our Jelived bathrobes and duel him despite his badass, double-ended lasercutlass. BONZAI!

Ford, excited: Finally, the good stuff! [watches movie cut back to Jerkjerk; his people’s shields stop blasts, but not droids and tanks rolling right through them] … what. [watches Otherkin hide in a ship, activate it on accident, fly it into the heat of a space battle on accident, not get shot down but rather shoot down bunches of droid ships on accident—because the Force and because rocket-chariot racing and because fuck the audience— “I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ll try a spin; that’s a good trick.”] … What. [watches Jerkjerk shoot more enemies than all the stormtroopers in the original trilogy combined on accident, explode some on accident] … What. [watches Otherkin crash land inside the Trade Union ship on accident blow up its power core or something on accident, escape on accident] … WHAT.

Soos, unironically: Hooray for Jerkjerk! Hooray for Otherkin!

Ford: Boo for Jerkjerk! Boo for Otherkin! Why aren’t they dying?! [throws handful of popcorn at screen]

Bill, excitedly joining in: Woooooo! Anarchy in the living room!

Ford, ranting: Why are all the droids shutting down?! Why would anyone design battle droids without independent operating systems?! Why isn’t there at least one other battleship with a backup for them?! And where the fffff-funky music is my lasercutlass duel?! [watches Queen’s retinue capture the Trade Union leaders “Your invasion of the planet we invaded is over, immigrant sc … um, I mean, Asian sc … uh, no, that’s much worse … Well, anyway, it’s over, you scum who aren’t white or that token black guy!”]

Stan, blinking in surprise: I don’t remember this movie bein’ so racist the first time I watched it. Was it always like this?

Ford, throwing more popcorn: Get to the Jelived already! [watches legitimately epic duel with great choreography progress from starfighter hangar into some sort of massive power plant] … What is a power plant doing inside the palace?

Soos: Shhhh!

Bill: Well, on Baboon, the palace is the seat … OF POWER!

Ford: Ha! Indeed … Wait, why is there a corridor of laser doors? And who’s turning them on and off? Are they on an automatic timer, or something? That’s a terrible security design.

Stan: Especially since what they’re guarding is just a dead-end room with a gaping, bottomless pit.

Bill: Lady and Gentlemen, I give you … the movie’s plot hole!

Ford and Stan: Pffhahahahaha!

Soos: Guys, c’mon! You’re spoiling the emotional climax!

TV: Da—I mean, Master, I’m stuck behind a laser door! Hold on! TV: Not to worry, I’ve got this well in hand, my less-than—Gah! Oh, look at that … I’ve been impaled … Huh … Down I fall … TV: DAAAAADDDDDDYYYYY!

Ford, surprised: Wow … I actually am moved right now … [watches Yuan-Mac Gragor attack once door opens, get kicked into the pit but catch onto a convenient pipe thing or something]

TV: It’s over, Jelived. I, Farth Maul, have the high ground. TV: What a stupid thing to say, Shit Lord murderer! You will pay!

Ford: But how can Yuan-Mac Gragor possibly defeat him now? [watches him connect with the Force and do a flying backflip while drawing the lightsaber to him … and cutting Maul in half] OH, BULLSHIT!

Melody: STANFORD PINES!

Ford: The whole fight scene was the coolest except for that ending! Maul just stood there with his guard down let himself get killed off like a little bit—um … idiot. A genuinely intimidating villain, gone without a chance to develop, and in the least satisfying of ways!

Bill, casually: It was assisted suicide, really, ‘cause he couldn’t bear to live any longer in a universe where George Dufas is his god.

TV: Daddy! Master! I’m here! Hold on, please! TV: Listen … my first padawan, my first son … you must train him. Otherkin is the Chosen One … will bring balance to the Force … TV: I promise. No matter what. TV: And you must … get rid of that rattail, grow a proper mane … It’s important … for being a badass Jelived who don’t give a crap … TV: I will. The most magnificent mane ever, I swear. TV: Finally … most importantly … make sure to bury me … with winged eyeliner … *death rattle* TV: NOOO! I mean, I’ll do that, yes, of course. But NOOOOOOO!

Soos, tearing up: *sniffle* He was such a good Jelived.

Bill, evilly: I think you mean “Jedied”.

Ford and Stan: Pffhahahaha!

Bill: And don’t you meatbags usually consider owning slaves to be something that disqualifies a person from being good? Like, he had two of ‘em. Speaking of, you think this means Yuan-Mac Gragor inherits Jerkjerk? Is he legally permitted to euthanize him now?

Melody, considering that: I think the life debt is fulfilled now.

Soos, muttering: (You dudes all suck …)

TV: Come to Baboon, I have. Along with Senate soldiers to arrest the Trade Union (now that matters, Senate involvement does not). TV: Thank you, Master Yoda. That means a lot during my grief. TV: Out of pity, promote you to Knight we do. Also, more impressive than our lame, traditional trials killing a Shit, we consider. So … TV: And may I take Otherkin as my padawan? Just so you know, I made a deathbed promise to train him, so I’m going to anyway. TV: Changed their minds for no reason, the other councilors did. Little bitches, I consider them to be … But no reason, I have really to oppose his training. Other than that grave danger, I fear in his training for us all. For foreshadowing purposes, you understand. TV: Aren’t you always saying “fear leads to the Dark Side”? TV: Like your master, you are. Meaning go screw yourself, you can.

Stan: Convenient decision, ain’t it? Oh, time for the funeral.

Bill: I’m always amazed and, to be honest, a little jealous at the caliber of the winged eyeliner they get on Leam-Nee San.

Stan, shaking his head: Can you believe Yoda and Sa-Myul Jaxon are discussing Jelived business during the guy’s funeral? That’s just inconsiderate, is what that is. And why would the Shit follow that rule of two, anyway? I thought they were anti-Jelived.

Soos, dismal but unable to not answer: ‘cause they know treachery’s gonna happen sooner or later. One apprentice means only one person to keep an eye on.

Ford, derisive: Why not? Makes as little sense as everything else. Oh, they’re having a parade now. And … there’s a glowing orb? Why is the Queen giving a glowing orb to Boss Gass?

Bill: For his coffee table. It’ll make a great conversation piece.

Ford: Or would, except he’d then have to tell this awful story. Just awful … But the rest of the trilogy, it has to be better, right? It couldn’t possibly be worse.

Bill, smiling evilly: Heh heh heh … You say that now …

Soos, sulking: … I guess if you wanna watch ‘em, we can.

Melody, picking up on her husband’s dejection: Can we leave the movies with them, honeybear? I’m starting to not feel well.

Soos: Uh, sure thing, honeybadger, if you like. [gets up, helps her up, goes out the door with her] Um, see you dudes tomorrow!

Stan, with a tinge of regret: Y’think maybe we hurt his feelings raggin’ on the movies so much?

Ford, realization dawning: He … He did say they’re three of his favorite movies. Though I fail to understand why or how … All the same, perhaps I was being insensitive … again … [sighs, shrugs] Oh well. He’s not here anymore, so I suppose we can be as unbridled in our ragging as we want. And tomorrow, we’ll make it up to him. Somehow … Shall we put in the next one?

Bill, excitedly: 79 Hecks yeah! Oh, wait, they’re both gone now.

All three together: We can swear for real!

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #10

Start of a new adventure! Unfortunately we were a player short so we couldn’t really properly kick this thing off, but also, luckily due to some plot revelations last time, there’s new personal stuff and even some NPCs introduced. So there’s some personal stuff and then people start heading for the planet Pavis 8M2, also known as Orchard Mountain. Shall we?

We start with a little flashback to our favorite ex-Inquisitional Acolyte’s past. 

Gimlet, a bookkeeper has been taken to the field by Inquisitor Tanner who he works under. 

Also with them are acolytes / field agents Inpax and Invigilia. 

They are hunting for a rogue psyker by the name of Serafina, who they have a reason to believe is hiding in the village of Limestow. 

Tanner gives instructions to find Serafina to his acolytes, leaving Inpax in charge, so off they go. 

Apparently Gimlet has been taken here because he is possibly from this place, so Inpax asks him to show the way. 

They go visit a tavern of sorts and meet an elderly woman named Tina Fey, who denies ever seeing a psyker, until Inpax threatens her, and she says a strange woman went to the miller’s house. 

Tina also asks Gimlet if she’s met him before as he seems familiar, but Inpax cuts that conversation short. 

Before the miller’s house they visit one more house where they meet a young woman named Amelia and her son Ivan Jr. 

She mentions that people in Limestow are pretty suspicious of Inquisitor’s folk as last time they visited some people who probably shouldn’t have died, died. 

The miller’s house’s door is locked and bolted, so Inpax shoots through it.

Invigilia rounds the corner to see if someone is trying to escape. 

The miller’s house is empty, but Gimlet points out that someone has recently escaped through the window. Inpax pursues this person (turns out to be the miller) and shoots him down.

Gimlet spots the psyker trying to make an escape through the gathering crowd of villagers. 

All the acolytes give pursuit, but Invigilia trips Inpax up.

Inpax berates the villagers for letting the psyker escape. 

Tanner calls Inpax and informs her that the psyker is dead and that the village will be burned down. 

Inpax tries to argue, a bit, but there’s no arguing with Tanner, so she orders Gimlet to get out of there while she does the deed. 

Secretly she lets the children of the village flee. 

The rest burn or get shot down while escaping. 

The trio meets up outside the village with Tanner who tells them that he is a bit disappointed, but glad that the psyker was got in the end. 

He also reminisces about picking up Gimlet here some years ago.

Gimlet is quite green in the face and tries to take some space but Tanner warns him not to turn his back on him, and orders everyone back to ship.

Last time Saef’s player wasn’t present, so we do some minor catch-up with him. 

For one unlike Gorm and Gimlet, he warned the AdMechs of the coming Inquisitor, explaining why Vivek had time to get away before the Inquisitor came.

He searches for information on servitors from Kuru’s memories and finds out that Vivek was just about half-way to servitor’ing before Eden got to him. 

Saef also stays behind to talk with Eden about repairing Theo. 

Eden asks how well he knew Theo, and when Saef admits that he didn’t know well at all, Eden suggests he find someone who did. 

Apparently restoring a person is easier when you have some kind of a clue what kind of a person they used to be. 

But restoring is quite possible, provided Eden gets a chance (and his arms back).

Eden also tells Saef to ask Vivek about servitors and Theo again, if they meet, as Eden suspects he might have some more clue about Theo. 

He also gives an override code for the servitor that returns him to a resting state, as he suspects it might be more comfortable for him. 

The talk is also of Felis Catus, Eden’s cat. Eden gives instructions to pick her up from his new base where she should be.

Gorm’s call to Fenris is fleshed out. 

He calls a Longfang named Hjalmar and asks for permission to claim a servitor for the Space Wolves as he has some information relating to Snorri’s case. 

Hjalmar is cool with it, although he reminds Gorm that despite owning a servitor he should still clean his own armor. 

Hjalmar will have to see who’s the highest ranking officer he can get to sign the permission slip. 

Gorm also asks for more mead and some acolyte weapons because he is ”bored” (ie needs to get some training weapons for Layla secretly).

At some point Gimlet comes to visit Saef. 

He wants to talk about what happened with Snorri and Gorm back on the planet. 

He says what Saef did was very brave and he’s very proud of him. Saef says thanks. 

After Gimlet Gorm comes to visit Saef. 

He wants to talk about what happened with Snorri back on the planet. 

He says he’s disappointed in Saef and warns him not to get in between Gorm and dangerous people again.

Gorm and Gimlet accompany Saef to go pick up Felis Catus although both of them don’t have great memories about the cat in question. 

In the building they find somewhat nervous Skitarius Ranger, who turns out to be named Iiris and a Sicarian Ruststalker by the name of Demir who is trying to grab Felis Catus with not much results.

Saef asks him to step aside so he can show how it’s done. It takes a while, but with patience Felis Catus comes to investigate and lets Saef pick her up. 

She even lets Gimlet pat her a bit. 

Our heroes decide to chat with the two AdMechs while they’re there.

Demir turns out to be the one technically in charge, what with their commander, sergeant and corporal all gone. 

He’s not very happy about it. 

Saef asks for Demir’s number in case he needs to contact him about the cat, Gimlet also volunteers to get his number. 

In the end everyone gets his and Iiris’ numbers. 

Doing a bit of mental math makes our heroes realize Demir is most likely one of the people who, like the sergeant, carries the Life Eater Virus. 

This realization causes some discomfort into the situation, prompting Gorm to ask if he’s contagious. 

It takes a bit for Demir to realize what they’re talking about. He’s not contagious, for the record, and doesn’t like to talk about the situation.

With the cat in tow, our heroes head to Pavis 8M2, colloquially known as Orchard Mountain. 

Upon Cayenne’s instruction our heroes teleport down to the village of Orange Grove. 

The area is mountainous and has some snow, which prompts much joy from Gorm who immediately starts a snowball fight. 

Gimlet tries to step in between Saef and the projectiles, but since that doesn’t seem to be working, he goes to take a look around. 

Almost immediately Gimlet finds a man in black and ivory Space Marine armor, eating an apple and investigating some leaflets. 

He introduces himself as Sergeant Revan Adil of Sable Swords and offers Gimlet an apple. 

He asks what Gimlet’s business is on this planet, and he more or less says he’s a tourist. 

Revan says it’s probably best not to linger on this planet, as there might be trouble on the horizon, though he’s not keen on elaborating for civilians. 

Gimlet points out Gorm to him. 

Upon noticing there’s another Space Marine present, Gorm immediately stops the playing around in snow and comes to greet Revan. 

Turns out there’s some Sable Swords and some Triplex Phall AdMechs on the planet, and the worry is that the whole system might be in for some Tyranid-trouble if not taken care of. 

Gorm asks for Revan’s number so they can keep each other updated on the situation. 

While Revan is typing in his number to Gorm’s ancient phone, a squad of AdMechs arrive, led by a tech-priest who introduces himself as Z47r. 

Revan leaves with him.

Gimlet gives his apple to Saef.

Our heroes have some time, so each do some clue hunting. 

Gorm spots a boy of maybe five years planting something in a garden, and goes to ask him if he’s seen any Wolves.

No wolves, says the boy, named Navi Jr., but an AdMech came by to ask about Wolves and immediately fled upon seeing the other AdMechs. 

He was a short guy who smelled strongly of cigarettes. 

Navi Jr. asks if he should tell someone about the AdMech, but Gorm says it’s enough he told Gorm.

Gimlet spots a map of the area. 

Apparently there’s a pilgrim’s path going up the mountain that they will also take, and it goes through the ruins of a village named Limestow, the name being crossed out on the map. 

Gimlet finds an old couple to talk to, named Helga and George. He wants to ask about Limestow.

George doesn’t remember about Limestow but Helga reminds him that his sister Tina died when the place was burned, which devastates George. 

Gimlet asks if anyone from Limestow is still alive, and Helga says her eyesight isn’t good enough to recognize Limestow folk, but apparently Pomegranate Blossom, a local rogue trader might know. 

She lives in an estate near Limestow.

Saef finds himself a local ganger, also dressed in a leather jacket and camo-pants, and asks if she knows anything what’s up at Dew Mountain, the neighboring planet, and Saef’s home planet. 

Revan telling our heroes that Dew Mountain might also be in some trouble kinda worries him, so some current news might be of use. 

The news he gets don’t seem to be anything good though, the gangs on Dew Mountain have been disappearing one by one, ending up dead, as servitors or just plain missing, like someone is trying to systematically eradicate the gangs of the planet. 

Why Dew Mountain specifically and why now, the ganger can’t say, but she warns Saef to stay out of the planet.

Saef wishes her well and to take care.

Our heroes meet up at town square and sorta share what they found out. 

Gorm says he knows Vivek is on the planet, which probably means Uffe is too. 

Gimlet merely says he wishes to stop by a ruined town on their way up towards Pomegranate Estate. 

Saef says nothing.

And that’s all for today folks! Next time some pilgrim’s path traveling and maybe reaching Pomegranate Estate.

[itsreddiebitch]

Family First Chapter 3

Summary: Emily Tozier knew one thing. Her father loved her as if she was his own. Yet, secrets and lies kept for years will push her into finding out the truth about her real father and his connection with Richie. 

Chapter 1  

Chapter 2

“Any beverages Miss?”

“Water would be great, thank you.” The flight attendant quietly poured Emily a cup of water before moving on to the next guest. The whole flight consisted of Emily over thinking her actions and how she failed to plan if things went wrong. She had never been to New York before. Emily didn’t know how she would get around the city in one piece. She would also have to find a motel to stay at before meeting Myra. Even with these challenges ahead, Emily was worried she would not overcome the obstacle that was her father. She didn’t know how he was going to react. Emily knew she would have a bunch of messages once she turned on her phone. Thirty minutes passed with no change of thought until a ding echoed throughout the plane.

“Ladies and Gentleman we are now approaching John F. Kennedy International Airport. Please keep your seat belts fastened and we will arrive momentarily. Thank you.” Emily let out a deep breath. She felt for her inhaler in her duffel bag to make sure it was there. Her asthma was never an issue that needed intense care. However, when she was born she had a hole in her lung. Her father told her that she was in the hospital for at least two weeks before she was discharged. Ever since, she had trouble running and whenever she panicked she would need her inhaler. Richie always kept a spare when they went out incase her main inhaler was not working. He had always cared for her as if she was glass. One trip or asthma attack and she would shatter.

The plane landed with no issues and Emily was grateful. After grabbing her stuff and successfully getting off the plane she made her way to baggage claim. In front of the exist were a handful of drivers. Some wore suits others wore casual clothing. One guy had a welcome home poster with flowers, she assumed a girlfriend would be happily surprised. Emily looked at them all out of curiosity but one teen caught her eye. He was extremely tall compared to Emily who was considered below average. He looked up from his watch and looked around the room, waiting for his girlfriend maybe? Emily couldn’t help but notice he was undeniably handsome. Guys as good looking as that knew they were good looking. She lived in Los Angeles, it was a common thing. However, what she didn’t expect was that he was holding a name card that said Emily Tozier. Emily stopped walking in disbelief. What is going on? Was she being watched? Did her father do this? People began moving around her, giving her dirty looks but she didn’t acknowledge them. Her eyes stayed on the teenage boy that might be a stalker she never knew existed. She decided to pretend she never noticed him and began to walk in the opposite direction. That was the plan until he made eye contact.

“Oh shit.” She looked down before trying to walk away as he began approaching Emily “Wow, this is how I die.” Emily continued to mutter to herself until the teen stood in front of her.

“Are you Emily Tozier?” She could tell by the look in his eye that he knew it was her. She had no idea why, considering she has never seen this guy in her life.

“Um, yes but I don’t know you.”

“I’m Ethan Denbrough. Nice to finally meet you.” He extended his hand and Emily took it. He looked as if she should know who he was.

“I’m sorry, why do you have my name on a sign?” He looked at her as if she was talking gibberish.  

“You don’t know who I am? Your Dad called my Dad to come pick you up.” So Richie didn’t hate her? She dropped her bag and began to rummage through it till she found her phone. She pressed the power button and began to play the deadly waiting game for all the messages to come in. Before she could finish, Ethan grabbed her bag from the ground. “Come on little lady we got to get going if we’re goanna make it on time for dinner.” Emily stopped walking.

“What did you just call me?” Ethan laughed before messing up Emily’s hair.

“Little lady, you know because you’re so tiny.” Emily felt insulted, no, that was a lie. She was blushing profusely and needed to walk in front of him to not be seen.

“He is lucky that he is cute.” Emily muttered under breath in hopes the tree man behind her wouldn’t hear. However, a laugh was heard which made her think she really didn’t know how to be quiet.

He walked her to the parking lot of the Airport where a blue Subaru waited for them. He opened the passenger door for Emily before walking over to open his own.

“Is this too poor for your taste Miss Hollywood?” Emily could tell that he was kidding but she didn’t appreciate it. Many people stereotyped her because of her father’s success. Many failed relationships were revolved around that reason. She could still remember that last thing her ex sent her before blocking his number. “Can your Dad still get me an internship?”

“Actually, this is refreshing. It reminds me of the car we took on a road trip to Yosemite.” She smiled up at Ethan from her car seat before closing the car door.

“Good enough for me.” Ethan pulled out of the parking structure heading for the freeway. The car seemed to be his own. He had a collection of old cds and some graded essays in the back seat. The car smelled like old French fries and cheap body spray. Emily began looking through the cds, feeling his eyes on her. “You like Hozier?”

“Oh yeah, Vance Joy is a good one as well.”

“I don’t have his cd yet, I usually use them when I’m out of data for the month. My mom gets mad when I do.” Emily cracked the window open and felt the crisp New York air tickle her fingers. She loved California but New York was a nice change.

“So, do you know my Dad too?”

“I do but, not really. I watch him in movies from time to time and the morning radio. I didn’t know my Dad knew him.”

“Really? I thought that was the reason you knew who I was.”

“No. I woke up this morning and my Dad told me to pick you up and bring you back home. He showed me a picture of you.” Emily wondered if Bill was a nice man. She had never heard of him before. She only knew Richie’s Los Angeles friends. Maybe he was one the losers.

“That’s strange I’ve never heard of your Dad before.”

“Yeah well, my Dad is not so great about talking about his past.” Emily watched as Ethan’s eyes shifted. He seemed to be as confused about everything as she was.

“Mine isn’t either. It is why I’m here in the first place.”

“I thought you were here to see colleges?” Emily prepared to explain the situation to Ethan but their destination was closer than she anticipated. Ethan pulled into the driveway. The house looked as if it was an optical illusion. The front seemed small and cozy like the rest of the neighborhood. However, as they began to exit the car the house seemed to extend far beyond the front door. They seemed to be a very fortunate family which made Ethan’s comments almost hypocritical.

“I see I’m not the only one with stereotypical standards.” Emily nudged Ethan’s shoulder which earned her another laugh from him. She seemed to be quite good at it.

“Okay, okay just come on Little Lady.” Well, she couldn’t get rid of all the nicknames. Not yet at least. Ethan rummaged through his jean pocket before finding the house key. He opened the door to reveal a long hallway with photos in every nook and cranny. Emily began searching the photos for anything that would seem familiar to her. Unfortunately, all the photos seemed to be of their immediate family. The sound of joyful screaming halted her train of thought. A young boy began running down the hall. His speed quickened as Ethan opened his arms. The boy jumped, putting full trust in Ethan to catch him. The boy clung to Ethan’s arms as Ethan began twirling him around. The boy began to laugh before asking to be put down.

“Don’t miss me too much George. How are you going to be when I go off to college?” George pouted in response before running back down the hallway. “He’s mad at me but he will get over it quick. Come on, I’ll show you to the kitchen, my parents should be there.” Emily smiled awkwardly before following Ethan further inside the house. It was odd that these people would welcome a stranger so easily. Yet, she might not be a total stranger thanks to her father. They rounded the corner and were welcomed into the brightly lit kitchen. A woman was cutting vegetables at the counter while a man was reading at the table.

“Mom, Dad, this is Emily Tozier.” Both looked towards Emily with smiles on their faces. The woman had short brown hair that landed below her shoulders. She looked as if a gust of wind could blow her away.

“I’m Audra. It is great to meet you. I would shake your hand if mine wasn’t occupied at the moment.” An awkward laugh was shared by the group before Bill stood up.

“I’m Bill Denbrough.” Emily shook the man’s hand noticing he was tall like Ethan. He was skinny like his wife but not as noticeable. His hands were rough which was due to using them as often as he did.

“Nice to meet you both, I appreciate you welcoming me into your home. I didn’t realize my Dad had friends in New York.” She hoped that Bill did not know about her dramatic departure just nine hours ago. Bill smiled before grabbing the book he was reading.

“Oh, we go way back. We grew up together. The memories tend to be fuzzy but they’re still there.” It seemed that Bill had the same issue as Richie when it came to their pasts. It all seemed very odd. Audra looked as if she was uncomfortable with the conversation, as if it brought her back to a time she never wanted to return to.

“Dinner's almost ready. Ethan, how about you show Emily to her room?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I can get a hotel.”

“Oh no, please stay it would make me feel better knowing you are here.” Emily thanked them once again. The rest of the night consisted of dinner where the Denbrough family asked Emily many questions about her life in Los Angeles, her goals for the future, and her father. She had many stories to tell about Richie, like the time she walked right into a pool at two and a half and he jumped in fully clothed to get her. Every story about Richie seemed to make Bill light up, as if a flip switched in his brain. He even threw in his own stories which looked to surprise everyone at the table. The conversations died down when George asked if Emily was Ethan’s girlfriend. She only laughed and shook her head.

“Good then could you be mine?” After dinner was done Emily helped with the dishes before going up to the guest room. She hoped to talk to Ethan about why she had come to New York in the first place. It seemed he has the same idea for he was waiting in the room for her.

“I’m sorry but you never told me why you came to New York in the first place?” Emily closed the door behind her, hoping no one would hear. She sat down on the bed next to Ethan, trying to keep a polite distance between them.

“I’m adopted. My father has been keeping secrets from me about my birth parents for years... I have been trying to get him to talk about it but he just can’t. Anytime I bring up something or it could be at random times, he will fall into grief and run to his office. I finally had a breakthrough when I went through his phone and found this woman who has my birth certificate. Her name is Myra Kaspbrak.”

Emily began rummaging through her bag until she found the information she printed out. “Here is her address I plan to see her tomorrow to see if she is my mother.” Emily let out a breath and waited for Ethan’s response. It took a while for him to register everything that he was just told.

“Well shit. Guess we have a big day tomorrow.”

“We?” Ethan moved so he could face Emily on the bed. The idea of personal space seemed out the window now that their knees were touching. Emily tried to focus on his words rather than the feeling of his skin on hers.

“Listen, I have been going through the same stuff with my parents. It’s like they have this big secret about my father’s past, like he is a murderer or something. Well he does write horror books, but still.”

Emily couldn’t help but laugh. She never thought Richie to be a serial killer but she could understand what Ethan was going through.

“I’m sure it’s not that. My Dad mentioned how where he grew up he had a group of friends. They called themselves “The Losers Club”. Our Dads were probably in it together.” Emily felt his leg move which cause her breath to get caught in her throat. What was wrong with her? It was just a boy.

“Wow, the losers club huh? Very hip. My father has only mentioned that he struggled with stuttering for a long time but he grew out of it. He also lost his youngest brother at a young age. I think George reminds him of his brother.” It seemed that their fathers had lived tough lives where they grew up. Emily worried about her real father and how her mother would be.

“I don’t know, I am kind of nervous about tomorrow. I have no idea if she remembers me or is even a decent person.” Ethan grabbed Emily’s hand and held it in his own. She tried to look in him in the eye and contain the blush she felt creeping up her neck.

“Hey, I’ll be there. I know you don’t know me too well but I feel like for the first time, I found someone who can relate to me. Regarding my family of course. There has to be a reason to all of this and I want to find out.” Emily smiled, feeling safe in his presence. With Ethan being there she felt like it would be a lot easier to handle. He continued to hold her hand and brush his thumb lightly in circles.

“Uh, well we should probably sleep then.” Ethan pulled back quickly. He made his way to the door saying goodnight before leaving. His face looked sunburned and Emily bet hers did too. What a dork. For the first time that night Emily directed her attention to the phone she had been ignoring. She tapped the screen to see message after message from Richie. They started out worried then grew to panic and results into understanding. He never got mad once. He just wished her a safe flight and to call him when she could. She looked to the alarm clock by the bed and could see it was too late to call. She called anyways. The phone began to ring and a part of her wanted him to pick up the phone but another part of her didn’t. She let out a sigh of relief when it went to voicemail.

“Hey Dad, it’s me.” She paused before continuing. “I’m really sorry I made you worried. I am also sorry for hurting you. I just need to do this for me and I hope you won’t be too mad when I come home. I love you so much, bye.” Emily held back tears as she hung up the phone. She knew she would have to talk to him eventually but she needed more time.

Emily Tozier stood outside of Myra Kaspbrak’s house unable to move. The cold morning air is not what froze her, it was the fear that consumed her. She worried how the woman would react. Would she want Emily to become part of her family? Could Emily really do that? What if this created a custody battle that Richie couldn’t win. All these thoughts repeated in her head until she felt a warm hand touch her shoulder.

“You okay?” Ethan stood beside her, looking worried. She was glad to have him with her, especially because he drove. Emily let out a deep breath. She traced the outline of her inhaler in her jacket pocket. It was now or never. Emily walked up the few steps leading to the front door. Her stomach dropped, each step making it harder to take another. She finally reached the front door. She placed her fist against it and made two firm knocks. There was no sound at first, it wasn’t until Emily was prepared to knock a second time that the door opened. The door swung fast and Emily felt herself jump at the quickness. An older woman, very large in size stood before her. She had curling rolls in her hair and a mean look to match. Emily almost turned around and ran but the woman beat her to it.

“Can I help you?” Her accent was thick which made her even more intimidating.

“Does Myra Kaspbrak live here?” Emily did her best to sound confident even though she could feel herself shaking.

“Who wants to know?”

“My name is Emily Tozier. I-.”

“Get in. Come on now hurry up.” Emily did not hesitate, she turned and waved Ethan in with her. The house was filled with clutter. Nick knacks of all sorts were displayed on every wall and table. The house transported them back twenty years. “Sit in the living room I’ll be right there.” Emily looked at Ethan who just shrugged before taking a seat on the floral couch. Emily couldn’t imagine ever living here. It reeked of old furniture and cat litter. Emily looked to see Myra making some tea for herself before taking a seat across from the teens. She did not offer them anything.

“I assumed that fag would get caught in his lies someday.” Emily did her best to not show the shock that took over her body.

“Excuse me?”

“Richie. He didn’t tell you about me right?” Emily shook her head.

“Figures, I should have asked for more money.” Money? Now Emily was even more confused.

“Am I right to assume that you are-“  

“Yeah, I’m your mother.” Emily did not feel as relieved as she thought she would be. “However, I would not use that word if I were you. I didn’t have you the normal way.”

“What do you mean?”

"Your Father was a fag too. He wouldn’t have sex with me. Heck, I don’t think he loved me either but who knows at this point. So I got him to give me a sample of his stuff so I could at least have a baby the new scientific way.” There was that word again, fag. The woman used it so negatively as if she was spitting on the ground that her two fathers walked on. She hated this woman already.

“Where is he?”

“Hell If I know. He went to Derry and never came back. Tozier wouldn’t tell me either he just had to adopt you. He said any price. I wanted a healthy baby but with your lungs and all, It was a waste of my time.” A waste of her time? Emily squeezed her hands together so that she wouldn’t break in front of this woman. Emily could feel a panic attack beginning to rise in her. She had to leave before she exploded.

“How can you say that?” Ethan looked at the woman with disgust. Myra ignored him and took a sip of her tea.

“Is this guy your boy toy or something? I’m surprised you didn’t turn out like your father. That gay sure spreads.” Emily stood up, holding in her anger. She wanted to yell at this woman. She wanted to swear and scream and tell her how she missed out. Emily loved her life with her father she couldn’t believe she wanted to find out who these people were.

“Thank you for your time. We should get going.” Emily wasted no time in showing herself out. She felt her lungs begin to tighten and her vision began to blur from the tears. The cold air felt like it was evaporating on her skin. She rushed down the steps and ran halfway down the block before collapsing on the concrete. She couldn’t breathe. Deep breaths became short gasps as she reached for her inhaler.

“Emily! Emily are you okay?” Ethan was by her side in seconds. He watched as she placed the inhaler to her mouth and took a puff. She took a small breath before taking another hit. Ethan reached for her and brought her back against the hard wood of the fence behind them. He held her as she slowly began to gain her breathing back. She couldn’t help but cry hard into his chest as reality sunk in. Her mother was a terrible human being. Richie lied to her, she was not wanted, not loved.

“She threw me away Ethan.” Emily felt the tears begin to stream down her face once she said the words out loud. Hiding thoughts in your head is much easier than accepting them out in the open.

“That bitch is not your mother okay. Hey, look at me.” Ethan moved Emily’s face up to meet his gaze. His hand held her face lightly as if he held on any harder she would break. “She may have brought you into the world but she did it for selfish reasons. Richie loves you and cares for you. Shit, I care for you even though I met you less than twenty-four hours ago. Don’t let this woman who has not been in your life make you feel like you are not important.”

Emily felt her tears begin to cease as she looked into Ethan’s eyes. She looked down at his lips before focusing back on his gaze. He looked confused now, as if he was debating something. Emily decided to move her head back down to his chest and sit there for a while. He didn’t protest and began weaving his fingers through her hair. They sat together for another ten minutes until Emily felt ready to leave. Ethan suggested a diner near his place and offered her his jacket. She took it and for the rest of the car ride she relaxed in his scent. It smelled distinctly of firewood, something she had rarely smelt but enjoyed.

Once in the diner they took their seats and put in their orders. It was close to empty, leaving the room almost bare of sound other than the old jukebox.

“So what are you going to do now?” Emily had an idea but it was a crazy one. She wasn’t sure if she should go through with it and she wasn’t sure if Ethan would too.

“I think I should go to Derry.”

“You think he is alive?” Emily wasn’t sure how to answer that question. While Myra never said he was dead, she did mention how he was gay as well as Richie.

“I honestly don’t know but I do know that there was something between him and Richie. I want to learn more about it. If he is in Derry he would be the one person who could tell us and if not maybe some of the losers club still live there.” Ethan went quiet which worried Emily. Maybe this idea was too stupid or too rash.

“Listen, I want to tell you something. My parents also get nightmares. These kinds of nightmares that wake my brother and I up. They scream until their throats go dry. They talk about something coming after them. I don’t know what happened to my parents but there is something not right about that town. Supposedly they went back a year before they had me. My mom had serious medical issues while having my brother and I do to how frail she was. My grandmother told me she use to be thicker and healthier.”

Ethan paused to take a sip of his drink. Emily could tell it was hard for him to remember back to those nights of screaming and fear. “I have no idea what happened to them. Only they know but they won’t tell me. So I want to go with you and see what that town did to them. If you will have me?” Emily reached for Ethan’s hand and squeezed it.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want any other person to come with me. Let’s figure this out together.”      

Tag @just-an-akward-fangirl @richietoaster @allison0609 @rheddie @reddie-sett-go  @muruchwitch

[projectmedusarp]

Welcome Karen! We’re pleased to announce your audition for Simon Fielding / Aerokinesis has been accepted! Please send your account into the main within the next 24 hours. We can’t wait to have you join us!

{{ PLAYER INFORMATION }}

NAME: Karen

AGE: 25

TIMEZONE: PST

PRONOUNS: She / Her

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I just finished one of my classes for the summer, so my activity level is quite high since I only have one class and a part-time job. I will be more active in the nights in Pacific Time as I do look after my little sister in the afternoon. Regardless, I should be able to check in at the very least once a day! 

PREVIOUS ROLEPLAY EXPERIENCE: Too long! RPing in general (I started off on proboards/invisionfree) almost a decade ago, haha. I’ve been around Tumblr for the past 5/6 years, but the last year I haven’t been RPing too much. This account is a 1x1 account that I have with a friend, but this one is probably one of my past active accounts. http://arianna-carrington.tumblr.com/  It’s been a year since it’s been active, but it was one of my favorite characters.

PERSONAL TUMBLR CONTACT: Link Removed

TRIGGERS: None

{{ CHARACTER INFORMATION }}

CHARACTER: Simon Fielding

PRONOUNS: He/Him

AGE: 22

FACE CLAIM: Dan Stevens

POWER: Aerokinesis

QUOTE: “When you lie, people die. That’s the way it is out there… but here? People lie to get by.”

PERSONALITY:

Integrity – Growing up in a military family and being a veteran himself, he grew to know what taking full responsibility for his actions meant and he does not lie. What comes with the military is that, ‘when you lie, people die’ so even if there are shortcomings and he has failed something, he will always be forthright and honest about it.

Initiative – People who know Simon aren’t sure if it’s his initiative or impulsivity that gets him to go above and beyond. He always puts himself at risk in order to help others and he does his best to complete a task with much haste and minimal guidance or direction from his seniors. The goal in the military is to surpass expectations and training and being deployed with the Marines, he did just that.

Pessimistic – Because of his time served and growing up with the distant, strict, military family, he finds himself always looking to the downside of things. Simon tries to keep his negative thoughts to himself because he knows his negativity does nobody any good, but he is always thinking of the worst scenario that could happen in any given situation. However, some colleagues would say that was what made him a good soldier – always looking at the different outcomes.

Private – Despite spending years deployed and spending days, weeks, and months with the same platoon, not much was found out about Simon as he tends to keep to himself. He is more of a listener – he listens to other people as they tell their stories and doesn’t tell too much of his life. There are only three people in his life who know what his middle name is and they’re his family. What is his life is his life and he doesn’t see the need to share with others.

Logical – Simon’s ability to look at things from a logical instead of an emotional side is what drew him towards the Marines. The Marines were hard hitting, made snap decisions, and did more work than the other branches of the military. Emotions were not part of that capacity – he had to do what was in the best interest of his people even if may have not been the ‘ethically right’ decision. Logically, he did what made sense.

Respectful – The fact of the matter is that he grew up calling his mother and father, “Ma’am” and “Sir”, therefore those characteristics and quirks are ingrained within him. Respect was the first thing he learned growing up and he was told that he was to give it to every person he came into contact with. It didn’t matter if they were older, younger, smaller, or taller – respect was what he gave out no matter what. Some people in his platoon said that it was one of his downfalls; others said it was his greatest asset.

BIOGRAPHY:

“Military Brat” was what Simon was called quite often as their family never stayed in a place for too long. With both of his parents, George and Macy, enlisted for deployment in the Navy, both he and his sister Amy found themselves only spending a school year – sometimes less – in the same spot. So, naturally the two of them did whatever the hell they could – they skipped classed and learned to shoot out in the middle of nowhere with one of their father’s guns (that he didn’t know they had) and empty beer cans. The two of them believed that it didn’t matter what they did in their life because it would be uprooted again. They had no roots, no real friends, only a picture of what could be if they had just stayed.

However, this didn’t mean that they were bad kids, merely the fact that they were way too advanced for any public school setting as they always had to teach themselves. The two of them were bright kids, their parents teaching them to think for themselves and to anticipate different outcomes of a situation. They grew up with respect, of course, and when a teacher or any adult approached them they were immediately called ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ with their spines straight and their eyes locked with whomever they were talking. Military brats, obviously, knew how to take responsibilities for their shitty actions because they were totally aware.

Eventually, Simon graduated from a high school in the US when his father was stationed in Virginia. Already enlisted for boot camp, he shipped off the next month for the Marine Corps boot camp and the rest was history. Soon he had become a Scout Sniper and deployed to various places around the world – Afghanistan, Korea, Japan, and other places which are classified. Simon excelled at what he did and soon after his second tour as a Scout Sniper (which was his third tour altogether), the boy was asked to join the Force Recon team. Covert missions were given to him, mainly to serve as backup for others with his sniper ability. Despite the fact that their team had a good record of completed missions, they had lost their fair share of teammates and it was then, after finishing his fourth tour that he had decided to return to the civilian life.

Adjusting to the life of the civilian back on US soil was something that was vastly different for him. At the age of twenty-eight, he had killed and lost more people than he could remember during the ten years that he served with the Marines. It was not just that, however, what made adjusting back to civilian life so hard was the fact that people were going about their lives for themselves. Simon had spent years of his life working as a team, there were no lies between them and if there was tension that tension had to be thrown out as soon as they hit the battlefield. People had no respect for each other and looked out just for themselves. They lied just to get by in their lives, lying about what’s on their resume or simply where they had graduated from.

It was the reason why he had went back into serving something – he had become recruiter for the Marines. It was through there that he could talk about what he did, what kind of life he led, and how being in the military (with whatever branch) could really help out. Mostly he was assigned work with schools from poverty-stricken areas or those with discipline issues. Still, he finds solace with helping kids and young adults find their way to the military for some kind of purpose. Simon was the best at their branch, he was able to connect with kids that other people couldn’t seem to do.

That was, at least, until a few weeks ago when Simon had suddenly been taking random days off or asking other people to cover for him. Something strange happened to him, he was suddenly waking up floating in the air or finding himself moving, almost sliding, with the breeze from the trees. After his two weeks of freaking out and having a friend run tests on him, he had finally decided that he was going to keep things quiet on his end. Two weeks after his first random levitation in bed, he went back into his work. Although, people are starting to gossip about the gust of wind that appears from nowhere when Simon is upset. This is what drove him to start learning how his powers work – which he does, late at night on the roof of his apartment complex where no one could see.

HEADCANONS:

Simon sees a therapist twice a week to talk about his PTSD – whereas he has not had any violent outbursts as he sometimes sees from other veterans, he does have nightmares where he wakes up forgetting where he is. He would have never thought about doing this, but it was recommended to him from another Force Recon veteran.

Simon is ambidextrous because his parents believed that a child should be able to write with both their right and left hands. Therefore, he (and his sister) are able to do all tasks equally with both hands. However, Simon does favor his right hand for more meaningful (to him) things such as shooting and signing his name.

Simon still remains very close to his sister Amy and they constantly wrote each other when he was deployed. She is a reservist for the Navy but has never been deployed and finished her degree in biochemical engineering. Amy is Simon’s best friend and he will talk about her when given the chance.

He still keeps up with some of the kids that he had talked to about going in the military, even if they didn’t. Simon simply wants to make sure that they end up doing something with their lives so they’re just not joining a gang or becoming a deadbeat on the streets.

Upon meeting him, some people think he is standoffish and doesn’t desire to get to know anyone. However, he just does not know how to fully converse with a civilian that has nothing to do with his job or the people around him. He tries to remedy this by telling jokes, which aren’t him and he totally hates because it makes him seem even more awkward.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: N/A at the moment!

[tessatechaitea]

New Super-man #8

With an entire Bat-school full of Bat-men (Bat-mans?), Yang is probably going to turn Chinese Bat-man into Kenny from South Park.

I don't know if that's a better question. It's just a different way of answering it.

• Hmm. I probably didn't have to mention the bowel movement, did I? Because of the way I comment while I read the comic book, I tend to forget that this blog entry isn't going out live. • Back to the Kenan versus the ancient prophetic text made into a man, Kenan decides to move his qi up from his fists into his ears. That's so he can hear where Master I-Ching both is and is not. It's ancient Chinese wisdom. • Speaking of Ancient Chinese wisdom, has Archie McPhee never sold fortune cookies with Sun Tzu quotes in them? That seems like a bajillion dollar idea! Imagine opening a cookie after dinner and reading, "Invincibility lies in defense, the possibility of victory in the attack." That's already better advice than any regular fortune cookie I've ever eaten!

Although this one was pretty good. The Non-Certified Spouse's mother once got this one at a Chinese restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska.

• Um, anyway, when Kenan moves his qi up into his ears, he begins to hear all of the noise all over the neighborhood around him. One of the things he hears is some kid bouncing a basketball. FUCK YES! That is one of my top hated sounds coming in through the walls of my house when I'm trying to write and I don't even have super-hearing! I just want to go outside, snatch the neighbor kid's basketball out of his sticky hands, and kick it over the roof onto the next block. The only reason I don't is I know that kid will soon be a teenager and he might stab me. • Wanna-Be-Bat-man of China loses the fight even though he conspired with Alpaca to rig the contest. So now he's decided to threaten the life of his schoolmaster by putting a Bat-Grapple up to his head. That seems wrong but I don't know anything about Schoolmaster O so I'll withhold my judgment. Schoolmaster O might be a huge prick. • It doesn't work. Baixi, Bat-man of China, saves the day and remains Bat-man of China. I wonder if there will be a Manbat of China? See how I left out the dash in the same way they've been putting in a dash for the Chinese versions without one? Clever! • I just wrote "clever" about something I just wrote. I also constantly call myself a Grandmaster Comic Book Reader. I wonder how many people are turned off by the seeming arrogance and completely miss the joke of it all? Dum-dums! • Once Kenan invokes his super-hearing, he hears a kid about to be hit by a truck and ditches the fight to save the day. But in saving the kid, the driver of the truck is grievously wounded. So he rushes him to hospital and heads off to pout at a nearby shrine. Master I-Ching catches up with him there. Probably to punch Kenan one more time and win the fight. • Alpaca winds up being Jiali, Bat-man's sister. She is tired of being controlled by China and all things communist. She's not even fighting for democracy! She's just an anarchist and my heart is suddenly pittering and pattering all over the place. Alpaca is the real hero! • Oh, also she escapes to be Bat-man of China's Jo-ker. But named Alpaca. • Master I-Ching doesn't punch Kenan in the nose and gloat and do a little blind man dance. Instead, he tells Kenan why Kenan has an octagon on his chest. And he explains Superman better than about 90% of all writers who have ever written Superman.

Never mind the third interpretation. It's not nearly as clever as the totality of this page.

• That previous page didn't make me cry but it has come closest to any comic I've read in a long time. It got me right in the belly trigram and the eye trigram. • After a moment of showing what everybody is doing during the Year of the Rooster celebration, there's an epilogue. Somebody identified as Super-man Zero, locked away in the Crab Shell, is approached by a mysterious figure who claims to be the reason for Chinese super-heroes. The final page identifies this mysterious stranger and...um...well, uh. See for yourselves!

Whew. I'm glad a genius grant Chinese American is tackling Ching Lung but I'm nervous about the comments I might make!

• I can't believe Ching Lung isn't in DC's late eighties Who's Who! They were trying to erase history, weren't they?! • Seriously, though, I'm super excited about Gene Luen Yang taking on this story. I'm a huge fan of people examining the racist history of popular entertainment, talking about it in a frank and honest way, rather than pretending it never existed. And I especially like when a company decides to tackle it in-house. I'm sure DC Comics had to be nervous about this whole thing but if they didn't kill the idea, I can only imagine Gene Luen Yang (who has been writing the fuck out of this comic book (that was a compliment!)) will have some insightful and thoughtful opinions on the subject of Yellow Peril characters. • Speaking of race in popular entertainment, I watched some thing on PBS last night with George Takei and Nichelle Nichols discussing Star Trek and how it was such major social commentary to have a diverse cast of characters in charge of the Enterprise. This made me reflect on watching the show as a kid. Something that was such a major issue when the show was produced in the sixties meant nothing to me in the late seventies or early eighties, whenever I began watching it. The diversity of the crew didn't have any kind of impact on me at all. That's encouraging, right? I know I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area which is probably the bubbliest bubble of all the bubbles (according to people who think embracing diversity and difference in others is somehow abnormal) so that's probably part of it. After school on KTVU, there were shorts produced by the television station between shows that showed non-white children living in the city that would end with the kid saying, "I'm proud to be a Chinese American!" Or "I'm proud to be a Black American!" Representation and diversity isn't just important for children who identify with the diverse characters in popular entertainment. It's also important for the white children to see that we're all a part of everything. We're all piloting the Enterprise to the future. Although what was meant to be a five year mission has gone ten times as long. Get it together, you non-bubbled bubbleheads. The Ranking! +2! It gets +1 for just being an overall well written book with great characters. It gets another +1 for the insight into Superman. Still my favorite comic book, beeyatches!

[weascleys]

Baby Steps: Chapter 17

Chapter Title: Nirvana Pairing: George Weasley/Donella Stirling (Original Character) Warning(s): none Words: 3712

Chapter Summary: Ella goes home for the holidays and decides that it's time for her family to meet two of her best friends.

Notes: I know I said the plot would thicken during this chapter but I'M SORRY, I LIED. I don't know what happened, it just got super fluffy out of nowhere.

The next couple months after Ella’s concussion had been slightly uneventful for her (except for Quidditch practices. George was still mad at Oliver for not being more concerned about Ella's concussion), and she wished that she could say the same for everyone else in the school. Ever since the useless “Dueling Club” that Lockheart had organized (when Harry revealed that he was a Parselmouth) more than a few people were now convinced that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin. And there had been another attack, this one claiming two victims, Nearly headless nick and a Muggle-born boy named Justin Finch-Fletchley, which caused even more people to believe Harry was the heir. Neville Longbottom had started carrying around protective charms and Ginny Weasley had been having nightmares almost nightly. The amount of times that Ginny had come running to Ella in the middle of the night, crying, was countless, and it made Ella dread leaving her for the holidays.

But soon, the day came when Ella had to bid goodbyes to her school friends. “Good luck with the potion,” Ella whispered in Hermione’s ear as she hugged her goodbye. No one was supposed to know that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were brewing Polyjuice Potion, but Hermione had gotten the idea to use Myrtle’s bathroom in the first place from Ella and Ella was very trustworthy, so Hermione had confided in her.

“You’ll come and see me then?” Ella had asked the twins as she hugged them goodbye as well. “I really want you to meet Riley and my ma.” Ella had been talking about Fred and George for about three years now, so Ella’s mother knew plenty about them, but she had never actually met them before. She was getting quite impatient.

“Yeah, if your brother promises to not beat our heads in the second we walk through the door,” Fred said.

“I assure that I am more than capable of keeping Jackson at bay,” Ella said, laughing. “I’ve got to go meet the girls and Juni now, but write me when you two decide when you’re coming,” She said as she walked away from them and went to find her friends so they could board the train home.

“Ooh, taking your relationship to the next level with George?” Katie said, looping her arm through Ella’s as they boarded the train. “Meeting the mother! How exciting!”

“A wedding can’t be far behind,” Juni said, laughing and following Katie and Juni into a compartment.

“I hate you,” Ella said, throwing her things overhead and pouting, “the both of you.”

“Pft, yeah okay, Ella,” Juni said and shoved her.

“Where’s Cho?” Ella asked, pulling a box of Fizzing Whizbees out of her bag.

Katie shrugged. “She said that she wanted to sit with her friend Marietta.”

“Oh,” Ella said with a sneer. “I don’t like her. I get a weird vibe from her.”

So even without Cho, the three of them had a wonderful train ride home. Ginny stopped in on occasion as well as Fred and George. At some point during the train ride, the three of them decided that the train was going too slowly and that they needed a nap. Juni and Katie both took the cushioned benches while Ella elected to sleep on the floor, she could practically fall asleep anywhere. Before she knew it they were pulling into King’s cross and Juni was shaking Ella awake. The moment that Ella saw her mother standing on the platform, holding a babbling Riley, she immediately her stresses melting away.

Ella was rushing around the house, cleaning and dusting everything she could. It was two days after Christmas and Fred and George were coming to visit Ella, and she wanted to make a good impression. Although, Riley kept running around and knocking over things that Ella had tidied up.

“Honey, when are your friends getting here?” Ella’s mother called from her room.

“Their letter said they’d be here at like half past noon,” Ella said and glanced at her watch, it was now a quarter past twelve, they would be arriving soon.

“Okay, well I’m still getting dressed so can you feed Riley please?”

“Yeah, ma!” Ella said, tucking her wand behind her ear and scooping up her little brother, who was now well past two years old and headed to the kitchen. Ella put Riley in his high chair and began fixing his lunch, leftovers over her mother’s cheesy potato casserole and sliced fruit. Riley began to whine and squirm in his chair.

“Want out! Want out!” He yelled childishly, banging his grubby little fists on the tray of his high chair. Ever since Riley’s second birthday, he had been rather fussy about being in his high chair, he was apparently sick of this seating arrangement and wanted to try something new. “Ewwa! Ewwa, out!” He continued to shout, saying Ella’s name in the only way he knew how.

“No, Riley,” Ella said sternly, placing his lunch in front of him, which seemed to calm him down some. “Do you want help eating?”

“No!” Riley said, his near hissy fit forgotten as he dug his fingers into his food, shoving it into his mouth messily.

“Jackson!” Ella yelled, “can you please come make sure Riley eats okay? I need to go get ready.”

“No!” Jackson yelled back from his room. “You’ve been ready for hours, I’m busy! You watch him!”

“Jackson, you —” Ella was about to say a very foul word, but then remembered that Riley had been picking up words very easily recently, “— jerk! Get your lazy butt down here and watch him!”

“Ella! Stop calling your brother names and Jackson, come help your sister! She has guests coming over!” Margaret scolded her two kids, who more often than not, were arguing.

“Fine!” Jackson grunted loudly and began to stomp down the stairs.

“Stupid knobhead,” Ella muttered to him as he passed her.

“Alright, that’s it!” Jackson shouted and drew his wand at Ella. “Say one more nasty thing to me, I dare you!”

“Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do?” Ella asked tauntingly, pulling her own wand. “Try and hit me with one of the three jinxes you know so I can easily block it?” Ella and Jackson had continued to yell at each other until their mother stormed into the living room where they were fighting. During all the commotion, Riley had dropped his sippy cup of pumpkin juice and had begun crying loudly.

“Jackson Agathe Stirling, you leave your sister alone!” Margaret said as she picked up Riley and tried to calm him down.

“She started it!” Jackson said, jabbing a finger at Ella.

“I did not, you thickhead! You did!” Ella retorted.

“I don’t care who started it, Donella Rose Stirling!” Ella cringed at the use of her full name. “Honestly, I’d figure you two were old enough by now to stop fighting like you were —”

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Jackson said rather excitedly. He knew it was probably Fred and George, and he wanted to be the one to meet them at the door.

“Jackson, no!” Ella said, mortified. Riley had left the table a mess and was still crying loudly. Ella’s once well groomed hair was now starting to frizz up again, and Margaret still had one curler in her hair. And Jackson wasn’t even dressed yet! He was still in his pajamas.

Jackson pulled the door open and was ready to shoot a smart remark at Fred and George, but was shocked to be greeted with Mrs. Weasley’s smiling face. “Oh,” he said, surprised, “hello Mrs. Weasley.”

“Hello, Jackson, dear! How are you? I figured I would come with Fred and George to make sure they got in all right. Is your mother home?” Mrs. Weasley rambled, not giving a chance to answer. Fred and George looked greatly embarrassed, which Jackson enjoyed.

“Yes, she’s right inside. Please, come in.” He shot Fred and George glares as they walked in with their mother.

“Oh, hello,” Margaret said, a crying Riley still nestled on her hip and a singular curler left in her hair. “You must be Mrs. Weasley. It’s so nice to finally meet you, Ella’s told me so much.” She looked completely frazzled, she was probably making a terrible first impression.

But rather than judging her, Mrs. Weasley looked at Margaret fondly. “Ah, I remember those days,” Molly Weasley said, gesturing towards Margaret’s slightly hectic state. “They really are such a fuss when they’re that age aren’t they?” Riley was still blubbering, but he seemed to be getting tired.

“Yes, yes they are,” Margaret said, bouncing Riley to try and get him to stop crying.

“But they grow up too fast!” Molly said, glancing at her twin boys and then focusing back on Margaret. “I sometimes wish I could go back, don’t you agree?”

Margaret looked at her other two children who were still glaring daggers at each other. “Too right you are…”

“Molly!” Mrs. Weasley said, shaking Margaret’s free hand. “And you?”

“Margaret,” she said, shaking Mrs. Weasley’s hand. She seemed calmer now that Riley had stopped crying.

“Mammy, juice!” Riley said, rubbing his eyes. That was the reason he started crying in the first place was because he had dropped his juice. But no one had noticed due to all the yelling.

“Yes, okay, sweetheart,” Margaret cooed at her youngest child. “If you’ll excuse me, he just wants his pumpkin juice.”

“Would you like me to hold him?” Molly asked. “I’m wonderful with boys, I’ve had six of them myself.”

“Yes, that would be lovely, thank you,” Margaret said and went to get Riley a new cup of pumpkin juice. She handed Riley to Mrs, Weasley and Mrs. Weasley nestled him on her hip just like his mother had done. “Hello, cutie,” Mrs. Weasley said and Riley smiled at her, showing all his new baby teeth.

Mrs. Weasley turned to Ella, ignoring the fact that Riley was playing with her red hair. “How are you, dear? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you! And look at you, you look so beautiful! No wonder Fred and George like being around you so much.”

Ella blushed. “Hi, Mrs. Weasley. It’s nice to see you too.” They continued chatting, Ella not even saying hello to Fred or George yet until Margaret came back with Riley’s sippy cup and the curler missing from her hair.

“Thank you,” Margaret said warmly and gave Riley his pumpkin juice, which he sipped on greedily.

“Well,” Mrs. Weasley said, “I don’t want to take up too much of their time so I think I’ll be going now. I had to apparate the boys here so I just wanted to come in and say hello! We’ll have the fire on so when you’re ready for me to come get them, just pop in and let us know and I’ll be here in a jiffy.” She shook Margaret’s hand again kissed her on the cheek this time. “Lovely meeting you, Maggie. Can I call you that?”

“Feel free,” Margaret said with a smile. “It was lovely meeting you too, Molly.”

“Bye bye,” Mrs. Weasley said in a baby voice to Riley and waved at him, she then hugged both Ella and Jackson before moving on to her sons, kissing them both on the cheek. “You behave.” And then she was gone.

“So,” Ella said awkwardly after a few moments of silence, the only noise being Riley slurping on his juice, “Ma, this is Fred, and this is George,” she said, gesturing to each other the twins respectively.

“So nice to finally put faces to all of the stories Ella has told me!” Margaret said, shaking both of their hands. Ella watched with a painfully awkward expression.

“Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Stirling,” Fred said and an odd sheen passed over Margaret’s eyes. Ella grimaced.

“You can just call me Margaret,” she said kindly, and smiled, disregarding Fred’s slip up.

“Well,” Ella said hastily, “now that introductions are over I think we’ll be going to my room now.” And she ushered Fred and George up the stairs hurriedly.

“Keep the door open!” Margaret called after them. “And I’ll be making lunch soon so don’t load up on sweets up there!”

Ella showed Fred and George to her room, which had changed once again. The walls were now a lovely cream color and light pinks accents were present in all of the furniture, which was similar in color to the walls. She had modeled it after her first visit to the Room of Requirement. It made her feel calm.

“So,” Ella said, sitting down in the overstuffed armchair in the corner, “this is it.” She gestured grandly to her room, “this is my humble abode. And I am so sorry about the mess that you walked into, we aren’t usually like that.”

“I find that hard to believe,” said Fred, and he flopped himself onto Ella’s plush bed,  which was overflowing with soft blankets and fluffy pillows of miscellaneous colors. “Besides, we’re used to it.”

“Yeah, you’re fine,” George said. “Wow,” he said, looking around her room. “Nice place, Ella. I had no idea it would be this big on the inside.” Ella’s room was very spacious, just like the rest of her house. It was quite misleading given the fact that her family lived in a small house, but it held three floors and many rooms. Many more rooms than it should have been able to.

“Undetectable Extension Charm,” Ella said. “Ma cast it after I was born, she got tired of living in such a small house. We have three floors now and a basement,” she said and popped a Fizzing Whizbee in her mouth, causing her to float a few inches effortlessly above her seat. “Technically, my parents paid way less for this house than what it’s worth now and that’s kind of illegal, but I’m not complaining about having a big room,” she said with a shrug.

“That’s awesome!” George said enthusiastically. “And you don’t even care about breaking the law now?” He smiled at her maliciously. “You’re coming along nicely.”

“Shut up,” Ella said fondly, “you’re such a prat.” She didn’t really mean it, but she had a tendency to call George names when he complimented her to cover up how smitten it made her. “Wanna see what Ma got me for Christmas?” And she showed them the new record player that she had gotten for Christmas, along with the three new vinyls that Jackson had given her. They were all Muggle albums that Ella already had the cassettes for, but she wanted the records too.

“Muggle music?” Fred asked, grimacing slightly. “You’re not gonna make us listen to that are you?”

Ella bared her teeth in a grin. “Y’know, I didn’t plan on it at first but it sounds like a brilliant idea now that you mention it!” She pulled out a record that had a naked baby underwater and a Muggle American dollar hanging from a hook. Fred and George looked at very questioningly. “This,” Ella said as if she was explaining her most prized possession, “is Nevermind by Nirvana, one of the best albums to ever grace the planet.” She clearly had a very high opinion of this band.

“Nirvana?” Fred said as if it was the oddest word to ever roll off of his tongue. “What kind of music is that?”

“Rock,” Ella said as she giddily put the record in her player. “This album came out last year and it changed — my — life,” she added rather dramatically. “Just listen,” she said as she put the needle on the record, “you’re gonna love this.”

When the sound of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” started to fill the room Fred looked at her incredulously. “You listen to this kind of music?” Ella understood why he was surprised. She was a small ginger girl with glasses and a freckled face, she looked sweet, she always did her homework, and she had always been cast as “the good kid.” She figured most people would be shocked when they found out that her music library consisted mostly of alternative and rock music, some of it quite heavy and angry.

“Mhm,” Ella said proudly as she closed her eyes and smiled, leaning her head back against the back of her chair. “I love it. If you listen to the lyrics they’re so meaningful. Just listen.” And Ella let the entire record play for them. She had even noticed that George was slightly bopping his head along to the melody and Fred was tapping his foot rhythmically. She wondered if they even knew they were doing it.

When the record stopped Ella took the needle off of it and looked at Fred and George anxiously, biting her lip. “So, what d’you think?”

“Honestly,” George said, and Ella steeled herself for their mockery of her in taste in music, “that was pretty wicked. Do you have more?”

“Really?” Ella said, completely relieved and she felt her head go all swimmy when he complimented one of her favorite bands. “And yeah, I have one more album of theirs. I can play if you guys want. Are you cool with that, Fred?”

“I’m game,” Fred said from Ella’s bed, laying back and putting his arms behind his head. He had to give it to Ella, he had actually really liked that album and he was interested to hear more.

They got about halfway through Bleach before Ella’s mother called them down to lunch. Margaret was incredibly interested in the twins, as was Riley, and it made Jackson scowl and stab at his food. Riley had started to whine again, and before he could throw another tantrum Ella grabbed him and let him sit on her lap. He found the fact that Fred and George were identical very funny and kept getting their names mixed up. Fred tried to give Riley his wand to play with (“Absolutely not, Fred Weasley! What is wrong with you?” Ella had said.) but Ella shot him down.

After lunch, Ella and the twins retreated back to Ella’s room and she continued to show them bands that she liked. They flew through vinyls of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, a brand new band that Ella had found named Tool, and Ella’s personal favorite, The Vaselines. George particularly liked The Vaselines, which made Ella’s stomach flip. It was just before seven and the time for Fred and George to return home had come. Ella was quite pleased with how her day had gone. Her, Fred, and George sat in her room and listened to Ella’s Muggle music all day long. They ate sweets (George was particularly good at catching Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans in his mouth from across the room), talked about Quidditch, and Ella helped the twins plan some of their next pranks on Filch.

“You’re sure you won’t stay for dinner?” Margaret asked as she hugged the boys goodbye, which made Ella flush with embarrassment.

“Yeah, our parents wanted us home early anyways,” George said. “Another time.”

“Okay,” Margaret said and picked up Riley who was tugging at her pant leg and saying, “Uppies!” over and over. “Say bye to Fred and George, Riley!”

“Bye, Gred! Bye, Forge!” Riley said happily, repeating one of Fred and George’s jokes without even realizing it.

“I’ll see you around school, you guys,” Jackson said to the twins, puffing his chest out to try and intimidate Fred and George, but they were intimidated easily. He shook each of their hands as if he was Oliver Wood trying to break Marcus Flint’s fingers.

“I’ll wait outside with you,” Ella said, in a rush to get them out of her house and out of the embarrassing company of her family. “Your mam will be here soon.”

And Ella was right because within seconds of the three of them walking outside —

CRACK.

Mrs. Weasley had appeared before them, smelling as if she had just been in the kitchen for hours. “Hello again, dear! I trust my boys were well behaved?”

“Oh yes, Mrs. Weasley,” Ella said, smiling, “very well behaved.”

“Lovely,” Mrs. Weasley said. “Well, I hate to leave in a rush but I’ve got dinner on so I really should be getting home. Thank you for letting them over.” She kissed Ella on the cheek and hugged her goodbye. “Fred, you first,” she said and holding her arm out to her son.

Fred hugged Ella goodbye and then went to go grab Mrs. Weasley’s arm.

CRACK.

Mrs. Weasley and Fred were gone and George used this small window of time to his advantage.

“So, I know it’s kind of late but,” George said while digging around in his pocket, “I got you this for your birthday.” He pulled out a seemingly handmade necklace and offered it to Ella. It was made from a black leather cord to go around Ella’s neck and a small rough rose quartz crystal was attached to the cord by a wire. “W-well, I made it actually. I found this old crystal and I figured you would like it because you like pink so much, y’know?” He hadn’t found it. He had sold some of his old spell books so he could get the crystal.

“George!” Ella gasped, eagerly taking the necklace from his hands and examining it. “I love it!” It was just the right combination of rough and soft, just like Ella. She put it around her neck and looked down at it fondly, and then looked back at George with misty eyes. She flung herself at him in a hug and squeezed him tight. “It’s perfect, thank you,” She said softly. Then she heard a loud crack and she put several feet between her and George.

“Come on, Georgie,” Mrs. Weasley said, “dinner’s almost ready.”

“Okay, Mum,” George said and hugged Ella once more before grabbing his mother’s arm just like Fred had.

“Oh, and Ella dear,” Mrs. Weasley said, “please do consider coming over for dinner sometime. With Ron staying at school for the holidays we have an extra place at the table.”

“I will,” Ella said politely while still looking at George. “Thank you,” she mouthed to him and waved just before —

CRACK.

Mrs. Weasley and George were gone and Ella was left standing outside of her house, fondling the crystal of her new necklace with a dopey grin on her face.

[backstorywithdanalewis]

Police Misconduct and Qualified Immunity

on Back Story with Dana Lewis podcast

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https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/5157637

Speaker 1: (00:00) Oh, there's protesters are out here trying to save the cops who did this should be arrested. And there's like probably hundreds and hundreds of people, but they were out here and the police started shooting with rubber bullets and then threw tear gas stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (00:14)  Hi everyone. And welcome to another edition of backstory. I'm Dana Lewis. Don't just listen to one podcast here, subscribe and please share in this edition, another shooting in America of a black man by police fueling unrest, inflaming the streets, furthering demands for dramatic change. The place Kenosha, Wisconsin, the police captured in graphic video of shooting. Jacob Blake, multiple times in the back. He's paralyzed his sister. Let Tetra, would Speaker 1: (00:58) You say the name, Jacob? Make sure you say father, make sure you say cousin, make sure you say son, make sure you say uncle, but most importantly, make sure you say human. This is nothing new. I'm not sad. I'm not sorry. I'm angry. And I'm tired. I haven't cried. One time. I stopped crying years ago. I am numb. I have been watching police murder people that look like me for years. I going to change. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (01:37) Okay. The police will be charged as they are in many cases convictions sometimes because the criminal test is difficult. Did the officer believe he was threatened? Even if you and I don't think so, but the real justice can only come say families in civil lawsuits where someone can still be held accountable. A jury may find they acted improperly, and that brings us to something. No one has qualified immunity, which is the type of legal immunity. It's supposedly balances two things. The need to hold public officials accountable. When they exercise power irresponsibly in the need to shield officials from Harrison distraction and liability when they perform their duties reasonably. But in reality, qualified immunity has come to mean that even when officers act illegally or maliciously and cause serious harm courts refuse to repair the injury instead allowing officers to get away with misconduct. You think things should change. We'll listen because often police are shielded from accountability in criminal courts first, and then from civil action because of qualified immunity, which is you're about to hear in this edition of backstory, a growing number of legal experts thinks should be reformed in America or done away with stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (03:04) All right. Joanna Schwartz is a professor of law at UCLA, and we're going to talk to her and she's going to explain everything we need to know about qualified immunity. If you want to, it's it's a little complicated. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (03:17) It's very complicated. It's so complicated that I think that many judges and practitioners don't fully understand it. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (03:26) If you were to kind of give me the headline quality qualified immunity means policemen can only be, can congenitally not be sued. They are protected. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (03:37) Well, I would say it's slightly differently. So qualified immunity, uh, is a defense that was created by the Supreme court to protect government officials, including police officers from damages liability when they're sued for constitutional claims and the defense protects them, uh, unless they have violated what the Supreme court calls clearly established law. And what clearly established law means has changed over the decades of qualified immunities existence. But today I think it's fair to say that qualified immunity, shields, government officials from damages liability, unless there is a prior court case from that circuit or from the Supreme court with a very similar facts where it is held very similar back's unconstitutional, stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (04:30) Policemen does something that is questionable. Maybe it's a police abuse or, you know, racism involved. Um, if there's alcohol involved, then, then, uh, let's say the policemen took drugs for instance. And he was on duty. He is, he does not receive immunity at that point because that is established in law. That that was a rule and a regulation that, that he should have known about. And, and he's not gonna receive any protection civilly. Is that the idea? joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (04:56) Well, uh, I, I don't know for certain that that is true. Um, that that would be the conclusion. Uh, you can violate a, an internal police policy, uh, and not have violated clearly established law. So what, what this turns on is whether a court has previously held that similar conduct violates the constitution. And so, and it must be very similar. So there can be established if, well, stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (05:30) There has to be precedent slowly established, right? Where a court says, okay, that, that goes beyond reasonable conduct. The policemen should have known better and he is not going to be protected civilly. So it does the law developed or, or is it joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (05:45) So there's, there are two problems, uh, with qualified immunity that are, that are implicated by your questions. The first is that the Supreme court has said on the one hand plaintiffs have to find a prior case with sufficiently similar facts to clearly establish the law in order to hold an officer liable, the Supreme court has also told lower courts. You can grant qualified immunity without ruling on the constitutionality of the officer's behavior. So the Supreme court's instructions to lower courts essentially, uh, absolve them of the, of the obligation of ruling on the constitutional claim, which makes it even more difficult for plaintiffs then to find those cases. That's one point stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (06:25) There's an important, maybe we should kind of roll back a little bit to why is this important when you talk about police conduct and somebody's ability to Sue a policeman for misconduct to civilly? joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (06:36) Well, it's important to be able to Sue a policemen for misconduct for a number of different reasons. One is that the plaintiff, the person whose constitutional rights have been violated, deserves their day in court and deserves compensation when their rights have been violated. That's something that was Korea, right? That was created by Congress in 1871, and still exists to this day. It's also a necessary in order to hold officers to some account for their conduct. Um, civil suits are one of the most powerful ways to be able to hold officers. Responsible officers are rarely criminally charged. Officers are rarely, uh, internally disciplined for their conduct and civil suits often remain the one, uh, most viable alternative for holding officers, uh, liable. And so when qualified immunity protects officers who have even those who have violated the constitution, simply because there was not a prior case on point, uh, that means that the person receives no compensation. The officer receives no consequences and is essentially told as justice Sotomayor has said that they can shoot first and think later. Um, and that's a terrible message to send to the individual officer in the case, and to law enforcement officers, more generally as they, uh, read these opinions, stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (08:03) Everybody's talking about the George Floyd case. So if a former police officer Derek Shovan is convicted of murdering mr. Floyd, it's quite plausible that a court could refuse to hold him liable for violating Floyd's constitutional rights of lawyers were unable to point to an earlier case. Making clear that the specific action that Shovan took, which was kneeling on a restrained person's neck for more than eight minutes was unconstitutional. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (08:31) That's right. I think that for political reasons, it's very unlikely that any civil suit brought by the family of George Floyd is going to be litigated in that way because of the amount of controversy around that case. My guess is that that case will be settled rather quickly. But if you look at a similar, there's a similar case that the Supreme court this year decided not to hear a case called Baxter versus Bracey. And it was a case in which, uh, a burglary suspect was a lie as sitting down with their hands in the air and police officers, nevertheless released their dog on him who mauled him. And stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (09:12) After he had surrendered, he's got his hands, me, joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (09:14) He had surrendered hands up in the air and he, the officers were granted qualified immunity, even though it was very well established that you cannot release a police dog on a person who is, uh, who has surrendered and who is not posing any threat. The reason that he was granted qualified immunity was that the prior case with similar the most similar facts was a person who was lying down when he was attacked by the police dog. And the sixth circuit said a case where a person is lying down is not, does not have sufficiently similar facts to a case with a person seated with their hands in the air to clearly establish the law. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (09:58) Sounds ridiculous. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (10:00) It's ridiculous. It is ridiculous. And if you, if you wanted to know another reason why it's ridiculous, I've just recently done a study looking to understand what police officers are actually trained about when it comes to these cases, because the Supreme court says we need these prior cases with sufficiently similar facts to put officers on notice. This is a complicated area of the law, and they need direct guidance about the constitutionality of their behavior from prior decisions. But when I looked at California trainings, hundreds of them around the country, I found that officers are never trained about the underlying facts and holdings of these cases that would supposedly clearly establish the law. So officers aren't even learning about these cases, um, that the Supreme court says are necessary to put them on notice. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (10:53) Why do they need to learn about the cases they just need to be trained in proper conduct? joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (10:58) I think that that's right, but the, the, I, I'm not suggesting that the, that the best way to train officers is to educate them about the hundreds or thousands of cases. Um, but rather, you know, that the Supreme courts, uh, demand that plaintiffs come forward with these cases with virtually identical facts is premised on the notion that the officers would somehow read them, absorb them under re remember the facts and recall them in the, in a moment in which they are about to use force, which is unrealistic on many levels, including that officers aren't trained about these cases. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (11:36) What is the answer as far as you're concerned, joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (11:39) I think that we should do away with qualified immunity altogether. And there are calls to do just that across the ideological spectrum, among advocacy groups, judges, um, and scholars, I, that we're qualified immunity eliminated. There would still be multiple protections in place for law enforcement who made good face mistakes in split second decisions. The constitution, the way in which the Supreme court has interpreted the constitution already protects officers when they make mistakes that are in good face and indemnification agreements, uh, are in place across the country. Meaning that officers even when they are found liable, do not personally pay the settlements and judgments in the cases brought against them. So the eliminating qualified in the city, the taxpayers, well, ultimately the taxpayers do. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (12:42) And why would that then result in any better conduct by police if they never have to pay the check anyway? Well, joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (12:50) One that is already in place, so that is already a problem. And one that, um, that lawmakers are currently beginning to think through. Um, but you know, even if officers are not paying themselves, um, there are ways in which, um, you know, cities should take better account of their officers and try to learn from those lawsuits. That's also something that cities don't do well enough, but there's a lot of problems, but while eliminating qualified immunity, wouldn't create more problems. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (13:24) Isn't the better answer to criminally prosecute policemen who released the dog on the person who's just surrendered or kneels on somebody's neck resulting in deaths. And I mean, isn't the, isn't the criminal prosecution, really the answer to cleaning up police behavior and then better training, and then banning those officers from going on and serving other police departments because they do do that in the U S joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (13:49) Uh, different people have different views about this. Um, I'm really convinced by, um, a scholar named Kate Levine. Uh, who's at Cardozo, um, who says the answer really isn't prosecuting the police, if it, or to say that, um, prosecuting the police adds to, um, broader, uh, problems in, um, criminalizing behavior. And, um, and that we may want to think about other tools of, of reform. I think that, um, to my mind, uh, the best solution would probably be, um, one in which cities paid much more attention to the information in these suits and took decisive action against officers, um, who had engaged in wrongdoing, which could mean, um, terminating them, preventing them from being rehired anywhere. Um, I do think that there are financial consequences that could be imposed on, um, depending on the severity of their conduct. So I see that there's, there's a lot of different tools that could be, um, put in effect and criminalization prosecution of officers is certainly one of them, but it's not my, not my first choice. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (15:07) What do you think that most police officers think that, uh, you know, you're not going to catch me and if you do, you're not going to be able to get me in court anyway, and it's not going to cost me anything. So I have a license to behave. How I want, is that, is that how some people think about what's going on? joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (15:23) Well, I certainly can't, can't claim to know what's on every officer's mind, but I do think that the system, uh, does create those, those kinds of, um, incentives. And certainly if you, um, you can read publications that are geared toward law enforcement that talk about the importance of qualified immunity as a shield. Um, and so, you know, I think some people do hold that view, whether it's framed in exactly the way you've described, uh, I'll leave it to, to, uh, folks in law enforcement to know stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (15:56) I may not have framed it very well, but I gave it my best shot. You wrote, there is a growing consensus among court scholars and advocates across the ideological spectrum that qualified immunity doctrine is legally unsound, unnecessary to shield government officials from the costs and burdens of litigation and destructive the police accountability efforts. Is there a growing consensus because I mean, I've talked to a few legal analysts, some of them, former police officers who say this is a nonstarter they're never going to re remove, um, qualified immunity. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (16:29) Well, there is a growing consensus. Um, if you look at, uh, opinions that are being written by judges around the country, there is certainly a, a slow trickle of opinions, um, from judges, including, you know, Trump appointees, um, who are critical of the doctrine, uh, justice Clarence Thomas, uh, has called for a reconsideration of qualified immunity. Justice Sotomayor has called, or has criticized qualified immunity. And, um, there is also a collection of advocacy organizations that truly are across the ideological spectrum that have submitted multiple briefs to the Supreme court, uh, calling on the court to reconsider qualified immunity. And those organizations include the Cato Institute and the ACL oo and NAACP legal defense fund, and the Institute for justice, um, and organizations that are, that are truly, um, that, that, that you don't think of as agreeing on on many things do agree on this one force, Oh, I was gonna say law enforcement officials, um, uh, do still call, you know, qualified immunity reform proposals, um, a poison pill. And that was, that was how Republican editorial leadership described, um, efforts to qualified immunity reform. I am puzzled when I hear, uh, the strong line in the sand being drawn about qualified immunity from defenders of the doctrine, um, because all available evidence suggests that the doctrine does not function in the way that the defenders of the doctrine say that it does. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (18:12) Final question to you is that when you look at what's happening across America right now, from the demonstrations to the defunding, to the deep debates about police brutality and police reform, um, do you think that there's progress, do you think that we are finally coming to grips with just reoccurring situations of abuse or, or do you feel that, um, you know, we're, we're spinning in circles right now? I mean, if you look at it as a law professor and how it's developing and how it may develop in the courts, is there something you feel it's positive or do you feel it's a negative thing happening? joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (18:52) I absolutely think that it's a positive thing happening. There are conversations ongoing right now, um, in state legislatures and in Congress, uh, about police reform, more fundamental than I've seen in awhile. And, uh, States particularly are, are passing legislation that is very exciting. Uh, Colorado, the Colorado legislature passed a statute that, that changes, uh, the right to Sue and, and police policies and various ways that I think that are really truly innovative and interesting, but we will see, um, history will, will tell us whether, um, whether there is true change in this moment. Unfortunately, we have had protests, um, in the streets, um, and very serious national conversations about police violence against black men in particular, uh, repeatedly over the past decade. Um, and, uh, I truly hope that this is the sign of, of change to come. Um, but I think history is going to have to get the last word on that. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (20:08) It may be one of the biggest issues in the upcoming election in November. I mean, COVID-19, but also, you know, the rule of law and policing. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (20:17) Absolutely. Uh, it, it should be, uh, I think that we have been, um, we have been living in a time, uh, that, uh, we have been living in a period of police violence and misconduct, um, without, without addressing some of these fundamental issues and essentially letting police govern themselves. Uh, and I, and I think that we do need to have very renewed, serious conversations about the role of police in our society and the role of government in, uh, policing the police. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (20:56) Joanna Schwartz is a professor of law at UCLA. And thank you so much for your time. And it's you get double, triple thank yous for doing this on your vacation. If you don't mind. joanna schwartz law prof UCLA: (21:08) I it's my pleasure. I'm, I'm happy to talk about qualified immunity and police reform with you even on vacation. Oh, there's a dedicated professional. [inaudible] stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (21:23) All right. Let's move now to Texas. And Steven Vladik is a professor at the university of Texas school of law. And, uh, hi, Steven, how are you in, COVID-19 in America? We're all in Europe, uh, you know, taking big breasts, watching what's happening in America. Yeah. I mean, we're still pretty well locked down here, although I can, uh, you know, we're coming up on return to school in the next couple of weeks, it's going to put a lot of pressure on, on the numbers, on our governments and the, I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a little nervous about where it will be a month from now, but, you know, I just have to take it one day at a time like us here too, but I mean, uh, it's a runaway train there and my best to you and your family. Listen, we just finished speaking to Joanna Schwartz at UCLA who led us through, you know, a fairly good explanation of what is qualified immunity. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (22:09) So essentially, would you agree that it's a legal shield for police officers? Um, that civil rights critics say it makes it nearly impossible to hold police to account for violations of civil rights. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (22:23) I agree with that. And I would go one step further, which is just that the way these cases are litigated in our courts, it also makes it very hard for the courts to actually establish new rules, to actually say, and going forward, even if this particular officer in this particular case is not liable, you know, it's actually hard for the court to say future officers will be because of the way the litigation works. So it's, it's both a shield for officers at the current moment. It's a show for officers in the moment in which they're being sued, but it also operates in effect to shield future officers as well, by making it harder for courts to create clear principles that will bind future officers. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (23:05) And I think that's an equally important part of the story. Why should police officers ever serve if they're going to be civilly liable? Well, I think there, I mean, I think there are two responses. The first is, um, as, as Joanna may have pointed out in most of these cases, police officers are indemnified by their jurisdiction. So, you know, it's really mostly a fiction that we say these officers were personally liable. As long as these actions, these acts of misconduct are taking place while they're on the job. More often than not almost every case. I'm aware of, it's the locality, that's going to be on the book. But also, I mean, the liability question, I think there's a question of, at what point has an officer have gone so far over the line that we think he should no longer be able to claim who is acting in good faith. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (23:52) I mean, should there really be no consequences for officers who act in no in violation of constitutional rights, you know, without sort of we're in the non gray area cases? I think the problem is is that at its core qualified immunity was meant as a gray area problem, that we should allow a little bit of, you know, marginal broom at the border for officers to get the benefit of the doubt, but the way courts have interpreted it, the way courts have expanded, it it's become much, much larger. So that now not only are we protecting authors in the gray area, we're protecting officers who are clearly and unquestionably violating the rights of law, abiding people on the street, dana lewis : (24:31) Civil process important when you have a criminal process because of the policemen steps outside the bounds of what is proper conduct, and he does something criminal while he has somebody in his custody or is attempting to take them into custody. There he's criminally liable. Isn't that good enough? stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (24:47) Well, so I think there are two separate reasons why it's not good enough if the first is criminal liability is of course a much higher bar to establish criminal liability. You have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer didn't just violate your rights, but actually committed some crime. Um, so there are plenty of violations of constitutional rights, dana lewis : (25:06) An example to make it a little more digestible. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (25:09) Sure. I mean, if a police officer walks up to me on the street and arrest me with no probable cause with no reason, reasonable suspicion with no basis for a restaurant and throws me in the back of his police car and hauls me off to jail. And I sit there for, let's say, 14 hours, um, he has not committed a crime. Um, he has committed a tort he's, he's committed a false arrest, um, but there's no, uh, Texas statute that makes it a crime to make a wrongful arrest. Um, if you assault me, that's a different matter, but I think, you know, the constitution protects a heck of a lot more than just a right to be free from having the government commit crimes against you. So that's the first problem. The second problem is, you know, crimes are prosecuted by the same government that this officer represents. And so in many, many cases, even when the officer has not just cross the civil line, but has crossed the con the criminal line, um, there are powerful disincentives on the part of local prosecutors to throw the book at one of their own. Um, and so for all these reasons, you know, this is why we think civil liability is so important, not because we're trying to actually exact as huge damages from these officers, but because it is the most effective, efficient, and independent way of compelling compliance with constitutional rules and norms. dana lewis : (26:25) So if the lawyer in the George Floyd case, um, you know, who is now facing a murder charge, if he is not convicted, um, how does this apply to that case as a, as a possible example of where the family seeks justice through the action and, and how would they be blocked into qualified immunity then? stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (26:48) So, I mean, the family could bring a wrongful death action against the Robyn officers and the officers would surely raise as a defense. Um, the notion that even if they violated Floyd's constitutional rights, it wasn't clearly established at the time of the interaction at the time of Floyd's murder, um, that the officers were actually acting in a way that was clearly established. In other words, that it's not just, did you, did you violate the constitution it's at the time of the relevant action? Should it have been clear to you that what you were doing was unconstitutional? And so the officers might, for example, try to point to, um, other cases hold him that that kind of force by itself was not per se unconstitutional know, I actually think the Floyd case has probably a weak example of qualified immunity. I think there's actually a good chance that the families will, will be able to do that. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (27:37) The family were able to get around that defense in that case, but for every case like that, where there's video tape, um, and where it just so clear that what the officer's doing was unconstitutional. Um, there are so many more cases where there's no videotape where there's a credit. He said, he said, um, where the author might have some basis of claim that he thought his life was in jeopardy. Um, and so this is the problem is that George Floyd, even though it was clearly the trigger for this conversation is actually an exceptional case with regard to how easy it is in a case like that to hold the officer accountable, it's much, much harder in the run of the mill case to prove that the officer acted with such malicious intent to prove that the officer was not under threat to prove that the officer was using grossly excessive portions of the circumstances, that's where qualified immunity is such an obstacle. And that's why so many folks believe that qualified immunity leads to police officers who, who, who act like the ones did in the George Floyd case, because they don't reasonably fear what would happen to them if they cross the line dana lewis : (28:38) Qualified immunity. And I know I've kind of asked you this already, but I'm not clear on the, on the answer. How does qualified immunity make justice be delivered in the case of where your rights have been violated or whether where, you know, somebody who sues a family member, Susan in George Floyd's case, for instance, stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (28:58) I mean, the only way to qualify that is usually an obstacle to justice. I mean, the only way that you usually get around qualified immunity dana lewis : (29:07) Of qualified immunity, if you can, if they can amend the laws in America, how will that lead to a better sense of justice? Because that policemen in, as you said, at the beginning of the interview, won't have to foot the bill anyway. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (29:18) So, I mean, again, I think because I think that's a bit of a mistake that think of the question as will officer Smith, right. Have to pay out of his pocket. To me. I think the real question is how do we ensure that there's every incentive for law enforcement officers to act in a way that is constitutional unlawful, whenever they're engaging with citizens and the removal, or at least water and down and qualified immunity, I think would be a big step in that direction. Not because it would open the pocket books of these officers, but because it would create powerful incentives for police departments for, um, you know, police unions for all of these entities to actually ensure that their officers are better trained, that their officers are more responsive to constitutional and statutory lines. And that there's a lower incidence of officers acting in a way that could reasonably be claimed to be unconstitutional. dana lewis : (30:12) Would it also make some of these police departments, uh, in jurisdictions screen people properly, and also if they start getting a series of complaints against that same stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (30:23) I'm officer w would it be dana lewis : (30:25) A good incentive then for them to say, you know what, this guy is just too big, a risk let's take them off the street. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (30:31) Yeah. I mean, I think that it shouldn't be that controversial and it shouldn't be that difficult to show that the more we're going to hold officers who are indemnified liable for constitutional malfeasance, the more incentive that the police departments are going to have for training the officers correctly for screening them correctly for getting rid of bad apples, um, because otherwise it's going to be the departments that really feel the pinch in their bottom line when they're losing all of these damages suits. And the biggest problem with the status quo in the United States today is that there's almost no impact to the bottom line when these lawsuits go forward because the police officers invariably, when them, dana lewis : (31:07) If you represent a pretty good ground swell of legal opinion, that qualified immunity should be amended or disappear, who opposes it stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (31:21) Well, I mean, I think there's a lot of opposition from police unions. Um, I think that there's a lot of opposition from local and state governments because they're the ones who are going to have to be footing the bill if you've got real qualified immunity. Um, and frankly, I think there's a real concern on the part of especially Republican politicians, um, that this is effectively punishing good police officers along with the bad, I mean, there's, you know, no one's going out there and defending the police officer who clearly crosses the line. I think the concern is, is there going to be collateral damage in Chile, you know, appropriate conduct by good faith officers in disincentivizing people from even joining the police department in the first place? dana lewis : (32:02) We need a bit of chill on the street right now though. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (32:04) Well, I mean, my reaction is that, you know, I see those as features, not bugs, um, right. But that also, I think you can, all, it would be easy enough to tell her. I mean, I, I, this is where I think the nuance of how you reform qualified immunity really matters. I think it would be easy enough to tailor reforms where you're still not punishing officers who are acting completely in good faith, right. And consistent with constitutional rules, but where you're making it a lot easier to recover in cases in which officers have crossed the line. You know, it's, uh, the nuance matters here, but I think the nuances achievable. And so I think most of the critiques are sort of aimed at the low hanging fruit of a world in which it's just open season to Sue law enforcement officers. I don't think any of the more sophisticated proposals are suggesting we'd go quite that far in the other direction. dana lewis : (32:51) This is, this is going to happen that we'll see qualified immunity. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (32:56) Um, I think there's zero chance. It happens in this Congress. Um, you know, whether it becomes part of a series of reforms in a future Congress, I think of course depends on what happens in the elections this November. Um, I do think that if we see, you know, Democrats retake the Senate, uh, president, you know, if we, if we see a president Biden come this time next year, you know, some modicum of reform has been to be part of the conversation. I would be surprised frankly, if the reform is to completely get rid of qualified immunity, but, you know, there are so many, I think, salutary things we can do to just make it harder for officers to invoke and to make the standard a little more favorable to plaintiffs. And I think that would be such an important step even of itself. Can I just ask dana lewis : (33:39) He was an American now after watching the, the George Floyd case and then the demonstrations spread across the country from Washington to what's been going on in Portland and, stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (33:51) And in Chicago, which is a very different story, but do you, dana lewis : (33:55) Do you feel this year in a positive environment that, that finally America is coming to grips with some of the police abuse and race relations that it needs to finally confront or is it stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (34:08) Just, just become so politicized, um, dana lewis : (34:11) That, you know, it's, it's kind of divided the left and the right even further, and stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (34:16) The progress is debatable. I mean, how are you feeling yourself? I think it's a bit of both. I mean, I actually, I think there's been a very healthy, um, public focus on a conversation that's been in the dark for far too long. Um, I think that, you know, for the first time that I can remember, um, it's becoming clear to larger and larger constituencies of Americans that platitudes aren't sufficient, um, that thoughts and prayers are not enough that actually meaningful reform is necessary. Um, but I think that, you know, the, the momentum that this movement will have and its ability to actually record any successes has been, it depends dramatically on what happens at the ballot box this November. Um, and so, you know, I think that, uh, my feeling is sort of both, um, a cautious amount of optimism and a huge amount of anxiety. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (35:07) Um, because I think, you know, it's, there's just so much about the future of our, um, relations with our government about the sort of interpersonal reactions we have with our fellow Americans. That's going to turn out what happens at this November. And so I think this is, you know, it's by far the most important election in my lifetime. Um, I think that's the most important election in a lot longer than that. And I think it's important in so many ways, not the least of which is what's going to happen to this conversation. Um, and to the sort of the, the structure and, and discussion about race relations in this country. Um, come January, 2021, Steven, dana lewis : (35:47) Thank you so much professor of law at the university of Texas. Great to hear you. stephen vladeck Law prof U of Texas : (35:53) That's what happened. dana lewis : (35:55) And that's our backstory on qualified immunity and justice in America. Here's my plea. We are a growing podcast and worth your time. If you support us, all we ask is you share the link, tell people about backstory, get them to subscribe. And so we can bring more episodes your way. I'm Dana Lewis. Sincerely. Thanks for listening. And I'll talk to you again soon. 

[biofunmy]

Hostage Affairs Envoy Takes On an Unlikely Case: ASAP Rocky

It started with a cordial phone call to the Swedish prime minister. It escalated into a series of tweets that expressed disappointment, first with the prime minister, then with Sweden itself.

Now President Trump’s bid to rescue a rap star, ASAP Rocky, who is being held in a Stockholm jail, has spiraled into a situation the administration has apparently decided requires a diplomat typically used to free hostages from war-torn countries.

But the country in question has not been touched by war in more than 70 years, and Rocky is not a hostage — or, in any case, not by any commonly accepted definition of the term. He is a defendant in a criminal case, accused of assaulting a man on a Stockholm street a month ago.

[ASAP Rocky claims self-defense at his trial.]

Mr. Trump’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Robert C. O’Brien, first appeared on Tuesday in the courtroom in Stockholm, where Rocky and two members of his entourage are standing trial. Mr. O’Brien said in an interview on Tuesday that President Trump had asked him to come to support the defendants.

“I’ll be here until they come home,” he said.

It’s an uncommon task for a diplomat whose job is to advise senior government officials on hostage situations overseas. Mr. O’Brien has spent his tenure trying to free Americans from places like Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya and Syria.

His unlikely path to Sweden is the result of two ultra-famous celebrities having a direct line to Mr. Trump, a commander-in-chief who has been otherwise shunned by the entertainment elite. Mr. Trump views the opportunity to free Rocky as a way to earn praise from critics and news outlets he feels treat him unfairly, as well as add another American to his list of released captives, according to two people familiar with the situation. The latest bruising news cycle includes widespread criticism of his Twitter posts that attacked several congresswomen of color and a veteran congressional leader who is black.

The mission in which Mr. O’Brien is now involved began in early July when the rapper Kanye West suggested to his wife, Kim Kardashian West, who has made frequent visits to the White House in the name of criminal justice reform, that she reach out to the White House on Rocky’s behalf, according to two people familiar with the process. In recent weeks, Rocky’s team has also had a direct line to Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, who delivers progress updates to the president.

Embracing the rapper’s case, Mr. Trump deployed his diplomatic and social media influence. He tasked his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who oversees Mr. O’Brien, to work with the Swedish authorities; urged the Swedish prime minister, Stefan Lofven, to intervene in the case; and circulated the hashtag “#FreeRocky” on his Twitter account.

But Mr. Lofven declined to get involved, and so Mr. O’Brien, hostage affairs specialist, was in court to observe the trial of a 30-year-old Grammy-nominated rapper whose real name is Rakim Mayers and who says he and his entourage beat up a man on a Stockholm street because they feared he was going to attack them.

Whether appropriate or not, the framing of Rocky’s case as akin to a hostage situation appears to have taken hold at the White House. A senior administration official said the main motivation for Mr. Trump is continuing his track record of getting hostages freed. Mr. Trump has taken pride in the freeing of hostages from Iran, North Korea and Turkey, including Andrew Brunson, a pastor who had been held by Turkish authorities for years.

Engaging in Rocky’s case, according to another person familiar with Mr. Trump’s past hostage-release efforts, is less about getting attention from two celebrities who are kind to him and more about its being “something he can do that no one can really criticize him for.”

In the courtroom Thursday, as Rocky gave his account of the street brawl, saying he was acting in self-defense, Mr. O’Brien sat in a gray suit next to his chief of staff. Asked whether this case was appropriate for a hostage affairs envoy to oversee, he said, “The president sent me here, so it’s totally appropriate.”

“I also help free people that are held by governments,” Mr. O’Brien told reporters, “so unjustly detained Americans.”

When asked whether he’d ever previously been sent to monitor a criminal case, he responded: “When foreign governments hold Americans they always claim it’s a criminal case.”

He was more conciliatory in a Twitter post he sent Thursday.

Mr. O’Brien is the second person to serve as hostage affairs envoy, a position President Obama created in 2015 as part of an overhaul of how the U.S. government handled hostages. Starting in mid-2014 when the Islamic State was beheading captives, family members of hostages complained of confusing policies and dysfunctional communication by various government agencies and urged the government to create a single, senior-level “hostage czar.”

James C. O’Brien, no relation and the first person to hold the position, said in a phone interview that his successor’s efforts in Sweden did not fit the job’s original framework. The envoy, he said, should work to free Americans being held without good reason, oftentimes when there are no diplomatic alternatives.

There has to have been another way of handing the situation, James O’Brien said, especially since Sweden is an ally who could be a partner in working to release an actual hostage.

“The envoy’s presence in Sweden is a tweet come to life,” James O’Brien, the vice chairman of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global consulting firm, said.

On Wednesday, the United States Embassy in Stockholm asked that the three defendants be released from detention and allowed to reside at a hotel for the duration of the trial, according to a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, who called the request unusual.

The prosecutors responded in a letter that the embassy will receive Friday, the spokeswoman, Karin Rosander, said.

“The letter states that this is not how it works in Sweden,” Ms. Rosander continued.

In an administration bent on unraveling many of Mr. Obama’s legacies, the hostage affairs envoy is one Mr. Trump has kept. Robert O’Brien and the Trump administration have managed to free about a dozen hostages held in captivity overseas, using diplomatic leverage or relying on countries such as France and the United Arab Emirates to carry out high-risk military raids in Africa and Yemen.

In working on the release of the U.S. Air Force veteran Jamie Sponaugle from Libya, Mr. O’Brien, 53, negotiated with Khalifa Hifter, commander of the Libyan National Army. He was also involved with the freeing of Luis Andrade, an American citizen who served as the head of the Colombian government’s infrastructure agency before he was put on house arrest.

Joe Miller, whose brother-in-law remains missing after his abduction in Afghanistan in 2016, said that he has dealt with Mr. O’Brien and that he appears to genuinely care about the hostages and their families. A central part of the envoy’s role is communicating with the family members of hostages to make sure they’re getting clear information about the status of their relative.

“He has a tough job,” Mr. Miller said. “He’s not only trying to negotiate with foreign powers and criminal organizations but he has to navigate his government’s bureaucracy.”

Mr. O’Brien, a founding partner of a boutique law firm based in Los Angeles, had served in various foreign affairs positions under other presidents. In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated him as a representative to the United Nations General Assembly, where he worked with John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, who was then the U.N. ambassador. Under both the Bush and Obama administrations, Mr. O’Brien worked on an initiative to train lawyers and judges in Afghanistan.

In his 2016 book, “While America Slept: Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis,” Mr. O’Brien details what he deems to be the foreign policy failures of the Obama administration and the potential for the Republican Party to regain power. Mr. O’Brien — who said he advised the presidential candidacies of Mitt Romney, Scott Walker and Ted Cruz — can sometimes sound like Mr. Trump in his prose, writing in the book, “The GOP is winning and will win in the future because it promotes freedom.”

Mr. Trump has been particularly sensitive to criticism over his hostage-negotiation methods. When a story in April said the administration had been billed $2 million for the release of Otto Warmbier, a student who died just days after being returned in a coma by North Korea in 2017, he responded on Twitter.

“No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else,” the tweet said.

The president added that the country’s “cheif” hostage negotiator — who would have been Mr. O’Brien at the time — had praised his abilities.

“‘President Donald J. Trump is the greatest hostage negotiator that I know of in the history of the United States. 20 hostages, many in impossible circumstances, have been released in last two years,’” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, seemingly quoting Mr. O’Brien. “‘No money was paid.’ Cheif Hostage Negotiator, USA!”

On Thursday, the State Department said Mr. O’Brien had indeed called the president the greatest hostage negotiator in American history.

“We confirm,” a spokeswoman said in an email.

Christina Anderson contributed reporting from Stockholm.

Sahred From Source link Arts

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[theconservativebrief]

Nia Wilson, 18, and her sister, 26-year-old Lahtifa, were simply changing trains at a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in Oakland, California, on Sunday when it happened: A man suddenly approached them, stabbed Nia, and wounded Lahtifa. Nia was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Monday, John Lee Cowell, 27, was arrested for the attack, ending a one-day manhunt.

But the attack has remained in the news throughout the week as the public conversation has shifted to whether the attack — and the authorities’ purportedly slow response to it — was racially motivated.

To many people, the circumstances are obvious: Based on the reporting so far, Nia Wilson and her sister did nothing to provoke their attacker. Yet Cowell allegedly approached them and attacked anyway before running off. And since Cowell is white and Wilson is black, race has become the obvious motive in many people’s minds.

The situation was further inflamed because it took a day for police to catch the suspect, leading to protests in Oakland and other parts of California on Monday calling for justice.

Singer and Oakland native Kehlani captured much of the public sentiment in a tweet: “#BART manages to catch riders who haven’t paid ticket fair, young graffiti artists, you can catch a murderer. give her family some peace and get a murderous white supremecist off of oakland streets.”

The police, for their part, have said that they do not have any evidence that Cowell was racially motivated. “We don’t take anything off the table,” BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas said at a press conference. “While we don’t have any facts that suggest he is connected with any white supremacist group, we are going to explore all types of possibilities and options.”

A BART spokesperson also separately acknowledged some of the criticisms to the New York Times: “People are saying, ‘Why weren’t there officers there?’ There were two officers at that station, but it happened so quick. It all took 20 seconds.”

According to Rojas, officers were present at the train station platform in “maybe a minute,” but the attacker had fled by then.

Cowell’s family, meanwhile, released a statement on Tuesday claiming Cowell “was diagnosed with being bi-polar & schizophrenia” and “was living on the streets without the proper treatment.” Cowell also has a criminal record, including drugs, assault, and robbery, and was on parole for robbery at the time of Wilson’s murder.

There’s a reason, though, that this tragedy drew so much attention — there really is a solid amount of evidence that police are slower to respond to and solve murders in which black people are the victims. That racial disparity, along with other evidence of racial bias across America, lies in the background of the conversation over Wilson’s death, fueling distrust in authorities’ willingness and ability to respond to these kinds of killings.

As Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement, “Although investigators currently have no evidence to conclude that this tragedy was racially motivated or that the suspect was affiliated with any hate groups, the fact that his victims were both young African-American women stirs deep pain and palpable fear in all of us who acknowledge the reality that our country still suffers from a tragic and deeply racist history.”

One of the key concerns here is that killers of black people are often treated differently — meaning, more leniently — than killers of white people. This was at the front of protesters’ minds as they called for justice, due to a real worry that the killer here would not be caught without more public attention going to the incident.

The statistics bear out the concern. Wesley Lowery, Kimbriell Kelly, and Steven Rich recently reported for the Washington Post, based on an analysis of killings over the past decade in 52 of the US’s largest cities: “Black victims, who accounted for the majority of homicides, were the least likely of any racial group to have their killings result in an arrest, The Post found. While police arrested someone in 63 percent of the killings of white victims, they did so in just 47 percent of those with black victims.”

The result is less trust in the police. This is on top of the distrust fostered by what many minority communities see as a mix of abuse and harassment — the police shootings in which black people are disproportionately the victim, the police stops over petty crimes and drugs, the US Department of Justice reports showing that police officers often see people in minority communities as “subhuman,” and so on.

Journalist Jill Leovy explained in her award-winning book Ghettoside: “Like the schoolyard bully, our criminal justice system harasses people on small pretexts but is exposed as a coward before murder. It hauls masses of black men through its machinery but fails to protect them from bodily injury and death. It is at once oppressive and inadequate.”

So when police come in, it’s often in an abusive, abrasive manner that can lead to outright discrimination and excessive use of force. Meanwhile, police don’t appear to come in when they’re actually needed to solve the worst crimes. Black communities are both overpoliced and underpoliced, leading to distrust in law enforcement.

In the case of Nia Wilson’s death, the distrust led to protests. But this distrust has other, bigger consequences — helping explain the higher rates of violence in black communities.

This is a reflection of a concept of “legal cynicism”: When people don’t trust the law, they’re more likely to take the law into their own hands — and that can lead to violence. If someone thinks his family is under imminent threat, but doesn’t trust the police to protect them, then maybe he’ll take preemptive, perhaps deadly action on his own.

“This is what folks who rail against the focus on police violence — and pull up against that, community violence — get wrong,” David Kennedy, a criminologist at John Jay College, previously told me. “What those folks simply don’t understand is that when communities don’t trust the police and are afraid of the police, then they will not and cannot work with police and within the law around issues in their own community. And then those issues within the community become issues the community needs to deal with on their own — and that leads to violence.”

Or, as Leovy put it in Ghettoside, “Take a bunch of teenage boys from the whitest, safest suburb in America and plunk them down in a place where their friends are murdered and they are constantly attacked and threatened. Signal that no one cares, and fail to solve murders. Limit their options for escape. Then see what happens.”

This is part of the context in which a lot of people were skeptical that Nia Wilson’s killer would be caught if protests didn’t draw more public attention to the case.

Shortly after Nia Wilson’s murder, local media outlet KTVU inflamed racial tensions further by showing a picture of Wilson holding what looked like a gun but was, reportedly, a gun-shaped cell phone case.

KTVU apologized for the incident. But it quickly drew a backlash because it seemed to portray the victim as guilty in some way — suggesting that she was somehow involved in violence. For black victims of killings, this is a portrayal that has popped up again and again.

We saw this, for example, after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin in 2012, when people circulated fake pictures of a man flashing gang signs and claiming it was Martin. And we saw it with the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown, when the New York Times described Brown as “no angel.”

It’s a trend demonstrated in the research on race: The public and police are generally more likely to see black people as criminals and, therefore, perhaps more deserving of whatever happens to them.

A 2014 study, for example, found that people generally view black boys as older and less innocent starting at the age of 10. “Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection,” Phillip Goff, an author of the 2014 study, said in a statement. “Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent.” Another study produced similar findings for black girls.

One series of studies, released last year, used various visual tests to see how people perceive the bodies of white and black men. The findings were consistent: When participants believed the man in the images was black, they generally saw the man as larger, more threatening, and potentially more harmful in an altercation than a white person. And they were more likely to say use of force was justified against the black men than against the white men.

And another study published in 2015 found people tend to associate what the authors call “black-sounding names,” like DeShawn and Jamal, with larger, more violent people than they do “white-sounding names,” like Connor and Garrett.

“I’ve never been so disgusted by my own data,” Colin Holbrook, the lead author of the study, said in a statement. “The amount that our study participants assumed based only on a name was remarkable. A character with a black-sounding name was assumed to be physically larger, more prone to aggression, and lower in status than a character with a white-sounding name.”

This is just a small sampling of the research, which has consistently found evidence of racial bias.

This is, again, part of the context behind the outrage over Nia Wilson’s death: There was a real concern that, without pressure from the public, the media and police may see Wilson as a deserving victim and sweep her murder under the rug.

Now that police have arrested a suspect, the next question is whether police will charge him with a hate crime. So far, Cowell has been charged with first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and theft, according to the New York Times. But not a hate crime.

For law enforcement, this gets to a particularly tricky part of the law: It’s hard to prosecute a hate crime.

A crime, like murder, can be elevated to a hate crime when law enforcement demonstrate that racism or some other act of hate motivated the act.

“It could be an act of trespassing or vandalism. It could be a violent crime, like rape or murder,” Jack Levin, an expert on hate crimes at Northeastern University, previously told me. “But when the motive involves targeting someone because of a difference, then it becomes a hate crime.”

An example: A man walks into a lesbian bar and attacks one of the women there. This attack would be considered assault and battery, maybe even attempted murder, under the law.

But would it be a hate crime? For prosecutors and police officers, there would be several factors to consider before pursuing hate crime charges: Did the attacker yell anti-gay or sexist slurs, or otherwise say anything explicitly anti-gay or sexist? Does the attacker have a history, perhaps on social media or in other writings, of homophobia or sexism? Did the attacker purposely target a lesbian bar, or was the location irrelevant to his actions?

Investigators would piece all of this together, building up evidence to decide if there’s enough to meet standards of proof for a hate crime charge and conviction. There’s no hard rule here, and whether something is deemed a hate crime can vary from officer to officer, prosecutor to prosecutor, judge to judge, or jury to jury. But generally, once there’s a certain threshold of evidence that the attack was motivated by hate, an otherwise run-of-the-mill crime can become a hate crime.

Targeting someone’s motive makes it difficult to actually prosecute hate crimes. After all, many criminals are not going to be dumb enough to blurt out their exact motives in the course of committing a crime.

“The problem is not all hate-mongers are stupid,” Levin said. “They may not let you know that they hate the members of a particular group. They may realize that they’re better off not voicing a racial slur or [putting] racist graffiti on a sidewalk or wall of a building.”

For investigators, this is always going to make it difficult to definitively prove that an act is a hate crime. So while they might be able to land a conviction for, say, assault in the example of a man attacking a lesbian bar, they may not be able to get convictions for a hate crime.

So far, police have said in Cowell’s case that they have not found proof that the attack is linked to racism. But the investigation is still early.

If police and prosecutors find proof the murder was motivated by race, it could validate what protesters are saying. But if they can’t uncover any evidence, that may leave a lot of people unsatisfied with the outcome of a trial — and may lead to more tensions over Nia Wilson’s death.

Original Source -> The protests over Nia Wilson’s murder, explained

via The Conservative Brief

[dunkcarlton]

Sports Injuries

There are so many sports kids can get involved in nowadays. One season you may be a soccer mom, the next you’re cheering at a football game and finally, you’re in the stands at a gymnastics meet. As your children grow up playing any number of sports, personal injury cases are going to be inevitable.

Do you have any rights when there is a Sports Injury?

As an Injury Lawyer, I’ve reviewed the statistics and there are three and a half million kids under the age of 14 who receive medical attention for sports injuries each year. More than half of these injuries occur during practice, rather than a game. Individual sports, such as gymnastics, usually see more severe injuries. Contact sport injuries occur more often. Children should be aware, in order to stay safer in practice and be able to make it to those games.

Personal Injury Lawsuit

Children are typically covered by their parent’s insurance policy. It is possible to file a third-party claim under the liability of the organization or business responsible for the injury.

If your child does acquire a personal injury, you may want to hire a lawyer to discuss your options. Insurance will typically only cover the child’s medical treatment. That leaves a lack of compensation for any other kind of pain and suffering they may be going through.

Filing for a Personal Lawsuit

If you are seeking compensation outside of basic medical treatment, you will need to hire a personal injury lawyer who will assist you when it comes to filing a claim. They will help you figure out who contributed to your child’s personal injury and what, if anything, they are responsible to pay for.

For example, you can file a lawsuit against insufficiently trained employees, unsafe equipment, inadequate supervision and several other minor factors.

Playing sports can be fun for your kids. What’s not fun is when they have a life-changing personal injury. If your child has suffered from an injury because of someone else, they can receive compensation—contact one of our attorneys to find out how.

ASTHMA TIPS FOR WHEN THE INHALER IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND

As parents, when you’re considering sending your child to summer camp, many worries come to mind. Will your child miss you? How can you know he or she will be safe?

But when you’re a parent of a child with asthma, that worry increases tenfold. What if your child doesn’t have her inhaler when her asthma is triggered?

Too many people have dealt with a wrongful death lawyer as a result of a poorly handled asthma attack. By staying aware of the risks and teaching your child what to do in case of emergency, you can sleep soundly knowing that no matter where she hikes in Salt Lake or Bountiful, Utah, she’ll know how to take care of her asthma.

ALLERGY AWARENESS

Any asthmatics can tell you that the best tool they have in their arsenal is their awareness. By knowing what sets off an asthma attack, asthmatics can better prepare for when they’re on the trails of St. George.

Summer brings an increase in pollen count. This increase can actually make allergies to peaches, melons, apples and celery worse than usual. Any wrongful death lawyer can tell you that the best way to increase your awareness is by allergy testing. There’s no reason to just “grin and bear it.”

NO INHALER? NO PROBLEM

The “wheezing for air” feeling is a nightmare for asthmatics. When your child is running through the national parks in Sandy, Utah, she can easily forget to pack her inhaler. Through a few tips and tricks, you can teach your child to manage her asthma when she doesn’t have the proper medicine.

The three phrases your child should remember is to move away, breathe and stay calm.

She needs to move away from the allergens irritating her. She needs to remember the proper breathing technique to get hyperventilation under control — small breath in and out, hold her breath until the first signs of air hunger and then breathe normally. Lastly but most importantly, she needs to stay calm.

With these simple hacks, your child will stay happy and healthy all summer long, and you won’t have a need to contact a wrongful death lawyer.

Free Initial Consultation with Lawyer

It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Legal problems come to everyone. Whether it’s your son who gets in a car wreck, your uncle who loses his job and needs to file for bankruptcy, your sister’s brother who’s getting divorced, or a grandparent that passes away without a will -all of us have legal issues and questions that arise. So when you have a law question, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you!

Ascent Law LLC8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite CWest Jordan, Utah 84088 United StatesTelephone: (801) 676-5506

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Source: http://www.ascentlawfirm.com/sports-injuries/

[tortuga-aak]

How to handle a delusional boss who makes your day impossible

Sebastiaan ter Burg/Flickr

Sometimes CEOs and managers in a company deny or ignore negative facts about the organization's performance. 

Our intuition is to confront people suffering from this "ostrich effect" with facts — but this could actually backfire.

Rather than dispute, you should show emotional leadership: Use curiosity and questioning to figure out their values and goals.

Once you understand, try to show them you share those values and explain how their current stance undermines the goals in the long term.

'Tis the season for holiday parties at the office.

While they're great for building workplace camaraderie and team spirit, when was the last time a colleague — perhaps fueled by too much alcohol — said something so ridiculous that it made your jaw drop? Perhaps a desk mate went into something political, claiming that George Bush is behind 9/11 or that Barack Obama is a Muslim from Kenya? Or maybe your boss voiced science denialism, arguing that the Earth is flat or the Apollo moon landing was faked?

Just as disconcerting as the conspiracy theorist in your midst is hearing a boss or colleague blatantly deny a business reality, such as evidence that a favored product flopped or a decision was absolutely the wrong one.

So what do you do when someone you work with — even the CEO of the company — tells you something that's demonstrably false?

Dealing with truth denialism — in business, politics and other life areas — is one of my areas of research, and I recently published a book on the topic. Here are some tips to navigate that Christmas office party or one-on-one with a boss in denial.

It begins at the top

The worst-case scenario is when your chief executive is the one in denial.

A four-year study by LeadershipIQ.com, which provides online leadership seminars, interviewed 1,087 board members from 286 organizations of all sorts that forced out their chief executive officers. It found that almost one quarter of CEOs — 23 percent — got fired for denying reality, meaning refusing to recognize negative facts about the organization's performance.

Other research strongly suggests that the behaviors expressed by CEOs "are felt throughout the organization by impacting the norms that sanction or discourage member behavior and decision making, and the patterns of behavior and interaction among members."

Together, these findings suggest that organizations where CEOs deny negative facts will have a culture of denying reality throughout the hierarchy. Of course, even when the boss lives in the real world, others in the organization may hold false beliefs.

Professionals at all levels can suffer from the tendency to deny uncomfortable facts in business settings. Scholars term this thinking error the ostrich effect, named after the (mythical) notion that ostriches stick their heads into the sand when they see threats.

Forget facts and logic

Our intuition is to confront colleagues suffering from the ostrich effect with the facts.

But research — and common sense, if the colleague is your supervisor — suggests that's usually the wrong thing to do. That's because when someone believes something we know to be false, some kind of emotional block is probably at play. A number of factors explain why this happens.

For example, research on confirmation bias shows that we tend to look for and interpret information in ways that conforms to our beliefs. So even if sales are far below expectations, a CEO might reject that information in projecting good financial forecasts on the belief that his actions should lead the company to do well.

In another example at a company where I consulted, a manager refused to acknowledge that a person hired directly by her was a bad fit, despite everyone else in the department telling me that the employee was holding back the team. The manager's behavior likely resulted from what scholars term the sunk cost fallacy, a tendency to double down on past decisions even when an objective assessment shows the decision to be problematic.

In both cases, facing facts would cause the CEO or the manager to feel bad. We often prefer to stick our heads into the sand rather than acknowledge our fault because of our reluctance to experience negative emotions.

Research on a phenomenon called the backfire effect shows we tend to dig in our heels when we are presented with facts that cause us to feel bad about our identity, self-worth, worldview or group belonging. In some cases, presenting the facts actually backfires, causing people to develop a stronger attachment to incorrect beliefs. Moreover, we express anger at the person bringing us the message, a phenomenon researchers term "shoot the messenger."

There are many other mental errors that inhibit business professionals from seeing reality clearly and making good decisions.

Modeling emotions and values

This isn't to say that emotions are the problem. They are not.

Emotions are fundamentally important to the human experience, and we need both reason and emotion to make good decisions.

So rather than offering facts, your goal should be to show emotional leadership and try to figure out what are the emotional blocks inhibiting your colleague from seeing reality clearly. To do so, use curiosity and subtle questioning to figure out their values and goals and how they shape their perception of self-identity. And focus on deploying the emotional intelligence skill of empathy.

Unfortunately, despite extensive research about the importance of emotional intelligence in professional settings, too many organizations still fail to provide such training.

Building trust

Once you understand your colleague's goals and values, try to show you share them.

Research shows doing so is crucial to conveying knowledge effectively in professional environments. Practice mirroring, or rephrasing in your own words the points made by the other person, which demonstrates you understand how they feel and helps build trust.

With a CEO, you might talk about how both of you share a desire for the executive to be a truly strong leader. Try to connect the traits and emotions identified by the CEO to specific examples of his behavior.

And regarding the manager with the problematic employee, I had a conversation about how she saw her current and potential future employees playing a role in the long-term future of the department she ran. I echoed her anxiety about the company's financial performance and concerns about getting funding for future hires, which gave me an additional clue into why she might be protecting the incompetent employee.

Unclogging emotional blocks

After placing yourself on the same side, building up trust and establishing an emotional connection, move on to the problem at hand: their emotional block.

The key here is to show them, without arousing a defensive or aggressive response, how their current truth denialism undermines their own goals in the long term. It can help to cite a prominent example of a business leader accepting difficult facts to move forward, such as how former Ford CEO Alan Mulally helped save the company through repeated course corrections. Research shows that offering positive reinforcement, without condescension, can be effective with colleagues and bosses alike.

So when you're at your next office party and encounter a truth-denying colleague, remember these tips and perhaps you won't have to spend the evening with your face buried in your hands.

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Got a boss who denies reality? A guide to tactful truth telling

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'He said what?' fizkes/Shutterstock.com

‘Tis the season for holiday parties at the office.

While they’re great for building workplace camaraderie and team spirit, when was the last time a colleague - perhaps fueled by too much alcohol - said something so ridiculous that it made your jaw drop? Perhaps a desk mate went into something political, claiming that George Bush is behind 9/11 or that Barack Obama is a Muslim from Kenya? Or maybe your boss voiced science denialism, arguing that the Earth is flat or the Apollo moon landing was faked?

Just as disconcerting as the conspiracy theorist in your midst is hearing a boss or colleague blatantly deny a business reality, such as evidence that a favored product flopped or a decision was absolutely the wrong one.

So what do you do when someone you work with – even the CEO of the company – tells you something that’s demonstrably false?

Dealing with truth denialism - in business, politics and other life areas - is one of my areas of research, and I recently published a book on the topic. Here are some tips to navigate that Christmas office party or one-on-one with a boss in denial.

To reality deniers, facts and photos won’t change minds. AP Photo/NASA/Neil A. Armstrong

It begins at the top

The worst-case scenario is when your chief executive is the one in denial.

A four-year study by LeadershipIQ.com, which provides online leadership seminars, interviewed 1,087 board members from 286 organizations of all sorts that forced out their chief executive officers. It found that almost one quarter of CEOs – 23 percent – got fired for denying reality, meaning refusing to recognize negative facts about the organization’s performance.

Other research strongly suggests that the behaviors expressed by CEOs “are felt throughout the organization by impacting the norms that sanction or discourage member behavior and decision making, and the patterns of behavior and interaction among members.”

Together, these findings suggest that organizations where CEOs deny negative facts will have a culture of denying reality throughout the hierarchy. Of course, even when the boss lives in the real world, others in the organization may hold false beliefs.

Professionals at all levels can suffer from the tendency to deny uncomfortable facts in business settings. Scholars term this thinking error the ostrich effect, named after the (mythical) notion that ostriches stick their heads into the sand when they see threats.

Forget facts and logic

Our intuition is to confront colleagues suffering from the ostrich effect with the facts.

But research - and common sense, if the colleague is your supervisor - suggests that’s usually the wrong thing to do. That’s because when someone believes something we know to be false, some kind of emotional block is probably at play. A number of factors explain why this happens.

For example, research on confirmation bias shows that we tend to look for and interpret information in ways that conforms to our beliefs. So even if sales are far below expectations, a CEO might reject that information in projecting good financial forecasts on the belief that his actions should lead the company to do well.

In another example at a company where I consulted, a manager refused to acknowledge that a person hired directly by her was a bad fit, despite everyone else in the department telling me that the employee was holding back the team. The manager’s behavior likely resulted from what scholars term the sunk cost fallacy, a tendency to double down on past decisions even when an objective assessment shows the decision to be problematic.

In both cases, facing facts would cause the CEO or the manager to feel bad. We often prefer to stick our heads into the sand rather than acknowledge our fault because of our reluctance to experience negative emotions.

Research on a phenomenon called the backfire effect shows we tend to dig in our heels when we are presented with facts that cause us to feel bad about our identity, self-worth, worldview or group belonging. In some cases, presenting the facts actually backfires, causing people to develop a stronger attachment to incorrect beliefs. Moreover, we express anger at the person bringing us the message, a phenomenon researchers term “shoot the messenger.”

There are many other mental errors that inhibit business professionals from seeing reality clearly and making good decisions.

Modeling emotions and values

This isn’t to say that emotions are the problem. They are not.

Emotions are fundamentally important to the human experience, and we need both reason and emotion to make good decisions.

So rather than offering facts, your goal should be to show emotional leadership and try to figure out what are the emotional blocks inhibiting your colleague from seeing reality clearly. To do so, use curiosity and subtle questioning to figure out their values and goals and how they shape their perception of self-identity. And focus on deploying the emotional intelligence skill of empathy.

Unfortunately, despite extensive research about the importance of emotional intelligence in professional settings, too many organizations still fail to provide such training.

Building trust

Once you understand your colleague’s goals and values, try to show you share them.

Research shows doing so is crucial to conveying knowledge effectively in professional environments. Practice mirroring, or rephrasing in your own words the points made by the other person, which demonstrates you understand how they feel and helps build trust.

With a CEO, you might talk about how both of you share a desire for the executive to be a truly strong leader. Try to connect the traits and emotions identified by the CEO to specific examples of his behavior.

And regarding the manager with the problematic employee, I had a conversation about how she saw her current and potential future employees playing a role in the long-term future of the department she ran. I echoed her anxiety about the company’s financial performance and concerns about getting funding for future hires, which gave me an additional clue into why she might be protecting the incompetent employee.

Unclogging emotional blocks

After placing yourself on the same side, building up trust and establishing an emotional connection, move on to the problem at hand: their emotional block.

The key here is to show them, without arousing a defensive or aggressive response, how their current truth denialism undermines their own goals in the long term. It can help to cite a prominent example of a business leader accepting difficult facts to move forward, such as how former Ford CEO Alan Mulally helped save the company through repeated course corrections. Research shows that offering positive reinforcement, without condescension, can be effective with colleagues and bosses alike.

So when you’re at your next office party and encounter a truth-denying colleague, remember these tips and perhaps you won’t have to spend the evening with your face buried in your hands.

Gleb Tsipursky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.