#'i read him like a book and i believe i can fix him' mob vs 'master masker and denier of feelings' teru who will win

[sallymew4]

some quick pre-mob terumob becuz i am sleepy [snore]

[bigskydreaming]

Have you read Nightwing 71 yet? Sorry if I spoiler anything, but Ric was "groomed" "manipulated" and "brainwashed" by owls and, he IS now. I mean, AGAIN. Wow. Does DC ever know that Dick(or Ric) has his own character and personality and he is human, not tool ready to be used whenever or whoever needs? I am getting sick of this Ric grayson the free real estate BS.

I just read it now and its what I was expecting to happen but somehow it played out even worse than I was prepared for. There’s one line in particular that I don’t want to spoil in case any followers still care about that book being spoiled in terms of specific/detailed spoilers at this point, but something the Joker says to Dick near the end of the issue just makes this soooooooo much worse IMO than just another brainwashing for him. 

But I mean, lbr here. This isn’t the Church of Blood or even the Court of Owls messing with Dick’s mind this time. Literally playing God with his entire sense of self and view of reality. Its the Joker. 

The. JOKER.

This has officially pushed this story arc over even my disdain for the Forever Evil mess, and as far as I’m concerned, the rest of the Batfam should be BEGGING for his forgiveness after all this is said and done, no matter what he ends up doing while under the Joker’s control. I’m honestly going to just skip any fic that attempts to conclude or follow-up from this arc with anything other than the Batfam ALL busting their fucking asses off to do the work this time and put TIME and EFFORT into getting him to trust them or even want them around again at this point, because anything less than that will just leave me steaming at this point. 

Literally the ONLY thing I want to read right now is a fic where someone in his family figures out ON THEIR OWN, LIKE ACTUAL DETECTIVES that no one who has had his mind and agency violated and disregarded as often as he has - just that they even KNOW of - could possibly be alright, and so based off of even just plain simple logic he can not possibly be alright, and so could one of them just fucking SHOW UP for him, and not to try to fix him according to what THEY think he needs but just to be there and ask what HE needs? 

Where they make themselves a resource rather than them the knight in shining armor to his damsel in distress? Where they let it be about HIM instead of it being about them avenging him or them putting him back together or them protecting him or them somehow ending up more front and center and making more of the choices in-story than he gets to even though its supposed to be about him?

Like....just a story where the Batfam doesn’t have to wait until he has a literal breakdown before realizing he’s not okay and hasn’t been for a long time.  Where they look at the LONG string of times none of them have been there when he needed someone, and ask themselves WHY it is that they all expect him to be present and accounted for whenever they need him but none of them ever seem to be around when he could use a hand - even though they all always pretty much know exactly where to find him.....like, he’s the only hero in Bludhaven. They know this. Everyone knows this. 

Like, its not that hard to google “is shit going down in Bludhaven this week y/n” and drive half an hour when they hear his circus just got burned to the ground AGAIN or his apartment building was just blown up or there are four randos running around in his old costumes or the local crime lord just hired a dozen major assassins to all try and bring him Nightwing’s head.

Or his evil dead grandpa who last we saw was being handed over to Bruce’s custody BY Dick himself is somehow out on the loose again, why aren’t his family putting bets on where Rob Zombie’s bound to end up at some point - oh yeah, watching him through his window all creeperlike - I mean, I know their dad’s a billionaire but that’s just easy money. When a dude whose obsession is as hard to kill off as he is and with the backing and resources of a whole secret society of rich fucks who all think Dick’s destiny is to dance on the end of their strings, like when they all show a tendency to keep coming back like cockroaches no matter how many times they get stomped, what’s the best proactive approach to being prepared for the next time? 

Oh right, leave the sole focus of their constant attempts at abduction/manipulation/brainwashing completely isolated, alone and defenseless without even the memory of why he shouldn’t trust someone who shows up claiming to be his great-grandfather even when he actually turns out to be the real deal.....’see, its not that he’s lying about who he is, its that who he is happens to be evil.”

Seriously. HOW is this a family of geniuses??

HOW is fandom so often convinced its DICK who’s the dumbass out of all of them, when this is their brains on “oh no, Dick’s not here to tell us what to do while we bitch at him for it.’

Imagine fics where someone in Dick’s family looks at the HUGE number of holes in their knowledge of his life.....the periods of long stretches of time where NONE of them were in contact with him and thus have ANY idea what might have happened to their infamously-tightlipped-about-when-bad-things-happen-to-him brother/son without them knowing about it.....and wonder...hey, what DID happen to him during those times and isn’t it weird and WORRISOME that he’s never volunteered any info about those periods and we’ve never ASKED?

Aka the years he was estranged from Bruce because Bruce couldn’t pull his head out of his ass long enough to apologize to Dick for firing him and then turning around and hiring a new kid who gets the Wayne adoption AND the Grayson family name that were BOTH kept or taken from Dick when he was still pretty much just a kid himself.

Or the long months Dick spent infiltrating the mobs and then the Society of Supervillains when he was Coping Badly after everything that happened to him in Bludhaven, both what they know of and whatever else they don’t know of that could’ve been driving him back then....driving him straight into the company of VILLAINS rather than them.

Or literally anything that happened to him while he was working undercover by himself for the highly dangerous and infamous spy agency that also tried to take over his brain (PS - how many people don’t know that the ultimate resolution of the Grayson series, the endgame, was Dick battling the main villain for control over his own mind, because guess the villain’s plans for him were? Oh yeah, to be his new host body when he downloaded his consciousness into Dick’s body and kicked Dick’s consciousness to the curb. LOLOL. Ah yes. Everybody wants Dick Grayson - just without the parts that actually MAKE him Dick Grayson.)

Etc, etc, ad nauseam.

Everybody talks endlessly about how Dick Grayson is a people person and the heart of the family and his teams and nobody thinks twice about the fact that this is the same person who is so infamously often left on his own to his own devices battling the worst of the worst and everybody thinks oh he’s fiiiiiiiiiine. Like, I’m not actually sold on the idea that Dick is an extrovert rather than an introvert vs he just fakes being an extrovert very well....but what does it say that everybody ASSUMES Dick is this huge extrovert and yet.....it never occurs to them to seek HIM out and surround HIM with the people that supposedly an extrovert like him should need to recharge and recover after enduring shit like he does?

How about instead of a million fics where Dick’s agency is ignored yet again so the Batfam can dramatically find out about his rapes whether he likes it or not, and insert THEIR idea of what should happen next/how he should deal.....how about fics where he TELLS one of them or all of them about these or other events that have happened to him, on HIS timetable, of his OWN volition....because he WANTS to? Because he’s READY? Because he honestly believes it’ll help him to tell them, that they’ll be there for him, he TRUSTS this....because they’ve already done the work of proving to him they will or giving him reason to believe they will....rather than just leaving him with no other choice?

Just....

Think about how often Dick’s casually referred to as the glue that holds the family together or the emotional heart or center of it.....

And then wonder if maybe the reason the Batfam as a whole is so fucked up....

Is because what everyone calls the HEART of it is constantly left neglected, alone, and fucked up and not taken care of, not looked after....

Like....

What tends to happen when you don’t take care of your heart? Protect it? Keep it healthy, keep it safe?

Y’die.

Your body goes stone cold. You keel over. DOA.

Hmmm.

Don’t want the Batfamily to be cold...distant....a family in name only....

MAYBE YOU SHOULD PAY MORE ATTENTION TO ITS SO-CALLED HEART THEN.

[kee-writestrashh]

Guns for Hire

Ramsay Bolton x reader

ao3

Summary:  You are the wife to the Heir of the Red Kings, Ramsay Bolton. living the undercover life of a mob wife has its perks, and you love your husband. But you find out something that seems to unfold a series of unwanted events…

Chapter 44: Public Enemy No. 1

Damon fell heavily into the cushion beside you. Dropping a cardboard box at his feet.

Startled, you looked up from your magazine, sitting up straight, eyeing him carefully.

"Where's Ramsay?" He asked, looking around slowly.

You shrugged, "dunno. Assumed he was with you."

"But he's definitely not here?"

"Uh... no?" You said, unsure, taking in how serious Damon looked.

"Good. We need to talk." He said with a small sigh.

"What's up?" You asked, curiosity peaked.

"You should never have gotten pregnant." He said bluntly.

"Well that is about the rudest fucking thing anyone has ever said to me!" You hissed, puffing up, slapping his shoulder with your magazine.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Really. But it's pushed Ramsay over the edge and I'm afraid for him."

"What do you mean afraid for him?" You asked slowly.

"Do you think Ramsay is the only one with a legitimate degree? I'm not stupid or uneducated, (y/n). I've known Ramsay since we were five. Ramsay... he's... well, he is the most unstable person to ever walk this earth. We went to college together. While he got his accounting degree I opted for psychology. I was never going to use it for anything, but I wanted to understand my best friend. Ramsay is like my brother. We've done everything together, our whole lives. He's a strange case. He's been labeled under every personality disorder in Cluster B. Antisocial, histrionic, paranoid, dependent, borderline, ya know."

"So why are you telling me this?"

"Because you are Ramsay's favorite person. They say that affects borderline only, but he's not the average case. Hell, I don't even know how much of what he does or has done is legit. So he can't be pinned to a single disorder, or even a handful. He's been shunted through six different therapists, and they all observed different and conflicting behaviors. But you are his person. I don't envy you in that. Better you than me. You give him everything he has ever needed or wanted. You love him. You engage in his weird pain fetishes. You take care of him. You baby him. You challenge him. You enable him. Ramsay doesn't live in reality. Not ours anyways. But you keep him grounded."

You scoffed.

"Tell me, have you ever had to sit up with him all night and talk him out of suicide simply because he is so bored he's tired of life? Have you ever had your ass beat by him trying to wrestle a gun from him? Have you ever had to sit there and watch him mutilate himself? Because I have. Do you know why he took part in his sick game of roulette that night you were kidnapped? Because he's played it many times with himself. It's a challenge. He has it down to a science. I don't know how he does it. He says it's no more than counting cards. I'll give him the bragging rights with his numbers. He's a fucking genius. Too fucking smart. It detaches him from reality. Then there's you." He said, giving you a long look.

It was like you had just met him all over again, for the first time. He played stupid on purpose. You should of known that. Ramsay wouldn't have Damon as his right hand if he was an idiot. There had to be more to it, other than them knowing each other forever. You felt a bit embarrassed that the thought had never occurred to you before now.

"I have observed his behavior change since you came into his life. And how different he has been since you got pregnant. He worships you and holds you up on a pedestal. Never has anything affected him as much as you. He loves you, in his own way. I really believe that. I know what he did and what happened two years ago when he hurt you in his drunken fit. (Y/n), it tore him up. I have never known him to regret anything he has ever done. But that. He hated himself. That is how much you hold over him. It's scary. You go against everything he is in his head. That's why he is always going. As long as he is doing something he can avoid himself. But when he has to sit and do nothing he gets lost in his head. You can't let that happen."

"So...?" You asked.

"If you fuck up, all of this... everything we have will blow sky high. Ramsay will finally snap."

"I... I don't know what you're talking about." You lied, looking away.

Damon gave a dry laugh, "You may have Ramsay fooled, but not me. You aren't married to a man like him for almost three years and then suddenly decide you want to play the game. He might seriously be oblivious to you and whatever you're trying to do, or maybe not. Maybe it's a game to him. But I am an outsider looking in. Just... don't fuck up."

The dam broke. "Damon, help me. Please. I don't know what to do. I don't want to play the game. I hate all of this. I just want to keep my husband safe."

"You can't. And you're too far in to back out now."

"It is his life we are talking!" You said, furiously wiping tears away with a sniff.

Damon sighed, "there is nothing I can do. I don't even want to know the disastrous secret you're keeping. However, Ramsay is my brother. Therefore, I will do what I can to keep him safe. Just... take care of him. You are his foundation. Don't crack. If you do, we all go down. Honestly, I'm a bit selfish and like where I'm at. So keep it that way."

You swallowed thickly, staring at the corner of the rug, which had started to curl upwards as Moose had taken to chewing on it.

"Roose is going to kill him." You said, not looking at Damon.

Your phone rang, Rams.

"Hello baby." You said, hitching a smile and adopting a gentle tone.

"Hey doll. I wanted to ask if you needed anything before I came home?"

"Just you."

"I can do that. Be there in forty five. I love you."

"Be careful. I love you too." You said, hanging up.

"Right then, I'm out of here. Think on what I said." Damon said, nudging the box towards you, rising from his seat and leaving before you could say another word.

You leaned over the couch to open the box. It was full of pictures and newspaper clippings. You pulled the first picture you could reach. It was Ramsay and Damon, circa 2006. You grinned at their baby faces. But then the smile dropped. This would of put them at 15. Ramsay had committed his first murder a year previously, at 14, if what he had told you was true.

You pulled the box closer, going through the pictures. Ramsay and the Boys at high school graduation, looking stoned as could be. His college graduation. Him and the Boys at parties, school functions, and Ramsay's boxing days.

You picked up a very battered picture, holding it close. Ramsay and his mother. He looked so much like her it was mind blowing. Same dark hair and blue eyes. She was pretty, and didn't look like a whore. But you knew better than to judge a book by the cover. Ramsay had to of been 10 in this picture. His mother's smile was genuine. It made your heart hurt. How different would he be if she were still alive?

You picked up the first newspaper article.

Bolton to take the ring Thursday night

Ramsay Bolton, 18, son of Business Tycoon, Roose Bolton, is the newest boxing champion to take the city by storm. The Mad Dog is currently undefeated and looking to gain fame in the boxing world...

You took in the picture in with a grin. Ramsay sporting a black eye, arm raised in victory by the ref. You thumbed through the other articles. All the same, until you reached the last one.

White Wolf vs. the Mad Dog

In a big upset Friday night, undefeated champion, Ramsay 'Mad Dog' Bolton was defeated by rival Jon 'White Wolf' Snow. Seven rounds of carnage ended in a broken shoulder and collar bone for Bolton. Snow emerged victorious with a broken hand, nose, and many ribs after Bolton was not able to get himself off the ground. Will there be a rematch in the future or has the Mad Dog been put down for good?

You looked at the large picture above the article. Whoever had taken this shot was lucky. It had to be the exact moment of the bones breaking as Jon Snow looked in pain and panic, Ramsay also looking pained and rage written as clear as day on his face as the realization hit him that it was over.

Ramsay entered the living room through the kitchen. Apparently it was custom now to not use the front door?

You finished reading your mother's text before acknowledging your husband:

[Mom: hey baby. Your father is having surgery on Tuesday. We will be coming in on Monday evening sometime. Hope to see you.]

"Where did all this come from?" Ramsay asked, pulling the box towards him as he sat down beside you.

"Damon. He brought it by earlier, but you weren't here so..." You said, setting your phone down and watching him closely as he pulled pictures from box, slowly examining each one.

It was hard to tell what you were seeing on his face. He never smiled or frowned as he looked carefully at each picture. But his eyes held all the emotion or lack of. You had no idea. Damon's words echoing in the back of your mind.

"He's a sentimental fucking pussy, isn't he?" Ramsay finally said with a dark smirk.

"I think it's sweet." You said slowly.

He was clutching the picture of him and his mother as he turned his head to you.

"What was her name?" You asked cautiously, nodding at the picture he held.

He looked back down at the picture with a frown and was quiet for a few moments.

"Emma. Emma Miller." He said, dropping the picture back in the box and pushing it away from him.

"Did you love her?"

Ramsay fixed you with a hard look. Finally he shook his head, "No. I don't think so."

"Do you love me?" You asked before you could even register the words.

"Of course I do, baby girl." He said, his face falling slightly and then turning angered. "Do I not show you how much I love you? Are my actions not enough for you to understand how much I fucking love you?"

Oh no.

"Baby, stop. Please. I didn't mean to upset you! I know you love me. I just... sometimes I just need to hear you..." You heaved a frustrated sigh at yourself, "I'm sorry. I don't know what caused me to ask that. I know you love me."

"You are everything to me." He said firmly, and seriously.

'Don't fuck up.'

You stood up quickly, stepping into him and pulling him into you. He wrapped his arms around your legs and rested the side of his face against your belly.

You ran your hand gently over his cheek before pulling away. You grabbed his head in your hands and turned his head up to look at you.

"Are you okay? You feel a bit warm." You said, running your thumb along his cheek and taking him in. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were watery and far away looking, with dark circles under them like he hadn't slept in days.

He swallowed thickly with a grimace and gave a small nod, "I'm fine. I'll be better tomorrow."

"Maybe you should go take a shower and go to bed?" You suggested.

"I'd rather just sit here and do nothing." He said, falling back into the couch completely.

"Hungry?" You asked with a frown.

"No. But my throat hurts. Whiskey would be wonderfully numbing."

You gave a small nod, walking into the kitchen. You grabbed the half empty bottle and a glass.

"Do you want ice?" You called.

"Doesn't matter."

"That was so unhelpful." You grumbled, opening the freezer.

"If you were going to put ice in my glass anyways why did you ask?" He asked as you held out bottle and glass.

"Tuh, because sometimes you don't like it cold." You said.

"Its got a nice bite when it's hot." He shrugged, snapping his fingers at Moose (You had yet to find a better name for the damn dog), "chew that shoe and you're dead, fuck head."

The dog just tilted his head and examined Ramsay, swishing his tail. You bit your lip, grabbing up the shoes and taking them to your bedroom.

"Hey, dad is having surgery on Tuesday." You said, returning to the couch to find Ramsay wrapped up in your blanket.

He pulled the blanket from his face, "And?"

You tutted impatiently, "Well they wanna see us, but I can't exactly invite them for dinner, can I? And they don't know about the house."

"Mm. That does sound like a bit of a conundrum for you." He chuckled with a sniff.

"Rams! Seriously." You said crossing your arms and scowling.

He shifted to look at you and smirked, "you're cute when you're mad."

"Why are you a dick?"

"Take those pants off and bring that ass over here and I may tell you." He purred.

"I need to clean the kitchen and get clothes in the dryer." You said, walking past him to the kitchen.

"But I'm sick and dying!" He complained.

"You most certainly are not dying."

"I could be and how would you feel if your husband died without letting him grab your ass one last time?"

"Go take a shower and go to bed."

"Then hurry the fuck up and come to bed with me. You better be in bed before I fucking lay down." He snapped, throwing the blanket off, and stomping down the hall.

×××

"So, how does pay work?" You asked, looking up at the dark ceiling, toying with Ramsay's hair as he kissed along your belly.

"Depends. I have the Boys, and they are paid by rank. Then I have my soldiers, and they are paid by jobs performed. And associates give me a cut I make them agree upon for keeping them and their businesses safe." He said with a sniff. He gave an irritable groan, rubbing his nose on the back of his hand.

"So, how much do you pay Damon?" You asked, brushing the hair at the nape of his neck.

"That is a very good question." He chuckled, before pulling away from you completely to bury his face in the bed and sneezing. "I swear to god if I sneeze one more fucking time!" He growled into the mattress.

"Sorry, baby." You said quietly, drawing a sharp gasp at the sharp pain in your side.

Ramsay pulled his face away from the mattress and looked up at you, "hm?"

"The baby. I guess he's wanting to make himself noticeable." You grimaced, pushing on your side.

"Should I threaten him within inches of his life already?" Your husband chuckled, pushing himself up.

"If he's anything like you, it would do no good." You pointed out with a small laugh.

"Maybe so." He agreed with a yawn.

"So what other workings of the members are there? Like these executioners I've heard about? Do you have one? Like, what does your little click do?"

"Damon gives orders to other men, counsels me, keeps tabs on money coming and going. Ben is in charge of goods distribution. Who's buying and selling. Alyn deals with the whores and minor businesses. Yellow Dick is my executioner. But I like to take care of shit on my own, so mostly he just keeps tabs on the soldiers and supplies them with whatever they need." He rattled off like you had asked him a test question.

"And Matt?"

"I haven't found him an actual job in the Boys. I keep pawning him off on all the other Boys to get a feel. He's young though, can reach a younger crowd. Maybe I'll put him in charge or recruiting or something. I dunno yet."

"So who's all these things for your father?" You questioned.

"Don't know where they all fall, but Karstark is his advisor. He named me underboss, but he don't like to fuck with me. Locke is his executioner. And that's about all I know. I know where they all sit at the table, but I dunno the oother's jobs. Nor do I care, they mean nothing to me and never will once I step into father's shoes."

You ran your hand along your belly, saying nothing. The silence was pressing in on you, making your body feel as though you had been running a marathon for five years. It baffled you. You had done nothing but sit around all day.

"Turn the heater up, baby girl." Ramsay said into the darkness.

You frowned. Something was definitely wrong with him. He always complained you kept it too hot. It had to be practically subzero for him to sleep. Dark and cold.

"Of course, baby." You said quietly sliding from bed, walking into the hallway to adjust the thermostat.

You crawled into your spot and hadn't even gotten comfortable when Ramsay pulled you into him.

He buried his face between your breasts and let out a small noise, wrapping his arm around you.

"Baby, you're burning up. Maybe you should drink some water or something." You said, feeling slightly panicked at how hot his skin was against you. He felt hotter than before his shower.

He gave a sniff, "I'm fine. Just need to sleep."

"You need to break this fever." You said, pushing yourself up on elbow.

"What fever?" He said with a small chuckle.

"Ramsay. I mean it. Medicine. Go." You said sternly.

"I'm already in bed. I don't want to get up. Shut up and let me go to sleep." He said, dismissively.

You sighed, you knew there was no winning. You laid back down, pulling him into you. He rested his cheek against your chest and sighed. You stared at the dark ceiling, stroking his hair, determined to stay awake until his fever broke.

The silence was so inviting as your eyes grew heavy and tired. Ramsay made a tiny, uncomfortable noise in his sleep, his arm around you tightening. You continued to stroke his hair, placing a gentle kiss to the top of his head, breathing him in deeply.

As you laid there, willing yourself to stay awake, you realized this was the first time he had ever been sick. Weird. It brought around the realization that he really was only human. He was not indestructible. He was no less mortal than you were....

Confused, you opened your eyes wondering why the hell you were so hot. You sat up and looked around. You were alone. The room was ungodly hot. You slid from bed, pulling your robe on and leaving the room.

You walked through the dark house and found Ramsay snoring on the couch. You frowned, stroking his hair. It was damp in sweat and his skin was clammy.

"Baby." You whispered, giving a small shake to his shoulder.

Nothing.

"Baby, wake up." You whispered a bit louder and shaking harder.

Ramsay woke with a gasp and sat up quickly, "what?"

You took him in. He looked panicked. His chest rose and fell rapidly, as he tried to process what was going on.

"Baby, you need to take some medicine. Okay?" You said softly, placing your hand against his cheek. He pushed the side of his face into your palm and sighed.

"Yes ma'am." He murmured, slowly getting off the couch and clutching the blanket around him.

"Baby? Are you okay?" You asked, pulling a drawer open to look through your medications. Hopefully Tylenol could get you through the night. It was all you had in relation to fever. You grabbed a wash cloth and wet it.

He leaned against the bathroom doorway and nodded, "fine."

"How long have you been feeling like this?" You asked, running the rag over his cheek.

He shrugged, "Just today I guess."

"Hm. I'm sorry, baby. All we have for tonight is Tylenol. Too many things I can't take until the baby is born, so I haven't bought anything. I'll get you something in the morning is you still feel bad." You said, frowning.

"I'm a big kid, ya know. I can get my own medications." He smirked.

"Well, at least you're still an asshole." You said, rolling your eyes and dropping the rag in the sink.

"Little momma suck my dick when I come to bed?" He asked.

You grabbed a towel and dried your hands. "We'll see."

You entered your bedroom. It was still so  uncomfortably hot. You flipped the light switch, turning the ceiling fan on and clicking the chain to turn the light off.

A few minutes later Ramsay entered the room with a heavy sigh and climbing into bed.

"You took the medicine?" You asked, pulling him into you.

He nodded, "yes, doll."

"Good. Now, get some sleep." You cooed, kissing his cheek.

"Blow me, baby girl. Make daddy feel better." He whined.

"Sh... Just close your eyes and let me hold you."

He heaved an irritable growl, but simply relaxed into you.

"I love you, doll." He hummed after a few minutes of silence.

"I love you too, baby." You whispered back, running your thumb along his warm cheek.

×××

"Mom, hold on a second." You said, cutting your mother off mid sentence, pulling the phone away from your ear, and entering the living room.

"Babe, who are you talking to?" You asked, looking down at Ramsay on the couch.

He removed his arm from his eyes, "the dog, duh."

"Uhm... the dog is outside. He's been outside for like twenty minutes now."

Ramsay grunted, "Well, I guess that's why he hasn't said anything back. Find my phone and bring it to me."

"Please would be nice." You said, pursing your lips.

"Do it or I will hurt you. Making me lay here and die a slow, horrible death."

You rolled your eyes, "for the last time, you are not dying. Where's your phone?"

"Bed."

You replaced your phone yo your ear and left the living room, "sorry, mom. Ramsay is sick and being an insufferable tit today. Anyways, you and Dad will be here tomorrow night? Where are y'all staying?"

"Yes. Eli rented us a room at that hotel on post. They are keeping your father overnight after the surgery. If all goes well, he will be released Wednesday morning to go home."

"Well let me know when you get in and we can all go to dinner." You said, grabbing up your husband's phone and returning to the living room.

"Of course baby. See you tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you too. Y'all be careful on you're way up here." You said, dropping Ramsay's phone on his chest as you walked past, returning to the kitchen to finish cleaning dishes. You hung up the line and replaced your phone in your pocket.

"Have you got my shit?" Ramsay said, looking up from the couch.

Matt handed him a box of medicine. And took a tentative seat on the recliner, "I have some interesting news."

"Sup?" Ramsay hummed, ripping the box open.

"Before you called I was at the hospital, visiting my mom, right? I'm leaving, standing in the hall and there's a rush going on. Well, I was curious, so I followed the crowd. Apparently your father's wife, is that what she is? Anyway, had complications in her pregnancy and has lost the baby. Or that's what I gathered."

Your heart plummeted at the news. There went your leverage. You weren't one to shoot the messenger, but you really wanted to hit Matt in the face and tell him to take it back, as if it would change the fact.

"Awe. How terrible. Looks like I am still an only child." Ramsay laughed darkly.

You said nothing, leaning back into the couch and chewing your nail.

"The wife brought something to my attention last night." Ramsay said, before downing his bottle of water.

"Sup?" Matt asked, looking a bit apprehensive.

"How much do I pay you?"

"Fifteen every two weeks." Matt said, leaning back into the recliner and pulling out a bag of marijuana.

"So, doll, to answer your question, I pay Damon thirty five hundred every two weeks apparently." Ramsay said, face screwed up in thought.

"What do you do with the money I pay you, kid?" Ramsay asked, turning his attention back to Matt.

Matt held up the plastic baggie. Ramsay chuckled.

"Nah, I don't use most of it. Kind of not sure what to do with it. Speaking of, how much to you want for Cherry Pie?"

You saw Ramsay running numbers in his mind, "Twenty seven."

Matt gave a groan, loading the pipe he had pulled from his jacket pocket.

"Thirty now, for you whining." Ramsay sneered. "Besides, it would be irresponsible of me to hand over the keys to a brand new Corvette to an eighteen year old."

"Hey, the ID you gave me says I'm twenty two." Matt interjected, sounding hopeful.

This made Ramsay laugh, "Alright kid. Scrape up twenty four thousand and she's all yours. You've put in some hella work on that damn car."

"Fuckin' sweet." Matt hummed, standing up and patting himself down to find a lighter.

"How's your mom, by the way?" You asked, watching Matt exhale the pungent smoke.

"Good. Doctors are gunna let her go next week." He replied, taking another hit.

"So, kid, what do you think of mob life? You've been in officially what... four months?" Ramsay said, running his hand along your back and taking the pipe from Matt.

Matt shrugged, "I dunno. Not really what I expected. Very different from the movies."

Ramsay choked on his smoke, trying to keep from laughing. "Yeah, not as exciting as the movies, huh?"

Matt laughed, "yeah, I guess."

"So what can I do to make it more exciting? I have observed that if my men are bored they don't do their jobs as well."

Matt looked taken aback, "it's nothing to do with boredom. Just a bit slower than I expected is all. But I make money and that's all that matters."

Ramsay sat up straight and leaned forward to hand Matt the pipe.

"Then I'll treat you to the movies. Tommy gun included. You haven't taken part in an official Bastard's Boys activity yet. We're going to partake in a robbery."

You shot Ramsay a look and Matt looked utterly bewildered.

"Like...?" He asked slowly.

"Pull some John Dillinger shit. Unless my wife wants in. Ma Barker?" Your husband said, glancing over at you.

"I think we should continue to lay low." You said, choosing your words carefully.

Ramsay snorted, "I've got cabin fever. The kid is bored. We are robbing a bank. Public Enemy Era style." He pulled out his phone, holding it up to his ear. "Dame, busy?.... No, I thought not. Get the Boys together. We are robbing a bank. No hostages."

You snatched Ramsay's phone, "no Damon. We are not robbing a bank. Ramsay is sick and having delusional fits in his fevers."

"Be here in two Damon!" Ramsay said, raising his voice.

[bountyofbeads]

Nancy Pelosi’s Failure to Launch https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/opinion/trump-whistle-blower-impeachment.html

Three excellent editorials on the latest Trump criminal activity and the need to impeach. We have more than enough evidence to impeach this president!! It's time to muster the political will and courage to do so for the sake of our Democracy and future generations!!

"It is time for the Democrats to stop worrying about the tactics of election and decide just what it is we stand for. What are our principles? Are we for good government, or are we just about winning? Concentrating only on the upcoming presidential election will give this back-door president another fifteen months of opportunity. The question is not whether we have "the votes": the question is what do we believe? We keep saying, "If you see something, say something." It seems that now is the time to "Do something." The whole world is watching!"

"I see a parallel between Mitch McConnell's refusal to let any bill onto the Senate floor unless he has the president's assurance that he will sign it, and Nancy Pelosi's refusal to institute impeachment proceedings against Trump unless she is assured of the support of at least some Republicans and the general public. Both have given up their power as leaders of their party and become enablers of the most dangerous president in our country's history."

Nancy Pelosi’s Failure to Launch

The House speaker’s hesitation on impeachment empowers a lawless president.

By Michelle Goldberg | Published Sept. 23, 2019 | New York Times | Posted September 23, 2019 7:45 PM ET |

Elizabeth Warren on Friday evening sent out a series of tweets that, in addition to calling out Donald Trump for his criminality, rebuked Congress for enabling him. “After the Mueller report, Congress had a duty to begin impeachment,” wrote Warren. “By failing to act, Congress is complicit in Trump’s latest attempt to solicit foreign interference to aid him in U.S. elections. Do your constitutional duty and impeach the president.”

Warren was not impolitic enough to refer directly to the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, but the implicit criticism was clear. It was also well deserved. Pelosi’s calculated timidity on impeachment is emboldening Trump, demoralizing progressives, and failing the country.

The House speaker is a master legislator, and by all accounts incomparable at corralling votes. But right now, Democrats need a brawler willing to use every tool at her disposal to stop America’s descent into autocracy, and Pelosi has so far refused to rise to the occasion. As Representative Jared Huffman tweeted, “We are verging on tragic fecklessness.”

Part of Pelosi’s rationale for not impeaching after the release of the Mueller report was that such a move didn’t have majority support in the country or bipartisan support in Congress. Her allies worried that were Trump to be impeached in the House but not convicted in the Senate, he could emerge stronger than ever. Many Democrats in swing districts wanted to steer clear.

These were reasonable concerns, but inaction signaled to Trump that he would face no consequences for obstructing justice or for seeking a foreign power’s help in undermining a political opponent.

Now Trump has used the power of the presidency to do just that. We don’t yet know all the details in the whistle-blower report filed by a member of the intelligence community, which is now being kept, possibly illegally, from Congress. But there’s little question that the president tried to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden; both Trump and his ranting disgrace of a lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, have admitted as much on television.

The idea was to try to force Ukraine to provide grist for a thoroughly debunked right-wing conspiracy theory that as vice president, Biden targeted a Ukrainian prosecutor on his son’s behalf. While Trump was strong-arming the reformist Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, his administration had frozen $250 million in security aid that the country desperately needed to defend itself against Russia, which invaded in 2014. It doesn’t matter if there was an explicit quid pro quo; Zelensky knew what Trump wanted from him. Trump deployed American foreign policy to extort a vulnerable nation to help his re-election campaign.

Trump’s latest defilement of his oath of office has pushed some previously reluctant Democrats, like the House Intelligence chairman Adam Schiff, toward impeachment. Schiff reportedly coordinated his recent pro-impeachment comments with Pelosi, yet she remains resistant to moving in the same direction. One of Pelosi’s advisers told the CNBC reporter John Harwood that her impeachment calculus hasn’t changed, saying, “See any G.O.P. votes for it?” It was almost as if the adviser was trying to troll scared, desperate Democrats, rubbing their faces in the speaker’s baffling determination to give Trump’s party veto power over accountability.

The most Pelosi has done is to write that if the whistle-blower’s complaint is kept from Congress, the administration “will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation.” Given the impunity Trump has enjoyed so far, this does not seem like a threat with teeth.

Ultimately, no one can know the political consequences of impeachment in advance. I find it hard to imagine how months of televised hearings into a widely hated president’s comprehensive corruption could help him, but I can’t see the future. Perhaps impeachment in the House without removal in the Senate would allow Trump to convince some voters he’s been exonerated, though so does the failure to impeach him at all.

Polls show that impeachment doesn’t have majority support, so there’s a political risk for Democrats in trying to lead public opinion rather than follow it. But surely there’s also a risk in appearing weak and irresolute. Already, frustration with Pelosi in the Democratic base is threatening to curdle into despair. “I see the grass-roots activists who helped build the wave last year really wondering what they built that wave for,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, told me.

In the end, our system offers no mechanism besides impeachment to check a president who operates like a mob boss. It’s true that Democrats will remove Trump only by beating him in 2020, but he is already cheating in that election, just as he did in 2016, and paying no price for it.

A formal impeachment process would, if nothing else, give new weight to Democratic claims when they go to court to enforce subpoenas or pry loose documents the administration is trying to hide. It would show that Democrats are serious when they say that Trump’s behavior is intolerable, and potentially allow them to seize control of the day-to-day narrative of this rancid presidency. Trump does not want to be impeached — a Monday Politico headline says, “Trump’s team is trying to stop impeachment before it starts.” It’s hard to imagine why any Democratic leader would assist them.

Donald Trump vs. the United States of America

Just the facts, in 40 sentences.

By David Leonhardt | Published Sept. 22, 2019 | New York Times | Posted September 23, 2019 7:45 PM ET |

Sometimes it’s worth stepping back to look at the full picture.

He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election.

He urged a foreign country to intervene in the 2016 presidential election.

He divulged classified information to foreign officials.

He publicly undermined American intelligence agents while standing next to a hostile foreign autocrat.

He hired a national security adviser who he knew had secretly worked as a foreign lobbyist.

He encourages foreign leaders to enrich him and his family by staying at his hotels.

He genuflects to murderous dictators.

He has alienated America’s closest allies.

He lied to the American people about his company’s business dealings in Russia.

He tells new lies virtually every week — about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.

He spends hours on end watching television and days on end staying at resorts.

He often declines to read briefing books or perform other basic functions of a president’s job.

He has aides, as well as members of his own party in Congress, who mock him behind his back as unfit for office.

He has repeatedly denigrated a deceased United States senator who was a war hero.

He insulted a Gold Star family — the survivors of American troops killed in action.

He described a former first lady, not long after she died, as “nasty.”

He described white supremacists as “some very fine people.”

He told four women of color, all citizens and members of Congress, to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”

He made a joke about Pocahontas during a ceremony honoring Native American World War II veterans.

He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American.

He launched his presidential campaign by describing Mexicans as “rapists.”

He has described women, variously, as “a dog,” “a pig” and “horseface,” as well as “bleeding badly from a facelift” and having “blood coming out of her wherever.”

He has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women.

He enthusiastically campaigned for a Senate candidate who was accused of molesting multiple teenage girls.

He waved around his arms, while giving a speech, to ridicule a physically disabled person.

He has encouraged his supporters to commit violence against his political opponents.

He has called for his opponents and critics to be investigated and jailed.

He uses a phrase popular with dictators — “the enemy of the people” — to describe journalists.

He attempts to undermine any independent source of information that he does not like, including judges, scientists, journalists, election officials, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., the Congressional Budget Office and the National Weather Service.

He has tried to harass the chairman of the Federal Reserve into lowering interest rates.

He said that a judge could not be objective because of his Mexican heritage.

He obstructed justice by trying to influence an investigation into his presidential campaign.

He violated federal law by directing his lawyer to pay $280,000 in hush money to cover up two apparent extramarital affairs.

He made his fortune partly through wide-scale financial fraud.

He has refused to release his tax returns.

He falsely accused his predecessor of wiretapping him.

He claimed that federal law-enforcement agents and prosecutors regularly fabricated evidence, thereby damaging the credibility of criminal investigations across the country.

He has ordered children to be physically separated from their parents.

He has suggested that America is no different from or better than Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

He has called America a “hellhole.”

He is the president of the United States, and he is a threat to virtually everything that the United States should stand for.

Trump and Election Interference, Whistle-Blower Edition

Many elements are murky, but something clearly stinks.

By Nicholas Kristof | Published Sept. 21, 2019 | New York Times | Posted September 23, 2019 7:45 PM ET |

There’s so much we don’t know about the whistle-blower complaint concerning President Trump. But here are four things we do know:

First, it seems that an experienced intelligence official was so deeply disturbed by Trump’s interactions with the president of Ukraine as to feel the need to blow the whistle.

Second, the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, who was appointed by Trump and has long experience on national security issues, found the whistle-blower’s concern to be legitimate and urgent.

Third, the whistle-blower complaint came after Trump and his associates  hounded Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to undertake a corruption investigation involving Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The  Ukrainian summary of a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky included this cryptic sentence: “Donald Trump is convinced that the new Ukrainian government will be able to quickly improve image of Ukraine, complete investigation of corruption cases, which inhibited the interaction between Ukraine and the USA.” The Wall Street Journal reports that in that phone call, Trump pressed Zelensky about eight times to work with Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate the Bidens.

Eight times! Nevertheless, he persisted!

Fourth, Trump withheld $250 million in military assistance urgently needed by Ukraine to fend off Russian aggression, although Ukraine didn’t learn of this until August. He released the money after the whistle-blower complaint and after members of Congress intervened.

So for all the murkiness, let’s be clear: This stinks.

(Trump’s position is that his phone call with Zelensky was “pitch-perfect” and “It doesn’t matter what I discussed.”)

Thus it appears that after benefiting from Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump then tried to coax Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election. It’s particularly egregious that Trump seemed eager to trade $250 million in American taxpayer dollars for Ukrainian help in tarring a Democratic rival.

Giuliani has helpfully acknowledged  that he urged Ukraine’s government to investigate whether Biden’s diplomatic efforts were meant to help Hunter, who had been involved in a gas company in Ukraine. (There’s no evidence of this.) Giuliani also pushed Ukraine to reinvestigate old corruption charges that ensnared Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and to conclude that this was a political attack on Trump.

In effect, Trump apparently tried to use American diplomatic might and the leverage of military assistance to get Ukraine to exonerate Manafort for 2016 and smear Biden for 2020.

The incoherence of the Trump-Giuliani position is underscored in this interview Thursday evening on CNN:

Chris Cuomo: Did you ask the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden?

Rudy Giuliani: No. Actually, I didn’t …

Cuomo, 24 seconds later: So, you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?

Giuliani: Of course, I did.

Trump has been credibly accused of using the presidency to enrich himself (summits at Trump properties!), to protect himself from law enforcement (appeals to James Comey, offers of pardons!) and to punish perceived adversaries (Amazon, CNN, Andrew McCabe). Now he may have harnessed the power of the presidency to gain political advantage.

This is bombshell layered upon bombshell. On top of the initial accusation by the whistle-blower is the refusal of the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, to obey federal law and relay the matter to Congress within one week.

The law is very clear, but it’s also true that Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both suggested that there might be situations involving classified information where a president should not follow the statute. These are very tricky questions of executive power versus congressional oversight.

Jeffrey Smith, who was the C.I.A.’s general counsel under Clinton, told me that despite the technical legal arguments, there should still be ways to allow oversight, especially if the core issue is a commitment that the president has made to a foreign power.

Smith cited a time when he was at the C.I.A. and a matter came up that did not technically require reporting to Congress but still raised troubling questions. After some soul-searching within the agency, it provided a briefing to the “gang of eight” congressional leaders, and Smith told me that the same would be appropriate today.

Look, this whistle-blower’s complaint will leak. The Trump administration’s recalcitrance will simply make it all the more newsworthy.

When historians review Trump’s term, I think they will see combat between an out-of-control president and various U.S. institutions, such as the courts, the Civil Service, law enforcement, the intelligence community, the House and the news media, which generally have done a credible job of standing up for laws and norms and against one-man rule. The only institution Trump has co-opted completely is the Republican Party in Congress.

Today’s struggle over the whistle-blower may be remembered as a central battle in that epic confrontation. The core question is whether our president can get away with weaponizing the federal government to punish political opponents, or whether legal constraints and congressional oversight can keep him in line.

This is a test of our political system, and the next few months will determine whether we pass.

[thefuckgallagher]

i’m just gonna rave about beauty and the beast right now because I just saw it:

(spoilers under the cut)

plot/character-

the changes to the plot/characters gave the film so many more layers

big one: WHY EVERYONE FORGETS THAT THE PRINCE EXISTS! it was always so confusing that no one seemed to notice that their monarch/prince wasn’t around anymore? so fixing that was amazing. it made the story so much more poignant that the enchantress made everyone forget about him. it felt so much more isolating and made it so much harder for him to break the curse.

also i really liked how they separated families, like mrs. potts and her husband. like, the other world did exist. and it connected to the beginning when belle asks “monsieur john” (AKA MR. POTTS) if he has lost something *again* and he says “i believe i have but i can’t remember what” - HIS FAMILY. HE LOST HIS FAMILY. 

also in general the town was so well created! it made so much sense historically too, like them hating belle for her intelligence and her trying to teach girls to read. historically, that’s a scary amount of power for a woman, especially peasants/non-royalty

this also gave a more clear explanation to why belle was so ostracized from the town. educated women would have been scary in that era, especially because of the widespread illiteracy (see: lefou). then, it also made her connect more to adam because of their shared interest in reading as an escape from a world that rejected them

also the layers given to the town people. not everyone is bad. there were some people who were portrayed as just “evil” like gaston, but then some who originally try for justice and fairness but fail, like mr. potts, then some who stayed good like the priest

gaston- gaston was so much less cartoonish than the animated version but he’s so believable. first they made him an army captain from a war that was presumably won by the way he talks about it. that automatically gives him power in the town. then you understand why people look to him so much. he also is more cunning in the way he uses maurice to get to belle, making him scary. then, the way he manipulates the town both to send maurice away and to follow him to kill the beast. so relevant when powerful white men manipulate things to get people to listen to what they want. and he knows how powerful he is.

congruently, i love that they didn’t make maurice a crazy old man. instead, he was a sad widower and an artist. it made it more poignant that originally, people didn’t think that he was crazy but gaston convinced them

i also really liked that belle just asked for a rose when her father left and he tried to steal one for her. great hat-tip to the original fairytale!

overall, as i briefly touched on before, i felt like the relationship between belle and the beast was so much more believable for so so many reasons (included the aforementioned reading/escapism)

i love the story line about the mothers. with belle, it was more of a fill in to explain why she didn’t have a mother- with a great historical reference of the plague. and, why someone like the maurice they created and belle were stuck in that town. then it also helped her connect to the beast who also lost his mother. 

the death of prince adam’s mother was totally different. he didn’t have a loving father like belle. instead, he was raised by a cruel man, probably without love. so when he got older, he filled his palace with beautiful things to replace love. he sings in “evermore”: “i never needed anybody in my life, i learned the truth too late,” demonstrating how even though the palace was filled with people, they were more like things to him as he couldn’t feel love. but he wasn’t always like that, being raised by his father made him that way, giving a strong avenue for redemption. i love how the costumes back that up because in the beginning everything is gaudy and over the top with the french wigs and makeup, but then at the end everything looks more simple and light because the real beauty came from within (sappy, yes, i know). 

“I’M NOT A BEAST”- loved that he put gaston down and just told him to leave. then gaston proves that he’s the beast because he fucking shoots adam 3 times... then the crumbling castle kills him

and i love that belle stayed because of the kindness of the servants and their guilt at failing the prince and allowing him to become a beast. [kindness, if you didn’t notice is super big with disney films]

overall the characters all had so many more layers than their animated counterparts and they were so easy to really feel for (esp. the beast)

on feminism: was this new belle a feminist icon? not so much? i mean she was different than the original, in good, progressive ways but the constraints of the story and the time period kind of hinder a full progression to what we’d call a liberated women in the 21st century. she still takes care of her father (which despite what others say, there’s no problem with...), really just goes from her father’s house to her husband’s, and needs maurice to protect her from gaston. shown by how he gets in the way... but she is a more 3 dimensional character in this version but i appreciate disney’s attempt! and emma watson as a person.

gay-

i don’t really like that they used the queer story line for comedy

but i did some things about it:

gaston using lefou’s attraction to benefit himself

the end where lefou gets out from under the spell and is actually a good person. lefou actually has a conscience in this one and slowly begins to realize it (i.e. not wanting to leave maurice for dead and his line in “the mob song”: “there’s a beast running wild, there’s no question. but i feel the wrong monster’s released”), ending in him being smashed by a piano and left by gaston. the spell lifted and lefou was actually good.  

history-

loved the line in be our guest when lumiere says “after all miss, this is france!” and then the knife chops down #historynerd

loved the asylum vs. hospital comments

loved that she wasn’t just taking books from a bookstore but it was a church that had books that she could borrow

music-

alright here is where my few negative things about this movie come in

emma watson- not a great singer, yeah they used autotune but in our entertainment industry it’s not cool to use playback singers like bollywood does soooo what to do when someone is otherwise great for a role? overall, not as good as paige o’hara but good enough not to impact the movie

dan stevens- good enough singer for evermore, and i was overall pretty cool with him singing

emma thompson- as much as i love everything about her and her voice, you can’t really beat angela lansbury for “beauty and the beast”

audra mcdonald- slay.

but i really liked the reprise of “beauty and the beast” at the very end. especially the new verse and the ensemble at the end. cried so hard.

“day in the sun” worked better for the film than “human again” would have but it wasn’t a great stand-alone

"EVERMORE”. y’all can gripe about why they didn’t just use “if i can’t love her” all you want, but “evermore” was beautiful and fit the new beast character they created so much better. i cried so hard. 

josh gad singing “gaston” is bae

luke evans also killed it

and i was happy with ewan mcgregor too

random-

attempts at diversity? good job disney. you tried, and definitely improved. the ensemble was not all white people (plus plumette and madame) garderobe)

lol @ cogsworth’s wife(?)

the transformation: love that they did a lot of shot-for-shot remakes i.e. the hand transforming and the foot...

okay so idk if this influenced anything- but i feel like the enchantress in this film reminded me of the genre of greek myth called theoxeny by the way she stayed in the town as agathe. (theoxeny is when gods disguise themselves to test people’s hospitality and then punish them if they suck). everyone treats agathe like shit besides maurice so she saves him. then she’s comes back to change the beast back. 

the end when she asks him to grow a beard was slightly creepy... funny but ew...

i love the prevalence of roses throughout (the rattle, stealing the rose, etc.)

i also love how the petals falling makes the castle crumble more and more. awesome.

i’m sure i had more feelings... but this is long enough lol